Daisy Jopling - Fiddling Around - I Took a Hike

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
So this is the Reeves BrookTrail in Harrowman, and it is
somewhat challenging.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Harrowman.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
New York Harrowman, new York Harrowman State Park,
and it is somewhat challenging.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Exciting.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
And I want everybody to know.
I've got sparkly sneakers whichare silver on one side and gold
on the other.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
You definitely do so.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Perfect hiking sneakers.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Daisy Jopling, are you okay with being recorded on
a podcast?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, I'm so not only okay, I'm thrilled to be here,
really honored, honestly.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, there goes that liability.
This is.
I Took a Hike.
I'm your host, Darren Mass,founder of business therapy
group and park time wildernessphilosopher.
Here we step out of theboardrooms and home offices and
into the great outdoors wherethe hustle of entrepreneurship
meets the rustle of nature.
In this episode, we take aspirited journey with Daisy
Jopling, a classical and rockviolinist and founder of the

(00:56):
Daisy Jopling Music MentorshipFoundation.
Daisy is a wildly successfulmusician and a free soul with a
huge heart for educating andinspiring through music.
Venture along this upliftingand challenging trail as we face
new heights, all while dawningsparkly gold and silver chucks.
Daisy is one tough andmotivated free spirit with lots

(01:18):
of positivity.
This hike was spiritual,energetic and filled with
creativity.
When I took a hike with DaisyJopling, All right.
So I want to hear why you wereso spiritual and what brought
you there.
So let's start as far back asyou want to go.
Who are you and why are youhere with me, Other than a high

(01:43):
recommendation?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
From such a dear friend of us both, one of the
most beautiful inside and outmen on the planet.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Jay Silliman.
Anyway, thank you, jay.
I'm going to just actuallybecause, of course, I've lived a
lot of years and a lot ofamazing experiences and I'm just
going to go with what I feelinspired to share with you.
Sure, I have a wonderful familyvery close to my family.
They're all in England, apartfrom my sister who lives in

(02:13):
Norway, and my family are amixture very artistic though
it's going to say a mixture ofprofessional lawyers, teachers
and artists, but, like tons ofartists, my sister and my
brother I just have two siblingsare both professional musicians
.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
So all three of us have become really successful
professional musicians.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
My sister plays the viola, so for anybody out there
that's like a little bit biggerversion of a violin, sounds a
little bit deeper.
And then my brother plays thecello, so we're actually what
they call a string trio.
Wow, yeah, you're a little theviolin viola and cello play
beautifully together, so we'vehad a string trio all our life.
We don't.
You know, I live here, mybrother still lives in London
and my sister in Norway, so wedon't play a lot together, but

(02:53):
we have a lot in the past.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
You can play over Zoom, although we'll clip the
sound.
Yeah, do your parents have amusical background?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yes, both of them, my father.
They both played music as achild.
They didn't become professionalmusicians, which, interestingly
, could you know?
Obviously they had this perfectmixture of loving music and
encouraging us, but maybe not, Idon't know.
Sometimes a few parents areboth professional musicians.

(03:19):
The last thing you want to dois music, because they play.
Whoa, that's a free, you'reokay.
Yes, I'm fine.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
All right, be careful with the foot.
I can't these sparkly shoes.
Let the record show.
Here You've got sparkly shoes,all right, sparkly shoes don't
have the best grip, but I willwatch out for you.
Now you fell gracefully.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Kind of.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Oh, this is.
This is part of life.
Sometimes you stumble and youpick yourself up and you move
forward.
That's right, that's right,let's move forward, all right.
So I agree with you Sometimesyou don't want to be like your
parents.
Yeah, all right and even coolrock musicians.
Their kids don't really want tobe part of what they do.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes, Sometimes we're like it depends.
It can go either way.
But and you know, if yourparents, either they're working
really hard and struggling andyou don't want that, or they're
really famous and then it'sdifficult to maybe walk in their
steps, I don't know.
But still, my parents obviouslyhad this perfect recipe for
three successful and happyprofessional musicians children.
So, yeah, so my parents mydad's mom was a professional

(04:20):
singer and my dad's grandmotherwas a professional artist back
in, I guess, late 1800s, when infact, in England she was the
first ever female painter tohave a painting, for example, in
the National Portrait Galleryin London.
Oh, wow, okay.
So she was very much like shewasn't a suffragette but kind of

(04:40):
part of women's empowerment.
You know, just to give honor toall the women who've come
before us, how are all the womenof today who are, and all the
men of today who are feeling?
All of us are feminine,beautiful, compassionate, love
side.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Anyway, so the talent just rained down from your
parents From my parents, fromyour grandparents, your great
grandparents, my aunt.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
For example, my dad's sister also was a professional
violinist and apparently when Iwas three years old I actually
don't remember, but my mom saidI was continuously saying to her
I want to play the violin likeAunt Louise.
Louise is still alive.
She's like my lifelong mentor.
Oh, wow, yeah, she's mygodmother.
We are so close and so this wasshe, was my big inspiration.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Hey listener, thanks for hiking along with us.
Discover more episodes atike-toka-hikecom, or to
recommend an adventurous guest,apply to be a sponsor, discover
books along the trail, or tosimply drop us a line.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I had a fantastic teacher just where we lived,
amazing teacher Olive Cox, whowas wonderful with children.
You know, it's so importantwhen you start.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
I'm British of a name , Olive Cox.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
I never thought of that.
I never thought that there's anOlive and a Cox, which is a
type of apple you know Englishapple.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
I never thought of that yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Well, you need an.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
American, to point that out.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, that's right.
We do need things on theoutside to point out stuff about
us.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, same, although I think I fear that the outside,
looking to the Americans, wouldnot have a great opinion lately
.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
It all depends on who the person is and if they watch
certain news outlets or don't,or actually no people here, or
come here, or yes.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
The manipulation of society.
Yeah, Fantastic.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, before I came here which was very interesting
to me I'd been to places likeAfrica, west Africa, ghana and
met people who really I thoughthad a very distorted view of the
United States.
I was thinking the whole ofthem.
You know US looks like Miamikind of thing.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
I'm trying to tell it does not, it does not.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
They're like no, you're just telling us that
because you think you knowBecause you went to Miami.
Yeah, so basically I'll alsosay I'm thinking I've got a more
of an understanding of what theUS is like.
But when I arrived in the US 17years ago I was interested and
really quite surprised to seethat I still had this.

(07:08):
You know, us markets itself asa very I don't know how to
generalize here, it's sodifficult to generalize but like
this land of opportunity, thisland of great wealth, and I was
surprised when I came to see somuch poverty and problems
actually.
So even I, just coming fromEngland, Well, poverty and

(07:28):
problems are everywhere,everywhere.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
There isn't a single place on this planet that
doesn't have extreme wealthfollowed by extreme poverty.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Absolutely, that's human nature, that's society,
that's the animal kingdom,definitely where we're at, you
know, and this kind of moreextreme society we're living
right now, yes, well, maybe ithas to be like that, you're
right.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, extremes always get more extremes, right yeah?
It's in a way natural selectionright.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
The animals that have grown the biggest fangs in the
most power seem to win.
And, in their same exactspecies, those that didn't seem
to have died out Right.
We see it as much as we like toseparate ourselves from the
animal kingdom, we are justanimals, that's right.
So, and you do see it weedingitself out, naturally.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
With all walks.
Yes, In these days it's yourwealth poverty line.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
As your natural selection Right.
It used to be the fittest orthe most athletic.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Right.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
And then it pivoted to the nerdiest right in the
most the biggest brain forbusiness, yes, and now it's
pivoting.
Like it or not, it's aseparation between wealth and
poverty.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Do you.
I feel that so much in ourthoughts and in our love for
ourselves.
So the more we actually areloyal to ourselves which maybe
you naturally are, but I feelI'm working on that the more I
do things in a loving way formyself.
I'm not talking about a selfish, like I'm doing it for myself
and therefore not for somebodyelse.

(08:53):
I'm talking about the.
You know self-care is a word,of course people use a lot, but
I'm talking about I'm making theright decision for my, my real
happiness, that kind of livinglife.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Well, that's kind of why I'm doing this.
Yes, I have always had afascination in other people's
stories.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Because for a while I thought mine was so bland until
I realized that maybe it isn'tSure, but I want to hear what
put other people where they are.
So you are a very successfulperformer, composer and
violinist right.
I want to know why.
What got you there and whatmistakes did you make along that
trail?

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
And that essentially put you in the position you're
in, because very rarely will youhear someone who's just born
into success.
I would say I'm not talkingabout.
Their parents are wealthy, ormommy and daddy or yeah are
super famous, or they were borninto success.
No, success is not the familyyou were born into.
Success is personal.
Yes, right, it's individual.

