Hello, everyone and thank you for
joining us for this conversation
with a great group of people
from NPR's, From the Top.
I'm Libby Curtis, and I'm
the Executive Director of
the Mason Community Arts Academy
here at George Mason University.
We are the community
arts education division
of the College of Visual
and Performing Arts,
and I'm so pleased to be
here today for this event,
which is hosted by the Mason
Arts at Home initiative,
coming to you from the Center
for the Arts at Mason.
In February, NPR's very
popular From the Top,
was on campus to record a live version of
their radio broadcast from our
very own Center for the Arts.
They also participated in a
visit to our area public school,
along with a lunch and end
discussion with students
and families from our
academy here at Mason.
Today, we are joined by
a wonderful group of
people to celebrate the
release of this episode.
So let me start with the introductions
and I'm going to start with
bringing on Megan Swan.
Megan, can you tell us
about your role at From
the Top and give us a little bit of
background about you and what you do?
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Libby,
and thank you for having us here today.
As Libby said, my name is Megan Swan.
I am the Music Director
with From the Top.
I have been with the organization
for coming up on a year this summer.
It's felt like longer,
but in the best possible way,
it's been a great adventure.
As you'll see, a big
part of it is meeting
absolutely exceptional
young musicians who
inspire me in different ways
every single time I meet them.
So it's been an absolute joy.
My background is, I am a musician
as well, trumpet player.
I've done a lot of work with orchestras,
with artistic programming
and education as well.
The LA Phil, the San Diego Symphony,
the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera,
as well as I have a
background in Pop and Jazz.
I taught a jazz program in Los
Angeles for a very long time,
played trumpet, Kanye West tours.
My resume is very strange,
but it matches up to the work we do at
From the Top because it's all music.
My day-to-day with From the Top,
surprisingly hasn't changed too much
in the strange times that we're in.
A big part of it is recruitment,
so we are looking at finding
these exceptional young people all over
the country and connecting
with them personally.
Connecting with their
teachers, with music programs,
and finding ways to connect
folks in this larger network
to being incredible musicians.
But also, really having
a propensity for arts leadership and
wanting to make a difference
in their communities.
So we're really going
out there looking to
connect with people who share
that point of view with us.
The other part of my job
is the production of
the radio show and making the
sausages, as they would say.
So that includes picking
the young musicians who will perform
on a show, programming the music.
This all sounds very simple,
there's nothing simple about it.
I can imagine.
Then I'm actually being
in recording sessions.
Now, you would think, right now,
because most of it is exactly how
we did our events with you at GMU,
where we have a live
event and it's all in
person and we're really
working together and
then presenting to a live audience.
We can't do that right now,
but we have been moving ahead
with something we've dubbed,
the Blanket Fort Show,
and we have been sending around
a recording studio in a
box to young musicians.
Then we're able to have
virtual recording sessions live
that we're working through.
So our first Blanket Fort Show
goes to podcast on Monday.
If people would subscribe
to From the Top on
your favorite podcast platform,
you'll see that first Blanket Show there.
But going back to the
live event in the day of,
one of the absolute joys of my job
is working with our co-hosts and
absolute creative forces and
collaborating with them and
the young musicians in the dress
rehearsal and the music rehearsals.
There's so much beauty and
music making that really pulls down to
the humanity that we're
trying to get across.
One of the most fun
experiences I've had this
season was truly with two people
that I will be introducing now,
the dynamic duo of Greg
Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe.
The energy that these two
bring just because they're
fun and I think fun loving
people and incredible.
But musically, they go to the root of it.
What is speaking?
What is moving people?
What is the root of this?
What's the music?
I'm not talking about
what it's supposed to be,
but really what is it?
We had a great time.
It was incredible for me to work with
them and see how much they really
opened up all of these young musicians.
So without further ado,
you may have seen them a couple of nights
ago on the finale of Will and Grace,
where they could probably tell
you a little bit about that.
But yes, Greg Anderson
and Elizabeth Joy Roe.
Hello.
Thank you so much, Megan. Hi.
