Season 2, Episode 5: Dr. Alexandria Le - Concert Pianist, Educator, and Arts Advocate

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You're listening to the PianoPod, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
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about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
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Welcome back to the PianoPod.
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I am Eric Hunter.
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I'm Clara Zhang.
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I'm Yuki Misong.
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Today our guest is Dr. Alexandria Li, concert pianist, educator, and arts advocate.
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A winner of over 21st prize music awards, her performance career has seen her play everywhere
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from Carnegie Hall and the Salcorteaux to the jails of Rikers Island.
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After establishing her career for over 15 years in New York, she returned to her hometown
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of Las Vegas in order to form the nonprofit organization Notes with a Purpose.
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Since its inception several years ago, it has already engaged thousands of children
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and adults in the Las Vegas area through outreach concerts and special events.
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Dr. Li is a Yamaha artist.
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She is also someone I am very privileged to call my good friend.
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Welcome to the show, Alex.
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Thank you for having me.
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Thank you so much for joining us.
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Now of course, you and I have a lot of history, but I know for people who are tuning in for
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the first time, I'm sure the question on their minds is why Las Vegas?
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Yeah.
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Right.
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That doesn't seem like the first place that comes to mind when we think about classical
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music.
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Definitely not.
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It was not really a matter of choice.
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I was born and raised here.
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My parents moved here just a few years before I was born and they're still here.
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After living in New York for over 15 years and a little stint in Canada, I just started
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focusing back on Las Vegas.
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It was something that I always, it was a place I always wanted to return to.
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Yeah.
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Now you were in New York for a long time and you were doing quite well.
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I remember going to your concerts.
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What was it that drew you back to Vegas aside from your family, of course?
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Truthful answer is I was starting to feel a little burnt out in New York City.
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I had a really wonderful but stressful job and I believe I saw more of the subway.
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I'm solar powered.
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I don't know if you can tell, it's just sunny here and I'm solar powered.
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I'm used to driving cars and I just needed space.
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After my fellowship was done, I was seeking the West Coast just to breathe a little bit.
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I was definitely busy when I came back, but I basically wanted to load my groceries in
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the back of the car versus hauling everything from Trader Joe's on Sunday night.
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I still do.
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I feel my arm doing that.
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I have so much respect for people who are still buffing it out.
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My biceps are really tight.
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That's our workout.
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I can definitely relate because I had a similar flight myself to the West Coast after our
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not so sunny days in Rochester.
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Let's talk a little bit about that time in New York because I feel like that was a formative
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time for you.
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I was a long hauler graduate student.
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I did eventually finish my doctorate, but I just kept getting distracted by really fun
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projects.
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The thing that kept pulling me away from just sitting in the practice room and just finishing
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out my degree was an interest in being really out in the community and really wanting to
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connect with people in the community.
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This meant beyond just music students and musicians.
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I don't even think you know the story, Eric.
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I had a colleague win per musicist and she invited me to the winners recital.
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I went to her concert at Wild Hall.
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I was like, well, this is great.
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What is this organization?
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I read the mission statement and it was really a heartful, just soulful, beautiful organization
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that gives back to the community.
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They essentially pick the first prize winner to play their premiere debuts in New York
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and Boston and a whole bunch of other places.
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But then they'll send you into really hard to reach places like prisons or hospitals
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or assisted living facilities.
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That just really resonated with me.
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I had such respect for my colleague.
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She was playing at such a high level.
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This is like a serious competition of sorts, but it also had a social awareness aspect
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to it, this mindfulness.
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The award was only every two years or so.
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Then I got invited to the next winners concert and I was like, okay, I just need to apply
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to this thing.
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It's time for me to throw my hat in.
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I was supposed to finish out my doctorate at that time and I ended up winning.
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That was such a momentous time because it just really connected all the dots for me.
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I wanted my music to mean something.
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I wanted to bring it to people who couldn't normally get to concerts.
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They presented me, for instance, at the Phoenix House, which is a drug and alcohol addiction
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recovery program.
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There are a few places around New York City.
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They hauled in a Yamaha Grand into this multipurpose room.
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I was sitting there for a few days.
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The energy started picking up.
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People were like, what is about to happen?
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It was my first solo concert with such a big audience.
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It was a new experience for me where the men had to be sitting on one side and the women
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on the other.
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They were all going through a very transformative time of their lives.
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Following that, just a few months later, I learned about Ensemble Connect.
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At that time, it's called Ensemble ACJW.
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Glad for the name change.
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Ensemble Connect is a fellowship run by Juilliard and Carnegie Hall.
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They have a partnership with the New York City Department of Education.
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It's a teaching artist program.
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It's a fellowship that teaches young musicians how to present music and art to any kind of
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audience and to do it very conscientiously.
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With that, I miraculously got that position.
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It just followed the heels of permusichists.
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It was an awesome year.
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I was like, wow, the universe does not want me to finish my doctorate right now.
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You had bigger fish to fry.
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Yeah.
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Thankfully, Stony Brook, where I got my master's and my doctorate, they were so supportive.
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They were like, well, this is what we want our musicians to do anyway.
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She's just doing it kind of early.
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I did end up rewriting because of me.
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They rewrote the graduate student handbook.
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They're like, you need to finish within a certain amount of time.
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Okay?
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It was just a really important time in my life.
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As you said, Eric, it was really time for me to find that support, to find the currents
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that were taking me towards what I wanted to do.
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Even starting out in Rochester, going to Eastman, there was a music therapy course that they
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offered.
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I dipped my toe in that because I was like, I just want to help people with music in some
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way.
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This was just a great... Teaching artist work is really up my alley, I think, because
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it allows me to still really... challenges me to keep my chops up, present new ideas
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and works to different communities, and meet a whole lot of different people.
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The way you're even speaking, you're so passionate.
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Such an impact that these two organizations gave you while you live in New York.
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How fortunate is that, to be able to find that at such a young age, because musicians,
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we all struggle.
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Why am I practicing hours and hours of this piece?
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It's so hard to find a meaning of it all, and we all struggle.
