DKP

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Jon B Higgins

In Memory of Jon Borthwick Higgins The editors and the Board of Directors of The Society for Asian Music dedicate this issue of Asian Music to the memory of Jon Higgins. Jon Higgins had been a member of the Society since the late 1960s, had served on the board from 1978 to 1983, and had sung two concerts of karnatak music for the Society, the first in the 1979 concert series, the second as a memorial performance for Konrad Bekker. In the tragically brief period of his professional life, Jon Higgins set high standards to emulate and accomplished much, as a musician, scholar, teacher, and administrator. We will sorely miss his efforts in all of these areas, and we will always remember the versatility, skill, richness, and beauty of his song. His teacher and colleague at Wesleyan University, Dr. T. Viswanathan, has kindly allowed us to reproduce the following memorial essay, which originally anpeared in the February-March issue of Sruti (Madras, India). In addition, the essay following Dr. Viswanathan's was written by Karaikudi S. Subramanian, whose doctoral work at Wesleyan Jon Higgins directed. Dr. Viswanathan's essay: It was a grey, chilly morning around 9 o'clock, Friday December 7th, 1984. Jon Higgins rushed into my house carrying his cassette recorder, folders containing sheets of svara-notated music, and his electronic sruti- box. We sat together cross-legged on the rug preparing to begin our music lesson, but first turned to a discussion of our forthcoming trip to South Africa (sponsored by the Indian Academy of South Africa, Durban) and to the political problems there that warranted some concern. Jon expressed his feelings as to why he thought we should take the opportunity to per- form in such a troubled area, particularly stressing that our concerts should only be performed in non-segregated auditoriums. He at least wanted to show the South African government that his ensemble was a multi- racial one and was thus a small but sincere protest against the racist policy of apartheid. We eventually came to a tentative agreement about the trin and began work on a Tamil kriti, Adinadeppadiyo, in kalyani raga, adi tala, comoosed by Muttuttandavar. Jon liked the song because he felt lFthad "the depth and majesty of a Muttusvamy Dikshitar kriti." Since it wasn't a Dikshitar kriti, he wondered what elements were responsible for giving it that character. My response was to say that although the lyrics (sahitya) were composed by Muttuttandavar, the tune (the original being lost) was set by my teacher, the late Sri T.N. Swaminatha Pillai, who belonged to the Dikshitar school. Jon indicated his desire to learn more Tamil pieces of this type for the South African tour, and we finished the lesson at 10:30 a.m., after which he said he would meet me again on Monday. The next morning (Saturday, December 8th) around the same time, I had a phone call from his wife Rhea saying that Jon had been killed on Friday night by a drunken hit-and-run motorist while walking his dog on the road across from his house. 1 In keeping with tradition, it is not common for an Indian teacher to speak in praise of his student or sishya, Jon Higgins was an unusual individual. As a Westerner he committed himself to long and serious study of a music foreign to his own culture. Even more striking was the fact that he became an accomplished performer in that culture. Because of the unique circumstance of our relationship, then, I do not feel hesi- tant to break with tradition and allow myself the chance to write my feelings about him. Jon was born on September 18, 1939, in Andover, Massachusetts, a samll town in New England. He had his high school education at Phillips Andover Academy, where his father taught English for three or four decades and his mother taught piano and performed as an accompanist. After Andover, he attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he received his B.A., as a double major in music and history in 1962, his M.A. in musicology in 1964, and his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology in 1973. I first met Jon in 1962 when he was a Master's candidate under Dr. Robert E. Brown, who was responsible for initiating the Indian music program at Wesleyan. It was because of Brown's fine taste in music and gift of generating interest and enthusiasm in his students that Jon was first exposed to and captured by the music of South India. Only a few months before our acquaintance, he had been deeply touched by a perfor- mance of my sister Balasarasvati, when she had sung and danced at Ted Shawn's famous Jacob's Pillow music and dance festival in Lee, Massachu- setts. In an interview for Capitol Records, Rory Guy quotes from Jon that the role of music in Balasarasvati's performance impressed him "forcefully," that it "was not mere accompaniment to a dancer, but rather the living source of the dance itself." Jacob's Pillow and selected tapes from Robert Brown's collection convinced Jon to focus on Brown's South Indian music study group at Wes- leyan where, between 1962 and 1964, he participated in survey courses and seminars in ethnomusicology and in the music of India. He studied solkattu with my brother Ranganathan (the result of which was a Master's thesis), and was for the first time involved in vocal classes where he learned exercises and compositions from lesson tapes I had made for Brown in 1960. In a 1971 interview for the Times Weekly, Jon said that "although the Carnatic idiom was totally new and different, I felt I could with perseverance and dedication, understand its language." Com- mitting himself to the idea of full-time study of Karnatak vocal music, Jon approached me with the request that I accept him as a student, and when I agreed, he applied for and received a Fulbright scholarship to come to India in 1964. When he arrived in Madras, he came to see