Sigma Alpha Iota

28 Spring 2025 • sai-national.org UTOPIA AVENUE By David Mitchell Random House, 2020 F ictional accounts of musicians are rarely done well, in my humble opinion. There's a reason music is music—it's nearly impossible to translate the feelings into words, to truly capture its magic in a way that's as universally understood as music itself. Utopia Avenue scratches the surface, and does it better than most. Set in the 1960s, it captures that brief period of time when rock music was just beginning to emerge. Utopia Avenue (the band itself) seems like an eclectic bunch: a folk singer, a blues bassist, a guitar demigod, and one very cool drummer. They come together to create Britain's hottest group since... well, the Beatles, who were themselves relatively new at the time. The story starts strong, with a visionary manager recruiting each of these musical prodigies. It explores each one's humble beginnings, including near-homelessness, a tumultuous breakup, and a dramatic filch from another band. There are stellar descriptions of performances and "behind the scenes" moments. If you ever thought a rock band has it all together, Utopia Avenue has more than one gig where a member is having a nervous breakdown—and never the same member. Mitchell is a wordsmith, expertly weaving these characters together and making them feel like a family. And with each experiencing music in a uniquely different way, it explores the equally various reasons why we play music at all. Ironically, the weakest parts of the story are where it tries to convince the reader of a time period. It weaves Utopia Avenue into the musical scene of its time, which is debatably successful. When the guitarist bumps into David Bowie—who hasn't hit it big yet—it takes you out of the moment and reads like a fantasy instead. Having these cameos are essential to tell a story like this, but they were often left lacking. But the music is what does it here. I want to see Utopia Avenue at a music festival and own all of their albums. I want to hear these songs, now knowing everything each member put into writing them. It's a wayward journey from obscurity to stardom, and you start to feel like a groupie yourself. — Angela Silver, PAN PIPES Editor Bk Reviews BECOMING A COMPOSER By Errollyn Wallen Faber & Faber, 2023 B ritish composer Errollyn Wallen was recently appointed the new Master of the King's Music, a role in which she composes music for special royal occasions, and which is given to individuals who have made significant contributions to music at the national level in the United Kingdom. Wallen is uniquely qualified for this position, as her memoir Becoming a Composer makes clear. Not only is she a prolific and respected musical creator, but she is an eloquent and engaging writer on the subject of a composer's life. Born in Belize in 1958, Wallen moved with her family to the United Kingdom when she was two years old. Her memoir recounts incidents in her early years during a chaotic family life, as well as her musical training, and what contributed to her achievement of the respected position she now holds. Her overall goal in the memoir is to illuminate the process of musical composition for a general audience; in doing so, although she uses anecdotes specific to her life, she provides a clearer view in general of what anyone could experience in the act of creating music. Wallen's memoir includes various styles of text, including poetry, drama, and program notes, to demonstrate to the reader the various sources of inspiration she has found. She also elucidates her process in writing music in a variety of genres, whether opera, songs, or orchestral or chamber music. She concludes that "intuition, perception and craft are the essential ingredients for inspiration..." (p. 35). In addition, she does not shy away from a frank assessment of the obstacles and rejections she has faced throughout her career, including those caused by her gender and race. However, her life is characterized by persistence and the ability to channel difficulties into a positive outcome. Her evaluation of her own career and motivations is discerning and perceptive. Even so, she admits the impossibility of "[conveying] all of music's variety or emotional force. There are no words to describe what it really is and what it really means." (p. 55). Her ultimate surrender to the force and power of music is an eloquent demonstration of what epitomizes the life of a musician of any kind, and what makes this memoir one that resonates. Kathi Bower Peterson is a graduate of Indiana University, where she majored in music history and oboe, and was a member of the Iota Epsilon chapter. She also has an MM (in musicology) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MLIS from San Jose State University. She has been the librarian at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, California since 1997 and currently serves as the treasurer of the San Diego Alumnae Chapter, as well as the Coordinator of Scholarships for SAI Philanthropies, Inc.

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