Heather Taves: her Beethoven Journey, Fascinating Research, Developing Creativity
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
06/12/25
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Heather Taves is an acclaimed Canadian pianist, also a composer, improviser, educator and writer.
She spoke to me about her unique and inspiring Beethoven Journey, her popular weekly blog which she started in 2023 , paired with performances of all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas. We talked about getting to know Beethoven as a person and her fascinating research about many women that are part of this history. We also talked about Heather’s work as an educator, developing creativity and approaching teaching music from different angles. She spoke about her mentors including pianist Gil Kalish and writer Diane Shoemperlen, and her experiences travelling around the world by herself.
You can also watch this on my YouTube channel, transcript and complete show notes with suggested episodes too on my website!
It’s a joy to bring these inspiring episodes to you every week, and I do all the many jobs of research, production and publicity. Buy me a coffee?
Waves Play from East Coast Suite
Arabesque in C major by R. Schumann
photo: Terry Manzo
(00:00) Intro
(02:25) Beethoven Journey, Nanette Streicher, sonata cycle
(08:32) Jan and Jean Narveson, Anton Kuerti, women interpreters research
(17:52) clip of R. Schumann Arabesque in C major (album linked in show notes)
(19:30) Heather’s childhood
(22:11) East Coast Suite, Toccata based on Fibonacci series
(23:14) Waves Play Toccata by Heather Taves from East Coast Suite
(25:49)Creative Projects, helping students to find their voice
(32:44) getting to know Beethoven the person
(38:39) performing from memory
(41:20) Gil Kalish
(45:48) other episodes you’ll like and ways to support this series
(46:42) Beethoven journey blog
(59:18) writing mentor Diane Schoemperlen
(01:043:23) Dame Myra Hess
(01:07:54) Heather’s life as a composer, her father
(01:11:35) world trip, questioning identity
(01:16:48) final reflections on the life of a performer
Previous Episode
Archive highlight, originally released in 2023: Renée Yoxon is a trans non-binary singer, songwriter, jazz musician, and trans voice teacher.
Renee shares some beautiful and inspiring performances from their albums, as well as stories from life as a disabled person and how their disability and chronic pain has guided the direction of their career. We talk about their musical development, and their experiences both bad and good as they navigated their musical education (after finishing a degree in physics!). Renée explains the kind of work they do with trans vocal exploration and we dive into all kinds of topics in the usual tangential style of this series.
The transcript and video are linked here on my website
Buy me a coffee? Podcast merch
photo: Laurence Philomène
podcast theme music: Nick Kold
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:21) Renée’s physics degree, start in school band, Jazz Works camp
(00:04:19) free improv group, intergenerational friendships
(00:06:38) intro to “Willow Weep for Me” by Ann Ronell
(00:08:53) “Willow Weep for Me” with René Gely
(00:13:57) piano, ukulele
(00:15:26) “Beautiful Alchemy”, film with Teagan Lance and album
(00:17:14) “Terrible Alchemy”
(00:23:19) Blossom Dearie
(00:23:52) worldless improv
(00:24:37) studies in New York, living as a disabled person, vocal technique
(00:29:33) singing in rock band “Gorgeous George”, care of the voice and endurance training
(00:32:20) trans voice aleration, TikTok success, pitch lowering, taking risks and learning to be silly
(00:40:14) gender presentation and gender identity
(00:42:35) ways we can alter the voice
(00:45:09) different languages in terms of vocal alteration, vocal fry and gendered cutural coding for vocal characteristics
(00:47:52) TikTok
(00:49:22) teaching Trans Voice Alteration to other teachers
(00:51:45) the importance of teaching business skills to musicians, University of Limerick, Edel Meade
(00:55:58) Banff, McGill, growing up in Ottawa, the importance of mentors, Mark Ferguson, René Gely
(01:00:29) social anxiety, speaking in public with a different voice or new language
(01:02:38) different people who take Renée’s courses on voice alteration
(01:03:18) songwriting, Aoife McAtamney Pink Breath
(01:04:27) “Drinking Coffee”
(01:08:58) songs “The Bad Years” about their chronic illness
(01:10:27) Kazaa music sharing, learning jazz repertoire
(01:12:53) Renée’s perspective on the music industry as a disabled person, and experiences at McGill university with lack of accessibility
(01:17:46) Mx non-binary honorific, the importance of pronouns
(01:20:32) disability rights, more about their McGill experience
(01:22:45) Montreal
Next Episode
Amanda Martinez writes and records mostly in Spanish, the language of her Mexican dad who biked all the way from Mexico to Canada, and you’ll learn how Amanda’s recent album Recuerdo helped her process her grief going through the illness and death of her father. Amanda is also an actor, and you’ll hear about some of her experiences acting, including My Little Pony, Kim’s Convenience and Rosie’s Rules for which she has composed songs. Amanda came to her acting and music career after pursuing science and business, and you’ll be inspired to hear how she navigated serious personal challenges to following her true path. She shares great wisdom about the importance of talking about mental health and also some of her personal tips for living a full and fullfilled life. You’ll be hearing clips from a few songs from the album Recuerdo, as well as Libérame from Libre featuring Kellylee Evans. You’ll also find Martinez’s music on several Putamayo world music compilation albums. Please check out the links to other episodes you'll like below. Transcript and video on my website
Buy me a coffee? Thanks! Podcast merch
Other episodes you'll like:
(00:00) Intro
(02:33) album Recuerdo, Amanda’s dad Gustavo
(10:55) the band
(12:36) clip of Sol de Ayer
(13:30) Afro-Cuban influence, long-time collaborators
(14:59) identity as a musician, mentors
(18:55) grief, song with Aviva Chernick
(21:22) clip of No te vayas
(22:42) performing in South Africa
(25:56) Amanda’s teen years
(28:17) Other episodes you’ll like and ways to support this series!
(29:11) love of dance
(31:21) writing lyrics in Spanish
(33:16) clip of Release Me
(34:00) mental health challenges and background in business
(46:01) Libérame with Kellylee Evans (link to video in show notes)
(49:40) Namibia SOS Children’s Villages
(53:38) Acting career, Rosie’s Rules, My Little Pony, Ari Posner, Carl the Collecctor
(59:33) typecasting, Kim’s Convenience, memorizing lines
(01:04:40) personal routines and mental health, family
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