Making Noise Podcast Adam Kennaugh

“For harp, textbooks all talk about the range, they talk about the pedals, they talk about glissandos and some extended techniques. Most of the unplayable music I get has nothing to do with any of that.”

As a new music harpist, Danielle Kuntz is dedicated to bringing new music to life. Danielle believes that the longevity of the classical music industry relies on living composers. She has focused her career on connecting these composers with new audiences by commissioning them and performing their music. Danielle also works to make the harp a more accessible instrument for composers through lectures, workshops, and individual instruction. She is also the harpist and Marketing Director of the Midwest-based new music ensemble The_____Experiment. Danielle holds degrees from the University of North Texas and is currently based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Danielle and I have gotten to know each other quite well in the last few months. We have had several lengthy conversations. almost entirely through video calls, including this one on the podcast. One thing I have learned about Danielle is that she is very excited about connecting new music with pretty much anyone; whether that is through collaborating with a composer on a new piece or coaching them through writing for the harp, performing music, and interacting with audiences, even her social media presence is incredibly inviting. Be sure to follow her for great tips on writing for the harp!

We talk a lot about what it means for Danielle to create and promote new music, as well as the virtual workshop she founded called Toolbox Sessions, which is a series of presentations by collaborative performers on how to effectively write for their instruments - which takes place May 19-21, 2022. We also talk about expanding the accessibility of new music to wider audiences, and so much more on episode 29 of the Making Noise Podcast.

I hope you enjoy it!

---

Follow Danielle's work: daniellekuntz.com

Follow her on the socials: IG/FB @daniellekuntzharp and Twitter @daniellekharp

Toolbox Sessions website: Toolboxessions.com

Follow the Toolbox socials: IG/Twitter @toolboxsessions and FB @composertoolboxsessions

---

Watch the podcast on YouTube

Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartradio, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.

“...I wrote that script, I recorded it, and I was like, ‘this is what I’m going to do. This is how I’m going to promote my career. This is how I’m going to further my career and this is how I’m going to do it the way I want to do it.”

Stephen Trygar is a historical musicologist, podcaster, writer, producer, and voice actor engaged in revitalizing the music of the past and making it more accessible for modern audiences. His journey to understanding the music of our past has led him to being an advocate for new music, creating podcasts that explores the musical world and sheds light on the world’s cultures: The Composer Chronicles and Cultured, But… Not Really. Stephen’s approach to writing follows a similar path, aiming to uncover hidden parts of our musical world that has been lost to history or swept under the rug.

Recently I was a guest on Stephen’s podcast, The Composer Chronicles. The conversation was so enjoyable that we kept it going for another hour and a half even after we stopped recording. To me, it felt like we had a great rapport. The dynamic was strong and we both genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. That is why I am so excited to have Stephen on the podcast. He was at odds with the typical career trajectory of a musicologist: becoming a professor. So he created his own path. His perspective and approach to musicology is the perfect example of what it looks like to forge a career in classical music. 

We talk a lot about what the role of musicologist is today, as well as his podcast, how bread helped shape our language, the issues with censorship, Tchaikovsky and the phenomenal biography written by his brother, our frustration with operas being performed in the language it wasn’t written in, and so much more on episode 28 of the Making Noise Podcast.

I hope you enjoy it!

---

Follow Stephen's work: alexandrianmedia.org

Follow him on the socials: @stephenjtrygar

Listen to our conversation on The Composer Chronicles https://alexandrianmedia.org/2022/02/16/ep-79-adam-kennaugh/

The Life and Letters of Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky by Modeste Tchaikovsky
Amazon
Free eBook

---
Watch the podcast on YouTube

Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartradio, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.

"We've got 8 billion people in the world. Which means there is 8 billion ways to be a person. And everybody that is alive is literally their own universe; their own beautiful universe of experience and perspective, with an incredibly colorful story."