Hi.
Everybody please look left.
We are the Anderson and Roe
piano duo, and we really,
really are touched by your introduction.
It's Liz and my mission to make
classical music a relevant and
powerful force in society.
Working with From the Top,
it's so evident that our mission's
just completely connect so fully.
We had such a transformative
experience as well, working with you,
Megan, but also with all of these
incredibly talented young artists.
I really felt like I got to know them in
a way that it just blew my mind away.
Didn't expect [inaudible] such
a profound experience for me.
I have to say that this was
one of the final events
professionally that we had
before things started getting
canceled and postponed,
and quarantine started being enforced.
I'm thankful that we were able to
have this experience in person.
There's so much that happens from the
school visits to the live taping,
that just still resonate in
my memory and my heart
with so much inspiration.
I'm holding onto those memories now.
Well, without further ado,
why don't we bring the
young musicians out?
Yeah.
We'll start introducing them.
I'm going to just go through their names
and then we'll introduce
them one at a time.
We have Lira, Levi,
Olivia, and Ella with us.
We're going to start with Xavion.
There we go. We got everybody out there.
Wonderful. We're going to ask you
each to tell us a little
bit about yourself,
where you are currently,
what year you are in school,
what age, what your instrument is,
whatever you would like to share with us.
So, Xavion, you want to start off?
Sure. Hi, everyone.
My name is Xavion Patterson.
I'm a 17-year-old [inaudible] I
am a junior in high school and so
next year I'll be a senior and yeah,
I had an amazing time at From the Top.
Wonderful. Let's go next to Ella?
Hi. My name Ella.
I am 12 years old and I live
here in Fairfax, Virginia.
I'm currently in sixth
grade and I play the piano.
Piano, great.
Olivia, I see you down there.
Hi. My name is Olivia Cosio.
I'm currently in New York City,
but I'm from San Francisco, California.
I was originally on the show in
2013 when I was in high school,
and I was lucky enough to return as
an alumni performer for this show
with these other talented musicians.
Wonderful, and Levi?
Hi. My name is Levi.
I'm a chelas from Tucson, Arizona.
I go to University of Arizona.
I'm currently a sophomore.
I had a great experience
with From the Top.
Everybody agrees he's got
the greatest radio voice
ever and should be hosting.
Then finally, Lira.
Lira, we want to give
everybody a little taste
of what to expect from
the live broadcasts.
Can you tell us a little
bit about yourself,
but also introduced the video
clip that we're going to hear?
Yes, my name is Lira Masida,
and I am 10 years old and I
live in Richmond, Virginia.
I'm a fifth grader. The clip
that you're about to be watching
is me and Anderson playing
Polonaise miniaski.
Wonderful.
Unfortunately, I don't think
we got the sound from that.
Megan, do we want to try that again,
or should we just go on and
let them know that they have
a wonderful adventure ahead of them
if they join for the broadcast?
Okay. Great. Well, let's do go on,
and just know that it's
a beautiful performance and we
look forward to hearing it.
I'll tell you a little bit
about that in just a bit.
Right now, I want to bring back Megan,
and Liz, and Greg,
and I'm going to let
everybody transfer out here.
Here we go.
It's going to take just a little bit
to get everybody join. There we go.
Starting to see everybody.
Can you tell me a little bit more
about your experience at Mason?
I know that part of it was a
visit to an elementary school,
a public school in the area.
It was also a conversation and
discussion with our own Mason community,
arts families and students.
But then it was also everything that
went on with all of the performance.
So can you just give us an idea
of what your experience was like.
My experience, as I alluded to earlier,
was extremely touchy, but it was
also an enormous amount of work.
Everybody gave it 150 percent.
We had lots of rehearsals,
we put together all the music
very quickly with each other.
But From the Top organizers,
including Megan,
really helped us to become a
tight-knit family really quickly.
So there are a number of exercises
that we performed with each
other to get to know each other
extremely well, very probing interviews.
