Teaching Mind and Body

Episode 13: Violinist Marieke DeBruijn

Marieke DeBruijn is a Dutch violinist and is the leader and founder of the Dutch String Collective, an active performing organization that does concert series and theater type productions. In this interview, We got a chance to talk about culture, language, technique, her practice regimen and preferred technique exercises, the ups and downs of performing in some of the top orchestras of Northern Europe including the Amsterdamn Concertgebouw, as well as her journey to finding her own career path, and her perspective as a woman in a male dominated field.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2501282/fan_mail/new]

Episode 12: Jesus Florido part 2

In part 2 we talk about more people in Jesus's life who helped shape his career, including his friendships with legendary violinists like Jean luc Ponty, Mark O’Connor, and the great jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. we touch upon his practice routine, and some of his innovative ideas on teaching violin. We also talk about The sharing of culture without the appropriation He talks about the inspirational story of his recovery from what many doctors considered to be an inoperable brain tumor and the new lease on life he got after his recovery. I am grateful for my friendship with Jesus and also that I can share this informative conversation we had. I hope you enjoy it and are inpspired as much as I was from it.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2501282/fan_mail/new]

Episode 11: Jesus Florido part 1

Happy 2026! In this episode I interview Grammy award winning and Latin Grammy nominated Venezualan violinist, Jesus Florido. We talk about his formative years, his training in the legendary  musical education program "El Sistema" of which he was a foundinging member and we also discuss his legendary teachers Margaret Pardee, Dorothy Delay, Larry Shapiro, and Joeseph Gingold and he shares  their insights. Since the interview was over 2 hours long i have split it into 2 parts. This is part 1.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2501282/fan_mail/new]

Episode 10 : April Choi on the Tightrope

In this episode, we welcome back April Choi to talk about the skill of tightrope/ and slack line. She holds a Guinness book of world’s records for the most whip cracks while standing on a slack line. I found myself comparing violin playing metaphorically to walking a tightrope, but then realizing that understanding the issues of physics and balance involved in that might be very beneficial for string playing,   Turns out, there are a surprising number of things we can learn from this skill that relate to string playing. From balancing and counter balancing to issues regarding the physics of string tension and how one compensates for that. Her background in engineering as well as string playing makes her uniquely qualified to talk about that. I discuss the take aways that apply directly to string playing after the interview.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2501282/fan_mail/new]

Episode 9: Dr. Jan Svennevig, professor of Linguistics.

In this episode I interview Dr. Jan Svennevig who is a professor of linguistics and a prolific researcher and publisher of numerous papers and articles on various aspects of communication. He has taught at the university of Oslo and  his current post is the University of Agder.  He has also been a guest lecturer at Stanford University. We talk about the nuances of communication, the cues that others give us as to their comprehension and receipt of information, as well as cultural aspects of language. We also discuss some of the research that has come out of his linguistics lab over the years. I believe that analyzing language in this way is not only helpful in communication but also because music follows similar language elements and structures, it helps us to  understand musical phrasingl, flow and emphasis.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2501282/fan_mail/new]