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, is a classical composer, citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. His Washington Post review states that “Tate is rare as an American Indian composer of classical music. Rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.”

Tate is Guest Composer/Conductor/Pianist for San Francisco Symphony Currents program Thunder Song: American Indian Musical Cultures and was recently Guest Composer for Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar program Home with ETHEL and Friends, featuring his commissioned work Pisachi (Reveal) for String Quartet.

Recent commissions include Shell Shaker: A Chickasaw Opera for Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra, Ghost of the White Deer, Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra for Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Hózhó (Navajo Strong) and Ithánali (I Know) for White Snake Opera Company. His music was recently featured on the HBO series Westworld.

Jerod is the type of person who has a deep and intimate understanding of the craft and the business of being a musician. It felt as though every other sentence was a masterclass on becoming the person you know you can be. He exuberates absolute positivity with an optimistic perspective toward progress. This perspective is constant throughout our conversation, peppered inside of fascinating stories about his mother, a choreographer who commissioned Jerod’s first piece; his father, a judge in tribal and American law; as well as advice on finding your superpowers as an individual, accepting the ups and downs of being a composer, the language of the Chickasaw tribe, and so much more on episode 27 of the Making Noise Podcast.

I hope you enjoy it!

---

Follow Jerod's work: jerodtate.com

Check out his YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/JerodTateVideos

Follow him on the socials: Facebook: facebook.com/jerodtate Instagram/Twitter: @Jerodtate

---

Watch the podcast on YouTube

Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartradio, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.

"Part of it is always the same: we want to package this up in an interesting way and bring people in who are hearing this music for the first time, or say, 'Wow, I didn't know there were so many composers out there. That's amazing!'"

Seth Boustead is a composer, broadcaster, writer, concert producer, in-demand speaker, and visionary with the goal of revolutionizing how and where classical music is performed and how it is perceived by the general public.

As the founder and Executive Director of Access Contemporary Music, Seth has created unique programs like Songs About Buildings and Moods, the Sound of Silent Film Festival, the Thirsty Ears Festival, a chain of storefront music schools, and dozens of concerts in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and Mexico City.

Seth is the host and creator of the award-winning podcast Relevant Tones and the Concept Lab series in Manhattan. More at sethboustead.com

I have been wanting to have Seth on the podcast for some time now. As a composer, pianist, and founder of Access Contemporary Music, he has established and created so many outlets and opportunities for new music in Chicago and NYC. I personally got to experience the Thirsty Ears Festival, which on one of the nights had a scaled-down version of the Sound of Silent Film Festival. The experience was so incredibly inviting, which felt more like a backyard family bbq than a performance in a concert hall. He is currently running a Concept Lab in NYC, which is a series that solely features works in progress, allowing deep collaboration between performers and composers. We talk about all of this, as well as mission statements, making a press kit, universal basic income, and so much more in episode 26 of the Making Noise Podcast.

I hope you enjoy it!

------
Follow Seth's work: sethboustead.com

Access Contemporary Music: www.acmusic.org

Relevant Tones Podcast: www.relevanttones.com

-----
Watch the podcast on YouTube

Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartradio, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.

"One of the messages that I hope will come out of our talk is that people try to have more of an open mind, not make assumptions and be kind to one another."

Through her various roles as a teaching artist, performer, composer and activist, Beata Moon has been able to fulfill her wish to work with people of all ages and backgrounds. A graduate of the Juilliard school, Moon's extensive experience as a teaching artist for Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Education and the New York Philharmonic includes facilitating workshops about social-emotional learning for teachers and administrators and designing curriculum tailored for students of diverse backgrounds and abilities. She has facilitated conversations about race and restorative justice and believes in the power of music and the arts to heal and work towards social change. She recently became certified as a Climate Reality Leader trained by former US Vice President Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project. http://www.beatamoon.com

The headline in NPR was titled "For a musician in New York City, not being fully vaccinated comes at a cost". After reading the article, I was very concerned. Here is someone who really wanted to be fully vaccinated - yet experienced adverse effects - and is now being called an anti-vaxxer with the potential to lose work. She has done so much for the community as a composer, performer, teacher, and advocate, yet when blinders are on, people only hear the word "unvaccinated" and cast her aside. The very community she has helped to foster is in some ways pushing her out.

