The Embodied Pianist: Elena Riu on Presence, Breath, and Artistic Freedom

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What I'm trying to do more and more is really
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how can I help this person be the best version
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of themselves that they can be and find the path
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that best suits them in this profession. I think
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what connects it all is, I'd say, trying to find
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a more organic way to see music making. as not
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separate from other areas um like yoga and health
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you know like well -being also emotional health
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spiritual health it is just in simple terms is
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becoming more aware of the the role that your
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body and what you're doing with the body has
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on your piano playing Welcome to another inspiring
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episode of Season 6 of The Pianopod, everyone.
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This season is all about creativity and connection,
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exploring how artists across the piano world
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are reshaping what it means to create and connect
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in today's ever -changing landscape. Today's
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guest perfectly embodies that mission, Elena
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Riu, a Venezuelan -born pianist, recording artist,
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educator, and yoga teacher whose career bridges
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performance, education, mindfulness, and innovation.
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Elena is known for her powerful performances
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and her visionary albums like Piano Icons for
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the 21st Century, Salsa Nueva, Out of the Blues,
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and Soler, 12 Keyboard Sonatas. She is also recognized
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for her pioneering work on the embodied pianist,
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where she merges yoga, mindfulness, and music
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training to help musicians connect more deeply
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with their bodies and artistry. Elena has commissioned
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and premiered over 40 new piano works, collaborated
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with composers such as Gabriela Ortiz, Tanya
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Leon, and Diana Arizmendi, and inspired generations
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of students at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in
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London. She is also courageously bringing new
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conversations to the field, like her work with
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female performers exploring creativity in the
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menstrual cycle, a truly taboo -breaking topic
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in music and the arts. I can't wait for you to
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hear this conversation. We talk about everything
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from embodiment and artistic freedom to cultural
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identity, cyclical creativity, and redefining
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what it means to be a 21st century pianist. So
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wherever you are, take a deep breath, settle
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in, and enjoy this episode. Before we begin,
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a huge thank you to you and our listeners and
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community. Every time you subscribe, rate, or
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share this show, you help us continue building
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this space for creativity and dialogue. It truly
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means the world. Here is Season 6, Episode 6
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of The Pianopod with pianist, educator, and yoga
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teacher Elena Ryu, the embodied pianist on creativity,
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awareness, and artistic freedom. Please enjoy
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the show. You are listening to The Piano Pod,
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where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
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about how they are bringing the piano into the
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future and thriving in a complex, ever -evolving
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world. Elena, welcome to The Piano Pod. Thank
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you so much for being here today. Thank you for
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having me. Of course. Your work spans performance,
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education, mindfulness and collaboration. And
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what would you say is the core mission or passion
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that connects it all? Well, this is a really
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good question because I often wonder myself,
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especially, you know, the algorithm is very puzzled
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by all this. The algorithm wants to put us in
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a little box of like, you know, do one thing.
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very focused. And I think what connects it all
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is, I'd say, trying to find a more organic way
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to see music making as not separate from other
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areas like yoga and health, you know, like well
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-being, also emotional health, spiritual health.
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And so I think what brings it, like what synergizes
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more and more, I can think that at the moment,
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I feel that it's the movement in a way. Because,
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you know, I have a training as a dancer initially
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and then as a yoga teacher. And as musicians,
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we move as well. You know, it's not like we only
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play from this beat up, you know, from the brain.
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That's the way I think a lot of us have been
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taught. And so I'm finding more and more that
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my work with yoga and embodiment and coherent
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breathing brings those two areas of my training
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together. And that's actually shaping up strongly
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at the moment. So you mentioned embodiment and
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then throughout your... publications to your
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website to social media, I see the word embodied.
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So how do you define the term embodied musician?
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I think it's just in simple terms, it's becoming
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more aware of the role that your body and what
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you're doing with the body has on your piano
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playing. And it's more like connecting. you know,
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your physical body, your emotions, your spiritual
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body as well, in the process of creation and
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understanding how it might be hindering your
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progress or getting in the way of your practice,
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like misuse of the body or lack of awareness
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of the breath, for instance. You know, I've been
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teaching a yoga session at Trinity Lab and Conservatory
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of Music and Dance where I work for, quite a
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few years now, eventually they listened to me.
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And so now we have a session in the keyboard
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department. And, you know, I give them a little
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questionnaire that I've made that I'm tweaking.
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And, you know, one of the questions is, you know,
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they have to put between 1 and 10, awareness
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of body, awareness of breath. And a lot of people,
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you know, when you ask them about awareness of
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body, awareness of breath, they put one. So very,
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very little awareness of what's happening to
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their breathing and what's happening to their
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body. And then, you know, we're constantly talking
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to people about injury, like how to cure the
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injury or how to deal with the injury. But what
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I'm really interested in is not getting the injury.
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It's preventative. I think that's what's really
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important. So that should be happening from childhood.
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You know, people teaching children should already
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be incorporating embodiment in the teaching.
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So mixed of physical awareness to spiritual mindfulness.
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together is the embodiment yeah it's like really
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like having an awareness of why did that happen
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what is my shoulder doing or not doing or needing
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to do did i you know what's what's my heart space
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like how you know posture is not just about the
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bones and the muscles it also impacts you know
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in chinese medicine a lot it has a big impact
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on the heart center how we sit how we you know
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it has a big impact on the diaphragm it has a
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big impact on the postural muscles it's all connected
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so it's not just like oh if you sit straight
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like you know it was quite old -fashioned this
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sort of pilates sitting like a rod like that
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which actually that's not how the spine works
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because the spine is a sort of like you know
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organic creature and um and so you know How is
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this sitting like that affecting your heart center
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and your heart meridian? And, you know, all the
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emotions that are lodged in the back of the heart
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as well. And so, yeah, so embodiment is taking
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all that into account. How am I feeling today?
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Your menstrual cycle. Is it really the right
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day to push? and practice seven hours, is it
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ever. But, you know, is today the right day to
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do that? Or is today the right day for me to
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show my new piece to people? Or am I particularly
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vulnerable today because my inner critic is really
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whipping me and I don't need any more people,
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so this is not the time to take a new piece too.
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to my friends or even to my teacher if I'm feeling
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like already, you know, I'm already bounded by
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my own inner critic. Wow, interesting. So much
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to really discuss. But I'm just curious, like
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you are already an accomplished pianist. I know
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that. And also you have, we're going to talk
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more about your recordings later on. So you are
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a recording artist. How did you come to this
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place? Like what's been your artistic journey
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from traditional pianism? I'm sure it was a traditional
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training and then now incorporating yoga, mindfulness
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and somatic awareness. Well, I think I was quite
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lucky that, you know, when I was a child, I was
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given quite a few opportunities to do, you know,
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to do dance. So I was always very sort of active.
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And then I started to teach myself yoga when
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I was 11 from the very famous Theos Bernard book.
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And I was doing ballet and I was doing piano
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and I was doing quite creative as a young person.
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So I think that already informed my relationship
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with movement through the dancing and the wonderful
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synergy that dancing to music has, which is fantastic.
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you know, medium. And then I got the scholarship
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to come to the UK, where I had a kind of quite
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traditional romantic pianism, sort of, not pushed
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on me, but sold to me by my teacher, who was
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Joseph Van Garten. He had been, you know, a mega
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sort of Hungarian Jewish refugee, actually, in
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London. and had a big career as a, you know,
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Liszt and Schumann and all that. But because
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of my background, I had already done quite a
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lot of Latin American and Spanish repertoire
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because I'm half Catalan. And so when I came
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to London, I was already playing repertoire that
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wasn't really being taught in the conservatory.
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As it is, as you know, to this day, very, very
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few people are playing Spanish music outside
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of Spain. And and so I started to incorporate
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this repertoire into my recitals, which at the
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time was, I think, really, really stroke of luck
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for me because no one was doing it. So that attracted
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some attention. My teacher, you know, he was
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OK with it. He did like Granados, but he wasn't
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really, you know, he wasn't really somebody who
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played Iberia or. Coyescas or anything like that.
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And also in Venezuela, because I had a friend
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who was a composer, I was actually very interested
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in contemporary music. So I started to look at
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some, you know, quite light -hearted like Bozza
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and people who were a little bit, you know, off
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the beaten track and just to explore. And we
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were playing music by Venezuelan composers at
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the time. So, you know, and some of them were
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still around. So we were playing that kind of...
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contemporary repertoire already and then when
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I came to London I yeah as I said I started to
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program a mixture of contemporary and classical
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music sort of like I call it infiltration you
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know so I was playing to very um mainstream audiences
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you know in London San Martin in the fields you
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know at the beginning you know doing all those
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church rounds as we do here when we're young.
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But I always was infiltrating some 20th century
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music so that people didn't think, oh my God,
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what's that? But they came to hear, you know,
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King of Zen or some Mozart variations. And then
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once they were sort of captured, then they would
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just hear whatever else I played. So I would
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play some Scalf or I would play some other repertoire.
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And I found that that was a very successful way
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of introducing new music into a mainstream kind
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of concert hall audience as well. And then I
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had these ideas of how to kind of renew the piano
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repertoire. We're talking about 2000, I think,
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or Leighton or Salsa Nueva. Let me check. 2005.
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I had these ideas and I was wondering how can
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I play more new music? I was playing new music
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by Venezuelan composers, by people, by colleagues
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at the conservatory. And then I decided to see
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if somebody would be interested in this idea
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that I had, which was to create a piano repertoire
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based on popular styles. And that's how Salsa
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Nueva and Rhythm and Blues came to be. pitch
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the idea to Busy and Hawks. And, you know, it
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was just a question of being in the right place
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at the right time, I think. I wasn't like, you
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know, an A1 list name in the concert circuit.
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I mean, I was doing quite a lot. But I think
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they thought, well, this hasn't been done before,
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which I think it probably hadn't. And so I commissioned
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all these composers to write piano music. inspired
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by salsa. And then the next volume was inspired
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by R &B and the blues. And that was, I think,
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quite a kind of breakthrough in my career as
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a musician, because then I also was editing,
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producing, doing the whole thing, commissioning,
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checking on the scores. making a recording, taking
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on tour. It's a lot of work and a lot of heavy
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deadlines. I'm sure. And the second one, the
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second volume was happening when I was pregnant.
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So that added a whole new light into the whole
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process of like being really pushed, you know,
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having a deadline looming over you when you're
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going through pregnancy and then childbirth and
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then, you know. breastfeeding and all that so
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that's when you were like oh i need to incorporate
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some of those like wellness into your well i
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had already funnily enough before i had my my
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daughter i had you know um taken a whole two
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-year teaching qualification as a yoga teacher
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so that actually happened just before I had Ananda
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in 2008. So I had been doing a lot of training
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with a really incredible, one of my mentors,
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you might have heard of her. She's like a visionary,
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pioneer of women's yoga. And she's written six
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books, I think. And she's called Dr. Uma Dinsmortuli.
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She's written a massive book called Yoni Shakti,
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which is like a compendium of like yoga and women's
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health. So I done a lot of trainings with her,
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you know, while I was, you know, doing my music
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and my teaching and everything. And then I took
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this yoga diploma and then, you know, I was,
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well, I was incorporating to my own daily life
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and I could see the benefits that it was having
00:16:56.309 --> 00:16:59.549
on my creativity, my energy levels, physically.
00:16:59.789 --> 00:17:02.570
I've always very luckily naturally been quite
00:17:02.570 --> 00:17:06.640
sort of relaxed. in my body so I know somebody
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:11.380
very stiff and then yeah and then you know that
00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:16.119
kind of came into my teaching you know one -to
00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:19.940
-one more specifically and then it has become
00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:22.900
a bit more like incorporating into a group practice
00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:25.079
also because you know as you know people are
00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:28.420
suffering from performance related anxiety quite
00:17:28.420 --> 00:17:31.680
a lot and after COVID and with everything in
00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.970
the world it's you know it's You know, just anxiety
00:17:35.970 --> 00:17:38.490
generally in young people, you know, the anxiety
00:17:38.490 --> 00:17:43.569
is quite high. The stresses of the career, having
00:17:43.569 --> 00:17:46.230
a career, whatever that means, you know, being
00:17:46.230 --> 00:17:49.690
told what it means by somebody. And, you know,
00:17:49.710 --> 00:17:52.710
the expectations, you know, can be quite... I'm
00:17:52.710 --> 00:17:58.150
not saying that we have to sort of... This is
00:17:58.150 --> 00:18:01.029
the wrong word. You know, it has to be, you know,
00:18:01.029 --> 00:18:02.970
but the thing is that the yoga brings resilience.
00:18:03.089 --> 00:18:06.970
We need to train people who are resilient because
00:18:06.970 --> 00:18:10.289
we need this job. You need to be very resilient
00:18:10.289 --> 00:18:14.210
and very flexible, don't you? So that comes with
00:18:14.210 --> 00:18:18.759
the yoga as well. That's interesting because
00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:22.680
our industry is not really known for being flexible
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:26.920
because the training is rigor and rigid. But
00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:31.819
at the same time, when we think of career, yeah,
00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:34.539
we have to be flexible, especially these days.
00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:38.619
Yeah. Now, that's where your expertise in yoga
00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:42.980
comes in. And that's amazing. But when you teach.
00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.720
I know you are teaching this yoga mindfulness.
00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:49.759
It's yoga and mindfulness for pianists. Yeah,
00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:52.019
it's called the embodied. Well, I'm calling it
00:18:52.019 --> 00:18:54.420
now the embodied musician and also the embodied
00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:56.880
performer, because if you're a dancer or you're
00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:00.539
an actor, you can also use a lot of, you know,
00:19:00.579 --> 00:19:05.019
we have very similar issues that we are facing,
00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:08.660
you know, tiredness, attention, fatigue, muscular
00:19:08.660 --> 00:19:14.960
tension, you know, injury. anxiety, stress, and
00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:18.819
all these things that lead to insomnia, perhaps
00:19:18.819 --> 00:19:21.640
for some people, you know, etc. So it's all the
00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:25.980
ramifications of these issues and where they
00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:30.099
lead people as well. So yeah, so I have a class,
00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:33.859
I'm doing workshops online, also on creativity
00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:37.119
and your cycle for women, for female performers.