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In a way, you found your really true desire of, why am I practicing?
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Because I want to really give back to the community.
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It's so wonderful that you found that outlet.
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I felt very lucky.
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There's also, I'm sure you're noticing the trend that that conversation is happening
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in our world, in our music world, that it's like, why are we practicing?
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When I was just entering Eastman, and this was a while back, it was 2001, 2002.
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You don't have to do that.
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Just kidding.
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The stats were that there were 10,000 pianists graduating with degrees a year.
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I was like, okay, what are we doing with this?
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It's important for people to connect with music and have music be a part of their lives.
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I'm like, now that's a lot of competition.
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That's a lot of, what are we doing besides playing for ourselves?
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That stat really just stuck with me throughout the years.
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The funny story actually, speaking of being in a conservatory environment, in studio class,
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the question was raised, whose dream is it to play in Carnegie Hall?
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There were three hands that didn't raise in a group of 20, and mine wasn't one of them.
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We were also clumped together, which says a lot.
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They asked why.
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Why don't you want to play in Carnegie Hall?
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I'm like, listen, I do want to play in Carnegie Hall.
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Not saying that I'll turn away.
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You did.
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I did.
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That was the greatest irony.
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I mentioned this in my interview too.
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I was sitting with the Carnegie Hall administration.
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They're like, I said, I have a story for you.
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Actually, you are not my dream.
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But actually, the thing is, the reason being was, I said, I don't want to just be playing
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for people who are looking at the concert roster or the season going, oh, I want to
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hear her.
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I want to hear how she plays Opus 110, Beethoven Sonata.
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Let me compare her to... It's like they already know what it sounds like.
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What about the people who can't afford to get to Carnegie Hall, who feel intimidated,
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who can't access that?
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It's just amazing how years later, Carnegie Hall created Ensemble Connect to smash that
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conception.
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They said, we're going to create an ensemble of 20 people to learn how to go out into the
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community.
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It's not about bringing people to Carnegie Hall.
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It's about enriching the place around us.
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That's when I had the experience of preparing a concert, an interactive performance, is
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what we call them, to go to Rikers Island.
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I want to hear more about the Rikers Island.
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Also, you just mentioned the word interactive.
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I think that's the key.
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It's not about us presenting this really humongous amount of repertoire and the ha ha ha at Carnegie
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Hall, but there is this interaction between you and the audience.
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I really feel this energy from you, like how much you are such a giving person, but how
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much also you are receiving from the audience.
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I really want to know more about it.
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If you could share some of the stories, it seems like you really had an amazing time
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as a performer and giving this wonderful gift of music to the audience that we don't normally
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reach out to.
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If you could share with us a few examples, maybe at the prison or at the hospitals.
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Sure, absolutely.
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One of the most important aspects that I was aware of even before getting into the ensemble,
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but was really driven home was you got to know who your audience is.
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You have to understand why they're there and what is the takeaway at the end?
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What do you want to leave them with?
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There was always something called an entry point.
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It starts to sound academic, but it was very structured.
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It was a very structured teaching artist training program.
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We had the foremost teaching artists teaching the ensemble how to deliver our message.
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We had Eric Booth, for instance.
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He's kind of like the grandfather of teaching artistry.
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When going into Rikers Island, we were always put in interesting ensembles.
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Before Rikers Island, the first ensemble formation I was given, I was playing with a violinist,
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a French horn player, and a cellist.
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It was a very odd combination.
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They did this purposefully.
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They were like, you know what?
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We're not going to give you ensembles where you can just pull out trout quintet or something
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and then just play together.
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We had to do a little bit of arrangement of music.
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Find music that really then meant a lot for us to be able to bring out.
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We even snuck in Adele as an opening with the bassoonist, for instance, for our school
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outreach programs.
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For the Rikers visit, I was actually in a Mozart piano quintet arrange formation.
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Our theme was, how does Mozart create drama in music?
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What makes music dramatic?
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Our interactive components really, with being in a jail setting, you can't have people come
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up and try to do things.
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We did ask questions and got amazing answers.
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You actually have knowledgeable audiences all over the place.
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That experience of bringing something informative but not preachy, you never want to sound like
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you're preaching to the audience at all.
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It was something that we're all still learning, too.
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It's a young group.
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What's great is that after the two years of really intensive work, there's more of a natural
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approach to it.
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It's really how you merge it with your own personality.
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It was challenging for me at times because I was like, oh my gosh, I have to figure out
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this tight 50-minute script that could be suddenly chopped off by five minutes if suddenly
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the school bell is about to ring or there's an emergency.
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Making a really tight show, being very mindful about every single word we were saying because
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we did not want to slip up and say something that wasn't PC, that would be terrible for
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students to hear.
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All of that was really nipped over.
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Once you're out of the two years, you're like, wow, I should be able to talk to an audience
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now and understand the flow of the performance because it's not that it always has to be
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high energy.
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We can get really deep and introspective with the music and have everyone follow along with
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us.
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It's such a powerful thing.
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We are in such a powerful position as musicians.
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We should have everyone in the palm of our hands and take them on a journey with us.
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I always feel like this incredible weight and responsibility anytime I perform.
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The interactive nature is incredibly important because it's not talking to, it's not playing
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to.
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It's like, let me invite you in into what I'm experiencing and this is what I'm listening
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for.
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Very simple things.
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It's very cool.
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Alex, can you give some examples of comments or interactions you've had with audience members
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following these kinds of performances?
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This happens a lot when they're living in a place that doesn't feel very safe.
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If you're in a shelter or if you're in a jail, when you're performing the music for them,
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it creates a safe environment for them.
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This wasn't said to me, it was said to another one of my colleagues with another group, but
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it was at Rikers Island and they said, this was the first time I've been able to close
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my eyes and feel safe and feel comforted.
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I know that happens in my performances too.
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It just didn't come out that strongly.
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I've gotten for another drug addiction recovery program, it's like, you mentioned you're going
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to play Bach and I was like, oh God, this is going to be, ugh.
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And then, whoa, he's like, wow, that was incredible.
