Arete Podcast #18: Why Music Matters with Dr. Peter Zisa

[00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Arete Podcast. I'm joined today by a very, very special friend of mine, Dr. Peter Zisa. Classical, is it appropriate to call you a concert guitarist? It is. I do quite a bit of concerts.

[00:00:57] Classical and I know that you play jazz as well, and I'm sure I'm ery of other styles. But you'll have to forgive my basic passing knowledge of music. I've got what would you say? I've got high school level band. That's training. So that's about the extent of it.

[00:01:19] So I'll probably ask some clarifying questions, but he was kind enough to join me tonight and tell you about why music matters. So without further ado, I present to you Dr. Peter Zisa

[00:01:32] and before we get into it, this podcast is brought to you by one weekend at Horaland and revival, book one of the Unveiled Book series. We will talk more about those later, but I will give the floor to you, Peter,

[00:01:44] to let everyone know who you are and what your story is. I'll try not to talk too long here. It's kind of what we do, so talk as long as you like.

[00:01:57] Okay. Well, I'm going to take the path of how I got started in music in the first place. So like many people who become musicians, you have to have a beginning and it's a curious thing

[00:02:13] to me to learn how people begin their path in any endeavor in particular, of course, music. For me, my father was a non-musion. He didn't play a musical instrument, but he loved music. I was surrounded by a lot of jazz and that style of music was something

[00:02:37] that I was very fond of at one point, and I can remember vividly in the car he said, son, what would you like to play? Would you like to play a musical instrument? And I said, yeah, that sounds like a nice idea.

[00:02:56] Well, what kind of instrument would you like to play? I thought about it a moment. I said, the violin and he said, why? Well, when I hear the violin, he just holds a note forever. It's just beautiful melody. So after that, I didn't hear anything.

[00:03:18] And then one day, my dad and my mother went to a friend's house and we came home with $10 per minute guitar. So I asked for a violin and I got a guitar. I asked for an instrument that can hold a note forever,

[00:03:37] and I got one that can hold a note for about three seconds. And I wondered why he did such a thing, but he had his reasons which he explained later. He thought that I might get discouraged that the instrument didn't sound very good.

[00:03:54] Of course, playing a $10 guitar and learning jazz from the very beginning doing bar chords and diminished seventh chords at about the age of eight. I heard a lot of buzzing. And I can remember though that throughout the beginning years,

[00:04:15] I did love to play the guitar although practicing is something that children like to do on their own. They have to be helped. So I was fortunate because my father even though he didn't play an instrument

[00:04:32] and even though he knew only what he heard and understood what he liked was determined he was going to make sure that I had a variety of experiences in music. And so periodically he would change teachers.

[00:04:49] And so I started with a jazz teacher who played in the bands. Went to a violinist who didn't know anything about guitar, but taught me notes in first position and eventually found myself visiting different styles of music along the way.

[00:05:08] And at some point I had a teacher that was the most... How do you put it? He was a person who had great integrity. A lot of teachers, we got to make money. So you get a student that's showing up and paying and looks and dosed.

[00:05:34] You could have them on your chart for years. This teacher was very popular apparently and I responded to him very quickly. But within about six months to eight months something around there, he taught me finger style which I had rejected.

[00:05:54] I played with a flat pick all the way up to that point. And he convinced me I couldn't do these things and I tried it and liked it. And his last lesson he recorded two or three songs. And he said, I'll see you next week. Figure him out.

[00:06:10] He came back the next week. I had them all down within a day. A lot of very picking styles and stuff that was demonstrating. And he said, I could teach you songs like this for the next 10 years,

[00:06:24] but I think you should consider going to someone that's even better at this style of music or you might consider classical. So I had no clue what that meant in terms of classical.

[00:06:39] So I asked my dad and he said, oh, I think it's something like me and my shadow or red roses for a blue lady or something like that. I knew those songs from the jazz era. But I thought really is that.

[00:06:55] Well, found out we both were educated that wasn't that. So it might coming to classical guitar was really not in the right way. And although he recommended a teacher, I went to a flamenco guitar teacher first before realizing I did want to study classical.

[00:07:13] I would need eventually to actually have a classical guitar teacher. So within my early years, I'd say my early teens I was already doing some performing. And conservatories and things of that sort sometimes at a church events. Some solo pieces.

[00:07:36] And when I went into college, that was my goal was to be a performer. And the education was something that helped. I went to Cal State Fullerton at that time in Los Angeles. Those were three really strong guitar programs.

[00:07:55] And one of the very few at that time because I think there were only a handful less than 10. I remember years later, there was up to 50. Now we're talking pretty much every college and university. But at that time, the guitar, you know, you're playing with violinists and stuff.

[00:08:16] They're looking at guitar like, you know, you are not kosher. So anyway, I did well. I performed well. I enjoyed some competitions, although I didn't particularly care for the idea that music was something competitive to me. Music was something that was individual, creative.

[00:08:40] And I was never really attracted to trying to impress people, but wanting to see people receive something. A change of mood, light in their spirit, give them the joy that I had in music. So I did enter a couple competitions and did well.

[00:09:04] But fine large, that was the road. And then eventually, of course, got my performance degrees. And went and did to performing. And of course, after that you find yourself in the teaching world. And I've, in, I know live in Oregon. Beautiful state. Lots of trees.

[00:09:25] I loved that. I was living in Orange County, previous to that. And they seemed to be having a more touring on any tree that was fully grown. So I, and when it hit like 95, and you'd be looking for a tree that should park your car under.

[00:09:42] And so here I've taught at Pacific University at George Fox and a Maryland course for close to 15 years, or I've played about that. And was the head of the guitar department that these places. But by and large, I've always had an interest in a variety of music.

[00:10:06] But perhaps because my father, but also because I just really found music and culture and time to be really exciting. To visit other countries, I didn't imagine that I was going to get always the opportunity. So this was a way to do that.

[00:10:27] And so that's is bringing full circle even when I was up here in teaching at the universities. I established concerts at different places. So when I was at the community college, we had an experience music concert series. It was connected to the world music program.

[00:10:46] And when I was at Maryland, her is the World Voices program. Class school guitar series for guitarists who were touring. And so after my father passed away, I thought, I've been doing this for a long time. I'm going to retire from this university thing.

[00:11:07] And I think I like to start a nonprofit. And we call this EDC Collegium Music Up. And our mission is to bring community together through music performance, education and cultural exchange. And all three are really important.

[00:11:26] In recent years, because of the pandemic and my connection with so many musicians in Portland, but also traveling through from throughout the country and a different parts of the world. So we've had artists from Japan and from Italy and Germany and Brazil and Argentina.

