1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,080 You're listening to the piano part, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:14,800 about how they're bringing the piano into the 21st century. 3 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:19,640 In the first half of this episode, we spoke to Dr. Marilyn Nunken about her career as 4 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:25,040 a concert pianist, recording artist, and her love and passion for piano music by living 5 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:26,400 composers. 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,880 Check out our YouTube or podcast channel if you missed it. 7 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:35,400 And now, the conclusion. 8 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,360 You mentioned about bridges. 9 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:43,320 So you talk about that in a research article, Performance Practices, which was written in 10 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,840 pretty recent, right? 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:51,840 And that article, I'm going to post it on the description section for the audience, 12 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:53,280 but it was very inspiring. 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:01:00,280 So you're comparing two artists, and then one of them is your teacher, David Burge. 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,040 So first of all, I'm curious to know about him. 15 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:10,560 And it sounds like he has such a great impact on your career as a pianist and musicologist, 16 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,960 of course, but as an educator as well. 17 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:19,280 And one of the things, like I'm an educator as well, I ask myself, what does it mean to 18 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:27,640 be an educated musician, trained musician in this new era, especially after this very 19 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,560 difficult two years we had? 20 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:30,560 What does it mean? 21 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,080 What sort of skills, what sort of training, what sort of knowledge we have to have, what 22 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:39,480 sort of function we need to be involved in, right? 23 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:45,040 Then I think you mentioned that in one of the videos I saw that David Burge mentioned 24 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,640 that the reason that contemporary music did not reach listeners was not because of the 25 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,000 composer but the fault of the performer. 26 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,360 So he has this strong opinion about being a performer. 27 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,360 So could you just tell us a little bit about Mr. Burge? 28 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,640 He is a wonderful teacher for me. 29 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:12,520 I worked with him for only two years, which always makes me feel that if you come in contact 30 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,200 with a great teacher, it can be for, doesn't need to be for. 31 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:20,360 When I see people who want to stay with their teacher for four or five, six, seven, eight 32 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:25,440 years, we love our teachers, but often the gifts they give us, they give us fairly quickly 33 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,560 and it can last a lifetime. 34 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,600 An excellent lesson. 35 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:35,360 I think always with teachers, it's about the quality of the time that you spend with them 36 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:39,240 and not the quantity of time you spend with them. 37 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,160 David was an extraordinarily provocative person. 38 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:50,480 He really, really believed that the function of the performer is to serve the living composer. 39 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:53,440 He didn't like being called a new music pianist. 40 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,920 He thought that's what all pianists should do. 41 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:01,280 I mean, he was trained with classical music. 42 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:09,360 He studied with, you know, Berks was a Belgian pianist who very much came from the lineage 43 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,720 of Liszt and the virtuoso playing. 44 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:21,560 And David, I think, really saw his role wherever he went as promoting the composers of his 45 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:22,560 own time. 46 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:27,040 And this could be a great colleague of his, like George Crum, who was his colleague in 47 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:32,480 an early job at Colorado College, or it could be just anyone that he met. 48 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:38,600 He played, he was not about who is the greatest composer to play, but felt that with his traditional 49 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:43,360 repertoire, always to be performing new works by people he met. 50 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,280 They could be very important people. 51 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:46,840 They could be student composers. 52 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:54,200 He felt that was necessary in that if performers did not do that, they were late. 53 00:03:54,200 --> 00:04:01,240 And he just had this perspective that he thought it was great laziness only to play pieces 54 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,200 for which there was already established performance practice, but that performers needed to be 55 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,680 out there creating new performance practices and making connections with composers. 56 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:17,000 I think that counters what might have been a very typical view a few years ago, which 57 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,480 was that contemporary composers don't know how to write for piano. 58 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,420 And that this is, you know, and it's true, there's many composers who don't write well 59 00:04:24,420 --> 00:04:25,420 for piano. 60 00:04:25,420 --> 00:04:30,840 But there are many composers, like as I found with Tristan Murai or somebody who writes 61 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:31,840 for piano. 62 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:37,600 And that's probably, I guess David would say it would be lazy to hear, to have a couple 63 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,440 bad experiences with contemporary pieces and say, well, there's just nothing here for me. 64 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:48,280 He always felt there was something for every pianist in the contemporary repertoire. 65 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:54,000 He was a tremendous, a tremendous influence that way. 66 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:05,200 He also very much believed as I do that technique is natural and that most performers, pianists 67 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:10,720 do not play well because of things which are, let's say, based on too much tension or extraneous 68 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,880 motion, extraneous gesture, negative things that they have acquired. 69 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:20,160 And if you can excise those things, the natural technique is a healthy technique, which is 70 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:27,400 more about uncovering the natural technique within a person, not imposing another kind 71 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,240 of thing on top of them. 72 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:36,520 He was an extraordinarily powerful player, but also just a terrifically relaxed player. 73 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:41,960 And I guess one of the great images I have of him is him walking on stage for a concert 74 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,920 and he was like six foot four, an incredibly skinny guy. 75 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:51,480 And just sort of would just stride on stage, sit down, start playing. 76 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:57,120 Just like, there was this energy, just this complete, he didn't sit down and get set and 77 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:58,120 get ready. 