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That particular concert, what I did was it was a solo concert for a drug and addiction,
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it was an addiction recovery program.
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My final piece was the Bach, Busoni, Chaconne.
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For those that may not be familiar with it, it's taking the same theme, the same motive
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over 64 variations.
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You hear the 64 times and by the end, it's transformed.
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That's what I wanted to show the audience is that you can still be who you are, you
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can have a lot of things happen to you during this time, at these developments.
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You have big milestones in your life.
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In the Bach, there's four moments where you really hear that theme very powerfully.
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At the end, it's so empowered and triumphant.
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I wanted to leave people in the eyes going, yeah, I can get through this 15-month program.
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It's not all going to be rosy, but there are also sublime moments.
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There are moments where I'm going to really know myself.
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You have people who normally never even think about listening to classical music and they'll
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come to you.
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That's happened through my nonprofit where recovery program client came up to me.
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I was presenting Jessica Meyer, who is an amazing teaching artist and violist and composer
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in New York City.
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I brought her all the way out here to Las Vegas.
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I presented her in front of the addiction recovery clients.
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She did a really cool looping pedal, her own solo show.
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It was an hour and she told her stories of what inspired her.
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It was a mandatory concert.
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The next week, I went back into the rescue mission.
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That's what it's called, the Las Vegas rescue mission.
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I was playing piano during dinner time, scoping out what it would be like to bring people
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in.
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I suddenly see this guy just staring at me, just like he was eating his food and just
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staring.
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I'm just playing and he's sitting right in front of me.
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I'm like, okay, this is getting a little bit unsettling because he doesn't look like the
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most approachable friendly guy.
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I was like, oh my God, let me just play through my piece.
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Afterwards he comes up to me and he's like six, four.
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He's not a small person at all.
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He comes up and he's like, hi, I want to speak to you.
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I was like, oh gosh, hi.
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He goes, I was really pissed off.
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Sorry, you can beat that.
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I was like, I was really pissed off that I had to go to that viola show last week because
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I work graveyard.
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When they came knocking on my door to get up, that's like being woken up at three in
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the morning to go to a show.
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He's like, I was not happy with that, but oh my God, that was the best thing ever.
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I got up now today to tell you that.
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And also that I started listening to classical music.
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I now listen to it every night as a part of my recovery.
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So that floored me and Jeff, that's his name, he continued listening to classical music.
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He graduated from the program.
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And the most beautiful part is he ended up becoming head of security for the mission.
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So he would introduce my high school students, well, notes with a purpose, say, I mean, he
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would shut the room up.
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He's like, y'all need to listen to the, I was like, this is an amazing group.
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He felt the effects of what can happen if you open up yourself and find yourself on
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this path with experiencing music.
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And Jessica is such a wonderful musician.
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So we really have her to thank.
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That was the kind of experience I wanted to curate from my own playing and also what I
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do, what I've been doing since that fellowship.
321
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Yeah.
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Well, you just gave me chills.
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What a powerful experience.
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Can you tell us how notes with a purpose got started?
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When did you first get the idea to form your own organization?
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Yeah.
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So it has a little bit of a backstory before it was notes with a purpose.
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It was actually the Las Vegas Wine and Music Festival.
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So yeah, it is.
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So I've had this idea for about 10 years in my head of pairing wine to classical music.
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And it happened because I was drinking a glass of Chardonnay.
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It was completely unintentional, but I was allowed to bring in a glass of Chardonnay
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into this chamber music concert.
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And they start playing the Dvorak American string quartet.
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And it was one of those moments where I'm listening to the Dvorak.
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It starts playing.
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I'm tasting grassiness, this kind of grassy flavor.
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I wasn't even a wine drinker.
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I hated wine.
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I just didn't have any experience with it.
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But I could taste grass.
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And paired with the opening, I was just like, oh, oh.
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And I literally looked around me.
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I was like, does anyone?
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Is anyone else experiencing this?
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Not everyone bought wine to take it.
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And I literally went, holy beep.
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Why isn't anyone doing this?
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I was in the middle of Washington state.
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It was wine country.
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I was like, OK.
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I don't even drink alcohol that much.
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And I think this is an awesome idea.
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So I just kind of shoved that to the back of my head.
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And then eight years later, seven years later, I kind of run this idea by a sommelier, a
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wine expert.
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And they didn't laugh at it.
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I was like, great.
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And I started to think of ways to go back to do something in Las Vegas.
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So I wasn't even planning on moving back to Las Vegas.
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I just wanted to kind of put feelers out and orchestrate something.
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And after the first year of Ensemble Connect or during the first year, I was starting to
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become really motivated because one of our questions was that one of our exercises we
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had to revisit time and time again was, what is your mission and vision statement?
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No.
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What is yours?
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Not someone else's, but look inside yourself.
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And mine always pointed back to Las Vegas.
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It was like, I just want to connect back to Las Vegas, have this kind of high quality
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experience that I get here in New York City and kind of transport that back to Las Vegas
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somehow and do it in a cool way, in a Vegas way.
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I'm a foodie.
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I love food.
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So bring the food in.
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So it ended up being a three day chamber music festival.
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I had 18 out of town musicians and six locals, including myself, even though I wasn't really
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local, but it was amazing.
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Like I had Carol Winsense, Frank Morelli, Alan Kay, Phil Setzer from Emerson String
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Quartet.
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It was kind of like my dream when they came walking down the hall for their first rehearsal.
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I was like, I did it.
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It was one of those like, ha.
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And I actually have a SoundCloud from that festival.
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If there's one track that you should listen to, it's the Appalachian Spring because it's
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Carol Winsense on flute, Frank Morelli on bassoon, Alan Kay on clarinet.
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And it's the dream team.
387
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Yeah.
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When Carol's telling the audience about her interactions with Aaron Copeland, you're like,
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okay, okay.
390
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And it was done Orpheus style, no conductor.
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And it just was so tight.
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It was one of those moments.
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It was worth it.
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Like this year of administrative pain is so worth it.
395
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And it was really fun pairing wines to it.