(09:55):
Yes, sure, you could be given asilver spoon and a golden cup.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
But that doesn't mean you're happy, that doesn't mean
you're balanced.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
That doesn't mean you're going to be.
You know that, could you know?
I do right now, and everythingis for me just a perspective,
what we're going through, how wesee life, in that, from that
moment, there's no ultimatetruth.
That's how I see life.
So my perspective.
I've had a lot to do with theMiddle East recently, a lot of
business over there and makingfriends over there and therefore
talking about their culture andour culture and, for example,

(10:23):
in Qatar.
This is a very wealthy countrywhere each Qatari is given not
only free healthcare, but theycan even have operations in
different countries and it's allpaid for.
They're given a free plot ofland, they're given a $350,000
to build a house.
Oh, wow.
I think it's like a loan.
That's kind of like the EIDL,like you have to pay it off,

(10:44):
very little interest over thelong, I don't know, and they're
given a job, so like that'sguaranteed for every Qatari.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
So they're born and that's just so, you know.
As an American, I would havenever known that.
So every Qatari is born into anestablished life right.
Human basic need.
Shelter Absolutely Right, then.
Food, water, fire, whicheverorder you want, yep, right.
But if you are given shelter,you are given comfort, you have

(11:09):
less worry.
Yes, so that's a brilliant wayfor the government to Maybe,
maybe you know what's beeninteresting in this.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
I've got very close friendship now with a Qatari
there.
He's the best, one of bestcinematographers in Qatar, so
he's an artist and anyway it'sbeen very interesting having
these long talks with him.
Because he said Daisy, becausethe thing is that they kind of
also are repressive.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
So it's not.
Well, that was the pause in mybrilliant way too, I was going
to say brilliant way to controlits people.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Beautifully said.
You actually let me into that.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Beautifully said.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
So thank you.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
But yes, you want to control your people, give them
basic needs and put them in debtemotionally, morally and
physically by controlling theirhome, the most basic need for a
human being, so interesting.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
So my friend's called Yastar.
He was like Daisy this is toxic.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Toxic.
Yes, I can see that it soundsgreat.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I think it's so good for me or us to hear that
we need struggle.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Those that have found success and truly feel the
balance of success have had thestruggle and that is my pursuit
here is to find out what wenthorribly wrong in your life, to
make it so you had the fuel todrive, the resilience, fortitude
to push past all of that andrise to the top and, in your

(12:43):
case, be a performer.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yes.
So a couple of things, and Ifind this very interesting.
I do I, you know, want toanswer your question, but like
there's a big movement, whichI'm also part of, I feel, which
is saying we used to say, when Iwas growing up anyway, I had a
not my religious background, butI was growing up by my parents
who had a religious backgroundthemselves, they were trying to
move away from it, but likeCatholic they, you know, my mom

(13:06):
was brought up in a convent,went to school in a convent,
catholic convent so, so she waswanting to move away from it.
So I wouldn't say I really ever.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
They're just upbringing, but I'm going to say
your mom fell that the celibacyact.
Just taking a guess here.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
She wasn't trying to become a nun, but the school she
went to was run by a con.
You know was part of a conventrun by nuns, so she Did she get
the ruler on the knuckles?
She yeah, I mean in a nutshell,she was stunning.
All these guys were after herand the nuns, like, were really
annoyed that she had all thesebeautiful suitors and like as
they should be.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's not very nun like.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
You're far too pretty to be intelligent.
You could never go touniversity, oh wow.
I told her that, like I mean,it's crazy stuff Anyway.
So so she went through that.
So, but still I feel like someof these no pain, no gain, you
know, some of these things thatI now I feel like we're moving
away from me in a good way, likefollow our bliss.
I do totally kind of love thatand live by that blissful

(14:07):
inspiration.
I also see that my pain, I'veneeded to experience darkness
and I still do Like my darknessis kind of as important as my
light.
They both fuel me and propel me.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Well, it's yin and yang about you out.
So what are?
What is some of this?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Some of this darkness .
I love to be creative andgrowing up in my particular I'm
not saying this is what happened, but in my particular household
and not you know, I love myparents like this is no judgment
.
This is all just what I needed.
My family very stronglybelieved that, musically,
western classical music was ofsuch a high I don't know if they

(14:50):
would use the word vibrato Imight now, you know such a high
level of intellectual andemotional content that this was
very good for a child'sdevelopment.
Okay, but rock music and every,every other kind of music we
listen to a bit of jazz was not,so I was not all around, of
course.
I didn't listen to any othermusic.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Of course.
So let's look at all of thefamous rock and roll musicians,
100% of them that were also toldthat rock will rot their brain.
Famously.
Corn their struggle.
Yep, if you like, corn.
Their struggle was they wereonly allowed to listen to
classical and boy, look at whathappened.
They made corn, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yes, I need to connect with them.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
You can connect with them.
I want to take a hike with them.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Okay, because that would be cool.
Who knows what's going tohappen.
Yeah, life is full of fun.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
And here we are going up some extreme staircase here.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Nice, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
I don't know if I can even get this to represent it.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Look at those beautiful roots though, oh my
God.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, this is a vertical, so you ready.
Yeah, it's probably about 3,400 feet straight elevation.
Great, all right, so back torock plight.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
So for me, I wanted to, forexample, write my own music.
And you know my parents, mynothing, or my surrounding in my
musical classical music worldthat I was in since three.
Nobody's trying to like doanything bad for me, but I
really wanted to write my ownmusic and they were telling me

(16:16):
very clearly your music willnever be as great as like Bach,
beethoven.
You know these, these geniuses,and boy what a lie, that was.
So kind of don't try.
And so I felt this incrediblerepression and I say, as I say,
they never meant it, but thatthat has been something I'm

(16:41):
still working on.
I feel like my whole life I'vebeen working on that, you know
Well so I could understand thatit's what your parents tell you
not to do.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Fuels the child to do exactly the opposite.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Hopefully.
You know, of course, somepeople right.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Your parents told you not to sneak out.
You can't go to that party.
Guess what you did?
Yeah, right, but that's how youyou grew and you experimented
the most.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
That I'm happy to hear because I feel it's really
important for us to acknowledgethat.
We maybe all know people whostill say well, let's say, daisy
, you're so lucky you had theseparents who you know loved you.
My parents, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah, and they're still in
this kind of mindset of Vicodin, I guess.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, Well, listen, love.
Love is complex.
It's so beautiful.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Look at this what do you say it's a little?

Speaker 1 (17:37):
bit.
Oh, that's a lanternfly.
That's not beautiful, oh really, yeah, we have to squish them.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Oh, why what?

Speaker 1 (17:42):
The lanternflies.
They destroy fruit bearingtrees.
Grapevines yeah, they're aninvasive species with no
predator Really, but they arebeautiful, yes.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
There you go.
Beauty coupled with.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
So I want to pay special note, give a little more
preview of Daisy, despite beingtold not to follow rock.
It's not an art form, right, itis not classic, it is not
beautiful.
You put out a fantasticcompilation, thank you.

(18:18):
With Baba Riley yeah.
With Behind Blue Eyes and manyother classic rock legendary
songs yeah, and you did it yourway, yes.
With violin instrumental yeah,masterfully, beautifully, thank
you.
Thank you, as if you were bornfor rock.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, when I first started playing that music, I
was like I feel at home.
It was amazing.
It was one of those momentswhere I felt more at home than
ever.
Maybe I don't know.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, there you go, interesting.
It's a lesson for us parentsLet your kids experience life.
Or maybe, if you do want themto go into rock, tell them not
to rock.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Exactly, they'll probably, they'll probably catch
you.
You know, yeah, when you try to.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Well, did they?

Speaker 2 (19:07):
So I mean when I first told my parents, my
parents, no, didn't know who thewho were.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Even being British.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Did your parents live under?
Oh convent, that's right.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
But also, you know, we had no television.
I'm growing up in a time withno phones, no internet, no
computers.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay, so you were closed off to the outside world
Extremely and you had mentionedbefore you were in the middle of
nowhere.
Yeah, your nearest neighbor wasforever, yeah, away.
By the way, I am reallyimpressed you were able to
maintain composure, hike that,that huge elevation along a
stream with lots of life.
You are not out of breath.

(19:48):
And you did it all whilewearing sparkly gold and silver
chuck tailors Impressive, I mustsay, very impressive.
And we're back on the whitewith red square.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, there you go, beautiful.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
So we did the stream path, just so we could see the
beauty and absorb it.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yes, again, I will say this is the most challenging
hike that I have gone on on anepisode of I Took a Hike.
Nice, Awesome yeah you wantedit, I did.
It's also the second hike thatI did where I've had ever done
in my life, which is why Iwanted to come back and now see
it again.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Do you mean this was the second one you ever did?
Yes, oh wow.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I'm, um, what you would call crazy.
Well, I love crazy.
So, for instance, yesterday Ialmost had died of hypothermia.
Yes, what, not on purpose I dothis.
Thing called Banya and it wasmy wife's birthday, so we took
everyone to the spa and we gotinto the hot 217 degree sauna.

