ndiana" is provided by Columbus Visitors Center, celebrating everywhere art and unexpected architecture in Columbus, Indiana.
Tickets for guided tours and trip planning information at Columbus.in.us.
And by WTIU members.
Thank you!
>> BRANDON: Coming up, go underground with a group of Hoosier caving enthusiasts.
>> ASHLEY: Hear a one-of-a-kind instrument in Greenwood.
>> BRANDON: Check out a remarkable collection of comics in Monroe County.
>> ASHLEY: And meet an Indianapolis musician who is sharing his love of classical music throughout the state.
That's all on this episode of -- >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."
♪ >> BRANDON: Welcome to "Journey Indiana."
I'm Brandon Wentz.
>> ASHLEY: And I'm Ashley Chilla.
And we're coming to you, once again, from the WTIU Studio in Bloomington.
>> BRANDON: In this episode, we're going to start off underground.
>> ASHLEY: Yes, and we've been underground before at the Indiana Caverns.
>> BRANDON: Yeah, but that was a little different because we took stairs down and there was a walkway.
>> ASHLEY: And we stood on a platform the whole time.
>> BRANDON: Yes.
So let's head to Lawrence County to see how the pros do it.
Producer Nick Deel has the story.
>> Indiana is full of exciting and beautiful places to explore, from parks to trails to waterways and more.
But the next time you are looking for an Indiana adventure might we recommend you look beyond the great outdoors and instead explore the Hoosier state's great underground.
>> Indiana is an excellent place to be a caver.
So we don't necessarily have the longest caves in the world, but we have some very healthy-sized ones.
Indiana probably has, I believe, over -- around 8,000 documented caves.
It's a really great place to cut your teeth on caving.
It's not some of the deepest ones, but we have a little bit of everything.
Some of the cave conditions are challenging.
A lot of mud and water is kind of what we're known for.
I think a lot of Indiana cavers, we like to think that we have a lot of grit, and it's a good place to learn and build those skills.
>> The Bloomington Indiana Grotto is dedicated to helping people build those skills and develop an appreciation for our underground spaces.
They host monthly meet-ups at local caves where newbies and veterans can come together to explore Indiana's subterranean wonders.
>> Anybody who is interested, we help make sure they have the right equipment and help set up trips that will hopefully give them a successful adventure, and they'll have a good time and want to come back and continue doing it.
We want to make sure that people aren't causing any damage to the caves or, you know, jeopardizing relationships with landowners or getting themselves hurt.
So that's very important.
We want to make sure that people can explore caves responsibly.
>> March's outing required a claustrophobia-inducing crawl through a 12-inch tall tunnel for about 100 feet.
>> How are you guys doing?
>> Doing good.
>> Good.
>> It's a reminder that these journeys are not to be embarked upon lightly.
>> Luckily, caving can be very safe if you are doing it sensibly, you know, and going at a slow pace, wearing helmets, wearing proper equipment, and telling somebody where you are going, and sticking to routes that you know or being very careful about just, you know, not taking unnecessary risks.
So, yeah, luckily our accident numbers are really quite low.
You'd -- I think it gets sensationalized a lot, but it's really quite safe.
>> Many caves in Indiana are on private property.
So much of the Grotto's work happens above ground, negotiating with landowners who have good reason to limit a cave's access.
>> Unfortunately for a number of years, a lot of caves have been vandalized, where formations have been broken off, removed, there's been spray paint, which that is illegal.
So please don't do that.
But that's mostly what we want to work with people to understand the value of caves, both -- you know, all the aspects from recreation, to science, to exploration, and how to respect them and be safe in them, and enjoy them, as more than just dark muddy holes.
♪ >> There's certainly no doubt that Indiana caves are much more than dark muddy holes.
♪ But they are also hard to reach, dirty, and hazardous.
So why bother?
>> For a lot of us, it is -- it can be viewed as an extreme sport.
For me, it's more of a meditative experience or a social experience.
A lot of people love the exploration of seeing what's around the next corner, and even if it's -- whether it's on a map or not, it's still an exciting thing.
I can't remember -- one of the older cavers used to say for less than a hundred bucks, anybody can be like Neil Armstrong, you know, to go out and maybe find something that's never been seen by human eyes before.
