86: Musical Meditation: Rejection

Self-Coaching Questions

1. What does crying look like for you? What helps you feel emotional release?
2. What truths do you know that you can use to coach yourself into a more positive mindset? Write them down on post its and put them somewhere you can see them daily.

3. What sounds fun to create right now? Don’t over think it. Find something where you get to make your own creative decisions, even small ones. Do it.

More about today’s performer, Martha Goldstein:

The American harpsichordist and pianist, Martha Goldstein (born: Martha Svendsen), was trained at the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School and studied with Audrey Plitt, Eliza Woods, James Friskin and Mieczysław Munz.

Martha Goldstein gave concerts in the USA, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. She performed works by George Frideric Handel, Frédéric Chopin, Georg Philipp Telemann, Franz Liszt, Ferruccio Busoni, J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, and others. She taught at the Peabody Conservatory for 20 years and at the Cornish College of the Arts. She also performed as a guest artist with the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet, wind quintet-in-residence at the University of Washington School of Music since 1968.

Many of Martha Goldstein's recordings were first released on LP by Pandora Records, which was founded in 1973 and active for more than ten years. The company went out of business with the advent of the CD. The entire archive of recordings is now available for download without restriction and can be found at many download sites. Often her recordings reflect historically informed performance, employing original period instruments and tunings.

Commercial recordings: "The Italian Harpsichord" (Pandora Records PAN-101); "J.S. Bach: Flute sonatas. Complete and Authentic Works from the Neue Bach Gesellschaft", Alex Murray (Baroque flute); Martha Goldstein (harpsichord) (Pandora Records PAN-104, 1974); "F. Chopin: Études, Op. 10; Études, Op. 25" (Pandora Records PAN-107); "J.S. Bach: Flute Sonatas. Incomplete and Controversial Sonatas", Alex Murray (Baroque flute); Martha Goldstein (harpsichord) (Pandora Records PAN-105); "J.S. Bach / Martha Goldstein - The Sound of the Keyboard Lute" (Pandora Records PAN-111); "J. Brahms: Waltzes" (Pandora Records PAN-119, 1987); "J.S. Bach: Music for Solo Traverso, Vol. I", Alex Murray (Baroque flute); Martha Goldstein (harpsichord) (Pandora Records PC-176).

84: Musical Meditation: The Show Must Go On + An Exercise

Today's musical meditation features a powerful exercise for putting down your heavy load. Sometimes the show mustn't go on: here's to normalizing this for artists looking for more joy. The music in today's episode features Brooklyn Classical performing works of Ravel and Delibes. Learn more about the artists here. Our theme song is by Angela Sheik.

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83: Creative Lies--The Show Must Go On

Today’s creative lie is the ever popular "the show must go on" mentality. Merideth explores how this way of thinking is not always beneficial or artist-centered. She'll offer a practical exercise for checking in with yourself to help you put down all the baggage that is not yours to carry and love yourself through everything that is wrong.

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82: Musical Meditation: Toxic Teachers

Self-Coaching Questions: 

  1. What obstacles are in the way of you finding a therapist? If you are in therapy, consider how that relationship is serving you and what you might bring to your therapist or counselor next.

  2. What matters most to you? How are the things that matter being given the attention or consideration they are longing for?

  3. Whose critique are you allowing to permeate through the hedge of protection?

  4. Who can you reach out to today that could share in your creative recovery journey? Take a moment after this meditation to send a text or direct message to an artist friend.

Today’s music features:

Nicholas Daniel OBE has long been acknowledged as one of the world’s great oboists and is one of Britain’s best known musicians. He has significantly enlarged the repertoire for his instrument with the commissioning of hundreds of new works.

Nicholas dedicates his life to music in many varied ways. He records and broadcasts widely, including regular recordings on the Harmonia Mundi Label, and he boasts a huge following internationally on social media. He is proud to support and patronise many important initiatives, charities and trusts, and has directed several music festivals and concert series, most notably in Germany and Dartington, and has been Music Director of the Leicester International Music Festival and lunchtime series for many years. He is highly sought after as a teacher, being Professor at the Trossingen Musikhochschule in Germany.

Following his BBC Proms conducting debut in 2004, he works with many fine ensembles in wide-ranging repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary, and from small groups to opera. He is Music Director of Triorca, an orchestral project which brings together talented young musicians from Serbia, Germany and the UK. In recognition of his achievements, he was honoured in 2012 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the prestigious Queen’s Medal for Music and cited as having made “an outstanding contribution to the musical life of the nation”. In October 2020 he was awarded an OBE.

Having sung as in the choir of Salisbury Cathedral as a boy, Nicholas was put directly into the spotlight at the age of 18 when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. After a short period of study at London’s Royal Academy of Music, with Janet Craxton and Celia Nicklin and then privately with clarinettist Anthony Pay and with Hans Keller, he quickly established his career with early debuts at the BBC Proms and on disc.