78 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,920 And he used to laugh at what he said at the pianist who would sit down on stage and look 79 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,720 for God, when they started to play. 80 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:11,720 Looking up and getting in the, because I remember mentioning it to him and he said, if you're 81 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,520 standing backstage and you're not ready to play, he said, you should have been ready 82 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:16,520 two weeks ago. 83 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,920 You should not be getting into the mood as you sit down. 84 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,080 You should have been there two weeks ago and be ready to sit down and show it. 85 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,480 And that lack of attention. 86 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:34,040 He was an awe-inspiring figure, but certainly there was that sense that what we do is very 87 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:35,040 direct. 88 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:36,800 What we do is very natural. 89 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,720 You don't need a big show to play passively. 90 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:51,040 You really write about his story comparing to his, I guess, contemporary pianist, Mr. 91 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:52,440 Miller. 92 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:58,080 Those two have completely different paths, yet there's a common interest in music or 93 00:06:58,080 --> 00:06:59,760 how. 94 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:06,720 So the article I read, there are three words, three things just popped out of in my head. 95 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:11,200 It's the access and self-preservation and audience engagement. 96 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:21,440 So those are very, I mean, never ending discussions as musicians since the beginning of this music, 97 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,600 music, I guess, creation. 98 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:34,360 But as an educator, what do you think about all these three very important topics, especially 99 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:36,840 let's focus on self-preservation? 100 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:38,720 I'm not sure. 101 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:45,360 To me, my interpretation of that word was how we can sustain ourselves as musicians. 102 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:52,120 That's a topic really that we need to discuss, especially we went through some really horrendous 103 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:53,120 two years. 104 00:07:53,120 --> 00:08:00,540 And so that and self-preservation as in maybe preserving the tradition of classical music. 105 00:08:00,540 --> 00:08:03,920 So if you could just briefly tell us what you think. 106 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:04,920 Sure. 107 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:05,960 I think you're so right. 108 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:11,240 And I appreciate you reading the article so carefully about David Burge and Robert Miller, 109 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:13,320 who I didn't know they were contemporaries. 110 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,880 They were both great interpreters and living composers. 111 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:23,880 And David Burge was someone who was sort of almost a musical populist. 112 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:29,480 He was always traveling small towns, large towns, different communities, different styles 113 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,320 of music, really reaching as many people as he could. 114 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:41,600 And Robert Miller, just as a contrast, was a New York based, very successful lawyer actually 115 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:47,360 for his job, who in his sort of spare time, of course he was brilliant, was a great pianist 116 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:54,040 concertizing at Carnegie Hall, at Rickenhall, basically New York, Boston and Princeton, 117 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:59,520 working with an extremely select group of composers and playing for very elite audiences 118 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,400 and making wonderful recordings. 119 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:07,000 They both made incredible recordings and were terrific, in some ways terrific models. 120 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,160 Well, there aren't a whole lot of models sometimes we look for, but models for myself of pianists 121 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,080 who played the music of living composers. 122 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,000 But yeah, so different, right? 123 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,760 So how does that play into the idea of self-preservation? 124 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:27,160 I think one of the ideas, how do we sustain ourselves, that I think is in common to these 125 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:32,600 two different types of performers, it's important about finding your community, finding your 126 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,160 people. 127 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:41,000 To create a career where you sustain yourself as a musician, you have to have that sense 128 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,760 of purpose of what is the music you play and who are you playing it for? 129 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:52,680 And I think sometimes when I see young grad students here at NYU or in the field, that's 130 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:56,880 a hard thing to decide because when we're educated, we're told, oh, you play everything, 131 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:02,640 you play Bach, you play romantic, Baroque, classical, maybe 20th century, maybe new music. 132 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:03,640 And who do you want to play? 133 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:04,640 Well, I want to play for anyone. 134 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,640 You have this idea we want to play for everybody. 135 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,320 But it's a crazy kind of career path. 136 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:10,640 We can't play all music. 137 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:12,640 We can't play all music for everyone all the time. 138 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,040 It's hard to find anyone to listen to us sometimes. 139 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:21,160 So the idea, I think my thoughts on the self-preservation, to sustain a career, you have to have this 140 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,400 idea of what are you in it for? 141 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,320 What is the music that you care most deeply about? 142 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:32,800 And what are the strategies you can develop to bring that to people who either already 143 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:37,760 appreciate it or people that you want to bring that to music to who do not have access to 144 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:38,760 it already? 145 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,880 And so again, it's about connecting with the community. 146 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:47,680 So someone like Robert Miller, maybe people might say, well, it's very elitist, but he 147 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:51,200 connected with composers, with listeners, with funders, with presenters. 148 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:56,880 He was able to sustain a very limited kind of career in a way because maybe it was a 149 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:02,400 narrow group of people, but it was a very deep group of people. 150 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,440 It was a little seam of gold that he had there. 151 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:10,920 And I think actually in classical, we call it that music, a lot of classical music is 152 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:11,920 like that. 153 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:13,200 It's a very small listenership. 154 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:14,920 It's a very devoted listenership. 155 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,680 And how many people will go see the complete Beethoven sonatas? 156 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:22,960 It's a group of people who want to hear those pieces again and again and again, played by 157 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:29,360 different performers, different ways, the niche, but it's a very rich kind of niche. 158 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,800 Or you might have a player who says, well, I want to play that music, but I want to play 159 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:35,160 it if people have never heard it before. 