So that's also a very exciting prospect too for a lot of us.
>> ASHLEY: So this is definitely way more extreme than what we did.
>> BRANDON: Yes.
>> ASHLEY: Do you think that you could handle climbing in a 12-inch area, 100 feet underground?
>> BRANDON: I have done this before, and I love it!
There's something very exhilarating about it and also scary, I will say that.
That all of a sudden you're like, I can't go any further.
I don't fit.
I have to crawl backwards now and find a different way around.
>> ASHLEY: You are more brave than I am.
>> BRANDON: So if you are like me and you would like to give this a try, just head over to the address on the screen to learn all about upcoming events and excursions.
>> ASHLEY: Up next, we are headed off to Greenwood to meet a musician and a maker.
Producer Jason Pear has the story.
♪ >> I grew up in the South.
And you can't hardly grow up in the South and not grow up in church.
And so I grew up around church music.
Traditional pipe organs, high mass, not really, not so much.
One my college piano teachers referred to me as a, quote, bar room pianist, and I sort of wear that badge with pride.
[ Laughter ] You know, I didn't grow up studying the greats, Chopin and Beethoven.
It was more Liberace and Jerry Lee Lewis.
So I studied music from the time I can remember.
I guess my family at some point noticed my inclination that ultimately led me from Arkansas to Indiana, and now here in Greenwood.
>> Years ago, when Drew Worthen first arrived at the Greenwood United Methodist Church, there was an issue.
>> We needed a new instrument.
We needed a new organ.
As much as I may have wanted or love a traditional pipe organ, the price makes it so incredibly difficult.
And it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do, at least for us.
We couldn't really justify that expense when you are a church.
Your obligation is not to entertain yourself with big, extravagant, lavish things.
For us here, it just did not -- it raised an ethical question.
It raised a moral question.
>> Luckily for the Greenwood congregation, Drew was uniquely suited to solving this problem.
>> I have the electronics background.
I have the audio background.
I have the -- you know, the music background.
I love pipe organs.
I can kind of cram all of this stuff together and make this work.
So a virtual pipe organ is the idea of I can take a virtual clone of an existing pipe organ somewhere -- be it the United States, be it France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, whatever, it doesn't matter -- and I can take a virtual copy of that organ, and I can play it on this instrument somewhere else.
The world of computers affords us that ability.
>> But it was still unchartered territory.
>> For sure only two or three existed in the United States in public spaces, in the large venues.
>> So Drew built a prototype.
A proof of concept known as the Franken Organ.
>> One Sunday, I didn't tell anybody that I was going to do this.
The pastor didn't know.
Nobody knew.
I came in here on a Saturday night and drug the Franken Organ in here, and sat it up over there and just put this conglomeration of speakers up there.
And when we opened up on that first hymn, I could tell -- everybody's what in the world is that?
That was the best sales pitch ever, because suddenly now people heard the difference.
Oh, that's what he's on about.
Okay.
Let's do this thing.
>> The final instrument, Opus 1, is a bit of a hybrid, cutting edge technology in a decades' old body.
>> Rather than trying to rebuild all of it, right, reuse what could be reused from it, which was basically the shell and the shape, and then basically take all of the old electronics out of it, and then rebuild what needs to be rebuilt internally to make it what it ended up becoming.
>> In June of 2019, Opus 1 was played publicly for the first time.
♪ It was a hit that night, and today a draw for organists from around the country.
♪ >> I've had people come from Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, all over Indiana.
I've had so many visitors who read about this online and come.
♪ >> Folks like James Richardson, who recently drove down from Goshen for a test drive.
♪ Drew's latest, a personal project known as the Opus 2.
>> That one was built entirely from scratch.
And having the luxury of the virtual pipe organ, right, I can sit in my little home studio and close my eyes, and suddenly, I'm in Normandy or I'm in London or I'm in Spain or Italy playing these instruments at home.
And that's a fabulous luxury that has not existed to mankind, except for in the last 10, 15 years.
>> ASHLEY: I have been surrounded by music my whole life.
My dad plays music.
My husband plays music.
And I don't think it's ever occurred to me that if you wanted a certain kind of instrument that you could just come up with the idea and build it yourself.
Brandon, if you had to build an instrument, what would you build?
