Phayvanh LuekhamhanMonteverdi Music School’s executive director Jolynda Burton was visiting with Xavier Jimenez, co-owner of Langdon Street’s Buch Spieler, earlier this year when they got to talking about the music of the 1970s.
“He was going off on his idea of why it was so interesting,” she said. Other people would be interested in listening to this, she thought. She proposed that he give a talk, and the Deep Dive series was born.
The monthly series, according to Burton, “is for music lovers, folks who listen to music and want to learn more about it.” It’s a slight programmatic deviation from the musical training for which Monteverdi is primarily known. The school’s faculty and partners provide individual and group instruction for students of all ages in their space at the Center for Arts and Learning on Barre Street.
“It’s a way for us to gather the community around music in a different way,” Burton said. Music education is not limited to technical skill on an instrument. The series provides a way for the nonprofit to get out into the community and meet with music aficionados to nerd out on niche topics.
For the first, Jimenez, also known as DJ XAVWAV, host of All Vinyl Radio on WGDR, gave his talk, “Why We’re Still Talking About 1973” to a crowd inside Buch Spieler. The audience learned about why he believed 1973 was a monumental year in music. The lecture series continues monthly through the winter season.
On Dec. 19, guitarist and faculty member Matt Delligatti will host a discussion and listening session on jazz of 1959, and on Jan. 31, musicians Dee Davis and Greg Hayes present on Django Reinhardt, Gypsy Jazz, and Jazz Manouche born of the interwar period of France. Both lectures take place at Naive Melody from 6:30 to 8 p.m. A lecture by film historian Rick Winston on classic film scores and other lectures are in the works.
The series is for all ages with a suggested donation to support the school’s scholarship fund. For more information, go to monteverdimusic.org/deep-dive-talk-series
Phayvanh Luekhamhan is executive director of the Center for Arts and Learning, where the Monteverdi Music School is located.