(20:52):
The security guard, who doublesas the Banya expert, decided,
upon our request, to make it hot.
He made it hotter, stayed inthere for 10 minutes, Just
probably seven minutes too long.
That heat, oh my god, and thenwe went to the cold plunge at 41

(21:12):
degrees as he timed us tochallenge us, and my friend and
I stayed in there for three anda half minutes what?
Which is 30 seconds too much.
It was very euphoric.
I do not recommend it because Ifelt my heart physically pound
in my chest and just go doom,doom, oh, my gosh, doom, yeah.

(21:35):
And then when I got back to ourlittle Kibana area, my friends
looked at me and said you looklike a ghost.
And then I started to shiver,which tells you you had
hypothermia.
So that was fun, notrecommended.
You know what?
Talking of.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
I'm going to take a sip of water.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yes, please do.
Thank you, let everyone know Iam your pack mule.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yes, you are Amazing pack mule, amazing pack mule,
thank you.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Sometimes they add extra weight to this backpack
just for the workout.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Do you have water yourself?
Do you want to sip?

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Oh yeah no, I've got I carried on a hose.
This way I can talk and drink Ilove all your brilliant.
This is what I do for life, soyou know, if you're going to do
something, you have to plan itout, you have to be strategic
about it, you have to execute.
That's absolutely right thereyou go, I come for business.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yes, plan and execute .

Speaker 2 (22:28):
I love it, thank you.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
I will say that podcasting is not a great
business if you need money orwant to generate revenue.
It is a very long trail andmany have failed.
We'll see if I can make thishappen, but either way, I'm
having fun doing it.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
First of all, I believe in you Well, thank you A
thousand percent.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
And secondly, so cliched, but well, you've
already done it.
You've already been sosuccessful, so you know about
keeping to it, you know all thethings needed.
So here's the challenge.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yes, I ask a lot of questions and no one asked me
the amount of questions that Iasked, which is fine, I want to
ask you.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
No, no, no.
I really want to ask you, Iwant to ask you.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
This episode is about you, but I will tell you I
haven't reached success yet.
Yes, that's why I keep askingpeople what their personal level
and definition of success is.
I have checked off the wealthbucket.
Yes, right, this is notbraggadocious, I sold the
company.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
I know.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Fantastic you did.
I hit a depression.
I brought myself out of thatdepression by trying to listen
to my own advice.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
I decided to don a backpack and take a hike.
I love my family.
I'm surrounded by great peopleyes, and now I'm surrounded by
great stories and storytellersyes.
So I'm on my way to success,but I'm not there yet.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
What defined success for you?

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Oh, someone's been listening to an episode.
This episode is sponsored byBusiness Therapy Group.
Are you feeling lost along thewinding trails of your business
journey, searching for guidanceto spark your entrepreneurial
ambitions?
Look no further.
At Business Therapy Group,we're here to help you navigate
the challenges and guide you tobusiness and professional

(24:11):
success.
Book your session with me atbusinesstherapygroupcom to break
free from the entanglement ofemployees, processes and growth.
Take action now and book yourfirst session.
My definition of success istrue balance, purpose, relevancy
, support for others andyourself and, most importantly,

(24:36):
health, followed by happiness.
Beautiful.
I am not fully in alignmentwith all of those.
When I am, I will tell you thatday will probably be my last
day.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I was going to say With no regrets.
No, because we need the feelingof we're not there yet.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
So that's right.
Otherwise, which did happen tome and unfortunately COVID came
crashing down at that same time,which made it worse- yes.
But I didn't have to work, Ididn't have to panic about
losing my job or any of thenormal human conditions during
the pandemic.
Yeah, and that drove me to losemy sense of purpose, self-worth

(25:16):
and yeah, all right, so let'sgo back.
You came to the States.
What age were you?

Speaker 2 (25:22):
I was 37 because I'd when I so I kind of got
successful in a classical way asa kid, like I played Royal
Aberhoel when I was 14 playing aBach concerto which is a yeah,
7000 C Hall, and then went tothe Royal College of Music which

(25:42):
was a kind of Juilliard ofLondon.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
So would you say you were a savant and music, or you
just practice really hard.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Maybe neither.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
But you had to do something right.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, I was definitely good, I wasn't say
you know, in the classical worldthere are people who are like
four years old who can play someof the most virtuosically
difficult music ever written forviolin, Like Do you think they
are naturally that good or theirparents kind of forced them?
I think they I believe in otherlives.
I mean, some people pick up theviolin they can just play like

(26:14):
massively.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
So I kind of align with you on that.
Yeah, I don't think that we'rethe first.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Right, right.
You know we bring in DNA, maybefrom our ancestors, maybe from
other lives, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
I'm open to it all.
You know who knows?
Well, every brain is slightlydifferent.
Yeah, so you're wired in a waythat's more musical.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Right.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Right Creative brain, left brain, right brain.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Right.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
I mean it would be foolish to think not right.
We pass on genetic diseases andgenetic traits, yep.
So why can't we bring on extraways of thinking, yep, left
brain, right brain in this?
By the way, I'm out of breathon that last one.
Yeah, me too.
That was rough.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
That was rough and beautiful.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
This is a great trail , so sweet, reeves Brook,
harriman State Park.
Worth the exploration.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
It's just idyllic the whole way yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Fantastically marked.
The blaze is clear.
Yep, beautiful scenery.
We were just along the streampath.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
And really nice variety, Like even though we go
up quite steeply, there's alwayslike a gentle.
You know, right now it's prettygentle.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
In business we call this hockey sticking, which is
the right way to run a business.
Yeah, you have a nice elevationcurve and then you plateau a
little bit.
So regroup, rethink, retool andthen you go repeat again.
Yes, yes, you never want to gostraight up.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
No, that's exactly right.
Just like life, take time off,like us on our hike.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Take a break vacation .

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
So what do you do for a break besides hike?

Speaker 2 (27:52):
So, god, so many things I love to do.
I love going out, dancing, Ilove, honestly, whether it's a
hike, but also walking, so I doa lot of walking.
I love reading, reading, I love.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Reading is great.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, I love things that really expand my
consciousness.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Okay, Well, I can tell you're very spiritual free
spirit yeah.
What brought that on?

Speaker 2 (28:26):
I think that's something that all I believe
were actually all on thespiritual path.
We're all heading to the sameplace.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
All of us.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Every single one of us.
That's my feeling.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Even the bad ones.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah, because for me, we need the bad.
You know, we need the bad andthe good, we need all of it.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Balancing it out.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
It's as age old as the dawn of man.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah, yeah.
So my darkness is just as muchas a gift is my light, you know.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Okay, what would you say your darkest darkness is.
By the way, I asked toughquestions.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, I love it.
The fear of things.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Like.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
The fear of.
Well, like, for example, we'redoing this music mentorship
program now and we are expandinginto a lot of different areas,
and I know that I mean I do it,but I'm always kind of scared

(29:24):
somehow.
I know that there are peoplewho really want to see the kind
of transformation we do in kids.
So I want to see, they want tosee it happen and they want to
give money.
But for me to ask is likealways challenging for me.
Okay, and even though they'reso happy when they donate and
they're so happy when they seewhat's happening, like it makes

(29:44):
them just give purpose, you know, to them.
And the other thing is I stillfeel like I need to take like,
like real courage to open up mydeepest voice.
So I've started singing.
My next album is going to havemy own songs with my own voice.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Wow, that's a big leap, especially from instrument
to voice.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yes, Especially because I played the violin on
such a high level with so muchsuccess my whole life, with such
, you know, incredibly, amillion hours, whatever it was
of practice.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Well, at least 10,000 .
Yeah, 10,000.
So we're going to go back totwo points that you said about
your fears, but I want to askthis question first, because
this is important to me.
Yeah, it's beautiful here,right?
What?
Well, because you've played aninstrument for so long.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Do you believe that anyone, including yourself, that
can play an instrument so wellcan also sing, because it's
another instrument, or do youthink there are just some people
that can't sing for the life ofthem?

Speaker 2 (30:49):
I'm going to actually use the research done by
somebody called Geysers Sylvain,who's Finnish.
He did, you know, research onthousands, of thousands, of
thousands of children and hecame to the conclusion that
anybody can be taught to singAnybody.
Anybody can be taught to sing.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Okay, because I strongly want to disagree with
that.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, because you have not heard my aunt.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Okay, but you're saying anybody can be taught to
sing.
So that falls under the samelevel that anybody can be taught
to anything.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
So maybe it has to do with their will, their, you
know, surrounding.
I mean, he's in Finland, he's Idon't know if he's still alive
but he created a program.
Interestingly, it's veryrelated to your question because
he was mainly teaching stringsand he created this whole way of

(31:40):
teaching strings, a lot of fun.
It was called color strings.
He created all these wonderfulbooks with full of all the notes
being different colors and justreally using color to, I guess,
kind of excite the child's mindand get them, you know, really
connecting to this andremembering it and all that
stuff.
But also he would train all ofhis children to sing.

