The Power of Music Thinking

Musical Mind Hacking with Jeena Earthiva

Today we are in Mumbai. We talk with Jeena Earthiva. Jeena is a Transformational Coach, a Producer with a master’s in Computer Science, an ex-Bollywood singer, the Founder of Conscious Music Code, and a ‘Mind DJ’.

Jeena conveys her story of a successful Bollywood singer who lost her voice at the top of her singing career and how she found and developed the ‘Conscious Music Code’ that helped her get back on track and start a new career as ‘Mind DJ’.

We talk about the broad field of music between India and the West, and analogies between music and business. And the Koan of her mentor Dr Daisaku Ikeda, which became her life motto: “Transforming the life state of humankind”. And, ta-daa, – this is a first – Jeena is singing live in this episode a Bengali folk song mixed with a Persian poem.

And be also prepared for a 6-minute musical mind hack exercise at the end of the recording that Jeena is performing for us. So, lean back and enjoy; if you are listening in from your car, we suggest you take a break or do the exercise at another moment.

Show Notes

• Connect with jeena via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeenaearthiva/ 
• Website: https://jeenaearthiva.com/
• All other links and Social Media in one place: https://linktr.ee/jeenaearthiva 

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3. Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards.

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Sound Strategies and how things go together with Michael Spencer

• Why can elements from music be applied for the benefit of communities or companies?
• How do you effectively use music and music thinking as a tool? 
• What does Beethoven's 9th and Japanese woodwork have in common?

We are in the in-between space, between music and business, education and performance, listening and understanding, and London and Tokyo. 

So, today we talk with Michael Spencer. Michael is the founder of Sound Strategies Ltd, TEDx speaker, Visiting Professor at Ueno Gakuen University (Tokyo), and the Communication Director of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.

He was Head of education at the Royal Opera House in London and, as a member of the London Symphony Orchestra, worked with Leonard Bernstein, Deep Purple and on the Star Wars soundtracks with composer John Williams.

Michael gives us a deep dive into why music functions and shares the elements and learnings he used, for example, in the townships in South Africa and his work with companies like Unilever, BASF, IHG (Intercontinental Hotels Group), Daikin, and Fujitsu.

So, we talk about making better connections and how musical systems, timing, and structure help us to understand how things go together. And that music comes from the fact that it is some co-created system for creating relationships.

There is a lot to learn today - not only about music, but also about business and society - so let’s get into it.

Show Notes

1. Sound Business Tokyo: 
   https://www.soundstrategiestokyo.com/ 
2. Sound Business London:
   https://www.sound-strategies.co.uk/about
3. Japanese woodwork: 
   https://japanobjects.com/features/japanese-joinery 
4. Beethoven 9th Symphony - with 10000 Japanese Choir
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wzXZRd087I 
5. Michael Spencer at TEDxWWF:
   https://vimeo.com/61710533?share=copy

Please consider the 3 ways to support the show!

1. Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show!
2. Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com 
3. Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards.

 

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Leading an Orchestra of Leaders with Harvey Seifter - Part 1 - Music Thinking

This episode is about art, innovation and leadership. 

What is the relationship between art-based learning, innovation and co-creation? How do you lead an ensemble of leaders? And why do people often use the metaphor of a conductor when discussing leadership? Or, is a conductor actually just a middle manager?

So, today we are in New York and talking with Harvey Seifter. Harvey is the founder of The Art of Science Learning, a US National Science Foundation-funded initiative that uses the arts to spark innovation in science, technology, engineering and education.
And Harvey is also a classically trained musician and formerly served as Executive Director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. The only orchestra in the world that rehearses and performs without a conductor. 

Harvey shares with us insights on giving directions as a ‘decision maker of last resort’ - as he calls it -   stimulating co-creation and what this means for the innovative power of the organisation. 

Well, you can say we have learnings here for any organisation.

By the way: we recorded this episode via Zoom when Harvey returned just a few days from his Ted talk in Madrid; before the talk, he lost his voice and finally did the TED talk without repetition. 