[00:11:51] So as well as Michigan and New York and Massachusetts and so forth. So the idea of having the program as we came out of this pandemic, be able to help musicians trying to restart because for two years we were told we weren't necessary.

[00:12:13] So we had to go on YouTube and try to do things which is how I got started. I think I could like a million knowledge, just so maybe 200 videos that I put up on YouTube for instruction of variety of things.

[00:12:27] But my gosh, I tell you there is some people who didn't make it through and some people who are no longer playing music at all. I've been really severely damaged. But there are those who are brave going out there restarting and doing great.

[00:12:45] And I'm real pleased that we've had a really great couple of years. So the idea of doing a podcast is to really help not mostly to help the general public to be able to get to know things that they don't. I didn't know anything about classical music.

[00:13:07] And some people don't really know much about jazz. I mean if I said a name of a couple jazz musicians who are very famous. But in fact two years ago, I was asked to teach some classes at Roosevelt High School for a summer program.

[00:13:30] 99% of the classes were black and I was told that as a teacher, I would teach them to play guitar once or twice a week. And at the end if they seem to do pretty good. This organization called Freed Guitar, Shukidz would give them that guitar.

[00:13:48] So it seemed like a great idea could deal. I asked a couple questions like, do you know who best he Smith this was? No. How about elephant's chair? No. How about really not elephant's chair? No, how about Lou Yarmstrong? No. How about Jimmy Hendrix? No.

[00:14:13] They knew that but when I got to Michael Jackson, they did know Michael Jackson. Global contemplating. Yes. Even among the population, which we think that if you're getting a music that they're getting that now the band teacher, he had all these pictures on the board.

[00:14:32] And most of the ones he had because the Roosevelt High, mostly African American students, and said that he realized that would be a good thing for them to know. But none of these students happened to be necessarily part of that program.

[00:14:46] So they were outside that wall and they don't know any of that. This style of music, which of course means that you are losing some of the heritage that you know as American

[00:15:02] and also cultural herages that how different cultures actually contribute because we take for granted everything that's music today just has always been that way. But I just finished a video today. I mean, share it with you so you would be interested.

[00:15:23] But I had not heard this little clip that was Richard Bachmore who had played guitar for Deep Purple. Again, a group that probably none of those kids would know and a lot of kids nowadays may not know, but they would recognize at least a few of the songs.

[00:15:42] And in talking about one of his most famous songs with Smokon Water, he was pointing out that he was inspired by two things. One that in early tradition of music in the Middle Ages, they used parallel forts which have kind of a...

[00:16:07] So if you can imagine that would be music to the Middle Ages in terms of, you recognize the melody that you definitely know that that's not the interval that you're expecting. You're expecting thirds. I think your zoom audio has a noise filter on it. Oh, yeah probably.

[00:16:34] Because the guitar is cutting out a bit. But that's one of the drawback sounds. I usually don't do musical things on zoom because that usually has that bit of a problem. But you can take my word for it, the third sound like the music you normally would hear.

[00:16:56] And the fourth sound a little peculiar. But in the days of the Middle Ages, the tuning system didn't make thirds sound it out of tune so they didn't like it. So that was... Is that... Because I've often wondered about that because again, this probably my ignorance.

[00:17:14] But I have always been curious about that because I have sir, I have heard some reproductions of medieval music and I've always kind of wondered because

[00:17:22] it did sound slightly out of tune which I don't have an ear but if I think if I think it sounds out of tune, it's probably out of tune because if I pick up on it, someone with a musical ears probably like, oh that's way off.

[00:17:34] Is that because it was just less precise in terms of instrument making and everything was kind of varied or is there another reason for that? It does, it bears to the aspect of science.

[00:17:48] So the system that they were using had dated back to the days of Pythagoras which we're talking like 500 years before Christ. And for the people of the Middle Ages, early Middle Ages, that was like brand new.

[00:18:09] Essentially, the fall of the Roman Empire was like an atomic bomb that destroyed all of civilization and all the knowledge it came before. Some scholars said that if the Roman had survived, we would have landed a man on the moon by the year 1000.

[00:18:26] So it basically put us back a thousand years in terms of development. And much of what we gained in terms of knowledge was the result of invasion. Today we would say the occupation. So the mors were Arabs had conquered Spain and they stayed there for 800 years.

[00:18:48] I mean, we would call that a pretty extensive occupation but what they brought were elements of the world. The elements of math and architecture, which was not available to the people of the Middle Ages. When they kicked the mors out around 1492, there had been an immense change.

[00:19:11] And part of that change was the result of science. We had Pythagoras, our communities, Aristotle. These were all new people and of course Roman mathematicians and philosophers, all of that.

[00:19:28] And so by the time we call the Renaissance, the aspect of trying to figure out how they could create a better tuning system was a matter of science. But science was not developed at that point. We were hundreds of years before Galileo.

[00:19:47] So they were relying strictly on the writings of Pythagoras and they believed everything. I'm an until Galileo in 1600. Aristotle was the person they would look at. Well, Aristotle said this, therefore it must be right because he was a Greek and he was above, above, above, above.

[00:20:05] And even when he got things wrong, it wasn't until Galileo said, I don't think Aristotle was right. He was wrong here, here, here, here, here. And do to impart things like that would make a big change.

[00:20:21] So we won't go ahead, have just three lessons here, but I'll just say throughout centuries and because of wars and because of conquest and occupation and changes, the development of a tuning system that we now consider hours is a result of, you know, a long progression of that.

[00:20:43] In fact, it was until the 19th or 20th century that we can say that this aspect of equal temperament, the way that we claim that we've got it right, but not everyone would agree, but that tuning system becomes kind of the standard.

[00:21:05] So the aspect of right around the 1470s, we really see the shifting from boards to thirds and we didn't look back after that.

[00:21:23] I was going to say that would have been, well, I could be wrong here, but I would assume that's before the time of what we would consider the classical era really began to boom, because that, but I mean it led into it obviously.

[00:21:38] Yeah, and this is again the beauty of scholarship today. We've got people who now have figured out what the music of the Greeks probably sounded like and can create that even as far back as the Egyptians.

[00:21:52] And we've heard some types of notation that have been able to kind of decipher. It's really amazing, cool to see and hear music that you realize you might see an object, but it doesn't really speak to you, but music.

[00:22:07] Suddenly you feel like you're in real time, it hits you very differently. So even when it's a little bit peculiar to your ear, but that's been the case throughout history is this aspect of how cultural exchange in music is the way we live.