00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:42.839
I've been doing quite a few of these. And then
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.339
I have, yeah, a yoga class on a Monday morning,
00:19:45.500 --> 00:19:48.079
which is not very good for the States, but, you
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:51.200
know, I could do it. If there was demand, I would
00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:54.660
do it later. And that's every Monday, you know,
00:19:54.660 --> 00:19:56.539
for people who want to kind of start the week
00:19:56.539 --> 00:20:01.279
feeling purposeful and aligned with the energy
00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:03.200
of the Monday morning, which, you know, sometimes
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:09.130
quite tricky. And, yeah, so I'm doing. both one
00:20:09.130 --> 00:20:12.670
-to -one in my one -to -one teaching, where obviously
00:20:12.670 --> 00:20:15.690
it can be more hands -on because, you know, obviously
00:20:15.690 --> 00:20:19.049
with consent, because you can see something and
00:20:19.049 --> 00:20:22.670
adjust it in a way that they feel it very, very
00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:27.009
quickly. And then in these group classes and
00:20:27.009 --> 00:20:31.509
then, yeah, in these workshops as well. Where
00:20:31.509 --> 00:20:37.109
do you think these anxiety or tension come from?
00:20:37.349 --> 00:20:41.289
from especially what among young musicians maybe
00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:44.950
you already have answered but that we you know
00:20:44.950 --> 00:20:47.789
I have several students and I want to help too
00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:51.849
and there are many as you mentioned there are
00:20:51.849 --> 00:20:56.329
many books many classes out there but maybe it's
00:20:56.329 --> 00:20:59.210
not quite addressed from the get -go you know
00:20:59.210 --> 00:21:03.230
there are solutions to the problems but maybe
00:21:03.230 --> 00:21:08.359
they're not addressing the core of the issue
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:14.180
you know before it's happening as you said we
00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:17.460
can stop from being happening you know what i
00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:20.700
mean yeah the prevention well there are many
00:21:20.700 --> 00:21:23.779
reasons i think you know quite a lot of it can
00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:26.279
come from your family background you know the
00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:30.319
kind of environment that you grew up in the kind
00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.880
of expectations that have been placed onto you
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.099
you know You know, a lot of people take on a
00:21:36.099 --> 00:21:39.940
career as a performer, as a form of, like, fawning,
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.920
you know, pleasing your parents or fulfilling
00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:46.759
expectations from other people. It happens in
00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:50.759
other careers, you know, like lawyers. And then,
00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:55.059
you know, there are so many expectations, aren't
00:21:55.059 --> 00:21:57.180
there, when you've gone to music college and
00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:00.660
then you're faced with sort of these incredible
00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:06.220
high standards. of of um perfection also fueled
00:22:06.220 --> 00:22:10.619
by the cd industry you know and um and meeting
00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:13.519
so many deadlines i think especially the first
00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:15.779
year students i think there's like a sort of
00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:19.500
first year student and post grads i think they
00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:22.319
they both i think the worst affected because
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:25.779
then you know in the middle people have had some
00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:29.380
time to adapt or make some choices hopefully
00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:31.259
but at the beginning you know they come into
00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:35.579
Music college and they don't really fully, they're
00:22:35.579 --> 00:22:37.599
not fully aware of what they are going to be
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:40.839
dealing with or the expectations are going to
00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:44.299
be. I see that a lot. And they're not prepared
00:22:44.299 --> 00:22:46.900
for what's coming to them. And then, you know,
00:22:46.900 --> 00:22:49.160
when they get to postgrad, they sort of feeling
00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:51.720
like, oh, my God, if I haven't made it, made
00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:56.059
it. Now I'm a failure. And, you know, there's
00:22:56.059 --> 00:22:58.680
a lot to do with being compared to people, you
00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:02.160
know, comparing yourself to your peers. The competition,
00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:06.519
you know, also not getting anywhere. A lot of
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:08.720
rejection and not having to deal with rejection.
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:15.779
Having a good kind of lifestyle also that helps
00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:20.839
one kind of deal better with obstacles, you know,
00:23:20.859 --> 00:23:22.640
and that's what I mean, resilience. You know,
00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:25.559
you have to, okay, accept that maybe that wasn't
00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:28.599
what you expected. And now you have to get up
00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:34.009
again. You know, try to learn from it. How do
00:23:34.009 --> 00:23:38.269
we start again after a rejection or a perceived
00:23:38.269 --> 00:23:42.250
failure? How do we deal with negative thoughts?
00:23:43.009 --> 00:23:45.950
And I think the problem is that we tell students
00:23:45.950 --> 00:23:48.650
it's all talking. So, you know, you read a book
00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:52.349
or you go and see someone when you're anxious
00:23:52.349 --> 00:23:55.869
and they'll talk, which is great. Obviously,
00:23:55.930 --> 00:23:58.299
talking is... better than not saying anything.
00:23:58.579 --> 00:24:01.799
So talking is one form of dealing with these
00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:05.500
problems. But we now know from neuroscience and
00:24:05.500 --> 00:24:12.119
from yoga and from alternative medicine and from
00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:14.000
the people I train with that the best approach
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.359
is bottom up. The best approach with somebody
00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:20.279
who's already very stressed and very anxious
00:24:20.279 --> 00:24:23.539
is not to sit and talk or meditate, it's to move.
00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:30.099
is to use the body as the tool to bring people
00:24:30.099 --> 00:24:33.799
back into your center or into yourself, you know,
00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:39.339
to feel your big muscles, to get the mind to
00:24:39.339 --> 00:24:43.539
feel the body. And then the mind basically drops
00:24:43.539 --> 00:24:47.599
down into the lower body. That's what we want.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:50.619
We want people to be up because especially also,
00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:53.740
you know, we're sitting all day. there's a lot
00:24:53.740 --> 00:24:57.200
of stuff like circulation and energy channels
00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:00.799
you know if you believe in yoga and chinese medicine
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:03.000
you know traditional chinese medicine and you're
00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:05.019
better that have been blocked there's a lot of
00:25:05.019 --> 00:25:08.400
blocking from the posture the breathing the pelvis
00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:13.460
you know there's no circulation so the the approach
00:25:13.460 --> 00:25:17.279
is that you you move people you you do certain
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:21.210
things to purge the negativity you know to release
00:25:21.210 --> 00:25:24.990
the tension with the body through the body and
00:25:24.990 --> 00:25:28.690
the breathing and then you lie them down to do
00:25:28.690 --> 00:25:32.210
an incredible yoga nidra which is i mean you
00:25:32.210 --> 00:25:34.890
know i have people you keep me coming to my yoga
00:25:34.890 --> 00:25:38.430
class at nine o 'clock so they just got up and
00:25:38.430 --> 00:25:41.869
at 10 o 'clock they're sleeping again because
00:25:41.869 --> 00:25:44.809
you know the level of tiredness there's like
00:25:44.809 --> 00:25:49.390
an epidemic of tiredness in all of us. And we
00:25:49.390 --> 00:25:52.490
don't notice it because we just carry on. You
00:25:52.490 --> 00:25:55.170
know, we're taught to just push, push, push with
00:25:55.170 --> 00:25:57.869
toxic productivity. So I have people who are
00:25:57.869 --> 00:26:02.430
so, they just gobsmacked that they fell asleep
00:26:02.430 --> 00:26:04.809
at 10 o 'clock in the morning. They just can't
00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:08.450
get over it. And then at college, now I used
00:26:08.450 --> 00:26:11.289
to have a class of five, well, everyone, I say
00:26:11.289 --> 00:26:15.390
90 % was asleep in the yoga nidra. And even now,
00:26:15.450 --> 00:26:21.549
11 .45, So if I do a yoga nidra, yeah, sort of
00:26:21.549 --> 00:26:28.289
12, 35, most of them will be asleep. Wow. You
00:26:28.289 --> 00:26:31.970
know, Elena, I used to be a hardcore yogi, not
00:26:31.970 --> 00:26:36.589
like you, but, you know, like I did like a vinyasa,
00:26:36.589 --> 00:26:40.109
like a little athletic. So it was my work. Yeah,
00:26:40.190 --> 00:26:42.869
it was my work. But, you know, since 2020, I
00:26:42.869 --> 00:26:45.759
stopped. And then my life has not been the same.
00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:49.099
It's, it's, it's, and then, you know, I encouraged
00:26:49.099 --> 00:26:51.940
myself to do, oh, maybe I should do like an online
00:26:51.940 --> 00:26:53.660
yoga thing, but it's not, it wasn't the same.
00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:56.640
So I was so discouraged and I'm so, such a perfectionist
00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:58.880
that everything has to be perfect in order for
00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:03.740
me to continue. So I really do miss, but there's
00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:06.680
something so beautiful about yoga where this,
00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:11.089
you know, each class. just focuses on one part
00:27:11.089 --> 00:27:13.789
of the body for example yeah and then especially
00:27:13.789 --> 00:27:17.009
when it comes to the hip joint when that part
00:27:17.009 --> 00:27:21.950
of your body opens up yeah i don't know what
00:27:21.950 --> 00:27:28.369
happened to my brain right what what is this
00:27:28.369 --> 00:27:33.140
thing about yoga that really Is it breathing
00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:36.339
or is it this openness in your body? What is
00:27:36.339 --> 00:27:39.019
it? Yeah, it is because, you know, the thing
00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:40.980
also is that people go to the gym, you know,
00:27:41.019 --> 00:27:43.299
they watch something online, you know, or Instagram
00:27:43.299 --> 00:27:46.880
and they like do this. And I tell them, if you're
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:49.799
not breathing, it's not going to, the medicine
00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:53.480
is in the combination of the breathing, the pace,
00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:56.180
you know, in the case of coherent breathing,
00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.359
it's this very specific breath ratio that is
00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:02.400
like the magic formula too. regulate your nervous
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:06.339
system. And I knew you nailed it in the head.
00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:08.319
It's the flow of prana. You know, it's making,
00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:10.720
you know, in Chinese medicine, they believe that
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:14.019
the energy goes up and down. And, you know, when
00:28:14.019 --> 00:28:17.779
it just stays stuck up or down, then we have
00:28:17.779 --> 00:28:20.740
issues to do with our health. So when you're
00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:23.299
in a yoga class, you know, when the breathing
00:28:23.299 --> 00:28:27.319
is incorporated into the movement, you know,
00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:30.500
so that's one of the best practices for strength
00:28:30.500 --> 00:28:35.380
is, you know, moving breath. And my teacher,
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:39.279
you know, I trained with a few people, but had
00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:42.859
very big influence was the shadow yoga school,
00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:46.019
Shandor Remete, really incredible, incredible
00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:50.900
teaching. And there's a lot of sequences where
00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:53.519
I feel like Tai Chi or Qigong where you're moving
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:57.420
with the breath. So the mind is very, very busy
00:28:57.420 --> 00:29:01.039
because it's busy trying to synchronize the breath
00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:03.579
with the body. So it doesn't have time to go
00:29:03.579 --> 00:29:07.140
into, you know, somebody said something about
00:29:07.140 --> 00:29:10.940
me and I'm useless. And, you know, you get a
00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:14.039
break from all that, don't you? And then there's
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:17.589
healing from... Just having that hour when you
00:29:17.589 --> 00:29:20.670
didn't think about all the stuff that you're
00:29:20.670 --> 00:29:23.349
not getting done or that you're not, and you're
00:29:23.349 --> 00:29:26.369
just being in your body with your breath. And
00:29:26.369 --> 00:29:28.950
yeah, you know, the law of correspondence is
00:29:28.950 --> 00:29:31.549
the hips and the shoulders. So when you free
00:29:31.549 --> 00:29:34.309
your shoulders, you're freeing your hips. When
00:29:34.309 --> 00:29:36.829
you free your groin, your feet, you're freeing
00:29:36.829 --> 00:29:38.750
your armpit, which is really important in piano
00:29:38.750 --> 00:29:41.329
playing because, you know, most of us are like
00:29:41.329 --> 00:29:49.119
this. Yeah, and this panacea, this balm, which
00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:53.799
is the yoga nidra, giving people the permission
00:29:53.799 --> 00:30:00.779
to have this profound opportunity drop into their
00:30:00.779 --> 00:30:04.480
body and, you know, peel these layers of thought
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:07.619
and tension and deadlines and just like peeling
00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:10.640
an onion, you go deeper, you go into delta. Now
00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:12.920
they know that you go through all these different
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:17.099
brainwaves. which are incredible for your creativity
00:30:17.099 --> 00:30:22.839
that in normal waking time we don't have access
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:25.859
to. So the yoga nidra is not just to fall asleep.
00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:28.400
I mean, whether you fall asleep or not depends
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:31.619
on your body and where you are, but it's more
00:30:31.619 --> 00:30:35.819
like profoundly creative because you really are
00:30:35.819 --> 00:30:42.559
exploring the kernel of your being. But not from
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:49.019
the mind's point of view. Wow. It's so deep.
00:30:49.220 --> 00:30:53.140
And by speaking with you, I feel like, oh, this
00:30:53.140 --> 00:30:55.920
is a sign. I need to get back into it. Yeah.