160 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,320 I want to go out to places where it's not played every season, you know, at a big hall. 161 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,640 I want to go and play it in a venue where nobody hears piano music a lot. 162 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:45,520 And I want to introduce people to these pieces. 163 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:51,000 So sometimes it's about repertoire, sometimes it's about audiences, but about finding a 164 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:57,920 community of listeners that aligns with the repertoire that you love and the role you 165 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,760 see for yourself as an interpreter of the music. 166 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:09,040 So I suppose in order to talk about self-preservation, we really have to have these specific goals, 167 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,000 you know, about what our role is. 168 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,160 I don't think there's one role of a pianist, but it's about finding the particular role 169 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:18,880 for you. 170 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:23,680 Do you think we should be more equipped as a pianist? 171 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:26,820 This is the really difficult question, right? 172 00:12:26,820 --> 00:12:35,160 Because to be honest, school tuition is not really something that, you know, we really 173 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:36,160 have to talk about it. 174 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:45,560 You know, we have the student loan that we owe after we graduate and we have to be very 175 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:53,200 creative in terms of how we sustain ourselves, literally. 176 00:12:53,200 --> 00:13:02,420 So I've been asking some guests about should the school teach students about different 177 00:13:02,420 --> 00:13:09,600 ways, like maybe different software that they need to know or in a more practical way? 178 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:10,760 So what do you think of that? 179 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,880 I know it's a little difficult question, but I think absolutely. 180 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:21,840 I mean, I think just teaching, I don't want to say just teaching music, but the ideas 181 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:27,280 of how to create a career and how to create an interesting individual career, it's not 182 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:29,120 ethical not to teach these things. 183 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:35,000 I really feel an ethical obligation. 184 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,320 It's not that there are too many musicians, but I feel sometimes there are too many pianists 185 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:44,160 graduating who all are playing the same music and have the same general idea about what 186 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:45,160 their function is. 187 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,880 I'm going to teach, I'm going to do some chamber music, I'll do some solo music, I'll do this. 188 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:53,040 I teach a class, a professional development course here in piano studies. 189 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,920 And a lot of times people all seem to have the same basic career goals. 190 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,820 And there's just not room for so many people with such general ideas. 191 00:13:59,820 --> 00:14:02,000 So I often try to work with the students. 192 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,960 What kind of audiences do you want to play for? 193 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,760 What type of music do you really want to play? 194 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,760 What are ways you could reach people that are not just the typical ways of reaching 195 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:12,760 listeners? 196 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:19,040 And I think it's important to consider that for schools to teach these different skills. 197 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:26,280 And it's not just marketing so much as helping students realize it's important to be obviously 198 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:31,480 a good well-rounded musician, but the most unique career opportunities are not going 199 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,200 to go to the most well-rounded person. 200 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:38,480 They're going to go to the person whose work captures people's attention and interests. 201 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:44,320 And often that is, it's not fair, but it doesn't always go to the person who has the largest 202 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:45,320 repertoire. 203 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:51,040 Maybe the most compelling way of putting it out there and communicating with listeners. 204 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,200 So that's, I think, really important. 205 00:14:54,200 --> 00:15:00,720 I will say when we talked about my recording of Tristan Murey and that was, when I made 206 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:04,360 it people didn't really know who I was, which is fine. 207 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:05,760 I wanted to make the recording. 208 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:11,200 But after that came out I was the only pianist, and I still am in some ways playing that music 209 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:12,200 in this country. 210 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:18,960 So it resulted in a tremendous amount of opportunities because if people wanted to hear that music, 211 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,200 they had to ask me to play it. 212 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:26,400 So it's a way of saying that if you have something that you do which is special, the opportunities 213 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,520 will have to come to you because there's no one else who does that. 214 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:33,800 And so I think it's that idea of specificity does not need to be about contemporary music, 215 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:35,760 but there's this wonderful story. 216 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:42,600 The American pianist Richard Bullig was a pianist in the 1930s, a wonderful, wonderful 217 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,960 American who went and studied in Europe and came back to America and played his first 218 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,360 performances of Debussy and Scriabin and Schoenberg. 219 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,000 Richard Bullig, a fabulous legacy. 220 00:15:54,000 --> 00:16:01,600 But there's a story of John Cage as a student, like 19 years old, camping out on Richard 221 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:07,800 Bullig's driveway in California, wanting to hear him play Schoenberg's Opus 11, the 222 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,120 three pieces, which were written in 1909. 223 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:14,080 Richard Bullig was the only person who played them in the country and they hadn't really 224 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:15,600 been recorded or anything. 225 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,680 And John Cage literally camping out and waiting for him to come home and asking him to play 226 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:22,440 these pieces for him. 227 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:27,560 And it's that sense that that's the greatest tribute to any player is that someone wants 228 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,200 to hear what you have to play. 229 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:34,120 And so I think especially in this day and age when there's so much recorded music, we 230 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:39,900 want to encourage our students and for ourselves to find something that we do which has that 231 00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:45,160 uniqueness that we believe is that special, people will need to come to us for. 232 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:51,800 You are really training these musicians that come to grad school at NYU or even undergraduate 233 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,760 and they are playing these new music. 234 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,880 First of all, I'm curious of the audition process. 235 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:00,200 It's a different school, right? 236 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:07,400 I also actually, 2005, I was going to study at NYU with Mr. Bernstein. 