Emma Cook and Will Hendricks share keys to music making

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor

Interviewing musicians Emma Cook and Will Hendricks is akin to a front row seat at one of the duo’s intimate stage performances. The vibrant alto and pianist pairs with her mindful yet laid-back guitarist and singer to create intelligent, warm, memorable vignettes in song or conversation. Like all good musicians, the two seem remarkably attuned to each other, frequently riffing on thoughts and feelings as they discuss the importance of music in their lives.

Emma, 18, and Will, 17, first began to make music together in the classroom at Glen Lake High School three years ago, where both enrolled in North by Northwest, the vocal ensemble class taught by faculty member Patrick Niemisto (of New Third Coast fame).

The son of a doctor and a psychotherapist, Will lives near Empire, but grew up in Madison, Wisc. until age 12, when his family moved to India for two years (the Hendricks family’s India sojourn was detailed in “Looking East for the answers to addiction,” in the June 14, 2007 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun. With six years of childhood piano instruction, he possessed a solid foundation in the basics of Western music, but craved more knowledge while living in Asia.

“I’m interested in finding out what their musical theory is — how set in stone is it? Ours is based on Italian and Greek theory. [In Indian music, for example], there are resonating harmonies on sitar.”

“They don’t have pianos there,” he explains, since the country has rich and diverse musical traditions of its own. “I started playing guitar, and went crazy on it for about four hours a day,” quickly becoming adept at the instrument.

He and Emma discuss pitch and the ability to intuitively identify notes. With their innate sensitivity to hear nuanced shapes and colors, the two ruefully laugh at their lack of dedication to reading sheet music. “For me, it’s always been by ear, even when I was little,” Will says.

Emma concurs. “My mom, Sue Wood, is a piano tuner, and she has really good pitch, probably not perfect, because that’s pretty impossible. You wouldn’t be able to enjoy music; you’d always be hearing the notes,” not only in music, but even in mundane objects. She points to a humming air conditioner as an example.

Will says, “In older music, before digital tuners, they used tuning forks, or they would tune to each other, so they might be a half-step lower [than perfect pitch]. It was not that long ago — some of my favorite bands, like Black Sabbath, tuned to each other.”

He continues, “In tonal languages, like Chinese, pitch becomes more and more important.” In these languages, the intonation is crucial to the meaning of a word or phrase; the wrong inflection can result in some serious faux pas. Because of the subtlety of tonal languages, he thinks that musicians from these cultures have more refined abilities than most Westerners. “It’s stereotypical now, but Asian musicians, like Yo-Yo Ma …”

“ … especially on fretless instruments, like cello, violins, upright bass — they’re so good.” Emma finishes. She notes that the musician has to touch the string in just the right place to shape the proper note, analogous to the precision of tonal language. “Of course, people practice all the time, too! That’s important.”

Will relates, “I think a musician has a different brain; you’re good at shapes and memorization. It’s something you honestly have to be born with, but also — no one’s born that can do a good performance. That’s practice.”

“I feel lucky, blessed to have that,” Emma agrees, “but I get really irritated when people tell me, ‘Oh, you’re a natural musician.’ Do you realize how much I work? I play every day! I took piano lessons as a child, from age seven, and my mom tunes and rehabs old pianos, so we always have them around. Music has always been really accessible to me.

“My sister Sarah and I learned to play ‘Heart and Soul’ when we were about three. She continued to take classical piano; she’s pretty good. My mom has been playing for 45 years — jazz, classical — she performs with her garage band, Harriet and the Love Fossils, and sometimes plays with the Neptune Quartet.” Her father Gary Cook is an architect-builder; the family moved to the Sugar Loaf area from Chelsea (near Ann Arbor) when Emma was 11.

She laughs. ”I wish that I had been more diligent as a child. On the scale of good, amazing piano playing, I’m like a one — and that’s if it’s my song!”

“That’s where practice comes in,” says Will. “I’m not an amazing guitarist. We practice, and we both love what we do.”

“Singing in front of an audience is scary, like tornadoes,” Emma asserts. “Will and I are both songwriters, so it’s even more nerve-wracking — every person’s worst nightmare — to have everyone staring at you!”

“You have to have confidence and sing out, so practice is really important,” Will adds. “Muscle memory — practice is key. If you’re nervous before a performance, you still have” that knowledge to fall back on. He goes on, “It’s the driving force …”

“ … a huge adrenaline rush …” Emma says.

“… it’s like a release. I spend a lot of time winding myself up — no matter how it goes, the release is like an added bonus!” he finishes.