00:30:56.099 --> 00:30:58.859
Maybe at this point what you need is to do a
00:30:58.859 --> 00:31:02.259
different kind of yoga. Because doing vinyasa
00:31:02.259 --> 00:31:06.359
now might not be what suits you. Because we change
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:09.740
and we're at a different place. So that kind
00:31:09.740 --> 00:31:12.660
of yoga. might have suited you you know in your
00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:16.059
30s or 40s and now you just feel that's not really
00:31:16.059 --> 00:31:18.480
what i need you know my body doesn't want it
00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:23.140
and and then we can adapt to changing needs as
00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:26.200
well yeah i i think so too i'm in a different
00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:31.039
stage of life where that sort of activity doesn't
00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:34.500
suit me anymore so i need to find a different
00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:37.690
path but Yeah, I need to breathe. I need to,
00:31:38.329 --> 00:31:41.690
like you said, feeling like an onion skin, like
00:31:41.690 --> 00:31:44.049
a little by little, like, you know, I need that
00:31:44.049 --> 00:31:47.190
experience again. Yeah, and the coherent breathing
00:31:47.190 --> 00:31:51.950
is wonderful for that because the way these wonderful
00:31:51.950 --> 00:31:54.869
people, the doctors there in New York, Dr. Brown
00:31:54.869 --> 00:31:58.650
and Dr. Gerbard of Breath, Body, Mind, the way
00:31:58.650 --> 00:32:00.430
they teach it, because obviously they are doctors,
00:32:00.529 --> 00:32:04.380
they're psychiatrists. So they know. all the
00:32:04.380 --> 00:32:06.920
ins and outs of, you know, from the physical
00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:09.000
perspective, what is happening or not happening
00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:12.980
in the body and the mind. And they bring in these
00:32:12.980 --> 00:32:15.559
practices to the West and also they're, you know,
00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:18.319
they're using these practices in really kind
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:22.240
of extreme situations of where people are experiencing
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:26.920
severe trauma, like war and catastrophe scenarios
00:32:26.920 --> 00:32:32.690
like the earthquakes. I think they understand
00:32:32.690 --> 00:32:38.170
this idea that you have to get rid of something
00:32:38.170 --> 00:32:44.410
first, you know, before you put the other stuff
00:32:44.410 --> 00:32:48.509
in. You can't put a new thing if you're blocking
00:32:48.509 --> 00:32:50.809
it with all the old stuff that is just running
00:32:50.809 --> 00:32:55.089
around. And then the way, you know, the coherent
00:32:55.089 --> 00:32:57.170
breathing, which is pranayama, but you know.
00:32:57.609 --> 00:33:00.529
explain me in a different way this this breath
00:33:00.529 --> 00:33:05.430
is ratio of breathing um that very related to
00:33:05.430 --> 00:33:07.750
the role of the vagus nerve as well you know
00:33:07.750 --> 00:33:10.609
that creates this balance so you know it's not
00:33:10.609 --> 00:33:13.589
like you're going to do this yoga and come out
00:33:13.589 --> 00:33:16.329
to play and you'll be like a zombie because you
00:33:16.329 --> 00:33:19.970
know what i mean it's not it's it's you are like
00:33:19.970 --> 00:33:23.069
really balancing the stress levels which are
00:33:23.069 --> 00:33:26.029
usually like that for most people and these are
00:33:26.029 --> 00:33:29.779
the you know the relaxation um response you're
00:33:29.779 --> 00:33:34.279
trying to bring them into relationship so when
00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:37.880
you come to perform you'll be not over sympathetic
00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:40.059
or parasympathetic you know you'll be balanced
00:33:40.059 --> 00:33:42.799
so you can make better decisions you have better
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.720
responses in the muscles you're not in flight
00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:50.079
or in fight hopefully and that's something i
00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:53.519
work a lot with in my class the nervous system
00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:59.180
and How what sort of like positive effects do
00:33:59.180 --> 00:34:03.220
you see from like after teaching several classes
00:34:03.220 --> 00:34:06.160
or maybe a semester or something? And then do
00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:09.559
you see any transformation in your students?
00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:14.099
Well, I ask them after the sessions to, you know,
00:34:14.099 --> 00:34:16.099
to fill the questionnaire. So it's like a before
00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:19.789
and after. And you can see quite a lot of. really
00:34:19.789 --> 00:34:22.789
positive responses but you can even see it after
00:34:22.789 --> 00:34:25.010
a session as you know when you go to a yoga you
00:34:25.010 --> 00:34:28.349
feel immediately better after and that you know
00:34:28.349 --> 00:34:31.889
your face looks your eyes are clear and so I
00:34:31.889 --> 00:34:35.050
tend to get a lot of feedback on people feeling
00:34:35.050 --> 00:34:43.599
more I think more courageous and more, I think,
00:34:43.659 --> 00:34:46.480
more energized, more inspired and more relaxed
00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:50.239
as well. And I've had some very beautiful feedback
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:54.059
of people doing the final relaxation of the nidra
00:34:54.059 --> 00:34:57.579
and feeling really interesting things happening
00:34:57.579 --> 00:35:01.579
in the arms, people with injuries. You know,
00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:04.780
doing this, this coherent breathing, they really
00:35:04.780 --> 00:35:07.539
describe very beautifully. I can send it to you
00:35:07.539 --> 00:35:10.019
late if you want to. The feeling of, you know,
00:35:10.059 --> 00:35:13.599
what's happening in the arm and light and it's
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:17.739
very beautiful. Yeah. So it has, yes, you know,
00:35:17.739 --> 00:35:19.760
some people are very sensitive. Some people take
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:21.659
longer, you know, some people are more cynical.
00:35:22.039 --> 00:35:25.159
Some people are more rational, you know, so you,
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:28.590
you know, you also depends on. where you are
00:35:28.590 --> 00:35:32.510
in your perception of what the yoga is as well
00:35:32.510 --> 00:35:36.289
you're going to bring that into it yeah absolutely
00:35:36.289 --> 00:35:39.489
wow thank you for sharing all this it's very
00:35:39.489 --> 00:35:44.969
inspiring now then but before we talk about your
00:35:44.969 --> 00:35:48.449
career as a musician let's talk about this taboo
00:35:48.449 --> 00:35:52.329
topic in in our industry especially this menstrual
00:35:52.329 --> 00:35:54.969
cycle so when we talk about you know, female
00:35:54.969 --> 00:35:57.150
in this context, obviously we are referring to
00:35:57.150 --> 00:36:00.070
those who are biologically born female. It's
00:36:00.070 --> 00:36:02.489
something, you know, menstrual cycle is something
00:36:02.489 --> 00:36:05.150
that we experienced nearly half of our lives.
00:36:05.449 --> 00:36:08.949
You know, if we were to live in, you know, our
00:36:08.949 --> 00:36:12.050
eighties or nineties, right. And then it's rarely
00:36:12.050 --> 00:36:15.389
discussed. And then when you think of like athletes,
00:36:15.789 --> 00:36:19.590
I'm sure there are expertise of all sorts of
00:36:19.590 --> 00:36:24.570
kinds to help them. to prepare for this the game
00:36:24.570 --> 00:36:28.090
of the century right but then in our industry
00:36:28.090 --> 00:36:31.269
there's no talk like hush hush absolutely and
00:36:31.269 --> 00:36:36.409
yeah and i wonder you know like even if i was
00:36:36.409 --> 00:36:40.969
much younger starting the cycle and then if i
00:36:40.969 --> 00:36:44.409
had a more information more support and it would
00:36:44.409 --> 00:36:48.449
have been a different experience for all of us
00:36:48.449 --> 00:36:51.599
and that's why i wrote my book I wrote this book,
00:36:51.659 --> 00:36:55.420
My Dear Period. Oh, that is great. For young
00:36:55.420 --> 00:36:58.760
girls. I did all the illustrations, but that's
00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:01.519
another conversation. How did I do that? You
00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:06.920
did? I did all this drawing. Oh, you're so multi
00:37:06.920 --> 00:37:10.199
-talented. Oh, really? You can see why the algorithm
00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:14.820
hates me. Not because of the talent, but because
00:37:14.820 --> 00:37:17.539
of the diversity stuff. I wrote this book because
00:37:17.539 --> 00:37:20.570
I, through my yoga, I also... have been working
00:37:20.570 --> 00:37:22.750
a lot with young girls for many years and their
00:37:22.750 --> 00:37:26.489
moms. And a lot was coming out in this session
00:37:26.489 --> 00:37:28.829
because of my daughter. You see, I did that also
00:37:28.829 --> 00:37:33.449
to give her a girl's circle. So I was meeting
00:37:33.449 --> 00:37:38.329
girls to do yoga and coming of age stuff every
00:37:38.329 --> 00:37:41.070
week for quite a few years. So I learned a lot
00:37:41.070 --> 00:37:45.679
about what was happening in the school. how people
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:48.579
talk or didn't talk about the period, how they
00:37:48.579 --> 00:37:51.500
felt about the body. And it was alarming because
00:37:51.500 --> 00:37:54.820
this is happening now. You know, the taboo when
00:37:54.820 --> 00:37:57.340
we were young, in a way you took it for granted
00:37:57.340 --> 00:38:00.679
because, you know, just imagine my mom, I mean,
00:38:00.739 --> 00:38:04.219
her background in terms of body literacy was
00:38:04.219 --> 00:38:08.239
zero, you know, and you didn't expect that. But
00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:13.139
even for me growing up, it wasn't a subject.
00:38:13.900 --> 00:38:17.179
that was explored or welcomed in my environment
00:38:17.179 --> 00:38:21.179
or even with my friends. So we already have experience
00:38:21.179 --> 00:38:25.260
of what it's like not to have this kind of body
00:38:25.260 --> 00:38:29.039
literacy tools. So obviously, when you go to
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.619
conservatoire, it's going to be the same because
00:38:31.619 --> 00:38:34.500
all those girls have been brought up mostly in
00:38:34.500 --> 00:38:37.849
families where this subject is. ignored or dismissed
00:38:37.849 --> 00:38:41.250
or very likely like you know here's a pad don't
00:38:41.250 --> 00:38:44.110
talk about it you know hush hush throw it in
00:38:44.110 --> 00:38:48.610
the bin and so it is to be expected I mean I
00:38:48.610 --> 00:38:51.969
taught a class for dancers the other day which
00:38:51.969 --> 00:38:54.869
you you know you think as you say athletes they're
00:38:54.869 --> 00:38:57.510
going to be really clued up they had no idea
00:38:57.510 --> 00:39:04.519
about whether or not they were ovulating what
00:39:04.519 --> 00:39:08.579
a cervical fluid was, how to track the period.
00:39:09.099 --> 00:39:12.059
I mean, they were all, you know, on the pill,
00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:16.139
not knowing what the pill, you know, really is
00:39:16.139 --> 00:39:18.659
doing to your body, etc. So it's actually widespread
00:39:18.659 --> 00:39:22.420
taboo. And that's why, you know, movements like
00:39:22.420 --> 00:39:25.539
Celebration Day for Girls exist, which is a fantastic
00:39:25.539 --> 00:39:30.519
workshop created by Jane Bennett in Australia
00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:33.980
to give this sort of... girls a chance to have
00:39:33.980 --> 00:39:37.099
a proper right of passage around monarchy, which
00:39:37.099 --> 00:39:40.719
is first period. And so, of course, it's taboo
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:42.599
because, you know, the music business traditionally
00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:47.480
has been very, very misogynistic. I mean, the
00:39:47.480 --> 00:39:49.860
music business still now, you know, I read lots
00:39:49.860 --> 00:39:51.679
of stuff from the New York Philharmonic. There
00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:54.019
was a whistleblower, I'm sure you know her. I
00:39:54.019 --> 00:39:57.639
mean, you know, dishing all the dirt on how absolutely
00:39:57.639 --> 00:40:01.940
appalling it is. You know, even the Berlin Philharmonic,
00:40:01.940 --> 00:40:04.579
I think they only had one female player with
00:40:04.579 --> 00:40:08.260
Karajan. So it's not a surprise that women are
00:40:08.260 --> 00:40:11.880
thinking that to succeed, they have to behave
00:40:11.880 --> 00:40:14.440
just like a man. That's the standard, you know,
00:40:14.460 --> 00:40:17.400
I have to be, you know, exactly the same. I have
00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:19.960
to have the same hand span. I have to make the
00:40:19.960 --> 00:40:23.360
sound of a male pianist. You know, women go to
00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:27.280
play, you know, and they're told, project, project.
00:40:27.880 --> 00:40:32.619
And I'm like, project what? What? What is project?
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:35.239
I mean, you know, just to, you have to kind of,
00:40:35.260 --> 00:40:39.480
I call it meat and two veg, you know. You have
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:41.940
Sunday lunch in England, you have meat and two
00:40:41.940 --> 00:40:45.820
vegetables, and it's like really heavy and, you
00:40:45.820 --> 00:40:48.559
know, makes you feel really full, not healthy,
00:40:48.679 --> 00:40:51.880
unnecessarily. And so I just, they just have
00:40:51.880 --> 00:40:55.340
this kind of expectation. And so how could you
00:40:55.340 --> 00:41:00.199
even be brave enough to mention? that you have
00:41:00.199 --> 00:41:03.199
a cramp and maybe you don't want to come to your
00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:07.579
lesson or you can't practice you know so so i'm
00:41:07.579 --> 00:41:11.619
now calling it bringing the m in the m of m of
00:41:11.619 --> 00:41:14.000
menstruation into music that's what i'm calling
00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:19.460
bringing the m of menstruation into the word
00:41:19.460 --> 00:41:23.360
music so as you say athletes now have so much
00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:26.320
more knowledge they're taught to track their
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:29.300
periods famously in the british in the football
00:41:29.300 --> 00:41:33.099
teams, the female football teams, and they are
00:41:33.099 --> 00:41:36.579
adjusting the training. So they're making the
00:41:36.579 --> 00:41:40.260
most of each phase of the cycle. It isn't that
00:41:40.260 --> 00:41:45.380
having your period is worse than being, you know,
00:41:45.380 --> 00:41:48.559
in the follicular phase, which is pre -ovulation.
00:41:48.659 --> 00:41:50.760
So basically there are four phases and they're
00:41:50.760 --> 00:41:53.820
like the seasons. There's inner winter, that's
00:41:53.820 --> 00:41:57.420
when you bleed. Then there's inner spring, which
00:41:57.420 --> 00:42:00.590
is the follicular. which is before ovulation,
00:42:00.670 --> 00:42:04.130
when the energy starts to surge. Then there's
00:42:04.130 --> 00:42:08.090
the ovulatory phase, which is when you ovulate
00:42:08.090 --> 00:42:11.929
and your hormones are at their top peak. And
00:42:11.929 --> 00:42:13.969
then there's the premenstrual phase that we know
00:42:13.969 --> 00:42:17.309
very well as women. When everything gets a little
00:42:17.309 --> 00:42:19.190
bit, you know, the hormones start to change,
00:42:19.389 --> 00:42:22.210
estrogen drops, you know, progesterone rises.
