April 16, 2013
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Jeffrey Agrell is a teacher, performer (horn), writer, composer, and improviser of contemporary classical music. His books, Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians and Improv Games for One Player are published by GIA Music. His day job for the past decade has been teaching horn at the University of Iowa. His first career was as a professional symphony musician during a rather lengthy visit to Switzerland. He has scratched a long-time creative itch over the years with over one hundred published articles, a horn blog, and several dozen published compositions (many recorded on CDs by various performers). He is a mostly former guitarist (folk, classical, jazz), but still has a closet full of guitars (some for sale) as well as an enthusiastic if mostly amateur percussionist. Jeffrey Agrell’s horn blog is Horn Insights and his web site is the University of Iowa Horn Studio Web Site.
Evan Mazunik is a composer/performer raised on the prairies of Iowa and rooted in Queens, NY. Fluent in Soundpainting, a sign language for live composition, Mazunik is composer/director of ZAHA, his experimental chamber ensemble. His compositions include commissions for jazz band, chorus, theater, dance, and film, and his work was featured in a documentary for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Mazunik has performed with Anthony Braxton, Walter Thompson, Carla Bley, Robin Eubanks, Danielson, and Sufjan Stevens, and has played at creative music venues such as Roulette, The Stone, Barbes, and Galapagos. He received a Bachelors degree in piano performance and a Masters in jazz studies from the University of Iowa and has taught improvisation at the University of Indiana and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
November 29, 2012
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Glenn Kurtz is the author of Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music (Knopf, 2007; Vintage Books, 2008), which the New York Times called “a thoughtful and fluid meditation” and Newsday hailed as “the book of a lifetime.” Practicing has been featured on NPR’s “Weekend Edition” with Scott Simon, “To the Best of our Knowledge,” and numerous other NPR programs. An Italian edition appeared in 2010. Glenn’s essays and reviews have been published in the New York Times, Southwest Review, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere.
He is also the host of “Conversations on Practice,” a discussion series about the writing process and the writer’s life, held at McNally-Jackson Bookstore in New York City. Guests have included Jennifer Egan, Patti Smith, Arthur Golden, Francine Prose, Daniel Mendelssohn, and many others. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music-Tufts University Double Degree Program, he holds a Ph.D. in German studies and comparative literature from Stanford University and has taught at San Francisco State University, California College of the Arts, and Stanford University. He is currently on the writing faculty of New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. His website is www.glennkurtz.com.
The music on this podcast is “Tracing a wheel on water” (2003) composed by Kevin Siegfried and performed by Aaron Larget-Caplan. A recording of this piece is available on Aaron Larget Caplan’s CD “Tracing a Wheel on Water”.
You can hear Glenn and Aaron doing a reading and recital together! More details at www.GBHConcerts.com.
October 28, 2012
Alexis Del Palazzo is an Andover Educator trainee, active performer and devoted teacher residing in Central Pennsylvania. She is an ardent advocate of new music and creating performance opportunities in the local community. In early 2012, she premiered Peter Amsel’s Museum Triptych for solo flute at Moonstone Arts Center in Philadelphia, PA. At the community level, she is a board member and resident artist of the Wednesday Club of Harrisburg, PA.
Alexis teaches many private flute students and has taught at Corning Community College. Her passion for teaching and outreach has led to her work being published in Flute Talk magazine. She has presented workshops on teaching and practicing with extended techniques for the Rochester Flute Association and the Southeast Pennsylvania Flute Fest. Most recently, Alexis presented her workshop on Holistic Practice at the National Flute Association’s Convention in Las Vegas, NV.
She holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree in flute performance with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma-Norman where she studied with Dr. Valerie Watts. Other inspirations include Christine Moulton, Keith Underwood and Patricia George.
Twitter @sensibleflutist
Facebook facebook.com/sensibleflutist
Website: sensibleflutist.com
July 14, 2012
Erica Ann Sipes, pianist and cellist, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music. She has also studied piano collaboration and accompanying with Jean Barr at the Eastman School and with Anne Epperson at the Music Academy of the West.
Ms. Sipes currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia with her husband and baritone, Tadd Sipes. She is also an adjunct
faculty member at Radford University. In the summer of 2012 she officially launched her own business as a practice coach, offering coachings, workshops, planning sessions, and practice boot-camps for anyone that could use some help with practicing. Much of her time is spent accompanying young musicians, playing chamber music with friends and colleagues in the community, and accompanying her husband. She is also a prominent blogger, writing frequently about her views on performing, learning music, and the classical music world in general. Her blog, “Beyond the Notes” can be found at http://ericaannsipes.blogspot.com.