(32:02):
Okay, Because he felt that thatI agree with him.
Once you can sing, you can hearthe pitches in your head and
obviously, playing an instrumentlike a violin, yeah, you're
recommending it.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
You can recognize better.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, so you've got to hear the note and that's how
you can play the right pitch, ofcourse.
So singing training.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
It's like a guitarist tuning without a tuner.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yes, you hear it.
Yes, the guitar has frets aswell.
I mean, I still believe youknow you have to learn how to
hear it.
But on the violin there's nomarker which tells you where to
you know, place your fingers.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
It's even tougher, yeah, so we're going to go into
that, but I don't know ifanybody can be taught to sing.
Yeah, you have to have the willto do anything.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Right.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
There are some people that do not have the vocal
range to sing, so I think anyonecan sing better.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Yes, maybe.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
With practice, will and drive.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah, and I haven't tried it so I can't comment.
I can only say that he came tothat conclusion through his way
of teaching, you know.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
But he taught his children all from similar
genetic backgrounds, though.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah, probably I'd have to research this a little
more.
Yeah, it would be interesting.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
But not anybody can be a surgeon.
You need specifically steadyhands, and that's not a practice
thing, that's a natural talent.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
That's interesting.
But also I mean learning tosing as a child is different,
maybe, than taking a wholecareer.
Yep, because that is.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
By the way, we've gone straight up.
Yeah, it's good, it's an entireconversation.
Woo, this is beautiful,beautiful.
So you talked about your fears.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Because you are a creative.
Yes, cells is probably not yourfort.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Right.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
So to unlock your fear, that takes practice.
Yes, anybody can be taught tosell.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yes, thank you for saying that, so I think I need
to Not need.
Maybe I'm inspired to go on asales course.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
It's not even a sales course, it's just knowing how
to ask.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
What tips would you give?

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Although we're going this way, I think yes.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
We are.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
We're going to go back around, although that does
look like a peak.
Do you want to see the mountainpeak?
Yeah, all right, let's do it.
Here we go.
I took a hike.
Extreme addition Even I getwinded.
Wow, maybe it's because mynear-death experience yesterday.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yes, maybe your body's like what Another one?

Speaker 1 (34:23):
What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
All right, let's see what's up at this peak man, you
are racing ahead of me.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Maybe it's not quite.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Not quite.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
It might be one of those ones where it goes on and
on until you.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, not quite.
All right back to the trail.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
I'm going to take a sip of water.
Please, yeah, please do.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
I get to say but we can go straight.
If we want, we can go that way.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
We can go straight on .

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Go that way.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Oh yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
I'll take the blue yeah rather than going back.
I'll follow you, you can takethe blue, with blue square and
the white blades.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
It feels like just over there might be some kind of
valley, doesn't it?
Some kind of view, that's right.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Well, we can just keep going this way.
Yeah, let's go to HCS, let's goto the top.
We can take that there's acouple of cutthroats.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Good, I'll follow you All right, I need a second.
Me too, definitely the second.
This is great.
Thanks for doing this.
Oh, thank you so much, darren,I'm so happy.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
So I want to talk about your violin playing and
one of the coolest things, andyou were going to give me some
tips on marketing.
Yeah, you want some tips onmarketing.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Here's the most brilliant tip I can give you
Just ask.
Worst case, someone says no.
But if you truly believe inyourself and you believe in your
product or your service, thenasking should be easy.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
And sometimes I feel, if I'm so focused, I want to
say open and focused.
You know, that way, trustingmaybe is more the word I'm
looking for than whatever theysay is the right answer, because
it's all leading towards thatplace that I know will come.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
The worst they'll say is no.
But, when you're sellingaltruism and it's got a good
story.
Yes, hard to say, no, right,but you have to work on the
pitch.
That's where the practice comesin.
Okay, awesome, right.
As episode one, alan Youngfamously said, you never had the
sale, so if you lost it, youdidn't lose the sale no, that's

(36:14):
right.
Someone else won it.
Yes, don't be afraid to ask.
Yes.
And as far as marketing goes,that's where you have to invest,
someone who has talent.
Yes, in marketing you don'tneed to learn those 10,000 hours
, right, but there's no bettersalesperson than the person who
has the most to gain, most tolose.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
All right.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
That's a beautiful way of putting it.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
That's why I love you .
Know Napoleon Hill, where hesays oh my God, now this is
interesting.
Because is that building Dick'sCastle?
Because one of my dreams is tolive in one of the apartments
there.
They're not on sale.
That's just one of my dreams.
It looks like it could be.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
I guess make your dream happen right.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, it will in a few years.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
We're definitely at a peak not the peak, but at a
peak, all right, so let's carryon.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Hey, listener, thanks for hiking along with us.
Discover more episodes athightokahikecom, or to recommend
an adventurous guest, apply tobe a sponsor, discover books
along the trail, or to simplydrop us a line.
Alright, let's talk aboutviolin.
How many stages have you playedon?

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Oh thousands.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Thousands.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
I did meet a violinist amazing one, he's
passed now who said he countedevery single concert, and I was
like God I should do that, andthen promptly forgot.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
What's the largest audience you ever played in
front of?

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Oh, that was fun and I, you know, I wanted dreamers
to get back there.
30,000 people 30,000 people.
Yeah, that was 30,000 people.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
I was in Vienna and it represents 59,942 pairs of
eyes.
I imagine there are some peoplethat only had one eye.
I love the ways of that.
Right, right, are you nervous?

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Well, I was.
So what I find is I getincredibly nervous, but maybe
even like a week before, likeliterally, I'll be so nervous.
I feel like sometimes I mightvomit or something a week before
, of course but then graduallywears off until I, when I arrive
on stage, I'm like this is thebest moment of my life.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
And the profession kicks in.
Yeah, the professional.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
But also the feeling of the audience, the feeling of
being there and it's performingis one of the ways my spirit
feels really at home and reallythrives and I can I really shine
on stage, Like it's one of mymoments of most fulfillment, and
for the audience as well.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
So that I obviously believe, because you wouldn't be
in front of 30,000 peopleunless you shine bright in front
of an audience.
Yeah, but it's interesting thatyou have nerves and the nerves
are doubt, the nerves are fear.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
I wonder whether also it's a kind of adrenaline
buildup.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Ah, it's an open mean rush.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
In a good way.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, like you want to feelnervous, because then when
you're on stage, you're so therein that moment.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
You want to be human.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
Welcome to my office.
Pretty cool, huh.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
This is so cool.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
This is where you get to be human, where you feel
kind of small.
Yes, right, yes, you don't havean audience of 30,000, but you
have them in the audience of theworld.
Yes, all right, take a sitright here Ready.
Yeah, eight feet Look straightout.
It's really peaceful.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
There's a couple of questions, one really important
one, but I never really answered.
Well, I did start answering,but where you said which
question?
Where you said what are thosedarkest moments?
And I started you know whichhave really propelled me forward
.
But I started back with mychildhood but I probably can

(40:16):
think about some other oneswhich were really you know the
challenges which I feltpropelled me forward, because I
love that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
you know what was that biggest challenge.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
So the childhood.
And then I was in a string trio.
God, I have to say.
The next moment of a bigchallenge was when I went.
So I was offered by a teacherin Vienna come and study with me

(40:50):
.
When I left the Royal Collegeof Music and there I met two
other musicians who felt like me, like they were both amazingly
skilled classical musicians, butthey really wanted to play
other styles, they wanted towrite their own music and they
wanted to improvise.
And we just met and startedmeeting in the evenings.
You know, we were practicingour Tchaikovsky violin concertos
for six hours during the dayand I was playing in the Vienna

(41:12):
Chamber Orchestra just tosustain me.
I was there for six months andwe decided at the end of the six
months to put on.
We put on two concerts.
I was just about to go back toEngland, you know, that was as
far as we were concerned, thatwas it.
I was going to carry on mycareer in England as a classical
violinist and we put on twoconcerts, cafes, like 20 people,
you know, and unbeknownst to usto the first.

(41:35):
Well, actually the cellist hadinvited somebody, elizabeth
Artsberger, a friend of his, whowe didn't know, but she knew
the person in charge of signingartists to BMG Austria, like BMG
in Vienna.
He is called Marcus Spiegel andshe came to this concert that
we did in the cafe and she justhad this feeling that he is
going to absolutely love thisand she called him up and she

(41:57):
said next Saturday, come to thiscafe.
It's this new trio, string trioand he was like string trio.
Anyway, she was like adamant.
So he came to it and he wasabsolutely blown away and it was
maybe a week I don't rememberthe exact timing, but I think
pretty soon for us.
We're supposed to go back toLondon.
You know, as I say, end of myVienna trip and he came up to us

(42:17):
.
So this is 30 years ago, a timewhen these record companies had
massive marketing budgets andif they went for you you
probably would make it kind ofthing and he came up and he said
I want to sign you to BMG afterthe concert.
And I remember just going whatthe hell just happened.
The whole night I couldn'tsleep.