00:42:22.949 --> 00:42:26.070
And then there's the bleed when the hormones
00:42:26.070 --> 00:42:30.300
are a bit more like flat. And they are just different.
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:34.619
They're not worse or better, but they have different
00:42:34.619 --> 00:42:40.380
strengths. And so my students, if they have a
00:42:40.380 --> 00:42:43.880
really bad period, they can call me and they
00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:48.440
can say, I really feel really not well. And we
00:42:48.440 --> 00:42:51.719
will make up the lesson. And if they come to
00:42:51.719 --> 00:42:55.880
the lesson with a really heavy period. We will
00:42:55.880 --> 00:43:00.460
do other things. We won't play through, you know,
00:43:00.659 --> 00:43:04.400
the Schumann sonata in G minor when you have
00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:08.780
a really heavy period, you know, at full speed
00:43:08.780 --> 00:43:11.800
or Bartók sonata, you know, first movement. We
00:43:11.800 --> 00:43:13.380
don't want to do that. We work in a different
00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:17.599
way. And also, I'm telling, I actually got an
00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:21.900
award show coming up in December of how to show
00:43:21.900 --> 00:43:26.530
up for a performance during your winter. So how
00:43:26.530 --> 00:43:30.250
do you, again, because we don't have the luxury
00:43:30.250 --> 00:43:33.010
of telling a concert promoter, sorry, I got my
00:43:33.010 --> 00:43:36.349
period. Can I change it? You know, so this is
00:43:36.349 --> 00:43:38.090
what people don't understand. We are different.
00:43:38.170 --> 00:43:40.849
That's why I'm approaching performers and menstrual
00:43:40.849 --> 00:43:43.349
cycle awareness. We're in a different category
00:43:43.349 --> 00:43:48.210
because you can sync your diary, you know, most
00:43:48.210 --> 00:43:53.940
women kind of manage to with a... period with
00:43:53.940 --> 00:43:56.679
the menstrual cycle but when you have a gig that
00:43:56.679 --> 00:43:59.599
has been planned for two years you can't change
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:05.019
it so you have to manage you know with your period
00:44:05.019 --> 00:44:08.320
with the cramping with whatever comes with it
00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:12.840
then how do you do it and so that's what's interesting
00:44:12.840 --> 00:44:17.599
how do you pace your cycle if you know that you
00:44:17.599 --> 00:44:21.199
have this exam this first performance this important
00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:26.000
meeting on the day of your bleed or around it?
00:44:26.360 --> 00:44:30.480
What can you do to prepare yourself so that you
00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:34.860
can do your best? And how can you use the incredible
00:44:34.860 --> 00:44:39.159
gifts that come with the bleed in your performance?
00:44:39.239 --> 00:44:45.719
Because we have other gifts. Each part of the
00:44:45.719 --> 00:44:49.019
cycle comes with a different set of tools and
00:44:49.019 --> 00:44:52.969
powers. And so if you know they're there, you
00:44:52.969 --> 00:44:56.090
can use them at different times. Like we were
00:44:56.090 --> 00:44:58.090
saying, you know, if you're very premenstrual,
00:44:58.090 --> 00:45:02.590
you're already like very critical. You're hypercritical,
00:45:02.630 --> 00:45:04.690
you know, to yourself. So it's a really good
00:45:04.690 --> 00:45:07.690
time to edit something or to clean up a document
00:45:07.690 --> 00:45:11.949
or to make decisions, you know, tidying up. But
00:45:11.949 --> 00:45:14.489
it's not a good time to kind of get out there
00:45:14.489 --> 00:45:18.800
and play to people because you're not. you know
00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:22.719
you're already receiving a lot of criticism wow
00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:27.260
that's incredible i wish i knew this when i was
00:45:27.260 --> 00:45:29.760
much younger and then now you know obviously
00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:34.440
i'm in over a certain age and it's uh in a different
00:45:34.440 --> 00:45:37.920
phase of my life so maybe you can still use the
00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:41.199
moon so women who are postmenopausal yeah we
00:45:41.199 --> 00:45:43.880
will be using the moon as a sort of anchor you
00:45:43.880 --> 00:45:46.690
know not like a fixed thing but you know You
00:45:46.690 --> 00:45:49.030
can use the moon and go, okay, oh, I'm feeling
00:45:49.030 --> 00:45:51.650
there's this big full moon happening here and
00:45:51.650 --> 00:45:54.190
I'm feeling the opposite. You know, I'm feeling
00:45:54.190 --> 00:45:57.630
really low. I'm having a really sort of tough
00:45:57.630 --> 00:46:00.269
time. Or, you know, the energy of the moon is
00:46:00.269 --> 00:46:03.570
waning. So, you know, because we still have hormones.
00:46:03.909 --> 00:46:05.929
It's not that we don't have hormones. It's just
00:46:05.929 --> 00:46:10.989
a different level of operations happening. Right
00:46:10.989 --> 00:46:14.630
now it's like I'm in the perimenopause. Okay.
00:46:15.230 --> 00:46:18.750
toward the end, but it's like ups and downs.
00:46:19.030 --> 00:46:23.369
It's just the experience is incredible. The moon
00:46:23.369 --> 00:46:26.269
can help you. The moon really can help you because
00:46:26.269 --> 00:46:28.349
women who are in perimenopause, when your cycle
00:46:28.349 --> 00:46:32.789
starts to, you know, be very erupting, the moon
00:46:32.789 --> 00:46:34.769
can actually give you a little bit of a feeling
00:46:34.769 --> 00:46:37.650
of grounding because you can at least look at
00:46:37.650 --> 00:46:41.570
nature and the moon as well to get that feeling
00:46:41.570 --> 00:46:43.929
of, well, I know what I am. You know, there's
00:46:43.929 --> 00:46:47.250
like a... you know, waxing moon or crescent,
00:46:47.269 --> 00:46:50.289
you know, it's still sinking. And some women
00:46:50.289 --> 00:46:54.110
come back to a more regular cycle in perimenopause
00:46:54.110 --> 00:46:58.389
through using the moon. They do. It's really
00:46:58.389 --> 00:47:01.389
interesting. It's like your body kind of sinks
00:47:01.389 --> 00:47:07.369
with. Wow. Yeah. And it's tough. It's tough because
00:47:07.369 --> 00:47:09.730
it's like you're in the premenstruum all the
00:47:09.730 --> 00:47:16.260
time. all the time yeah yeah yeah but you know
00:47:16.260 --> 00:47:20.480
at the same time i i'm the kind of person to
00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:24.579
embrace the nature because i think living this
00:47:24.579 --> 00:47:28.820
long is already a privilege you know and so yeah
00:47:28.820 --> 00:47:32.420
it is a privilege so i embrace the aging process
00:47:32.420 --> 00:47:37.090
and i'm not afraid and sometimes oh it so sucks
00:47:37.090 --> 00:47:39.829
you know it's not really cool to experience the
00:47:39.829 --> 00:47:44.110
aging but but I take it positive so that's why
00:47:44.110 --> 00:47:49.369
I'm asking like you know I want to somehow incorporate
00:47:49.369 --> 00:47:51.570
the knowledge or I want to study a little bit
00:47:51.570 --> 00:47:54.210
more so that I can really give that gift that
00:47:54.210 --> 00:47:56.710
to my students you know young students who are
00:47:56.710 --> 00:48:00.809
about to experience and enter into this phase
00:48:00.809 --> 00:48:03.289
of their lives and it's gonna they're gonna have
00:48:03.289 --> 00:48:06.789
this relationship this this menstrual cycle this
00:48:06.789 --> 00:48:09.070
relationship for a long time that they might
00:48:09.070 --> 00:48:16.449
as well we have like 430 cycles periods they're
00:48:16.449 --> 00:48:19.130
about yeah well that's why i wrote the book the
00:48:19.130 --> 00:48:22.570
root the book is there you know on amazon everyone
00:48:22.570 --> 00:48:27.050
so that okay in the u .s so people can feel empowered
00:48:27.050 --> 00:48:29.809
and empower their daughter You know, to have
00:48:29.809 --> 00:48:31.630
all the right language, to have the knowledge.
00:48:33.030 --> 00:48:36.010
There's lots of spaces to write things down in
00:48:36.010 --> 00:48:38.190
the book, to reflect. It's like a sort of journal.
00:48:38.869 --> 00:48:41.449
And, you know, to change the narrative that they
00:48:41.449 --> 00:48:43.889
do know where they are in this cycle and what's
00:48:43.889 --> 00:48:46.190
happening. And obviously the book is for young
00:48:46.190 --> 00:48:50.949
girls. But, yeah, I think I am working on, you
00:48:50.949 --> 00:48:53.269
know, I'm going to have some trainings in the
00:48:53.269 --> 00:48:57.820
UK about. the embodied pianist and musician for
00:48:57.820 --> 00:49:00.159
music teachers. And I think the next one is going
00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:03.599
to be for, you know, for teachers of female students
00:49:03.599 --> 00:49:07.619
as well, just to how to, how to understand that,
00:49:07.699 --> 00:49:10.880
you know, if you have a student in, you know,
00:49:10.900 --> 00:49:13.820
you remember, you know, in different phases of
00:49:13.820 --> 00:49:16.239
the cycle, they are, you know, have different
00:49:16.239 --> 00:49:18.420
abilities that we can call upon, or, you know,
00:49:18.440 --> 00:49:21.039
we can give different homework or different tasks
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:27.840
or, yeah. But if, You know how to manage better.
00:49:28.019 --> 00:49:34.119
I think as female artists, it's such an eye -opening
00:49:34.119 --> 00:49:41.340
experience because oftentimes it's been a disadvantage
00:49:41.340 --> 00:49:47.400
because we weren't taught how to. really deal
00:49:47.400 --> 00:49:51.019
with right so yeah exactly it's not because it
00:49:51.019 --> 00:49:53.380
is a disadvantage well the patriarchy wants us
00:49:53.380 --> 00:49:55.880
to think that it is a disadvantage that's right
00:49:55.880 --> 00:49:58.260
that's right and it actually isn't it's it's
00:49:58.260 --> 00:50:01.360
it's a incredible you know if you look at nature
00:50:01.360 --> 00:50:05.940
how nature creates nature creates in a cyclical
00:50:05.940 --> 00:50:09.559
way nature doesn't create in a linear way you
00:50:09.559 --> 00:50:12.480
know if you look at all the processes of the
00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:16.559
you know the life cycle it's also a cycle you
00:50:16.559 --> 00:50:19.460
know and then you know it keeps changing it keeps
00:50:19.460 --> 00:50:22.099
repeating it keeps evolving you know and that's
00:50:22.099 --> 00:50:25.420
the same so it's it's um we feel that it's a
00:50:25.420 --> 00:50:28.280
disadvantage because we have such little information
00:50:28.280 --> 00:50:32.360
about also the creative cycle is the same the
00:50:32.360 --> 00:50:35.659
creative cycle is not linear You know, when you're
00:50:35.659 --> 00:50:38.579
writing a book or practicing, not every day is
00:50:38.579 --> 00:50:40.860
the same as the other one. That's imposed by
00:50:40.860 --> 00:50:43.820
this patriarchal lens that you have to be. And
00:50:43.820 --> 00:50:46.559
even men, they do have hormones. You know, they
00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:50.199
do have cycles. They're just smaller. So this
00:50:50.199 --> 00:50:52.820
expectation that young people have, you know,
00:50:52.840 --> 00:50:55.039
that they have to practice every day the same
00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:57.380
amount of hours at the same, you know, it's like
00:50:57.380 --> 00:51:00.619
driving a car at full speed the whole time. You
00:51:00.619 --> 00:51:02.860
don't do that. You know, you change the speed.
00:51:04.269 --> 00:51:07.030
Even in a car, it's not the same. You know, you
00:51:07.030 --> 00:51:11.110
have to adjust. You have to change gear. Exactly.
00:51:11.110 --> 00:51:16.630
So in a creative life, when to change gear is
00:51:16.630 --> 00:51:20.429
very useful to know it, when to push. And if
00:51:20.429 --> 00:51:25.409
you have to push in a moment that you feel that
00:51:25.409 --> 00:51:29.510
you have less energy, how to deal with that,
00:51:29.550 --> 00:51:33.309
you know, how to help. yourself as we're saying
00:51:33.309 --> 00:51:36.449
if you're having a very you know heavy period
00:51:36.449 --> 00:51:39.070
or you're you know having a long cycle because
00:51:39.070 --> 00:51:41.650
you're in perimenopause and you're an artist
00:51:41.650 --> 00:51:45.110
and you're on tour and your period last 15 days
00:51:45.110 --> 00:51:50.230
like as perimenopause how to deal with it to
00:51:50.230 --> 00:51:54.630
make this experience you know less disempowering
00:51:54.630 --> 00:51:58.550
and and you do that by how you prepare before
00:51:58.550 --> 00:52:03.010
the event And on the day, you know, like delegating,
00:52:03.030 --> 00:52:06.670
asking for help, even simple things like that
00:52:06.670 --> 00:52:10.050
can make a big difference, you know, in how we
00:52:10.050 --> 00:52:17.130
are managing performing with a cycle. Wow, this
00:52:17.130 --> 00:52:19.469
is incredible. Thank you. Yeah. And then can
00:52:19.469 --> 00:52:22.429
you show me your book again so that people can
00:52:22.429 --> 00:52:26.039
see? It's in Amazon in the US. And you can just
00:52:26.039 --> 00:52:32.260
get it in the US. They deliver it to your doorstep.
