Pioneering music thinking and first online interview
This is a personal story about my first online interview at the end of the 1990s. It is a trip back in time with original sound snippets from the interview with famous conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim in the Opéra Royale at Versailles. Find out how we did this technically and what questions the maestro was asked that came from the internet.
This is another special episode where I experiment with different kinds of storytelling.
This time, it is also about pioneering the internet and music thinking. You hear original sounds from 1997 that might sound a bit bumpy but have historical value. It shows unreleased material from a great musician, an empathic, sympathetic person in a relaxed, collegial atmosphere.
Show notes
Europa Concert 1997: https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/europakonzert-1997-chateau-de-versailles-paris-daniel-barenboim-conductor-and-piano-berliner-philharmoniker-ravel-mozart-beethoven
Daniel Barenboim Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim
Show support
Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’:
Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show!
Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com
Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.
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29:32
Science, Music and Regulating Emotions with Hauke Egermann
What can people and organisations learn from science and music? Why should we care? Are there universal mechanisms that are valid all over the world to all human species? Or is everything an individual experience?
Today, we talk with Hauke Egermann, Professor of Systematical Musicology at the University of Cologne.
We speak about universal mechanisms that are valid all over the world; we learn from research with an isolated culture in Congo, the Pygmies from Mebenzélé, that refuse to practise negative music and have different songs to regulate their emotions. Songs against fear, anger, or, among others, music to protect hunters in the rainforest.
How do they respond to music they have never heard or connected with? What does it evoke, and how does this relate to Canadian Indigenous people and the listening patterns in the Western world?
Hauke also shares the Music Date concert with us, where the audience's emotional reaction is tracked in the first tutti part of a concert to then separate and assign them to eight different mini-concerts around one emotion based on their responses.
Show notes
Connect with Hauke: https://musikwissenschaft.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/en/mitarbeiter-innen/professoren-innen/hauke-egermann
Mentioned paper about universal emotion-related psychophysiological responses: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01341/full
Google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=de&user=aSSMPDoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
Related podcasts:
A love letter to sound with Nina Kraus: https://musicthinking.com/a-love-letter-to-sound-with-nina-kraus/
Standing still with Alexander Refsum Jensenius: https://musicthinking.com/standing-still-with-alexander-refsum-jensenius/
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59:22
Everything about Orchestration with Robin Hoffmann
A few episodes ago, I asked the question What is Orchestration? This was because I saw a lot of different orchestrators, nota bene, non-musical orchestrators with job titles like Design Orchestrator, Value Network Orchestrator, Data Orchestrator and Innovation Orchestrator, just to name a few. This is an ongoing research, and I am writing a paper about what people do when they say they are orchestrating.
But today, we flip the side and talk with a music orchestrator, or, shall I say, an original orchestrator?
We speak with Robin Hoffmann, a prize-winning composer, arranger and orchestrator from Berlin. We talk about orchestration in music and the difference between composing, orchestrating, arranging and conducting in Hollywood films, games and concerts.
This is a deep dive into the music industry and all its facets and an inspiration for everyone orchestrating something.
Robin shares with us many insights and a great story.
Show notes
Connect with Robin: https://www.robin-hoffmann.com/
Show support
Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’:
Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show!
Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com
Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.
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1:00:43
Inspiring Books on Music Thinking
Let’s talk about books today. What was the last book that inspired you? Was it a novel, a non-fiction book, a design book, a music book or a cookbook?
In this episode, I share three books that inspired my sound way of thinking, experiencing the world with an open ear and what has led to developing music thinking, the framework, the jam cards, the book and the podcast.
I will briefly discuss Nada Brahma by Joachim Ernst Berend, The Soundscape by R. Murray Schafer, and The Glass Bead Game, the prize-winning novel by Hermann Hesse. These three books directly and indirectly influenced the ideas in The Power of Music Thinking.
But my book also influenced another author, and he used parts of the music thinking framework described in the book to explain his idea of rebels in digital development in Belgium.
Today I speak with Geert de Mol, a CDO for the leading Belgian Bank for 16 years, during their development of ‘the best app in the world’. Geert is a music lover of rock and pop, and he shares with us how music thinking and the book helped him to pen his story.
Show notes
Connect with Geert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geert-van-mol-1779812/
Music from the world of Anathem: https://soundcloud.com/ztutz/sets/iolet-music-from-the-world-of-anathem
Show support
Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’:
Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show!
Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com
Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.
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48:08
Sonic Branding with Willemijn van Hussen
Today we speak with Willemijn van Hussen - a trained concert pianist, strategy consultant - co-founder and owner of Sonic Branding agency TAMBR.
We talk about the power of our senses and how sound can make a difference in recognising a brand and what it stands for. Willemijn shares with us insights from an audio branding project, with a sonic logo, brand anthem and different sound assets that are used strategically.
Among others, we hear the brand anthem of Lazy Vegan and how this might be different from other brands in the industry. Willemijn gives tips for students who work on sound assignments and for brands that want to make a start with sonic branding.
Show notes
Connect with Willemijn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willemijnvanhussenfuhring/
TAMBR Sonic Branding Agency: https://www.tambr.nl/en/
Steve Keller Audio Alchemist: https://musicthinking.com/blend-sound-science-with-sound-art-to-make-sound-decisions-with-steve-keller/
Show support
Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’:
Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show!
Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com
Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.
What can the dynamics of music teach us about navigating today’s complex world?
The Power of Music Thinking podcast dives deep into this potent analogy. Host Christof Zürn, founder of MusicThinking.com, explores how concepts like listening, tuning, rhythm, and improvisation translate into powerful tools for business, creativity, and leadership.
Through engaging interviews with global thought leaders, designers, entrepreneurs, and artists, discover practical ways to improve collaboration, spark innovation, and lead teams more effectively. Learn how to listen differently, find your team’s rhythm, and embrace improvisation in the face of uncertainty. And there are special episodes around a theme or experiment.
For anyone fascinated by the intersection of creativity, strategy, and human dynamics – subscribe to The Power of Music Thinking.