To spare his voice and energy, we stopped the recording at a certain point and agreed to have a second conversation in the very near future.

So listen to Part One with Harvey Seifter and how you lead an orchestra of leaders.

Show Notes

• Connect with Harvey via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hseifter/ 
• Orpheus Chamber Orchestra: https://open.spotify.com/artist/35pZsti1RSA5Zv98jAm8kX?si=FIjGn4yeTPKzZvD46PTdVA
• Art of Science Learning: https://www.artofsciencelearning.org/

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There is more about Music Thinking: a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes.

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Support us

Tell your friends about musicthinking.com and consider buying the book and/or the Jam Cards.

 

Listening to the Field - Special Episode

This is a special episode about listening in the field and some activities I did last month. 

Hear more about a short field recording in the middle of the most dangerous roundabout in the Netherlands, about the visit to my birth town in the South of Germany, where I have recorded the Turmbläser, which are performing a sonic ritual since 400 years high above the belfry on all four balconies every Sunday. 

And I also share some news, development, and info about the Listening Day at the Design Academy in Eindhoven.

 

Special thanks to the Turmbläser for allowing us to listen high above the belfry and Cordula and Onkl Hanzl for all the info.

 

Show notes 

• Info about Möckmühl / Germany: https://www.moeckmuehl.de/startseite
• Kaiser Karel Plein, Nijmegen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uguJjfFFuo
• Conducting Design with Raf De Keninck / Design Academy Eindhoven: https://musicthinking.com/conducting-design-with-raf-de-keninck/ 

Like this show?

Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps!
I appreciate your support; it helps the show!

There is more about Music Thinking: a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes.

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Support us

Tell your friends about musicthinking.com and consider buying the The Power of Music Thinking or the Jam Cards.

 

Sound pictures with Charles Brooks

Today we touch base on the intersection between music and photography, and that in many different ways. 

My guest today is Charles Brooks, an exceptionable photographer and  musician, that for the last 20 years has been New Zealand’s most successful orchestral cellist. Charles held principal positions in Australia, China, Chile and Brazil, with concerts worldwide. 

He also gives us insights in the organisation and culture of professional symphony orchestras and shares personal stories about the life of an orchestra musician that played with Lang Lang and for celebrities like Tony Blair and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While his music career took him around the globe at an early age, photography was always there. Charles refined his photographic craft of making musician portraits, astrophotography and landscapes until National Geographic took notice in 2011. 

In the pandemic, he prototyped and developed a spectacular new way of photographing the inside of a variety of musical instruments, literally opening up a new space and visual world that give insights in the craft of the most formidable luthiers and instrument makers. 

And these got picked up worldwide by magazines like The Telegraph, classic fm, Domus, France Musique, Daily Mail, and just recently Die Zeit in Germany. 

Please find a selection of the photographs on the episode page of the music thinking website:
https://musicthinking.com/sound-pictures-with-charles-brooks-photography

Now, sit back, relax and be prepared for a long episode on all things creative.

You will also have a chance to navigate through the different chapters, give it a try and let us know how this works.

Show notes 

• Connect with Charles via LinkedIn:
  https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-brooks-a9773a30/
• Charles Brooks Photography:
  https://www.charlesbrooks.info/ 
• The software Charles is using for focal compression / focus stacking:
  https://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-focus/
• Lloyd Webber Theme and Variations:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1lpCszsOMU 
• Disturbed's version of The Sound of Silence:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7RVw3I8eg 
• Highlights from Thais, the last opera Charles performed with the Sao Paulo Symphony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QlGfCzPZN0 
• First realisation of a Zaha Hadid Architecture: Fire Station
  https://www.vitra.com/en-ca/about-vitra/campus/architecture/architecture-fire-station

Like this show?

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I appreciate your support; it helps the show!

There is more about Music Thinking: a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Do you like books?  Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking

 

How Music Speaks with Ben Pelzer

Today we are in Singapore; we talk with Benjamin Pelzer, Assistant Professor of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. 

