Kira Lesser

Why did you choose U of M over a music conservatory?

Well, I didn't originally know that I was going to go into music. I'm in LSA so I'm doing the music degree within LSA. I had no idea what I was going to do. I thought I was going to go into physics, I thought I was going to be pre-med, I thought I was going to be all sorts of things. So that's why I chose U of M. I knew that I'm the kind of person to change my mind so I figured this would be a good place because it's good in pretty much everything.

Do you find it hard to balance your studies and your craft?

Yeah, I do. I don't do as much music as I should, definitely. I'll be taking my voice lessons and my voice teacher's pretty laid back but every once in a while he's like, "Kira! You need to practice!" I do, but not as much as I would like to.

How is the music program through LSA different from the music school?

For one thing, they have separate classes that they teach in LSA. They have classes that are geared toward people that don't have any music background and the LSA program is also less rigorous. The music school is a four year program and you're taking mostly music and a little bit of LSA. With LSA it's the same as any other major, about 30 credits of music and everything else you can take within LSA.

How does your art add to your experience at U of M?

Well, being in an a cappella group basically makes my experience here. That's where a lot of my friends came from, that's where I spend the majority of my time, and I just can't imagine my life without my a cappella group, so that's a big advantage to have this social network and a regular performance outlet.

Which group are you in?

The Harmonettes. All female.

What kind of music do you guys sing? Do you arrange your own pieces?

We arrange our own, sometimes we sing other arrangements that we find, but usually we arrange our own. It's mostly pop music or something within the realm of popular music. Not necessarily pop, but stuff like Beatles, or Ben Folds, to Madonna, a lot of different things.

Do you do anything besides your a cappella group?

I played in the campus orchestra for a year and a half. It's a non-music major orchestra that's taught at the music school and I played flute in that. I'm also in Arts Chorale this semester. I've taken private flute lessons through the music school and right now I'm taking a jazz piano class and I took composition. It's mostly the stuff that I do through school that I have time for but I'm still working on writing when I get the chance.

How did you decide that music was going to be your major?

Well, first of all, it took figuring out that physics wasn't what I thought it was; it wasn't what I wanted to do. And then I was thinking about pre-med and it was mostly that I didn't want music to be my focus, I don't want music to be my work, I don't want it to be what I put pressure on, I just want it to be something that I enjoy alongside my life, so I kept trying to do some other path and I just kept being drawn back to music. I almost look at it as finally giving in. And I was really hesitant because I'm far from the experience of the people in the music school. So I've had that resistance because I don't feel like I have enough experience really. But I finally realized that there are a lot of things I could do with it.

What do you plan to do with it? Do you know yet?

Not exactly. I'm thinking of doing some kind of arts management and when I get the chance, to do some composition, and performing, but not exclusively. Lately, I've considered event planning. It helps to know musicians in order to do something like that.

What is arts management? Is it like event planning? Is there any other aspect you'd be interested in?

I don't know all that much about it but I know that one thing you can do is manage a specific artist so that you basically make their schedule and you book them and basically plan everything for them. So that's one thing. Or there's always working for a record company. I mean, part of why I started leaning toward event planning is I started picturing organizing music related events, so that's something that might interest me.

When did you start seriously playing the piano, flute, and singing?

I started playing piano when I was six, so I've been able to read music as long I could read English basically. I took lessons for four years and then kept playing on my own and just started jazz piano lessons. And voice, I've been singing as long as I can remember, and I started taking it seriously, probably, in fourth grade when I started auditioning for solos and stuff. I started realizing that I could sing and then I got more and more into it over time. And with flute, I started the same way everyone else does, in fifth grade band and just focused really hard on it.

How did you get into composing? Did you take any classes?

Well, now I have. I started just on my own. I always try to remember how I started. It was just one day when I was maybe twelve or something and I was just like, "I wanna write music!" I vaguely remember the first song that I wrote and it was so bad, so simple. But it was still harmonically "correct" and it was fine. So it was kind of like I just started on an impulse and just decided that it would be cool if I could write songs. I just sort of followed it and when I got here I took a composition class and right now I'm taking a class in the RC that focuses on composition and theory.

What kind of music are you interested in? Does this influence what you play or what you sing?

Well, I'm really into jazz right now and that's my main interest. I love bebop. And because of that interest, I've been taking jazz piano lessons and trying to focus my voice lessons on jazz and I'm learning how to improvise. So jazz is definitely a main focus but it's very hard for me to get completely away from pop. I try to move away from it but it's so ingrained in me. Most of my stuff comes out sounding like pop with a jazz influence.

Do you have any specific artists that influence you?

I love Norah Jones and that's sort of the jazz/pop thing. But I love Charlie Parker, Cecil Taylor, Louis Armstrong and a lot of other jazz players. I think recently I've started drawing some influence from Ben Folds, so there's the pop creeping back in. I honestly never really know what's influencing me, because I never sound exactly like anything.

What is your favorite part of making music?

Probably the connections with other people and when you play something, how it affects other people, and being able to play with other people, it's just so expressive in a way that nothing else can do.