Then when we had formed this bond,
we went out to one of
the middle schools in the area and worked
with 300 different middle schoolers,
some on one-on-one, and in other cases,
performances for the entire school.
It was just mind-blowing to see how
energized these middle schoolers were,
by seeing the talented peers that
were these From the Top musicians.
We were really impressed
by the young artists here
because this may have been a new
experience for a lot of them,
presenting for an entire
school of people their age,
and that can be somewhat daunting.
They all rose to the
occasion so beautifully,
were so compelling, and
charismatic, and open-minded.
Then they carried that
energy to the actual taping.
It was such a beautiful experience to
rehearse on these pieces with them,
and then to see how the pieces
just blossomed and how each of
the artists were supporting each
other on backstage and
cheering each other on.
It was such a beautiful
and hopeful signal
of the future of classical music.
When we put these together,
we know that we're going to be
putting the young musicians in
uncomfortable situations for what
they perceive From the Top
experience is going to be like.
Perception can be, "This is very serious.
I'm going to play a piece that I
know very well, I've worked very,
very hard on, and I'm going to perform
it in front of a live audience.
It's going to be recorded and
it's going to be on the radio."
That's pretty cut and dry.
Then we get in touch with them and we
say, "Yeah, you're going to do that.
Don't worry about that part.
Now, bring some other music,
and it could be from any genre.
We're not going to tell you what
genre going to do with it yet,
but just make sure you have
that in your back pocket too."
It truly is getting together,
and as Greg and Elizabeth said,
there was a lot of preparation for
it that we put in their hands.
We give the construct of,
we're going to Edgar
Allan Poe Middle School.
You're going to see a
lot of middle schoolers.
Every time you say middle school,
the eyes bug out a little bit more.
You're very brave.
Yes. Then really ask them,
"Yes, you're going to play this music,
but why should these kids care?"
In nicer terms than that,
but what is it that drives
you to love this music?
What is it that you find interesting,
and then how do you tell that to
a group of students very quickly?
So you create a connection.
This group took it, ran with it.
I think the mind-blowing things that
happened on this particular cohort.
George Mason University,
the environment that you
have there contributed to that.
There's such creativity, and there's
a support team that was working with
us just to get the production going,
but that absolutely translates to all
the work that we got to do together.
So I feel like it really just
was this perpetuating musical,
creative, and community-oriented weekend
that the kids grabbed onto right away.
Anyways, also say, they came up with
everything they were going to do.
They created this program and yet
it went over with flying colors.
I could not believe it actually.
That's wonderful. Thank
you for saying that
about George Mason because
I think this is an example,
creating this platform to stay connected.
We are really excited and proud to be
part of a very thriving
arts community here.
Greg, Sorry to interrupt you,
but please go ahead.
No, I was just going to offer the
visual after one of the
full school performances.
I saw a number of young guys
come up to a couple of the
musicians and give them high fives.
There were swarms of people who would go
up to different instrumentalists
and ask them questions,
and they had no need to.
They could have gone
off to the playground,
and instead they were intrigued
and wanted to explore more,
and wanted to learn more,
and wanted to meet these musicians.
I didn't see that coming.
For the life of me, I was so
impressed with the whole experience.
Well, and also as co-hosts,
we are tasked in a way with
this inherent responsibility
to mentor the young musicians,
and so we just wanted to
remind them of the things
that really matter in music.
Because these are all, I would say,
over-achieving young students that
are probably getting straight A's and
they'll go to Ivy League schools.
They're so used to just focusing on
practicing all day and getting
the technique perfect.
We just want to remind
them that the things that
really translate to audiences,
regardless of their
previous experience with
classical music is the crux
of humanity of the music.
So getting them to that essential thing.
So it was really beautiful seeing
the young artists strip
away maybe some of
their more academic approaches and
get to the heart of the music.
That was so obvious with
this group of kids because,
I shouldn't call them kids,
but they are, I guess.
That was what was so impressive to me,
they're so well-spoken and just poised,
and they're able to communicate
their passion so beautifully.
Can we bring some of them on?