The two have been performing together outside the school setting for about two years. Gigs have included opening for the Northwinds Trio last summer at the Manitou Music Festival, the Empty Bowls fundraiser, Habitat for Humanity brunch at The Leelanau School, and numerous others in the area. Their shows include both covers of songs they love and original material. Emma mostly sings lead, and plays piano or keyboard where available, while Will plays guitar and backup vocals, “unless it’s my song; then I sing lead.”

Of songwriting, Will muses, “Writing is a really personal process. I write in a book. I’ll look back months later; I might rework something, or not. It’s a learning process,” where anything goes.

Emma also writes. “Sometimes I go back to my journal and think, ‘Wow, that was clever,’ or, ‘What was I thinking!’ Niem [Pat Niemisto] says you can’t have an editor on your shoulder while you’re writing. Later, you can change it.”

“Right, it’s a stepping-off point — that need to write the song,” Will says.

“I wrote a song that I performed at graduation,” Emma continues. “I wrote many drafts in two days, and they were so different from each other! It’s really interesting [later] to see what you wrote.”

Of influences, Emma frequently mentions her mother, and also notes, “People will say, “You’re the next Norah Jones,’ or something. I’m not! I’m the next Emma Cook!” she states emphatically.

Will reflects on what he has absorbed musically. “I don’t really notice influences coming out in my music, like a strumming pattern, but someone else will,” he states. “There are a lot of amazing performers, like Michael Smith, Joel Mabus — a lot of unrecognized local people, too.”

As for teachers, he cites Niemisto as a pivotal figure. “I’m into classic rock — [Led] Zeppelin, Sabbath,” Will says. “When I came here, I met Mr. Niemisto; he introduced me to the folk side.

“Music builds on itself. Harder metal came from classic rock, its tight arrangements. The guys that know music theory can really shred, like Eddie Van Halen …”

“ … classically trained guys who got bored!” Emma chimes in.

“When I came into North by Northwest, I didn’t sing, but Mr. Niemisto told me I would eventually. There was never any pressure …”

“ … he’s like the Jedi master,” Emma laughs with Will.

He continues, “He’s supportive; he often says [to people in the class], ‘You did a good job,’ but rarely says, ‘You did good music.’ The biggest compliment I’ve ever had was after the last school concert this year. We did ‘Falling Slowly,’ and he said that’s the best he’s ever heard anywhere. I felt honored.”

Emma recently graduated from Glen Lake High School. For her senior project, she set about finding a way to acquire a new piano for the school’s music program. Both of the current pianos were gnarly, 30-year-old survivors of many a student pounding, and as a musician with a sharp ear, she’s keenly aware of the frustration that results from using worn, inadequate instruments.

She organized a community fundraising event called “88 Keys,” in which donors (both individuals and community groups like the nonprofit Mighty Fine Arts Group) could “buy” a key to a new piano, an upright Yamaha P22 “warhorse,” as Will described it, that Kurtz Music of Traverse City sold at cost. On June 21, the piano was unveiled at a special concert at Glen Lake School’s auditorium, in which Emma and Will opened for headliner Michael Smith. Emma was able to play the brand-new piano that will grace the notes of a new generation of student musicians.

In all, the 25 hours required for her senior project stretched into about 100 hours of work, but she feels it was worth it. Proceeds from sales of keys and concert revenues allowed her to cover all costs, as well as provide extra funds for the school’s future music needs, “maybe like amplifier replacements! One old piano will be relegated to a practice room, and the other will hopefully be burned!” she says with relish. “I wish I could be around to see that.”

In September, she’s off to the University of Vermont to begin a new phase of her life, studying math, Spanish, linguistics, and, of course, music. She’s looking forward to the “super progressive” environment offered on campus, as well as the strong local music scene, “but it’s going to be weird without Will.”

Her musical partner will be a senior at Glen Lake this fall, focusing on five advanced placement classes, and continuing to hone his music skills as well. In sharp counterpoint to his folk-rock work with Emma, Will is a member of heavy metal band Grolloch, playing lead guitar and singing backup to mates Richie Robertson, Vince Grimaldi and Jake Dolan. Asked if the group — whose name apparently means “to disembowel,” in Gaelic — will perform, the tall, gentle-looking teen smiles. “I don’t know if we ever will, but it’s a lot of fun!”

Emma Cook and Will Hendricks will appear on August 16 at the Lake Ann Folk Festival. In addition, they’re slated to open for Seth Barnard and Daisy May at a private concert on August 15.