You're listening to the PianoPod, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
Welcome back to the PianoPod.
I am Eric Hunter.
I'm Clara Zhang.
I'm Yuki Misong.
Today our guest is Dr. Alexandria Li, concert pianist, educator, and arts advocate.
A winner of over 21st prize music awards, her performance career has seen her play everywhere
from Carnegie Hall and the Salcorteaux to the jails of Rikers Island.
After establishing her career for over 15 years in New York, she returned to her hometown
of Las Vegas in order to form the nonprofit organization Notes with a Purpose.
Since its inception several years ago, it has already engaged thousands of children
and adults in the Las Vegas area through outreach concerts and special events.
Dr. Li is a Yamaha artist.
She is also someone I am very privileged to call my good friend.
Welcome to the show, Alex.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Now of course, you and I have a lot of history, but I know for people who are tuning in for
the first time, I'm sure the question on their minds is why Las Vegas?
Yeah.
Right.
That doesn't seem like the first place that comes to mind when we think about classical
music.
Definitely not.
It was not really a matter of choice.
I was born and raised here.
My parents moved here just a few years before I was born and they're still here.
After living in New York for over 15 years and a little stint in Canada, I just started
focusing back on Las Vegas.
It was something that I always, it was a place I always wanted to return to.
Yeah.
Now you were in New York for a long time and you were doing quite well.
I remember going to your concerts.
What was it that drew you back to Vegas aside from your family, of course?
Truthful answer is I was starting to feel a little burnt out in New York City.
I had a really wonderful but stressful job and I believe I saw more of the subway.
I'm solar powered.
I don't know if you can tell, it's just sunny here and I'm solar powered.
I'm used to driving cars and I just needed space.
After my fellowship was done, I was seeking the West Coast just to breathe a little bit.
I was definitely busy when I came back, but I basically wanted to load my groceries in
the back of the car versus hauling everything from Trader Joe's on Sunday night.
I still do.
I feel my arm doing that.
I have so much respect for people who are still buffing it out.
My biceps are really tight.
That's our workout.
I can definitely relate because I had a similar flight myself to the West Coast after our
not so sunny days in Rochester.
Let's talk a little bit about that time in New York because I feel like that was a formative
time for you.
I was a long hauler graduate student.
I did eventually finish my doctorate, but I just kept getting distracted by really fun
projects.
The thing that kept pulling me away from just sitting in the practice room and just finishing
out my degree was an interest in being really out in the community and really wanting to
connect with people in the community.
This meant beyond just music students and musicians.
I don't even think you know the story, Eric.
I had a colleague win per musicist and she invited me to the winners recital.
I went to her concert at Wild Hall.
I was like, well, this is great.
What is this organization?
I read the mission statement and it was really a heartful, just soulful, beautiful organization
that gives back to the community.
They essentially pick the first prize winner to play their premiere debuts in New York
and Boston and a whole bunch of other places.
But then they'll send you into really hard to reach places like prisons or hospitals
or assisted living facilities.
That just really resonated with me.
I had such respect for my colleague.
She was playing at such a high level.
This is like a serious competition of sorts, but it also had a social awareness aspect
to it, this mindfulness.
The award was only every two years or so.
Then I got invited to the next winners concert and I was like, okay, I just need to apply
to this thing.
It's time for me to throw my hat in.
I was supposed to finish out my doctorate at that time and I ended up winning.
That was such a momentous time because it just really connected all the dots for me.
I wanted my music to mean something.
I wanted to bring it to people who couldn't normally get to concerts.
They presented me, for instance, at the Phoenix House, which is a drug and alcohol addiction
recovery program.
There are a few places around New York City.
They hauled in a Yamaha Grand into this multipurpose room.
I was sitting there for a few days.
The energy started picking up.
People were like, what is about to happen?
It was my first solo concert with such a big audience.
It was a new experience for me where the men had to be sitting on one side and the women
on the other.
They were all going through a very transformative time of their lives.
Following that, just a few months later, I learned about Ensemble Connect.
At that time, it's called Ensemble ACJW.
Glad for the name change.
Ensemble Connect is a fellowship run by Juilliard and Carnegie Hall.
They have a partnership with the New York City Department of Education.
It's a teaching artist program.
It's a fellowship that teaches young musicians how to present music and art to any kind of
audience and to do it very conscientiously.
With that, I miraculously got that position.
It just followed the heels of permusichists.
It was an awesome year.
I was like, wow, the universe does not want me to finish my doctorate right now.
You had bigger fish to fry.
Yeah.