237 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:14,480 But at the time I was very young and my teacher in Kansas was so worried that I decided to 238 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,480 go to UMass Amherst. 239 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:22,880 But then I met you I think a couple years later and then talking about the PhD program. 240 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:31,960 And I think this as a young musician, sometimes it's difficult for us to really know ourselves 241 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:33,760 as can I do this? 242 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:35,840 Or is this the right decision? 243 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,320 Or is this even a responsible decision? 244 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:46,840 So how is the audition process like for you as a mentor or faculty member, how do you 245 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,320 choose these musicians? 246 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:49,320 I'm curious. 247 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:53,440 Well, I'm fortunate to have wonderful colleagues as well. 248 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:59,800 So we're not looking, I think maybe one thing we share, we come from different backgrounds, 249 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,000 different traditions, different ideas. 250 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:07,080 I think we are not looking for one kind of pianist, but we're looking for I think more 251 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,200 and more that the ideas, again, looking for people who are interesting personalities, 252 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:16,000 have a singular voice, who have a unique way of playing. 253 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:20,840 That's just becomes live performance, getting back to this idea, when there's so many recorded 254 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:28,240 versions, so many things online to see, wanting to develop artists who are worth seeing live, 255 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,760 where it's a different kind of voice is very important. 256 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:37,680 It's funny because we're not a new music department. 257 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:43,640 And I say that because actually I'm so dedicated to what we consider your traditional discipline 258 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:44,640 technique. 259 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:53,120 I find programs which focus on only contemporary or put a big emphasis on only contemporary 260 00:18:53,120 --> 00:19:00,240 music often, they lack some of the traditional technique or the emphasis, which I think is 261 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,360 so important to actually playing the instrument. 262 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:09,680 So we don't have, when we audition at NYU, I changed the audition requirements that we 263 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,800 require obviously a Baroque, classical, romantic, and a piece written before 1945 and then just 264 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:22,040 simply a piece written after 1945, which had not been the case before. 265 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:27,600 And it seems like a very small change to ask for something written in the last 65 years 266 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:33,400 or something, but it's actually quite true that many pianists still, they play a piece 267 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,600 of Debussy or Scrabbin, that's their 20th century piece. 268 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,520 And so to say, a lot has happened. 269 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:45,760 So what becomes very interesting at the audition process is there's plenty of total pieces 270 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,360 written after 1945 as well. 271 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:55,200 And so what I find actually, when people audition here, that their choice of the work written 272 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,880 after 1945 really shows a lot. 273 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:02,120 And we see a little bit, maybe a student say, oh, I'm going to play Bach, Prelude and Fugue 274 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:04,200 or Chopin-Ballade. 275 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:09,800 The pieces we love from the earlier historical repertoire, which show a great deal, but then 276 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,200 sometimes the piece they pick that's more contemporary, it's a little bit more of a 277 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:14,200 question mark. 278 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:15,200 What are they going to choose? 279 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:16,200 Composed you've never heard of. 280 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:17,200 Is it going to be a little piece? 281 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,280 Is it going to be a big piece? 282 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,080 Is it going to be a tonal piece, a minimalist piece, a spectral piece? 283 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:30,160 Is it going to be, there's just so many different ways of, is it going to be a neoclassical 284 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:31,160 work? 285 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,920 There's even like Poulenc lived to 1969 or something. 286 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:35,720 I mean, it's funny. 287 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:36,720 So we get it. 288 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,960 I find that the choice of the work written after 1945 is really revealing. 289 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:47,080 And it does often show something a little different about what that player likes to 290 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:48,080 do. 291 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,880 It's funny because I've sometimes said if somebody really didn't want to play a piece 292 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:59,160 written after 1945, they could play John Cage's 433 and just half a minute to not do anything. 293 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,800 And that would also be such a wonderful statement. 294 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:07,320 I think, I'm not going to do anything for this. 295 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,040 And that would take such courage. 296 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:15,320 And I think I would have, it would be a different kind of respect for a player. 297 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:22,540 So I feel that asking people to make that kind of personal choice is part of the audition. 298 00:21:22,540 --> 00:21:26,160 And I know that we often look forward to what is that mystery piece going to be? 299 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,800 The piece where there isn't such a prescriptive attitude about what might, you know, a lot 300 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:37,760 of pianists, they'll play Ligeti etude or maybe they'll play Lennard Bernstein. 301 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:41,160 There might be more traditional choices. 302 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,640 There might be something really quite unusual. 303 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:48,480 There might be a piece written by a student composer. 304 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,480 Sometimes the student will bring a piece. 305 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,360 It will be like, what is this? 306 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:52,360 Who is this person? 307 00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:53,360 Tell us who this person is. 308 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:56,840 And then we learn something at that audition too. 309 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:02,040 I think for a long time, maybe in previous generations, there was an idea that we cannot 310 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:08,240 evaluate students playing new music because we don't know what it is. 311 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,480 But you can tell, always, you can tell how a person plays the piano. 312 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:19,600 You can tell technique and color and sensitivity and expression and all of those things we 313 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:20,600 pick up on. 314 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:26,160 Even when we don't know the piece, we can overwhelmingly tell if it's a good performance, 315 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,160 right? 