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I had food brought in too.
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So after that was done, I collapsed for a month.
398
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I just like said, I can't move or do anything else.
399
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But I wanted to do more.
400
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,240
I said, okay, this is not it.
401
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There are other ways to be involved with Vegas.
402
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:20,160
Again, I didn't want to perpetuate that thing that, oh, only ticketed people can come to
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00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,480
my wine and music concert.
404
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,320
So I was like, well, let's start a nonprofit.
405
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And so that's when Notes with a Purpose came in.
406
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I wanted to kind of combine music notes, potentially wine notes.
407
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But make it more about music affecting people in a general sense.
408
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:46,640
None of my branding ever says it's a classical music chamber music festival.
409
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It's just music.
410
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It's music.
411
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,600
I've done different things with Notes with a Purpose.
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So that was 2016 when I really launched it off.
413
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And I was running two programs.
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One was we called at the time Wednesday's Live at the Mission and was rebranded to Mission
415
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Music Live.
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00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:16,880
And that was bringing myself and high school students into the Las Vegas Rescue Mission,
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00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:24,160
which is a homeless shelter, a food pantry, and it houses the addiction recovery program.
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00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:31,080
So I was bringing in high school kids to perform during the mealtimes where there were up to
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400 meals served in one hour.
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I made the kids talk into the microphone to introduce themselves and play.
421
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I mean, it wasn't all quiet.
422
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People are eating.
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But some people who really wanted the music would sit closer to the piano.
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There were also violinists, guitar players.
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00:29:50,400 --> 00:30:00,000
So the goal of that was to start planting seeds for young musicians to see how they
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can give.
427
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:06,760
That music is not just for being juried on.
428
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It's not all about being judged, but about, listen, your music can affect someone.
429
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:18,840
And also to burst their perspective and their bubble wide open.
430
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,840
Look at all these people who are hungry.
431
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:23,400
Like you're lucky.
432
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:24,400
We're lucky.
433
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,840
I always feel so damn lucky.
434
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:36,920
So it's like I wanted to influence humility in young musicians.
435
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:38,640
So that was Notes for the Purpose.
436
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:45,480
And the wine and music stuff suddenly became our gala type of event.
437
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,600
I would host it twice a year.
438
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,240
I did things like Mimosa's and Mozart, a brunch concert.
439
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:59,200
I did Reclassified, which was merging EDM with classical music.
440
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:04,520
And so those were ticketed events, but we would also try to raise money during those.
441
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:09,040
And that would go directly into our outreach programs.
442
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:14,000
This really stood out when I played at the dinner service at the mission.
443
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:20,720
A man came up to me and said, I had never seen a pianist play in front of me before.
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00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:26,520
I've never heard a live piano performance.
445
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:27,520
Like whoa.
446
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:32,160
I mean, talk about taking for granted what we do, right?
447
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,480
It's like, no, my mom stuck this in front of me at the age of two and a half.
448
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:39,040
So can't say the same thing, right?
449
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,520
And another person said, I have a request.
450
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,920
And I was like, oh my God, he's going to say something like Freebird or something like
451
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,280
that.
452
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:53,400
But he shyly said, I watch this on YouTube all the time.
453
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,680
And I was like, oh, please don't say, I don't know, like, Liss Transcendental etude or I
454
00:31:57,680 --> 00:31:58,680
don't know.
455
00:31:58,680 --> 00:31:59,680
I was like, don't do it.
456
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:00,680
But he was like, it's fantasy impromptu.
457
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:01,680
And I was like, yeah.
458
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:02,680
I was like, I can totally play that.
459
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:03,680
And so I dragged him.
460
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:04,680
I didn't have to drag him.
461
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:09,040
I was like, come on over to the piano.
462
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,100
And it was like, and the dinner service was done.
463
00:32:12,100 --> 00:32:13,240
And so people were packing up.
464
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,440
So it was like a private, it was so meaningful.
465
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:23,760
I almost started choking up because I could hear him just like, can you imagine just listening
466
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:31,040
to something only available to you through the computer, you know, and someone's actually
467
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,720
able to play Chopin in front of you.
468
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,980
And like, we were both kind of choked up, you know, at the end, and he was kind of shy
469
00:32:38,980 --> 00:32:39,980
about it.
470
00:32:39,980 --> 00:32:41,640
And so he's like, okay, thank you.
471
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:48,520
You know, and later I played it again, but for the whole dinner service.
472
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:55,120
And he tagged notes with a purpose on Facebook saying, she played it for me again.
473
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,680
You know, and I was like, I know who that is.
474
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:04,240
I know who that is, you know, and it's just like, you know, people, we are, we get so
475
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:12,440
stuck in, gosh, like, we got to make sure we appease, you know, all of like the voices
476
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,040
in our head from our conservatory days, right?
477
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:19,960
Or you know, our mentors, it's like, oh, or he also knows you're like, okay, Chopin, I
478
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,520
know, kind of have a standard, right?
479
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:24,760
Like we have a standard we're trying to reach.
480
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:30,720
And that is the difficult, it's a complex conversation we all have with ourselves.
481
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,400
It's like, you know, it's not going to be enough for me just to play, you know, be really
482
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,760
sloppy and someone's like, oh, bravo, bravo.
483
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,720
You know, I don't want that.
484
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:45,640
You know, I want to really get the true essence of the piece, really deliver it sincerely
485
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:53,880
and with integrity, you know, and form that connection with the audience at the same time.
486
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:59,120
And it's hard to do, it's hard to administrate, it's hard to, you know, we all do it, all
487
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,840
these multiple hats we're trying to wear and also try to practice enough, you know, to
488
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,560
make sure we're doing a good job.
489
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:07,560
Of course.
490
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:08,560
Yeah.
491
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:09,560
And then Alex, thank you so much.
492
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,000
And I want to come back to this question.
493
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:17,080
Now I know you are also teaching a lot now after all this experience you have had, which
494
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:23,160
is quite unusual actually for artists, you know, not everybody really gets to have all
495
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:24,160
this experience.