Thankfully, Stony Brook, where I got my master's and my doctorate, they were so supportive.
They were like, well, this is what we want our musicians to do anyway.
She's just doing it kind of early.
I did end up rewriting because of me.
They rewrote the graduate student handbook.
They're like, you need to finish within a certain amount of time.
Okay?
It was just a really important time in my life.
As you said, Eric, it was really time for me to find that support, to find the currents
that were taking me towards what I wanted to do.
Even starting out in Rochester, going to Eastman, there was a music therapy course that they
offered.
I dipped my toe in that because I was like, I just want to help people with music in some
way.
This was just a great... Teaching artist work is really up my alley, I think, because
it allows me to still really... challenges me to keep my chops up, present new ideas
and works to different communities, and meet a whole lot of different people.
The way you're even speaking, you're so passionate.
Such an impact that these two organizations gave you while you live in New York.
How fortunate is that, to be able to find that at such a young age, because musicians,
we all struggle.
Why am I practicing hours and hours of this piece?
It's so hard to find a meaning of it all, and we all struggle.
In a way, you found your really true desire of, why am I practicing?
Because I want to really give back to the community.
It's so wonderful that you found that outlet.
I felt very lucky.
There's also, I'm sure you're noticing the trend that that conversation is happening
in our world, in our music world, that it's like, why are we practicing?
When I was just entering Eastman, and this was a while back, it was 2001, 2002.
You don't have to do that.
Just kidding.
The stats were that there were 10,000 pianists graduating with degrees a year.
I was like, okay, what are we doing with this?
It's important for people to connect with music and have music be a part of their lives.
I'm like, now that's a lot of competition.
That's a lot of, what are we doing besides playing for ourselves?
That stat really just stuck with me throughout the years.
The funny story actually, speaking of being in a conservatory environment, in studio class,
the question was raised, whose dream is it to play in Carnegie Hall?
There were three hands that didn't raise in a group of 20, and mine wasn't one of them.
We were also clumped together, which says a lot.
They asked why.
Why don't you want to play in Carnegie Hall?
I'm like, listen, I do want to play in Carnegie Hall.
Not saying that I'll turn away.
You did.
I did.
That was the greatest irony.
I mentioned this in my interview too.
I was sitting with the Carnegie Hall administration.
They're like, I said, I have a story for you.
Actually, you are not my dream.
But actually, the thing is, the reason being was, I said, I don't want to just be playing
for people who are looking at the concert roster or the season going, oh, I want to
hear her.
I want to hear how she plays Opus 110, Beethoven Sonata.
Let me compare her to... It's like they already know what it sounds like.
What about the people who can't afford to get to Carnegie Hall, who feel intimidated,
who can't access that?
It's just amazing how years later, Carnegie Hall created Ensemble Connect to smash that
conception.
They said, we're going to create an ensemble of 20 people to learn how to go out into the
community.
It's not about bringing people to Carnegie Hall.
It's about enriching the place around us.
That's when I had the experience of preparing a concert, an interactive performance, is
what we call them, to go to Rikers Island.
I want to hear more about the Rikers Island.
Also, you just mentioned the word interactive.
I think that's the key.
It's not about us presenting this really humongous amount of repertoire and the ha ha ha at Carnegie
Hall, but there is this interaction between you and the audience.
I really feel this energy from you, like how much you are such a giving person, but how
much also you are receiving from the audience.
I really want to know more about it.
If you could share some of the stories, it seems like you really had an amazing time
as a performer and giving this wonderful gift of music to the audience that we don't normally
reach out to.
If you could share with us a few examples, maybe at the prison or at the hospitals.
Sure, absolutely.
One of the most important aspects that I was aware of even before getting into the ensemble,
but was really driven home was you got to know who your audience is.
You have to understand why they're there and what is the takeaway at the end?
What do you want to leave them with?
There was always something called an entry point.
It starts to sound academic, but it was very structured.
It was a very structured teaching artist training program.
We had the foremost teaching artists teaching the ensemble how to deliver our message.
We had Eric Booth, for instance.
He's kind of like the grandfather of teaching artistry.
When going into Rikers Island, we were always put in interesting ensembles.
Before Rikers Island, the first ensemble formation I was given, I was playing with a violinist,
a French horn player, and a cellist.
It was a very odd combination.
They did this purposefully.
They were like, you know what?
We're not going to give you ensembles where you can just pull out trout quintet or something
and then just play together.
We had to do a little bit of arrangement of music.
Find music that really then meant a lot for us to be able to bring out.
We even snuck in Adele as an opening with the bassoonist, for instance, for our school
outreach programs.