(42:38):
And so I'm not saying that wasa dark moment because in the way
that was an amazing moment, butI couldn't shift from having
played.
I was 24 years old, I was three, so over 21 years being in this
classical world, totallyclassical world.
I couldn't really imagine thatI was going to be earning my

(42:58):
money from really what I'dalways wanted to do, because
even though I'd wanted to do it,I couldn't see it as a
possibility, so it wasn't reallya want that I'd actually given
a voice to.
It wasn't like I'm going aroundsaying I want to play other
music than classical because itwasn't in my sphere of what I
even could think of as apossibility.
And I want to say that storybecause I feel, with this music

(43:21):
mentorship foundation, we havebasically given the opportunity
to, so far, hundreds I meanwe've worked with thousands of
kids, but maybe so, maybe more,maybe more I don't know about,
actually probably more thanhundreds to realize that they
can play whatever music theywant to play.
And it's still so different now, you know, 30 years later, but

(43:44):
still some kids are being taughtin a kind of classical music
way and it's not what they wantto do, but they love the idea of
being a musician, but theycan't imagine they could.
And, by the way, our programsare about empowering people to
become whatever they want tobecome.
It's not about training to bemusicians Like they.
You know, a lot of people say,because of that program, I'm
becoming a you know whatever.

(44:04):
It is like something totallyelse.
But we've had tons of kids say,you know, look, daisy, I'm a
music college, like, I'm writingmy own music.
Now I just got my first job,like writing a film music score,
like all these stories of kidswho before that never thought
they could be a musician.
So this is so important for mebecause it was such a paradigm
shift and I wasn't even able tosay yes, I couldn't imagine that

(44:26):
I could even do this and I saidno, which of course sounds
completely ridiculous, but therewas a lot in it, because it
wasn't just hey, do you want tolive your dream?
Just we were talking about withNapoleon Hill.
He mentions you've got to cut,and I want to cut all bridges.
I don't mean that because Idon't believe in that, but like,
let go of everything and giveyour everything to your dream.

(44:47):
Because I feel like I wastaught no, you've got to have
this option, you've got to haveplan B, you've got to put your
eggs not all in one basket.
You know all these things I wastaught.
Napoleon Hill says the opposite.
He says you want something, youlet go of your whole everything
and you put your everythinginto this.
And that is actually what JaySolomon said about you that you
single mind, you focused, andthat's your success came from

(45:08):
that.
And when he told me that I waslike yeah, napoleon Hill, and so
so with me I was going to needto leave my family not leave, no
, but in fact they weren't.
Cell phones, well, video, youknow, facetime, whatever, so
kind of, leave my culture, leavemy language.
I was going to a country wherethey spoke German.
I didn't speak a single word ofGerman.
Leave everything and my wholenot training as a violinist.
Obviously I was going to be aviolinist but, like training

(45:30):
classical music, I was beingasked to leave everything.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
In a way, so that was your.
So your biggest fear wasessentially your yin and yang.
You achieved your success.
You got offered a record deal,a contract, and your fear came
crashing down.
Because I will say that thatfear was your parents voice.
They didn't want you to be inrock, they wanted you being in

(45:54):
class.
So you had to admit that youwere the exact emphasis of what
your parents wanted and you hadto break free.
So, essentially, you created afoundation to destroy your fear
for every student that yourepresent.
That's right, pretty noble,that's pretty real, pretty true,
that's right and it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
The first person to have said like that is
beautifully put, because it tookme six months.
I went back to England.
I did go back to England andafter six months I'm like what
the hell am I doing?
And I caught up with the othertwo guys and I'm like what do
you think?
Do you think we should acceptthis offer?
And they were like, yeah, we'refeeling the same thing.
And I went back to Vienna andactually it was about a year, a
whole year later that weactually signed to BMG and they
still wanted us.
And then I started on thiscareer and you know they we made

(46:36):
a record quite soon after we.
Everything was very quicklylike okay, you know, we were in
Liset and some months later wewere in the time.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Of course, they threw money into it.
They wanted to return.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
So we made a record and they played it all over the
world and we were getting youknow, hey, we're in Japan.
We got this festival.
We hear you every day on theradio, you're amazing and we
started touring.
We toured 52 countries and mydad I remember my dad, by the
way, he's passed away and hemost incredible man on the
planet and really wanted tosupport me but loved classical
music and was his first reactionwas such disappointment that I

(47:05):
was doing this trio.
And he wrote to me now and he's, I remember coming back to
England and talking with him andhe's like, well, and he's
obviously dabbling with itbecause he knows he wants to be
the dad that gives me totalfreedom to be who I want to be.
But he's like, well, well, Ihope this won't last too long,
that you'll come back to playingBeethoven.
But I remember him saying thisand then, literally I remember

(47:26):
him calling me not long afterMaybe I don't know whether it
was a week, I can't remember thetiming but him calling me
saying you know, daisy, I'mlistening to this music on the
radio.
It's not classical, they'reimprovising and I really like it
, I think he was trying to comearound to what I was doing.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
So did you ever look at him when he said it's not
Beethoven?
You have a moment where you putyour hand on his shoulder and
say, but dad Beethoven neverleft.
That's a beautiful way ofsaying it.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
No, I didn't, I was just probably crushed and like I
don't know I don't crush, butit's like guarantee what I was
doing.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
This is staircase wit where you can reenact the
scenario, where you can rehearseand teach the doubter yes,
right, and I think in their lifethat in your case, beethoven
was the inspiration for yourmusic.
Beethoven was the inspirationfor Chuck Berry, beethoven was
the inspiration for Slash,beethoven was the inspiration

(48:20):
for Motley Crue, because if itwasn't for Beethoven, we
wouldn't be where we are today.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
That's right.
That's right, everybody, all ofthose, all of those great guys.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Beethoven isn't all of us.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
And I feel my dads with me.
I really feel very connected tothe very close people in my
life who have passed.
It's got more and more and moreand I'm very grateful for that
and my dad's just saying I'm soproud of you.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
That's right.
Did he say those words?

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Well, what was interesting, he split with my
mom very soon on, like you knowwell, I was 15, I think, or
something.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
Maybe 17.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
But basically for nearly 20 years he had a
girlfriend towards the end ofhis life who we all loved her.
She's still alive I love her,miriam and she was the one who
said you know, your dad's soproud of you.
I was like, really Apparentlyhe told her all the time but he
couldn't say it to you.
I think it was that and he said, I think he's telling me that

(49:09):
he did tell me.
But I think he kind of had thisthought that because when
somebody's very talented like me, sometimes you think, well,
they know it, and I've got tomake sure they know that they
need to get better Like I feellike there was this way that my
dad was only trying his best forme, you know.
I feel he had to tell me, well,you're not there yet, you know

(49:30):
to make me keep on doing Like acoach.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
That's what coaches do.
Yeah, and Michael Jordan'scoach would have him practice
because he wasn't there yet.
Right, because the second youhit that as we discussed before
when you truly believe you'vehit your pinnacle of success,
you stop trying for raising thebar.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
Yeah, and I I.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
So your dad was your coach.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
I would like to acknowledge right now that
actually, even though I've hadto work on, my dad's constantly
telling me well, you're not asgood, you know he would say
you're not as good as like.
And take any professionalviolinist, you know, when I was
a kid like you're not as good asthem I started to feel like I'm
not good enough and actually ittook me quite a while to really
earn money from being amusician.
It takes quite a while to,because You're not the first

(50:14):
person to cry on the showBecause I'm so beautiful,
because I had this thought thatI'm not good enough to be a
professional violinist, so toearn money like I.
That's how I internally and mydad never meant this, but I
internalized it a little bitlike that and you know, he, he,
because I think the will to dosomething.