He has been a concerto soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors,

performing a huge range of repertoire from Bach to Xenakis and beyond, premiering works written for him by composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Henri Dutilleux, James MacMillan, Thea Musgrave, John Tavener and Michael Tippett, as well as encouraging many younger composers to write for the oboe. His recording of concertos by Vaughan Williams and MacMillan was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award in 2016.

As chamber musician Nicholas is a founder member of the award-winning Britten Sinfonia, the Haffner Wind Ensemble and the Britten Oboe Quartet, whose debut disc was released to great acclaim on the Harmonia Mundi label in 2017. He also works regularly with the pianists Huw Watkins and Julius Drake, and with many leading string quartets including the Carducci, Doric and Vogler. He is principal oboist of Camerata Pacifica, California’s leading chamber music ensemble, and is a popular guest at music festivals all over the world. Read more and listen to Nick here:

78: Musical Meditation: Creative Pep Talk

Self-Coaching Questions:

  1. What action do you need to take this week to find more confidence?

  2. Who can you invite into your process by sharing your experience and vulnerably opening up about your creative life? What might you be missing when you are not letting yourself be fully known?

  3. Look back at a work of art you made that you are really proud of: was there a coda, or a place towards the end where all the strings were tied up together, that may have just appeared out of nowhere? Study your previous process with curiosity not judgment, and notice what magic, synchronicities, or little graces that were offered to you as you worked.

Today’s music is “I. Allegro non troppo” from Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 performed by the Czech National Symphony. Read more about them here.

76: Musical Meditation: Who do you create for?

Self-Coaching Questions:

  1. Who are some of “the ones” you have created for in the past? Bring names and faces to mind of those who have shared how much your creative work impacted them. Spend time being grateful for each of them. 

  2. Now flip it— think of someone you have been “the one” for. Remember the first time you heard the Nutcracker or encountered a work of art that truly changed everything. What if that artist had given up right before they hit send or said yes? Spend some time being grateful for those artists and those moments in your creative life. 

  3. Jonathan Jones said “…art’s story is not a trajectory of ascent, but more of a looping spiral, constantly retracing its steps.” If this is the case, look at your current artistic practice and consider the overlap you share with artists of other times and places. What styles have you learned, borrowed, rediscovered, or made your own? How else are you connected to artists throughout time? 

This (and last) week’s music featured Marnie Laird on piano, performing Debussy, Beethoven, and Brahms, as well as a Menuet from a Bach Cello Suite arranged by Cicely Parnas performed by her with Patrick Laird and Christine Lamprea for Brooklyn Classical.  Our theme song is by Angela Sheik. All recordings used with permission.

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74: Musical Meditation: The Artist's Oath

Reflection Questions:

1. What are some of the challenges that you face in your creative life? How is your current lens serving you?

2. How do want to show up to your creative life? Make a list of adjectives for how you’d like to be. 

3. What do you believe to be true about creativity, and how is it springing you forward or holding you back

Dover Quartet

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73: Shifting the Lens--The Artist's Oath

Have you ever considered the code of conduct that’s in play in your creative life? Have you ever taken the time to name and claim the ways you want to be with yourself as you go about your creative life? Merideth shares a story of a coaching client’s breakthrough that was contagious. Plus, learn more about how you can join like-minded artists in community to craft an Artist’s Oath of your own.

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72: Musical Meditation: Your Inner Artist Child

Reflection questions:

  1. What are 5 things you love about yourself as a child?

  2. What stories does your inner child believe about your creative life? (e.g. “I can’t draw” or “if I do that, I’ll fail.”)

  3. What would you say if you could have a conversation with your younger self? What advice would you give them? What might your inner child being saying to you today?

This episode features Bach’s Prelude in G Major for Three Cellos, arranged by Cicely Parnas performed by Cicely Parnas, Patrick Laird, and Christine Lamprea, “Vedro con Mio Diletto” from Antonio Vivaldi's 's opera Il Giustino arranged and performed live by Cicely Parnas, cello, with Marnie Laird, piano, and Debussy’s Bruyères all presented by Brooklyn Classical. All recordings used with permission. Learn more and listen online to Brooklyn Classical here.

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71: Reparenting Your Inner Artist Child

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The Inner Child is an artist. Merideth shares some truths she is learning about parenting and how it speaks deeply to that internal struggle toward healing and acceptance of our own inner artist child.

  1. How can you open the lines of communication with your inner artist and treat them with respect?

  2. What boundaries does your inner artist need to feel safe?

  3. How can you surround yourself with items that your inner artist resonates with and loves?

  4. Art begets art—what do you need to get started? 

  5. Are you a safe place for your inner artist child to return home to?

Brooklyn Duo

Ukrainian Girl Sings

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70: Meet an Artist Who: Is Who He Is

This week Merideth interviews someone who makes her inner artist child jump for joy. Pianist Emile Pandolfi's music has been streamed half a billion times across all platforms. His humor, authenticity, and joy radiate through this talk about everything from how to stop judging yourself, to his new book, "Play it Like you Mean it." Available now!