For the Rikers visit, I was actually in a Mozart piano quintet arrange formation.
Our theme was, how does Mozart create drama in music?
What makes music dramatic?
Our interactive components really, with being in a jail setting, you can't have people come
up and try to do things.
We did ask questions and got amazing answers.
You actually have knowledgeable audiences all over the place.
That experience of bringing something informative but not preachy, you never want to sound like
you're preaching to the audience at all.
It was something that we're all still learning, too.
It's a young group.
What's great is that after the two years of really intensive work, there's more of a natural
approach to it.
It's really how you merge it with your own personality.
It was challenging for me at times because I was like, oh my gosh, I have to figure out
this tight 50-minute script that could be suddenly chopped off by five minutes if suddenly
the school bell is about to ring or there's an emergency.
Making a really tight show, being very mindful about every single word we were saying because
we did not want to slip up and say something that wasn't PC, that would be terrible for
students to hear.
All of that was really nipped over.
Once you're out of the two years, you're like, wow, I should be able to talk to an audience
now and understand the flow of the performance because it's not that it always has to be
high energy.
We can get really deep and introspective with the music and have everyone follow along with
us.
It's such a powerful thing.
We are in such a powerful position as musicians.
We should have everyone in the palm of our hands and take them on a journey with us.
I always feel like this incredible weight and responsibility anytime I perform.
The interactive nature is incredibly important because it's not talking to, it's not playing
to.
It's like, let me invite you in into what I'm experiencing and this is what I'm listening
for.
Very simple things.
It's very cool.
Alex, can you give some examples of comments or interactions you've had with audience members
following these kinds of performances?
This happens a lot when they're living in a place that doesn't feel very safe.
If you're in a shelter or if you're in a jail, when you're performing the music for them,
it creates a safe environment for them.
This wasn't said to me, it was said to another one of my colleagues with another group, but
it was at Rikers Island and they said, this was the first time I've been able to close
my eyes and feel safe and feel comforted.
I know that happens in my performances too.
It just didn't come out that strongly.
I've gotten for another drug addiction recovery program, it's like, you mentioned you're going
to play Bach and I was like, oh God, this is going to be, ugh.
And then, whoa, he's like, wow, that was incredible.
That particular concert, what I did was it was a solo concert for a drug and addiction,
it was an addiction recovery program.
My final piece was the Bach, Busoni, Chaconne.
For those that may not be familiar with it, it's taking the same theme, the same motive
over 64 variations.
You hear the 64 times and by the end, it's transformed.
That's what I wanted to show the audience is that you can still be who you are, you
can have a lot of things happen to you during this time, at these developments.
You have big milestones in your life.
In the Bach, there's four moments where you really hear that theme very powerfully.
At the end, it's so empowered and triumphant.
I wanted to leave people in the eyes going, yeah, I can get through this 15-month program.
It's not all going to be rosy, but there are also sublime moments.
There are moments where I'm going to really know myself.
You have people who normally never even think about listening to classical music and they'll
come to you.
That's happened through my nonprofit where recovery program client came up to me.
I was presenting Jessica Meyer, who is an amazing teaching artist and violist and composer
in New York City.
I brought her all the way out here to Las Vegas.
I presented her in front of the addiction recovery clients.
She did a really cool looping pedal, her own solo show.
It was an hour and she told her stories of what inspired her.
It was a mandatory concert.
The next week, I went back into the rescue mission.
That's what it's called, the Las Vegas rescue mission.
I was playing piano during dinner time, scoping out what it would be like to bring people
in.
I suddenly see this guy just staring at me, just like he was eating his food and just
staring.
I'm just playing and he's sitting right in front of me.
I'm like, okay, this is getting a little bit unsettling because he doesn't look like the
most approachable friendly guy.
I was like, oh my God, let me just play through my piece.
Afterwards he comes up to me and he's like six, four.
He's not a small person at all.
He comes up and he's like, hi, I want to speak to you.
I was like, oh gosh, hi.
He goes, I was really pissed off.
Sorry, you can beat that.
I was like, I was really pissed off that I had to go to that viola show last week because
I work graveyard.
When they came knocking on my door to get up, that's like being woken up at three in
the morning to go to a show.
He's like, I was not happy with that, but oh my God, that was the best thing ever.
I got up now today to tell you that.
And also that I started listening to classical music.
I now listen to it every night as a part of my recovery.
So that floored me and Jeff, that's his name, he continued listening to classical music.
He graduated from the program.
And the most beautiful part is he ended up becoming head of security for the mission.