[00:22:29] I mean everything we do we can look and say, well that's been influenced by this and that's all for it. The reason I brought up that particular song, the smoke on the water, is because the composer of that says, you know, most guitarists play it incorrectly.

[00:22:45] They play what we call power chords which are parallel fists, but he, you know,

[00:22:50] he came up with the idea, he had two points of inspiration. One was he wanted parallel forts and so the whole piece is in parallel forts which I kind of demonstrated but until people, until the very end of the video.

[00:23:06] But as peculiar because I hadn't really thought about it at that time. And then the other thing that influenced him was the opening part, he changed the order of the notes and he made it.

[00:23:22] He wasn't, you know, got a point of inspiration from Beethoven's fifth. So if you put those two together, you get smoke on the water well not exactly right, but but those were a catalyst to that so things would are all sometimes come back and he certainly wasn't the first used parallel forts.

[00:23:44] We see forts like that in modern 20th century music, it's just that they're harmonized differently so we respond to them differently.

[00:23:51] Chuck Perry used parallel forts when you did all those little slides, yeah, that was wrong parallel forts. So yeah, I think that the aspect of culture exchange and seeing how music evolves and helping people.

[00:24:12] With the educational part, it's could understand some of that but mostly experiencing the music and learning a little bit along the way.

[00:24:24] Yeah, most definitely when I was well, and into the state when I was in high school, I had a, I had a bit of a Mac for having a lot of multicultural music on my playlist now this usually extended to lyrics but even some of the compositions are different across the world.

[00:24:40] And particularly in high school people would always ask me they'd say, well, why do you listen to this if you don't understand it and I'd always say, well first of all, I want to understand it.

[00:24:48] And I'm a bit of a language nerd so you know, if I had German rock on my podcast, I would learn the lyrics and then when I learned what the lyrics were and how they translated and the plays on words.

[00:25:00] The song would get that much better, but then even songs that I didn't understand like I have a there's a beautiful song on my playlist that I discovered by complete accident. It's completely in Hindi. I don't speak a word of Hindi. I don't understand it.

[00:25:15] But I can probably tell you what the song is about based on the musical composition and the fact that it's a duet, but it's a beautiful song don't understand the lick of it.

[00:25:26] You're right, music is very much that universal language that you may not speak the same language but.

[00:25:33] You can still understand what a piece of music is trying to get at and I don't understand how it works, but I'm sure I'm sure you do how it affects the brain and how certain structures of music compute differently.

[00:25:50] Yes, I think that we are musical tastes and our backgrounds change with each generation and sometimes it's something outside of that experience that make you know a big change like in.

[00:26:11] In the 50s and 60s, the single was the most important way to get a bit have a big hit. And so the single had to be roughly about three minutes. Anything more than three minutes would probably not get played.

[00:26:25] And then in the 1970s, this thing called FM radio comes out and suddenly there are stations that will play a piece of music that might last seven eight minutes long. And so we have rock groups which are changing and creating this very long thing.

[00:26:47] And now I'm doing videos sometimes which are for for you too, and. And the. I am laughing because to me it's it seems almost absurd but I've got one minute.

[00:27:04] The idea is that you have to come up with something that's going to be one minute long and you don't want to go blank beyond about a minute because it's a short. And people are watching these things, one short after another short short short short short short short.

[00:27:19] Yeah, and believe it or not, they say the sweet spot for a short is anywhere between 20 and 35 seconds. Yeah, I believe it that they're looking for if if you lose them and the next in the first part you may may not not make it to the end.

[00:27:34] Yeah, I think there's too much sometimes of certain things. Yeah. But the info that I just shared with you though was a short it was it was maybe like one minute that he was speaking about what inspired him to write.

[00:27:53] Smoke on the water so I was surprised impressed and surprised. So did you ever did you ever learn to play the violin or is it strictly guitar?

[00:28:06] Oh, I you know, I at some point decided that I would try to do that was like I would junior high but it was. It was a really weird experience because it was a high school junior high summer program.

[00:28:28] So the teacher came in gave me a violin and that was that was the instruction. Then they had a concert at the end he gave me a music. And he said if you don't know the music well enough just pretend. I said like hell.

[00:28:46] I'm going to make I'm going to make as much noise as I can because I practice this thing and if I make a mistake you didn't give me any time.

[00:28:55] Yeah, it's I violin is one of those instruments that I think would be kind of hard to fake it just by the nature of how you play it.

[00:29:02] And I chuckled I chuckled a bit when you said you wanted to play the violin and you ended up with a guitar because believe it.

[00:29:10] And it must have been about five or six years ago. I just decided you know I love the violin as an instrument and I just decided I think I want to learn how to play this thing because I played harass instruments when I was in school.

[00:29:23] So I can read music but I never played a string instrument ever in my life, but I love the violin so much.

[00:29:29] And at the end of my first lesson I realized that I love listening to the violin but I hated playing it, but I stuck with it for a while. I actually stuck with it until my violin broke and I actually took it as a sign.

[00:29:45] Well, I don't think this is going to work out so I have a loving respect for the violin and I love to listen to it, but I don't have a desire to play it.

[00:29:55] It's way outside of my wheelhouse, but it's also funny because my violin teacher was a sassible guitar player who would play the violin as well. But his big thing was guitar and the only reason he was teaching violin lessons is because they weren't enough people at the school that wanted to play guitar to fill up all of his slots so he told me said, well I play violin too. So he would he would often use this guitar though to demonstrate.

[00:30:22] Certainly not necessarily technique obviously because it's a different instrument, but I did get a kick out of one day when he took my violin and played it like a guitar just being fun but I was like, oh that's that's really interesting because if you think about it as far as how the instrument is constructed it is just kind of like a really small guitar with with a bridge or a different kind of bridge I should say.

[00:30:45] But I got to kick out of that so when you said that you wanted to play violin and you ended up with guitar I was like that's oddly reminiscent of what I had to go through.

[00:30:54] I did better than I thought I would but yeah the violin was not in my future, unfortunately. But I think that a lot of times when we have an instrument that we're attracted to it is because of the quality of the instrument it kind of reflects our personality.

[00:31:11] We would remember university students would would comment on the typical personality of a tuba player versus someone who played the obo. Of course everyone hated the violin is first violin especially viola was okay. Shella was cool.

[00:31:30] So it's your spiritual voice really I mean you're looking for the magic. What is it the glass slippers kind of thing with music and some people they have an attraction to a variety of instruments and then that's the case.