(50:35):
I do see life a bit differently.
I think that we growing uppeople used to think they have
to criticize us in order for usto get better, but I think we
see life differently now.
I want to just encouragesomebody, but then.
But then you're right, look atthe darkness, look at, look at,
like you know, roger Deltry fromthe who he said it was that he
wrote his whole autobiographywith, like I read was like it

(50:55):
was called, thank you and thename of one of his teachers who
had said to him I think it waslike the principal of the school
or some very important teacherwithin his school who said to
him you will amount to nothing,like I'm really meant to.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
That was the best mentor of his life.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
It's the best mentor of his life.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Into the darkness, out from the light, right.
So we, we need negativity, wethrive on negativity.
I mean, if you look at just thenews, fear cells, negativity
cells but no, we need that as aninspiration.
All of the successes in my lifehave been from people who've
told me I can't, I won't ordon't or no Right, If you look

(51:33):
at an entire genre of blues,it's all from negativity, it's
all from people that had beentrampled upon, held down, forced
down sadness, darkness, andtheir outlet was this beautiful,
inspirational music that goteveryone in the room to feel the

(51:54):
same feeling and that sense isso strongly rooted to who we are
.
We can't just be encouragingNow.
I believe in encouraging, Ibelieve in encouragement, I
believe in inspiring others.
But yeah, even with mydaughters, one of them wants to
be an artist.
She drew something.
It wasn't that great.
I said you can do better.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
I'm not going to encourage you to be subpar.
I'm going to encourage and pushyou.
Now there's different ways ofsaying it.
Yes, right, but we need thatdarkness and I think where we
really screw it up is weoverthink the hell out of
everything.
When you're dead, definitelywas proud of you.
How could he not be Right?
When your child makes it ashigh as you've made it, when

(52:33):
you're in front of 30,000 people, when you're making the money
from being a musician, whenyou're happy because you're
doing the thing that you werepassionate about and loved as a
parent, you are definitely proudof your offspring.
They are doing better than you,which is what every parent
wants.
But the fear for the parent isif I change my tune, do I change
the course of my child?

(52:54):
And that's a battle.
Yes, this episode is sponsoredby Business Therapy Group.
Are you feeling lost along thewinding trails of your business
journey, searching for guidanceto spark your entrepreneurial
ambitions?
Look no further.
At Business Therapy Group,we're here to help you navigate
the challenges and guide you tobusiness and professional

(53:15):
success.
Book your session with me atbusinesstherapygroupcom to break
free from the entanglement ofemployees, processes and growth.
Take action now and book yourfirst session.
Alright, that was a beautifulmoment.
Yeah, beautiful moment.
Shall we continue?

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Yeah, alright, which way is it?

Speaker 1 (53:36):
We're going to go this way.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Okay, I'll follow you .

Speaker 1 (53:43):
We'll go up this way.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Thank you.
Oh, this is just there.
And thank you so much andbecause I felt, even before I'd
come here, I felt so happy aboutthe thought of being here with
you.
There's another friend, acouple of friends, who said
let's go on a hike.
And I've allowed myself to kindof let my business, say I don't
have time, and I'm going to belike, hey, let's go on a hike,
like I don't care whether Ithink I got time on it, I'm

(54:05):
going to do this?

Speaker 1 (54:05):
Well, now you can.
Yeah, because you're a prohiker.
Yeah, where is the blaze?
How are those chuck tailers?

Speaker 2 (54:15):
What did you say?

Speaker 1 (54:16):
How are your chuck tailers doing?

Speaker 2 (54:19):
They're a converse.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Yes, chuck tailer inspired models.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Oh are they.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Now, chuck wouldn't wear the sparkle issues, but yes
, that's exactly what it is.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
They're doing amazing .

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Tell me more about your foundation.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
So we're doing three, focusing on three areas Okay,
from October, when we plan tohave a full time executive
director.
Okay, and one of them is reallyhelping schools to have music
programs.
So every school district wehave different, they have
different needs.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
That's bear scat, by the way.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
That's bear.
Yep, I'm so excited I've neverseen a real bear.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Well, that's not a real bear, but that's, that's
their poop.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
How interesting.
So they eat lots of berries,all those berries.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Well, they eat lots of everything.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Wow, maybe we're going to see a bear.
Hello bear, I love you.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
We might, we'll see.
Try not to step in.
I honestly hope we don't see abear.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Why.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
I don't need that new fear unlocked.
All right, I love bear times.
Dare I say I'd probably prefernot to shit myself on recording.
No, I think.
I think we would handle it justfine as long as there's no
cubbies around, exactly yeah.
Let's take this back here.
Okay, as long as there's nocubs, then we'll be okay, but I

(55:43):
really do not desire to run intoa bear in the wild.
We try to rehearse thestandstill or act tall or any of
the required selections.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
So so some schools are starting music programs and
they need help.
Some schools are strugglingwith their present music
programs.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
I'm just trying to take us on a knot through that.
Yeah, we found ourselves stuck.
There's a little place rightthere, a little tiny path.
Yeah, if you don't mindnavigating some bushes, we'll
hold this one for you.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Well, thank you so much, You're welcome.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
As you can see, others have done the same move.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Yeah, this is great.
I love this.
I actually totally love this.
I feel so close.
Obviously, we're close to eachother.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
I like how easy going you are.
Yeah, so awesome.
And there is another pile of it.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Oh wow, Yep Bear, I love you.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
So whatever he was eating, he was eating a lot of
it.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Yeah, we just give a lot of love, that is a big lump.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
I don't know if that's berries, by the way.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, what do you think it is?

Speaker 1 (56:55):
I don't know Human.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
Human there we go.
Do you think this is down hereyeah.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
Yes, that is it, the orange place.
We did it.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Oh yeah, look there you go, Perfect, Well done you.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Yes, Well done.
Well done this fancy app.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
So when I get lost, it navigates me back.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
I've had some good moments where I pretended that
we weren't lost with a guest,and then others where I have
gotten lost, and I will mentionthat I'm going to pull out the
all trails app to get me back onthe navigational path.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
You see, it's so nice to go.
Oh, this is so beautiful, myGod.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
This is great.
This is peaceful.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Wow, wow, this is so amazing.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
Well, as famously said, serenity now, yes.
So do you play anything elseother than the violin?

Speaker 2 (57:54):
I sing.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Well, we know you sing, but you haven't done it
yet professionally on the infront of an audience.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
I done it a little bit, though.
Okay, yeah, and I'm doing itmore.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Can you belt out a tune for us?

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Come on.
Yeah, it's cute.
No, I don't know what to do.
I don't try and be like FreddieMercury.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
No, I'm just laying so wow, this is interesting
about you.
I asked you to belt out a tuneand the first one you pick is
the hardest tune for anyone tosing.
You just went for it.
It was not a row, row, row, itwas.
It was geez.

(58:36):
You went straight for Bohemia.
Amazing, but that's theprofessional in you and that's
the no fear.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
I don't know.
I said one note and thenstopped, so well you recognize,
you fell fast.
He's got it against his chest.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Got it against his head, Pulled my trigger.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
now he's dead.
Pulled my trigger.
Now he's dead, Mama.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
Life has just begun.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
Sorry, I'm going to have to help you on this one.
I guess this sounds like acollab.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
What about you with your voice, Darren?

Speaker 1 (59:16):
I can sing some Barry White.
Let's go this way.
Now I do have a fairly decentvoice.
If I was in the car and Nobodywas listening.
I actually do this and you'replaying your music at top volume
.
Yeah, I actually do this littletrick where I will be in the
car and I will turn the volumeup and I will sing, and then

(59:36):
I'll mute it and keep singing,just to hear if I sound good.
Now there are some notes whereI absolutely am on, and then
there's others where I dobelieve I could have learned to
sing if I was classically tryingto back up.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
Yeah, you could have.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Well, I'm going to try that.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
I'm going to try driving away from here and just
practicing my singing.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Really cool to do that, by the way, because then
you realize if you actually cansing or not.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
So if we went the other way we'd be backtracking,
just trying to get us back to goaround the opposite way.
So we see a really cool section.
Oh good, by the way, thecrickets are singing to us?

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Yes, they are.
Thank you, crickets.
So much.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Here it is.
See how easy it is to miss thisone.
Yes, unmarked.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Back on the beaten path.
Good, which now you understandthat.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
Now we can eat these.
I think, can't we?

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
I wouldn't try it.
I mean, it's not a it's.
I took a hike, not, I took avomit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
It looks like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
Blueberries.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Because they're not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Oh, there's a different.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
I mean the ones that grow right to the ground, that
look like this but it doesn'tlook like those.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
You're going to try one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
I think you shouldn't , but you're going to anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
So I try one, then eat at the end of the hike.
So we finish the conversation.
Look at this wonderfulcaterpillar.
Oh, hello caterpillar.
He's so beautiful.
Look at you, darling.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
That caterpillar will be a wonderful butterfly one
day.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
I think I'm going to put you off the path.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Not visit our people, yes, but anyway, beautiful
color.
My God, that will be a monarch.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
You think so?

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
Probably so.
Have you ever had a moment,while you were playing live,
under pressure?

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Right, right, where, all of a sudden, you stopped
being on autopilot muscle memoryand you just realized where you
were at that moment and youforgot how to play.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
What's that like I?