So he would introduce my high school students, well, notes with a purpose, say, I mean, he
would shut the room up.
He's like, y'all need to listen to the, I was like, this is an amazing group.
He felt the effects of what can happen if you open up yourself and find yourself on
this path with experiencing music.
And Jessica is such a wonderful musician.
So we really have her to thank.
That was the kind of experience I wanted to curate from my own playing and also what I
do, what I've been doing since that fellowship.
Yeah.
Well, you just gave me chills.
What a powerful experience.
Can you tell us how notes with a purpose got started?
When did you first get the idea to form your own organization?
Yeah.
So it has a little bit of a backstory before it was notes with a purpose.
It was actually the Las Vegas Wine and Music Festival.
So yeah, it is.
So I've had this idea for about 10 years in my head of pairing wine to classical music.
And it happened because I was drinking a glass of Chardonnay.
It was completely unintentional, but I was allowed to bring in a glass of Chardonnay
into this chamber music concert.
And they start playing the Dvorak American string quartet.
And it was one of those moments where I'm listening to the Dvorak.
It starts playing.
I'm tasting grassiness, this kind of grassy flavor.
I wasn't even a wine drinker.
I hated wine.
I just didn't have any experience with it.
But I could taste grass.
And paired with the opening, I was just like, oh, oh.
And I literally looked around me.
I was like, does anyone?
Is anyone else experiencing this?
Not everyone bought wine to take it.
And I literally went, holy beep.
Why isn't anyone doing this?
I was in the middle of Washington state.
It was wine country.
I was like, OK.
I don't even drink alcohol that much.
And I think this is an awesome idea.
So I just kind of shoved that to the back of my head.
And then eight years later, seven years later, I kind of run this idea by a sommelier, a
wine expert.
And they didn't laugh at it.
I was like, great.
And I started to think of ways to go back to do something in Las Vegas.
So I wasn't even planning on moving back to Las Vegas.
I just wanted to kind of put feelers out and orchestrate something.
And after the first year of Ensemble Connect or during the first year, I was starting to
become really motivated because one of our questions was that one of our exercises we
had to revisit time and time again was, what is your mission and vision statement?
No.
What is yours?
Not someone else's, but look inside yourself.
And mine always pointed back to Las Vegas.
It was like, I just want to connect back to Las Vegas, have this kind of high quality
experience that I get here in New York City and kind of transport that back to Las Vegas
somehow and do it in a cool way, in a Vegas way.
I'm a foodie.
I love food.
So bring the food in.
So it ended up being a three day chamber music festival.
I had 18 out of town musicians and six locals, including myself, even though I wasn't really
local, but it was amazing.
Like I had Carol Winsense, Frank Morelli, Alan Kay, Phil Setzer from Emerson String
Quartet.
It was kind of like my dream when they came walking down the hall for their first rehearsal.
I was like, I did it.
It was one of those like, ha.
And I actually have a SoundCloud from that festival.
If there's one track that you should listen to, it's the Appalachian Spring because it's
Carol Winsense on flute, Frank Morelli on bassoon, Alan Kay on clarinet.
And it's the dream team.
Yeah.
When Carol's telling the audience about her interactions with Aaron Copeland, you're like,
okay, okay.
And it was done Orpheus style, no conductor.
And it just was so tight.
It was one of those moments.
It was worth it.
Like this year of administrative pain is so worth it.
And it was really fun pairing wines to it.
I had food brought in too.
So after that was done, I collapsed for a month.
I just like said, I can't move or do anything else.
But I wanted to do more.
I said, okay, this is not it.
There are other ways to be involved with Vegas.
Again, I didn't want to perpetuate that thing that, oh, only ticketed people can come to
my wine and music concert.
So I was like, well, let's start a nonprofit.
And so that's when Notes with a Purpose came in.
I wanted to kind of combine music notes, potentially wine notes.
But make it more about music affecting people in a general sense.
None of my branding ever says it's a classical music chamber music festival.
It's just music.
It's music.
I've done different things with Notes with a Purpose.
So that was 2016 when I really launched it off.
And I was running two programs.
One was we called at the time Wednesday's Live at the Mission and was rebranded to Mission
Music Live.
And that was bringing myself and high school students into the Las Vegas Rescue Mission,
which is a homeless shelter, a food pantry, and it houses the addiction recovery program.
So I was bringing in high school kids to perform during the mealtimes where there were up to
400 meals served in one hour.
I made the kids talk into the microphone to introduce themselves and play.
I mean, it wasn't all quiet.
People are eating.