More about Emile:

Emile Pandolfi is a professional pianist and entertainer with over 40 years of performance experience. One of the top-selling pianists in the music industry, he has recorded and released over 30 albums, including one with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic). Since his first release in 1991, Emile has sold over 4.5 million copies nationally and reached more than 750 million collective streams online. Throughout his career, Emile has performed hundreds of concerts with thousands of fans in attendance, including performances at St. Mark’s Square in Venice, the Catherine Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Liverpool Cathedral, and Sydney Opera House in Australia. While intricate arrangements of Broadway and pop standards make up the majority of his performance repertoire, his influences remain more classical than pop. It is his subjective layering of classical style, which he infuses into the broad palette of his performance selections, that continues to resonate with audiences everywhere.

Although serious about his playing, Emile is never serious about himself and believes that every moment at the piano should be one of joy. While his audience is treated to a brilliant musical performance, they are also entertained by Emile’s charming, light-hearted sense of humor and outgoing personality. From his early performances on cruise ships, in piano lounges, and in the recording studio to his current solo performance career in concert halls, Emile has used his music to create an intimate and powerful emotional connection for those listening.

Today, Emile continues to write original songs and arrangements for his fans to stream. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with his wife Judy. Learn more at www.emilepandolfi.com.

69: Musical Meditation: Creative Wounds

Reflection Questions:

  1. Who is it safe to remove my bandages with?

  2. Healing takes a lot of energy. What can I say no to or cut back on that would allow me to conserve time and energy for my own healing?

  3. As new soft tissue forms, gently rubbing along a scar can help improve circulation and healing. As your creative wound is healing, what can you do to encourage that process?

  4. When you are triggered by something, what wound is asking for your attention?

Find a therapist

Emile Pandolfi is a professional pianist and entertainer with over 40 years of performance experience. One of the top-selling pianists in the music industry, he has recorded and released over 30 albums, including one with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic). Since his first release in 1991, Emile has sold over 4.5 million copies nationally and reached more than 750 million collective streams online. Throughout his career, Emile has performed hundreds of concerts with thousands of fans in attendance, including performances at St. Mark’s Square in Venice, the Catherine Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Liverpool Cathedral, and Sydney Opera House in Australia. While intricate arrangements of Broadway and pop standards make up the majority of his performance repertoire, his influences remain more classical than pop. It is his subjective layering of classical style, which he infuses into the broad palette of his performance selections, that continues to resonate with audiences everywhere.

Although serious about his playing, Emile is never serious about himself and believes that every moment at the piano should be one of joy. While his audience is treated to a brilliant musical performance, they are also entertained by Emile’s charming, light-hearted sense of humor and outgoing personality. From his early performances on cruise ships, in piano lounges, and in the recording studio to his current solo performance career in concert halls, Emile has used his music to create an intimate and powerful emotional connection for those listening.

Today, Emile continues to write original songs and arrangements for his fans to stream. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with his wife Judy. Learn more at www.emilepandolfi.com.

68: Creative Wounds

This week on the podcast: creative wounds—the tender spots where we have been hurt or disappointed creatively and how we can heal them. Merideth shares some insights she garnered from her own journey with wound care. A brave creative life can leave a mark, but we aren’t alone in our pursuit of healing and wholeness.

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67: Musical Meditation: Give Yourself Permission

As you listen and reflect this week, consider:

1. What obstacles stand in the way between you and creative permission?

2. What sounds fun at this moment? Try to make a list of as many things as you can that sound like fun to you, even if they are impossible for now. 

3. Finally, I compared the creative impulse in this episode to an underground river. Consider what action you can take to "break ground" or reestablish connection with that flow. No action towards creative recovery is too small.

This podcast featured the first movement of W.A. Mozart’s Sonata No 11 in A Major, K. 331 performed by Marnie Laird at the piano. 

More about Marnie: 

Canadian pianist Marnie Laird, praised as "…a technically immaculate, probing and authoritative protagonist" (The Miami Herald), enjoys an active career as a collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and soloist. Prior to founding Brooklyn Duo and Brooklyn Classical, Marnie spent three years as principal pianist of the New World Symphony in Miami under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. In high demand as a pianist in New York City, she worked with several opera companies, including the Gotham Chamber Opera, and was also on staff as a collaborative pianist at The Juilliard School after graduating. Recent performances have taken her to Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, SubCulture, and Joe's Pub.

Originally from Vancouver, BC, Marnie has been the recipient of numerous Canadian awards, including top prizes from the Canadian Music Competitions, Canadian Music Teachers' Association, and the BC Arts Council. Most notably she was awarded the Gold Medal for the highest mark in Canada on the A.R.C.T. piano performance exams. She made her solo orchestral debut at age 13 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and has participated in the Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall, and Banff summer festivals.

Marnie received her Master’s degree in collaborative piano from The Juilliard School, where she was the recipient of a full scholarship as well as the Orchestral Piano Fellowship. She also has a Master’s in solo piano performance from The University of British Columbia. Her principal teachers include Lorraine Ambrose, Robin Wood, Jane Coop, Jonathan Feldman, and Margo Garrett.

Learn more and hear Brooklyn Duo here.