[00:31:55] I think I had been so inclined that would have been okay but I came to a point where I just thought that I need to invest in one thing and do it well rather than be mediocre to three or four things.

[00:32:10] Although peganine he was reportedly a fine guitarist he started on guitar. The dad said you've got to learn to play the violin because that's where the big money is and he was right he definitely made a mark in the world as a violinist.

[00:32:25] Fair enough yeah it's funny you mentioned that I'm curious what would you say is the or what would they say is the personality of a tuba player because I started at trumpet and didn't.

[00:32:36] I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. I was I was mediocre at best as a trumpet player and then what year would that have been. There's my freshman or sophomore year I can't remember but anyway long story short.

[00:32:50] We had a small band so we had one baritone player and he graduated and our band director really wanted a tuba instead of a baritone and she came to me one day and she said hey would you be interested in playing the tuba and I said.

[00:33:05] I mean I never really thought about it but I mean it can't be that different it's a lot different.

[00:33:12] But I actually I enjoyed playing the tuba but it was kind of by that point I was I was kind of losing not losing interest in music but losing interest in being in the high school band. But I got to kick out of being the only tuba player.

[00:33:28] But what would they say is the personality of a tuba player? Well as I recall most of the two two of a players I knew had were bright and had a good sense of humor. The trumpet players were usually the ones that but the chokesters.

[00:33:46] That's what I would hear. They would be mumbling something and the other brass players would with laugh. So I don't I didn't play in the band obviously as guitar was in band instrument but those were the rumors I remember overhearing.

[00:34:04] That that that tracks honestly I'm not a lady that that that that that makes a lot of sense.

[00:34:11] I really do wish if I had a regret in terms of being in the band because you said some people are attracted to different instruments and what I do regret because I'd say probably my three favorite instruments to listen to are probably violin.

[00:34:29] Various forms of flute and then I I'm a sucker for an obo solo I don't know why there's a there's a song it's part of the soundtrack for one of my favorite movies.

[00:34:40] The movie is Princess Monternoca and it's basically like the main musical theme the legend of Ashitaaka and in that in the full song you don't really hear it in the movie but in that full song there's this gorgeous obo solo where they basically.

[00:34:55] The song is called Cretando and then fade out into silence for like probably longer than most American musicians would be comfortable with. And then it just goes into this very subtle just beautiful obo solo it's it's so gorgeous to listen to.

[00:35:13] It did up that it was an obo right away because again I have an appreciation for the obo and I read not playing one of those three instruments in high school.

[00:35:22] I think I probably would have had a much more enjoyable time in band had I gone with one of those but.

[00:35:29] I don't know why I didn't honestly I don't think violin was an option and I probably didn't know what an obo was at the time and I sure I was a I was a boy in elementary school there was no way in hell I was playing a flute like it just it wasn't gonna happen and I regret that but it wasn't gonna happen.

[00:35:47] Yeah that's. But I think that the obo is a beautiful instrument it's one of my favorites as well again I think that.

[00:35:57] If I look at my approach to guitar I think I'm almost always thinking of it as if it was a violin in terms of melody so I think that's the only connection there. But I do like. Yes the flute I end up working with two flutist.

[00:36:22] They're both the really different personalities but very and very accomplished musicians but have different personalities in terms of musical approach so that's another great thing with playing with other people playing guitar classical for me was a long period. That I didn't probably more solo things and.

[00:36:50] But when I was in the university I joined every opportunity I could to play with the Renaissance band the. String string on ensemble every ensemble I could get hooked up with I wanted to be in.

[00:37:09] So do you play do you do regularly play other instruments other than the guitar or is the guitar your main focus my that's my main focus. I'll occasionally pick up the violin occasionally.

[00:37:24] The piano that I was kind of my same boss of you all why can't say that was the right thing to do. I'd seen a lot of my friends who are musicians as I was graduating become infactuated with the new technology which was.

[00:37:44] the very first personal computers that were coming out. Then I did, I used it though to write my first good-tard book when I was teaching at the Community College in Los Angeles and

[00:37:59] but I also did not want to become a computer nerd and find that I was spending all my time with the computers. So I said out loud and to myself, I will not learn anymore than I have

[00:38:15] to. I don't know how a car works but I know how to drive it. I don't know how computer works but I just want to use it for the things I need it for.

[00:38:26] There's something to that though because what you'll find it just to put aside on computers you'll find that very early on in software development they realized that the software engineers that were designing programs were not very good at designing them for the end user because it was all

[00:38:46] about efficiency of the program. So very quickly they realize so for example if you're creating a video editing software, you want input from people that are going to use the software and they don't

[00:38:58] they don't necessarily know how it works in terms of programming it but there's something to that but you want their input on how it should function and then a children job to figure out how to

[00:39:08] make it function that way. So there is absolutely much as I would probably guess that there are people that in the early days especially that would make instruments that may not necessarily be able

[00:39:19] to play it well but they would probably go to someone who could play it very well and be like what should we do with this? What changes can be made to optimize this for you

[00:39:32] to make it that much better? So there's something to that. I agree yeah I kind of wish that I knew a little bit more and on occasion I will lament and say well maybe I should

[00:39:49] do a little bit more reading about computer programming and things as something of that's although I think that I've got some other things which take a higher priority. Yeah we do live I often find I often describe myself as a victim of Fausty and Tragedy because

[00:40:12] there's so much I would love to know but I understand not only is there a finite amount of time on in this world but also there is a there is a limit to brain capacity and I I lamented that

[00:40:25] I will not be able to learn everything I would ever want to know but I'm going to I'm going to try I'm going to try very hard. We're going to take a quick break and we're going to talk about one of our

[00:40:34] sponsors that being one weekend at horror land the goosebumps and horror convention that is being put on by our friends and fellow R.T. podcast Pantheon members the goosebumps crew and without further

[00:40:46] do Cal Dodd who is one of the confirmed guests at that event has something to share with you. Hi folks my name is Cal Dodd and I've always slapped me from goosebumps to TV series

[00:41:00] and will for a I will be attending an event entitled One Weekend at Horror Land but only if we're funded by July 30th so please get your tickets or pledge to the kickstarter today

[00:41:13] Bob come on we need your help to make this very special spooky weekend happen chimja Colbus the original illustrator for goosebumps the series will be there as well and sloppy loves him you don't want

[00:41:27] to miss his bump if you knew I will hunt you down and sloppy will make you his slave come on there you have it if you don't show up to when we can get horror

[00:41:55] horror land a Wolverine will hunt you down you heard it from the man himself I got to admit I I laughed really hard as as a kid the group in the 90s and was obsessed with the X-Men I I laughed so hard

