Today is a special episode of the podcast, not just because of the 50th episode anniversary but because there will be no guests today. Instead, you'll be immersed in a unique sound walk experience, a journey of sound I recorded in July in Italy. This is not just a regular episode; it's a sonic adventure. 

Open your mind and listening brain because, as we learned in the last episode with Professor Nina Kraus, you can only hear what you know. 

But now let's get on our trip or, better yet, the sound walk of the summer.

Every two years, my wife and I, visit the Art Biennale of Venice. It's not just a visit, it's a learning experience, an inspiration, a ritual about creativity in the broadest sense. It's about un-learning, re-learning, and encountering new things that make you rethink. And this time, I brought my recording device with me on a sound walk through the Biennale of Venice. 

Be my guest while I was walking with my ears and microphone open on this unique sound walk.

Show Notes

• David Rothenberg website and books: http://www.davidrothenberg.net/ 

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We don't just hear; we engage with sounds. Our hearing is always on, and we can't close our ears the way we close our eyes, yet we can ignore unimportant sounds. Making sense of sound is one of the most challenging jobs we ask our brains to do. But how does this work?

Today, we speak with Dr. Nina Kraus, scientist, inventor, book author, Professor of Neurobiology at Northwestern University, and Director of BrainVolts. 

Nina's research reveals that our daily lives, filled with sound, play a significant role in shaping how our brain interprets the sounds we hear. This influence can be both positive, as seen in musicians and bilinguals, and negative, as in the case of concussion, hearing loss, and language disorders. Sound, therefore, leaves a profound imprint on our identities. Nina talks about the partnership of sound and the brain and how sound processing drives many of the brain's core functions. 

To give you an idea of our conversation, there is a short, surprising sound example in the intro of the episode that will make you wonder!  Because we only hear what we know, we have to hear and listen a lot to better understand our world and ourselves.

So, relax and join our conversation about exploring sound and listening! Or how Nina also talks about her work and book: It is a love letter to sound.

Show Notes

• Brainvolts website www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu 

Show support

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Today, we speak with Ron van Leeuwen, who straddles two creative worlds. By day, he is an architect and urban designer, shaping physical spaces. By night, he transforms his creative energy into music, composing pieces that the 55-piece Metropole Orkest has recorded. His newest composition, Architones, is also available on Spotify.

Show Notes

• Connect with Ron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-van-leeuwen-65b30723/ 

Show support

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How are your habits getting in the way of being more creative? How does self-observation make you a better performer? And how can touching from a distance help you with performance problems?

Today, we speak with Jennifer Roig-Francoli - violinist, healer, coach, author and creator of The Art of Freedom Method for Conscious Living and Masterful Artistry.

We discuss methods like the Alexander technique, the Suzuki method, the mother-tongue method, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) and how they benefit everyone who has to rehearse and perform, whether in music or business.

And Jennifer shares her experiences as a solo artist, the challenges of keeping up great performances, and insights from her #1 Amazon bestseller, Make Great Music with Ease! Where She provides deep insights and lasting solutions to the challenges musicians face, including pain, performance nerves, and emotional stress.

Show Notes

• Connect with Jennifer: www.ArtofFreedom.me

Show support

Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’:

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Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.

Dr. Mariana Wagner, an astrophysicist, songwriter, podcaster, and composer of immersive live shows about sound and space. 

We learn about her journey that led her from studying oceanography, working as a songwriter for German Schlager stars and becoming a doctor of astrophysics.  

Mariana also brought some sound examples to the show. We hear a conversation between Saturn and one of its moons, an excerpt from the sound files on the famous golden record that has accompanied the Voyager since 1977, and the grooving sound of moving plasma from the sun. 

Show Notes

• Connect with Mariana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-mariana-wagner-2a241a75/ 

Show support

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How cool is this? You develop a multisensory product to let people experience your ideas about music thinking and then someone comes along and uses your product for something completely different.

So today, we speak with Anita Prestidge, an English trainer with experience in theatre, directing, and education. When Anita picked up the cards, she had another idea of what to do with these cards and developed her own unique method. So, if you want to speak better English while using the Jam Cards, connect with Anita online.

• Connect with Anita on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-prestidge/ 

Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’!

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Today, we are in Sweden, and we speak with Carolin Seiferth - a PhD student at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, where she does research on the island of Öland.

Carolin combines scientific research with music to raise awareness about sustainability issues around the Baltic Sea. In this way, she inspires the audience to take action to address challenges related to a changing climate.  Carolin shares some insights with us about her research and the creative production that led to the musical piece “Dialogues” as part of the Baltic Sea Festival Science Lab.

We talked about her creative and dialogue-based approach with local actors in different workshops and how she transformed the results of her investigation into a poem that was a central part of the musical composition. 

We reflect on the different sound qualities of rainfall and her curiosity to explore other ways of combining art-based approaches with scientific research in the future to create opportunities for engaging with sustainability questions on a much deeper level.

• Connect with Carolin on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/carolin-seiferth-a64333170  

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The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation.

Welcome to the Rewind 2023 of The Power of Music Thinking podcast, where I have conversations with extraordinary people from all over the world who are also musicians or use music in the broadest sense of the word to learn, teach, inspire and collaborate meaningfully. 

This year, we had 15 episodes, and virtually, we travelled from Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where all podcasts are recorded, to Berlin, Braunschweig, Zürich, London, Oslo, New York, West Virginia, Nashville, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai and New Zealand.

What were the themes?

We had some unique themes and zoomed into subjects like health, sound healing, city policy, political journalism, sonification of data, sonic branding, storytelling, AI, and photography.  

more on musicthinking.com

Today, we are in Nashville, and we speak with Shain Shapiro - a globally recognised thought leader at the convergence of music, culture and urban policy. 

Shain is the CEO of Sound Diplomacy - a global research and strategy consultancy, and he also leads the non-profit Center for Music Ecosystems, which commissions research to help solve local, national and international challenges using music as a tool.

Shain has authored reports on the role of music in cities, tourism, the nighttime economy, real estate and recovery, including the most extensive guide to music and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in partnership with the United Nations. 

We are talking about his brand-new book, This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better, which was published in September 2023. 

Note: Unfortunately, there was a very poor Wifi, so please excuse the quality.

• Connect with Shain on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shainhouse/

Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’!

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Listen to an incredible sonic project by a Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE)  graduate: Louis Moeckel. Hear the story about the supply chain of the production of a Toy Dolphin and the creation of research into an artistic Vinyl record. If you like Techno and the Berghain Club in Berlin you will like this. See the show notes to pre-order this unique Vinyl record.

Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’!

1. Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show!