316 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,520 Because it's not like a new music sounds the same. 317 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:30,520 Of course it doesn't. 318 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:37,000 And so even when we don't know the piece, we can still learn a lot about the performer. 319 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:43,480 I think in a way, it also shows, really, as a classical musician, sometimes I feel like 320 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:49,080 we work so hard, but it's hard to step outside the box. 321 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:55,360 I remember when we were younger, your teacher would say, well, you can enter a competition 322 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:59,360 with this piece or that piece, but this piece, you definitely will feel more comfortable. 323 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,480 That one, it's new, but it's different. 324 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:04,160 Are you able to handle it? 325 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:08,240 So I think it really shows the character of each musician. 326 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,340 And that is really beautiful. 327 00:23:10,340 --> 00:23:17,000 So now, and I also mentioned this earlier, being it's Women's History Month, and we've 328 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,160 seen some beautiful posts. 329 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,200 And I'm someone who's very interested in music history. 330 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,000 And I changed my name to Clara. 331 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,440 When I came to this country, there's a certain idea. 332 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,200 And I used to post on Instagram. 333 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:36,480 Every single day, I find a composer's birthday, and I find some true facts. 334 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:37,660 And I saw all these. 335 00:23:37,660 --> 00:23:44,480 So tell us a little bit of this project you've been doing with Women's History and what influence 336 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,160 have you brought? 337 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:50,920 It's funny because social media is always what do we do with social media? 338 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,080 What do we do with visibility? 339 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:59,880 And I try to, when I post you, I try to put up things that I think are thought-provoking. 340 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:05,320 Last year during the pandemic, I just like many other people not sleeping well. 341 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,760 And when we had Women's History Month, I think I had the idea, I'm just going to try to find 342 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:17,020 a woman pianist or composer musician that I respect and put them up every day, one every 343 00:24:17,020 --> 00:24:18,520 day for the month. 344 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:24,760 And last year, my real goal was not to pick the usual suspects because I think, of course, 345 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:30,240 everyone, we always do Martha Argerich or Alicia del Rocha or Myra Hess or Annie Fisher. 346 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,120 I mean, there's some people that we teach more than others. 347 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:37,880 And Oryklar Schumann or Fanny Mendelssohn, those people that we say, oh, well, those 348 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:44,560 are our sort of go-to women composers or pianists, people we think of. 349 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,880 And I wanted last year, I thought, I'm going to just hunt around being up in the middle 350 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,440 of the night and whatnot. 351 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:55,320 Find some examples of maybe not the pianists that we know about and maybe the ones we have 352 00:24:55,320 --> 00:25:01,400 recordings of, but these women who have stories that are compelling stories to learn about. 353 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,080 And I learned so much. 354 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:11,000 And this month, putting up people, you know, pianists who were emigres, people who are 355 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,720 immigrants, people who were displaced during the war, women whose careers were cut short 356 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,520 because of family concerns and because of the place of women. 357 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:26,280 But these fantastic stories of performers who really toured Europe, who worked with 358 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,880 important people, who works were dedicated to. 359 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:34,040 And a lot of them are simply just lost to history because they didn't record or they 360 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:40,520 didn't teach enough to create a lineage of students who would sort of venerate them and 361 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,280 talk about them the way we talk about some other pedagogical traditions. 362 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:51,360 So not to say that these are the most important people, but to look at their stories. 363 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:54,680 Everyone has a story. 364 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,440 And maybe part of this is my questioning. 365 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:03,840 We always want to question the stories we're taught and to question who our maros are and 366 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:12,740 why are we taught what, you know, our field of piano performance and pedagogy is very 367 00:26:12,740 --> 00:26:17,440 dominated by certain kinds of traditions and stories. 368 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:23,880 And they are untrue at all, but they're one version of history. 369 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:29,680 And so I suppose my musicologist sense, music historian sense is always asking, well, what 370 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,160 are the other stories that coexist and what are the other kinds of narratives that we 371 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:41,480 can think of, which especially for women pianists, we don't have models like that. 372 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,640 We don't have so many of those stories. 373 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:50,400 And maybe this is getting into dangerous territory, but certainly a lot of young women pianists 374 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:57,360 damage their hands and suffer injuries trying to sound like a male pianist and play the 375 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:02,040 piano in a way that is maybe not the way physically. 376 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:09,680 So that's the idea of searching for different kinds of models that might be more appropriate 377 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,560 to which we might be more sympathetic to, I guess, in Women's History Month. 378 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:14,560 That's true. 379 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:15,560 Wow. 380 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:16,560 I'm learning so much really. 381 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,920 You know, I am definitely one of those people. 382 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:25,000 Sometimes I look at your posts and I'm Googling more and learning more. 383 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,560 And that's actually true. 384 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,720 I didn't even think of this being like, you know, when I was younger, I did have very 385 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:32,720 skinny arms. 386 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,680 And so that was always kind of a thing. 387 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,520 I felt like I couldn't really find the music that I felt. 388 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,680 And that was also very picky with the song. 389 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,680 I didn't really... 390 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:44,560 This is all making so much sense. 391 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,760 And I tend to try to inspire my own students as well. 392 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:56,040 I think sometimes as educators or even musicians ourselves, you know, we all have to be... 393 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:57,560 Inspiration really is the most important thing. 394 00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:59,560 It doesn't matter how good we are. 395 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,800 If we're not inspired, it's hard to keep on going forward. 396 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,360 So what you're doing is really tremendous. 