Introduction
I am Janice Mautner Markham, Los Angeles-based musician, composer, educator, theater artist and community activist, and I welcome you to my artivist scholar page! In this e-Portfolio you will find my writings, research, videos, music and links to items of interest. The cross section of social justice and the arts has been the focus of my life's work for over 3 decades, and I am indebted to all of the extraordinary students, colleagues and mentors I have worked with over the years. I am also grateful for my past colleges and universities including UCLA (current faculty) UC Santa Barbara, University of the Arts (Philadelphia), USC and Arizona State University.
Vision:
Since 2012 much of my musical exploration has involved the research, study, performance and arranging of Eastern European folk music. The diasporic genre of klezmer/Yiddish music has been a focus, but my musical landscape has also included Ukrainian, Balkan and Ladino music. I enjoy the deep dive into folk traditions, and my work also involves finding the commonalities with other world music genres as well as “mashing up” styles of music - traditional and contemporary, in composition and performance. In this respect my artistic intention is to explore new ways to compose, record and perform klezmer music and take the seeds of the ornamentation and any iconic aspect of the genre and explode it into the 21st century. It is crucial to my musical creativity to explore with my colleagues and students new and innovative ways to practice, apply pedagogy, learn forms of traditional and non-traditional music and mash the old with new technology.
Mostly Kosher/The JAC Trio/Collaborations - My own background includes movement/dance as well as creative writing, and I relish any type of multidisciplinary collaboration. Currently new music is being created for album #3 for my band, Mostly Kosher, and a music video for my song, “Vitebsk” is in pre-production. I relish any opportunity to compose music and create new multidisciplinary works with artists in my community!
How can the music I create be used in ways to further my commitment to community and social justice? The trad and contemporary world music that has been my wheelhouse has been a gateway to my collaborations with other artists. I hope to continue these inspired relationships to create not just aural but rich visual content that can further my work in the social justice realm. My approach often begins with considering what stories need to be told, what voices need to be amplified and how can I be a part of that from an arts perspective. I am interested in embarking on new music ventures that layer multilingual spoken word with both folk music sensibilities and contemporary sound design. This musical realm connects my study of historical folk music, stories of diasporic peoples dealing with war trauma and immigrant experiences with contemporary life and where the past and present connect. I will be exploring these topics as Artist-in-Residence at the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles.
I hope to expand my reach as an educator. I have been so fortunate the past few years to have had many teaching experiences that have furthered my own musical studies as well as passing on my own scholarship:
The UCLA Klezmer Ensemble: It is a career goal imagined to lead a music ensemble at UCLA, an institution I have spent much time as a student, researcher, audience member, guest instructor and now facutly member. I’ve had the privilege of introducing my original music to the ensemble, and helping them explore the improvisational side of Judaic folk music. I am looking forward to building the scope of this ensemble and reaching out to other universty klezmer ensembles to build coalitions and community.
The Strings program at Gustavus Adolphus College. I am building on a program I started as a guest professor/lecturer at the invitation of cellist Sharon Mautner-Rodgers to introduce methods of improvisation and folk genres.
In the works: I am currently creating new content to introduce the history of protest music to students currently studying at Cal State Northridge. At the invitation of Prof. Gee Rabe, I will be guest lecturer for her Traditional Music in the United States course in Fall 2024. I will be building on and reimagining the 6 part series I created in Fall 2023, "Women in Protest Music" for Skirball Cultural Center.
Artist in Residence at Holocaust Museum Los Angeles: I will be continuing my tenure at the museum, including presenting "Women Composers Silenced by Nazi Germany" that debuted in fall 2023.
New compositions! I have exciting new collaborations brewing as well as new works being developed for The JAC Trio and Mostly Kosher. I am looking forward to presenting a slew of new music during 2024/2025!