496
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:29,040
How do you, I assume you also teach children, like how would you approach like what, what
497
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:30,320
do you tell them?
498
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:37,200
I really enjoy putting things into context immediately for the kids.
499
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,600
It's like why, what's up with dynamics, right?
500
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,160
Like why should you play soft?
501
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:50,160
I even experienced this myself when I went to one particular teacher and he's like, do
502
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,240
this hairpin crescendo in this Clementi sonatina.
503
00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:56,680
Like that was like that Clementi sonatina was the bane of my existence.
504
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,240
I was like, this is so boring.
505
00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:03,440
You know, like, like to me at that time, you know, I was just coming back to piano and
506
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,280
I'm like, okay, why the crescendo?
507
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:08,920
What's the big deal about it?
508
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,000
So you know, that stuck with me.
509
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,720
So whenever I'm speaking to my kids, it's like that crescendo, it's like, it's about
510
00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:16,920
excitement, right?
511
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:24,120
Like where are you going to, you know, context, putting that context was incredibly important
512
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,000
for me then and now.
513
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:34,120
So my kids have an understanding of what the music is trying to say.
514
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:38,040
And you know, there are so many different kind of teaching techniques to do that, but
515
00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,720
sometimes it's just a very simple, you know, what's the mood?
516
00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:42,720
What do you think the mood is?
517
00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:43,720
You know, okay.
518
00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:47,080
I've been teaching a little kids kind of recently, so, you know, have to kind of have that bring
519
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:48,080
that energy.
520
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:49,840
That's essentially what I do.
521
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:57,880
I also teach some adult students as well, and the adult students actually really like
522
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:03,360
understanding the tools to manipulate the piano.
523
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:09,560
So there one is a lawyer, he doesn't, but he attends all the Philharmonic concerts.
524
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:15,400
He goes to all my concerts for him to realize, oh, that's the artist brush you use.
525
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:17,080
Oh, that's how you do it.
526
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,280
That's how you make something pop, right?
527
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:22,400
Like that's what voicing towards the top can do.
528
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:23,400
And then it's really funny.
529
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,760
It's like, oh, you know, like, you know, it's all push them aside.
530
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:30,000
It's like, let me teach, you know, and I'll demonstrate, you know, like what voicing can
531
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,640
really do, especially when he's just heard a concerto performance, you know, kind of
532
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,520
recently, it's like, well, this is how you, what happens when you don't voice the opening
533
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,080
of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, right?
534
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,360
It's just like slamming thick chords.
535
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,160
All right, voice that top.
536
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,920
And it's like, you have that silver lining.
537
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:55,200
And so giving context to what the adults are listening to, too, it informs them.
538
00:36:55,200 --> 00:37:00,120
So their next experience, they can really appreciate more of the kind of tactical stuff
539
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:05,600
that we're all doing on the piano because no, you know, they're, and they enjoy trying
540
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,440
to work on it too.
541
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:15,560
So it's not all my students are going to be, you know, piano professional pianist.
542
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:17,520
And that's not my, that's not my goal.
543
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:25,100
My goal is to have them enjoy music, love music, and feel prepared to, if they ever
544
00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:33,680
want to sit down with sheet music, that they're not overwhelmed, you know, and also know enough
545
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:39,160
harmony or theory just to understand like most of what you're listening to, you know,
546
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,520
nowadays, like you can figure this out, you know, yourself.
547
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:43,520
Yeah.
548
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:48,320
So I think it's great that you're giving them context, right, because otherwise, these
549
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:54,440
days, especially students are having a hard time connecting to music from 200 years ago.
550
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:55,480
Totally, right.
551
00:37:55,480 --> 00:38:00,160
And then especially we are abundant with all sorts of music around.
552
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:06,720
And with the press of a button, you can listen to music of any choices of your favorites.
553
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:07,720
Right.
554
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:11,880
So can you tell us what are some challenges you encounter?
555
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:18,240
Some great things too, obviously, but when you are teaching, trying to relate to students,
556
00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:24,400
the greatest challenge for me sometimes is under, it's just reminding myself, you know,
557
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:31,480
meet where the students at, you know, it's, you can see the potential of a student and
558
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,800
it can be frustrating at times when you're like, Oh, if only you just put in like the
559
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:41,160
time that you need, you can be freaking amazing, you know?
560
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:43,280
And so I dropped, I had to drop that really quick.
561
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:50,160
I was like, you know, the challenge today for any kind of teacher is time management
562
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:51,520
for, for kids.
563
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:54,040
I don't, did we have to go through that?
564
00:38:54,040 --> 00:39:00,200
Like, it's just seems like homework is like overwhelming, you know, you have to now have
565
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:05,360
like 30 hours in a day to, for, you know, a kid needs to have 30 hours in a day just
566
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:09,080
to like get all the things that they need done.
567
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:19,680
So my challenge is, it's just, it's just really saying to myself, it's okay that they're not
568
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:25,640
practicing the hour and a half that you want them to practice, you know, make sure that
569
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:31,920
they're getting what, something meaningful out of, out of the lesson, you know, and I
570
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:39,040
definitely am giving them the specific amazing tools I got, you know, I had a very, very
571
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:40,640
serious upbringing.
572
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:45,760
So you know, does this kid need to know how to play the B flat major scale, you know,
573
00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:49,800
you know, in doubles, triplets, and you know, quadruplets in a certain time, you know, that's
574
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:50,800
not the point.
575
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:52,800
It's teaching him discipline, right?
576
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,920
And managing expectations is, that's the fundamental answer.
577
00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,920
It's managing expectations from the parent.
578
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:06,160
For me, you know, I have a mom who really is like, put her in a competition.
579
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:11,760
It's like, well, there was going to, you have to give certain amount of time if you're going
580
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:13,800
to do this.
581
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:22,440
And I feel lucky that I have enough of a presence and sort of a, an active concert career because
582
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:24,520
it's like, I know what I'm talking about.
583
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:30,440
You know, it gives, it gives a little bit of a, a little backing.
584
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:31,440
Yeah.
585
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:32,440
Yeah.