397 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:12,880 I was going to mention one other thing with this, the deal of female women as role models. 398 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:18,120 But I say early on when I first became serious about playing, one of the first things I did 399 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:21,720 of course was get tendonitis as a young teenager. 400 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:28,360 I was doing a lot, suddenly exploring a lot of technique, having male teachers, suddenly 401 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:29,360 lots of playing. 402 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:31,120 And you see this a lot. 403 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:37,760 And the idea about finding the repertoire that is right physically and expressively 404 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:43,400 and developing technique and approach to the piano that is individual is something that 405 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:44,400 I think is important. 406 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,200 You know, artistically we talk about, but also just in terms of physical and mental 407 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,880 health, that's a very big issue. 408 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:58,000 And certainly with young people, we see a lot of issues as musicians with psychological 409 00:28:58,000 --> 00:28:59,440 stress and physical. 410 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:03,520 We need to pay a lot of attention to that. 411 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,760 Let's talk about your latest future project. 412 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:13,000 One is you just released a CD album called Syncopated Musings, which music of mainly 413 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:14,360 Scott Joplin. 414 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:21,400 So which is a really big shift from all the other pieces, but come to find out. 415 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:29,080 I guess Joplin, Mr. Joplin and then Schoenenberg and Charles Ives, they're the contemporary 416 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:30,280 composers right there. 417 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:31,960 They share the same era. 418 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,360 So can you tell us a little bit more? 419 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:35,360 Absolutely. 420 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:40,840 Well, the early 20th century is such a rich, right, a rich, rich time period. 421 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,760 And I came to Joplin's music a strange, strange way. 422 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:50,400 Obviously the closest thing I really played before doing this was Charles Ives' Concord 423 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,080 Sonata, which, you know, refers to ragtime and American popular music in it. 424 00:29:55,080 --> 00:30:01,440 But during the pandemic, I really became very serious about Joplin and his composers he 425 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,000 worked with, his contemporaries. 426 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,080 When we had the lockdown, so many people found changed their plans and I had to stop 427 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:10,080 performing. 428 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:15,080 And I suddenly was at home with my upright piano, which is not my instrument of choice. 429 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,200 I wasn't able to come to my studio to work. 430 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:22,560 And I found I was not able to keep playing the same repertoire. 431 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,900 I found a different instrument. 432 00:30:24,900 --> 00:30:28,240 I wanted to have a different music for that piano. 433 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:32,000 I didn't feel right just playing the same repertoire on this different instrument for 434 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,400 no reason without any chance to perform it. 435 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,080 And we've always had this book of Joplin's piano music. 436 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:39,920 In fact, that's right. 437 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,480 Maybe people had it's a very, it's a very, it's a very traditional. 438 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:44,480 How sweet. 439 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,840 I had this in our house. 440 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:52,800 My husband is actually a very big fan of early American music. 441 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,920 And I thought, oh, to start looking through this, you know, just to play every night, 442 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:56,920 just to keep playing. 443 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,640 And I'd never really spent time with the scores. 444 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:04,280 And I just sort of fell in love with the notation. 445 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:09,520 Was really impressed in odd way with the music that I'd never spent time really listening 446 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:10,720 to or looking at. 447 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,560 Those are kind of elegance. 448 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,920 And I don't use it we're disciplined, but the scores are very particular. 449 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,200 It wasn't my image of what ragtime music was. 450 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:26,520 My idea of ragtime was kind of bar room piano and people in funny hats and you know, this 451 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,120 more the idea of a popular music. 452 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:35,840 Whereas when I looked at the scores, I thought this looks music written by a very intelligent, 453 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,480 serious, thoughtful composer. 454 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:43,480 And so I was playing a lot of the pieces and I actually was playing a lot of the pieces 455 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,260 written by Joplin with a collaborator. 456 00:31:46,260 --> 00:31:51,600 And this was something Scott Joplin I learned was part of a community of very well trained 457 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:52,600 performers. 458 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:53,600 He was a singer. 459 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:55,600 He was a violinist, a quartet player. 460 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,640 He was not only a composer, but a teacher. 461 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:05,640 And Joplin moved in a circle of other very well educated black composer, performer who 462 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,760 toured, who wrote, who taught. 463 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:14,240 And in many cases when these other composers like Scott Hayden, like Arthur Marshall, Joseph 464 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:18,760 Lamb, well Joseph Lamb was not part of that community, but when these composers wanted 465 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,840 to get published, Joplin would say, well, let me, I'll work with you. 466 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,560 We can put both of our names on it and it'll get published faster, make more money because 467 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:26,560 my name is on it. 468 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,600 Because Scott Joplin was so well known and these other composers were. 469 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,760 There's all these pieces written by Joplin and someone else. 470 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,480 And it's very interesting as a performer to try to figure out how much is really Joplin 471 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,520 because Joplin has such a distinctive style. 472 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,640 And then like Scott Hayden, it's quite different. 473 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,360 And sometimes you can really tell who wrote what or sometimes it's really clear that Joplin 474 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:51,000 didn't really write much of it at all, but his name is just on it to attract more players. 475 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,560 So I'm really interested in playing this music, which is musically challenging. 476 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:57,560 It's interesting. 477 00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:58,880 It's virtuosic. 478 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:02,500 It was a challenge for me because it was entirely different than what I'd been doing. 479 00:33:02,500 --> 00:33:09,040 And my husband who is very musically savvy, but not a professional musician, and not a 480 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,240 musician really, but very good listener. 