>> BRANDON: Probably drums.
Like, I will turn anything around me into drums if I'm bored and I've got my fingers free.
>> ASHLEY: Well, I can't wait to hear that.
You can learn more about Drew and his one-of-a-kind instruments at drewworthen.com.
>> BRANDON: Up next, we're headed to the Lilly Library in Bloomington for the latest installment in our Treasures from the Museum Series.
♪ >> The Lilly Library is the rare books, special collections and manuscripts library here at IU.
We have 475,000 rare books and 8.5 million pieces of manuscripts.
Included in those collections are some really exciting things that would interest just about anyone.
We have more than 60,000 comic books and graphic novels, which is a very large collection of that type of material.
This type of collection is very uncommon to be in a rare books and special collections library.
And the Lilly Library is one of the only libraries that has these types of materials.
The comics come from several different sources, individual purchases that the library made in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as from several donors, including Michael Uslan.
These collections feature some of the most valuable and rare comics in the world today.
We do have the first appearance of Spider-Man, which came out in 1962.
This is one that people are very excited to see.
It does have the original art by Stan Lee.
And we also have the first official Spider-Man comic, which then came out in 1963.
In addition to that, we have the first appearances of The X-Men, of The Incredible Hulk and of The Avengers.
We also have the first appearance of the Black Panther, which is now getting a lot more excitement since the recent movie has come out.
We are very lucky that the comic books that we have in our collection are mostly in pretty good condition, and they are still able to turn the pages, see all of those original artworks.
It's fun to track the ways that Spider-Man or the other superheroes change in their art style and their costumes over a period of decades.
And so it's very interesting to see how captivated we are now by these Marvel and DC Comics that are so rare, because it's something that has captivated the human mind for forever, pretty much.
That's the kind of thing that we like to look at at the Lilly Library, is this way that the book and the written word and the printed page has been so inspirational, so interesting, and fascinating to people throughout time, and definitely for those collectors whose collections we now have.
>> BRANDON: You know, I used to have an enormous comic book collection, but it was so many boxes, like 75 pounds each, of these dozens and dozens of boxes.
>> ASHLEY: That does not surprise me about you, but it also sounds like a nightmare to move.
>> BRANDON: It was!
That's actually a big part of why I ended up selling the collection.
But what I learned when I sold it was that you can actually donate comics that you are not sure what to do with to local comic stores, and they will give them to schools that are looking for that kind of reading material.
And unlike the books I wasn't sure what to do with, the Lilly Library is full of treasures, and you can learn more at the address on the screen.
>> ASHLEY: Finally, we are headed to Indy to meet a man with a classical calling.
Producer John Timm has the story.
♪ >> My name is Joshua Thompson, and I'm a classical pianist.
And I exclusively specialize in programming the master works that were written by composers of African descent.
♪ That's something that kind of came about, I don't know, maybe three years ago, but prior to that, I have been a lifelong student of classical music.
♪ As a young child, I was always just really fascinated by classical music, and just people who could sing and people who had that artistic gift.
And for some reason, I don't know if it was a mix of natural talent and an interest, or maybe it was the fact that my parents said you are not allowed to quit piano and trumpet lessons.
I was just -- I was good at it, or at least I felt like I was good at a young age.
Good enough where it made me feel good about myself.
Good enough where I wanted to continue to explore what else was out there and push myself.
♪ So this piece by William Grant Still, I think first premiered in 1933.
And it's the second movement from Africa, which is a piano suite called "Land of Romance."
♪ I'm pretty well skilled at the piano, also at the trumpet, but also I really enjoy writing, and not in the creative sense, but I'm a grant writer.
And I like to spend a lot of my time working with other artists and individuals to help them find monies to fund their artistic projects, because that's a completely separate game, I think, between being a performer and then also figuring out how to finance and learn that part of the industry and the business.
♪ The fact that people notice I don't play with shoes on, sometimes it's more popular and interesting than my playing itself.
It's just a thing.
I've done it for the last several years.
I used to play with a flutist.
You know how certain people in their homes, they're, like, hey, you know, take your shoes off.
Okay.
Cool.
So no big deal.
But you also perform the way that you practice.
And I got used to practicing without my shoes on.
And I remember one time going up and playing, and I have shoes on and some things just did not feel legit.