00:52:32.300 --> 00:52:35.679
And it's just for girls and their moms or the
00:52:35.679 --> 00:52:38.340
caregiver or auntie. And it's a present that
00:52:38.340 --> 00:52:41.920
you can give to your goddaughter. And it has
00:52:41.920 --> 00:52:44.400
a lot of, let me show you, it has a lot of spaces
00:52:44.400 --> 00:52:49.300
for, you know, lots of questions and good places
00:52:49.300 --> 00:52:53.860
to... To draw, for instance, that's a blank place
00:52:53.860 --> 00:52:58.980
to draw. And then they have draw your menarche
00:52:58.980 --> 00:53:05.159
party outfit. And then just, you know, making
00:53:05.159 --> 00:53:09.340
decisions about what would you like to do planning
00:53:09.340 --> 00:53:13.820
your first period. This is, you know, some yoga,
00:53:13.840 --> 00:53:16.980
tension releasing. And then these leaves are
00:53:16.980 --> 00:53:18.780
for you to write down what you're wanting to
00:53:18.780 --> 00:53:21.880
release today. So there's a lot of journaling
00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:25.880
also and games that are incorporated. So it's
00:53:25.880 --> 00:53:28.440
very child friendly. So it's about, you know,
00:53:28.460 --> 00:53:31.699
between eight and even 14, depends on the child.
00:53:33.099 --> 00:53:37.300
Oh, wonderful. It just looks beautiful. And I
00:53:37.300 --> 00:53:40.119
didn't realize that you have this gift of drawing
00:53:40.119 --> 00:53:42.960
too. Well, I just did them because I did a training
00:53:42.960 --> 00:53:45.739
and I did actually the menstrual, the menstruality
00:53:45.739 --> 00:53:50.260
leadership training with Alexandra Pope. They
00:53:50.260 --> 00:53:53.860
had people doing a lot of visualizations. And
00:53:53.860 --> 00:53:56.139
after the visualization, they wanted us to draw.
00:53:57.039 --> 00:54:01.059
And I was being very rational and quite closed
00:54:01.059 --> 00:54:04.079
in for some reason during that weekend. And I
00:54:04.079 --> 00:54:06.460
just, I thought, oh my God, you know, I can't
00:54:06.460 --> 00:54:10.380
believe I'm having to do this. And I had a lot
00:54:10.380 --> 00:54:12.260
of resistance, which is interesting. You know,
00:54:12.300 --> 00:54:14.280
I could draw, I drew with my daughter, but not.
00:54:15.480 --> 00:54:17.780
And then I just thought, you know what, I'm here.
00:54:19.679 --> 00:54:21.920
I've loved all these days. I'm just going to
00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:25.139
go for it. And then this drawing started to kind
00:54:25.139 --> 00:54:28.900
of come out of these visualizations. And that
00:54:28.900 --> 00:54:33.699
led to me thinking, how can I explain to somebody
00:54:33.699 --> 00:54:36.840
else what I like, the drawings that I want for
00:54:36.840 --> 00:54:38.559
this book? And I thought it was going to be so
00:54:38.559 --> 00:54:41.619
difficult that I just thought, well, I'll just
00:54:41.619 --> 00:54:48.460
do it myself. And I did. Wonderful. But it happened
00:54:48.460 --> 00:54:53.239
out of... It happened out of a five -day retreat
00:54:53.239 --> 00:54:57.840
where we used visualization as a tool. Because
00:54:57.840 --> 00:55:01.300
you know athletes use it, and I'm teaching musicians,
00:55:02.119 --> 00:55:04.619
it's really good for us to use visualization
00:55:04.619 --> 00:55:11.300
to manifest the highest outcome as well. Visualization,
00:55:11.599 --> 00:55:14.559
hmm. Yeah, you know, like the athletes, the gymnasts,
00:55:14.599 --> 00:55:17.559
they visualize for many more hours than they
00:55:17.559 --> 00:55:21.340
actually practice. at the power of the yeah so
00:55:21.340 --> 00:55:24.000
it's really important that we do that as well
00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:27.679
yeah you're right yeah i've talked to psychologist
00:55:27.679 --> 00:55:31.480
um on this podcast and he mentioned and as well
00:55:31.480 --> 00:55:36.179
yeah uh yeah yeah now i want to go on more about
00:55:36.179 --> 00:55:39.340
all these wonderful physical topics but i also
00:55:39.340 --> 00:55:42.159
want to you know talk about your recordings and
00:55:42.159 --> 00:55:45.269
um So you briefly mentioned at the beginning
00:55:45.269 --> 00:55:49.429
of this episode. So you are a champion of commissioning
00:55:49.429 --> 00:55:52.489
and introducing new piano music for decades.
00:55:52.670 --> 00:55:57.269
You know, I listened to your albums, like, for
00:55:57.269 --> 00:55:59.929
example, Piano Icons for the 21st Century. That
00:55:59.929 --> 00:56:03.829
album came around 2000. Yeah. And then Salsa
00:56:03.829 --> 00:56:06.769
Nueva, you mentioned in 2014. I totally enjoyed
00:56:06.769 --> 00:56:11.650
it. And then Out of the Blues. And the Soler
00:56:11.650 --> 00:56:16.489
one as well. That's right. Soler, actually, I
00:56:16.489 --> 00:56:20.969
interviewed Haik Arsenian. He's a New York -based
00:56:20.969 --> 00:56:26.630
pianist, and he did extensive research on this
00:56:26.630 --> 00:56:30.210
composer, Antonio Soler. Ah, that's amazing,
00:56:30.590 --> 00:56:34.019
yeah. Yeah, I'm going to connect him to you because
00:56:34.019 --> 00:56:38.219
he, yeah, he wrote this, I think his doctorate
00:56:38.219 --> 00:56:42.199
degree, he wrote a dissertation about this composer.
00:56:42.239 --> 00:56:45.380
Oh, fascinating. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that,
00:56:45.420 --> 00:56:48.599
yeah, his book is now published in Spanish as
00:56:48.599 --> 00:56:51.300
well. Okay, I'd love to connect. Yes, thank you.
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:54.579
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. So tell me
00:56:54.579 --> 00:56:58.639
how... So even like contemporary pieces you commission
00:56:58.639 --> 00:57:01.239
and perform, they're not too avant -garde. So,
00:57:01.300 --> 00:57:05.440
you know, most of them are super tonal and really
00:57:05.440 --> 00:57:09.059
invites much wider audience, I think. So how
00:57:09.059 --> 00:57:13.059
do you pick and choose? And also the piano icons
00:57:13.059 --> 00:57:14.900
were slightly different. That was very sort of
00:57:14.900 --> 00:57:17.659
highbrow, you know, that was more to do with
00:57:17.659 --> 00:57:21.760
like... portraying composers' different interpretations
00:57:21.760 --> 00:57:24.820
of spirituality and nature, you know, so there's
00:57:24.820 --> 00:57:27.440
the Janacek. And then I commissioned this piece
00:57:27.440 --> 00:57:30.619
by John Tavenner, who, you know, was a very big
00:57:30.619 --> 00:57:33.760
composer at the time. And that is a whole story
00:57:33.760 --> 00:57:38.579
of how that happened to be and the issues that
00:57:38.579 --> 00:57:40.739
came up through the whole of that commissioning
00:57:40.739 --> 00:57:46.900
period for that. And, yeah, and he wrote me a
00:57:46.900 --> 00:57:49.179
piece that was... quite difficult because it
00:57:49.179 --> 00:57:51.800
was, you know, quite long, I think 20 minutes.
00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:54.639
And then when I saw the score, like, you know,
00:57:54.639 --> 00:57:59.940
I had five pages of continuous trills. I wasn't
00:57:59.940 --> 00:58:03.880
so pleased with it, but anyway. And then, you
00:58:03.880 --> 00:58:06.340
know, I had to ask permission from Arvo Pert
00:58:06.340 --> 00:58:09.480
to write this piece. So that they, you know,
00:58:09.480 --> 00:58:15.420
and so I put this, this was like a... a big breakthrough
00:58:15.420 --> 00:58:18.340
for me because it was commissioned by the City
00:58:18.340 --> 00:58:20.800
of London Festival and there was a lot of stuff
00:58:20.800 --> 00:58:24.500
going on and yeah and so I wanted to present
00:58:24.500 --> 00:58:27.039
different styles so there was Montpau and then
00:58:27.039 --> 00:58:29.000
there was Sculptor then there was the Janacek
00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:32.719
which is quite big and the Tafna and then from
00:58:32.719 --> 00:58:37.039
that I think I went into the Soler in Catalán
00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:39.500
and you know people play a lot of Scarlatti but
00:58:39.500 --> 00:58:43.039
again hardly anybody knows Soler and His music
00:58:43.039 --> 00:58:46.920
is exhilarating, isn't it? It's just so fantastic
00:58:46.920 --> 00:58:50.500
and so crazy with all these modulations, you
00:58:50.500 --> 00:58:54.099
know. And then came the sort of, and then I had
00:58:54.099 --> 00:58:56.980
recorded music by Diana Rismendi, who's the,
00:58:57.079 --> 00:59:02.139
she's the artistic director of the Festival Latinoamericano
00:59:02.139 --> 00:59:05.079
de Música in Caracas. And she's been writing
00:59:05.079 --> 00:59:08.360
for me for many years. And so I've been doing.
00:59:08.969 --> 00:59:11.130
you know, some recordings for her as well, which
00:59:11.130 --> 00:59:14.929
are, you know, part of a sort of like recordings
00:59:14.929 --> 00:59:18.670
of all her music. And then I did this Salsa Nueva
00:59:18.670 --> 00:59:21.650
and the Out of the Blues because I wanted, I
00:59:21.650 --> 00:59:24.170
was seeing, because I used to teach kids, you
00:59:24.170 --> 00:59:27.369
know, before I taught at college, how it was
00:59:27.369 --> 00:59:29.769
very difficult for really young people to relate
00:59:29.769 --> 00:59:34.670
to some of the classical, you know, repertoire.
00:59:36.360 --> 00:59:39.320
How does that really connect with somebody who's
00:59:39.320 --> 00:59:43.320
10? You know, how did they connect with a Mozart,
00:59:43.559 --> 00:59:46.599
you know, divertimento or something? I mean,
00:59:46.599 --> 00:59:49.579
what is that saying to the actual life, everyday
00:59:49.579 --> 00:59:54.199
life and the school life? So I wanted to come
00:59:54.199 --> 00:59:57.320
up with something where young people would be
00:59:57.320 --> 01:00:02.150
kind of feeling that it was cool. It was cool
01:00:02.150 --> 01:00:04.429
to play this music because, you know, it was
01:00:04.429 --> 01:00:08.849
a bit of like boogie and blues and stuff like
01:00:08.849 --> 01:00:12.110
that. In fact, when I taught, I showed this,
01:00:12.469 --> 01:00:15.750
I did a workshop with Epta China at Trinity College
01:00:15.750 --> 01:00:19.949
last year, and they loved the rhythm and blues.
01:00:21.329 --> 01:00:24.150
You know, when they heard the pieces and when
01:00:24.150 --> 01:00:27.690
they heard about it, they just... Oh, my goodness.
01:00:27.989 --> 01:00:30.559
They all wanted to buy it. Because as soon as
01:00:30.559 --> 01:00:34.500
they heard that it had R &B bass pieces, they...
01:00:34.500 --> 01:00:38.219
Is that from Out of the Blues? Yeah, this is
01:00:38.219 --> 01:00:42.880
called R &B Connection. This is Bluesy and Hawks.
01:00:43.159 --> 01:00:46.000
But I think you buy through shorts, actually.
01:00:46.019 --> 01:00:50.320
It's quite complicated. And this is, you know,
01:00:50.340 --> 01:00:56.980
new commissions by people like... Sally Beamish,
01:00:57.079 --> 01:01:00.500
Nicky Yeo, David Rosenblum, he was the head of
01:01:00.500 --> 01:01:04.880
the Dean at CalArts. He did a lot of really also
01:01:04.880 --> 01:01:09.159
contemporary jazz. Anna Lara from Mexico, you
01:01:09.159 --> 01:01:11.659
know, Elena Katz -Chernin, lots of different
01:01:11.659 --> 01:01:14.280
people writing me pieces that were sort of blues
01:01:14.280 --> 01:01:19.019
and R &B and sort of jazz inspired. And I thought,
01:01:19.059 --> 01:01:21.659
you know, young, young musicians would really
01:01:21.659 --> 01:01:24.309
like this because they would feel... That's what
01:01:24.309 --> 01:01:26.309
they're listening to. They're listening to R
01:01:26.309 --> 01:01:32.630
&B. Now rap more and rock and pop music. So these
01:01:32.630 --> 01:01:35.690
are a compilation of all these composers who
01:01:35.690 --> 01:01:39.130
wrote for you and then geared toward more intermediate
01:01:39.130 --> 01:01:44.969
students? It's 17 pieces in this one, yeah. So
01:01:44.969 --> 01:01:47.030
that was also what happened, that the first,
01:01:47.170 --> 01:01:51.309
the Salsa Nueva, was supposed to be also like...
01:01:52.239 --> 01:01:57.820
For up to grade five, I think we said at the
01:01:57.820 --> 01:02:00.119
beginning, but it wasn't because we had people
01:02:00.119 --> 01:02:03.599
like Javier Alvarez who wrote me a really difficult
01:02:03.599 --> 01:02:07.039
piece, wonderful piece, but really difficult.
