Jennifer Roig-Francoli: The Art of Freedom

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

01/06/24

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82m

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Welcome to Season 4 of Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman. For this first episode in 2024, I welcome the violinist, author and coach Jennifer Roig-Francoli. We talk about her newly released book, Make Great Music with Ease!: The Secret to Smarter Practice, Confident Performance, and Living a Happier Life, and her Art of Freedom Method which incorporates the mind-body skills of the Alexander Technique. This episode also features excerpts from her solo violin album, Solo Con Spirito, with music of Kreisler, Enescu and Bach.

Jennifer had the opportunity to study with Nathan Milstein, Josef Gingold and Stanley Ritchie and has had an interesting career as a performer, including with Appollo’s Fire. We talk about performing barefoot at Carnegie Hall, travels to India, and in Jennifer’s words” how you do one thing is how you do everything”. I myself have been very influenced by different mind-body practices like the Alexander Technique, and the power of thought to help me address habitual tensions in my own life has really helped me, and I trust this inspiring and helpful episode will be of help to you, both musical performers and not, because the content of this discussion addresses universal challenges for all of us. This conversation is punctuated by some excerpts from Jennifer’s solo album, and I hope you’ll listen to the whole album which you’ll find both on streaming services, or better yet for purchase on her website: https://artoffreedom.me/meet-jennifer/

Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jennifer-roig-francoli

Here you can sign up for my weekly newsletter to get access to Sneak Peeks for upcoming episodes: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

I have had several interviews talking about some of the same issues as this episode. My interviews with Julie Lyonn-Lieberman, Madeline Bruser, Stephen Nachmanovitch, Derek Gripper and Daniel Ramjattan will be good places to start if you missed any of those.

Finally, I’m an independant podcaster, and I truly need the help of my listeners to keep this project going: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

photo of Jennifer Roig-Francoli: Tina Gutierrez

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(04:16) album Solo con Spirito! Celebrating 50

(05:27) excerpt from Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice

(07:07) excerpt from Enescu’s Sarabande

(07:47) Stanley Ritchie

(10:03) Jennifer’s studies at Indiana University, learning baroque violin

(12:58) Apollo’s Fire

(15:11) studies with Nathan Milstein

(18:43) Alexander Technique and Primal Alexander touch-free approach

(32:58) please support this series! Thanks.

(33:15) the importance of transitions and mindset, performance anxiety, The Art of Freedom Method

(41:43) music education, pressure from teachers, competitiveness in the music industry

(46:36) excerpt from Ysaye’s Ballade

(46:34) challenges in parenting for musicians

(52:44) music education, letting go of the focus on goals

(58:41) excerpt from Bach’s Chaconne

(01:00:12) performing barefoot

(01:02:56) decisions around pitch and more for Solo con Spirito

(01:07:25) How you do one thing is how you do everything

(01:11:32) India meditation retreat Amma’s ashram

(01:16:31) connections made through Art of Freedom online coaching

Previous Episode

Mohamed Assani: Sitar and Tabla, History and Innovation

December 16, 2023

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63m

This podcast is also a video on my YouTube and the transcript is also linked to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mohamed-assani Today’s guest is the genre-defying sitarist and composer Mohamed Assani. In this conversation a couple of compositions from his album Wayfinder are featured. Wayfinder incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including South Asian Classical, Middle Eastern, jazz, funk, Western Classical, ambient & electronic music. It was produced by Juno and Emmy nominated producer Adham Shaikh and in the show notes you’ll find links to the complete music videos and to his albums. Mohamed is also a wonderful educator, based in Vancouver Canada, also teaching online, and I’m so grateful to him for being so gracious in agreeing to demonstrate on both sitar and tabla some basics of these instruments, and of stylistic elements in South Asian music, for this episode.

I’m an independent podcaster, and I truly need the help of my listeners to keep this project going. https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Remember you can sign up for my weekly newsletter to get access to Sneak Peeks for upcoming episodes: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

This is the final episode for Season 3, and season 4 launches January 6th, so do check out episodes you may have missed from the first 3 seasons: https://www.leahroseman.com/about Mohamed Assani website: https://www.mohamedassani.ca/about/ Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:37) Mohamed’s path in music, South Asian music and history (08:56) introduction to the sitar with musical examples (13:34) history of the sitar, the Mogul rule (20:20) tabla, rhythm in South Asian music (25:28) tabla demonstration (28:51) please support this podcast (29:31)music education (32:12) Wayfinder album, Lullaby for Guli, Transit (41:07) Solace, understanding beat cycles (49:58) the intuitive versus analytical (51:28) Shahbaz Hussain tabla player (54:06) Aga Khan 80th birthday concert (56:22) reflections on learning music and self-development

Next Episode

J. Walter Hawkes: Adventures in Music

January 13, 2024

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108m

J. Walter Hawkes is a 4-time Emmy-winning composer for the PBS series Peg + Cat and Wonder Pets, is a renowned jazz trombone player, and also performs as a jazz vocalist, ukulele player, and pianist. As a young man, he survived a horrible accident which changed the course of his life. We talk about this and his mentors including the legendary Slide Hampton, how he got into composing for Blues Clues, and many hilarious and heart-warming personal stories. Those of you who listened to my episode with Pat Irwin will remember his album Wide Open Sky with Walter, and we’re featuring two pieces from that album in this episode along with an impromptu performance of Cole Porter’s Get Out of Town. Walter’s love of adventure really comes through in this conversation, and it’s really inspiring to hear how he’s built such an interesting career in music. You can use the timestamps (listed below) to navigate, and like all my episodes, you can listen to this on your podcast player, watch the YouTube video, or read the transcript, all linked here to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/j-walter-hawkes

Pat Irwin episode: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/pat-irwin

J. Walter Hawkes website: https://jwalterhawkes.com/about

Can you buy me a coffee to support this channel and this podcast? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Please do sign up for my newsletter to get access to Sneak Peeks: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

DeWitt Fleming with The Hot Sardines: https://youtu.be/Va68n60B3js?si=ida_ujyhVvRXG_iJ

The February video on Walter's YouTube is here: https://youtu.be/XJOeV0mVcgA?si=IZpS8B1MzXa6CEUV

My Linktree with social media links: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

( 01:45) Wide Open Sky album with Pat Irwin, story of February and old family film

(10:17) February

(12:06) the story of the accident

(24:05) please support the podcast! Buy me a coffee? Thanks!

(24:43) intro to For a Dance

(26:03) For a Dance from Wide Open Sky

(29:44) piano, The Hot Sardines