Faculty Ken Ueno

SIX MEMOS FROM A YEAR IN ROME
Intro: MEET KEN UENO
By Allison Reitz, Reprinted from the UMass Dartmouth Torch

Students looking for inspiration of what direction to take in life can rip a page from the book of CVPA Assistant Professor of Music Ken Ueno. Though he is a winner of the 2006-2007 Rome Prize for musical composition, Ueno began his post-high school career without a single thought of making music his profession.

OF POLITICS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL

During his adolescence, he says, "My plan was to go to West Point, become a general, and return later in life to California (where I grew up) to become senator."

Ueno goes on to explain, "At the time, I was a model student: track star, debate team leader, speech team, chess club founder, radio station founder and excelling in academics. So, I worked hard and got a congressional nomination to attend West Point."

However, during his first year at West Point, an injury sent him home and made him rethink his path in life. "I was facing the biggest, most depressing dilemma of my life: now, that what I had worked so hard to achieve was taken away, what was I going to do with the rest of my life?" Ueno describes.

He found his salvation in music and went back to school at the Berklee College of Music. During his time there, he was introduced to the work of 20th century composers Bartok and Stravinsky, which changed his focus from performance to composition. Ueno explains the impact of their music, saying, "The impact of their music was immediate and powerful to me, very visceral, like the heavy metal I was playing in bands -- there was no translation necessary."

The UMass Dartmouth professor of three years continues, "There was something in the music that began to engage me intellectually.... More importantly, I was inspired...to try to do something like this myself, to try and compose."

Upon graduating with a double major in film scoring and composition, he went for his first master's degree at Boston University. That was followed, over time, with a second master's from Yale and a doctorate from Harvard.

In total, Ueno dedicated twelve years to graduate school, but it was all worth it. He says, "Composers need a lot of time to develop their craft.... That experience paid off, and, now, I'm an assistant professor at UMass."

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...

Professor Ueno's persistence paid off in one other, more recent, way. After seven years of applying for acceptance, he was finally awarded the Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize for musical composition -- a prize Ueno likens to being the Olympics for academics.

According to the Rome Prize website, the fellowships awarded "are designed for emerging artists and for scholars in the early or middle stages of their career." The various prizes are sponsored by the American Academy in Rome, which acts as the backdrop for the recipients' fellowship period.

The Academy supplies studios, residences and dining facilities for the winners, as well as exhibition galleries, communal spaces, a dark room, archaeology facilities and extensive gardens. A community of learning and creative growth is formed on the premises for up to 100 scholars, from almost a dozen different arenas of learning, at any given time.

Ueno first learned that he had been selected for his Rome Award after a long day of teaching on the UMass Dartmouth campus. He was driving back to his home in Cambridge when he received the call on his cell phone.

He expresses the tension of the situation, saying, "I had interviewed down in New York City a couple of weeks before, so it had been on my mind. I was really nervous when I first answered the phone and realized it was from the Academy, but that soon quickly turned into ecstatic joy when I heard that they were offering me the fellowship. It was unbelievable!"

AN IMPRESSIVE PROPOSAL

An impressive array of winners have pursued fellowships at the American Academy in Rome over the years, and Ueno feels incredibly lucky to be among them while he works on his proposal. The proposal, which Ueno submitted in his application for the fellowship, "entails writing a composition for Kim Kashkashian, who is the world's most important violist and her percussionist, Robyn Schulkowsky."

The prestigious recipients of his finished work are impressive as it is, but Ueno's work will have a much larger audience, as well. His composition will be premiered at a festival in Cologne in May 2007, at the end of his fellowship in Rome.

With his time in Rome, Ueno is also working on a project more closely affecting UMass Dartmouth, as well. He explains that this electronic piece will be in close collaboration with Professor Harvey Goldman of the CVPA, whom Ueno calls "an amazing digital animator."

Ueno is incredibly grateful for his time in Rome. He explains that his personal work often takes a backseat to his work for the university.

"It's very hard. I teach all day and can only compose in the evening and weekends. This is why it's such a blessing to have this time with the Rome Prize fellowship. It allows me to concentrate fully on my creative work. I can luxuriate in my labor-intensive solipsism!" he reflects.

FOCUS ON THE UMD FAMILY

Despite all of his time and work in Rome, Ueno does look forward to returning to UMass Dartmouth at the end of his 11-month fellowship. His passion for UMD -- and for returning here to continue teaching -- can be explained by the enriching experiences he has had in his time here. Some of the best times he can recall were spent at gigs with his performance group, the Laptop Ensemble.

Ueno explains, "We create instruments with found objects and code homemade applications with which we perform. It's an exciting time. It feels like we are helping to shape history at this moment."

Besides shaping history, Ueno also hopes that he can shape his students' lives for the better. In his courses, he obviously aims to teach music technology. However, Ueno tries to get across more universal messages to his students, as well.

He says he tries to teach his students that, if "you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything you want." And, having finally attained his goal of earning the Rome Prize, Professor Ken Ueno is leading by example.

For the remainder of Professor Ueno's fellowship in Rome, he will send monthly dispatches to discuss his experiences, observations and hopes. He took the idea for this project, Six Memos from a Year in Rome, from Calvino's Six Memos for the Next Millennium -- like Calvino, he will only have time to complete five of his memos.