01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:12.000
And then Gabriel Ortiz also wrote a really difficult
01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:14.719
piece, wonderful, but not at all great. I mean,
01:02:14.780 --> 01:02:19.980
grade eight, maybe. But not really. So the second
01:02:19.980 --> 01:02:22.960
time we learned a lesson, so we had to be really
01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:26.619
tough with the composers, you know, about the
01:02:26.619 --> 01:02:29.300
length and the difficulty. So it would be more
01:02:29.300 --> 01:02:32.780
like grade five. And so we were more successful
01:02:32.780 --> 01:02:36.460
in the rhythm and blues that it can be played
01:02:36.460 --> 01:02:38.659
by, you know, younger people or people that are
01:02:38.659 --> 01:02:41.480
not at college. A lot of the salsa nueva would
01:02:41.480 --> 01:02:43.900
be like almost, yeah, you have to be really good
01:02:43.900 --> 01:02:47.929
at also reading. you know technique and yeah
01:02:47.929 --> 01:02:51.030
you have to be grade eight up or semi -professional
01:02:51.030 --> 01:02:55.190
some of them are maybe grade six seven but the
01:02:55.190 --> 01:02:57.989
minority and also because you know with all these
01:02:57.989 --> 01:03:00.349
rhythms it's quite difficult if you're not familiar
01:03:00.349 --> 01:03:05.170
with latin you know clave montuno all this and
01:03:05.170 --> 01:03:09.469
also my my one of my really strong remits for
01:03:09.469 --> 01:03:11.909
this was that i wanted to include as many women
01:03:13.300 --> 01:03:17.460
good I noticed that so you have the Diana Rismendi
01:03:17.460 --> 01:03:20.619
I push really hard and I think we managed to
01:03:20.619 --> 01:03:23.440
do half and half so I think I have the same number
01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:27.960
of women as men over the two volumes so I feel
01:03:27.960 --> 01:03:30.460
that I wanted to give a voice to loads of composers
01:03:30.460 --> 01:03:35.639
also that were not from the usual countries you
01:03:35.639 --> 01:03:38.159
know So that they were from, you know, the global
01:03:38.159 --> 01:03:41.860
south or nationalities that perhaps weren't so
01:03:41.860 --> 01:03:45.579
well known in Europe or in the US. And so that
01:03:45.579 --> 01:03:47.980
also we managed to have quite a lot of Latin
01:03:47.980 --> 01:03:52.519
American female composers involved in this. And
01:03:52.519 --> 01:03:55.780
I was really pleased with that. Because now,
01:03:55.780 --> 01:03:58.219
you know, now it's more popular, you know, for
01:03:58.219 --> 01:04:01.460
people to record music by women and play music
01:04:01.460 --> 01:04:06.340
by Latin American. This is 2005. I know. It wasn't
01:04:06.340 --> 01:04:09.599
really happening then. In fact, the review from
01:04:09.599 --> 01:04:12.119
the Grammar, I think this was Salsa Nueva was
01:04:12.119 --> 01:04:15.460
kind of, if I may say so, a bit ahead of its
01:04:15.460 --> 01:04:20.539
time. Yeah. Totally. Yeah, because it was also
01:04:20.539 --> 01:04:24.920
contemporary music and short pieces. It wasn't
01:04:24.920 --> 01:04:27.539
a sort of people pleaser, although, you know,
01:04:27.599 --> 01:04:31.960
some people loved it. Anyway, so I was really
01:04:31.960 --> 01:04:34.639
pleased that we managed to get all this wonderful.
01:04:35.360 --> 01:04:39.179
women composers but where does because you know
01:04:39.179 --> 01:04:43.119
finally in 2020 i think this uh diversity of
01:04:43.119 --> 01:04:46.340
of recordings and female composers and so on
01:04:46.340 --> 01:04:49.019
just happened all of a sudden just it really
01:04:49.019 --> 01:04:54.280
broke out yeah you know but before then well
01:04:54.280 --> 01:04:56.980
yeah i guess only a handful like including yourself
01:04:56.980 --> 01:05:01.320
so i wonder where that did that inspiration come
01:05:01.320 --> 01:05:04.599
from or it was just your I think my roots, because,
01:05:04.699 --> 01:05:07.280
you know, I grew up in Venezuela, so I was surrounded
01:05:07.280 --> 01:05:10.440
by Latin music, salsa, you know, whether you
01:05:10.440 --> 01:05:13.440
liked it or not, you were exposed to it 24 -7
01:05:13.440 --> 01:05:16.579
in all the buses and blaring out of every single
01:05:16.579 --> 01:05:19.199
loudspeaker in the street. And I actually really
01:05:19.199 --> 01:05:22.360
love salsa and I love dancing. So, and then,
01:05:22.380 --> 01:05:25.099
you know, I grew up with knowing about all these
01:05:25.099 --> 01:05:29.019
Latin American composers. And then I heard, as
01:05:29.019 --> 01:05:31.900
I came to Europe, I started to listen to more.
01:05:32.480 --> 01:05:35.519
You know, Tania Leone, who I'm so honored that
01:05:35.519 --> 01:05:39.739
she wrote Tumba, which is played a lot, apparently.
01:05:39.820 --> 01:05:42.420
It's become really popular as a piano piece.
01:05:42.480 --> 01:05:47.260
I know. But did you commission her? Yes, I commissioned
01:05:47.260 --> 01:05:49.900
her. That piece? That's a very famous piece?
01:05:49.960 --> 01:05:54.079
Yes, I commissioned it. And I think she dedicated
01:05:54.079 --> 01:05:57.699
it to... Did she dedicate it to Celia Cruz? Let
01:05:57.699 --> 01:06:01.019
me just... Tumba is dedicated to Celia Cruz.
01:06:01.789 --> 01:06:05.289
Oh, my goodness. It's a really famous Cuban salsa
01:06:05.289 --> 01:06:11.789
singer. Is that the music score that... Tania
01:06:11.789 --> 01:06:14.730
wrote. Yes, the score that Tania Leone wrote.
01:06:15.230 --> 01:06:18.150
But these are the compilation from your album?
01:06:18.710 --> 01:06:21.750
So it's part of... So do you also... So did you
01:06:21.750 --> 01:06:24.150
publish the scores as well? Yeah, this is...
01:06:24.150 --> 01:06:27.349
So that was why it was such a great project because...
01:06:27.550 --> 01:06:29.849
We not only commissioned, but we published all
01:06:29.849 --> 01:06:34.650
the scores with Busi and Ott. They got paid to
01:06:34.650 --> 01:06:38.349
write, but they also were getting a commission
01:06:38.349 --> 01:06:42.789
because I wanted the composers, I was very much
01:06:42.789 --> 01:06:46.150
advocating for the composers. You know, normally
01:06:46.150 --> 01:06:48.670
you commission a piece, it gets played once,
01:06:48.769 --> 01:06:53.010
maybe twice if you're lucky, and maybe the composer
01:06:53.010 --> 01:06:55.449
gets a little bit of money depending on nothing,
01:06:55.570 --> 01:06:58.559
just the performance. So I really wanted to make
01:06:58.559 --> 01:07:01.960
sure that they got more than just the first performance
01:07:01.960 --> 01:07:06.719
and that the music was going to live on and be,
01:07:06.739 --> 01:07:10.059
you know, available to all around the world,
01:07:10.099 --> 01:07:15.079
which it is. And yeah, so that they're all printed.
01:07:15.179 --> 01:07:17.599
So you can get the scores from Busy and Hawks
01:07:17.599 --> 01:07:21.320
for shots. I think in the States, yeah, if you
01:07:21.320 --> 01:07:23.340
go to Busy's, they'll tell you where to get it.
01:07:23.929 --> 01:07:26.429
I think it used to be Hall Leonard who distributed
01:07:26.429 --> 01:07:30.050
them in the States. You have to send me those
01:07:30.050 --> 01:07:32.849
links and then I can put it in a show notes so
01:07:32.849 --> 01:07:36.329
that people can take a look and purchase. And
01:07:36.329 --> 01:07:38.690
it's really great for piano teachers when you're
01:07:38.690 --> 01:07:41.909
sort of desperate with trying to find repertoire.
01:07:42.150 --> 01:07:45.010
And even now, for instance, at Trinity, we have
01:07:45.010 --> 01:07:47.550
some requirements in the exams, which is brilliant,
01:07:47.690 --> 01:07:49.949
depending on the year that they have to play
01:07:49.949 --> 01:07:52.530
a piece by a female composer, which is really
01:07:52.530 --> 01:07:56.760
great. or a living composer. So this meets both
01:07:56.760 --> 01:07:59.480
of those requirements as well. And, you know,
01:07:59.519 --> 01:08:01.960
if you give a 10, 11 -year -old boy a piece that
01:08:01.960 --> 01:08:04.139
is a boogie, they're going to be quite happy
01:08:04.139 --> 01:08:08.440
to play it. Oh, definitely. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
01:08:08.500 --> 01:08:12.360
That's exactly what they're asking, always. Yeah,
01:08:12.440 --> 01:08:15.300
or something that sounds like, you know, R &B
01:08:15.300 --> 01:08:19.939
or rap. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But it's still good
01:08:19.939 --> 01:08:22.619
music and it's still written by a really good...
01:08:22.859 --> 01:08:25.439
composer for the pianos it's not an arrangement
01:08:25.439 --> 01:08:28.939
that you just downloaded off the internet wow
01:08:28.939 --> 01:08:32.199
that's cool so i know you mentioned you're of
01:08:32.199 --> 01:08:35.079
venezuelan origin and trained in europe as well
01:08:35.079 --> 01:08:38.739
and which in currently you live in the uk and
01:08:38.739 --> 01:08:41.560
which must have given you a rich perspective
01:08:41.560 --> 01:08:44.880
on music and an identity and so on and how do
01:08:44.880 --> 01:08:48.479
you think that experience or yeah experience
01:08:48.479 --> 01:08:51.500
shaped your approach to tradition and artistic
01:08:51.500 --> 01:08:55.140
freedom I think, you know, I brought with me
01:08:55.140 --> 01:08:57.939
what I had from my home. I mean, you know, we
01:08:57.939 --> 01:09:00.399
were a family of immigrants. So, because, you
01:09:00.399 --> 01:09:02.979
know, my parents, for different reasons, both
01:09:02.979 --> 01:09:05.640
ended up in Venezuela. My dad was fleeing Spain
01:09:05.640 --> 01:09:10.439
after the war. And, you know, all the Europeans
01:09:10.439 --> 01:09:13.279
were, a lot of them were escaping. So Venezuela
01:09:13.279 --> 01:09:16.800
became like a safe haven, a paradise. You know,
01:09:16.819 --> 01:09:20.260
we welcome everyone. So I was bringing that experience
01:09:20.260 --> 01:09:22.859
of coming from an immigrant family and becoming
01:09:22.859 --> 01:09:27.579
an immigrant as well, you know, myself in a different
01:09:27.579 --> 01:09:30.020
country. And it was, you know, it's an incredible
01:09:30.020 --> 01:09:34.220
experience, but it was tough. It's tough. So
01:09:34.220 --> 01:09:35.720
now, you know, when I have foreign students,
01:09:35.819 --> 01:09:38.279
I know exactly what they're going through, you
01:09:38.279 --> 01:09:41.859
know, at 18. You know, it's not a picnic, not
01:09:41.859 --> 01:09:48.239
all of it. And, yeah. My identity, I don't know,
01:09:48.300 --> 01:09:50.420
you know, it's been very difficult in Venezuela
01:09:50.420 --> 01:09:52.859
with this dictatorship. So I haven't been able
01:09:52.859 --> 01:09:56.859
to go back for many years. I sort of refused
01:09:56.859 --> 01:10:02.880
to play since 2016. And then my mom passed away,
01:10:02.960 --> 01:10:07.359
so I didn't feel I could go back. I'm hoping
01:10:07.359 --> 01:10:11.079
that soon when this is over and we get rid of
01:10:11.079 --> 01:10:15.460
the baddies. I would love to go. I mean, I'm
01:10:15.460 --> 01:10:18.479
already now to go and do some work there. There's
01:10:18.479 --> 01:10:21.140
so much good work. There's so much talent. Oh
01:10:21.140 --> 01:10:24.640
my God, talent in Venezuela. It's just out of
01:10:24.640 --> 01:10:28.039
this world. So as I was talking about identity,
01:10:28.319 --> 01:10:29.699
that's really difficult because, you know, I
01:10:29.699 --> 01:10:32.680
was already born in a country, but didn't have,
01:10:32.739 --> 01:10:35.960
you know, any family from that country or my
01:10:35.960 --> 01:10:39.479
family was in Europe. And now I'm in a country
01:10:39.479 --> 01:10:43.060
where I kind of made a... You know, I have a
01:10:43.060 --> 01:10:47.579
child and I'm made out of family. But, yes, but
01:10:47.579 --> 01:10:49.899
it's not, my roots are not here. Although, you
01:10:49.899 --> 01:10:54.939
know, I feel, yes, because I don't really feel
01:10:54.939 --> 01:10:59.359
I belong to a particular country. I'm not sort
01:10:59.359 --> 01:11:05.460
of, I don't have an identity as such like, you
01:11:05.460 --> 01:11:08.439
know, if somebody said something bad about England
01:11:08.439 --> 01:11:11.720
or Venezuela, I'd be. mortified you know I could
01:11:11.720 --> 01:11:14.279
take it because you know when you're an immigrant
01:11:14.279 --> 01:11:17.039
you can become quite critical of everyone because
01:11:17.039 --> 01:11:21.960
you're not moving around yeah it's sort of really
01:11:21.960 --> 01:11:25.479
I mean England has been you know was Mecca wasn't
01:11:25.479 --> 01:11:28.760
it for many years for musicians and everybody
01:11:28.760 --> 01:11:31.800
came to London all the great people used to come
01:11:31.800 --> 01:11:37.159
to London and so there was a vast amount of stuff
01:11:37.159 --> 01:11:40.750
that was available In terms of concerts, you
01:11:40.750 --> 01:11:43.369
know, I had all the greatest people. When I was
01:11:43.369 --> 01:11:47.270
at college, I had, you know, Segovia, Polini,
01:11:47.409 --> 01:11:49.609
you know, Michelangeli, Richter. I mean, I had
01:11:49.609 --> 01:11:52.170
all of them, you know, when I was at college.
01:11:53.109 --> 01:11:58.250
And, you know, it's a very thriving city for
01:11:58.250 --> 01:12:06.350
art still now, really fabulous. So, but it is...