But some people who really wanted the music would sit closer to the piano.
There were also violinists, guitar players.
So the goal of that was to start planting seeds for young musicians to see how they
can give.
That music is not just for being juried on.
It's not all about being judged, but about, listen, your music can affect someone.
And also to burst their perspective and their bubble wide open.
Look at all these people who are hungry.
Like you're lucky.
We're lucky.
I always feel so damn lucky.
So it's like I wanted to influence humility in young musicians.
So that was Notes for the Purpose.
And the wine and music stuff suddenly became our gala type of event.
I would host it twice a year.
I did things like Mimosa's and Mozart, a brunch concert.
I did Reclassified, which was merging EDM with classical music.
And so those were ticketed events, but we would also try to raise money during those.
And that would go directly into our outreach programs.
This really stood out when I played at the dinner service at the mission.
A man came up to me and said, I had never seen a pianist play in front of me before.
I've never heard a live piano performance.
Like whoa.
I mean, talk about taking for granted what we do, right?
It's like, no, my mom stuck this in front of me at the age of two and a half.
So can't say the same thing, right?
And another person said, I have a request.
And I was like, oh my God, he's going to say something like Freebird or something like
that.
But he shyly said, I watch this on YouTube all the time.
And I was like, oh, please don't say, I don't know, like, Liss Transcendental etude or I
don't know.
I was like, don't do it.
But he was like, it's fantasy impromptu.
And I was like, yeah.
I was like, I can totally play that.
And so I dragged him.
I didn't have to drag him.
I was like, come on over to the piano.
And it was like, and the dinner service was done.
And so people were packing up.
So it was like a private, it was so meaningful.
I almost started choking up because I could hear him just like, can you imagine just listening
to something only available to you through the computer, you know, and someone's actually
able to play Chopin in front of you.
And like, we were both kind of choked up, you know, at the end, and he was kind of shy
about it.
And so he's like, okay, thank you.
You know, and later I played it again, but for the whole dinner service.
And he tagged notes with a purpose on Facebook saying, she played it for me again.
You know, and I was like, I know who that is.
I know who that is, you know, and it's just like, you know, people, we are, we get so
stuck in, gosh, like, we got to make sure we appease, you know, all of like the voices
in our head from our conservatory days, right?
Or you know, our mentors, it's like, oh, or he also knows you're like, okay, Chopin, I
know, kind of have a standard, right?
Like we have a standard we're trying to reach.
And that is the difficult, it's a complex conversation we all have with ourselves.
It's like, you know, it's not going to be enough for me just to play, you know, be really
sloppy and someone's like, oh, bravo, bravo.
You know, I don't want that.
You know, I want to really get the true essence of the piece, really deliver it sincerely
and with integrity, you know, and form that connection with the audience at the same time.
And it's hard to do, it's hard to administrate, it's hard to, you know, we all do it, all
these multiple hats we're trying to wear and also try to practice enough, you know, to
make sure we're doing a good job.
Of course.
Yeah.
And then Alex, thank you so much.
And I want to come back to this question.
Now I know you are also teaching a lot now after all this experience you have had, which
is quite unusual actually for artists, you know, not everybody really gets to have all
this experience.
How do you, I assume you also teach children, like how would you approach like what, what
do you tell them?
I really enjoy putting things into context immediately for the kids.
It's like why, what's up with dynamics, right?
Like why should you play soft?
I even experienced this myself when I went to one particular teacher and he's like, do
this hairpin crescendo in this Clementi sonatina.
Like that was like that Clementi sonatina was the bane of my existence.
I was like, this is so boring.
You know, like, like to me at that time, you know, I was just coming back to piano and
I'm like, okay, why the crescendo?
What's the big deal about it?
So you know, that stuck with me.
So whenever I'm speaking to my kids, it's like that crescendo, it's like, it's about
excitement, right?
Like where are you going to, you know, context, putting that context was incredibly important
for me then and now.
So my kids have an understanding of what the music is trying to say.
And you know, there are so many different kind of teaching techniques to do that, but
sometimes it's just a very simple, you know, what's the mood?
What do you think the mood is?
You know, okay.
I've been teaching a little kids kind of recently, so, you know, have to kind of have that bring
that energy.
That's essentially what I do.
I also teach some adult students as well, and the adult students actually really like
understanding the tools to manipulate the piano.
So there one is a lawyer, he doesn't, but he attends all the Philharmonic concerts.
He goes to all my concerts for him to realize, oh, that's the artist brush you use.
Oh, that's how you do it.
That's how you make something pop, right?
Like that's what voicing towards the top can do.
