This is the full transcript of my interview with Gina Burgess, a Candian multi-style violinist. The podcast and video versions are linked.

Gertrude Létourneau, known to some as Trudy, is a flutist, pianist, singer and a therapeutic musician. This was an episode very much about going out your comfort zone, connecting with your audience, and learning to slow down and enjoy every day.

Adam Hurt is an acclaimed clawhammer banjo player and one of my favourite performers in any style and I was absolutely delighted that he agreed not only to speak to me at length about his life and teaching of traditional music, but also perform for this episode some of my favourite music.

We sat down and he said, "You really have to start taking yourself more seriously as a singer." At that point, only then I realized I'm a singer. I always considered myself, "Oh, I'm a pianist and I like to sing," because to me, singing was so something so big and so beautiful…

Full transcript for interview with Colleen Allen, a multi-instrumentalist jazz musician, who is a versatile and expressive performer based in Toronto, Canada. In this conversation, we talked about her perspectives on evaluating priorities, rising to new challenges, collaboration, teaching improvisation, and the physical challenges of playing so many different instruments. Colleen’s candid warmth and love of music really shine through in this wide-ranging conversation.

Complete transcript of wide-ranging interview with oud and guitar player and teacher Ali Omar El-Farouk.

I was honoured to speak with the inspiring singer, composer, choir leader, pianist and cultural activist Polina Shepherd. This is the full transcript, linked to the episode featuring Polina’s stories from growing up in Tartarstan, in the former Soviet Union, finding a bridge to her Jewish identity through Klezmer music, collaborating with her mentors, founding Yiddish and Russian choirs in the U.K., and many other creative projects. During the episode she sings songs from different traditions, including one of her compositions, and is such a warm and engaging speaker I trust a wide audience will find inspiration and food for thought in her perspectives on education, mentorship, creativity, health, identity, connection and collaboration.

Mike Essoudry:

But yes, I would hear him play guitar, and I would see him play guitar as well, which I do also think is really important, for kids to see people playing music. You can listen to all kinds of music on a stereo and stuff like that, but it is people playing it some. That's a really important thing, is to... up close, to see people playing music, oh, this is the drums, the guitar, and stuff like that, and singing as well, guitar and singing, oh, this is it, this is where it actually comes from. And then, they would have to figure out, "Well, how does it get from there to the thing that I listened to in the box? How does that happen?"

Megan Jerome: “I think with singer-songwriters, I just really, really discourage people from thinking of it as a competition. But I also encourage them to find a way to make a living that feels really great. Because then you have a lot of freedom. Then you have a lot of freedom in your music.”

This is the transcript of my bonus catch-up episode with singer-songwriter and educator Megan Jerome.

Renée Yoxon is a trans non-binary singer, songwriter, jazz musician, and trans voice teacher.

In this episode, Renee shares some beautiful and inspiring performances from their albums, as well as stories from life as a disabled person and how their disability and chronic pain has guided the direction of their career. We talk about their musical development, and their experiences both bad and good as they navigated their musical education (after finishing a degree in physics!). Renée explains the kind of work they do with trans vocal exploration and we dive into all kinds of topics in the usual tangential style of this series.

Stephen Nachmanovitch is the author of both "Free Play" and more recently, "The Art of Is". This was an amazingly inspiring conversation, extremely wide-ranging, including some musical improvisation. I've included timestamps to help listeners navigate the many topics we touched on, including many important artists.

Leslie DeShazor shares valuable perspectives that educators, parents and anyone who mentors children and young adults will find inspiring and thought-provoking. We talked a lot about why kids quit playing music, why so many young adults today have trouble figuring out the direction of their life, and how the educational system can take away people’s innate creativity and confidence. Leslie DeShazor is a multi-style violist, violinist and composer based in Detroit. She teaches students both through the Sphinx Organization and the Detroit Symphony as well as privately. She was named one of thirty Professional Movers and Shakers in the Performing Arts by Musical America in 2019 and in 2022 she released her jazz and R&B album “Journey With Me” which features herself as soloist, bandleader, and composer.

The internationally renowned guitarist Derek Gripper is famous for his groundbreaking technique for evoking the West African kora on the guitar. This is the full transcript which is linked to both the podcast and video. Derek shares his wonderful insights on how we listen to and learn music, the influence of Montessori and Alexander Technique in his life, his reflections on important collaborations in his career and his perspectives on changes that have been imposed on creators and performers. He also plays guitar several times as part of the episode.

“Elaine Klimasko: “But I do say to all of my students though, if you think that playing in a symphony orchestra is secondary, that's the worst thing you could be thinking because the joy of orchestral playing, and I'm sure you feel the same way, Leah, is, there's nothing in life to me that compares with that. When you're playing one of those grand symphonies and that buildup a crescendo and you hear the horns and the French horns... I mean, I'm just covered in goosebumps. In my seventies still, and I don't know of any other profession that makes you feel that way. Maybe a doctor delivering a baby. I don't know. But it's pretty special.”

This is a complete transcript of my conversation with Gary Muszynski, who is a versatile percussionist and entrepreneur. This episode delves into his experiences playing samba in Brazil, his discovery and exploration of the handpan, and some of his work as an educator in both community music projects and as an innovator using music in the corporate world. We also talked about his beautiful album Roots and Wings - Medicine Music, which won the Gold Medal Best of Show in the 2021 Global Music Awards and features 25 master musicians from 8 countries.

Aaron Schwebel is a wonderful violinist, and has a lot of insight into the life of a musician. This is the full transcript of our conversation, which is available in both video and podcast formats, and there are bonus episodes that are linked as well.