Canadian Conductor Tania Miller guides us through a fascinating journey into the art of conducting. She discusses what’s it like for a conductor starting off when there’s no place to hide and learn what you’re doing except in front of an audience and if an orchestra can be a monster for a young conductor.

Tania explains why she’s so passionate about classical music, how she brings out the best in an orchestra and what’s required to communicate with all the musicians in front of her so that her vision of the music is performed as she imagines it.

She describes what she looks for when she’s recruiting talent and how the audition process for orchestra applicants is highly challenging – how in the bigger orchestras, there are so many people auditioning…sometimes a hundred applicants so, “you have to have something that really stands out then in order to be succeed.”

Tania expresses her conviction about the importance of a music education in people’s lives – how “there’s opportunity to be creative and to soar as a human being through the experience of music.” And she also shares how “I have personally seen as a teacher, the impact that music, school music programs, for instance, have on children, that perhaps have been struggling with self-esteem – suddenly through music they feel that they are special, and they have something to say and they’re part of a team they can feel proud of.”

And we’ll hear a dramatic orchestral excerpt conducted by Tania Miller!

Sync your metronomes for this one!

Mike Cline, Owner and Matt Andrade, Head of Promotions at Vinyl Envy in Victoria, BC share their thoughts about what are the real reasons behind the current revival in vinyl records.

The guys explain why vinyl should never have gone away in the first place and how it was DJ’s who kept it alive in the nineties…by spinning vinyl.

They describe why “it’s just the better format” – how the best part of the music industry was always vinyl and why they play album sides all the time. “We never play any one song at a time…records should be played, at least half of it through. You have to get a feel for what the artist is actually trying to get across.”

They offer a hilarious take on the state of DJ’ing and which five records they’d pick for a desert island.

Mike and Matt live for music - listen to it all day, talk about it constantly, host live bands in-house and offer an incredible amount of profound musical knowledge and insight.

The fun of listening to these guys is that it’s like you walked straight into a live version of the film ‘High Fidelity’ starring John Cusack and Jack Black – and meeting two interesting characters who work in a record shop and express their well-informed opinions on everything musical!

We also feature a track from The Half Moon Shine - a band that’s played live at Vinyl Envy.

Their music knowledge is like their cheeky tag line: “Vinyl Envy. We have it. Do you?”

Let’s find out why by following the rabbit hole down into the influence of early blues singers like Mildred Bailey and Robert Johnson with singer-songwriter and recording artist - Vic Horvath. Perhaps the owner of Vinyl Envy put it best when he said: “Once somebody’s kind of into the blues, they’re there, like they may not come out for awhile.”

In this episode, we learn how Vic got curious about early rock & roll music and how she dug deeper into where it was coming from. She talks about the role confidence – or no confidence plays in being a musician and some of the challenges she’s faced, like: “it’s difficult standing up in front of people and just kind of baring it all for them.” Vic also explains what making it in the music business means to her.

Having a good teacher in the early stages of your career is critical for the development of a young musician and Vic talks about the influence of an early blues mentor who just took one look at her and said: “you don’t want to go the paper route, do you Vic?” Vic’s teacher also gave her this advice: “…you have to sacrifice a lot in relationships and in time and really dedicate yourself if you want to be good.”

Vic clearly took those early lessons to heart and continues to passionately dedicate herself to her art.

We’ll also hear a great track from her new album, ‘West Coast Reign.’

So, when you're lookin' for some sweet soul soothin' guitar bluesin,' give Vic Horvath a listen!

Singer-songwriter and recording artist Elder Sister Plum talks about how she realized as a teen-ager that while none of the traditional career paths made any sense to her – but music always did.

What do you do if you’re a musician and you make a mistake during a song onstage? What does it mean to be a professional musician? And what’s it like for a young musician trying to make a living from music today? In this episode of Staccato, Elder Sister Plum answers these questions based on her own experience and from what she learned from an Artist Development Course at Seneca College.

Elder Sister Plum talks about the reality check offered by her college instructor: “If you want to be independent musicians – you’re going to be broke, so here’s how you can use an SM58 (microphone) and your crappy laptop and you’re living in your basement apartment and this is how you record like that.”

We’ll hear her describe her song-writing process and extraordinary effort to apply to play at fifty different music festival venues. She also shares the unique challenges - but also the ultimately rewarding experiences of playing live music to an audience.

And we’ll also play a haunting track from her latest album: ‘At The Edge of The Woods.’

Elder Sister Plum - her music will hook you in and keep you entranced!

Alexander Dunn, Head of the Guitar Program at the University of Victoria talks explains “how good teaching has now been spread around the world, so now, we can hear high-level players from all corners of the globe” – and: “how it’s not unusual to see an eleven – year old from Shanghai or a twelve – year old from Eastern Europe playing at - or beyond the level of Julian Bream or Andres Segovia in the seventies.”

Alex discusses how the guitar has matured from the early era and the welcome end to what he terms “the Segovia tyranny.” We also talk about how “it’s absolutely imperative for the musicianship of a serious guitarist to always be engaged with other people” like singers, wind instruments, string instruments, ensembles or orchestras.

The modern classical guitar itself is also discussed as it’s changed so much physically in the last twenty-five years with innovative methods of construction. And Alex talks frankly about how today’s classical guitarists, in large, are not prepared for a tough job market “because schools don’t offer curriculum that will tell them what will happen in the real world.”

We’ll feature an exciting clip of Alex and Pepe Romero performing a guitar duo with orchestra!

Get tuned-up with virtuoso guitarist and teacher - Alexander Dunn!

Skye Allen - MC and vocalist with soul and hip-hop band The Spliff Personalities shares what she’s gained from writing songs by herself to what that brings working collaboratively on song-writing with the group – “it’s an interplay now between me and everyone else.”

Drawing from her extensive knowledge of hip hop and “the breath of intelligence behind it as an art form,” Skye talks about how her discovery of it merged with her love of writing and poetry. She offers an insightful profile on why some MC’s like Oddisee “… are like the greatest poets of our time” and what they mean to her.

Learning how to promote yourself is essential to the careers of all musicians but can be daunting for new artists. Skye discusses where she draws the line in promoting herself through social media and how emerging artists learn to navigate the music business works by “basically winging it.”

Skye vividly describes what it’s like to perform in different venues and how she and other members from The Spliff Personalities improvised and recorded the opening theme track for Staccato!

And we’ll listen to Skye and The Spliff Personalities in a live jam session!

Skye Allen – keeping it fresh - keeping it funky!