And then it's really funny.
It's like, oh, you know, like, you know, it's all push them aside.
It's like, let me teach, you know, and I'll demonstrate, you know, like what voicing can
really do, especially when he's just heard a concerto performance, you know, kind of
recently, it's like, well, this is how you, what happens when you don't voice the opening
of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, right?
It's just like slamming thick chords.
All right, voice that top.
And it's like, you have that silver lining.
And so giving context to what the adults are listening to, too, it informs them.
So their next experience, they can really appreciate more of the kind of tactical stuff
that we're all doing on the piano because no, you know, they're, and they enjoy trying
to work on it too.
So it's not all my students are going to be, you know, piano professional pianist.
And that's not my, that's not my goal.
My goal is to have them enjoy music, love music, and feel prepared to, if they ever
want to sit down with sheet music, that they're not overwhelmed, you know, and also know enough
harmony or theory just to understand like most of what you're listening to, you know,
nowadays, like you can figure this out, you know, yourself.
Yeah.
So I think it's great that you're giving them context, right, because otherwise, these
days, especially students are having a hard time connecting to music from 200 years ago.
Totally, right.
And then especially we are abundant with all sorts of music around.
And with the press of a button, you can listen to music of any choices of your favorites.
Right.
So can you tell us what are some challenges you encounter?
Some great things too, obviously, but when you are teaching, trying to relate to students,
the greatest challenge for me sometimes is under, it's just reminding myself, you know,
meet where the students at, you know, it's, you can see the potential of a student and
it can be frustrating at times when you're like, Oh, if only you just put in like the
time that you need, you can be freaking amazing, you know?
And so I dropped, I had to drop that really quick.
I was like, you know, the challenge today for any kind of teacher is time management
for, for kids.
I don't, did we have to go through that?
Like, it's just seems like homework is like overwhelming, you know, you have to now have
like 30 hours in a day to, for, you know, a kid needs to have 30 hours in a day just
to like get all the things that they need done.
So my challenge is, it's just, it's just really saying to myself, it's okay that they're not
practicing the hour and a half that you want them to practice, you know, make sure that
they're getting what, something meaningful out of, out of the lesson, you know, and I
definitely am giving them the specific amazing tools I got, you know, I had a very, very
serious upbringing.
So you know, does this kid need to know how to play the B flat major scale, you know,
you know, in doubles, triplets, and you know, quadruplets in a certain time, you know, that's
not the point.
It's teaching him discipline, right?
And managing expectations is, that's the fundamental answer.
It's managing expectations from the parent.
For me, you know, I have a mom who really is like, put her in a competition.
It's like, well, there was going to, you have to give certain amount of time if you're going
to do this.
And I feel lucky that I have enough of a presence and sort of a, an active concert career because
it's like, I know what I'm talking about.
You know, it gives, it gives a little bit of a, a little backing.
Yeah.
Let me just say after I played Totent Hans this past weekend and my kids came to it,
they're like, they went to the, the mom's like, see, if you're lucky to be with her,
I'm like, oh, thank you.
You know, it's like really nice to have those moments.
And I think it's important for teachers to do actually.
And you all are fantastic pianists, but I think every music teacher should give an opportunity
for, for students to hear them.
I love Eric, how you would play on your student recitals.
You'd give them something to, to aspire to, you know, it's like, okay, this is, this is
why I'm practicing, you know, it's, it's not fair to give the kids scales when you can't
play scales, you know?
Yeah.
It's like, oh, sorry for anybody who was just listening.
I just did a big oops.
I suck at scales.
Yeah.
That's, yeah.
That was a big part of my upbringing.
So continuing that tradition.
Tradition you've kept.
I mean, everything you've told us, it's really been very moving because there's a lot of
artists out there who are content to just kind of follow the playbook, not to take anything
away from them, you know, but it's clear with you that from the beginning you were different
because you really wanted to connect.
One thing we didn't mention is when you're playing in a homeless shelter and somebody
is standing right next to your piano, right?
That is an experience you can't have in a concert hall.
Where does that come from?
You know, what, what, what suited you for this life from the earliest ages?
Right.
Because that was always a part of you.
Yeah.
It is a matter of understanding who's standing in the same room as you or sitting in the
same room.
I'm a good listener.
So I have a lot of empathy and sympathy.
So I think that's a very important component to what I do.
Like what makes a good teaching artist?
It's not about me, you know, and also getting to the reason why we're all there.
You know, I'm not going to force Beethoven on anyone, you know, who is not ready to listen
to.
I mean, there's a way to prepare things.
