Larry Edgerton ([email protected]) discusses his love for classical music, his daily routines, and his current book project.

Larry is an author, an omnivorous reader, a classical music expert, an English Professor, and a close friend. He grew up in Iowa, got his B.A. from the University of California-Berkeley, then his Masters from the University of Chicago, followed by a Ph.D. in English with high distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since then, he’s been an English Professor with the Center for Academic Excellence at UW-Madison.

I’ve never met anyone who has a deeper appreciation for the arts than Larry. One art form that has always played an important role in Larry’s life is writing, something he’s been doing prolifically since he was in fifth grade. By the time he was sixteen, he had already written eight novels! To date, he’s finished twenty-five books (four of which were published), over eighty-five short stories (twenty published), several hundred poems (twenty-five published), a dozen movie scripts - four sold and one, Bloodhook (1986), produced. But perhaps his fondest artform is classical music. He started playing violin and learning about classical works as a child. He continued to study music throughout his academic career and now teaches the subject as part of his intensive survey course on the arts.

Larry is one of the few people I know who has figured out how to stay entirely true to himself and his passions. Throughout our conversation, you’ll hear him say that some of his major accomplishments were a result of him simply doing what comes natural to him. He loves writing, so he writes. He enjoys reading, so he reads, and has found a way to do it as a career. And he loves music, so he listens to it constantly and finds ways to weave it into his professional life. When there are so many opportunities to compromise - whether with our careers, relationships, ourselves - it’s refreshing to hear from someone who has stayed true to what he loves.

In addition to talking about literature and music, Larry also shares his thoughts on distractions, his teaching style, and his favorite failure.

00:00 - Intro | 04:56 - Larry’s exposure to music as a child | 08:21 - Why Larry kept studying music through adulthood| 08:53 - Why Larry thinks classical music is difficult for people to get into | 13:40 - Larry’s recommendation for getting into classical music | 15:49 - How music has made Larry a better person | 18:50 - The most impactful books and authors on Larry’s life | 23:06 - Larry’s favorite scene in a book | 25:21 - How Larry managed to write so much during his childhood | 29:31 - How writing helped Larry distinguish himself | 30:49 - Whether Larry ever felt lonely while writing | 31:44 - Larry’s routines | 35:24 - Larry’s thoughts on inspiration and writing | 36:36 - What distracts Larry | 40:17 - Larry’s favorite failure | 43:41 - Something Larry holds to be true, but that very few people would agree with him on | 45:31 - Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Larry

Music credit: Lee Rosevere's "Southside" (adapted) (CC BY 4.0)

Camera: SoundJay's old-style camera