August 11, 2025 • 37 mins
Our Season 7 finale features violinist Irene Abrigo. She is a performer and teacher, runs her own festival and non profit, and is committed to her social responsibility as an artist. Her academy, Fast Fingers, Slow Life, is a holistic approach to a musician's journey. We discuss how she balances all the facets of her artistry, while taking care of her mental wellbeing.
Discover more of Irene's story: https://www.ireneabrigo.com/
Join the Fast Fingers, Slow Life Academy: https://www.ireneabrigo.com/fast-fingers-slow-life
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Conscious
Artist, a safe space for conversations around mental
health awareness for musicians, artists, and all human beings.
I am your host, Pallavi Mahidera, and I'm thrilled that
you are joining us today. I love the community we have
developed together through this show, and I'm committed to
continuing to give a platform for voices and stories to be
(00:26):
shared. When we allow others and
ourselves to feel seen and heard, we create much needed
change in this industry and in this world.
So thank you for supporting thiscommunity.
Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
and let's get started. My guest today has such a
(00:52):
diverse range of interests and projects, I don't even know
where to begin. She is a performer and a
teacher. She runs her own festival and
nonprofit and is committed to her social responsibility as an
artist. I'll let her tell us more about
everything she does herself. So please join me in welcoming
Irene Abrigo to the conscious artist.
Irene, it is such a pleasure to have you here with us today.
(01:14):
Thank you so much. It's I'm a bit a little bit
emotional because I I hear so many episodes, as you know from
your podcast. So it's a double exciting to be
here. Thank you so much.
Well, I'm very honored that you have listened to so many of my
episodes and you're not sick of them yet and you're here now, so
I'm really excited to chat with you today.
(01:34):
Thank you. So I'm going to start off with a
very hard question. How do you balance being a
performing artist, a teacher, and an entrepreneur?
Because you do so many things, you've started so many projects,
you're involved with so many projects, and I see how
committed you are to every aspect of your art.
And I just want to know like, how do you balance everything?
(01:56):
Well, I think you start everything that I I start in my
life. It it comes from the same
source, which is the incredible deep need of expression.
And so for example, my festival I started during COVID in a
moment where nothing could happen and I was so sick about
(02:18):
being home. And I think everyone was
suffering about that as artist. And so the no profit came to
life also because I had the needto associate music to something
a little bit more concrete in the society, other than sitting
and listening to nice music from, from the audience, which
(02:40):
is already enough in a way, But I wanted to touch a little bit
something more. So we started to do fundraising
and, and playing for social causes, which was extremely
important for me at that time. I, we still is and I'm trying
to, to go on, but at that time was, was really, really
important. And so everything like I can
(03:01):
understand that it looks a little bit, even too much in a
way that sometimes I go to my website, I say, Oh my God, I'm
do too much things. How I can, I can do all that in
the best way, you know, And at the end it's a little, I do
always the same things like organizing at the end, it's
always the same here you have the To Do List maybe with other
(03:22):
people and other things to do. But at the end of the day, it's
practice, organize and it's not too complicated actually.
But I think what you said about need for expression is very
beautiful. A lot of us that have started
learning music at a very young age and have dedicated our lives
(03:45):
to becoming performing artists or at least having a career in
classical music. Most of us don't really think
about the other avenues of expression that we could have
because there isn't time for that.
For example, for me, I've alwaysenjoyed dance and writing.
Those were the other two sort ofhobbies, so to say, if I can
(04:05):
even say the word hobby as a musician that I had growing up.
And I always said when I was younger, if I hadn't been a
pianist or you know, a violinist, because I also played
violin for a long time and that was also a big passion, I would
have loved to be a dancer. But if I hadn't been a
performing artist, I would have loved to be a journalist or a
book editor or a writer or something like this.
(04:28):
But it's still all creative outlets, and I think it's so
beautiful the way you have already recognized your
different avenues of expression for creativity, for sharing, for
giving part of yourself to the world and to the industry.
That's really, really lovely. Well, thank you.
(04:48):
It in a way it's something that is under the skin.
So in a way it's also something I cannot get rid of even if I
want to take some time off. It's quite difficult because I
have this need. It's like, in a way, it's like
eating. No, it's like breathing.
So it, it comes into a level of that if you don't have this,
(05:08):
you're becoming sick. And this is something that I had
to learn in my life to just takemy energy.
Also in other in other things, others than than music, as you
said, like hobbies and things. And I love readings as well.
I like also writing. I like classical dance, but I'm
not very flexible, unfortunately.
I'm I'm working on my flexibility, but it's so
(05:30):
difficult. But this I I learned quite late
actually, it in my life. I was really a Staccano Vista.
We say in in Italian. So we work, work, work, work and
it's a life. If you have a moment of it's
like you're losing your time, especially as a freelancer or if
you don't have a fixed job. Now with the teaching is a
(05:51):
little bit different since a couple of years, but before I
was totally independent. And so when when you are not
feeding your revenues in a way, you have also the fear that
you're not doing enough and you don't know if you will have a
successful season or yeah, you have to prepare for the upcoming
(06:11):
seasons. And that leads also to how many
expenses I have, how I will dealwith this?
Should I pay for this now or should I just save more?
Because I don't know what will happen later.
