David Woodard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Woodard
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Woodard in 2020
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| Born | April 6, 1964 Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Conductor, writer |
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| Literary movement | Postmodernism |
| Spouse | Sonja Vectomov |
| Children | 2 |
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David James Woodard (born April 6, 1964) is an American conductor and writer. A conductor leads musical groups like orchestras. A writer creates books and articles.
Woodard has led music for special events in Los Angeles. This includes a ceremony for Leon Praport, who was hurt in an accident on the Angels Flight railway. He has also conducted music for animals, like a Brown pelican that was found on a beach. People say he likes to use colorful inks when he writes music.
Woodard has made copies of the Dreamachine. These copies have been shown in art museums around the world. He has also written for books and magazines. His writings explore ideas about how living things are connected and about a special settlement in Paraguay called Nueva Germania.
Contents
Early Life
David Woodard grew up in Santa Barbara, California. He was the youngest child in his family. His mother was from Canada and was a Mennonite. His father was American and a Hussite. Both of his parents were peaceful people. They owned a business that helped people communicate with the public. Woodard went to private schools and later studied at The New School for Social Research.
Career
From 1989 to 2007, David Woodard built copies of the Dreamachine. This was a special lamp that could create interesting mental states. It was invented by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. The machine had a spinning cylinder with slots. Inside was an electric lamp. Woodard believed that if you watched it with your eyes closed, it could make you feel like you were dreaming.
Woodard gave a Dreamachine to writer William S. Burroughs for an art show in 1996. He also became friends with Burroughs. He gave Burroughs another Dreamachine for his 83rd birthday. One of these machines was later sold at an auction. The other is now on display at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas. A scholar named Raj Chandarlapaty has praised Woodard's unique way of thinking about the Dreamachine.
Prequiems
In the 1990s, Woodard created the word prequiem. It combines "preemptive" (meaning done before) and "requiem" (a piece of music for the dead). He used this term for his special musical practice. It involves composing music to be played just before or during the death of someone or something. This practice is inspired by Buddhism.
Woodard once composed a prequiem called Ave Atque Vale (Hail and Farewell). He performed part of it with a brass choir at a church near a prison in Indiana. Important religious leaders, including Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein and Cardinal Roger Mahony, asked Pope John Paul II to bless Woodard's music.
Nueva Germania
In 2003, Woodard was elected as a councilman in Juniper Hills, California. He suggested that Juniper Hills become a sister city with Nueva Germania in Paraguay. A sister city relationship helps towns in different countries connect and share culture.
To learn more, Woodard visited Nueva Germania. He met with the local leaders. After his visit, he decided not to pursue the sister city idea. However, he found the community very interesting for his future writings. He was especially curious about the ideas of Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. She and her husband founded Nueva Germania in the late 1800s.
In 2004, Woodard wrote a song for a choir called "Our Jungle Holy Land." He was inspired by some of the good ideas behind Nueva Germania's founding, like compassion and self-denial.
From 2004 to 2006, Woodard made many trips to Nueva Germania. He even received support from the U.S. Vice President at the time, Dick Cheney. In 2011, Woodard allowed a Swiss writer named Christian Kracht to publish some of their letters. These letters were mostly about Nueva Germania. Critics said that these letters blurred the line between real life and art. Some also said the letters were important for Kracht's later novel, Imperium.
In 2015, Woodard visited Nueva Germania again. He was moved by the lives of the people there, who were descendants of the first settlers. He wanted to help improve the community's cultural life. He even thought about building a small opera house where Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche's family once lived. Today, Nueva Germania is a more welcoming place. It has places to stay and a small museum about its history.
See also
In Spanish: David Woodard para niños
