Devin Cohen: Artist Feature
Meet Devin Cohen: musician, teaching artist, and ABI Fellow, where he is the recipient of the Wendy Livingston Scholarship.
We sat down with Devin to speak about his ideas about musical storytelling, his bassoon journey, and even his most embarrassing moment on stage.
ABI: How do you incorporate storytelling into your artistic practice?
DC: We are all living in our own constantly unfolding story and just like in life, behind every piece of music there is a story to be told. While there are many variables to consider when learning and performing any work, for me the story in the mind of the composer is the most important aspect to consider. Having a fully formed understanding of the story behind a piece of music allows the performer to provide the truest and most authentic performance possible. But how does one grasp the story behind a piece of music? There are many ways to gain this understanding. I usually start with the composers themselves. Where are they from? When did they compose the piece? What was the world like when they composed the piece? This focus on historical aspects helps formulate why the composer created the piece. Next, I focus on the sonic qualities of the music that naturally put forth imagery that can be directly linked to the story behind a piece. These sonic qualities include tempo, key, dynamics, character, and all affect the mood of the music aiding in its storytelling potential.
ABI: Why did you choose the bassoon? When did you start taking lessons?
JT: When I think back to how I started playing the bassoon, I am reminded of a line from Harry Potter… “The wand chooses the wizard Harry.” On the first day of 4th grade, we chose our instrument for band class. But I was late for school! By the time I arrived, all the instruments I had planned on choosing had already been taken. All that remained was a single bassoon. I had never even heard of the bassoon, and I did not have high hopes about enjoying the instrument that seemingly chose me. However, eventually I cut through my own grade school pessimism and found that I LOVED the bassoon and that it came naturally to me like nothing in my life ever had before. I was from that point on a bassoonist.
Devin performing bassoon in the Art Beyond the Ink original film, The Treasure Hunters
ABI: What’s the most embarrassing moment you’ve ever had on stage?
JT: As a performing artist, I of course have embarrassing moments that I would much rather forget. The most recent and jarring instance was when I was performing a work for solo bassoon by Malcom Arnold. It was a newer piece for me and I was quite nervous before going on stage. Through my nerves I failed to notice that I only had 2 of the 4 pages of music for the piece. I hesitantly walked up on stage, put my music on the stand, checked my reed and began to play. It was not until I had played half of the first page that I realized I was missing the rest of the music! I ended up having to make up a whole new ending to the piece. It was certainly a learning experience for me and to be honest, just thinking about it makes my palms sweat to this day.
ABI: Oh my gosh! That is every musician’s worst nightmare. What about the most magical moment you’ve ever had on stage?
JT: As a musician, I have had countless unforgettable moments on stage. The most notable moments for me are when I have what I call fully immersive performance experiences. These experiences can be defined as when I disappear into the music so completely, I leave my body and forget that I am even performing. The audience fades away behind a wall of music and all that exists is the music in front of me, my fellow musicians sharing the feeling of freedom that comes with an experience like this. While these experiences are few and far between, just one is enough to keep the fire in my passion for music burning.
Quick Links:
Learn more about Devin:
Instagram: @devco22
Check out more amazing artists like Devin on the Across Disciplines Database.
Read more about the ABI Teaching Artist Fellows and the ABI Teaching Artist Fellowship.