And this is something that I think we don't openly talk
about, but the financials of, ofa freelance artist are quite
(06:34):
complicated. Actually.
When I started the therapy in 2021, it was also during COVID.
It was extremely important for me.
I mean, the first question of mytherapist was who is Irene
outside the violin is existing Irene outside the violin?
(06:55):
What is about what she likes, what she likes to do, what, what
she wears, what she smells in like, what she likes to to go
out, what she likes to read whatshe likes.
I mean, and it was such a such asimple question in a way, but
the life changing because I was,Oh my God, I, I completely
identify by myself with my profession in a way that maybe
(07:18):
it's not always healthy. So this need of expression
through music also bring a lot of pressure if you if you don't
take some step away. Sometimes I like readings a lot
of biographies from not not onlymusician, but from creatives
from all the field and especially in the past when
(07:40):
there were much less technology around.
Everyone is spending at least 2-3 hours going on walks in
nature or doing, you know, others, other things.
And to us totally normal and with technology, I think it's
obviously it's a, it's a great tool for us, but can also lead
to too much work and without pose.
(08:03):
And so it's, I think the challenge is really to balance
the energy, to balance the time and to also to have faith that
if you do nothing, things can come to you.
And it's not like if you do nothing, they will not remember
you, you will disappear. And I in a way, in a moment, I
(08:26):
had to sit down. And so OK, I'm doing this
project, I'm doing this project,I'm doing this project.
But do I let the things comes tome or I'm doing too much in an
active way? And this was also something very
important. And actually, I realized that
the most incredible things that I had in my life, personally and
(08:49):
professionally, like my debut atCarnegie all or meeting my
husband, receiving this gorgeousviolin that I have honor to play
all those things. I didn't search for it and I
didn't work. I mean, of course, I work in my
past as, as my, my studies and my concert, of course, but it
(09:10):
was not something active that I did for them.
They all came in a moment where I kind of was calm and I kind of
gave up my active need of doing organizing stuff.
And this was each time that I have too much, I remember those
things and it helped me to to just calm down and to say to
(09:33):
myself, OK, I exist and I'm worthy or perceiving if even if
I just pause a little bit, I don't know if you if you have
this in your life. Yes, very much.
And there's so many things that you touched upon that I want to
go back and talk about. But what you're speaking about
(09:54):
right now, I guess we could say the flip side of being a
freelancer, right? We have all of the freedom in
the world as a freelancer to choose the life that we want to
choose, the work that we want tobe our own boss.
It is something that I have learned in my life that I value
(10:15):
above all else, that I have autonomy and freedom to choose
the life that I want. That doesn't mean that I get to
do anything I want, and that doesn't mean that everything
comes to me. It means I have the choice to
say yes or no. And that is like super powerful
for me. Like in the few times that I've
(10:37):
worked for someone else in, in any kind of situation, I
realized that it doesn't fulfillme in the same way.
I, I need that autonomy and freedom.
But the flip side of that is that we have to fight for the
life we want. And that means we have to be
proactive. We have to search for contacts,
(10:58):
concerts, whether you have a manager or not, it doesn't
matter in today's world. We have to put in the work.
Nobody, just, you know, unless you're at the absolute top, top,
top, things don't just come to us.
And I do agree with you that there's a balance between doing,
creating, working hard, putting that energy out into the
(11:18):
universe and actually doing the hard work, but also trusting and
leaving room for growth. And it's sort of the balance
between scarcity mindset, which is when we do things from fear,
from fear of not having enough work, from fear of being
forgotten, fear of being irrelevant, versus growth
(11:38):
mindset where we want to learn, We are curious to, we are
curious to discover more. We are excited to develop a new
project or start a new thing. And it's such a difficult
balance, I think as a freelancer, and I'm so glad that
you're, you know, we're talking about this as freelancers.
(11:59):
I think it's so hard to find that balance when you're right,
we not only are trying to make beautiful art and live a life
that feels full and creative, but we also have to pay our
bills. And when we don't have a salary
coming in every single month that we know for sure is going
(12:20):
to cover our rent and our utilities and our health
insurance or whatever it is you have to pay, it's very scary.
And like from personal experience, many times in my
life, I have been in a place where I'm like, Oh my God, am I
going to pay my rent? Am I going to have enough
concerts next year? And 99.9% of the times my
schedule fills up, things come. I keep working for them, they
(12:42):
come. So I love that you've brought
this up and that we can talk about this, but it is really
scary. It's exciting and it's scary.
Absolutely, yes, and but well, Ican send because as pianist, I
think it's a little bit more limited what you can do as
violinist. Of course you can.
(13:03):
You can play in so many orchestra.
I mean, it exists, this possibility, the symphonic
orchestra, Chamber Orchestra things.
There are a lot of jobs out there.
It's a security and I mean the the repertoire is gorgeous and
if you have nice collects, maybeit's a nice experience.
I always like this and during COVID actually, when everything
stopped, I had incredible luck to to receive a contract in the
(13:29):
orchestra. Where my husband is, is
principal Viola here in Switzerland.
I had to work 100% in the first violin from August until July,
so a full season, 100% in orchestra.
And I never did that. I mean, I always play in nice
orchestra. I did an Academy with the Vienna
(13:50):
Philharmonic was really rich. I mean, it was everything was
right. Everything brings so much in my
life, but I was not convincing and I I never tried really a
full time job. So that was the the case.