It didn't feel organic.
And I was, like, it's the shoes.
Take your shoes off!
So I never wear shoes when I play.
♪ By the time I'm performing a piece, I have done all the work.
I have taken all the time to think about full conceptualization of the work, the social movements that were going on when they were written, the histories of the composer.
So by the time I'm performing it, I've teased out every single nuance.
I have flushed out every color I see in my head when I listen to it, and every movement.
So it's just a matter of sitting down and playing and just letting it go.
When I perform, it's one of those, I have to stop myself from thinking, and just really allow myself to sit in the moment and just enjoy the fact that I have an ability to take something I have worked on for months or weeks or who knows how long, and just enjoy it.
♪ This piece that I really enjoy doing satisfies multiple different categories.
It's probably one of the virtuosic pieces that I play, but also it was written by an African American woman by the name of Margaret Bonds, and it's called "Troubled Water."
I love to highlight it because composers of African descent have a hard time getting notoriety anyway.
The women of African descent who are composers, who have contributed to this genre have an even tougher road when it comes to that.
So I'm very intentional about making sure that I'm incorporating that as well.
It's a brilliant piece.
It's taking, again, the classical tradition, but Negro spiritual, with jazz, with blues.
♪ Classical music, in general, just has, I think, a tougher road to hoe than some other genres, just because part of it is because I think that -- the genre programs itself on repeat way too much, right?
We have these amazing master works by Bach and Beethoven and Mozart and Schumann and Brahms.
And I think we've gotten away from using them as just mere examples, and we've gotten more towards, over the last several decades, to having them exclusively define the genre.
♪ That line of thinking intentionally and unintentionally has excluded so many people, whether they be performers, future patrons, and folks who contribute to the art form itself.
And so what I would really like to do and like to see -- I think it's happening a little bit -- is us being allowed to let the genre evolve and become more useful and utilitarian in the 21st century.
♪ And I think just one way of doing that is taking what's already there by -- by being very comprehensive in the representation and the programming and intentional about it.
So for me, it's taking the master works written by people of African descent.
There's tons of it.
It goes all the way back, you know, predates the 16th and 17th centuries, all the way up until now.
And it sounds different.
There's an aesthetic that is different to it.
So the use for it, to explain history, to explain maybe how we classify particular periods in classical music in general.
We haven't done that.
And I think we can do that not just for composers of African descent.
You could do that for any identity group that has been historically left out.
♪ >> Three years ago was when I intentionally decided to start exclusively programming and performing master works of classical music written by people of African descent because it gave -- it breathed new life into music for me in general.
I played the Ravels and the Debussys and the Bachs, and I've enjoyed them, but this gave -- it opened up a brand new world of music for me.
And I was just, like, wow, this added longevity to something that I, at some point, didn't know if I still wanted to do anymore.
♪ The message that I feel like I'm here to give is and always will be way more important and way more fascinating than myself as the messenger.
I'm fun for a little bit, you know, but the message of promoting and advocating for and insisting on the intentional programming and performance of master works of people of African descent, that was a message that's been explained and talked about before I got here, while I'm here, and then when I'm not here anymore.
There's still going to be a need for that.
♪ I want to see a different experience for young black musicians specifically, People of Color and women in general, than I had growing up.
♪ >> ASHLEY: Something that I find fascinating about Joshua is that he likes to perform with no shoes on because I too like to perform with no shoes on when I'm on stage.
I don't like having shoes on.
I feel more connected to the earth when I perform with no shoes, but theaters are always putting me in shoes.
>> BRANDON: Well, as one of the producers that you worked under, that reason is insurance.
[ Laughter ] >> ASHLEY: You can follow Joshua at JoshuaAThompson.net.
And as always, we encourage you to stay connected with us.
>> BRANDON: Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.
There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, and suggest stories from your neck of the woods.
>> ASHLEY: We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been and to plan your own Indiana adventures.
>> BRANDON: And before we say good-bye, let's take a look at some of the spring flowers emerging around the Hoosier state.
♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by Columbus Visitors Center, celebrating everywhere art and unexpected architecture in Columbus, Indiana.
Tickets for guided tours and trip planning information at Columbus.in.us.
And by WTIU members.
Thank You!
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