This is a podcast about teaching, but it’s also about neuroscience, psychology and body movement as it relates to how music is taught and played. One of the many goals is to provide food for thought; to challenge current thinking, to expand horizons for furthering our understanding of how we acquire and conceptualize music. We have sought to bring a wide range of diverse perspectives from extraordinary professionals and legendary musicians from around the world. Many of whom I have personally gained enormous amounts of insight from over the years. Our goal is to provide teachers, musicians and students access to information, musical knowledge and wisdom that they might not normally have. Please join us on our exploration of better music education.
In this 2nd part of my interview with Dave Eggar, we concentrate on the philosophical and ideological side of performance. WE discuss how perfectionism and being competitive takes us away from the real goals and joys of music making. He talks about how we can move away from perfectionism and get back to the joys of music making by creating mutiple goals for our performances. We talk about the contextual nature of technique for various genres of music and how we should strive for e...
29 Jul 2026
Season 2, Ep. 1: Dave Eggar, Cellist
To kick off season 2, I am interviewing 7 time grammy award nominated cellist Dave Eggar. He has been heard by millions people around the world, in recordings and on stage, on Good Morning America, and even at the pre-game show in the superbowl. He is the musician behind the cello playing in the iconic song "Viva La Vida" by the band Cold Play. He is also a significant musical figure, not only in the classical arena, but also in pop, rock, hip hop and beyond. This interview was original...
30 Jun 2026
Episode 15: Conductor Kenneth Woods part 2
This is part 2 of my interview with conductor Kenneth Woods. if you haven’t listened to part one you might want to go back and listen to it first. Partly because this part starts rather abruptly and it is continuing things from the previous part. In this part we talk about how playing electric guitar and for me playing electric bass was beneficial to both of our growth as musicians. We address the concept of groove, and how we can bring it to the classical world. We talk about the...
27 May 2026
Episode 14: Conductor Kenneth Woods
Our guest today is highly respected conductor, composer, and cellist Kenneth Woods. Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “a symphonic conductor of stature”, American conductor Kenneth Woods was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra in 2013, and has quickly built up an acclaimed body of work with them.He has recorded with the BBC National orchestra of Wales, the BBC Scottish symphony, He was principal guest conductor of the Orchestra of The Swa...
30 Mar 2026
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 pat...
1 Mar 2026
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 a...
30 Jan 2026
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...
23 Dec 2025
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 ski...
1 Dec 2025
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 as...
22 Oct 2025
Episode 8: April Choi
In this episode, we talk to Nasa aerospace engineer, world famous Whip artist and mutliple Guiness world record holder April Choi. We discuss her motivations, her career, her learning methods, and her feelings about being a performer as well as her records. It's a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an extraordinary human being, who I am fortunate to also consider my friend. Send us Fan Mail
24 Sept 2025
Episode 7: Dr. Frida Forsgren
Today's guest is associate professor of Art History Dr. Frida Forsgren at The University of Agder in Kristiansand Norway. She is a notable art history scholar, author of books and has numerous published articles on the subject. She teaches a course in the Beat era (1946-1963). We discuss it's impact on the arts, from the perspective of historical context, motivations, and cultural attitudes of the times. The Beat era represented a cultural renaissance and an interdisciplinary approach that pr...
8 Sept 2025
episode 6: interview with Derek Reeves
In this episode, we speak with violist Derek Reeves He is currently principal violist of the Fort Wayne symphony in Fort Wayne Indiana and teaches at The Purdue University Fort Wayne School of Music as well as serving as viola faculty at the Brevard Music Center summer institute and music festival. We talk about about his musical journey and his exposure to many world class teachers as well as Synesthesia, his exploration of other musical genres, his transition from violin to viola, his...
27 Aug 2025
Episode 5: interview with Dr. Laurie Barron
In this episode, I interview Dr. Laurie Barron. She is an award winning super intendant of the Evergreen School District, in Kalispell Montana. She is a former English teacher, former middle school principal, an author, a motivational speaker and a consultant for school districts around the country. She has extensive knowledge of the application of psychological and educational models in education. I met her when she presented at our school district at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school ye...
10 Aug 2025
Episode 4: Interview with Shmuel Ashkenasi
In this episode, I talk with one of my former violin teachers, Shmuel Ashkenasi. Throughout his career he distinguished himself as an extraordinary soloist and during his time in the Vermeer Quartet as one of the greatest chamber musicians of our time. Given all his advancements in technique and musical ideas, I believe him to be one of the most important violinists of our time. He was a graduate of The Curtis Institute and now currently teaches there. In this interview, we discuss his former...
10 Aug 2025
Teaching Mind and Body: August 9th 2025 progress so far
Just wanted to say thanks for all the support in helping make this podcast a great success, fill the listeners in on the progress so far and wanted to say a little about the upcoming episodes. Send us Fan Mail
28 Jul 2025
Episode 3: Roberto Diaz
In this episode we talk with world renowned violist, and Grammy Award winner, Roberto Diaz. We discuss his musical education, his music career as a soloist, a teacher and principal violist in the Philadelphia orchestra, he also shares his insights as president and CEO of The Curtis Institute, as well as the student experience there. We discuss his acquisition of the William Primrose viola, his philosophy of practicing, music preparation, and performance considerations and more. More informati...
14 Jul 2025
episode 2: the importance of sharing information
Kristian Svennevig is joined by long time friend and colleague Dr. Sara Wandrei Langmead to discuss her backgroud and philosophy of education and why it's important to provide everyone access to information. touching on topics like why it's important to understand issues of balance and technique and why drawing on other disciplines is better for teaching. Send us Fan Mail
13 Jul 2025
Teaching Mind and Body Episode 1: What is this podcast all about?
Host, Kristian Svennevig, a graduate of The University of Wisconsin, Madison, draws upon the wealth of knowledge gained from 30 + years of classroom teaching as an Orchestra teacher and more than 47 years as a violinist. He also brings the education gained from study with many world renowned violinists and musicians. In addition, his significant background in neuroscience and psychology and lifelong interest in science provides a unique perspective on teaching. This episode introd...
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