And I had a salary where all my colleague freelance were like
(14:10):
many change actually job in thatperiod because it was
impossible. And we were very lucky actually
in in Switzerland, we receive actually some some financial
help. So we were in a better position
than in other country. Anyway, I did my full season in
orchestra. Thanks God that I did that
because it cleared up so much that that was not the job for
(14:35):
me. I mean, it was so clearly my
energy was totally down. And I realize it's so difficult
for a musician to choose their path musically because if you
are not financial free, you haveto take sometimes the job that
comes and maybe you have kids already, maybe I don't know.
(14:57):
It's difficult. And I, I have a project actually
to write a book about this because I think everyone has to
understand also personally what fits the best.
For example, even I go back later to the orchestra
experience. But for example, for the
teaching, there are some friendsthat they have.
(15:19):
They are so talented with kids, so talented.
My God, there are a lot of passions and they know the
literature and the games and allthis.
I mean, amazing. And then there are other that
are maybe more comfortable with teenager with already some
little more serious repertoire. And then of course there are
another that maybe want to coachfor auditions and concerts.
(15:43):
And there are, of course, it's the same job as the teaching
music, teaching violin, but it'sso different.
The same things is with orchestra play.
I mean, we're still play the violin, we still play
Tchaikovsky, we still play Proms, we still play music with
colleagues. But to show up every day in a
community with 60 people as a highly sensitive person, and I
(16:09):
don't say that in a positive waybecause I think it's very
limited in this kind of situation.
I was so exhausted. I mean, every day I was coming
home, I was at the bottom of my energy because I was absorbing
so much that had nothing to do with music.
All the problems, all the frustration, all the thing.
I also thought later on why I suffer so much when I'm in a
(16:35):
group, when I cannot choose freewith freedom, as you said
before. And maybe it's something in my
case at least connected with my education because I had a very
strict education and I could notchoose a lot until even 20
because I didn't really realize that I think that I was finally
(16:56):
free to choose for myself. In my head was, you know, I have
my father that's very strict andhe says to me something and I
would just do it. I just was raised up like this.
And so in a way, I had to grew in my artistic life in a way
that I now give me the freedom that I didn't live before.
(17:19):
And this came into my life with chamber music and solo valley
repertoire, which I love. I really, really, really love to
be in my own reward and to sharethis and if it's possible also
when we talk or so. But you know, if you start, if
you don't start very young with this, it's a little bit
difficult to grow in the musicalindustry with this.
(17:41):
But I have a very good balance today with this chamber music,
solo violin and solo with orchestra.
And it made me so happy. And even if one month it's a
little bit died with finances, Iknow that I have the freedom of
choosing, of taking breaks when I want.
(18:01):
I mean, orchestra, praying is such a tough word.
You have to sit six hours and you cannot.
I mean, if you, if you have a little bit of pain in some, I
don't know, in a leg, you cannotmove.
You cannot, You have really to see.
It's not for everyone, but I know from that experience I had
(18:22):
colleagues, I remember they wereso joyful every day they would
come with a smile. They were always well prepared.
So it exists that there are people absolutely that have this
fire for for orchestral job. And there are some people like
me that suffer too much. Thanks God.
It's like this that there is a little bit for everyone.
(18:46):
And I really think the hard job for us as teachers is to help
the young to realize what is my personality needs?
What is my goal with music? What I want to say, do I want to
be part of a group? Have I part of a big voice?
(19:08):
Do I need to my single voice to hear or?
I mean, when I was young, I remember very well I could, I
could not really speak about my needs.
I even didn't know my needs in away.
So to be able to say things withmy violin today in a individual
(19:30):
way, for me, it's a real therapy.
That's really beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing
that. And I think it goes back to a
point that I make often on this podcast, which is that society
doesn't teach us to be individual.
Society teaches us that we have to conform to fit a mold that
works for everyone, even in the way we're taught in school, even
(19:50):
in the way we're taught in musicschool.
Like it's always one sort of path, one sort of way, the same
kind of standardized tests, you know, in academic schools for
everyone where. We know that people don't learn
the same way because people's brains are not wired the same
way. And that's why there are some
(20:11):
people that's like don't performwell on a standardized test, but
actually their IQ is super high and they're actually a genius,
you know? And so it's very frustrating for
me always to feel that limitation and to see that
limitation being perpetuated. So for me as a teacher, I work
so intentionally with my students to help them find what
(20:34):
path is right for them. How do they feel connected to
music? How do they express themselves
through music? It doesn't mean they have to be
a performing artist. It doesn't mean they have to
have a career in the arts. But how do they connect to
music? What makes them joyful in life?
(20:55):
And how can we apply that in their life?
And, and, you know, we're not taught that, just like we're not
taught to rest. We're not taught that resting,
taking a break, letting our minds be quiet and bored even is
essential for developing creativity.
And, you know, you were talking about how you started a festival
(21:15):
during COVID because you wanted to do something, because you
felt kind of sick of being stuckat home and, and you wanted to
create something. And I have to say I had the
complete opposite experience forme when we all went into
lockdown and we had to be in ourhomes for two months.
