Spalding wins Best New Artist at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, applauded by her fellow nominee, rapper Drake.įor her, music was most fun. “I would invite people to come and basically just engage in the things that I found fun.”

She was a “hyperactive, self-motivated critter,” so her mother knew that, even if she left for work, spalding would finish her studies, and then some: “I would take things that were interesting to me-let’s say, like a science experiment or a game or a building project-and I would make these little fairs and invite people in the neighborhood.” She’d send out homemade invitations to “maybe eight kids and their parents,” and set up exhibit booths in her backyard. Juvenile arthritis and other autoimmune disorders kept her out of elementary school for a few years, during which time she studied at home in the King neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon. An Invitation to the FairĪny time spalding learned something interesting growing up, she put on a fair in its honor. “Okay, who’s next?” And the group begins again, improvising, dancing, and “co-conjuring” together until a little after midnight. Spalding is silent for a moment and then she smiles-wide enough to reveal the gap next to her incisor, for her nose to crinkle, and for her dimples to frame her mouth like parentheses. After about 15 minutes, the conversation winds down and the flutist punctuates it with a final lick. It’s like a conversation, everyone listening and responding to one another. At one point, a tap dancer puts down a mat and starts tapping. Then, a student joins on the piano, another boldly enters on the accordion, spalding creeps in on the electric bass, a few students start strumming their guitars, and everyone else dances and sings-improvising on the sound of champagne. Sort of like this”-she plays a lick which sounds the way champagne bubbles taste. “Come on, throw a petal in the pond and let us ripple with you,” she says.Ī flutist in spalding’s “Songwrights Apothecary Lab” songwriting course throws the first petal. She asks again, “So, who wants to tell us what they need from music tonight?” The students adopt a “you first” silence, punctuated only by cars whooshing past on North Harvard Street. Photograph by Sandy Young/Getty Images for Nobel Peace Prize Spalding performs at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway.

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