586
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,440
Let me just say after I played Totent Hans this past weekend and my kids came to it,
587
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:41,160
they're like, they went to the, the mom's like, see, if you're lucky to be with her,
588
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:42,160
I'm like, oh, thank you.
589
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:46,080
You know, it's like really nice to have those moments.
590
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,200
And I think it's important for teachers to do actually.
591
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:56,040
And you all are fantastic pianists, but I think every music teacher should give an opportunity
592
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:58,760
for, for students to hear them.
593
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,000
I love Eric, how you would play on your student recitals.
594
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:09,360
You'd give them something to, to aspire to, you know, it's like, okay, this is, this is
595
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:14,200
why I'm practicing, you know, it's, it's not fair to give the kids scales when you can't
596
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,200
play scales, you know?
597
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:18,200
Yeah.
598
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:23,320
It's like, oh, sorry for anybody who was just listening.
599
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:24,960
I just did a big oops.
600
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:26,920
I suck at scales.
601
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:27,920
Yeah.
602
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:28,920
That's, yeah.
603
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,400
That was a big part of my upbringing.
604
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:34,960
So continuing that tradition.
605
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,560
Tradition you've kept.
606
00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:44,720
I mean, everything you've told us, it's really been very moving because there's a lot of
607
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:49,240
artists out there who are content to just kind of follow the playbook, not to take anything
608
00:41:49,240 --> 00:41:53,800
away from them, you know, but it's clear with you that from the beginning you were different
609
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,820
because you really wanted to connect.
610
00:41:55,820 --> 00:42:00,480
One thing we didn't mention is when you're playing in a homeless shelter and somebody
611
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,600
is standing right next to your piano, right?
612
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:05,720
That is an experience you can't have in a concert hall.
613
00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:07,120
Where does that come from?
614
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:13,640
You know, what, what, what suited you for this life from the earliest ages?
615
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:14,640
Right.
616
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,920
Because that was always a part of you.
617
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:19,320
Yeah.
618
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:28,360
It is a matter of understanding who's standing in the same room as you or sitting in the
619
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,040
same room.
620
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:33,120
I'm a good listener.
621
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:39,800
So I have a lot of empathy and sympathy.
622
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:44,440
So I think that's a very important component to what I do.
623
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:45,760
Like what makes a good teaching artist?
624
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:57,000
It's not about me, you know, and also getting to the reason why we're all there.
625
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:01,880
You know, I'm not going to force Beethoven on anyone, you know, who is not ready to listen
626
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:02,880
to.
627
00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:04,520
I mean, there's a way to prepare things.
628
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:05,520
Yeah.
629
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:11,520
My mom used to put me in front of a lot of different audiences.
630
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,240
I was, I owe my mom so much.
631
00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:20,960
Of course we all do, our parents a lot, but you know, my mom would take me to this annual
632
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:28,880
like new year's Eve party run by really wonderful people in this town.
633
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:37,220
But there, I, I was, gosh, the youngest person there was like 60 years old and they were
634
00:43:37,220 --> 00:43:41,200
also on the other side of the political party, you know?
635
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:45,960
And so I learned very early on that we can all get along.
636
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:50,840
You know, I learned how to get along with people very early on.
637
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:58,320
Like I was nine or 10, you know, and in listening to their stories and, you know, when it was
638
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:03,320
time for me to play, it, it just was about connecting with people in the room who were
639
00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:08,960
far older than me and look very different from me.
640
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:12,760
But that was like an early experience of mine that was very important.
641
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,880
It was just trying to be on the same level with the audience.
642
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:23,200
We're not some angelic, like amazing deity that comes, plants ourselves in from the concert
643
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:26,640
stage, even though it's really sweet when people are like, oh, you're so amazing.
644
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:28,160
I'm like, okay, chill out.
645
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:29,160
It's okay.
646
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:31,360
You know, like we're all human.
647
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:36,320
And so I think when you can relate to the audience, it's, it's very important.
648
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:40,160
And I was able to give her a teaching, have a teaching moment with my mom, which is really
649
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:47,400
cool because I said to her, you know, mom, I'm supremely lucky to have you as my mom.
650
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:52,480
Like I was born to a mom who didn't use drugs or drink.
651
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:57,720
Had you been doing that and abusing that I would be, I would have that addiction, right?
652
00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:04,520
I you know, I, I have a mom who worked really hard and gave me all the amazing things that
653
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:05,520
she gave me.
654
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:09,040
You know, that person there didn't have that, that chance.
655
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:10,540
And so I'm just sharing that.
656
00:45:10,540 --> 00:45:15,440
And so what that did was it lowered her fear level with, you know, just like a random homeless
657
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:16,440
person.
658
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,400
She I'm like, mom, they're not going to come in, like take your purse away or something.
659
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:27,360
Like they're just as, you know, frightened of everything else as you are there in a very
660
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:29,120
vulnerable position.
661
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:34,340
And so I only got to learn that from experiencing life around different populations.
662
00:45:34,340 --> 00:45:40,000
That's really important too is under saying I could so have easily surrounded myself with
663
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:41,640
just classical musicians.
664
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:46,480
I I'm very, I've been very introspective and retrospective these days, you know, reflective
665
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:47,480
these days.
666
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:52,000
It's like, Oh, what if I went this way to this conservatory or what if I did that?
667
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:53,840
Because who doesn't have a little bit of envy?
668
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:58,000
Like look, like I could sew down what she's been doing.
669
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,200
Only my practice six more hours a day.
670
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:02,820
We all have that.
671
00:46:02,820 --> 00:46:03,820
We all have that.
672
00:46:03,820 --> 00:46:10,880
And so I was like, no, this is, this is the path that we're all it's the path that we're
673
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:11,880
supposed to be on.
674
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:15,240
It is okay to not be okay.
675
00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:20,960
It is okay to also, you know, to be where we're at, you know, and it's just looking
676
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:21,960
forward.
677
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:23,040
What's our next step?
678
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,120
So thanks Alex.
679
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:29,580
Yeah, many thoughts about that, but unfortunately we have to move on.