me at Madras University where, at the time, I was head of the Department of Indian Music. I was a little apprehensive about how I was going to help a young "Connecticut Yankee" with his projected nine-month course of South Indian music study. Disguising my uneasiness, we drew up a rough schedule through which he would learn an assortment of compositions covering song forms of important composers, basic improvisation, basic work in general theory, and language study in Telegu and Tamil. We fixed a date and I asked him to come for his first vocal lesson in my 2 office at 11:00 a.m. He arrived on the appointed day at 11:05 a.m. Having lived in the United States for a couple of years and having often heard the comment that Indians are never punctual, I was carrying a chip on my shoulder big enough to cancel the lesson and demand that he come on the next scheduled day, and on time. Over the years we often laughed at that incident. Until his death, however, he would always call me if he was going to be late for a lesson--just to make sure. I, on the other hand, had long since slipped back to my old habit of being on "Indian Standard Time." Over the months that followed, Jon learned a number of compositions with the sensitivity of a good Indian student. The Madras December music season had come and gone, and the Tyagaraja Aradhana Festival was iminently approaching. I felt that at this stage of his progress he should sing whatever he had learned at the Tyagarajasvamy's samadhi and receive the saint's blessings. Alattur Subbayyar, the festival secretary at that time, was in support of the idea. When we went to Tiruvaiyaru, Jon was very frightened and nervous at the thought of facing thousands of rasikas. H suffered even more when he was told that his short performance would be broadcast nationally on All India Radio. The day he was to go on stage he was a physical and mental wreck. But the audience was delighted, and they listened to his performance with amazement. They were even more astounded that a foreigner could take such interest in the art music of South India, and that he could sing so well and with such bhava and sincere bhakti. What they did not know was that even with his great talent, how hard and with how much commitment he had worked for over two years. When people said that he must have been born on the banks of the Kaveri River in his previous birth, Jon took it as a complement but knew the truth lay in his long hours of devoted practice. Jon continued to work hard learning progressively more complicated compositions, and slowly I introduced him to manodharma sangita (improvi- sation). In 1966, the United States Information Service recognized his contribution as a "cultural ambassador" and a concert tour of South India was arranged for him with V. Thyagarajan (violin), T. Ranganathan (mri- dangam), and V. Nagarajan (kanjira). Jon also recieved invitations from sabhas in Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta, and other big cities, and wherever he performed he was appreciated with warmth and acceptance. His Fulbright scholarship was extended for an unprecedented third year when that organi- zation realized the contribution he was making to promoting cross-cultural understanding, and that he needed to continue his music studies in order to improve. Toward the end of 1966, when I had to leave India for my Ph.D. course work at Wesleyan, I wanted to leave Jon with someone who could provide continuity in our family (Dhanammal's) style. My choice was the late Ramnad Krishnan, under whom he studied for the remaining number of months before his return to the United States in June 1967. After Jon's return to the United States, I frequently and fondly recall how we would attend classes and study for our Ph.D. qualifying exams together. We would spend long hours exchanging notes and informa- tion where he would help me with Western music theory and history, and I would help him with Indian culture and music theory. (And I can never 3 forget his loving assistance in finally helping me edit and revise my Ph.D. dissertation in 1974.) Our relationship grew to the point where we considered each other "family," and when Jon decided to get married in October of 1967, he requested that his in-laws-to-be and his parents allow a concert of Indian music the night before the wedding. Ramnad Krishnan, V. Thyagarajan, T. Ranganathan, V. Nagarajan (all of whom had just arrived in the United States), Nageswara Rao (vina), and I performed, and I couldn't help but be reminded of a janavasam (bridal reception the night before a wedding) in South India. Two years after his marriage, Jon returned to India with his wife Rhea to begin work on his doctoral dissertation, "The Music of Bharata Natyam." Under Balasarasvati's guidance he learned dance music (padams and javalis), a practical approach to the theory of rasa, aspects of nayaki-nayaka bhava, and other performance-related topics. With the help of Bala's nattuvanar, K. Ganesan (son of Bala's guru, Sri Kandappa), he made a comprehensive study of the rhythmic compositions that are part of the Bharata Natyam repertoire. A year later, Balasarasvati gave him the honor of accompanying her dance performance in New Delhi. Jon made a great impression on thousands of music lovers throughout India. He concertized extensively, mostly accompanied by V. Thyagarajan, T. Ranganathan, and V. Nagarajan. He was also honored by the accompani- ment of great artists such the late Palghat Mani Ayyar and Palghat Raghu, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran, and Karaikkudi Mani, to name a few. He drew a devoted following of Indian rasikas in the United States as well, where T. Ranganathan and I usually provided accompaniment. For American audiences, Jon was always particular to present well-crafted lecture/demonstrations so that those hearing Karnatak music for the first time could listen to his concerts