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
forgot what goes on next.
You know, it's happened to mewhen I play Bach because I've
got this idea in my mind that Ihave not been able to yet really
change and I don't play thatoften, so I haven't worked on it
that Bach is not that easy tomemorize which for a lot of
people it's very easy tomemorize, but for some reason
I've built that idea.
So it's happened to me when I'mplaying Bach that I've suddenly

(01:01:59):
forgotten how it goes.
Okay, and I haven't beenplaying Bach in front of a lot
of people, but I've managed,through my improvisational
skills, to improvise until itcomes back to me.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
So when you forget in a moment of, let's say that you
wake up, right, you wake upfrom the mesmerizing moment of
auto play.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Right.
You are at this pointprofessional enough to where you
could just improvise using thesame scale, same key, and people
will be none the wiser.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Yeah, and as well as classical music, they might know
how it's supposed to go.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
But isn't it left for your interpretation anyway?
People are there to see you, orare they there to see and hear?

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Bach In my case.
I actually really rarely playclassical music, so Of course
you revolt.
Yeah, so, but classical you'resupposed to play kind of what
the composer said.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Okay, so people are showing up to hear Bach.
What have you ever been calledout on a mistake?

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Like they've said to me oh, I noticed, you made a
mistake.
Yes, what do you think about it?
I'm trying to think of it withme, or whether they were saying
to somebody else they blamesomeone else.
Like I've noticed that you werevery focused and then you
weren't, so there kind of Okay.
And yeah, I think I've beencalled out.

(01:03:28):
Definitely, I'm pretty ton oftimes actually.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
What do you do with that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Yeah, that's a great learning lesson.
I'm remembering, actually, amoment when a very, very, very
amazing classical virtuosoviolinist called Janine Janssen,
who's a mega, mega star, I wasperforming with her, so it was a
classical piece, and she Well.
So we performed together ourmusic with this string trio

(01:03:56):
TRIOLOGY, and then.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
TRIOLOGY was the name .
The name, yeah, oh, that'sfantastic.
I love it.
I love names that are that justfits.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Yeah, and then she needed to place some solo stuff
by herself.
It was mainly her concert andit was a massive thing.
It was on TV live, just amassive thing.
And she played a piece thateverybody knows and she made a
mistake.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
She forgot one part of the piece.
She's probably paid hundreds,maybe thousands of times and
it's a piece she can play,probably asleep.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
Why do you think she forgot who knows?
Do you think she woke up?
Maybe, so I believe thathappens.
I believe that you're playingsomething by muscle memory
autopilot so intensely that ifyou actually call to take in the
moment and pay attention, youwake up and then you forget what
you're doing and how to do it.

(01:04:44):
You're conscientiously nowaware of where C-sharp is and
you forget how to play C-sharp,so you have to put yourself in a
trance.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
How interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
So she woke up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Maybe, and I was playing in the string trail with
one other violin player in acellist and after the cellist
said I saw you make that mistake.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Well, you're playing with you, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
And to her right and she was like so annoyed because
she's a very, very, very highlevel I mean, one of the best in
the world, basically Classicalviolinists and she's not
supposed to, in a way, makemistakes or have a memory.
So I was really talking aboutthe darkness.
The cellist was really touchingon something that she had then

(01:05:30):
had to deal with, to kind offorgive herself that on this
massive show she made a tinymistake and everything.
So, anyway, I'm just livingthat experience, because those
are those moments when those arereal.
Yeah, we're forgiving ourselvesand realizing it's all good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
Well, that's where we realize that we're human.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
It's the human condition.
Yes, right, all that practiceputs you on autopilot.
When you are you personally,when you're in that moment, are
you taking in the moment or areyou just doing what you do?
Are you realizing there's anaudience that paid to see you,
hear, you, appreciate you?

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
So this very interesting question, because
those maybe I think I'm going inand out of different modes of
Maybe I could use the worddifferent modes of consciousness
.
So sometimes, literally, I amplaying and I am thinking, oh,
when I finish playing this song,I want to remember to say thank

(01:06:34):
you to this person.
Ah Like literally I'll havethoughts like that sometimes
Really so.
In other words, nothing to dowith even the music I'm playing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
So you're playing a concerto or a nice piece?
Yeah, your hands are doing whatyour hands are doing.
You're not paying attention tothem, you're just doing, and in
your head your thought is I haveto say thank you to Bob.
Yeah, right, that's interesting.
I get like that too on certainthings.
So, for instance, this trail,there was a moment where my wife
had texted me.
I'm texting her back, but I'mstill carrying the conversation

(01:07:02):
with her.
Yes, right Now you obviouslyhave a much better example than
I have, or, let me say, a muchcooler example than I have.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
No, but it's the same .

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Yeah.
So in that moment, though, doyou ever lose track of what
you're doing?

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
So a lot of my performing is actually in a
place where I'm even releasingthought and I'm in a place of
being.
So when you say wake up, it'snot like I'm thinking, oh, I'm

(01:07:38):
playing C sharp, it's like I amin an observation place, in a
very being place.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
You're grounded.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
Just being yeah.
I can't really find another wayof saying it, well, it's
spiritual.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
You are literally engulfed in the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Listen to that bug.
Yes, it's not amazing, crazy.
Yeah, you know what he justsaid.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
What did he say?

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
He said I'm looking for a hamburger.
Ah no, he's probably warninghis other friends, we're finding
a mate at the end of the day.
I mean, that's what bugs do.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
Yeah Like hey, this is either hey, I'm absolutely
gorgeous, or hey, this is myterritory, or hey, you know
whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Whatever that is, it is in the tree, and I'm not
talking about the plane, and itis loud, yeah it's amazing,
probably a cicada, oh maybe.
Yeah, oh my God, look at thisview.
That is stunning.
Wow, that is a view.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
So I think that might be the house I'm going to live
in.
I think that might be Dick'sCastle.
Do you know Dick's Castle?
We'll look on the road.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Related to Dick's morning goods, not a sponsor.
Throw that in there in casethey do.
Wow, what a view.
No picture could capture this.
No, thank you.
All right onward Momentarybreaks or, as Pink Floyd says,

(01:09:11):
momentary laps, silence.
I'm a huge Floyd fan.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
Oh, me too, I'm not a huge Roger Waters supporter.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
politically he's a nut bag, but I do think he is a
genius when it comes to writingmusic song lyric.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Yeah, me too.

Speaker 1 (01:09:31):
And I'll give credit to David Gilmore.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Yes, oh, my God.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
As well.
So what's next for Daisy Joplin?

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Okay, so foundation getting onto a level where we
have a full-time executivedirector and therefore I am
actually going to be focusing onfinishing my new album and
doing all kinds of touring andprojects, including so there's

(01:10:04):
just been this big opening forme in the Middle East, which has
included Egypt, saudi Arabia,qatar, doing big concerts there.
I find I have this ability,this talent, to play styles of
music from different placesaround the world.
I love doing it and I play someof their music and they're

(01:10:25):
blown away.
They're like you play yourmusic, like you're from here.
You know you play, I play theirmusic like I'm from there.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
Well, that's very spiritual.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
And they feel really amazed by that.
And one of my themes today, oneof the things I love to do I
was going to say missions, butis to really bring cultures
together.
Music, obviously, is a perfectway to do that, and so I open up
a lot of minds.
And you know, I did a big, forexample, middle Eastern concert
in where I live in NorthernWestchester, in Peakskill.

(01:10:53):
A thousand people came andheard Egyptian music and there
was some musicians fromdifferent places around the
Middle East and people had neverheard that music before, had
never been performed at theParamount before, and some of
them were like, well, that wasout there.
Some of them were like that wasthe best concert I've ever
heard, you know, and it was allsomething just opening up, you

(01:11:15):
know.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
Does that surprise you when people say it was the
best concert that they everheard?

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
I've had it now a lot .

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
Do you believe it?

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
Of course, things feel amazing in the moment, so
I'm not saying it's the bestconcert they've ever heard it
might be one of them but what itmeans is that they have had an
experience which is so powerful.
They've felt so moved, they'vefelt so much joy.
They've cried, they've felthealed, they've felt their minds
have been opened.
They've just felt somethingthey will never forget, and I am

(01:11:49):
so grateful to share that withthem, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
What do you believe your job is as a musician on
stage?

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
To connect myself and everybody to a part of our
spirit which is fearless, whichis experiencing every type of
emotion that we're often scaredto feel, which is crossing all
boundaries of our 3D world,whether that's financial,

(01:12:21):
cultural, all the boundaries weput between us.
It crosses all of those.
And in that place I mean peopletell me, for example, there's
one guy who came to my lastconcert.
He said last big concert withthe Middle Eastern thing
actually, and he's in his 60s.
He's like, and somebody goes toconcerts every week, like he
goes to a theatre every week inNew York City.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
So he's very cultured .

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
He's been to unbelievable amounts of concerts
and he's like I've never beento a concert where and he came
by himself, where he said I juststarted making friends with all
the people around me and myvibe was so just joyful and
extraordinary.
He said I made friends thatnight.
I said I've never done that.
I've never sat on a Broadwayshow and started talking to the
people all around me who I don'tknow.

