Timani Podcast for Embodied Musicians

Pianist and creator of Timani for musicians, Tina Margareta Nilssen is interviewed by the amazing cellist Johannes Martens about what Timani really is. They cover subjects such as why musicians should work on their bodies, what coordination really is, the importance of correct tension and much more.

Vibeke Breian is a great musician and associate professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway. Through the last 30 years she has taught a good portion of the young Norwegian Saxophone players, and performed all over the country, both with chamber music and as a soloist. She talks to us about the experiences from teaching, her own education at Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique in Paris and how it was to play under Mariss Jansons in the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.  Vibeke is also a Timani teacher, and tells us what she thinks about her passion about caring for the body as a musician.

Igor Dzakula from Switzerland tells us about his journey from starting to play music at age 19, and then deciding to go for his dream. Igor talks about the obstacles and motivations along the way, and how he reached his goal. If you want inspiration to follow your passion, Igor's story is truly worth listening to!

Miriam Hlavaty is a composer, pianist, Timani teacher and a listening expert. She went through her studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with chronic tendinitis, yet a deep wish to express music. Now at the age of 40, her journey has left her with tons of wisdom that I would have loved to hear as a student myself. She is now an expert of the body and playing music. She writes a blog, gives workshops and lectures to help musicians all around the world to change their physical coordination to prepare them for playing music in a healthy way.

In this 5th episode of the Timani Podcast I am so happy to have an interesting conversation with my great friend and amazing pianist, Ingrid Andsnes. Born in 1978 into a musical family in Karmøy, she grew up almost destined to become a musician herself.   Ingrid is one of those musicians who truly walks her unique path. She is a successful pianist who plays in festivals, collaborates with top notch performers, has recorded multiple CDs and performs as a soloist with orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic and The Norwegian Radio Orchestra.   I am also happy to have collaborated with Ingrid myself a few years ago, when we dug into the basement of the National Library to discover forgotten treasures of Norwegian female composers from 100 years ago.   Ingrid is one of the people I know with the most integrity. She has always had a high standard to who she is and who she wants to be. She is willing to investigate herself and her life, just as she is investigating her musicianship, constantly developing and growing. In this conversation we get into topics like:   ·       Exploring the choice of being a musician ·       How she overcome physical, playing related problems ·       How to combine motherhood and a pianist career with consciously making space for creativity ·       Changing her piano technique at the age of 30+, how that felt and what motivated her ·       How she takes care of her physical, mental and musical health, so that she can have more to give as a mother and musician   If you want, you can listen to Ingrid’s recordings on Spotify, and read more about Ingrid on www.ingridandsnes.com   Enjoy the conversation!

In this episode I am talking to Jay Crossland, who is the Academic director of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine. She has arranged Timani courses for the employees, and made changes in the grading system for children and youths. Jay plays and teaches the French horn, but she has explored multiple instruments on her path to becoming a musician. She also talks about how physically demanding playing an instrument can be, and the necessity for learning the basics of playing a brass instrument, how to make a sound, breathing and warm-ups. Different physical challenges also got Jay interested in what role the body plays in playing music, and as a student in London she discovered new possibilities through Alexander technique. When she later encountered Timani and the possibility to study this part time beside her job, she applied for he certification course, and is now teaching breathing and the physical prerequisites for horn playing with much more confidence. Jay is a true inspiration for musicians who wish to decide for themselves the different things that one can put together into a career, and to you who wish to follow your ideas of what music you want to make!

Laura Snowden is considered one of the greatest classical guitarists in her generation. She was hand-picked by Julian Bream to give the Julian Bream Trust Concert in Wigmore Hall in 2015 and 2017. She was featured on the front cover of Classical Guitar Magazine in the fall of 2016 with an in-depth article describing her as "Linking guitar's past, present and future".  So this is a really great musician that I'm talking to, and she's not only an amazing guitarist, but also an award-winning composer.  In this podcast we also talk about her other projects, as well as some insights she has made about how the body is important to musicians.