Why don't we talk with some
of the young musicians.
Greg, and Liz, if you
want to lead that along?
Sure. Just as a quick reminder,
that video that played
earlier with Lira and Greg,
you can go to From
the Top's Facebook page to watch
the performance in full with sound.
I believe it will also be
available on George Mason's page,
as well as From the Top's page,
you can find it on Instagram,
and you can listen to
the full performance on
the broadcast of this
week's From the Top.
So who should we talk to?
Maybe we should bring Lira on,
since we're talking about Lira.
Yeah, that's a great idea. She
is the youngest of the group,
she is 10 years old,
and she is a spunky girl,
and I loved playing with her.
I am very curious,
Lira, how you felt when you went to
the high school or the middle school?
Because I don't think you're
even in middle school.
I'm not.
Did it feel out of place?
Were you nervous to see
all these bigger students?
I wasn't really nervous,
but it was a really
new experience for me.
I wasn't really nervous.
Well, I remember we broke
out into separate groups,
and so I watched Lira hold court over
these middle-school-age girls
who are very shy and very quiet.
Lira was all bold and confident.
I hoped that those
students were impressed,
but also inspired by your
energy and your confidence,
which I think is remarkable
for someone your age.
Thank you.
Greg, you're muted.
Lira, sorry about that.
Do you remember any
of your interactions with these students?
Did they teach you anything?
I don't think so. I don't remember
actually learning from them.
What did you teach them?
Good question.
We were split into groups,
and then we could talk with each
other, like weird questions.
One of the questions were,
what do you want to be when you grow up?
I think that was a question.
Most of them said
actresses, all that stuff.
Then I was like, a musician.
I think I taught them actually
to focus on one thing.
I think one of them said they wanted
to be a YouTuber or something.
I wanted them to focus on
things that they really like.
Wow.
That's good advice.
I remember you had a lot
of things you didn't
like during our interview
with you on the show.
Has your world view changed
at all during isolation?
Have you found new hobbies,
or are you still focusing on those
very specific ones like math?
Yeah.
Actually give us two things
that you love and two things
that you really don't like.
For our general audience.
I hate bugs, I hate fantasy books,
I like thick fiction books,
like I have right here.
What book was that?
It was Fever, one that
got a Newbery Honor.
It's realistic fiction.
Wait, what was your second
thing that you love?
Oh, I guess you said math earlier,
but Greg and I love Harry Potter
so we're just going to try
to pretend that that you'd say
toward fantasy. But anyway.
This is great. Why don't
we bring on a couple of
more musicians so that
we can hear from them.
Who would you like next?
Thank you. Let's bring out Xavion.
Okay. Sure.
Hi.
Hi Xavion.
Xavion and I had the pleasure
of working together.
Actually, you and I were
each other's interviewees at the very
beginning of this whole process.
I was just so moved by
how generous of spirit
you are and you just have
this enthusiasm and warmth
that is just infectious.
So welcome to this show.
What were some of
the most indelible takeaways from
your From the Top experience?
What are things that
you'll remember forever?
Yeah. It's funny because
after being on this show,
I went home immediately and I was like,
"Oh my god. That was insane."
There's a connection built between
people because as a performer for me,
I like to feel energy from other people,
but usually I don't get to
connect as much I guess
with the audience that
I'm performing for.
When we did the outreach concert,
I felt really connected to
the middle schoolers and they
would come up to me and be like,
"Oh my gosh, you played in the
concert," and I'm like, "I guess so."
For me, I guess the
biggest takeaway was just
really knowing that people care about
the instrument that I
play and the fact that
I play music and I'm
a classical musician.
That gives me hope for the future
because some people say
classical music is dying,
but from what I've seen, no way.
That's right. Your
instrument, just to clarify,
is the bassoon, and you did
such a beautiful demonstration
for the students.
Then as a performer,
you bring so much thoughtfulness
and maturity to your performances.
What are your hopes?
Because I know that it's an
odd time to be a musician,
but what's your dream?
That's a big question.
I've actually known for a while now.