Yeah.
My mom used to put me in front of a lot of different audiences.
I was, I owe my mom so much.
Of course we all do, our parents a lot, but you know, my mom would take me to this annual
like new year's Eve party run by really wonderful people in this town.
But there, I, I was, gosh, the youngest person there was like 60 years old and they were
also on the other side of the political party, you know?
And so I learned very early on that we can all get along.
You know, I learned how to get along with people very early on.
Like I was nine or 10, you know, and in listening to their stories and, you know, when it was
time for me to play, it, it just was about connecting with people in the room who were
far older than me and look very different from me.
But that was like an early experience of mine that was very important.
It was just trying to be on the same level with the audience.
We're not some angelic, like amazing deity that comes, plants ourselves in from the concert
stage, even though it's really sweet when people are like, oh, you're so amazing.
I'm like, okay, chill out.
It's okay.
You know, like we're all human.
And so I think when you can relate to the audience, it's, it's very important.
And I was able to give her a teaching, have a teaching moment with my mom, which is really
cool because I said to her, you know, mom, I'm supremely lucky to have you as my mom.
Like I was born to a mom who didn't use drugs or drink.
Had you been doing that and abusing that I would be, I would have that addiction, right?
I you know, I, I have a mom who worked really hard and gave me all the amazing things that
she gave me.
You know, that person there didn't have that, that chance.
And so I'm just sharing that.
And so what that did was it lowered her fear level with, you know, just like a random homeless
person.
She I'm like, mom, they're not going to come in, like take your purse away or something.
Like they're just as, you know, frightened of everything else as you are there in a very
vulnerable position.
And so I only got to learn that from experiencing life around different populations.
That's really important too is under saying I could so have easily surrounded myself with
just classical musicians.
I I'm very, I've been very introspective and retrospective these days, you know, reflective
these days.
It's like, Oh, what if I went this way to this conservatory or what if I did that?
Because who doesn't have a little bit of envy?
Like look, like I could sew down what she's been doing.
Only my practice six more hours a day.
We all have that.
And so I was like, no, this is, this is the path that we're all it's the path that we're
supposed to be on.
It is okay to not be okay.
It is okay to also, you know, to be where we're at, you know, and it's just looking
forward.
What's our next step?
So thanks Alex.
Yeah, many thoughts about that, but unfortunately we have to move on.
So one last question before rapid fire and that's what do you see are some of the challenges
for the current generation of young musicians coming up and what's your advice for them?
I don't see as many challenges as I see opportunities.
Wow.
Because there are so many things that are available to musicians now, like you can edit your whole
own music video.
How fricking cool is that?
Like I was like, why don't I mean Anderson and Rowe epic?
Like I was like, why doesn't every artist have their own amazing music video like that?
Right.
But what's so what inspires me from the younger generation and what's probably like what,
you know, older musicians or people kind of poop about it.
Oh, what's this tick tock thing?
I'm like, I see so much creativity, you know, the kind of editing that's done, the kind
of fast pacedness.
I mean, yeah, it's a little ADD ish, you know what I mean?
But you know, you think that is only catered to those people, but I enjoy it.
I enjoy seeing really creative ways that young people are bringing, you know, to to what
they do.
You know, suddenly everything is interesting.
It's like eating a bowl of cereal can certainly be interesting if you cut and edit the right
way.
Right.
It's like, how did this happen?
There are challenges, of course, like if you're growing up in a typical conservatory, like
type training.
Yeah, I was just telling my boyfriend who's not a musician how fortunate it feels to play
with an orchestra like, oh, my God, like, no, I'm not like you, John, who gets to like,
you know, tort, right?
You know, none of us, you know, it's like, it's just you, John, who gets in long, long,
who have like, they're hogging all the gigs.
No.
But you know, that opportunity to play like a real standard piece of repertoire, right,
with an orchestra, like, what, what an honor and a privilege.
So if someone is being groomed only to do that, they're in trouble, because that doesn't
happen often.
I mean, like, you know, and I'm certainly not the best pianist and like, you know, this
state, but I got chosen to play it, right.
It's like, so then that's like about your connections and all of that, all these other
things.
So the challenge is just making sure if you are killing it with your technique, and you're
playing, just look outside the box, you know, and vice versa.
You know, like, if you're not practicing your skills, practice your scale.
So you know, you don't have to worry about them when you have to play it and everything's
up of scales, just play your skills, you know, so.
Did you hear that Eric?
Yeah, I was going to say.
Yeah, I was looking right at you.
Got homework, Eric.
Yeah.