Ben is trained in Music Theory and Psychology. He works as an assistant professor and scientist with expertise in the methods of cognitive neuroscience, machine learning, computational social science, and empirical psychology.

And Ben is teaching a one-of-its-kind course in the world of research on music as a sort of socio-cultural phenomenon and is using techniques from the field of communication and applying them to the field of music.

Our Conversation

We talk about how music and sounds can drive a particular scene of a film in two opposite ways, using a positive or negative valence soundtrack. And that music is almost uniquely powerful in its deeply emotional impact and ability to evoke complex or more profound, lasting emotions.

Ben shares with us that there are some universal features of music, like low tones are connected with sinister or aggressive emotions that are part of the evolution when big animals were a severe threat. 

A little survey

And he conveys insights from a little survey he did with the multicultural students of his music course for The Power of Music Thinking podcast about how they listen to music in the context of Asia. 

In his music course, Ben also reflects with his students questions like If you were alive 1000 years ago, what role would music have played in your life? And the realisation that for people outside of wealth and royalty, it would be folk instruments or just the human voice. 

Ben shares with us some strategies of music; for example, if you use happy lyrics with happy music, you get less happiness than if you have happy lyrics with neutral music. 

 

Good to know

For some themes we talk about, I have put links in the show notes, and if you have a look at them, please consider subscribing, make a comment and give us a rating. This will help a lot to get the show going.

We had some connection issues, so please excuse the little dropouts near the end.

 

Show notes 

• Connect with Ben Pelzer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-pelzer/
• More about Olivier Messiaen and his Turangalîla-Symphonie : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r4eeMZBInY
• And the Ondes Martenot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp4mBmsV6Xk later also used extensively by Radiohead.
• Mentioned episode: Glenn McDonald (Spotify) and his Every noise at once website
• Mentioned episode: Steve Keller (audio alchemist) and his research on Sonic Discrimination

Like this show?

Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps!
I appreciate your support; it helps the show!

 

There is more about Music Thinking: a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Do you like books?  Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking

 

 

World-building and empathic storytelling with Eelko Lommers

What are the links between daily work for a multinational company, an omnichannel fantasy story and playing in a band?

My guest today is Eelko Lommers, Global Director Product Experience Design at IKEA, creator, designer, writer of a (not yet published) novel and a musician in a post-hardcore band.

We talk about empathy with clients, personality in a brand context and global operations that need adaptations in different markets. And that a lot of a country's culture is directly related to its original music. 

We discuss the endless loop of listening, tuning, playing and performing, how stories change while we tell them to the world, and how the audience plays an active role.

Eelko shares with us the strategy of promoting his band with a limited budget and how this relates to a global design strategy because every data has a context of delivery for the right moment and audience under the right circumstances.

And he conveys with us some details about the novel he just finished writing, a fantasy story about magical places in Germany and mythological creatures that live in a parallel world. As an extension of the book, he plans a whole ecosystem of multichannel media like locative art, TikTok videos and a 3D omni verse. Every chapter has an emotion, including colour and a song that connects with the essence of the chapter.  

He explains this world-building and how he uses generative AI to build his characters to brief and guide an illustrator to make the final design.  

So technology, content, storytelling and design are not separate activities but an integral part of the total product experience and customer satisfaction. True satisfaction and customer delight happen when all of it comes together to create experiences that solve people's needs in a way worthy of praise, remembrance and advocacy.

 

Show notes 

• Connect with Eelko via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eelkolommers/ 
• Phoenix’ Ashes on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bPfZO3cREmap4Z4Mpnb39?si=LqNvRT_mRYmU6pCItmtwSA 
• The String Theory article mentioned in the talk:
  https://www.theinteractivist.com/home/2022/9/21/the-two-strings-theory
• Idoru by William Gibson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idoru
• Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle 

 

More about Music Thinking: a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Do you like books?  Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking

Please subscribe to the podcast and listen to the latest episode

 

Like this show? Please leave us a review — even one sentence helps!
Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Thank you for your support; it helps the show!

