Welcome to the very first episode of NYJO’s new podcast series: Talking Points. In this series, our Learning Programmes Manager Beth Ismay will be leading conversations with our young musicians, members and guest artists about the context and content of our current programmes.
Each episode will take as its starting point an individual whose legacy is being explored in a NYJO project, together with one of our Under 18s’ Living Values. These are the five values that members of our Under 18s Saturday programme jointly created to underpin their musical community: Respect, Creativity, Skills, Teamwork, and Courage.
The first episode will turn to the music of Sun Ra, which is currently being spotlighted in the programme NYJO & Cleveland Watkiss present: Sun Ra Reimagined, and the Living Value of Skills. Listen here to Beth’s conversation with two Emerging Professionals, trombone player Taylor and drummer Miles, and the Guest Artist on the project, vocalist Sunshine:
“Sun Ra hated the word ‘freedom’. He believed in discipline and precision; he worked everything out by using equations. People thought that they were playing freedom and it was scientific.” – Marshall Allen on Sun Ra
“A man cannot learn without discipline. All he needed was your time. [Sun Ra] would say: ‘You’ve got a nice sound when you play, but something is missing.’ The other part was spirit […] It wasn’t just playing the notes, but the way you played it. That was from the heart.” – Marshall Allen on Sun Ra
Thank you to Taylor, Miles and Sunshine for their insights. Stay tuned for the further four episodes of Talking Points coming out over the coming months!