01:12:07.210 --> 01:12:10.489
yeah it's quite tough in its way i think if you're
01:12:10.489 --> 01:12:14.609
a foreigner to kind of break through some of
01:12:14.609 --> 01:12:20.090
it as well yeah it's it's it's tough to be a
01:12:20.090 --> 01:12:22.989
foreigner i'm myself i'm always a foreigner yeah
01:12:22.989 --> 01:12:25.510
foreigner in this although i'm american now but
01:12:25.510 --> 01:12:28.109
you know what i mean like and then i was you
01:12:28.109 --> 01:12:30.750
know born raised in japan but i'm of a south
01:12:30.750 --> 01:12:35.680
korean descent you know race -wise so I've been
01:12:35.680 --> 01:12:38.800
always a foreigner but gives a different perspectives
01:12:38.800 --> 01:12:41.399
on life yeah it does it gives you a certain distance
01:12:41.399 --> 01:12:43.659
as well doesn't it that you can see a little
01:12:43.659 --> 01:12:49.119
bit from the outside yes yeah yeah yeah so that
01:12:49.119 --> 01:12:53.199
makes people like us unique and maybe that's
01:12:53.199 --> 01:12:55.439
one of the reasons of being creative I don't
01:12:55.439 --> 01:12:58.319
know but I'm sure I mean the only thing I don't
01:12:58.319 --> 01:13:00.460
have a lot of distance is when people in England
01:13:00.460 --> 01:13:03.239
or you know in Europe think they understand the
01:13:03.239 --> 01:13:05.300
situation in Venezuela, which they don't. You
01:13:05.300 --> 01:13:08.039
know, it's like sort of armchair socialism, you
01:13:08.039 --> 01:13:11.340
know, like I call it muse socialism. People are
01:13:11.340 --> 01:13:14.060
very, very wealthy, you know, projecting the
01:13:14.060 --> 01:13:17.619
ideal into, you know, what's happening in Venezuela.
01:13:17.699 --> 01:13:20.420
And I have very little patience for that because,
01:13:20.479 --> 01:13:24.239
you know, that's unfortunately not what we have
01:13:24.239 --> 01:13:27.359
going on there. But in general, yeah, you can
01:13:27.359 --> 01:13:29.619
go to a country and you can just see, OK, this
01:13:29.619 --> 01:13:33.279
is great, but I'm not sure this is so good. And
01:13:33.279 --> 01:13:35.199
you don't have that feeling of, oh, I have to
01:13:35.199 --> 01:13:38.220
be, you know, allegiance to everything that happens
01:13:38.220 --> 01:13:41.319
in this place. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
01:13:42.359 --> 01:13:45.340
Now, oh, my goodness, we have like a few minutes
01:13:45.340 --> 01:13:48.000
left, but I want to ask this very important question.
01:13:48.140 --> 01:13:51.500
You've spoken about 19th century biases that
01:13:51.500 --> 01:13:54.380
still define. what pianists and their repertoire
01:13:54.380 --> 01:13:58.880
should look like, go for it, please. Go for it.
01:13:58.939 --> 01:14:01.159
Like, are you sure you're going to unleash me?
01:14:01.600 --> 01:14:05.000
I really don't believe in it. I, you know, I,
01:14:05.060 --> 01:14:09.380
I have never, well, as I'm saying, my, my, one
01:14:09.380 --> 01:14:14.079
of my piano teachers was very, very, yeah, that
01:14:14.079 --> 01:14:16.199
was his repertoire. You know, he was, you know,
01:14:16.199 --> 01:14:22.619
playing all the big romantic works and, And I
01:14:22.619 --> 01:14:28.380
am kind of more of a belief that you have to
01:14:28.380 --> 01:14:31.380
really love what you're playing because you're
01:14:31.380 --> 01:14:33.760
going to spend hours and days and months and
01:14:33.760 --> 01:14:37.600
years with this piece. And if you're not really
01:14:37.600 --> 01:14:39.960
convinced it suits you and is for you and you
01:14:39.960 --> 01:14:42.460
love it, you shouldn't be made to play. So I
01:14:42.460 --> 01:14:44.579
give my students quite a lot of flexibility.
01:14:45.890 --> 01:14:47.909
choosing the repertoire. I mean, in fact, sorry,
01:14:48.029 --> 01:14:50.029
this is probably going to stop me from ever going
01:14:50.029 --> 01:14:53.289
to the States and Juilliard, but I had some students
01:14:53.289 --> 01:14:57.149
auditioning for Juilliard. I was appalled at
01:14:57.149 --> 01:14:59.390
the repertoire they were asking. It was just
01:14:59.390 --> 01:15:01.630
the same repertoire that would have been asked
01:15:01.630 --> 01:15:06.710
probably in, you know, I don't know, 1920 for
01:15:06.710 --> 01:15:10.029
people auditioning. It was, you know, the study.
01:15:10.779 --> 01:15:14.319
the whole sonata romantic. And then at the end,
01:15:14.340 --> 01:15:18.439
you can put something else in it. There was little,
01:15:18.479 --> 01:15:21.560
very little artistic freedom. And, you know,
01:15:21.579 --> 01:15:23.239
people are expected, like, if you don't play
01:15:23.239 --> 01:15:26.479
Tchaikovsky, you're no one. If you don't play
01:15:26.479 --> 01:15:29.819
something carnival, you know, if you don't, it's
01:15:29.819 --> 01:15:33.079
like technique and traditional repertoire, like
01:15:33.079 --> 01:15:37.140
seem to go hand in hand. And of course, I love
01:15:37.140 --> 01:15:40.510
Bach, you know, I love some of the... traditional
01:15:40.510 --> 01:15:44.670
but not all of it and not every piece by every
01:15:44.670 --> 01:15:47.109
composer so for instance with Schumann that I
01:15:47.109 --> 01:15:49.729
was born and you know brought up by my teacher
01:15:49.729 --> 01:15:52.609
Weingarten on Schumann I don't like Carnival
01:15:52.609 --> 01:15:56.569
I just don't like it I just don't feel like I
01:15:56.569 --> 01:16:00.470
can relate to it as a person you know I just
01:16:00.470 --> 01:16:04.890
feel it not oh Papillon I can see how it's charming
01:16:04.890 --> 01:16:08.489
but I wouldn't I just don't feel it necessary
01:16:08.489 --> 01:16:11.529
for me to know Carnival to feel that I'm a really
01:16:11.529 --> 01:16:16.390
accomplished pianist or you know so I think there
01:16:16.390 --> 01:16:21.649
is so much music even Janáček nobody plays it
01:16:21.649 --> 01:16:27.289
fantastic music and there are so many neglected
01:16:27.289 --> 01:16:30.670
composers you know still in repertory in college
01:16:31.520 --> 01:16:33.579
And then, you know, you end up going to a concert,
01:16:33.600 --> 01:16:35.859
you always hear the same music, you know, you
01:16:35.859 --> 01:16:39.279
hear the same Beethoven sonata played a thousand
01:16:39.279 --> 01:16:42.640
times, the same Chopin ballad, you know, same
01:16:42.640 --> 01:16:47.720
Rachmaninoff. Where is all the other music? I
01:16:47.720 --> 01:16:51.119
mean, like even the Chopin mazurkas. Why is that
01:16:51.119 --> 01:16:54.899
worse than the first ballad? I think they are
01:16:54.899 --> 01:16:59.100
some of his best. Oh, mazookas are the best.
01:16:59.319 --> 01:17:01.760
And the nocturnes. And it's like, oh, no, you
01:17:01.760 --> 01:17:03.960
have to play the scherzo. And, you know, you
01:17:03.960 --> 01:17:08.119
have to. Why? Yeah. There are only four scherzos.
01:17:08.220 --> 01:17:11.260
And then by how many thousands of pianists, right?
01:17:11.659 --> 01:17:15.619
Yeah. I know. It's a little bit, I think, tiresome.
01:17:16.020 --> 01:17:19.060
I feel that we have this kind of, you know, you
01:17:19.060 --> 01:17:21.220
go to a competition and then, you know, people
01:17:21.220 --> 01:17:25.270
play. the same repertoire. You have to prove
01:17:25.270 --> 01:17:29.609
something. Like, you know, if you don't play
01:17:29.609 --> 01:17:34.890
a Chopin study, you're not a good pianist. Well,
01:17:34.989 --> 01:17:41.069
I disagree. I disagree. But to break that mentality,
01:17:41.090 --> 01:17:45.390
it took me a while. Yeah. Because constantly
01:17:45.390 --> 01:17:49.949
that sort of mindset was fed by institutions.
01:17:50.210 --> 01:17:54.409
Yeah. It took a long time. But isn't it also
01:17:54.409 --> 01:17:56.970
fed by competitions? Because the competitions
01:17:56.970 --> 01:18:00.689
are pushing a certain repertoire as well. So
01:18:00.689 --> 01:18:02.850
I think the conservatory feels that they have
01:18:02.850 --> 01:18:07.909
to manufacture pianists who are going to be able
01:18:07.909 --> 01:18:12.550
to meet those requirements of what being a concert
01:18:12.550 --> 01:18:14.069
pianist. Of course, there are people who are
01:18:14.069 --> 01:18:19.350
different. Pierre Laurent Emard, you know, the
01:18:19.350 --> 01:18:21.750
French pianist who plays lots of Ligeti. And
01:18:21.750 --> 01:18:23.609
they said that, you know, he chose different
01:18:23.609 --> 01:18:26.649
repertoire. So people do choose. And, you know,
01:18:26.670 --> 01:18:29.010
people like Richter, he played what he liked.
01:18:29.329 --> 01:18:32.189
I mean, you know, he played big game, but I don't
01:18:32.189 --> 01:18:33.529
think he would have played something because
01:18:33.529 --> 01:18:37.930
somebody said you have to. So I think Michelangeli,
01:18:37.930 --> 01:18:40.869
you know, played. And people like Brendel, you
01:18:40.869 --> 01:18:43.720
know, he didn't play certain things. He didn't
01:18:43.720 --> 01:18:46.239
have time because he played so much. So I just
01:18:46.239 --> 01:18:50.619
think that it is a dangerous thing to create
01:18:50.619 --> 01:18:54.359
this mould that doesn't fit everybody. And that
01:18:54.359 --> 01:18:56.100
doesn't mean that they don't have talent because
01:18:56.100 --> 01:18:57.920
there are a lot of pianists who are incredibly
01:18:57.920 --> 01:19:00.800
talented, but it just doesn't really suit them
01:19:00.800 --> 01:19:05.100
to play a certain repertoire. And then you're
01:19:05.100 --> 01:19:07.619
making such a big effort to get such little gain
01:19:07.619 --> 01:19:11.420
because that's not what they would play their
01:19:11.420 --> 01:19:15.140
best. So I think as a teacher, I think that the
01:19:15.140 --> 01:19:20.039
real art is to find the repertoire that suits
01:19:20.039 --> 01:19:24.479
the pianist at the stage they're at. I think
01:19:24.479 --> 01:19:27.159
that's a real trick. And I hear it when I'm a
01:19:27.159 --> 01:19:29.180
jury in competitions. You know, you hear it.
01:19:29.260 --> 01:19:31.800
You have all these young musicians coming, like
01:19:31.800 --> 01:19:34.479
in the BBC, young musicians, and you can see
01:19:34.479 --> 01:19:37.699
what the teacher chose. And often it's a mistake
01:19:37.699 --> 01:19:42.079
because they're choosing something like... a
01:19:42.079 --> 01:19:44.920
study, really difficult study, or a prelude on
01:19:44.920 --> 01:19:46.800
fugue, which, you know, is not everybody's cup
01:19:46.800 --> 01:19:49.680
of tea to play in a competition first round.
01:19:50.100 --> 01:19:54.279
And you think, but why did you, or just one piece,
01:19:54.319 --> 01:19:56.319
like a scherzo, when they could have chosen,
01:19:56.399 --> 01:19:59.579
you know, three other things, like a Debussy
01:19:59.579 --> 01:20:05.260
prelude, you know, a Chopin, you know, a more
01:20:05.260 --> 01:20:09.840
varying repertoire that makes you get a better
01:20:09.840 --> 01:20:13.149
view of what this... this musicality of this
01:20:13.149 --> 01:20:18.369
person is like yeah yeah i know i know yeah everybody
01:20:18.369 --> 01:20:22.489
feels that but somehow still we follow tradition
01:20:22.489 --> 01:20:27.010
yeah i know i think i mean you know it's a technique
01:20:27.010 --> 01:20:29.250
it's like ballet you know my daughter she's starting
01:20:29.250 --> 01:20:31.090
to be a contemporary dancer they have ballet
01:20:31.090 --> 01:20:34.130
every day because the ballet gives you a certain
01:20:34.130 --> 01:20:36.649
technique you know it's a different type so i
01:20:36.649 --> 01:20:38.829
agree totally that i'm not saying don't play
01:20:38.829 --> 01:20:41.560
traditional repertoire Question your choices
01:20:41.560 --> 01:20:46.500
of why you think you have to play something that
01:20:46.500 --> 01:20:51.340
you don't love and doesn't suit you because someone
01:20:51.340 --> 01:20:56.760
is thinking for you, saying you should or you're
01:20:56.760 --> 01:20:59.619
not something. I don't think for me that. I mean,
01:20:59.619 --> 01:21:04.659
I was luckily too rebellious. I put up with it
01:21:04.659 --> 01:21:07.359
up to a point and then I was like, no, I'm not
01:21:07.359 --> 01:21:10.520
playing that. I don't like it. You know, I don't
01:21:10.520 --> 01:21:14.760
like it. You're an incredible artist on so many
01:21:14.760 --> 01:21:17.600
levels. So how would you like your artistic legacy
01:21:17.600 --> 01:21:20.180
to be remembered? You're still very young, but...