481 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,720 He said, well, why don't you present this to your record company and see if they'd like 482 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,920 a recording of Joplin? 483 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,520 And I thought, well, I don't know, does the world really need this from me right now? 484 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:26,320 But then the more I listened to other existing recordings of Joplin, I thought, you know, 485 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,000 I feel like I have a different take on this. 486 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:32,320 I feel I have something I want to say, which is always what we're after. 487 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,120 Is there something that we can provide to the musical universe that's not already out 488 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,120 there? 489 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:41,080 And the more I listened to other recordings, I thought, you know, I really, I don't really 490 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:42,560 like some of these recordings so much. 491 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:46,480 I would like to have my own say on how maybe this music goes. 492 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,680 So I contacted the same record company that did musicals just down the road. 493 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:56,400 You go back into my music and the producer there is like, I love Joplin. 494 00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,960 It's just so funny because suddenly I find people come out of the woodwork that quite 495 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:05,080 a lot of people like Joplin, but it's also one of these things that in a conservatory 496 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:07,920 environment is not quite accepted, right? 497 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:13,160 Has this idea of being more of a popular, not a classical, what does that mean? 498 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:19,440 You know, there was actually a student here at NYU who said, I didn't think we were allowed 499 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:20,960 to play Joplin. 500 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,280 And I thought that's very strange. 501 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,880 I mean, why would we say that? 502 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:32,520 You know, so part of me started thinking, why is it that we are not allowed or encouraged 503 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,680 to play this music or to take the music seriously? 504 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:39,520 So that became sort of a little mission of mine. 505 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:46,520 And so we put together this recording during the pandemic under, wow, actually recorded 506 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,520 it at NYU. 507 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,000 Wonderful but so much of this was done. 508 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,120 We didn't record it remotely, but editing, doing notes and communicating without really 509 00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:58,120 seeing people. 510 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:00,320 But I'm very, very proud of the project. 511 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:05,920 It came out last month, so it's the music of Scott Joplin and his collaborators. 512 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:12,160 It also includes a few of Joplin's solo compositions that he wrote. 513 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:17,200 And this is available on all music streaming services and also Amazon. 514 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:18,920 You can purchase a CD. 515 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:19,920 That's right. 516 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:20,920 Go to the diviner. 517 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,520 We're definitely going to promote this. 518 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:30,280 Joplin, I remember a few years ago, a friend asked me to help promote Joplin on WQXR. 519 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,280 He actually shared the same birthday as me. 520 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,480 So I was very interested in his story. 521 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:41,920 And he's also on the Lower East Side, I believe, when he was in New York for a while. 522 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,880 He did come to New York. 523 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:44,880 Exactly. 524 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:50,560 What's very exciting for me is that I'm going to be playing this summer at the Joplin International 525 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,640 Festival in Sedalia, Missouri. 526 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,640 So wow, that's awesome. 527 00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:02,400 Very exciting to, again, like New York, which we think of as this great cultural center, 528 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:06,840 but actually to go to Joplin, where Joplin settled, where these people lived, and to 529 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,320 reach a different audience. 530 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:15,440 It's an audience that venerates this music, that loves this music, that is not coming 531 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:19,040 to it from the same direction that I'm coming from. 532 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:20,040 For me, it's a different kind. 533 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:26,600 So I'm actually really excited to meet these new audiences and to talk about what I do 534 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:27,800 in a different way. 535 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:34,720 So I think in a sense, it's very, always important to be trying, trying new things. 536 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:36,680 So definitely, I'm looking forward to that. 537 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:42,280 I would love to hear what are the advices you could give to young people, especially 538 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:47,280 after this crazy pandemic, you know, there's so many different ways of living, you know, 539 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:51,840 as musicians, we have to, what is your advice? 540 00:36:51,840 --> 00:37:01,320 My advice would be for people, for young pianists and teachers to think about those unique narratives, 541 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:08,320 because we all will go into music and piano because we love what we do, because we love 542 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,600 the repertoire. 543 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,800 And in that sense, we're all the same. 544 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,880 In that sense, and even the idea of playing piano in technique, there's a sameness to 545 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:19,880 that. 546 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,640 You know, the instrument is unique, but there are good things and bad things. 547 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:24,520 There are ways to play the piano that are effective. 548 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,640 There are ways to play the piano that are technically not effective. 549 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:33,040 So there's a sense when we're all at a high level working well, that we're very much a 550 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:38,000 community of people who have a lot of the same loves and abilities and talents. 551 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:45,040 So the question becomes how to distinguish yourself, what makes you unique, whether it's 552 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:50,920 the repertoire, whether it's the people you play for, whether it's how you talk about 553 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,080 the music, whether it's how you put programs together. 554 00:37:54,080 --> 00:38:00,200 It's so important for, in order for a self-sustaining career as either a teacher or a performer, 555 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:07,040 I think even as a lifelong music lover, to recognize what makes you different. 556 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:14,160 When I was small, I remember watching the Van Cliburn television and when they used to 557 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:15,600 show that on TV. 558 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:21,880 And I remember very clearly a segment in which the competitors in the Van Cliburn were playing 559 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:28,840 Chopin's first etude and they were playing away and the camera would zoom in on one set 560 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,680 of hands and then zoom out and it would be a different player. 