680
00:46:29,580 --> 00:46:36,240
So one last question before rapid fire and that's what do you see are some of the challenges
681
00:46:36,240 --> 00:46:42,600
for the current generation of young musicians coming up and what's your advice for them?
682
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:47,880
I don't see as many challenges as I see opportunities.
683
00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:50,880
Wow.
684
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:58,420
Because there are so many things that are available to musicians now, like you can edit your whole
685
00:46:58,420 --> 00:46:59,960
own music video.
686
00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:02,280
How fricking cool is that?
687
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:06,080
Like I was like, why don't I mean Anderson and Rowe epic?
688
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:12,520
Like I was like, why doesn't every artist have their own amazing music video like that?
689
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:13,520
Right.
690
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:19,560
But what's so what inspires me from the younger generation and what's probably like what,
691
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:23,400
you know, older musicians or people kind of poop about it.
692
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:24,560
Oh, what's this tick tock thing?
693
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:30,000
I'm like, I see so much creativity, you know, the kind of editing that's done, the kind
694
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:31,240
of fast pacedness.
695
00:47:31,240 --> 00:47:35,120
I mean, yeah, it's a little ADD ish, you know what I mean?
696
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,600
But you know, you think that is only catered to those people, but I enjoy it.
697
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:48,840
I enjoy seeing really creative ways that young people are bringing, you know, to to what
698
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:49,840
they do.
699
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:51,960
You know, suddenly everything is interesting.
700
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:55,960
It's like eating a bowl of cereal can certainly be interesting if you cut and edit the right
701
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:56,960
way.
702
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:57,960
Right.
703
00:47:57,960 --> 00:47:58,960
It's like, how did this happen?
704
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:03,880
There are challenges, of course, like if you're growing up in a typical conservatory, like
705
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:05,360
type training.
706
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:13,160
Yeah, I was just telling my boyfriend who's not a musician how fortunate it feels to play
707
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:20,440
with an orchestra like, oh, my God, like, no, I'm not like you, John, who gets to like,
708
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:21,520
you know, tort, right?
709
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:26,160
You know, none of us, you know, it's like, it's just you, John, who gets in long, long,
710
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,600
who have like, they're hogging all the gigs.
711
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:29,600
No.
712
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:36,400
But you know, that opportunity to play like a real standard piece of repertoire, right,
713
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:42,640
with an orchestra, like, what, what an honor and a privilege.
714
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:48,720
So if someone is being groomed only to do that, they're in trouble, because that doesn't
715
00:48:48,720 --> 00:48:49,720
happen often.
716
00:48:49,720 --> 00:48:56,640
I mean, like, you know, and I'm certainly not the best pianist and like, you know, this
717
00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:59,680
state, but I got chosen to play it, right.
718
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:03,040
It's like, so then that's like about your connections and all of that, all these other
719
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:04,040
things.
720
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:10,800
So the challenge is just making sure if you are killing it with your technique, and you're
721
00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:16,240
playing, just look outside the box, you know, and vice versa.
722
00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:20,120
You know, like, if you're not practicing your skills, practice your scale.
723
00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:25,120
So you know, you don't have to worry about them when you have to play it and everything's
724
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,960
up of scales, just play your skills, you know, so.
725
00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:29,960
Did you hear that Eric?
726
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:30,960
Yeah, I was going to say.
727
00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:31,960
Yeah, I was looking right at you.
728
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:32,960
Got homework, Eric.
729
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:33,960
Yeah.
730
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:40,880
Okay, right after this, I'm getting heading back to piano and practicing my skills.
731
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:42,880
It's how I cram so well, actually.
732
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:44,800
Yeah, I have no doubt.
733
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:50,560
I have like the like, thank God my teacher was like practice this, this, this, this,
734
00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:57,040
you know, if you practice like the combination of scales, arpeggios, octaves, broken octaves,
735
00:49:57,040 --> 00:49:59,880
you know, the only thing I really didn't practice was double thirds.
736
00:49:59,880 --> 00:50:01,480
So I freaking hate them.
737
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:04,400
But you know, luckily we don't encounter them too often.
738
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:06,080
Yeah, boo to double thirds.
739
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:07,080
So practice them.
740
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,800
If you're young, start practicing them now.
741
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:15,320
But yeah, no, it's learning music for me, especially because I contextualize things
742
00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:16,320
immediately.
743
00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:19,880
It's like I don't play them play slow drills from the get go.
744
00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:21,100
It's like, what does this sound like?
745
00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:22,320
How do I want to phrase this?
746
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:25,880
Boom, you know, and then I plug in all the pieces.
747
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:26,880
All right.
748
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:32,400
Not going to be bad Eric, like big takeaway practice.
749
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:33,400
I will, I promise.
750
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:38,640
No, it's very funny because all my students are playing a lot of scales right now.
751
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:43,880
So if any of them ever hear this, they're just going to laugh their way to the bank.
752
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:47,640
Okay, so we got to wrap up.
753
00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:52,120
Sorry to have to end our time already, but it's on to rapid fire.
754
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:54,760
So short answers only please.
755
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:55,760
First thing that comes to mind.
756
00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:57,760
Are you ready?
757
00:50:57,760 --> 00:50:59,200
Yes.
758
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:01,960
Number one, what is your favorite comfort food?
759
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:08,800
Oh, it is either fried chicken or I just had mac and cheese.
760
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:10,080
That was very comforting.
761
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:11,080
Okay.
762
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:12,080
Both good choices.
763
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:19,400
I think I know the answer to this one, but cats or dogs and dogs.
764
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,200
What are your words to live by?
765
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:23,600
Oh, this is not a rapid fire.
766
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:24,600
Oh my gosh.
767
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:25,600
I'm on the spot now.
768
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:26,600
Um, be kind.
769
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:30,080
There you go.
770
00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:34,760
And what is most important quality you look for in people?
771
00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:36,760
Um, sincerity.
772
00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:38,120
Excellent.
773
00:51:38,120 --> 00:51:43,080
And what is your least favorite quality in people that you try to avoid?