[00:42:08] watching how Dodd say that and Wolverine's voice but anyway the other purpose of this podcast with you is that we are going to announce that you also have joined the R.T. podcast Pantheon and you will be

[00:42:21] releasing your own podcasts in the near future please tell us a little bit about music a classical well the the purpose of the podcast is to help introduce some great musicians and to

[00:42:38] introduce music that people may not have heard before being the classical guitar is a lot of my interviews will be probably more with guitar in fact I think that the very first set are guitars from very different backgrounds and different locations so we have

[00:43:03] Winca Tars, sincere Melani who is a winner of I think 14 15 international competitions and she's been performing for for years she did a debut concert here in Portland and we arranged the the non-profit that

[00:43:26] I have the CDC collecting music a arranged a series of concerts so when an artist comes through our our budget is not like some other organizations which have a lot of money and resources we're

[00:43:43] we're making improvement at that area so what we offer instead is a multitude of opportunities to connect with the public and help with their promotion and so some of that will be

[00:43:58] part of the the interviews but what I find interesting and I think the public will find interesting is how these different musicians became exposed to music and their path but they all come from

[00:44:15] very different backgrounds like there's one there's a Japanese guitarist and he was he came from Kyoto Japan and his father did play I think guitar and his he was a young child so

[00:44:36] he wanted to learn to play an instrument and so his dad gave him a banjo now a banjo in Japan the peccosis instrument would be a charmies in which I was just I was just thinking that when you said

[00:44:55] when you said banjo I chuckled initially but then I thought well that's actually not I don't I didn't know the name of the instrument early said didn't remember but I said well that's probably not too far off so

[00:45:05] well it's a his is a very interesting story how he he he comes to the point of learning the first on this banjo and then he develops and he has some significant teachers and support from his family

[00:45:23] and then his teachers recommends that he goes to Berkeley so he ends up getting a full scholarship to Berkeley and his progress there and his in the changes that develops there contribute to

[00:45:41] not only a whole life change because he now lives in New York with his family and children but also a whole different viewpoint of composition he's got his own style of music he's a very

[00:45:56] fine composer a lot of the pieces are instrumental but some are vocal and so we'll have some of that kind of included in there so you get to really know him I'm most all the performers we have I

[00:46:14] can't really think of anyone that would be an exception are really interesting people to get to know and and their journey we had one the who he's I kind of consider my like the rock star of

[00:46:31] classical guitar he has a picture of himself look at guitar like he's playing like he's a rock star and he is always looking for new music he's always looking to connect with

[00:46:46] composers and published things that are going to be on the cutting edge even though he plays some traditional repertoire he doesn't want to be defined by that he wants to find other ways to be able to

[00:47:01] make himself meaningful in terms of the progress of the future of music and we haven't there'll be other people that I will interview that I've met over the years and those are I look forward to meeting that sometimes a language barrier is an issue get one such

[00:47:26] person in Russia but many of the people's do speak enough English that we can get by so yes it's it'll be an interesting experience I think for the public because you'll hear music

[00:47:42] from different parts of the world and people who are really finding their own path so if you like to know what people's stories are and interesting people they'll find that you'll probably want

[00:47:59] to follow their music at the very least you'll you'll you'll find that you'll feel better at the end yeah we've had a couple of conversations about what this podcast is going to look like how it's

[00:48:14] going to be structured and I've got it so you heard me say I'm I'm very excited for this because it is something that I would watch on my own and the fact that I get to have a small part in

[00:48:25] hoping to make that happen I'm proud happy and excited all at the same time so I'm very much looking forward to that podcast being released music is it a classic a music or music it's music a

[00:48:38] classic a isn't a classic we decided to go with the traditional us I guess it's not really sentence structure but yeah I guess it would be sentence structure of adjective after the noun

[00:48:49] so the non-English sentence structure and then I actually I was going to say also there will be some elements that I'd like to be able to include like we were talking about earlier that have to do with

[00:49:08] increasing people's understanding because one of the big challenges for music musicians from different musical styles that are very different is you've got to have something that helps the audience be able to understand what's going on if you just suddenly say okay I'm going to take you to a

[00:49:30] shakahachi performance and there's nothing to educate you you might be surprised which you here he said gosh I thought it was going to be hearing boy Clark but instead I'm hearing this person and

[00:49:42] I don't recognize the that instrument so it's something that kind of helped with that and it's I think that another really important part and sometimes historical elements that help us understand why this music sounds different than this music and there may be people who are actual musicians

[00:50:05] it doesn't mean that you have to be a professional but just simply interested in music interested in the changes in music and sometimes you find something from the past I was thinking about it

[00:50:17] there are a variety of people that if we take a look at it with it throughout the years have changed the world but they based there's some of their inspiration on other people that came before them

[00:50:31] I mean the Beatles with little Richard and Buddy Holly I mean that we went off earth the Beatles the same way if they hadn't had you know those influences and when you hear that listen to their music

[00:50:44] you can say oh that's what they were doing there when they went up to that false set of they were imitating little Richard it wasn't just because they love you yeah yeah that was little Richard

[00:50:56] that was their tribute to him or so we get that in in musical a time cultural borrowing some people say it's steel and but it's not it's just well I don't remember who said it but

[00:51:10] something the effect of there are no more original ideas only derivations and ripoffs and oh mages that was the word I was trying to think of but usually when people haven't

[00:51:28] you take an idea out the reason why you don't sometimes recognize it if they're really good at it because I mean if you'd played I never thought of a parallel organism when I heard smoke on the

[00:51:43] waters I certainly didn't hear Beethoven's fifth but being those two things were in influence I have to take the humanities word and realize that yeah if I looked at it I could see how that could

[00:51:57] be the case so sometimes an idea but you borrowed become something of a new creation in itself absolutely our good friend Kalamazora just commented music is the true therapy of life

[00:52:11] which got I agree with that one yeah I do have a musical theory question for you and I hope I ask it in the right way because it's something I don't know why I never asked it so when you're talking

[00:52:24] about music time whether it be three or four four four what what have you at least all of my band directors would say the same thing when they were describing four four time for example they

[00:52:35] would say four beats per measure which I understood and quarter note gets the beat that's the part that I never fully understood and it's probably a very elementary musical theory question but

[00:52:46] I've honestly never understood it so what what does that mean when they say quarter note gets the beat well and maybe just the way that it was being told so we have in a music notation and that

