JAVS Spring 2020

Eclectic Violist

Looping into Composing Jessica Meyer shares her journey as composer, violist, and much more. Leanne Darling

What is an eclectic violist? In many cases, it’s a choice along the way to follow the beat of your own drummer, finding your way in a changing musical world. It’s being a misfit in a traditional setting, making a choice to explore more of what the viola can do outside the realm of traditional classical music. When I took over this column for David Wallace, I wanted to help answer this question, so I thought I would give some eclectic violists a chance to share their stories and creative process to see if we could all find the answer together. Jessica Meyer was kind enough to chat with me about her rapidly evolving career as eclectic violist and now up and coming composer whose album recently debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Classical Music Chart. Jessica had a unique childhood of play, song, and improvisation that she left behind to study at Juilliard. Unsatisfied with the orchestral audition process, she focused on establishing her career in NYC by starting a new music ensemble, becoming a Teaching Artist, and growing her wedding gig business. After years of feeling something was not quite right, she rediscovered her creative side and reinvented herself: first as a solo violist with a looper and now as a successful composer/performer using her life and entrepreneurial skills as tools and inspiration while living by her own rules. Kindergarten in the 1970s was always centered around play—so there would be a block station, a doll house station, and a piano station amongst others. My favorite was the piano station. At a parent-teacher conference my, Mom was shocked to find out that “Jessica plays songs from the TV on the piano for us every day!” even though we did not have a piano at home. When we would visit other houses that had a piano, I would make stuff up on it the entire time. I loved the immediacy of the piano What was your earliest expressive musical outlet?

Photo by Ana Pinto.

and the fact that I could eventually figure out a favorite song or keep busy making stuff up, then play it over and over until I was happy and it sounded good to me. Quite frankly, that is still my compositional process to this day.

How did your creativity develop in elementary and middle school?

After starting viola in 4th grade, I was encouraged to then take piano for music theory in middle school. The piano then became an outlet in adolescence to emotionally process all that was going on. When playing viola, I noticed that I had many issues with intonation and tension when playing the pieces I was assigned, yet when I played what came to mind or improvised with my dad while he sang and played guitar, I played much better.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2020

27