It was like one of the best things that I've experienced in
(21:37):
that moment because for the first time in my life, I felt
that I had permission to take a break.
I didn't touch the piano for thefirst month of lockdown.
I would like exercise and I would do puzzles and I binged a
lot of TV shows and I was cooking and I was talking to
friends. I was talking to family.
Like I was catching up with people.
(21:58):
I enjoyed the forced break, so to say that we had.
And then in the second month of lockdown, people started asking
me to do some like online concerts, some music series and
stuff. So then I started doing that.
And because I had never performed for just a camera
before like that, you know, likedoing a computer live stream, it
(22:21):
was so bizarre for me. It was the first time I was
doing something like that and I felt so uncomfortable.
It's one thing to do a recordingwhen you're, you know, doing a
video and audio recording, that's one thing.
But when you're like live streaming on a computer and you
don't know if like the connections, OK, you're
wondering if your Wi-Fi cut out.You're wondering if like the the
(22:42):
microphone is picking up. Well, how does it sound like?
It's very strange and awkward. So I remember doing like maybe 3
or 4 practice runs before I did my first online concert for an
actual concert series. And those practice runs I did
for family and for friends all around the world.
And for me, it was such an awkward experience.
(23:03):
And for them, they said it was 45 or 60 minutes of true joy and
love that they felt getting to feel like they were in a concert
hall, getting to hear music again live, like getting to be
part of some community. And I didn't even like realize
how much a difference it made for some people.
(23:24):
But for me, that time of Kovid was me finally taking the break
that I had never allowed myself to take.
And then I went through big changes in my personal life and
started therapy and no concerts were happening.
And so then for eight months I wasn't performing.
And so then thank God I had teaching.
Thank God I was able to teach online and earn some money.
(23:46):
But it was sort of a wake up call for me.
That whole period, as I said, I mean it was combined with life
altering, life changing events in my life that were rewiring my
brain and rewiring the way that I looked at life and approached
life. But it was for me a moment of
absolutely necessary pause. And it's taught me how to now
(24:10):
take those pauses. I don't know still how to take
them frequently. I can do it in my daily life.
Like if I'm tired and my brain is just not thinking clearly or
I'm not able to focus well at the piano, I will stop
practicing. I will not force myself because
it's it's wasted work at this point.
I've been playing for 34 years. It's wasted work if I'm not
(24:33):
actually focused on what I'm doing.
But what I struggle with still is being able to balance in this
season. So I tend to work and work and
work and work and work and then suddenly I have a break and I
burn out and I stop playing. Or for example, I stopped the
podcast for a year because I was, I was really burnt out.
(24:53):
And so like for me, I'm still struggling how to find that
balance between not only the daily life, but weekly, monthly,
yearly life. Yes, I know what you mean.
And also I, I, I hear some, someepisode in other episode where
where you talk about that sometimes you work, work, work
for a concert and then you just take one week off, completely
(25:18):
off and you don't touch the piano.
And actually happened to me also, but in a way, maybe it's
our rhythm. I don't know.
I, I, I remember a student when I was studying in Geneva at the
OTE called the music and there was this Russian chalice that
was classmate of my brother. And he made his recital and 5
(25:41):
minutes later than he finishes last note of the recital, he was
in the practice room practice for.
But other things I don't know. But it, it was so surreal
because if I did my after my recital, I was just stop playing
for a couple of days. And I don't know, I think, I
think it's maybe it's not wrong.Maybe you can we can also stop
(26:03):
thinking we should do something different and just embrace if
it's good for us to just work intensely intensively one month
and then take few days off and II don't know there there is
maybe not something wrong in thein in this.
Maybe I mean the thing that always, I mean, you're right.
(26:27):
It is my rhythm and I, it's beenlike that through my life and
what I appreciate about allowingmyself to take the time off,
whether it's one day, five days,one week and sometimes in the
extreme cases, one month. It's not that I'm not thinking
about music, it's not that I'm not teaching, it's not that I'm
not involved. It's not that I have lost my
(26:50):
love for piano. It's that I have lost my energy
to do and I need to pause. And that's that's where I feel
it's not healthy still where I get to the place where I have to
pause completely. Because also then, you know, in
the extreme cases, which has happened maybe three times in my
(27:12):
life where I've stopped for likea month or a month and a half,
then I have to think about my muscle health.
I have to think about, yeah, I'mstill teaching and I'm still
like showing things and demonstrating to my students,
but I'm not really practicing. Maybe I'm reading something
occasionally, but I'm not practicing in that extreme case.
And as I said, that's only happened a couple times.
(27:33):
But when it gets to that place, I know that I haven't taken care
of myself properly. And then I have to worry about
my muscles atrophying. I have to worry about the health
of my muscles. And so then I know that I have
to build up slowly so that I make sure it's like if you've,
you know, if you normally train running every day and you train
to run half marathons or marathons every, I don't know, a
(27:57):
couple months or every six months or whatever.
And then suddenly you stop running for like a month or two,
you're not going to run a marathon the next week, right?
It's the same thing. You have to retrain your
muscles. And so, so it's also, and this
isn't about me being in shape because I can get back in shape
really fast, but the older I get, the more I need to be
(28:18):
careful about how I'm getting back in shape.