[00:53:01] system dates back the beginnings of that system date back to the year roughly 1100 so the notation itself writing a pitch on lines this was something that was being done and so this is when the first came up with that but rhythm was much more difficult it took

[00:53:27] a long time to figure out how to write rhythms so at some point at time when we were looking at music say in the time of Bach by the 1600s we're seeing a fraction looking like symbol a number

[00:53:42] on the top telling us in a given space of time which we call a measure there will be so many beats so say therefore then you would in a tap your foot four times and then underneath that they need

[00:53:58] it a symbol that would represent the different types of notes which had a mathematical relationship so takes four quarters to equal a whole two halves to equal a whole and so if we look at

[00:54:14] four or four time and we say quarter note equals one beat then a half double equal two a whole not equal four and then those numbers that go smaller than that proportionally an eight

[00:54:27] half a beat a sixteenth a quarter of a beat and so forth so it's an ingenious way and yet at the same time when you're in a band precision is very important because if you're

[00:54:42] interpreting sing I feel like this the band structure going to say you are really messing up but if you're doing this solo that's what you want you don't want a person to be doing

[00:54:54] making it too rigid you want there to be yeah more flexible so more than likely but they want what they were trying to impress upon is watch the tempo don't get ahead and before these and anytime their hand came down straight like this that was beat one yeah

[00:55:19] so but I guess the question would be and this is the part that I really don't understand about to say for example three four time there's three beats per measure but the quarter note still

[00:55:30] gets the beat so I get I guess I don't understand what get the beat means yeah so in a measure here it goes so having would we call stressed and unstressed beats so we were to say

[00:55:50] the count to four we probably would not say one two three four we would say one two three four and we'd instinctively be emphasizing one and three but if we say one two three we probably find

[00:56:05] ourselves saying one two three one two three yeah so in general we will hear people tell you that the first beat is strong and the third beat in four four time is not quite a strong I when I was

[00:56:21] teaching music theory to students and had the same question so how do I tell the difference between between two four time and four four time because you know they'd seem like they're at the same

[00:56:34] and I would tell I'm well two four time is like honey honey honey honey but four four time is like peanut but to peanut but so you're getting you're getting an accent on the third beat but it's

[00:56:51] not done bum bum yeah so there is a difference between those two choosing the right meter is something that is an art form in itself and sometimes composers when they're writing a piece of music

[00:57:11] have good some things in there to purposely make it more interesting and kind of go against what I just told you like if we're listening to two and old Sonatra film and he's singing something

[00:57:28] and he's snapping his fingers he's not snapping on one and three it's going to be two and four and we expect that in gospel music and they're not going to be clapping on is that the whole

[00:57:40] or is it going to be a whole world that's going to be off beat and that's so it's an interesting thing because if you look at some of those old vintage films like Chuck Berry performing before

[00:57:55] an entirely white audience on television and they're clapping along same thing with with a little overshared you'll notice that half of them are clapping on the second and the fourth beat

[00:58:09] and the other half are clapping on the first and third beat you can see that there's a little bit of a cultural breakdown there interesting not going to lie I still don't totally understand it

[00:58:23] but it's one of those things where I knew that it wasn't used the example of two four time because in my mind it's like but it's just a fraction how I didn't understand that I knew it was different

[00:58:36] because otherwise they wouldn't do it but you I understand it more because it's basically down to the stress beats well I'll give it I'll give an example and it's almost always notated incorrectly so there's a song called when the Saints come marching in yeah so usually it's written

[00:58:58] in the in the beginning guitar books in four four time yep so you have a rest and then you have three quarter notes into the into the next measure so you have oh when those saints go marching again

[00:59:15] but it's a marching song yeah it should be in three four time shouldn't it? well not three four but in two because if you're encountering it oh when the Saints now I can walk to that and if you watch a new Orleans band they're not doing

[00:59:35] oh when the Saints so the choice of meter is so very important because if you're telling them that they're exposed that's if you were doing it to tempo that would have been like a leg girl and and no one's walking at a leg girl at that tempo they're

[00:59:53] practically running but it's they're late for the train but if you're taking it at more the traditional tempo you can imagine people walking in fact they use that song often times

[01:00:10] I suppose they still do in New Orleans when you know there's a funeral they march with the marching band through the city and they're holding the casket and they're moving it back and forth but

[01:00:23] they're not gonna be right yeah yeah so they definitely know that it's it's not in four four time it's in two okay that actually makes sense to me now after all these years thank you very

[01:00:40] you're welcome I figured you being a music educator if anybody could help me understand it it would be which actually is a topic we can talk about I'm just curious here um i know that you

[01:00:51] obviously have a doctor but I also read that you've got is it one masters or do you have multiple degrees other than the masters and the doctor it get my masters in music and music performance

[01:01:02] classical guitar and uh went back to school to uh get a doctorate in education I didn't specifically want to focus on music education I wanted to focus on education in general and it was you know I wasn't

[01:01:21] sure initially whether it would be appropriate of course so I did my dissertation on something of a musical topic and related to music theory classes and trying to make you know music

[01:01:37] a music theory class a more of an experience as opposed to some sort of challenge to see what you how much you could memorize in a term and forget shortly thereafter so and and I think that's

[01:01:52] you know um one of the things that I think that has drawn me to this aspect of the importance of music education and education in general that we we hear that music education is supposed to be

[01:02:07] important but people don't know why it's important so they just presume it's some dice it kind of nice hobby and give the kid to do something uh that hopefully they'll they'll be able to do and

[01:02:21] if they don't then they just weren't talented and that's the the attitude whereas music learning a musical instrument we have found statistically those students do better at school because they learn certain things that are important there there study habits and becoming a

[01:02:43] musician require that they develop a good memory and they do that by being able to consult it and look for patterns to be able to memorize things uh they also have to be disciplined so they

[01:02:56] have to figure out and problem solve not only fingering sometimes but other types of things so there's an intellectual part you're learning a different language a written language as you were we were just discussing um and there's a stylistic language and a musical cultural

[01:03:17] languages so there's it's a it's a wealth of things but I think especially for young people right around middle school and high school uh even if they don't become musicians I mean because

[01:03:32] that's goal of studying a music instrument is to be able to play for yourself number one I mean if you decide that you're going to become a musician then you have to you know bear the

[01:03:45] cost of that because not everyone's going to make a ton of money doing it uh there's only a few people and they're not necessarily the best they just happen to be at the right place at the right time

[01:03:55] and they've gotten a little bit of help along the way but you are looking for music to be able to give something back to you so sometimes kids are are feeling you know especially middle school