A Sound Life with Dr Jen Palladino

From the wild Punk scene in New York and London of the 70s to a sound healing practice in Los Angeles, my guest today is Jennifer Palladino, also called Dr Jen, a Doctor of Chiropractic, the Regional Director of the You Rock Foundation and a holistic health facilitator connecting mind, body and spirit with Chiropractic Sound Therapy.  

Her musical experiences span from being a young performer wrangler at the American Ballet Theatre while Mikhail Baryshnikov was Artistic Director, to working in the music industry and a mastering studio in New York to the legendary Marquee Club in London, where she made friends with members of the Punk and New Wave scene.  

We talk about a rich life in music from the impact of the Beatles, the power of Punk, and an orchestra of instruments that she uses in her sound healing practice. 

Jennifer shares with us some music hacks, like how different frequencies resonate with our body, which contains 75% of water, and how she uses tuning forks with slightly different frequencies to produce binaural sounds in a sound bathing session. 

And she explains the full moon performances she is doing as “The Sound Healers” on the Hollywood cemetery, where Rudolfo Valentino and Judy Garland rest.  

Show notes 

• Connect with Dr. Jen via website: https://rocknhealthylifestyles.com/ 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083204122839
• Music Hacks for Mental Health: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1255859064818851
• Dr. Jen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rock_n_healthy_lifestyles/ 

 

More about Music Thinking: a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Do you like books?  Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking

Please subscribe to the podcast and listen to the latest episode

 

Like this show? Please leave us a review — even one sentence helps!
Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Thank you for your support; it helps the show!

 

What Music taught me about political journalism with Matt K Lewis

What has political journalism to do with music? Well, quite a lot.
My guest today is Matt K Lewis from West Virginia, a political columnist for the daily beast, former CNN contributor, TV commentator for MSNBC’s morning show, a podcaster on Matt Lewis and the News (pun intended) and musician.

Matt shares with us that he started his career, or better, the foundation of his later career, in the basement rehearsing with his band. Years later, when already a political journalist, he reflected on his music years and wrote an essay about the lessons he learned from playing in bands and how they helped him to understand his work in political journalism today.

We talk about his musical upbringing, country music, steel and slide guitars. And make many analogies between music and journalism.

Here are the five lessons from his article that he explains in the show:

1. Having an audience of “followers” is vital.

2. Music, like TV commentary, involves performing.

3. Playing music (and being a political commentator) isn’t nearly as glamorous as people think.

4. Not every song (or blog post or column) is a hit.

5. Collaboration is key.

 

Show notes

• Connect with Matt on Twitter: @mattklewis 
• Matt Lewis & the News Podcast: https://www.mattklewis.com/
• Matt’s article: https://dailycaller.com/2016/11/22/what-music-taught-me-about-political-journalism/

 

There is more about Music Thinking:
a book, a blog and many more podcast episodes

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Do you like books?  Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking

Please subscribe to the podcast and listen to the latest episode

Like this show? Please leave us a review -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

 

Thank you for your support; it helps the show!

 

Healthcare, Sound Healing and Mantras Rasa Priya

Rasa Priya in conversation with Christof Zürn.

Rasa Priya describes the concept and advantages of sound healing, especially the vibrations behind the chanting of mantras, which are essential in his teaching of vocal empowerment, like the word 'Om' that, besides the sound, also has a healing effect on our facial muscles, creating possibilities of experiences.

Rasa also introduces us to the work of the Japanese water photographer Masaru Emoto who visualises different styles of music but also words like hate, love, and guilt with his water crystals. 

And he explains to us how everybody can be a drummer and get involved in right and left brain stimulation to nurture creative thinking and break the moulds of our limitations. 

Show notes

• Connect with Rasa via his website:
  mauisoundhealing.com
• Watch his YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjNWWjtk6iLdCLrarEeD9hw
• Info about Masaru Emoto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDW9Lqj8hmc
• Info about Gregg Braden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUVt650GdEI 

Worth knowing

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