[su_label type=”info”]Column: The Devil’s Advocate[/su_label]
I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing my friend Martha Rodríguez-Salazar. Martha is a petite Mexican woman with a gigantic spirit and a constant smile on her face, a beautiful person oozing warmth and intelligence.
A conductor, a flutist, a mezzo-soprano singer of classical and popular compositions, a producer and, perhaps most importantly, a teacher—Martha is also a tremendous force in the musical life of this city. Currently, she conducts five choirs in the city. They include Coro de Cámara, which focuses in classical and folk music of Latin America, and four community choirs for older adults!
I asked one of her students, the well-known educator Raymond “Ray” Ponce, about his experience in having Martha as the teacher for one of those older adult choirs. “Martha gave me the opportunity to sing! I am so grateful for that. I never thought that I could sing—I still have serious doubts about it—but she has been very supportive!” Ray said, his eyes shining happily.
I told Martha what Ray said and she laughed. “The main thing that I care for is ‘las ganas,’ the desire to sing. The intention is the most important element. I want to educate everyone, beginning with myself! I want to empower people, to include everyone!”
As we began our conversation, Martha emphasized that her work has being helped and strengthened by her relationship with her wife, Jennifer Peringer, who is also a musician and plays the accordion and the piano. Jennifer is also a teacher. “I get most of the credit, but Jennifer has helped me to realize my potential. For example, the Older Adults Chorus, it would not have happened without her! She is not a Latina, but she even taught me how to play congas and the ‘clave.’ She is the creative engine in our work. I get most of the credit and get mentioned as a leader, as the image. But in reality, we work together!”
Just as Martha finished saying those words, we were pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of her “partner in crime.”
Jennifer entered smiling, carrying a bouquet of tulips for Martha. “Happy anniversary,” Jennifer said and they kissed. They were celebrating what they laughingly called, “our shotgun wedding,” which had happened rather urgently in November, 2008.
That date is strongly marked in the minds of many same-sex couples in California. At that time, many gay and lesbian couples rushed to get married before the passing of Proposition 8, which halted their marriages. “Later on, we were able to have our big wedding,” Martha said, “but that urgent ceremony, in 2008, we will always remember!” In June of 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriages and they resumed immediately.
I first met Martha in 2008 when, accompanied by the great flutist and composer Chus Alonso, they asked me to collaborate with them by writing “a funnier script” for “La Posarela,” a Mexican Christmas Holiday show which became very popular in our community.
They were both teaching at the Community Music Center (CMC), a veritable treasure of the Mission District. Chus and Martha worked well together, creating the successful Mission District Young Musicians Program. Martha, modest to a fault, clarifies: “It was Chus’ idea! To create a music program for low-income kids.”
There is a clear trend in Martha’s story. Although, as she says, she appears as the visible image of many musical adventures, she is quick to share the credit with others. I believe that her modesty and honesty are clear proof of her greatness. She recognizes (and I agree with her) that music, the creative act in general, functions best if a key concept is emphasized: that of collaboration.
A few days ago I attended two important events in which Martha Rodriguez was a very important participant.
One was the Día de los Muertos Community celebration, produced by the SF Symphony, which featured wonderful singers, dancers and musicians presenting in various levels of the Symphony building. Jennifer Peringer was there, conducting the “Solera” Choir, a group group of older adults who sing in Spanish and Tagalog. Inside the hall, the SF Symphony, under the guest conductor, the amazing Mexican Alondra de la Parra accompanied the wonderful Mexican singer Eugenia León.
Martha was the curator of many aspects of the concert: from connecting the SF Symphony to the invited artists to suggesting some of the music to be interpreted, or even the art to be exhibited in the lobby. “The SF Symphony, little by little, has given me more responsibility… but it has always respected my input,” Martha said.
The other event was “¡Viva México! (Beyond Border Walls),” a concert by the Golden Gate Symphony, founded in 1994.
In the program, music director and founder, Urs Leonhardt Steiner, wrote that the concert was ”prompted by President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall and divisive rhetoric about Mexico’s people … and it celebrates the rich musical traditions and cultures of Mexico and beyond.” Here, Martha was a guest conductor and she invited a couple of her students from CMC, Joel Ponce and Alicia Naylor Guerrero, to sing at the event, helping to broaden their experiences.
Both events were beautiful examples of the power that music can have as a healing force in our society. And that is, clearly, what motivates Martha Rodríguez the most.
“I want people to transform their lives with music,” Martha said near the end of our conversation. “But, basically, what I teach is, simply, to breathe!”