We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samantha Mecca a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

There are two areas/projects which have been meaningful to me over the past decade-plus. Chronologically speaking, the first was my development of a theory I have named “The Kinesthetic Fingerprint,” and the second was my somewhat later transition (with no pun intended) from being a performing musician to a scholar of popular music. For years I taught music to dancers and have taught instrumental and electronic musicians how to work with dance as composer, collaborator, or accompanist. While making music requires one to initiate sequences of physical gestures, how one weds music to movement-based disciplines (dance, opera) is as much a mystery for musicians as it is for dancers. I have posited that neural pathways in musicians have more direct lines of travel than the pathways that develop in dancers or singers since the gestural complexity of their physical actions are distinct when comparing musicians to dancers and singers. I considered how I played music for dance and realized that I considered my own pathways were ‘faster’ and in some way, shortened, from those I processed when playing music in a non-dance setting. I realized that I could look at any dancer and focus not on the tempo, or velocity of their movement, but instead focus on their unique physical dynamics as their neural pathways travel simultaneously in multiple and, at times. contrasting directions. Even when a group of dancers move in unison, I can focus on one dancer and read their kinesthetic fingerprint which provides me with the information I need to match the music to their movement, which, in my interpretation, ultimately brings the entire group into a shared vibration. Why is it meaningful? There are multiple levels as to why this is meaningful but I’ll save that for a later time. In summary, this theory successfully bridged the ephemeral to the theoretical/practical and gave both musicians and dancers an ability to more consistently capture ‘the moment.’

In terms of my personal and creative transition during my fifth decade, after years dedicated to being a performing musician, I chose to become serious scholar of popular music during the middle period in my creative journey. This happened somewhat by chance because I had begun to coalesce a melange of ideas with a goal to offer something different in the field, which turned out to be more narrative rather than subjective reportage or analysis, and I knew it was time to put rubber to the road. My writing in popular music avoids the more familiar styles of data presentation, obtuse methods of musical analysis, or ‘fanboy’ enthusiasm. In its place I sought to create a narrative journey that can take the reader to a specific time and place as if the experience is one into which they alone are present, even if only for a moment. I authored a book on the music of Brian Wilson. I grew up in the same South Bay region as did Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, so their music, at least when I grew up there, had always been a part of the air, wind, and spirit of that region. It was unavoidable. While two decades younger than Wilson, I shared with him (though I didn’t know it at the time) a music teacher at a junior college. This instructor, Dr. Robert Haag, encouraged Wilson to continue with his group and develop his singing and harmonization skills. Twenty-some years later I was in Dr. Haag’s class and while I was considered by many as the least promising pianist in the school, he saw something in me and encouraged me with a gift of scores for Mozart Piano Concertos. While I only would perform two of these concerti, these scores gave me an opening into a world I did not know existed. When I came to writing the book on Wilson, I saw there were a number of parallels in our lives and instead of focusing on his hits, I covered his entire output. I focused on his ability to create a mood and place that was California, where his music could transport the listener to a deeper subconscious of sun, sea, and salty breezes. I also focused on showing how his ability to create imagined worlds would permeate his music to the present day. This was a satisfying project and one for which I am very proud.

That was followed immediately by a book that was a survey on Psychedelic Rock. This too was a subject I loved, but I was limited to writing entries about must-hear songs, artists, albums, etc. Not as satisfying to write, but it broadened my own understanding of how and why this form was born and what did it indicate about out culture at that period and how has it stayed with us to the present.

I now am at work researching two very different topics, and one which I intend to conclude in a book. First is a book on soul music in Detroit from 1968-1978, the decade following Motown’s relocation from Detroit to Hollywood. There was an enormous body of new music created by the award-winning songwriting/production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. This music was as much a signifier of the city as were any prior styles such as Jazz, Rock, or Motown, yet it was largely unavailable and erased from the city’s musical history. I recalled while growing up, that I heard some of these artists on AM radio in Los Angeles and imagined they came from some magical urban land. Rediscovering them four decades later spurred me into action to place this body of work into its rightful place in the history, a sort of thank-you letter to the city of Detroit. Lastly, I am beginning to research the music of the amazing singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl, who died at age 41 in a needless accident at a time when she was just beginning a new phase in her career and life. For these projects I am very excited about what awaits to unfold in the next few years.