And you know, as my listeners know, I am a very intentional
and mindful person. So even if I have to get back in
shape in a very fast amount of time, I will do it in the
healthiest way possible. But that doesn't change the fact
that as I get older, my muscle recovery is slower.
(28:40):
And so I also have to be mindfulof that.
And so I'm still, I'm really still searching for this
balance. And I think this is one of the
hardest things in life, balance,finding balance in life between
our work and our play and our personal lives and our hobbies.
Finding balance in life, I think, is so difficult.
(29:01):
But for me, it's like my absolute lifelong goal to
achieve a place not where I maintain constant equilibrium,
but where every time the equilibrium gets off, I'm able
to get back to that centered place quickly.
And I can tell you I have not found that yet.
So I'm still working on it. Yes, but you know, I, I
(29:24):
sometimes I think that we also try all always to improve and
sometimes we have just to sit and see listen, you are doing
that since 34 years and not in abad way.
I mean, you did such amazing career in your musical path.
So I think you have a balance. You have an equilibrium.
Maybe it's not what you wish allthe time to be, but it works.
(29:48):
I mean it, it brings result and you can live out of that and you
have nice project, you have the freedom of choosing.
So it's not something too bad I would say.
You know what I mean? Sometimes we we think because
there are a lot of different balance.
If we were out of balance, probably we would die, I mean.
(30:11):
No, you're right. Thank you for saying that.
Honestly, I needed to hear that today.
No, really, because sometimes, yes, we are.
So I mean, I know I'm, I'm a bitlike, like you, I always strive
to improve this and I need also to improve every day and to do
better. I like that.
But sometimes we have also to recognize that it's also good
(30:33):
and enough what we have until now and we can adjust and see if
because sometimes I change things and I think I'm improving
this and actually it goes worse,you know.
So maybe if you, if you would work in another way because it's
34 years that you're working this way, maybe it would be not
(30:55):
beneficial for you. You don't know because you
didn't try. True.
No, that's true, therapist always says.
She keeps reminding me that every time I fight against
something that is part of my nature, I make it more difficult
for myself rather than acceptingthat this is how I am.
And it doesn't mean that I can'timprove how I am or I cannot
(31:16):
transform something in my character or my personality.
But accepting that I am a very detail oriented person, I can
transform it from perfectionist to detail oriented so that I'm
not constantly thinking of it ina negative way.
But the fact is I am very detailoriented and I like that about
myself. I love noticing all these tiny
(31:39):
little details and things, even if it, you know, nobody else is
going to pay attention to that. And in the same way, just
thinking out loud, thinking whatmy therapist would say if I
learned be better, how to acceptthe rhythm that is natural for
me, that seems to be natural forme.
Whether it's part of my personality or it's my
character, it's how I was raised, or it's the environment,
(32:00):
I don't know. It could be a combination.
But if I learned to accept that rather than fighting it, maybe
it would be easier. I don't know.
I, I I. Think that change start with
accept where we are. If you, if we don't accept where
we are, it's difficult to changeand to just see, OK, now it's
like this. It's not too bad.
But I would love to do like a little bit more of this of that.
(32:24):
And then we, we are also a little bit more light because if
change doesn't happen, we will not think, Ah, but I'm very bad,
bad situation right now. It's OK.
I mean, we already did somethinggood in our life, so it's
already good. I would love to do better.
So let's try. But what I really like what what
you said before about that with the age, we need a little bit
(32:47):
more time to rescue our our muscle and to bring again the
the shape of our body into playing.
I think I really, I really was shocked in the next years, I
have to say how much my body is changing in term of energy
resources and needed rested time.
So it's, I think it's extremely,extremely important for our
(33:11):
health, for our tendons and muscle to, to take time and to
plan, to have enough time to be,to be prepared.
And I think you were also a little bit like me in the young
age. We would just practice for three
days, 14 hours a day, a concertobecause we were late in our
(33:32):
preparation. And nowadays, I mean, I, I even
because I don't know, I, I thinkI, I practice much more in the
days nowadays than when I was 20, when I was that I was just
reading everything worked, but musically was much more flat
probably. And now I play one line and I
could stay hours, days or monthsinto, into every notes and what
(33:54):
I want to do with these notes. So of course, this also bring
the problem that we have to plana lot of time to just digest, to
understand what we want to say. And of course for the muscle to
re adapt and not be too brutal because the body change and we
(34:15):
have to accept it absolutely. And it's, it's time planned to
rest and time planned to recover.
And I think these are things that we're not taught.
We are taught to practice. We are taught, we're not taught
how to practice, but we're taught to practice.
We're taught to learn, but we'renot taught how to be efficient
(34:35):
in our practice, how to be efficient with our muscles in
their healthiest way possible, in the healthiest way possible.
We're not taught how to listen effectively for the most part.
There's some, you know, some professors that are amazing.
And I think the person that taught me the most about
listening was Bashkirov. He taught me how to listen at
(34:58):
the piano, and that has changed my entire way of practicing
because when you learn to finally actively listen at your
instrument, it's like you've rewired your ear, you've rewired
your brain completely. I'm not able to sit at the piano
now and not listen. I'm always listening, I'm always
(35:22):
hearing what's happening, and therefore I can also react and
adapt and adjust things a lot faster than when I was younger.
And I had to repeat things 10 times because it wasn't working,
but I didn't understand what was.
