Between the Lines - Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming
Spotlight on Edd Key:
Q&A with actor & musical director
Edd Key as Burl Sanders. Photo by Erik Stuhaug.
Longtime Taproot Theatre patrons will remember Edd Key from Taproot’s first production of Smoke on the Mountain, the original installment of the Sanders Family series, in 1992. Serving as musical director for that production, Key wasn’t even slated to act, but when something came up with the original casting for Burl Sanders just nights before the show was supposed to open, Key stepped into the role. Ever since that first experience with Taproot Theatre, he’s been involved in each of Taproot’s Sanders Family productions, has directed music for almost all of Taproot’s summer musicals since, and has also directed music for Taproot’s Acting Studio summer musical theatre camps.
Born and raised in Bowling Green, KY, just sixty miles north of Nashville, he remembers listening to the Grand Ole Opry live on the radio every Saturday night with his parents. He spent much of his childhood in the small rural community where his parents grew up. There his family attended a small country church, much like the one in Smoke on the Mountain.
Though the music of Appalachia was predominate in his childhood, his attention turned to more universal styles as he grew older. Studying music education at Western Kentucky University and Ohio State, Key’s musical interests and abilities are now widespread. He can play virtually any instrument and make almost any genre come alive.
Although he spent a number of years as a professional musician – founding the MCA records rock group, SPITTIN’ IMAGE – Key has been working in the Seattle area music and theatre scenes since 1986. He is the man behind much of the live music heard in Seattle theatre, and he shares his extensive knowledge of music with students young and old through his teaching facility, The Redbarn Studio.
Q: Your musical experience goes way back; what got you interested in music, and specifically music education?
A: Well, as is often the case, I had some fantastic teachers and mentors. A charismatic songleader at the little country church we went to, my father who was an amateur guitar player and his friends in the neighborhood, my advisor and voice professor at Western Kentucky University, Mr. Ohm Pauli… But I always give primary credit to the school music teacher I had from first grade through high school – Mrs. Dorothy Dodson. She was the first to capture my attention about the magic of music (during the 4th grade – it took a while). And she continued to nurture my interest and skills throughout the rest of my secondary education years. She is the one who encouraged my to consider teaching music.
Q: Through your music studio, full-time teaching residencies at several local elementary schools, and your work with Taproot’s Acting Studio, you do a lot of work with children. What’s inspired you to share your knowledge with them?
A: I’ve always walked a very delicate line between being a performer and a teacher. I made a conscious choice to study music education, but I have always loved the immediacy and vibrancy of live performance.
Lots of musicians see the two disciplines as incompatible. And they do indeed require very different mindsets. In performance, everything is about me. In teaching, it’s all about the needs of the student.
But, I truly believe that fostering an ability to understand, enjoy, and create music in our human experience is the one of the most important services we can offer.
As a teacher, I try to bring the excitement and creativity of live performance with me. The performing and sharing of music is at the heart of my work as a teacher.
At one of my schools we recorded an entire CD of children’s voices singing songs from the MENC list of 100 songs every kid in America should know. But we tried to avoid having it sound like a typical kid album. One of the dads at that school was a professional musician and recording engineer in the Seattle music scene. He brought musicians on board from a number of well-known Seattle rock bands and we recorded very hip, contemporary tracks for the kids to sing along with. The kids loved it, the parents loved it – it was groundbreaking.
Q: What’s the most interesting or unusual instrument you’ve played?
A: Well, I have a Double-belled Euphonium from the late 19th century. It has made a few appearances on the Taproot stage in the past. We also have quite a collection at the studio of percussion instruments from around the world. They are always challenging and interesting.
Q: What do you like about the Sanders family musicals that keeps you coming back to work on each one at Taproot Theatre?
A: This series of shows never fails to take me back to my roots. Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church is exactly like the small, one-room, frame country church that I grew up in. The eccentric characters up front and also sitting in the pews echo the real-life folks I remember and loved from my earliest days.
The music from Smoke on the Mountain is the music of that community and that time in my life, so it resonates at the center of my earliest musical experience.
I also greatly respect Scott Nolte’s clear intention from the very first production to make these people real and interesting human beings instead of cardboard caricatures of southern rural folks. That “Hee-Haw” approach happens often with productions of this series and Taproot has always bucked that trend. As a result these shows have heart and spirit and humanity – three elements of the best of theatre.
Q: Also, what makes you keep coming back to work at Taproot Theatre?
A: The people who run Taproot are among the nicest and most caring I know. They bring a real human concern to their work. I always feel like in the end the cast and crew is more important to them even than the production itself. As a result, the shows sparkle with the good will and energy of a happy artistic team.
Q: You’re playing alongside your wife, Theresa Holmes, in Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming; in fact, you’re playing her husband. What’s that like?
A: It is always a great treat to get to work together with Theresa. She is a terrifically talented musician and should share any credit with me in the work because she is an advisor and consultant throughout the process. Not every theatre couple is lucky enough to get to do the kind of shows we do – shows that have an unusual musical element and require our particular skills. But we’ve been at it for about twenty years now. It is always provides lots of dinner table conversation!
You can learn more about Key’s teaching work at The Redbarn Studio by going to www.theredbarnstudio.com.
