Episode 2.16 - Rylee Short
Episode 16 features Rylee Short, composer and horn player now based in St. Louis, Missouri. We talk with Rylee about their music, interdisciplinary collaboration with other art forms, and advice to educators around creating safe spaces for especially transgender students. Transcripts to all podcast episodes are created by Hollyn Slykhuis and are posted on our website!
To learn more about Rylee and the organizations and resources they recommend, check out the links below!
Look up your local boards, ensembles, and organizations!
Look up your local trans groups for support and to support!
Full Transcript
Carrie Blosser 0:03
Welcome to Diversify the Stand. Together we build a community to listen and learn from the stories and experiences of passionate musicians. I'm Carrie Blosser.
Ashley Killam 0:12
And I'm Ashley Killam. In our second season, we talk with musicians, performers, educators, historians, and entrepreneurs to expand how we think of the music we perform and follow non-traditional career paths. Episode 16, we talk with composer, hornist, and interdisciplinary creator Rylee Short. Rylee is fluent in performing a range of styles genres, and this appears in the exploration of their works as well. They have been a chair and a board member for multiple arts organizations in the Louisville area, and we talk with them a lot about their recent move, as well as just establishing and building a brand post-name change and transition.
Carrie Blosser 0:52
Well, thank you again for joining us.
Rylee Short 0:55
Thanks so much for having me. I'm very excited.
Carrie Blosser 0:56
We wanted to ask, how did you get started in music?
Rylee Short 1:01
In a pretty typical fashion, I think, with fifth grade band, and I was the only horn player until high school, which was difficult because horn is very difficult in the early years, more so than some other instruments. So being the only French horn player until high school was a bit of a chore and it deterred me some. But my parents had me press on. And I got pretty active in band through high school, and then even taught marching band a little bit after high school, but put down my horn and I thought I wanted to be a science major, which did not go well. And a couple years later, like, looked at my horn, I was like, what have I done, and I missed it a lot. So I had to get my chops back up and I was, I changed my mind, I was like, I want to do music, definitely. So I, you know, found a local horn teacher, joined a community band with a community college, like, got everything back in order, and went for Music Ed at Western Kentucky University, and composition wasn't even on my radar at all until I took an elective. I had to fill some electives, I took a composition elective, and I was like, this is way more interesting than my education classes, to me, you know, I enjoy teaching marching band, but the ed classes just didn't jive with me. And the creative process, along with being, like, a creative arts writing minor really spoke to me, so I left Western at some point and I finished my undergrad degree at Indiana University Southeast Campus and got an undergrad in composition and really hit the ground running very ambitiously in my early-mid 20s. But kind of a late start with composing.
Ashley Killam 2:41
You're definitely not the first composer we've talked to that has started out either, like, science field and then come back to music, or just had it not even be on the radar and then realize like, oh, this could be a possibility. Do you have any advice to other musicians who maybe don't fit the, like, music ed model or want something more that haven't really thought about composition?
Rylee Short 3:05
Yeah, I mean, I think it's important to try it all, right, especially in your undergrad, everybody says, you know, know what you want to do in undergrad, you know, I work in higher ed now on transfer credit, really you should get your Gen Ed's out of the way and transfer to a four year institution, because you can transfer all that credit. And yeah, I mean, try it all. I think my biggest advice is if you are exploring composition, what I did, and I still struggle with having, like, recordings of my work, because I was writing what I wanted to write instrumentation-wise without regard to if I could get it performed or not. And I think if I could start over my biggest thing would be writing for my friends that were performance majors. And, or, you know, what I knew I could get played, because I think the most learning as a composer to me came from writing for someone and getting feedback on that. More so than composition lessons. Like, I learned how to use the software, I learned about structure, and I learned about orchestration through orchestration classes, but connecting with players and writing things that players like to write, if that's important to you—it's important to me that the players like to play what I write—getting that feedback from people that are going to actually be performing it, I think it's huge.
Carrie Blosser 4:23
It's definitely always really hard to write something without, like, hearing a person, like, what they're going to sound like in mind and, like, as a performer too, like, how should I interpret this, or, I think that relationship is really important.
Rylee Short 4:35
Yeah, cause the MIDI is not great, even though it's way better than, you know, at least have MIDI now, to get that, but knowing if your notation’s coming across to another live human is really invaluable feedback.
Carrie Blosser 4:48
Yeah, absolutely. One thing that we, I know we emailed back and forth and that you wanted to talk about, is you've had to do some rebranding and kind of getting your name out there. Could you talk a little bit about how, you know, you were taking music you've written before and that you're promoting now and kind of a bit of that transition and rebranding process?