Absolutely. Yes, well, we could go on for.
Hours but thank you so much for being here and chatting with us
(35:42):
today. It was really lovely to share
our experiences together and I'mso happy to have met you, not in
person yet, but I hope soon. And yes, thank you for for
everything that you also give tothis industry and to this music
world. Thank you so much for.
Your podcast and for your friendship, even if it's not not
(36:03):
physical for now, I really thinkthat your students are very
lucky to have this kind of guidance because you, I think
you learn so much in your life now.
It's just so, so much treasure that you can just bring them So
they, they, they have a lot of luck.
Thank you, Bellavi. Thank you all so much.
(36:27):
For listening, I am truly grateful for the support.
Please share this episode in this podcast because the more
awareness we bring to mental health, the sooner we can break
the stigmas around these topics and the faster we can help make
our world a healthier place. Don't forget to subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts and see you next time for
another episode of The ConsciousArtist.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Conscious
Artist, a safe space for conversations around mental
health awareness for musicians, artists, and all human beings.
I am your host, Pallavi Mahidera, and I'm thrilled that
you are joining us today. I love the community we have
developed together through this show, and I'm committed to
continuing to give a platform for voices and stories to be
(00:26):
shared. When we allow others and
ourselves to feel seen and heard, we create much needed
change in this industry and in this world.
So thank you for supporting thiscommunity.
Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
and let's get started. My guest today has such a
(00:52):
diverse range of interests and projects, I don't even know
where to begin. She is a performer and a
teacher. She runs her own festival and
nonprofit and is committed to her social responsibility as an
artist. I'll let her tell us more about
everything she does herself. So please join me in welcoming
Irene Abrigo to the conscious artist.
Irene, it is such a pleasure to have you here with us today.
(01:14):
Thank you so much. It's I'm a bit a little bit
emotional because I I hear so many episodes, as you know from
your podcast. So it's a double exciting to be
here. Thank you so much.
Well, I'm very honored that you have listened to so many of my
episodes and you're not sick of them yet and you're here now, so
I'm really excited to chat with you today.
(01:34):
Thank you. So I'm going to start off with a
very hard question. How do you balance being a
performing artist, a teacher, and an entrepreneur?
Because you do so many things, you've started so many projects,
you're involved with so many projects, and I see how
committed you are to every aspect of your art.
And I just want to know like, how do you balance everything?
(01:56):
Well, I think you start everything that I I start in my
life. It it comes from the same
source, which is the incredible deep need of expression.
And so for example, my festival I started during COVID in a
moment where nothing could happen and I was so sick about
(02:18):
being home. And I think everyone was
suffering about that as artist. And so the no profit came to
life also because I had the needto associate music to something
a little bit more concrete in the society, other than sitting
and listening to nice music from, from the audience, which
(02:40):
is already enough in a way, But I wanted to touch a little bit
something more. So we started to do fundraising
and, and playing for social causes, which was extremely
important for me at that time. I, we still is and I'm trying
to, to go on, but at that time was, was really, really
important. And so everything like I can
(03:01):
understand that it looks a little bit, even too much in a
way that sometimes I go to my website, I say, Oh my God, I'm
do too much things. How I can, I can do all that in
the best way, you know, And at the end it's a little, I do
always the same things like organizing at the end, it's
always the same here you have the To Do List maybe with other
(03:22):
people and other things to do. But at the end of the day, it's
practice, organize and it's not too complicated actually.
But I think what you said about need for expression is very
beautiful. A lot of us that have started
learning music at a very young age and have dedicated our lives
(03:45):
to becoming performing artists or at least having a career in
classical music. Most of us don't really think
about the other avenues of expression that we could have
because there isn't time for that.
For example, for me, I've alwaysenjoyed dance and writing.
Those were the other two sort ofhobbies, so to say, if I can
(04:05):
even say the word hobby as a musician that I had growing up.
And I always said when I was younger, if I hadn't been a
pianist or you know, a violinist, because I also played
violin for a long time and that was also a big passion, I would
have loved to be a dancer. But if I hadn't been a
performing artist, I would have loved to be a journalist or a
book editor or a writer or something like this.
(04:28):
But it's still all creative outlets, and I think it's so
beautiful the way you have already recognized your
different avenues of expression for creativity, for sharing, for
giving part of yourself to the world and to the industry.
That's really, really lovely. Well, thank you.
(04:48):
It in a way it's something that is under the skin.
So in a way it's also something I cannot get rid of even if I
want to take some time off. It's quite difficult because I
have this need. It's like, in a way, it's like
eating. No, it's like breathing.
So it, it comes into a level of that if you don't have this,
(05:08):
you're becoming sick. And this is something that I had
to learn in my life to just takemy energy.
Also in other in other things, others than than music, as you
said, like hobbies and things. And I love readings as well.
I like also writing. I like classical dance, but I'm
not very flexible, unfortunately.
I'm I'm working on my flexibility, but it's so
(05:30):
difficult. But this I I learned quite late
actually, it in my life. I was really a Staccano Vista.