I want to be a musician, a performer.
Maybe one day I would like to teach,
but overall my grand scheme of my career,
I really want to be the
principal player of
a professional orchestra one day
if I can get there hopefully.
I really want to have a solo career too.
I definitely want to
travel the world and give
recitals and just really open up all of,
I guess, the opportunities for
bassoonists out there because
it's not a well-known instrument.
For me to be able to represent
it to people would be awesome.
I want to ask you,
on the show you talked
about how social media and
a particular app featuring
orchestral music really
changed your musical life.
We asked you, this was a
couple of months ago now,
if you might consider creating some
social media presence of your own.
Have you given that any thoughts
over the past couple of months,
especially now that you're in isolation
and social media is just the bomb?
Yes, I have.
A trend that's been going
around on Instagram for sure,
and even on Facebook a little bit,
people have started doing duets with
their friends and
collaborating on projects,
so I started my own secret
bassoon account where I was
practicing and I let like 20 of
my friends follow and I was like,
this is just so I can get comfortable.
Yeah, I did a duet with
my friend who plays
oboe on Facebook and it's really fine.
It's really nice, especially
after From the Top and seeing
you guys I was like, I should do this.
[inaudible]
[inaudible] I think you really
have the potential to change
other people's lives through your
music and through social media,
so I strongly encourage
you to keep that up.
Thank you.
Megan, can you jump in here just
a little bit and tell us about
a wonderful organization
that supports From
the Top and particularly
this young musician here?
Absolutely. So Xavion
you are the winner of
the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist
Award that From the Top gives out.
One, we have such a
beautiful partnership with
the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
and they are absolutely
inspired by musicians like Xavion
to go out and do just what we're
talking about, change the world.
We believed in you and they
absolutely do as well.
Tell us Xavion what are you going to
be doing with your award
and how is that going?
The award is going towards
a professional bassoon because
now I've hit the age to
where I'm eventually
going to be going into
college and so I will be pursuing music.
But with the instrument that I have now,
it is a nice instrument, it's
a very beautiful instrument,
so grateful for it.
But it just won't take me all the way
there and so I'm using
this money to actually
purchase a professional one
so that I can go all the way
through college and
start my career with it.
I'm so very, very grateful for
this scholarship and I can't
wait for it to change my life.
Yeah.
Why don't we go ahead and bring on
Olivia too because I think she also
has had experience with this
particular organization.
Olivia, can we get you connected here?
Hello.
Hi, Olivia.
Hello, Olivia.
Greg is also an alum of the
Jack Kent Cooke program.
Yeah, all three of us are
Jack Kent Cooke alums.
Oh, wonderful. We got all three
of you at the bottom there.
Olivia, how has Jack Kent
Cooke affected your life?
Oh my gosh.
The foundation.
Immensely. I received the
Jack Kent Cooke Award
the same age that Xavion is now,
when I was just emerging out of
high school and into college.
It really made it possible for me to take
the audition trips in the first place,
to visit the conservatories
I was interested in.
When I actually landed on,
I went to Oberlin Conservatory.
I felt like I really had
a full audition season where I really
could get a sense of the campus.
I felt really confident in my choice.
Then I mean, just the ability
to train at a conservatory
like that and now I'm at
Juilliard has just been life
changing and immensely
joyful and I'm so grateful.
What about your From
the Top experience because
you've had a couple of that now?
You have a bit more perspective on it.
What was the most indelible aspect of
this last time that we all got
together and then just
your whole experience?
What's some of your favorite memories?
Yeah. Some of my favorite memories
From the Top are actually
the outreach that we do.
The first time I did it, I was 17,
and I was a lot more green than I am now.
It completely opened
my eyes to the fact I
wanted to work with kids and I wanted to
eventually have a career in
teaching or integrating
that with my musical life.
I think the thing that was
so wild and just shocking,
coming back to the show was just
reflecting on how much has happened in
my life between the
first time I saw the On
the Air sign and just a month ago.
It was just so touching to see
familiar faces and brand new faces.
