Martha Mooke: Electro-Acoustic Violist, Producer, Composer and Educator

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

06/08/24

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103m

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Martha Mooke is a pioneer in the field of the electric five string viola and transcends boundaries as a performer and composer. This episode features insights, stories and music, including from the beautiful album by Carla Patullo So She Howls which just won the GRAMMY® Award for “Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album.” as well as from several of Martha’s solo and collaborative albums. You’ll hear about the unique multi-style string program she’s helped launch at New Jersey City University, and about many of her mentors and collaborators from David Bowie to Tenzin Choegyal to Laurie Anderson to Jean-Luc Ponty. Martha is passionate about the breadth and diversity needed in music education for the 21st century, and it was a joy and an inspiration for me to be able to hear about the arc of her multi-faceted career so far.

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

Can you buy this independent podcaster a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Martha Mooke Website: https://www.marthamooke.com/

Complete Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

Linktree for social media: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

photo of Martha Mooke: Ebru Yildiz

The podcast theme music was commissioned from composer Nick Kold, and you can use the timestamps to navigate the episode:

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:59) electric viola demo with explanation of gear and effects Edmar Castaneda

(09:01) Martha’s creative process

(13:41) clip from Ice 4 from No Ordinary Window

(15:40) Martha’s creative process

(18:42) Multi-Style Strings program New Jersey City University

(35:29) Carla Patullo So She Howls

(38:31) Machine Dreams from Carla Patullo So She Howls

(43:15) Carla Patullo album concert, vocal group Tonality

(43:51) please support this independent podcast!

(44:29) Thru the Walls, Scorchio quartet, Tibet House benefit concerts, Tony Visconti, David Bowie, Philip Glass

(01:01:17) Tenzin Choegyal with clip from Sutras of the Heart

(01:03:50) meditation practice

(01:05:46) different types of electric violins and violas, collaborations with Yamaha

(01:12:17) strings education outreach project in Jamaica

(01:17:18) album Buzz, Metachrosis electronic music production using insect sounds with audio clip, Linsey Pollak, sound design

(01:24:46) Jean-Luc Ponty

(01:33:57) clip from Omotion from No Ordinary Window

(01:34:53) Laurie Anderson

(01:39:09) Martha’s perspectives on her career

Previous Episode

James McGowan: Musical Fusion

June 1, 2024

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82m

This week’s featured guest is James McGowan, a solo and collaborative pianist at home in jazz, classical and improvised musics. The 14-member James McGowan Ensemble has just released its jazz-classical fusion album Reaching Out, the companion to the previous album Reaching In, and this episode features some of the music from this beautiful project as well as from his jazz-fusion group Modasaurus. Besides James’ work as a composer and pianist, he’s also a Theory Professor, and choral direcctor, and has served as Carleton University Chair in Teaching Innovation in developing experiences in the arts on campus and in the community. James is so passionate about sharing his love of music and I trust you’ll find this an uplifting conversation. Besides my role as a podcaster, I’m a violinist, and last year I founded an improvising chamber group with James, Collected Strands, and we’ll soon be releasing a special podcast episode to celebrate the release of our upcoming album.

Can you buy this independenat podcaster a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!

You can also watch this on YouTube or read the podcast, everything linked here to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/james-mcgowan

James McGowan website for all the music featured in this podcast, and his current projects: https://jamesmcgowan.ca/

photo: Kelly McDonald

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:32) Modasaurus jazz ensemble, 4K album, fusing styles

(05:13) clip from Chaconne and Fugue 4K Modasaurus

(06:41) background and clip of Crazy Ceilidh

(09:27) music career advice

(11:42) Reaching Out and Reaching In, tribute to Chick Corea

(16:43) clip from Corean Poultry on Reaching Out

(18:05) intro and clip from Blue Lament, from Reaching Out

(21:10) intro and Elegy from Reaching Out

(26:44) James’ grad school experience, switching from Composition to Theory

(29:31) please spread the word about this podcast!

(30:08) musical dialects, code switching, overtone series

(39:59) teaching music theory

(43:05) Reaching In, spoken word and different art forms

(46:56) Acceptance from Reaching In

(50:50) parenting and music, encouraging children in the Arts

(56:36) dealing with emotions through music

(59:00) voluteer work Discovery Course for Ottawa Mission and Lotus Center

(01:03:27) teaching musicianship, singing, community music

(01:10) dealing with playing injuries, music education, voice and choral direction

(01:18:26) improvisation, Collected Strands

Next Episode

Vahn Black: Celebrating Gladys Bentley

June 15, 2024

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67m

Vahn Black is a vocalist based in Atlanta, and in this episode we focused on her project celebrating Gladys Bentley, including Vahn’s fantastic album Petrichor. Born and raised in Detroit, Vahn grew up in a melting pot of music and this aided her in cultivating her soul-charged, jazz infused sound, marrying her reverence for vocalists like Sarah Vaughn with her love of producers like J Dilla. We talked about her musical education, her career path, her research into Black history and culture, her joy of collecting vinyl and some of her other creative outlets. It was interesting to hear about her contrasting experiences with work, life and music in Detroit, New York and Atlanta.

As a composer Black has lent her artistry to various art mediums from short films to interactive performance art. In 2023 she was selected to perform at NPR's Tiny Desk on the Road Tour stop in Atlanta, and for those listeners who are fans of Vahn Black and those who are discovering her, I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation which is punctuated with her music.

Vahn Black Website: https://www.vahnblack.com/about

Vahn Black's Care Too Much video NPR submission: https://youtu.be/B09NXWSoSWc?si=_f3SeS18fgN_MLB6

The transcript and video version of the podcast are linked here on my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/vahn-black

Can you buy this independent podcaster a coffee? ⁠https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman⁠

Complete Catalog of Episodes: ⁠https://www.leahroseman.com/about⁠

Newsletter sign-up: ⁠https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter⁠

Linktree for social media: ⁠https://linktr.ee/leahroseman⁠

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:36) Gladys Bentley project

(10:58) intro to Too Soon from Petrichor

(12:13) live version Too Soon