Okay, right after this, I'm getting heading back to piano and practicing my skills.
It's how I cram so well, actually.
Yeah, I have no doubt.
I have like the like, thank God my teacher was like practice this, this, this, this,
you know, if you practice like the combination of scales, arpeggios, octaves, broken octaves,
you know, the only thing I really didn't practice was double thirds.
So I freaking hate them.
But you know, luckily we don't encounter them too often.
Yeah, boo to double thirds.
So practice them.
If you're young, start practicing them now.
But yeah, no, it's learning music for me, especially because I contextualize things
immediately.
It's like I don't play them play slow drills from the get go.
It's like, what does this sound like?
How do I want to phrase this?
Boom, you know, and then I plug in all the pieces.
All right.
Not going to be bad Eric, like big takeaway practice.
I will, I promise.
No, it's very funny because all my students are playing a lot of scales right now.
So if any of them ever hear this, they're just going to laugh their way to the bank.
Okay, so we got to wrap up.
Sorry to have to end our time already, but it's on to rapid fire.
So short answers only please.
First thing that comes to mind.
Are you ready?
Yes.
Number one, what is your favorite comfort food?
Oh, it is either fried chicken or I just had mac and cheese.
That was very comforting.
Okay.
Both good choices.
I think I know the answer to this one, but cats or dogs and dogs.
What are your words to live by?
Oh, this is not a rapid fire.
Oh my gosh.
I'm on the spot now.
Um, be kind.
There you go.
And what is most important quality you look for in people?
Um, sincerity.
Excellent.
And what is your least favorite quality in people that you try to avoid?
Um, greed.
Greed.
Yeah.
I mean, you can have more than one.
Oh, I have a whole list.
I was just kidding.
Um, name three people who inspired you living or death.
Definitely my mom, whether I wanted it to or not, it's good.
Um, my, uh, Ms. G Erna Galabian was my, um, primary music piano teacher, um, based off
California.
And, uh, I have, but I have so many mentors.
Like I, that's part of what does it right now.
My boyfriend's doing a good job.
He's wonderful.
So shout out to Eric.
Which historic figure or composer do you want to learn or take lessons from EP or she or
a life?
I'm almost afraid to say this because I know someone whose grandmother studied with Clara
Schumann and she was right here.
She's right here.
It is strict, man.
Like I read a letter from her and it literally said, uh, I was really disappointed in the
way you played in the lesson last week, you know, and I was like, Oh, burn.
But Clara seems like an amazing.
Yeah.
Person.
She is.
That's why I changed my name to hers.
Oh yeah.
Always behind me.
Which historic figure or composer do you want to hang out with at the bar?
If he or she or alive?
Um, probably Brahms, a younger Brahms.
So you get the lesson from Clara and then you'll go hang out with Brahms.
Yeah, yeah, totally.
I mean, he wasn't taken, right?
So just like, just move on over.
All right.
My turn.
Sing one piece in your current playlist.
It's been the Christian Zimmerman recording of Totentons.
Uh, but, Oh, you guys should check this out.
Um, there's a newly signed Yamaha artist, Black Bok, B-L-K-B-O-K.
He fuses, um, hip hop with classical.
And he's on Instagram as that.
And so I just met him and I've been totally stalking his stuff and it's so fun.
So fun.
Wow.
Right.
Yeah.
I have to check it up.
Check him up.
So next question, name a book title you're currently reading.
Um, what did I, it's, it's all very depressing.
Like one is on trauma.
I don't remember the full name of it.
It's a, it's, it's a really wonderful book.
I'll send it to you if you guys post it.
It's really well regarded.
Right.
So you get only one song or piece to listen to for the rest of your life.
What is it?
I have the same answer as your other guests.
I'd rather listen to nothing.
Cause that's, it's hard to pick.
I know.
Um, yeah.
I mean, I, I would say that the Revelle, um, slow movement of his G major concerto,
it's quite nice.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Um, but I don't know if I want to listen to that on loop for the rest of my life.
Yeah.
Okay.
So here's the last question.
Fill in the blank.
Music is blank.
For everyone.
Wonderful.
Wonderful answer.
Thank you.
Great answer.
All right.
So that concludes this episode of the piano pod.
Oh, thank you, Alex, for joining us today and sharing your insights and expertise.
Thank you to our audience for tuning in.
You can find more information on all of Dr. Lee's musical activities at alexandrialee.com
and more about her nonprofit organization at notes with a purpose.org.
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We will see you for the next episode of piano pod.
Bye everybody.
Bye everyone.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Bye.
Thank you so much.