Listening back to the episode recently
was just emotional because it was
the last event I did before quarantine
and before this period of isolation.
I'm really grateful that that
was the last memory I have
to hang onto right now
in this period of pause.
Yeah, just so the audience knows,
you are an incredible teacher.
We just were in awe watching
you with the middle school.
First, I saw you work with the,
there was the chorus and you did such
a great job leading that session.
Then when you've got in
front of the entire school,
you just commanded the audience.
You engaged them so beautifully.
Can you share with our audience
here some of the things you talked
about with the middle schoolians
because I believe you asked
a question that got a lot of chatter.
Yeah, it was so funny.
I sing Voi Che Sapete from the
Le Nozze Di Figaro for them.
In short, that's an
aria where a young boy,
[inaudible] is professing his love
to this woman that's
way out of his league.
I was thinking.
I was like, "What would be relatable
to a bunch of sixth graders?"
I started by just saying,
"Okay. Close your eyes.
It's going to be a really
embarrassing question,
but who has a crush on
someone right now?"
The uproar that ensued was incredible.
They were so embarrassed,
but also I hooked them because I
don't think that they expected
me to ask that question.
I think that that was a really
amazing and fun gateway,
not only for them, but for me.
I think that my performance
of that changed a lot.
Just having that in mind and channeling
that in a child, it was so funny.
That's great. That's a great story.
Let's bring in Ella.
Can we bring in Ella now to join us?
Make sure we get to everybody here and
hear all these wonderful
stories. Hi Ella?
Hi.
Hi, Ella, our fellow pianist.
Because of your instrument,
we didn't get to actually collaborate
with you but it was really
fun as your piano elders to watch
the trajectory of just your presentations
and your engagement with not only
your fellow from the top peers,
but just everyone at the middle school.
What would you say is
the biggest thing that you discovered
about yourself from this experience?
I discovered that I can
make friends very quickly.
I think also NPR did a great job with
that because on the first
day that we all met,
everyone was just very quiet.
Then NPR gave us these
engagement questions,
which I think brought us together and
then the little meetings that we had.
I think also going to the middle school
also had us engaged because we were
preparing in front of middle
school audience and so yeah.
That's awesome and the show actually
taped in your hometown, correct?
Yes.
So did you have friends or family
who were able to attend the show?
Yes so I had many friends and
family who came to support me,
which was really cool because after
the concert they all came out and
surprised me which was really nice.
It was flowers and cards and
everything and I really enjoyed that.
Yeah I think we got to
meet a number of them.
You have a very musical family.
Yes.
Are you all isolated together
right now with your family?
Yes we are.
Does that mean your household is
still rocking the music scene?
My sister is in the
basement practicing violin.
Now?
No, not now, at the same time,
I'm practicing my piano and then my
brothers join the guitar or piano.
Wow, that is so cool.
I'm so jealous.
Me too.
It's so fun to have [inaudible]
Elizabeth and I are across
the country from each other,
so we have to make our
music by ourselves.
Your family has got all.
Have you been performing chamber
music for your family, parents?
Yes.
What pieces?
My sister and I are going
to perform tomorrow,
because my sister has
an online performance,
like a teacher has a little group class.
We're going to perform tomorrow.
Actually, Olivia, I'm curious,
because do you play piano as well?
I play just enough to
teach myself my music.
Okay.
Those are not advanced.
But you actually, since your
voice is your instrument,
you could actually create
a full performance whereas
a lot of our artists here,
if you're not living
with another musician,
you're going to be deprived of
that unless you use technology.
Yeah. My nephews are having a lot of
concerts right now from my living room.
Speaking of voices, why
don't we bring Levi into
this presentation here so we
can hear from him as well?
Hi?
Levi.
Hey, Levi.
Hi Levi.
Libby was talking about
your voice yet again.
I know [inaudible].
When you stood up and performed
for the middle schoolers,
that was another poignant moment,
everyone in the 300 that
were watching just gassed
and all of the girls looked at each
other and they had a lot
to say to each other.