561 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,960 And then it would zoom in on the hands and it would zoom out and be a different player. 562 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:39,400 And I know it was meant to show how everyone was playing so flawlessly, but the impression 563 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:44,320 it gave was that you could not tell one player from the other because everybody was playing 564 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:50,600 so fantastically well that they sort of all were uniformly excellent. 565 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:57,960 And for me, that was just sort of inspiring and also just entirely sickening because you 566 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:01,400 always want someone to remember what is unique about you. 567 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,960 And certainly when we love performances and remember good performers, it's for what is 568 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,320 special about them and not for what is the same. 569 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:13,960 Whereas we're aspiring to a high standard and a kind of uniformity of excellence, it's 570 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:20,400 so important for us to find and capitalize on what makes us different. 571 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:21,400 That's beautiful. 572 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:22,400 Absolutely. 573 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:24,880 Well, Marilyn, thank you so much. 574 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:34,400 I know we kind of gave you this bullet of questions, but we learned a lot and we appreciate 575 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:35,400 your time. 576 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:42,840 So now we want to move into this fun segment and it's called the PianoPod rapid fire questions. 577 00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:48,160 We would like for you to answer them in the shortest answers as possible. 578 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:49,160 Okay. 579 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:50,160 All right. 580 00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:51,160 It's really fun. 581 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:52,160 All right. 582 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:54,960 So the first question is, what is your comfort food? 583 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:55,960 My comfort food? 584 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:56,960 Comfort food. 585 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:57,960 My span. 586 00:39:57,960 --> 00:39:58,960 Great. 587 00:39:58,960 --> 00:39:59,960 All right. 588 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:00,960 Cats or dogs? 589 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:01,960 Cats. 590 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:02,960 Yay. 591 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:08,840 What is your word or words to live by? 592 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:12,200 The more I practice, the luckier I get. 593 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:13,200 Beautiful. 594 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:18,640 What is the most important quality you look for in other people? 595 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,520 Compassion. 596 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,320 What is the worst quality you want to stay away from? 597 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:26,320 Incompetence. 598 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:31,680 Name three people who inspire you, living or dead. 599 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:41,000 The writer, Michel Welbeck, a French writer, a very controversial Julia Child. 600 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:42,000 Okay. 601 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:43,000 Great chef. 602 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:51,280 And I'm trying not to pick pianists. 603 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:52,880 I know. 604 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:54,920 It's difficult. 605 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:56,840 Buckle of Havill, the playwright. 606 00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,240 Name one piece in your current playlist. 607 00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:02,880 That would have to be Carmina Burana. 608 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:03,880 Great. 609 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:04,880 Yes. 610 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:05,880 You're performing very soon. 611 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:06,880 Yes. 612 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,320 Name one book title in your library. 613 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:16,600 Currently reading Coming to My Senses, which is a memoir of Alice Waters. 614 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:21,760 You get only one song or piece to listen to for the rest of your life. 615 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:22,760 What is it? 616 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:30,960 Olivier Mercier's 20 gazes on the infant Jesus by Olivier Mercier. 617 00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:34,840 And last question, last not least, music is? 618 00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:36,560 Fill in the blank. 619 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:38,360 Music is what the sound becomes. 620 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:40,760 What the sound becomes. 621 00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:41,760 Wonderful. 622 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:47,720 Last quote, it's actually not mine originally, that is the quote of the French spectralists 623 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:55,600 when they started their, became the spectral movement, the music is what sound becomes. 624 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,000 That is very, very deep. 625 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,000 Okay. 626 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:01,600 So thank you. 627 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:05,080 So this concludes this episode of the Piano Pod. 628 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,760 Thank you, Marilyn, for joining us today and sharing your wonderful stories and insights 629 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:11,080 and expertise. 630 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:16,960 And you can find more information about her on her website at Marylandnoncon.com. 631 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:22,880 I also want to encourage our audience to listen to her latest album, Syncopated Musings, available 632 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,460 on all music streaming services. 633 00:42:25,460 --> 00:42:31,000 And also we didn't get to mention, but you have another CD album coming up, Morton Feldman's 634 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:37,080 Complete Music for Piano and Cello, which will be released in June with the cellist 635 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:44,720 Steven Marotta, so all the links are listed in the description. 636 00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:48,000 Thank you to our wonderful audience and the fans for tuning in today. 637 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:53,520 If you enjoyed today's episode, please read and review on whatever podcasting platform 638 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:54,520 you use. 639 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:59,720 If you're watching us on YouTube, remember to hit the thumbs up button and be sure to 640 00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:01,680 subscribe to our channel. 641 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,920 You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 642 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,760 The links are in the description below. 643 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:14,240 If you're interested in to be the guest or want to recommend someone to be on our show, 644 00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:22,000 or if you'd like to sponsor us or collaborate with us, shoot us an email at the pianopodnyc.gmail.com 645 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,600 or send us a DM via social media. 646 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,360 We will see you for the next episode of the PianoPod. 647 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:29,360 Bye everyone. 648 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:30,360 Thank you, Marilyn. 649 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:31,360 Thank you so much. 650 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:32,360 Thank you for having me. 651 00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:51,000 Thank you.