Lifestyles: Margaret Carlson Hits High Notes
by Clare Lochary | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
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Margaret Carlson has a three-octave range, but she hits her
highest notes with an umpire’s whistle. From September's LM,
the jazz singer, 55, took a timeout to talk about her adventures as
a referee in Chicago.
How did you get into singing jazz?
Music is something that I was always involved with, starting at a
young age — musicals and church choirs and such. I started
out singing in the early 1970s in a rock band. Towards the end of
the ‘70s, I grew up a little bit and started singing in jazz
clubs. I met a wonderful man named Gene Hunt, who was a pianist,
and we started doing a lot of work in Florida together when I lived
there. In the early ‘80s I decided to have a family, so I
left everything to raise my children. Then in the mid ‘90s, I
recorded my first CD and just did a little bit here and there and
started to get back in the business. In 1999 I recorded “This
Christmas…my favorite things.”
Why did you decide to do a Christmas album?
If it’s good enough, it will be played every year. You
constantly get promoted that way. At least once a year,
they’ll hear of you. It doesn’t just disappear into the
great abyss. It really is the cutest, sweetest Christmas album.
How did you get into umpiring? You didn’t grow up or
live in any traditional hotbed areas.
[Chicago area umpire] CarolLynn Davey and I have a mutual
acquaintance. We were at a gathering one evening and she came up to
me and asked if I was a runner and I said yes. She said, “How
would you like to ref women’s lacrosse.” I said
I’d never seen a game. She said, “We’ll teach
you.” That was about eight years ago. It’s going really
good. I just love it. I’m addicted to it in the spring.
I’m one of the people that I’ll do it every night. I do
high school and college club and Division III.
What’s more nerve-wracking: getting in front of a
live audience at a show or a game?
Probably at a game. I haven’t been at it as long. Maybe
that’s why.
Do you feel like music and athletics feed different parts
of your personality, or do they come from the same place inside
you?
Probably the same place. Anything I do I like to do well. I guess
with the running, I’ve always kind of been a jock. I have to
stay in shape for my job. I like being able to present myself well
and be comfortable, so I’ve always liked all kind of forms of
exercise. And lacrosse is such a fun game. I love the
women’s game. It’s so beautiful. And to think
maybe you can keep up with those girls…at least you’re
trying! They’re so athletic and so fast, and for the most
part they’re so wonderful. So I guess it’s from the
same spot.
Jazz is an improvisational art form. Umpiring is all about
rules. How do these two things come together for you?
It’s funny because I took a personality profile once —
a friend of mine was going for her master’s and had to
practice — and I failed. The personality test came back and
she was laughing and said, “It shows that you’re
supposed to be a police officer or in the military, and here you
are a jazz singer.”
I guess that’s just me. I’m a moderate in everything.
Although I do go by the rules. Refereeing is such judgment.
Sometimes you have to let things go.
Does the flow of women’s lacrosse remind you of the
flow of jazz?
You see those girls passing and carrying the ball and cradling
— the way they move, they have to think fast on their feet.
They have to improvise. Maybe that’s part of it. You have a
set group of things that you have to do, but you go outside of it
when you have to think fast.
It sounds like you really prefer the women’s game to
the men’s game.
The women who play, they’re so athletic. I watched a
men’s lacrosse game last night with a fellow official who
does both men’s and women’s. I told him if I was out
there I would be blowing my whistle and saying, “Stop that,
you crazy maniacs!” He said he likes the women’s game
better because he says the guys are just out there to hit each
other.
Do you ever have to run from a game to a gig?
No. Anything that I do is pretty much far in advance with singing.
I have done the national anthem though. I’m on the Chicago
umpiring board, so during the state tournaments they’ll ask
me to do the national anthem. During the [state] semfinal at
Northwestern this season — which was really fun on that field
— I did sing the national anthem, run down the bleachers,
jump over a guard rail and get to my position in the three-man
system in time for the start of the game. It was pretty funny. I
really appreciate that they have the confidence in me to do both.
At the state championship game I was the table ref. I sang and then
had to hightail it down and get across the field to my position.
What a sight!
Are you more of a studio singer or do you perform
live?
I do live performances. That’s what I normally do. What I
concentrate on now at this age is working with symphony orchestras
and I’m usually the guest artist. It’s hard to get
those, though, because I do represent myself still.
Who are your greatest musical influences?
Musically, Bach in classical music and Gershwin and all the great
American songwriters. Vocally, Cleo Laine. She’s an English
singer.
You spent a lot of time traveling around the country as a
member of rock bands when you were young. What was the most
important thing you got out of that experience?
I was young until I had to grow up real fast, that’s pretty
much what it was. There weren’t cell phones. There
wasn’t the Internet so you had very little contact with your
family. So you just had to take care of yourself.
What’s the toughest song in your
repertoire?
I guess you’d maybe say that as far as singing, I’ve
got a three-octave range, so when I get real close to that top I
have to be careful. But otherwise singing is such a natural thing
for me, that I haven’t had anything that really tough in any
certain area. I just want to make it all really good.
What’s the toughest call to get right in a lacrosse
game?
The things where you know it’s a foul but you have to let it
go because they’re still in possession, when definitely
something’s happened there but you have to let it go because
they’ll keep the advantage. It’s a lot of judgment.
Otherwise, shooting space is always a killer.
Was it hard to learn to be an umpire when you
weren’t familiar with the game?
Oh my gosh yes. It was just amazing. When I started in this area,
nobody really knew many of the rules and we didn’t have many
referees. One of my first games, I got put on a game with no other
referee, and that was very common when we first started. I thought,
“Well, do your best. Try to make it so no one gets
hurt.” I didn’t know how to set anything up and I just
knew if it looked dangerous, I blew a whistle. That was what it was
like that first year or so. CarolLynn was a great mentor. Whatever
I do, I really want to do the best I can. So I’m going to a
clinic in a couple weeks to hopefully get better.
What advice would you give to a novice who is considering
becoming an umpire?
It’s a certain personality that you need because you have to
block those people out and block the coaches out if they get a
little bit excited. If you’re sitting on the fence and
you’re considering it, try it and the more you do it, the
more you’re going to like it. It’s an addictive game.
It’s a riot. I love it.
If you could go to one concert anywhere in the world
tomorrow, what would it be?
I’d like to go to Tuscany and hear Andrea Bocelli.
He’s so darn cute. And if I could have someone who has passed
away, I would be listening to George Gershwin in New York.