August 25, 2011
Stephen Nachmanovitch performs and teaches internationally as an improvisational violinist, and at the intersections of music, dance, theater, and multimedia arts. He is the author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (Penguin, 1990). Born in 1950, he studied at Harvard and the University of California, where he earned a Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness for an exploration of William Blake. His mentor was the anthropologist and philosopher Gregory Bateson. He has taught and lectured widely in the United States and abroad on creativity and the spiritual underpinnings of art. In the 1970’s he was a pioneer in free improvisation on violin, viola and electric violin. He has presented master classes and workshops at many conservatories and universities, and has had numerous appearances on radio, television, and at music and theater festivals. He has collaborated with other artists in media including music, dance, theater, and film, and has developed programs melding art, music, literature, and computer technology. He has published articles in a variety of fields since 1966, and has created computer software including The World Music Menu and Visual Music Tone Painter. He lives with his wife and two sons in Charlottesville, Virginia.
He is currently performing, recording, teaching, writing, and obsessed with the improvisational possibilities of the viola d’amore and the tenor violin.
He can be found online at Free Play Productions.
April 27, 2011
Emily Wright has played and taught professionally for nearly two decades. She has toured the US and UK extensively, and most recently completed teaching workshops in the southern states, making stops in Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and Miami. She battled pain and various injuries due to over practicing and what she calls “lousy technique” in her formative years. Eventually, she would overhaul her technique, find a competent orthopedist, explore Eastern medicine, and now incorporates everything she’s learned into her teaching. Her book, A Modern Cellist’s Manual, is designed to help advancing cellists avoid debilitating injuries while steadily building discipline, solid technique, and a positive approach. Her website, emilywright.net, is a resource for musicians of all levels. From there, you can read her blog, check out Q and A, and contact her.
April 6, 2011
Patrick Smith has written & performed his music with oDD CamP, The Solaris Guitar Trio, FingerPaint, and as a soloist. His works for dance have been performed in New York, Richmond, Philadelphia, and at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC. His blog “A Journeyman’s Way Home” can be found here, and his album “Scattered Hearts” can be purchased here.
July 3, 2010
Nancy Byl is a physical therapist who cares for patients in the physical therapy clinic at UCSF Medical Center and administrative director of the Peter Ostwald Health Program for Performing Artists. She has a special clinical interest in repetitive strain injury, chronic pain and focal hand dystonia as well as the neurological rehabilitation of patients with integrative balance disorders and those recovering from stroke. She is involved in research related to neuroplasticity, specifically strategies for sensorimotor retraining to decrease pain, improve fine motor control and maximize general function.
Featured music is Variations on a Tune of Stephen Foster: #5 by Richard Winslow, copyright 2002 by Azica Records, as performed by guitarist David Leisner post-recovery from focal dystonia.
June 30, 2010
Robert Rickover teaches the Alexander Technique in Lincoln, Nebraska and Toronto, Canada, working with individual students and with groups. He graduated from the School of Alexander Studies in London, England in 1981 where he also served on the faculty. He studied for over fifteen years with master Alexander teacher Marjorie Barstow and frequently assisted her in teaching her Alexander Technique workshops in Lincoln, Nebraska. Robert began a private teaching practice in Toronto, Canada in 1981 and maintains a dual practice since moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1990. He holds degrees in physics and economics from Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Robert is a teaching member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT), the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) and Alexander Technique International (ATI). He is the creator of The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique and is the co-host of Alexander Talk. He is the Director of Alexander Technique Workshops – Bring a Workshop to Your Area and Movement Coaching by Phone and is on the faculty of the Annual High School Solo Singer Workshop at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
The featured music on this podcast is Quicksand, which is on the new release “Takeoff” by Legends of the Potomac. Many thanks to member Darren Beachley for this track!
May 31, 2010
Jamie Ridler MA CPCC is a professional certified coach and an expert in creative living. Through one-on-one coaching, workshops and online resources, she helps creative independent spirits align their lives with their deepest truths. Her background in the arts includes dance, theatre and the expressive arts and infuses her coaching at every turn. Her popular website, Jamie Ridler Studios (http://www.openthedoor.ca), is home to a variety of online events ranging from weekly wishing (http://www.jamieridlerstudios.ca/wishcasting) to Full Moon Dreamboards (http://www.jamieridlerstudios.ca/full-moon-dreamboards). She also hosts a weekly podcast, Creative Living with Jamie (http://www.creativelivingwithjamie.ca), on which Diana has had the honor of appearing, and is about to launch a free-form dance party in her hometown, Toronto. At the heart of all of Jamie’s work lies a commitment to helping people bring their creativity to life!
Links:
website: http://www.jamieridlerstudios.ca
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/starshyne
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jamieridlerstudios