So you may have a career in radio,
perhaps you should be working on NPR.
So how have you been spending this
time in quarantine and were there
any points of inspiration
from the top experience that's
affecting you during this period?
Right so still I go to work,
I work in a department store,
so we're still in business obviously.
So I do that and then I run
some door dash on this side and
then just keeping up with musical things,
I still have lessons with my
professor and so on and so forth.
It's really interesting to
see how everyone's been
dealing with staying at home,
you would think that it would
make you want to practice more
but really it doesn't.
It's hard for me to find time
to practice, really. Yeah.
I agree, I feel like there's this
weird pressure that sometimes,
now that we're not either
traveling and touring but we have
to be creating the next great
American novel or something.
Exactly.
Then there's a lot of pressures and
anxieties that come
with the situation that
makes practicing or being creative
a challenge in some ways.
Yeah.
I totally feel you because you're
in college right now, correct?
Yes.
What year and which school?
I'm currently second year,
sophomore at University of Arizona
and I'm studying business.
That's right.
But I still take some
music classes there too.
So now, has this experience,
this pandemic, has it
affected your career goals?
Because you do have
these parallel options,
business and music, so are you leaning
more toward one direction now?
Well, I've given things a lot of thought,
I mean being in a pandemic,
it gives you insight on different things,
you see how things work,
you see how people act.
I don't know, I hope we're not
going to really have anything like
this again in the next
10 years, 20 years.
But as far as my career choices go,
I always think I'd like to go
primarily into business and
then once I'm done with that or
really when I've gone through that,
I can find an application
for music or really
maybe when I reach the peak in
my businesses is when I can say,
hey, you know what?
I can put music in here somewhere or
I can find an application for music.
Did your experience with from the top
and just that whole week
we shared together,
affect your desires in life, your focus?
Definitely did, so before I
had thought I'm doing music,
I'm doing this thing on the side but
going in from the top was really
inspirational in that I got
to meet some new people.
Then I also got to meet one
of my friends that I had
played at an event with
before, many years ago.
I didn't think I'd meet up with him
at that certain point but that was really
exciting and just getting to see
all the kids at the middle school,
express to them that music is
a viable option in the
current day that we live in.
Most of them, that's not what
they think but then when you say,
"hey, what about a career in music?"
They're like, maybe I could do that.
Planted a seed.
Exactly. Well, I think all of
these younger artists are proof
that this is a viable option and
it's a really fulfilling one.
So thank you for inspiring
all of those kids.
Yeah. Thank you very much.
What amazing young musicians, incredible.
Absolutely.
We've been hitting on,
off and on this whole virtual reality
world that we find ourselves in.
It's thrown us all for a curve
and we've the academy are
struggling to try to migrate as much as
we can to reach the community
with online resources.
Listen Greg, can you tell us a little
bit about what your response is
and how you're trying to navigate
through these very challenging times?
Yeah, it's been somewhat
of a surreal experience.
Thankfully, Greg and I wear so many
different hats in the creative realm,
in addition to touring,
we write our music and we
create our own music videos.
This has been the perfect time
to attend to that passion.
Yeah, with the touring,
we can be on the road all the time and
it's hard to think about anything else.
So I've actually been some
what creatively stimulated,
I'm trying to only play the
piano right now for myself,
which I haven't done in years.
Then for the business side,
I'm editing music videos with Liz and
recomposing new music for future tours
but because of just the
wildness of this experience,
we tried to create
a video that honed in on what was
going on in the world right now.
We chose Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah,
a song that has a lot of conflict in it
but it's still an embrace of
love and of humanity in the end.
So we created a video and I think
we're going to show you just
a couple minutes of it.
It's an 11 minute video with
variations and it goes actually
quite dark before there's
this beautiful sunrise where there's
almost a cleansing of oneself.
In the video we're going to show you now,
I think it'll just be
something at the beginning.
I will give you a taste
of the things that
we've been doing to fill our time.
Wonderful. Let's go to the video.
Wow, mine was a bit chopped up but did
everybody get part of that at least?