(01:13:01):
You know, yeah, or even at anormal concert.
So somehow that happens.
I don't even know, I didn'tintend that, but it always
happens.
At my concerts people have madegot together after my concerts,
you know, it's like all kindsof stuff.
So yeah, so that is my job isto let us sort in that area of
our spirit which is out ofproblems or even where the

(01:13:24):
solutions to problems suddenlycome.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
So what was the most challenging thing you ever did
Besides hike with me?

Speaker 2 (01:13:36):
Maybe the concert we did at the pyramids.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
You played the pyramids.

Speaker 2 (01:13:40):
I played a concert on November 4th 2022, so last year
in front of the great pyramidof Giza, and I performed with
legendary Egyptian musicians.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
And that's amazing.
I also isn't it true thatnobody plays in front of the
pyramids?

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Well, people do, but I think, as far as I can
understand and my producer, wedid extensive research I'm the
first ever internationalviolinist to perform a major
concert like that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
In front of the pyramids, how many people
watched 700 people were there inperson and yeah, no, we'll have
thousands online.

Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
That is amazing, wow.
So how did that feel to be oneof the first?

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
It felt like one of the best moments of my life and
also one of the most challenging.
Leading up at the moment onstage, I was in joy, like I was
in bliss.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
basically, I was in awe.
Why was it the most challengingmoment for you?

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
Because my intuitive thought right now is that,
because I was going to a newcountry, I didn't know anybody
in Egypt.
I knew actually one person, afriend of my mom's, an amazing
Egyptian woman, a man who hadmarried a British guy and had
moved next to my mom in England.
So I had met her before I wentto Egypt and apart from that I

(01:15:07):
knew not a single person in thewhole of Egypt.
And there I was going there totry and find the producer and
the right situation to put onthis concert.
And I feel that one of the mainthings I learned is to follow
my intuition, because I was toldby people oh, you shouldn't

(01:15:27):
work with Egyptians, they're nottrustworthy.
Now, not that they're nottrustworthy, I mean they'll say
they can do something, but thenthey don't deliver, which is a
lot of people's experience, butI have never found that with
Egyptians.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
Well, that's the danger of stereotyping.
Right there's lots of cultureswhere people would say the same
yes, except for the time.
That's not true.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Right.
So I ended up working withsomebody who did put there oh
wow.

Speaker 1 (01:15:51):
So your experience then was great.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
Yeah, and we also had my foundation raised money from
the Rotary, from differentRotary clubs, to sponsor 120
kids.
Hello Hi.

Speaker 1 (01:16:06):
So you are.
I was going to say yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
So we sponsored 120 kids from one of the poorest
areas of Cairo and these kidswere in a very special arts
healing program.
So they'd all been brought bythe social services to this
program because they'dexperienced some kind of trauma,
trauma which had led them tomaybe not speak, you know, like
they were going through somevery difficult emotional

(01:16:29):
situations.
So they were in this artshealing program and I, from my
experience with my foundation,know that the experience of
putting a student child on astage with legendary musicians
around them, in a magical placelike the pyramids, is completely
life changing.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
Oh, for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
How many students have you?

Speaker 1 (01:16:50):
helped out.

Speaker 2 (01:16:51):
So as far as kids actually performing with us on
stage, it's like nearly athousand altogether.
Oh wow, Over the last 12 years.

Speaker 1 (01:16:59):
So you made the dream happen.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
Yeah, it was actually maybe, anyway, thousand to
eleven hundred.
And then you know, we've also Imean, kids come up to me
honestly all the time with like,oh, 10 years ago you performed
in my school.
It was amazing, I'm one of yourbiggest fans.
So just also, performing inschools, we do that.
This is one of the things ourfoundation does all this kind of

(01:17:21):
stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
You took the smarter path than me.
Nice job.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
I heard your shoes and I'm like I'm not sure
whether my shoes are that sogood.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
My shoes are meant for hiking, yours are meant for
basketball.
If it was 1974.
Exactly All right.
So you've given these kids suchan amazing yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
Well, eight of them ended up.
They had nine months of lessonsin dance and theater and
singing and eight ended upactually performing with us, but
yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:49):
Do they play an instrument ahead of time, or
you're literally teaching themfrom scratch?

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
Yeah, this program was already in effect and we
just sponsored these particularkids for this amount of time to
have these lessons.

Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:17:59):
This program deals with kids who don't have any
prior training.
So this and the teachers areabsolutely amazing and I'm still
very closely in contact withthis.
You know this program and Istill support them and I will
probably, you know, forever.
I don't know Like they andthose kids actually, they were
like ending the program was to18 years old and these kids have
been in the program for a while.
They were often 18 or over andthey were looking at what they

(01:18:23):
were going to do, leaving thisprogram, you know, not having
maybe any family support or, youknow, often both their parents
have been killed or all kinds ofcrazy stuff, you know.
And and they hadn't really hadproper vocational training.
So 20 of them put this ideatogether to start their own like

(01:18:44):
arts healing program.
They needed a space and theythey came to me and I said, well
, I want a business plan.
I paid for them to find, youknow, somebody to work with them
and they created a fantasticbusiness plan.
But the and anyway they did.
A few months after the pyramidsconcert, they texted me saying
we've got funding and we'redoing this which was so

(01:19:06):
incredible because when theyfirst came to me about a year I
guess, nearly nine months maybe,before the pyramids concert
they they came to me and saidbecause you know, it's a hundred
million people living in Egyptand 90 something million are
poor and they're some of thepoorest, so it's a paradigm

(01:19:27):
where you know, talking about meand my classical music paradigm
, we're all in certain paradigmsand they didn't even see they
could ever have something likethis.
But they wanted to andeverybody told them just forget
that idea, like nobody's goingto care about you.
Why will they ever care aboutyou?
Not one person had said you can, you can do this which again

(01:19:48):
sparks future prodigies.
Yes, Exactly what we weretalking about.
Look at this.
Oh my God, I just have to lookat this river.
There's a little stream.

Speaker 1 (01:19:58):
I mean the sound and yeah, we had a lot of rain,
which is feeding all of thesestreams, and you know what you
know what.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
This water is so healthy and I feel inspired just
to take a little bit right now.

Speaker 1 (01:20:11):
I don't think that's a good idea.

Speaker 2 (01:20:12):
No, I always do this.

Speaker 1 (01:20:13):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
It's water that has lots of minerals, because
sometimes, sorry, I'm alreadyfalling over, because I'm sorry,
we're trying to do All right,you are definitely more
adventurous than me.

Speaker 1 (01:20:22):
I would say in a survival moment, yes, if it's
running flowing water, it isprobably safe and drink, but it
is running.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
You see, and even here it seems maybe stagnant,
but it's going to keep on goingand you can tell, it's very
clear, and sometimes you knowwhen we pass, sorry, what's the
word.
Pasteurize our water.
No it's a different word.
Anyway, we take out some ofthese very healthy minerals.

Speaker 1 (01:20:44):
Oh, we do.

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
So if you just drink this water, sometimes it's just
getting close enough to it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:49):
but if you drink this water, Well, you have made it
this far.
I will let you trust yourjudgment.

Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
Oh my God, you see it's water.
Water doesn't really taste likethis.
Oh, it's fantastic Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:21:05):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:21:06):
I'm connecting with the sacred waters, like I said
to you before right, the sacredwaters of the whole planet.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:21:17):
And, just for the record, she does have a water
bottle.

Speaker 2 (01:21:19):
It's filled with water.

Speaker 1 (01:21:21):
I'm learning so much about you Just ping me in 24
hours.
Let me know how things arehanging on.
I might check in with you andcall some local hospitals.
It's okay, they have pills forthis.
That was a first.
That was an eye-took-a-hikefirst.

Speaker 2 (01:21:42):
Nice, I love it.
I'm loving it too, so much.

Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
Daisy Joplin, thank you so much for your very
inspirational story, yourmoments.
I certainly feel more connectedwith you.
We definitely shared severalmoments, being one with nature,
bathing in it, enjoying it.
I am inspired by you as aperson who wished growing up to
be a musician.
You are an inspiration to many.

(01:22:07):
Your foundation helps many andI hope it continues.
Thank, you it's so powerful itwill so.
Daisy Joplin, thank you so muchfor taking a hike with me.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
Darren, thank you so much for everything that you do,
who you are, the inspirationand that absolutely fantastic
time and views and being withnature.

Speaker 1 (01:22:31):
Yeah, for sure, I tried, I love it, we did it.
And guess what?
I think your little prayer inthe beginning worked, because I
didn't see one mosquito.
Next time on I Took a Hike.
We find a source of inspirationin a charismatic leader, with
the president of RochesterInstitute of Technology, dr
David Munson.

All Episodes

Daisy Jopling - Fiddling Around

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Cold Case Files: Miami

24/7 News: The Latest

Crime Junkie

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Daisy Jopling - Fiddling Around