Rylee Short 5:06
Yeah, absolutely. And that stems from an actual physical transition as a transmasculine person. As I mentioned, in my early composer days in my undergrad, you know, I was really ambitious, I had way more energy than I do now. And I was, you know, I had a new music ensemble that I started with a couple buddies and, you know, I had a radio show where I was meeting writers and collaborating with, and I was doing, and I was on the board for, like, an experimental music venue. And I was doing a ton of, like, improv performance and writing fluxus work, and doing all this stuff that's, all the press for that, if you googled me under my previous name, my birth name, that would all be there. But, as most trans people, I don't like to really associate with that name very much, you know, some people are more comfortable than others. For me, it's personally not very comfortable to do. So I feel like my work now, up to, like, four years ago, is really divorced from my work before, and I don't know how to kind of get over that hump, like, do I contact Google and say “Can we get a plugin to change all my name from before this associated with this metadata or something?” I'm not sure, but I do—for a while I tried to bridge the gap by labeling everything “R. Short” because both names start with R. And I was like, well if the score is “R. Short” you know, people that knew me, you know, early on and maybe you like my work, could still recognize that it's me or something like that. And eventually I was just like, you know what, I'm gonna go with my full name and I'm gonna just press on and I'll have to start over but it was kind of hard to take, that, like, all this work I put into, like, being present in my community feels like it's kind of up in smoke, gone, to an extent.
Ashley Killam 6:56
Well, thanks for sharing, that's, I feel like that's something that, like, a side of things that we don't hear about and, you know, every person's experience is different, but that's something that, it's just a result, you know, I know name changes happen, but you don't always think about that there's not a good user manual into how to reestablish yourself.
Rylee Short 7:18
Yeah. And I'm not as well known as Elliott Page, for example. So, you know, everybody knows Elliott Page’s, his line of work, previous to transition. But folks like me, you know, in the very niche classical community or other, like, other high art performance, like theater, dance, or, you know, and I haven't talked to a ton of other trans people about the subject either, maybe it would be a good, like, roundtable discussion on like, what did you do? Because yeah, I don't know if any of us know what to do.
Ashley Killam 7:49
And then on top of that, you move.
Rylee Short 7:51
Yeah, I am, I miss the Louisville music community, for sure. It was a very welcoming, and a place that I grew a lot as a musician and a performer and as a person. And so I'm a little nervous about rebuilding that here in Missouri, and not really sure how to go about it. But I've met a couple people in the new music scene already through a colleague and friend of mine, that teaches at Mizzou. So yeah, just have to run at it and see what happens, right?
Ashley Killam 8:22
This is an excerpt from 926, Riley's work for piano, viola, and bass. It accompanies an excerpt from Jacinda Townsend’s novel John Loves Ruth. 926 is the number of murders at the hands of police in 2019. For the full performance, check out the podcast description, and a content warning: the novel excerpt captures the experience of a Black family losing their father due to police brutality. If you’d like to skip ahead, our interview with Riley continues at 13 minutes, 54 seconds.
We have seen multiple questions with educators asking, brass educators specifically, asking just advice in regards to their students using a chest binder, and just kind of the pros and cons, and how to go about talking with your students, you know, if that's their situation, and we were just wondering if there's anything that either, you know, musicians, performers, or educators can just be aware of in regards to trans students and building an inclusive practice that still promotes healthy brass playing and healthy habits?
Rylee Short 14:32
Yeah, that's difficult for wind players, and binders can be—because I feel like wind playing is the amount, same amount of lung work as pretty rigorous exercise, right? And, you know, I want to preface by saying I'm not a medical professional, and maybe this, but like, you know, from what I've read, and I have personally used chest binders, you know, lucky that I was able to have a surgery not too far into my transition and only had to wear them for a short amount of time. But I think instead of a full on binder, maybe while you're playing, an exercise-design compression vest, or a very tight sports bra, I guess for lack of a better term, or lack of a kind of inclusive term, which is still hard for people with larger chests, too. Also, there's stuff called trans tape, which doesn't compress, but you can just tape your chest down, all that would be better than, like, a full on binder while you're trying to breathe heavily. But I know it can be really impactful on your confidence. And, you know, I used to couple it with, like, shirts that were way too large for me. And, you know, it was not very fashionable, but I felt more comfortable and I wasn't damaging my body, my lungs, or my rib cage. Because you can cause permanent damage with those binders if you wear them more than eight hours and you're not hydrating, all that stuff. But I've seen on Tik Tok recently, there's a new one called the long line bra or something like that. And it's like, it's a compression vest, but not a binder, and it's being advertised, I think it's for people that aren’t able to order gender affirming articles of clothing to their house, if they have to, like, keep an undercover from their parents, or whatever, this sells and reads like it's a product for women. But it operates more like a product for non-binary or transmasculine people. So yeah, maybe people can look into the long line bra, whatever it's called.