[01:04:10] in high school that sense of isolation that they're different that they don't understand the world and they have no way to be able to express it and to find themselves uh so I think that

[01:04:23] in that heart when we you know we we'll see a lot of money going to help elementary school but that dries up sometimes when we get to middle school in high school and I think that's

[01:04:35] when they need it the most even community college programs uh sometimes difficult so I think that the other part is music is about feelings and when you I played a piece of music

[01:04:51] I want to know what's the composer trying to express and those aspects of feeling with the composers talking about you're connecting with that and it helps young people and old people as well develop kind of an emotional intelligence they have a sense of empathy and compassion to others

[01:05:15] and understanding and for those who really frustrated angry well goodness gracious you know there's I think plenty of examples of musicians you know who really felt that their feudic element of just being able to in a very positive way exude some of that anger and frustration

[01:05:37] in music and people might say oh it was noise but it was expression and we can hear in classical music as well I mean I think we all kind of get an idea that Beethoven was kind of a model in that way

[01:05:56] you know a lot of things occur in music gradually as kind of evolves and gradual changes but then there are pivotal people and we can think of them in the 20th century as well who change things

[01:06:10] because they just stand out they make a statement and everyone realizes that's a good way to go and they pursue that there's always going to be those kind of things that happen so I think

[01:06:23] that kids don't know that it's okay to feel those feelings and music can be a way of going through that and conversely the same people can find a voice in being able to use music

[01:06:39] to calm their spirits I taught at a university too actually that had a music therapy program that they also use music to as in what we call an intervention to be able to help kids who

[01:06:56] are with autism or to have help people who are in hospice care to be able to deal with loads of last days and their family or other types of illnesses in people suffering from dementia

[01:07:15] sometimes music will bring back memories and some were examples of people who were essentially catatonic you talked to them and they just look like they were limp suddenly the hear music

[01:07:29] and they come back for a moment you can ask them it says yes I remember that band and it was in the dark I had that it's myself when I was a high school and early college I'd go to

[01:07:43] retirement homes they called them condolence in homes in those days and I'd go from room to room in one lady scared the hell out of me she I'm playing for her and she just been like this

[01:07:54] and I played I think it was probably something like melegania or something and suddenly she said I remember you in New York I hadn't even been to New York but suddenly she's pointing me as

[01:08:06] high school students and I remember you in New York I thought in a different lifetime maybe it was I'm maybe I believe in reincarnation right now this moment I was it was a little terrifying but

[01:08:19] I realized now thinking back it triggered a memory of something that happened to it and suddenly this person who had spoken for more than you know two months that song she was awake

[01:08:33] yeah yeah yeah it's it's very interesting because to this day I'm sure everyone can relate to this to this day they're songs that I can hear and they'll take me back to because I wrote the bus

[01:08:47] as a kid to school for the bulk of my you know elementary and high school years till I got a car at 17 so the bulk of it there are songs that come onto this day and it'll take me back to

[01:08:59] being on that bus hearing it for the first time and you know liking it and then other songs will take you back to you know just various moments in your life and it's so interesting because when

[01:09:08] that happens it's clear as day like I can even remember some of the smells of when that happened it's it's so interesting how the human brain functions especially in relation to music and come with just added patterns and frequencies enhancing the brain functions and that's actually

[01:09:28] something that I know for a fact that's something that he is working on as well it's a very, very big project and I'm not sure how much of it I can talk about but I think I'm safe with that

[01:09:40] calm I think I can let him know that you're working on it um that's another thing it's actually very, very fascinating work and I'll be the first to admit I don't understand it but he clearly does

[01:09:51] and it does have to do with basically the human brain and how it reacts to stimuli and music is one of those big stimuli that he's working with in that whole project. It's going

[01:10:02] to be very cool it's probably going to be a few years before anything happens with it but when it does it's it's it's it's gonna change the world I have a pretty strong feeling that it will.

[01:10:12] Great. So you mentioned your nonprofit but I guess I'm here my curiosity with that stems from how did that begin and you kind of touch on what its goal is but I like you know go a little bit

[01:10:25] more in depth if you would be so kind. Sure well as I always said I had been interested in having concerts series of different locations and having up providing opportunities for other musicians because I knew how difficult it is to break in to the field.

[01:10:46] When my father passed away in 2015 I decided that I'd like to try to didn't make a change and do something that would be a positive and so we started home concert series

[01:11:04] and then that developed into no I think I want to make it into something that has specific mission and that mission as I mentioned is to bring community together bring people together from different cultures and different backgrounds to experience music performance and to

[01:11:27] to find this as an educational experience and an experience that will also coincide with cultural exchange so that became the focus. The focus with the concert series I realized to have a concert in one location is then it's just there in one place so instead of doing that

[01:11:57] essentially our organization holds these concerts at different venues we bring the concerts to the venues for those specific areas of population so I live in Westland so they're in this area here there's

[01:12:15] a couple places that I use. I also know that I want to bring these programs to schools so we look for elementary schools and for high schools and for community colleges and university so

[01:12:30] that's what we have actually accomplished quite a bit in being able to network with these other places where they might have a little budget but we can add to the budgets of the

[01:12:41] the music musician can come they get a good pay for their work and that they're at the kind of musician that will be able to provide not only great performance but an educational experience

[01:12:56] that will allow for an exchange of ideas and these are musicians that are not necessarily all Western in terms of their background and I don't know even what when I say a Western

[01:13:09] I think it seems like that some really not a really very kind of a generic word to use because all of our music is so influenced by a variety of cultures I mean so

[01:13:24] but we have musicians from from Brazil and from Argentina so Latin America we have musicians from Canada coming in this next month but those three musicians we have coming in represent the places they came to Montreal they all came from a different place so I think that that's

[01:13:48] the other part of what we're trying to do and what we are doing is bringing programs that are interesting to experience and that you get introduced to new people even within your community

[01:14:02] but we've had you know guitar uh guitar and guitar now I never heard of any group anyone doing citar and guitar we've had citar and tabla but yeah those are both Indian instruments

[01:14:14] but citar and guitar I thought all this will be curious and it was great but the guitar has had a multitude of tunings to be able to do things that we complement and they have worked it out

[01:14:26] between them as musicians completely different backgrounds and then they're at the cultural components but the concerts like I was mentioning that we're having next month these three people to me that kind of summarizes what we're trying to do because I think music has a healing force

[01:14:50] it has an ability for people who we think are culturally a mixed match who musically are coincide they can actually be able not only communicate but produce harmonious sounds that are excitingly new and and represent something bigger than the individual components so