with some understanding and apprecia- tion. But like all of us, he felt that despite his popularity and success, he had much more to learn--and he was constantly working towards that goal in spite of his limited time and energy. Jon visited India for the third time as a Senior Research Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies, between December 1981 and June 1982. Part of his project was to perform before critical Indian rasikas and esteemed Karnatak musicians so that he might receive an honest apprai- sal of his progress. He worked very hard for several months learning new compositions. He also spent a great deal of time developing fresh ideas for improvising. Unfortunately, in the midst of his visit, he fell ill with bronchial pneumonia, followed by pleurisy and a gall bladder infec- tion, and he was forced to cancel many of his concerts. Only because he was so disappointed and frustrated about not performing was he able to summon the energy to do a few concerts in Madras, Bangalore, and Bombay, and to make a cassette tape for the AVM company. (Previously, he had made three long-playing commercial records.) On the whole, the trip was a very depressing one for him, and he was looking forward to returning and performing under better circumstances. Most rasikas in India knew Jon as "Bhagavatar," but few knew of the 4 responsibilities he shouldered, in his professional life as a teacher and administrator, and in his personal life--qualities that in addition to his music, I feel made him an extraordinary human being. Between 1971 and 1978 he was Professor of music and Associate Dean of Fine Arts at York Univer- sity in Toronto, Canada. During his tenure at York he was responsible for inviting Trichy Sankaran, who joined him on the faculty as professor to teach mridangam. With the help of Sankaran, Jon propagated Karnatak music throughout Canada. He joined Wesleyan University as the Director of the Center for the Arts and Professor of music in 1978. He was constantly striving to broaden the range of cultural presentations in and outside the university community, and he had recently completed an intensive report with three other faculty members, projecting the future of the university curriculum. The energy he devoted to this study more than reflected his concern and commitment toward the future direction of the institution with which he was intimately connected. As a member of the music faculty he was constantly preoccupied with strengthening the quality of Wesleyan's ethnomusicology program. His workdays were officially from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but commitments related to his administrative position required many additional hours in the week. His role in the university combined with his sense of civic awareness involved him in numerous cultural activ- ities in the community. In the midst of such a pressured schedule, he maintained a very deep relationship with his family, always putting aside time to nurture his role as a husband and father. His generosity and warmth touched so many people, I feel it appropriate to include the following tributes: Jon had remarkable qualities. He was an unpretentious artist. He loved to give his gift to others. He sang in the choir of the First Congregational Church, even though his voice was far better than anyone else's. He was generous with his time and with his talent in the community. (Carl Scheibe, Professor of Psychology, Wesleyan University) (Jon Higgins) loved and was a superb singer of European and American classical vocal music. Although he sang music by virtually all the famous European composers--from Handel and Bach to Haydn and Mozart, and to such later composers as Faure, Brahms and the American Charles Ives--perhaps his art placed him closest to music of the European Renaissance and Medieval eras. Such composers as Machaut, Josquin, Palestrina, and Monteverdi were extremely compatible to him. His vocal style contained great concern for words, for rhythmic phrase, and clear articulation within a beautiful and expressive sound. One thinks, by way of comparison, of the Swiss, Hugh Cuenod, and of the American, Roland G. Hayes--both singers whose art lent itself to the intimately expressive music... By virtue of his training in intellectual history and music scholarship, and his extraordinary familiarity with Karnatak music and dance, he was uniquely qualified to speak to the American scholarly community about Indian music. (Richard Winslow, Professor of Music, Wesleyan University) 5 Jon had decided, a few months before he died, to return to full time teaching, performing, and writing about Western and Karnatak music. In order to accomplish this, he had planned to resign his job as Director of the Center for the Arts. His plans included the development of a course on traditions of vocal music around the world. That such a dynamic and sensitive person, who had so much more to give, should be deprived of life, strikes one as a cruelty beyond comprehension. We can be thankful for his contribution to the world of music, but most important is the legacy he left of promoting cultural understanding through the arts. For a man with a conscience in a troubled world, Jon gave some- thing great. It is my hope that he will be remembered in his role as a "cultural ambassador"--that perhaps interest will be generated in the United States and in the governments of India and Tamilnadu, to establish a scholar- ship fund in his name so that students (both Indian and non-Indian) will be encouraged to pursue the kind of serious study of Karnatak music that Jon undertook. A New York Times music reviewer wrote of him: "Even if some of this vocal maze of India can be admired by the Western listener, presumably there are not many Western singers who would attempt to work within its demands. One who did, and triumphed at it, was Jon Higgins." (New York Times, December 10, 1984) 6