We say in in Italian. So we work, work, work, work and
it's a life. If you have a moment of it's
like you're losing your time, especially as a freelancer or if
you don't have a fixed job. Now with the teaching is a
(05:51):
little bit different since a couple of years, but before I
was totally independent. And so when when you are not
feeding your revenues in a way, you have also the fear that
you're not doing enough and you don't know if you will have a
successful season or yeah, you have to prepare for the upcoming
(06:11):
seasons. And that leads also to how many
expenses I have, how I will dealwith this?
Should I pay for this now or should I just save more?
Because I don't know what will happen later.
And this is something that I think we don't openly talk
about, but the financials of, ofa freelance artist are quite
(06:34):
complicated. Actually.
When I started the therapy in 2021, it was also during COVID.
It was extremely important for me.
I mean, the first question of mytherapist was who is Irene
outside the violin is existing Irene outside the violin?
(06:55):
What is about what she likes, what she likes to do, what, what
she wears, what she smells in like, what she likes to to go
out, what she likes to read whatshe likes.
I mean, and it was such a such asimple question in a way, but
the life changing because I was,Oh my God, I, I completely
identify by myself with my profession in a way that maybe
(07:18):
it's not always healthy. So this need of expression
through music also bring a lot of pressure if you if you don't
take some step away. Sometimes I like readings a lot
of biographies from not not onlymusician, but from creatives
from all the field and especially in the past when
(07:40):
there were much less technology around.
Everyone is spending at least 2-3 hours going on walks in
nature or doing, you know, others, other things.
And to us totally normal and with technology, I think it's
obviously it's a, it's a great tool for us, but can also lead
to too much work and without pose.
(08:03):
And so it's, I think the challenge is really to balance
the energy, to balance the time and to also to have faith that
if you do nothing, things can come to you.
And it's not like if you do nothing, they will not remember
you, you will disappear. And I in a way, in a moment, I
(08:26):
had to sit down. And so OK, I'm doing this
project, I'm doing this project,I'm doing this project.
But do I let the things comes tome or I'm doing too much in an
active way? And this was also something very
important. And actually, I realized that
the most incredible things that I had in my life, personally and
(08:49):
professionally, like my debut atCarnegie all or meeting my
husband, receiving this gorgeousviolin that I have honor to play
all those things. I didn't search for it and I
didn't work. I mean, of course, I work in my
past as, as my, my studies and my concert, of course, but it
(09:10):
was not something active that I did for them.
They all came in a moment where I kind of was calm and I kind of
gave up my active need of doing organizing stuff.
And this was each time that I have too much, I remember those
things and it helped me to to just calm down and to say to
(09:33):
myself, OK, I exist and I'm worthy or perceiving if even if
I just pause a little bit, I don't know if you if you have
this in your life. Yes, very much.
And there's so many things that you touched upon that I want to
go back and talk about. But what you're speaking about
(09:54):
right now, I guess we could say the flip side of being a
freelancer, right? We have all of the freedom in
the world as a freelancer to choose the life that we want to
choose, the work that we want tobe our own boss.
It is something that I have learned in my life that I value
(10:15):
above all else, that I have autonomy and freedom to choose
the life that I want. That doesn't mean that I get to
do anything I want, and that doesn't mean that everything
comes to me. It means I have the choice to
say yes or no. And that is like super powerful
for me. Like in the few times that I've
(10:37):
worked for someone else in, in any kind of situation, I
realized that it doesn't fulfillme in the same way.
I, I need that autonomy and freedom.
But the flip side of that is that we have to fight for the
life we want. And that means we have to be
proactive. We have to search for contacts,
(10:58):
concerts, whether you have a manager or not, it doesn't
matter in today's world. We have to put in the work.
Nobody, just, you know, unless you're at the absolute top, top,
top, things don't just come to us.
And I do agree with you that there's a balance between doing,
creating, working hard, putting that energy out into the
(11:18):
universe and actually doing the hard work, but also trusting and
leaving room for growth. And it's sort of the balance
between scarcity mindset, which is when we do things from fear,
from fear of not having enough work, from fear of being
forgotten, fear of being irrelevant, versus growth
(11:38):
mindset where we want to learn, We are curious to, we are
curious to discover more. We are excited to develop a new
project or start a new thing. And it's such a difficult
balance, I think as a freelancer, and I'm so glad that
you're, you know, we're talking about this as freelancers.
(11:59):
I think it's so hard to find that balance when you're right,
we not only are trying to make beautiful art and live a life
that feels full and creative, but we also have to pay our
bills. And when we don't have a salary
coming in every single month that we know for sure is going
(12:20):
to cover our rent and our utilities and our health
insurance or whatever it is you have to pay, it's very scary.
And like from personal experience, many times in my
life, I have been in a place where I'm like, Oh my God, am I
going to pay my rent? Am I going to have enough
concerts next year? And 99.9% of the times my
schedule fills up, things come. I keep working for them, they
(12:42):
come. So I love that you've brought
this up and that we can talk about this, but it is really
scary. It's exciting and it's scary.
Absolutely, yes, and but well, Ican send because as pianist, I
think it's a little bit more limited what you can do as
violinist. Of course you can.
(13:03):
You can play in so many orchestra.
I mean, it exists, this possibility, the symphonic
orchestra, Chamber Orchestra things.
There are a lot of jobs out there.
It's a security and I mean the the repertoire is gorgeous and
if you have nice collects, maybeit's a nice experience.