I think we did wonderful.
You know what it did, it at least wetted
my appetite because I
now want to hear more.
Yeah, you can still see it
on YouTube and on Facebook.
Okay. Good.
The comprehension is comprised of
eight variations and so as
Greg mentioned earlier,
there is a trajectory that takes
you to the nadir of darkness and
then the dawning of
light occurs and we're
hoping that that happens in our society,
that there's something symbolic about
even though there's
complexity and suffering,
that hopefully we can still find
some solace or some light
in this whole experience,
and what was ironic is
we filmed the video way
before we could even imagine something
like this happening last fall.
So when it came time for
us to edit we realized how
relevant it was to this current time.
It's something wild.
Wonderful. We're seeing
from the production team
that the Facebook Live actually
played the video very well.
So that's great. Yeah, and Megan,
anything else that you want to add
from From the Top's perspective of
this time and how everybody
is dealing with it there.
It's been for everyone.
I think we're all in that
shared experience of the
unknown is the scariest part
of it and we are taking
inspiration from folks like Greg and
Liz and from our young musicians
and following our mission to get
everyone's voices out there,
especially young people giving them
the platform is beyond a priority.
It's what we're here to do.
So it's caused us in the organization to
constantly think on a dime and just
coming up with the blanket for show,
I can't tell you because
I've lost count how many
times we had to redirect efforts
and completely change the plan
because it just in response to
what was happening in the country.
So for all that to say,
this has been a wildly creative
and connective time for
our organization and to everyone that we
reach out to and I think
that's a testament to music,
how powerful it is.
It's the language that
can connect us all,
speak to our hearts,
and bring us transcendence
beyond any differences.
So for us it's been the time to
push through and be inspired and
we're just thankful to be connected
to folks like you at GMU,
and to Greg and Liz,
and the young musicians we saw today
are a huge testament
to why we can do this.
Wonderfully put, and Greg and Liz
any last words of offering or advice
for these young musicians as well.
I hope that the young
musicians can use this as
an opportunity to find something
within themselves that resonates.
So they can, because we always encourage
musicians to find their authentic
selves because that's what
resonates with audiences and I
think challenges can have force
you to the heart of that a lot
faster and we're also challenged right
now and there's not necessarily a rush,
but it's a great opportunity
to grow and I hope that they
all do through all of this.
Yeah, and just to have faith in
that which they innately possess,
that their creativity, talent,
optimism will carry them far,
whether they pursue careers in music or
in other fields and that ultimately,
times like these remind
us of the importance
of connection, human connectivity,
and gratitude and the greatest
inventions of humankind,
of which music is
certainly a part of that.
So I am personally grateful
that From the Top has
included us in such transformative
and inspiring experience.
All of you at GMU,
do such great work too.
So we are inspired by every single
person on this live webcast.
You said that's so well, Liz.
Good, and what you cannot see,
what the audience can't
see is that we have
a chat section going on at the time,
at the same time that we're
talking and all of the students
are just saying what a
pleasure it was to work
with all of you and how inspiring
you been for all of us,
me included in this.
So I think we're going
to start to wrap up
here and I just want to thank everybody.
Thank you, Megan from NPR's From the Top.
Greg and Liz, it's been a pleasure.
What incredible musicians and people
and how profoundly you're
touching all of us,
and to our young
musicians, wonderful job,
and we look forward to hearing so
much more from you in the future.
I also want to say thank you
to Mason Arts at Home here at
the Center for the Arts for providing
this platform and allowing
us to have this discussion.
It's been a real pleasure.
I do want to let you know that the
specially the addition of From
the Top live is going
to be on WETA tomorrow,
Sunday, April 26th at six o'clock.
So listening audience, please tune
in and we'll look forward to hearing
that complete performance from
the Mason Community Arts Academy,
from the Center for the Arts,
and from George Mason University.
Thank you so much for allowing
me to be part of this great,
great conversation and I look forward to
having more interactions
with you in the future.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Libby.
Thank you.
Take care, everybody.