The inability to communicate openly and honestly about things we disagree on has been concerning me for several years now. I immediately reached out to Beata Moon to see if she would have this conversation on my podcast. Given how charged this topic is, we hope that anyone who listens is able to walk away from this conversation feeling informed and a little more welcoming to those with different perspectives or beliefs. It is such an honor to have Beata Moon on episode 25 of the Making Noise Podcast.

I hope you enjoy it!
-----------
Follow Beata's work: http://beatamoon.com/

Center for Humane Technology www.humanetech.com

ZdoggMD www.youtube.com/c/ZDoggMD/videos

Dr. Vinay Prasad www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew/videos

Dr. John Campbell www.youtube.com/c/Campbellteaching/videos

To help with identifying feelings www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/feelingssensations.pdf

Box Breathing: https://health.clevelandclinic.org

Jane Goodall https://shop.janegoodall.org

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777
-----------
Watch the podcast on YouTube

Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartradio, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.

“It was 2003, and I came to NYC with Greg Cornelius who is a saxophonist and composer at Bowling Green. And he and I were driving in his Dodge Caravan and I think we were listening to Music for 18 Musicians, and it was raining, and I remember seeing the city lights of New York, and just being overwhelmed with this idea that I need to be here.”

Erin Rogers is a saxophonist and composer based in New York City. She is co-artistic director and core member of thingNY, Popebama, New Thread Quartet and Hypercube. Her music has been performed at the Prototype, Ecstatic, and MATA Festivals (NYC), Celebrity Series (Boston), Edmonton Fringe Festival, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City), and NYmusikk Bergen (Norway). Rogers is a member of LA super-group WildUp, and performs with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, and Wet Ink. She is a D’Addario Woodwinds Performing Artist and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Teaching Artist. Rogers can be heard on New Focus Recordings, New World Records, Edition Wandelweiser, Gold Bolus, Love Records, INNOVA, New Amsterdam, and Relative Pitch labels. www.erinmrogers.com

I have known Erin for a few years now. Specifically, before leaving New Jersey and heading to Bowling Green, OH to start my graduate work, I saw her saxophone quartet, New Thread Quartet, perform at a church in Jersey City, NJ. After the performance, I introduced myself. We ended up on the topic of me going to grad school and it turned out she is a BGSU alum! What little I knew about Bowling Green, and here I am in NJ meeting someone who went through the program and is doing such awesome work!

I’ve been a fan ever since. Erin is so incredibly hard-working, juggling a varied and wide-ranging freelancing career as a composer and performer in NYC. Recently, she released a solo album titled 2,000 miles, which you can purchase on Bandcamp. Our discussion center almost entirely on the making of 2,000 miles, topics like her improvisational/compositional process, the recording process, traveling from NYC to her hometown in Alberta, Canada, the artistic solutions that grew out of being quarantined, and so much more on episode 24 of the Making Noise Podcast.

I hope you enjoy it!
---
Follow Erin’s Work: www.erinmrogers.com

Erin’s album on Bandcamp: 2,000 Miles

Check out some awesome up-coming performances of Erin’s (NYC):Dec 2 - Marilyn Shrude 75th Birthday Celebration // New Thread Quartet, Lost Dog, Momenta QuartetDec 11 - Works by Popebama + Rick BurkhardtDec 15 - Hypercube: Works by New York Women ComposersDec 17 - Kathy Supové premieres Constancy // Bargemusic: Here & Now Winter Festival Day 2

---
Watch the podcast on YouTube

Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartradio, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.