[01:15:14] if the audience is intrigued we've got a fellow who is from Israel but musically is more trained in music from Argentina and we have a Palestinian who plays Ud which is an Arabic instrument without kind of a guitar like instrument without frets

[01:15:34] beautiful instrument but can be the Argentine performer on Vaduane is playing music like tangles okay so imagine tangles and Persian music or a Palestinian music Arabic music and then we've

[01:15:52] got a percussionist who is going to be played off which is kind of a frame drum and a tomboc which will be again different kind of music entirely so the three of them have put together some

[01:16:07] pretty exciting things I can share that with you but we will hopefully be able to get interview I know that one of the musicians I think will be available on that would be an

[01:16:19] interesting thing how these three musicians who met in Montreal it's not like they knew each other before they met their were their musicians they said hey we're new here what what brings these three

[01:16:35] people together which we would say none of them have anything in common but they do music so yeah is there a way that people can get involved with that nonprofit if they would like to

[01:16:53] yes I mean I don't always push the fundraising elements as much we rely on people to contribute so we have a website cdc collegium musica and it's dot org and we're a 501 c3 organization and like I said we were bringing music to different venues different

[01:17:23] populations from children to high school to those who are retired and even those who are infirmed and our big events are sometimes you know held at at universities and concert halls at different locations in the Portland area although we've extended to try to also help

[01:17:54] traveling musicians those musicians who are on tour as the president of the of organization I may call and email so I send out to other friends I have contacted as far south as Ashland

[01:18:08] and even parts of California and Seattle Washington so try to see if we can be able to set up a tour for them otherwise they have to do all of that on their own and it can be really slow hard and

[01:18:22] impossible and so anything we can do to be able to facilitate that we try to do yeah so we're serving two populations one the musicians and and also the general public excellent excellent well I've got one more very hard hitting question for you

[01:18:46] I'm gonna put you in the hot seat oh what is your favorite piece of music of all time well I'm obliged to say one thing and I'm gonna tell you the story first about try to be

[01:19:04] not too long so my very first teacher was a jazz teacher I was not what he was expecting because he had been a performer and he had only one other student it must have been a very sweet girl

[01:19:18] he was willing to build a guitar for that girl he just loved her me I think he realized he's gonna be a challenge he's not gonna follow my rules but all the work with him because his

[01:19:32] father Joe has asked me to and okay I'll do it and so he taught me several songs and then we came to the song called Best in May Mutual I said I love this song that's my

[01:19:51] favorites that's gonna be my favorite song for the rest of my life and he said kid they'll be other songs I said no that's gonna be my favorite song for the rest of my life so he

[01:20:08] asked this question I have to say Best in May Mutual but I do have to say that at the time I had no clue what Best in May Mutual meant I only knew that I liked the melody because it had

[01:20:21] expression and soul and so as I played that song I felt you know really connected years later where it's like 10 years later maybe more someone said you know what it means and they told me

[01:20:35] and I said really lots of kisses I would as a kid of eight years old that would have been like the last thing I would want to be associated with but yeah but there are many pieces of music

[01:20:51] I love I love the music a book I love South American music I love jazz and I and I love the aspect of playing with other musicians I didn't realize it when I was younger

[01:21:07] as an only child I played for myself except for my friends right? I have this one kid would come down the block and he'd knock on the door and he says you're practicing okay good

[01:21:20] I just want to listen to music years later like 50 years later he tells me you don't know I would depression I was feeling that that moment and I needed to hear that and your guitar just was

[01:21:33] so soothing and nowadays I can look back but I just thought it was because he was tired we take a shoes off and his stinky socks and I thought to myself I don't know but okay

[01:21:48] sound asleep I mean there is there is certainly power in music as I'm sure you're obviously well aware and as many people know and sometimes they don't even realize it well Peter thank you very

[01:22:03] much for coming on the podcast I greatly appreciate it thank you very much for your time your insight and your knowledge we are all looking forward to music a classic I certainly know I am and you are

[01:22:18] free to come on this podcast anytime you wish if you have anything you want to talk about or just you've got my number feel free to give me a ring you've got to open and invite always

[01:22:30] well thank you I really appreciate the opportunity to do this I appreciate your time and inviting me and I hope that those who were tuned in will check this out online that CDZ collating music or my my personal website but most importantly I really appreciate your support of

[01:22:56] what we're trying to do I think it's important that the general public realize that music is something that can change a life I like to end with one message and it's kind of ties in

[01:23:10] and that is there was a young boy in many years ago that his parents kind of abandoned him he was living with his grandma I got a frequent trouble with police and one of the incident he was

[01:23:28] shooting a BB gun and those days a BB gun still considered pretty pretty not such a good thing for kid to be doing that just anywhere and so they sent him to a camp as a result and at that camp

[01:23:46] was introduced to the cornet and that band director say it is life and that young man who to be Louis Armstrong so music matters music and change your life and I think that having that

[01:24:08] opportunity or people don't have that opportunity I think that we're changing them so on that note that's the best ending we could possibly come up with to a podcast episode about music's fantastic thank you no thank you very much Peter everybody check out his website check out the

[01:24:32] non-profit and check out music of classical when it arrives trust me you'll we'll let you know when the first episode is going to premiere and Peter it was a pleasure thank you again you're welcome well that was embarrassing something clearly wasn't set up right

[01:25:18] you thought you were rid of me why is this thing oh the things I do for an ad spot I apologize everyone there we go ah you thought you were rid of me but we have one more

[01:25:35] sponsorship to talk about and that is of course revival book one of the unveiled series by personal friend of the podcast Debbie Lynn and I am stoked because I finally got back from my

[01:25:48] signed copy and I highly recommend um as particularly if you were into fantasy or urban fantasy you'll want to check out this book anyway but I'm telling you after having read it and knowing where

[01:26:01] the story is headed this may very well be the next big film franchise I'm not being hyperbolic if the right people get a hold of this they will turn it into the next you know like I said big

[01:26:14] film franchise I loved the book as someone who's not particularly into urban fantasy and you can check out the podcast episode we did with Debbie Lynn a couple of months back it is on

[01:26:24] the channel there and the link there is a link in the description to either by your physical copy which I highly recommend or you can download the Kindle version if you're more of an e-reader type

[01:26:36] but definitely check out book one because book two is on the way so you'll definitely want to know what happened in book one so that you can jump right into book two but anyway sorry for the technical

[01:26:46] difficulties on that one thank you for enjoying the RTA podcast please like share and subscribe and do support uh Peter and his music music education and look out for a music a classic