774
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:45,360
Um, greed.
775
00:51:45,360 --> 00:51:46,360
Greed.
776
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:47,360
Yeah.
777
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:50,640
I mean, you can have more than one.
778
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:52,640
Oh, I have a whole list.
779
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:55,640
I was just kidding.
780
00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:58,640
I was just kidding.
781
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:04,800
Um, name three people who inspired you living or death.
782
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:10,240
Definitely my mom, whether I wanted it to or not, it's good.
783
00:52:10,240 --> 00:52:17,600
Um, my, uh, Ms. G Erna Galabian was my, um, primary music piano teacher, um, based off
784
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:18,600
California.
785
00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:23,400
And, uh, I have, but I have so many mentors.
786
00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:27,280
Like I, that's part of what does it right now.
787
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:28,480
My boyfriend's doing a good job.
788
00:52:28,480 --> 00:52:29,480
He's wonderful.
789
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:33,600
So shout out to Eric.
790
00:52:33,600 --> 00:52:39,920
Which historic figure or composer do you want to learn or take lessons from EP or she or
791
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:40,920
a life?
792
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:45,920
I'm almost afraid to say this because I know someone whose grandmother studied with Clara
793
00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:48,800
Schumann and she was right here.
794
00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:49,800
She's right here.
795
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:51,640
It is strict, man.
796
00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:58,720
Like I read a letter from her and it literally said, uh, I was really disappointed in the
797
00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:04,880
way you played in the lesson last week, you know, and I was like, Oh, burn.
798
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:07,080
But Clara seems like an amazing.
799
00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:08,080
Yeah.
800
00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:09,080
Person.
801
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:10,080
She is.
802
00:53:10,080 --> 00:53:13,080
That's why I changed my name to hers.
803
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:15,080
Oh yeah.
804
00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:17,960
Always behind me.
805
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:22,120
Which historic figure or composer do you want to hang out with at the bar?
806
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:24,640
If he or she or alive?
807
00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:30,360
Um, probably Brahms, a younger Brahms.
808
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:35,600
So you get the lesson from Clara and then you'll go hang out with Brahms.
809
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:36,600
Yeah, yeah, totally.
810
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:38,600
I mean, he wasn't taken, right?
811
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:41,440
So just like, just move on over.
812
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:42,960
All right.
813
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:44,600
My turn.
814
00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:49,120
Sing one piece in your current playlist.
815
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:52,000
It's been the Christian Zimmerman recording of Totentons.
816
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:55,800
Uh, but, Oh, you guys should check this out.
817
00:53:55,800 --> 00:54:01,220
Um, there's a newly signed Yamaha artist, Black Bok, B-L-K-B-O-K.
818
00:54:01,220 --> 00:54:06,000
He fuses, um, hip hop with classical.
819
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:07,960
And he's on Instagram as that.
820
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:12,640
And so I just met him and I've been totally stalking his stuff and it's so fun.
821
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:13,640
So fun.
822
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:14,640
Wow.
823
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:15,640
Right.
824
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:16,640
Yeah.
825
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:17,640
I have to check it up.
826
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:18,640
Check him up.
827
00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:21,640
So next question, name a book title you're currently reading.
828
00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:27,640
Um, what did I, it's, it's all very depressing.
829
00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:30,160
Like one is on trauma.
830
00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:32,120
I don't remember the full name of it.
831
00:54:32,120 --> 00:54:33,840
It's a, it's, it's a really wonderful book.
832
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:35,960
I'll send it to you if you guys post it.
833
00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:38,400
It's really well regarded.
834
00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:39,640
Right.
835
00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:44,280
So you get only one song or piece to listen to for the rest of your life.
836
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:45,400
What is it?
837
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,920
I have the same answer as your other guests.
838
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:49,400
I'd rather listen to nothing.
839
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:53,160
Cause that's, it's hard to pick.
840
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:54,160
I know.
841
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:55,160
Um, yeah.
842
00:54:55,160 --> 00:55:01,320
I mean, I, I would say that the Revelle, um, slow movement of his G major concerto,
843
00:55:01,320 --> 00:55:02,320
it's quite nice.
844
00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:03,320
Beautiful.
845
00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:04,320
Yeah.
846
00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:08,360
Um, but I don't know if I want to listen to that on loop for the rest of my life.
847
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:09,360
Yeah.
848
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:10,360
Okay.
849
00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:11,920
So here's the last question.
850
00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:13,580
Fill in the blank.
851
00:55:13,580 --> 00:55:16,960
Music is blank.
852
00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:17,960
For everyone.
853
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:18,960
Wonderful.
854
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:19,960
Wonderful answer.
855
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:20,960
Thank you.
856
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:21,960
Great answer.
857
00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:22,960
All right.
858
00:55:22,960 --> 00:55:29,960
So that concludes this episode of the piano pod.
859
00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:37,760
Oh, thank you, Alex, for joining us today and sharing your insights and expertise.
860
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:40,200
Thank you to our audience for tuning in.
861
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:47,320
You can find more information on all of Dr. Lee's musical activities at alexandrialee.com
862
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:52,080
and more about her nonprofit organization at notes with a purpose.org.
863
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:56,960
If you enjoyed today's episode, please read and review on whatever podcasting platform
864
00:55:56,960 --> 00:55:57,960
you use.
865
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:03,400
If you are watching us on YouTube, remember to hit the thumbs up button and be sure to
866
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:05,640
subscribe to our channel.
867
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:10,120
You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
868
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:13,000
The links are in the description below.
869
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:19,000
If you have feedback back for us, please leave it in the comments or DM us via social media,
870
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:25,160
or you can also email us at the pianopodnyc at gmail.com.
871
00:56:25,160 --> 00:56:26,160
That's all for now.
872
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:29,000
We will see you for the next episode of piano pod.
873
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:30,000
Bye everybody.
874
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:31,000
Bye everyone.
875
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:32,000
Thank you so much.
876
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:33,000
Thank you.
877
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:34,000
Thank you.
878
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:35,000
Bye.
879
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:36,000
Thank you so much.