Source: Asian Music, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1985), pp. 1-6
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/833771
Accessed: 19/08/2009 21:58
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=texas.

Vadavarayai

1

வடவரையை மத்தாக்கி  வாசுகியை  நாணாக்கிக்  கடல்வண்ணன்  பண்டொருநாள்  கடல்வயிறு  கலக்கினையே  

கலக்கியகை யசோதையார்  கடைகயிர்ரால்  கட்டுண்கை  மலர்க்கமல  உந்தியாய்  மாயமோ  மருட்கைத்தே 

2

அருபொருள்  இவனென்றே  அமரர்கணம்  தொழுதேத்த  உறுபசி _ஒன்று  இன்றியே  உலகடைய  உண்டனையே  

உண்டவாய்  கலவினான்  உரிவேன்னே  உண்டவாய்  வண் துழாய்  மாலையாய்  மாயமோ  மருட்கைத்தே 

3

திரண்டமரர்  தொழுதேத்தும்  திருமால்னின்  செங்கமல  இரண்டடியான்  மூவுலகும்  இருள்தீர  நடந்தனையே  

நடந்த அடி பஞ்சவர்க்குத்  தூதாக  நடந்த  அடி  மடங்கலாய்  மாறட்டாய்  மாயமோ  மருட்கைத்தே 

4

மூவுலகும்  ஈரடியான்  முறைநிரம்பா  வகைமுடியத்  தாவிய  சேவடி   செப்பத்  தம்பியோடும்  கான்போந்து 

 சொமரனும்  போர்மடியத்  தொல்லிலங்கை  கட்டழித்த  சேவகன் சீர்  கேளாத  செவி என்ன  செவியே  திருமால் சீர்  கேளாத  செவி என்ன  செவியே 

5

பெரியவனை  மாயவனைப்  பேருலகம்  எல்லாம்  விரிகமல  உந்தியுடை  விண்ணவனைக்  கண்ணும் 

 திருவடியும்  கையும்  திருவாயும்  செய்ய  கரியவனைக்  காணாத  கண்ணென்ன  கண்ணே  கண் இமைத்துக்  காண்பார்தம்  கண்ணென்ன  கண்ணே 

6

மடம்தாழும்  நெஞ்சத்துக்  கஞ்சனார்  வஞ்சம்  கடந்தானை  நூற்றுவர்பால்  நாற்றிசையும்  போற்றப்  படர்ந்து  ஆரணம்  முழங்கப்  பஞ்சவர்க்குத்  தூது  நடந்தானை  ஏத்தாத  நாவென்ன  நாவே  நாராயணா  ஏன்னா  நாவென்ன  நாவே 

திரு இளங்கோ அடிகள்,  சிலப்பதிகாரம் 

நன்றி http://www.karnatik.com/c1473.shtml