Carrie Blosser 16:41
That's awesome. I feel like that's another thing for like, if we could get, like, a roundtable of people to talk about, like, trans composers and trans brass players, and non-binary, you know, like, that would be such a good, I feel like, educational conversation. Because I feel like as, like, an educator, like, all I want is for my students to be comfortable, and to play well, and just, you know, like, all those affirming things that you can do in a positive way.
Rylee Short 17:04
Yeah, that's great. Because beyond the barriers of the physical needs to be comfortable and effective in your playing, you know, there's also we talked about the name change, and then there's pronouns, so I think, and you asked about other advice for, like, educators and so forth. The other thing you have to be, I think, mindful of is, if your student is out to you, but not to their family, and you teach someone who lives with their parents, bridging the gap of honoring them when they're in your space, and not outing them when you're around the, you know, their familial people. So it's a lot for educators to take on. But I think it's important, and I think it would allow, you can connect with your students more, and make them feel empowered and confident in your presence. And that's going to help their playing and their growth.
Carrie Blosser 17:55
So other things on the radar, do you have any current exciting projects that you're working on that we can share with our listeners?
Rylee Short 18:02
So I have been in a pretty flex moment with the relocation. So I, since I finished the piece for the Winds of Change, it's kind of taking a refresher, it was also the busiest time of year, my day job. But now I feel like things are settling down, things are starting to percolate. So I usually toggle back and forth from doing score writing to doing, like, a solo recording album. I tend to mix, like, spoken word or poetry with sound loops and field recordings and electronic music. And I'll play various instruments as accents. But I like to do a solo work that I don't have to get other players to perform, and then go back to score writing. So I'm looking to do one of those, that would be my third solo album. And then I've also talked with a visual artist recently, Alexis Stix Brown, who is interested in collaborating with me. So I'd like to do some kind of multimedia situation with her. She's a Black queer artist from Louisville that does a lot of line work. And so I have some ideas about doing this thing where her line work morphs over time with the music and the audience can't really tell if the music is informing the line work or the line work is informing the music. So it's really, really integrated. So it's not set in stone. It's very early-stage brain baby. But she's definitely interested, so I feel like I can talk about it. And I'm excited to work with her a little bit more, because I’ve been a big fan of her work for a while.
Ashley Killam 19:38
Oh, that'll be super cool. And then are there any groups, organizations, resources, kind of very general, that have been helpful to you, either, you know, performer, human being, composer, educator, any of the above, that you’d just like to recommend?
Rylee Short 19:57
Working with you all has been really great. I know you're early in starting, but I think the work you're doing to diversify the stand is amazing. It's motivated me to actually get my website in order, and maybe get registered on one of the things so that I can, you know, if people play my music, it counts for something. So it's been really motivating to kind of get everything in order to work with you all. I really have approached most things kind of on an island for some reason. I was involved with my local, like, trans men group in Louisville, that was helpful for my transition. And I was on the board for a local chamber orchestra, Orchestra Enigmatic that, they did a lot of work supporting composers and actually paying composers for their work. And we often tackle social justice issues. So working with them has helped me kind of go about learning the grant writing side of things and how to put on fairly large productions and having a musician-focused group that's managed by the musicians that are in the ensemble. So that was really helpful to me. But as far as larger organizations, I've kind of been really grass roots, I guess you would call it in my approach.
Carrie Blosser 21:17
Excellent. We have one final question for you today, which is, what is on your stand this week? And how are you diversifying your stand?
Rylee Short 21:28
Yeah, so I, like I said, I'm kind of in a transitional point, I consistently seek out working with other marginalized groups like myself, and I think we're as a society moving away from that term, “marginalized,” but underrepresented groups in the classical world, much as you all are, so I really like to collaborate with other artists. I either want to include their words, either spoken word or novelists, or visual artists. And I want to collaborate with other folks that don't normally break into the typical classical music realm. And not saying, like, I'm helping them get where they need to go, not at all, but bringing, maybe, in front of an audience that they typically wouldn't be in front of. They may not work in the classical music, or get in front of those audiences that are also, not only are the composers and musicians predominately white cis male, but sort of the audiences, or older, white, hetero, cis people. And I do think that we have to move away from that to keep art music going for the younger generations. So yeah, that's how I want to diversify the stand.
Ashley Killam 22:52
To learn more about Rylee and their music, check out the links in our podcast description. Thank you for listening to Diversify the Stand. I'm Ashley.
Carrie Blosser 22:59
And I'm Carrie. If you'd like to support us and our projects, find us on social media and visit our website. We now have a store where you can pick up some Diversify the Stand gear.
Ashley Killam 23:09
And as always, a huge thank you to Trevor Weston and Whitney George for allowing us to use their compositions in our podcast. The musical introduction is Trevor's trumpet duet Fanfare for Changes, and the ending music is Whitney's Incantations for trumpet and piano. Both composers’ websites are listed in the podcast description.
Carrie Blosser 23:27
Until next week, what's on your stand?