01:21:20.180 --> 01:21:25.119
This is so difficult for me to answer. I suppose
01:21:25.119 --> 01:21:28.619
what I feel, I mean, in terms of my teaching,
01:21:28.880 --> 01:21:36.050
of my piano teaching or my musicians. What I'm
01:21:36.050 --> 01:21:38.550
trying to do more and more is really how can
01:21:38.550 --> 01:21:45.390
I help this person be the best version of themselves
01:21:45.390 --> 01:21:52.869
that they can be and find the path that best
01:21:52.869 --> 01:21:56.529
suits them in this profession, you know, that
01:21:56.529 --> 01:21:58.989
suits them individually, like the repertoire
01:21:58.989 --> 01:22:03.029
that really they can shine in. That's what I
01:22:03.029 --> 01:22:11.859
feel. It's probably becoming more my train of
01:22:11.859 --> 01:22:15.100
thought as I go in and think, how can I really
01:22:15.100 --> 01:22:22.840
help this person fulfill their dreams or be more
01:22:22.840 --> 01:22:28.399
confident in themselves, you know, believe in
01:22:28.399 --> 01:22:35.100
themselves, you know. Be more empowered physically
01:22:35.100 --> 01:22:40.619
as well, you know, in how they are presenting
01:22:40.619 --> 01:22:43.340
themselves to the world as an artist, you know.
01:22:43.960 --> 01:22:46.560
How can they become a better artist, really?
01:22:46.600 --> 01:22:49.520
Not even a better pianist, but a better artist.
01:22:50.680 --> 01:22:56.319
And sort of shake it up a little bit. You know,
01:22:56.439 --> 01:23:02.460
the thinking in the institution as well. Right.
01:23:03.800 --> 01:23:05.859
Yeah, but in the end, you know, it's very difficult
01:23:05.859 --> 01:23:10.840
because they do have to earn a living. And earning
01:23:10.840 --> 01:23:14.939
a living as a concert pianist, as we know, and
01:23:14.939 --> 01:23:19.000
as we know, is sort of dictated by the expectations
01:23:19.000 --> 01:23:27.600
of what you have to be or play to get that. Yeah,
01:23:27.760 --> 01:23:30.420
I'm not sure that answers your question. And
01:23:30.420 --> 01:23:35.699
yes, a big question, Yukimi. I suppose my ego
01:23:35.699 --> 01:23:38.260
is not so big to feel, to kind of think that
01:23:38.260 --> 01:23:39.979
I'm going to be remembered, like, you know, a
01:23:39.979 --> 01:23:42.840
legacy. I suppose there'll be the books, and
01:23:42.840 --> 01:23:45.319
I do have a project, whether they'll let me do
01:23:45.319 --> 01:23:52.619
it or not, something else. But, you know, remembered
01:23:52.619 --> 01:23:57.140
by someone around you, for example, not a big
01:23:57.140 --> 01:24:02.020
one. Well, I suppose I can have a laugh at my
01:24:02.020 --> 01:24:08.960
expense. yeah I suppose I suppose I'd like them
01:24:08.960 --> 01:24:11.359
to think that I did have I was on their side
01:24:11.359 --> 01:24:18.659
and I was a champion and had the best interest
01:24:18.659 --> 01:24:23.560
at heart I think that yeah I'm supposed I'm championing
01:24:23.560 --> 01:24:28.640
my students not so much imposing myself from
01:24:28.640 --> 01:24:32.130
a different you know from a hierarchy of Do this,
01:24:32.130 --> 01:24:34.569
do that, because, you know, it's more like coming
01:24:34.569 --> 01:24:40.550
to the level and thinking about where they are
01:24:40.550 --> 01:24:50.210
and, yeah, and offering support. So I suppose,
01:24:50.289 --> 01:24:53.710
yeah, I'm supporting them. They're supportive.
01:24:55.149 --> 01:25:00.079
Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you so much. We're going
01:25:00.079 --> 01:25:03.060
to meet you soon, aren't we? Oh, yes, yes. I
01:25:03.060 --> 01:25:05.720
can't wait. I can't wait. I have so much to ask
01:25:05.720 --> 01:25:08.859
beyond this conversation. I mean, this conversation
01:25:08.859 --> 01:25:11.300
flew by so fast. I felt like it was only five
01:25:11.300 --> 01:25:14.500
seconds. Me too, actually. Me too. Yeah? Oh,
01:25:14.560 --> 01:25:16.520
wonderful. And I love knowing that you were a
01:25:16.520 --> 01:25:20.060
yogini. I love that. I need to know more about
01:25:20.060 --> 01:25:23.329
you and your yoga and all that, your path. yeah
01:25:23.329 --> 01:25:29.069
i mean i mean compared to you i was but i i but
01:25:29.069 --> 01:25:32.250
i continued for 10 years in the gym it was a
01:25:32.250 --> 01:25:33.909
gym but the teachers were great you know new
01:25:33.909 --> 01:25:36.210
york you'll find the best teachers yeah sure
01:25:36.210 --> 01:25:40.829
yeah sure you know so it was intense and i enjoyed
01:25:40.829 --> 01:25:44.289
it uh i want to get back into it but in a different
01:25:45.020 --> 01:25:48.739
setting not that intensity you know ashtanga
01:25:48.739 --> 01:25:52.159
vinyasa all that sweaty stuff in the body as
01:25:52.159 --> 01:25:55.659
it's hard yeah yeah it's just too intense it's
01:25:55.659 --> 01:25:57.720
it's sometimes it just works against your mind
01:25:57.720 --> 01:26:00.479
too because it's so intense so i want to do something
01:26:00.479 --> 01:26:02.939
that is i'll send you something to your kidney
01:26:02.939 --> 01:26:05.979
i'll send you something and and you know i mean
01:26:05.979 --> 01:26:08.140
there's no reason why you know my class couldn't
01:26:08.140 --> 01:26:10.979
be in the afternoon so it would be in the morning
01:26:10.979 --> 01:26:14.340
in the states i just have to know that um there's
01:26:14.340 --> 01:26:19.239
a couple of people coming right or you if you
01:26:19.239 --> 01:26:21.880
can record it then i would love to record it
01:26:21.880 --> 01:26:24.319
yeah that's right yeah i could yeah yeah and
01:26:24.319 --> 01:26:26.699
we you know we go with the moon as well so we
01:26:26.699 --> 01:26:30.720
we used that would be nice yeah we're using the
01:26:30.720 --> 01:26:32.800
cycle of the moon as well in the class to do
01:26:32.800 --> 01:26:37.859
certain things yeah i love that anyway but before
01:26:37.859 --> 01:26:41.920
you go um do you have anything to promote um
01:26:42.619 --> 01:26:45.399
Yes, I think I have promoted my books quite well.
01:26:47.380 --> 01:26:50.699
But any something that is, I know there's an
01:26:50.699 --> 01:26:54.479
eco -poetry collaboration with Dom Berry. Well,
01:26:54.600 --> 01:26:57.159
we did that in Dartington. It was quite interesting
01:26:57.159 --> 01:27:03.220
because he's an eco -poet. Dom, Dominic. And
01:27:03.220 --> 01:27:06.239
what we did is we used these poems to create
01:27:06.239 --> 01:27:10.199
an evening of poetry. Actually, also, we had
01:27:10.199 --> 01:27:14.859
a mindful bell. So I used Tishnath and pebble
01:27:14.859 --> 01:27:17.199
meditation throughout the performance to bring
01:27:17.199 --> 01:27:20.899
people back into their breathing. And it was
01:27:20.899 --> 01:27:22.760
a really good experience because the poems are
01:27:22.760 --> 01:27:25.600
amazing. It was like a response to the climate
01:27:25.600 --> 01:27:31.520
topic. but yeah i mean in terms of what i'm promoting
01:27:31.520 --> 01:27:35.520
um yeah i'm doing you know i'm writing i think
01:27:35.520 --> 01:27:37.939
about this and you know the embodied musician
01:27:37.939 --> 01:27:41.720
and then and i and i'm you know i have sessions
01:27:41.720 --> 01:27:46.060
that workshops are coming up online um for you
01:27:46.060 --> 01:27:47.979
know teachers who want to know more about how
01:27:47.979 --> 01:27:52.159
to use um movement and coherent breathing with
01:27:52.159 --> 01:27:56.180
the students and that would be online so that
01:27:56.180 --> 01:28:00.380
would be available to people everywhere. Yeah.
01:28:00.659 --> 01:28:03.579
And what's the best way to stay in touch with
01:28:03.579 --> 01:28:07.899
you? The best way is to just email me at my email,
01:28:07.979 --> 01:28:10.399
which you could, you know, use if you like. Find
01:28:10.399 --> 01:28:13.260
it on a website? On the website as well, which
01:28:13.260 --> 01:28:17.119
is elenariu .co .uk. And then, you know, I'm
01:28:17.119 --> 01:28:19.920
playing and I'm doing these workshops around,
01:28:20.119 --> 01:28:23.300
you know, menstruality and creativity. That's
01:28:23.300 --> 01:28:24.960
awesome. You know, it's a really interesting
01:28:24.960 --> 01:28:29.439
topic. for female performers. So maybe you'll
01:28:29.439 --> 01:28:31.279
come and do them in New York. You never know.
01:28:31.960 --> 01:28:34.460
Yeah, that would be amazing. When you come in
01:28:34.460 --> 01:28:38.060
January, please do. Now, we have one more thing.
01:28:38.180 --> 01:28:40.899
Rapid fire questions. This is a fun question
01:28:40.899 --> 01:28:43.140
I'm going to ask and I want you to answer each
01:28:43.140 --> 01:28:47.939
question as short as possible. Okay? Alright,
01:28:48.100 --> 01:28:53.159
so level one. What's your comfort food? My comfort
01:28:53.159 --> 01:28:58.779
food? Chocolate. Great. How do you like your
01:28:58.779 --> 01:29:00.699
coffee in the morning? I don't drink coffee.
01:29:01.340 --> 01:29:07.800
Oh, good answer. Cats or dogs? Cats. Okay. Sunrise
01:29:07.800 --> 01:29:15.060
or sunset? Sunset. Summer or winter? Both. Oh,
01:29:15.100 --> 01:29:18.720
great. Good answer. Now, level two gets harder.
01:29:20.039 --> 01:29:23.100
What skill have you always wanted to learn but
01:29:23.100 --> 01:29:28.479
haven't had a chance to? Skiing. What is your
01:29:28.479 --> 01:29:32.579
word or words to live by? I am worthy of this
01:29:32.579 --> 01:29:37.659
space. Ah, beautiful. Favourite venue you have
01:29:37.659 --> 01:29:43.859
ever performed in or dream venue? Actually, I
01:29:43.859 --> 01:29:46.699
really enjoyed a performance at the Royal Festival
01:29:46.699 --> 01:29:48.880
Hall. I really enjoyed that performance there.
01:29:49.220 --> 01:29:52.380
What is the most important quality you look for
01:29:52.380 --> 01:29:59.659
in other people? Joy. Name a composer you wish
01:29:59.659 --> 01:30:03.439
more people knew about. Wow, that's difficult.
01:30:03.960 --> 01:30:08.560
Well, all the ones in my books. Yeah, great.
01:30:08.739 --> 01:30:13.479
Good answer. Level three, two more questions
01:30:13.479 --> 01:30:16.670
to go. Name one piece in your current playlist.
01:30:16.810 --> 01:30:20.090
It doesn't have to be classical. Okay. Well,
01:30:20.149 --> 01:30:22.850
I don't really have a playlist, but let me see
01:30:22.850 --> 01:30:27.050
if I can quickly think of one. Actually, you
01:30:27.050 --> 01:30:29.130
won't believe this, but because my daughter has
01:30:29.130 --> 01:30:32.310
been listening to this, she listens to very different
01:30:32.310 --> 01:30:34.989
stuff because she's a contemporary dancer. And
01:30:34.989 --> 01:30:38.270
don't ask me who is it by, but she's been playing
01:30:38.270 --> 01:30:41.109
this track that I've been continuously dancing
01:30:41.109 --> 01:30:45.810
to, which is this. And I won't remember. He's
01:30:45.810 --> 01:30:52.869
got a terrible name. Teenage Dirtbag. What? It's
01:30:52.869 --> 01:30:56.529
a really good piece to dance to. I'm sorry, but
01:30:56.529 --> 01:31:02.770
that's what it's called. Okay. I'll look it up.
01:31:03.109 --> 01:31:06.810
And, you know, mostly, yeah, I mean, yeah, I
01:31:06.810 --> 01:31:09.989
don't really listen to a playlist as such. I'll
01:31:09.989 --> 01:31:13.939
just kind of. hear something and then and then
01:31:13.939 --> 01:31:16.279
and and you know as i said she has a playlist
01:31:16.279 --> 01:31:18.479
so i listen to lots of things from her playlist
01:31:18.479 --> 01:31:22.779
yeah oh with strange names like that one yeah
01:31:22.779 --> 01:31:28.699
i'm looking forward to listening all right yes
01:31:28.699 --> 01:31:32.739
last question fill in the blank music is blank
01:31:32.739 --> 01:31:41.159
soul food soul food yay ding ding elena You won.
01:31:41.300 --> 01:31:44.119
That was beautiful. Thank you so much for joining
01:31:44.119 --> 01:31:49.720
us. You're fantastic. And you're sharing your
01:31:49.720 --> 01:31:52.380
wisdom, artistry and incredible energy. It has
01:31:52.380 --> 01:31:55.000
been such a meaningful conversation. So to our
01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:57.060
listeners, if you'd like to learn more about
01:31:57.060 --> 01:32:20.350
Elena's work, visit Elena Ryu. Thank you for
01:32:20.350 --> 01:32:23.590
tuning in. Please subscribe, rate, and share
01:32:23.590 --> 01:32:26.029
this episode. Your support helps us continue
01:32:26.029 --> 01:32:28.289
connecting through music, story, and creativity.
01:32:28.550 --> 01:32:30.989
Until next time. time this is Yukimi song and
01:32:30.989 --> 01:32:33.149
you're listening to the piano thank you Elena
01:32:33.149 --> 01:32:36.930
thank you so much I'll see you soon I hope yes
01:32:36.930 --> 01:32:39.050
see you very soon thank you bye