Samantha , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I intentionally stumbled into a creative milieu at the relatively late age of 18-19 years. I loved music but had no other options (or reasonable interests) that I could see as my future. I benefited from not knowing a great deal about how this worked and did not know how impossible, and perhaps irrational, a goal I was setting for myself. I often entered most settings by bluffing my way in and learning on the spot, staying 1-2 days ahead of any scheduled deadlines. I always figured I just needed to move through the doorway and I would learn what I needed once in. This allowed me to look, listen, and embody the work and I punted to take every audition or opportunity that presented itself, regardless of size or prestige (or lack of). I moved into dance over forty years ago when an ex-girlfriend mentioned that a local dance studio was looking for a pianist. I knew nothing about dance and certainly nothing on how music worked with dance. Once through that door I stumbled for a while before learning enough to pass, then I began to absorb dance, its history, practice, and its social placement and function. I was fortunate in having opportunities to work with and, more importantly, learn from a number of famous mid-century ballet and modern dancers. I listened and observed and my dedication would pay off with opportunities to work with more dancers of similar status and legacies, whose first-person experiences in being a part of history provided me with lessons and an understanding of dance and music that I could not have learned in a book. I transferred these skills into my own composing, playing, teaching, research, and administrative work. I see long views while understanding the pieces that make the whole. My entree into the various fields where I was fortunate to land was cocktail of discipline, desperation, chance, and the good fortune to have a few important mentors who always helped me to navigate the rough spots and expand what I set out to do, which ultimately would lead to other opportunities. Along the way I leaned the value in respecting all input and still recall this in spite of my (but not really), to some, opinionated manner. I recall how I started and learned in the moment and know the best outcomes arise from magical and synchronous moments. My strengths lie in assessing a scenario and finding the pathways that can bring all of us to create those magical moments (paraphrasing, with all respect, to Doc Pomus) when we find that shared vibration (obviously paraphrasing Brian Wilson). While perhaps I paraphrase too often or speak in endless metaphors, I often tell musicians when working with them in dance that “You may not be playing at all times but don’t forget that something great may be happening on stage.” (Even there, I paraphrased Julian Cope…so I learn from my sources). I also teach that the tool to being a good dance musician means you maintain a fine balance of cynicism and servility. It’s a call always to be alert, aware, engaged, and respectful. I apply this to all areas of my creative/administrative work, whether performing, collaborating, researching, leading, etc.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I have been very fortunate to have pursued this career and to have, at some level, succeeded. I wish perhaps that I would have chosen a different career path that would have enabled something more stable or financially rewarding, but there were no other skills I possessed at the time and at first there was no one to mentor me on options. It was assumed, by teachers, parents, etc that I was a “go-nowhere” who had nothing that anyone could see was worth encouraging. I followed the only path I could see, which I happened to love, the arts. My mission as a professor/mentor, if I have one, is not to leave someone hanging with nothing more than a “…you’ll figure it out..” as the only moment of encouragement, especially when they have no idea about what “it” is. I strived to expand upon this in my five years as department chair at Michigan. Dance is a field where young women are taught many unhealthy practices (never questioning, accepting all criticism about their body, decisions, or choices and more), so I came in with a clear line of no bullying or body shaming from, or about, anyone. All people who are there are supposed to be there and they have the agency to determine who/what they are, their artistic choices, and life goals. All of this while delivering a disciplined and refined technical and artistic curriculum. Students learn to encourage and support one another while everyone grows into their own artist. One person’s success is a success for our community, and one person’s failure is simply a lesson to help us determine other paths and options. No one is shamed for failing, especially when they have put their honest selves out there. In short, I have sought to be an arts leader who imparts the value of shared engagement and responsibility, so no one becomes lost in the long grass, not if we’re truly paying attention (which I believe we are). Now that I no longer am chair, I apply these same rules to my own scholarship and performance.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am a transgender woman in her sixth decade. While I first was aware of ‘being different’ or ‘not quite right’ from an age early in grammar school, and by my teens I knew about Christine Jorgensen, Wendy Carlos, Renee Richards, and later, Tula Cossey, I assumed this was some far away land where I never could/would exist. I was a coward to myself, my happiness, and to living, but I sincerely adored women (and still do) and always felt ‘this should be enough.” I shoved it down time and again, made more than a few dangerously stupid decisions, but by my mid-50s it could no longer be suppressed as my body physically rejected Christian. In late 2018 as I began my new role as Chair of the Department of Dance at the University of Michigan, I inherited a program that had many truly talented students, but the program was in dire need of serious rejuvenation, a new vision, and a new attitude that “everything is possible.” I knew we would need to offer new challenges and opportunities, so I sought to initiate those challenges and open those opportunities. The students who came to us deserved more than they were receiving when I came on. At that same time I began my still reluctant journey as a transgender woman. I had a small collection of female friends who were immensely supportive and helpful. Everything from shaving to dressing, sizing, to makeup, and more, I was given so much advice and support that I feel that I might not have made this leap without them. Then the pandemic and I remained partly closeted because of home life, and I put the department on the front lines in addressing and responding to the pandemic. Thanks to social media and my unconventional leadership methods, we went from being generally unknown to becoming very well known. While those events have largely been forgotten, our applications tripled in my five years and enrollments grew by nearly 50%.

When we began to return to a somewhat normal life, I came out to the students in my department, the majority of whom were immediately supportive. I began to use my chosen name at work and the students jumped right on. To have the support and belief of the students (and by extension, their families) really helped to support me as my personal life unraveled. Sad to lose this most sustained period of my life, but there it is…… So for the short term, I live approx. 1/5th of the year as myself, and the other 4/5th in stealth……which is, Christian in women’s business separates……this is difficult and now that I’ve been removed as chair and have returned to faculty, I am looking at what I will become and do in the short and long term. Well, the writing and the books…and barely a month into this new role I’ve already begun to dig in. But before too much longer, I hope to be living fully as myself. Considering the shitstorm of a mess in which we find ourselves, January 2025 has triggered unchecked hated and violence and a sincere effort to erase transgender individuals from the basic rights of living (not to mention women and immigrants). Post-academia, whenever that may be, I see myself perhaps serving as an advocate for my community……transgender, professionals, administrators, and leaders. It is not going to be any easier going forward, but I am a good writer, speaker, a creative thinker and doer, and am fast on the draw. Perhaps I have too confident a belief in my true value, but we’ll see what decade no. 6 holds for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://smtd.umich.edu/profiles/samantha-mecca/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-matijas-mecca-8076a753/
• Other: All Audio Recordings as Christian Matjias or Philip Carout are available through physical discs and all online and streaming platforms. All Books are available in brick and mortar stores as well as through all online retailers.

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