I always like this and during COVID actually, when everything
stopped, I had incredible luck to to receive a contract in the
(13:29):
orchestra. Where my husband is, is
principal Viola here in Switzerland.
I had to work 100% in the first violin from August until July,
so a full season, 100% in orchestra.
And I never did that. I mean, I always play in nice
orchestra. I did an Academy with the Vienna
(13:50):
Philharmonic was really rich. I mean, it was everything was
right. Everything brings so much in my
life, but I was not convincing and I I never tried really a
full time job. So that was the the case.
And I had a salary where all my colleague freelance were like
(14:10):
many change actually job in thatperiod because it was
impossible. And we were very lucky actually
in in Switzerland, we receive actually some some financial
help. So we were in a better position
than in other country. Anyway, I did my full season in
orchestra. Thanks God that I did that
because it cleared up so much that that was not the job for
(14:35):
me. I mean, it was so clearly my
energy was totally down. And I realize it's so difficult
for a musician to choose their path musically because if you
are not financial free, you haveto take sometimes the job that
comes and maybe you have kids already, maybe I don't know.
(14:57):
It's difficult. And I, I have a project actually
to write a book about this because I think everyone has to
understand also personally what fits the best.
For example, even I go back later to the orchestra
experience. But for example, for the
teaching, there are some friendsthat they have.
(15:19):
They are so talented with kids, so talented.
My God, there are a lot of passions and they know the
literature and the games and allthis.
I mean, amazing. And then there are other that
are maybe more comfortable with teenager with already some
little more serious repertoire. And then of course there are
another that maybe want to coachfor auditions and concerts.
(15:43):
And there are, of course, it's the same job as the teaching
music, teaching violin, but it'sso different.
The same things is with orchestra play.
I mean, we're still play the violin, we still play
Tchaikovsky, we still play Proms, we still play music with
colleagues. But to show up every day in a
community with 60 people as a highly sensitive person, and I
(16:09):
don't say that in a positive waybecause I think it's very
limited in this kind of situation.
I was so exhausted. I mean, every day I was coming
home, I was at the bottom of my energy because I was absorbing
so much that had nothing to do with music.
All the problems, all the frustration, all the thing.
I also thought later on why I suffer so much when I'm in a
(16:35):
group, when I cannot choose freewith freedom, as you said
before. And maybe it's something in my
case at least connected with my education because I had a very
strict education and I could notchoose a lot until even 20
because I didn't really realize that I think that I was finally
(16:56):
free to choose for myself. In my head was, you know, I have
my father that's very strict andhe says to me something and I
would just do it. I just was raised up like this.
And so in a way, I had to grew in my artistic life in a way
that I now give me the freedom that I didn't live before.
(17:19):
And this came into my life with chamber music and solo valley
repertoire, which I love. I really, really, really love to
be in my own reward and to sharethis and if it's possible also
when we talk or so. But you know, if you start, if
you don't start very young with this, it's a little bit
difficult to grow in the musicalindustry with this.
(17:41):
But I have a very good balance today with this chamber music,
solo violin and solo with orchestra.
And it made me so happy. And even if one month it's a
little bit died with finances, Iknow that I have the freedom of
choosing, of taking breaks when I want.
(18:01):
I mean, orchestra, praying is such a tough word.
You have to sit six hours and you cannot.
I mean, if you, if you have a little bit of pain in some, I
don't know, in a leg, you cannotmove.
You cannot, You have really to see.
It's not for everyone, but I know from that experience I had
(18:22):
colleagues, I remember they wereso joyful every day they would
come with a smile. They were always well prepared.
So it exists that there are people absolutely that have this
fire for for orchestral job. And there are some people like
me that suffer too much. Thanks God.
It's like this that there is a little bit for everyone.
(18:46):
And I really think the hard job for us as teachers is to help
the young to realize what is my personality needs?
What is my goal with music? What I want to say, do I want to
be part of a group? Have I part of a big voice?
(19:08):
Do I need to my single voice to hear or?
I mean, when I was young, I remember very well I could, I
could not really speak about my needs.
I even didn't know my needs in away.
So to be able to say things withmy violin today in a individual
(19:30):
way, for me, it's a real therapy.
That's really beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing
that. And I think it goes back to a
point that I make often on this podcast, which is that society
doesn't teach us to be individual.
Society teaches us that we have to conform to fit a mold that
works for everyone, even in the way we're taught in school, even
(19:50):
in the way we're taught in musicschool.
Like it's always one sort of path, one sort of way, the same
kind of standardized tests, you know, in academic schools for
everyone where. We know that people don't learn
the same way because people's brains are not wired the same
way. And that's why there are some
(20:11):
people that's like don't performwell on a standardized test, but
actually their IQ is super high and they're actually a genius,
you know? And so it's very frustrating for
me always to feel that limitation and to see that
limitation being perpetuated. So for me as a teacher, I work
so intentionally with my students to help them find what
(20:34):
path is right for them. How do they feel connected to
music? How do they express themselves
through music? It doesn't mean they have to be
a performing artist. It doesn't mean they have to
have a career in the arts. But how do they connect to
music? What makes them joyful in life?
(20:55):
And how can we apply that in their life?
And, and, you know, we're not taught that, just like we're not
taught to rest. We're not taught that resting,
taking a break, letting our minds be quiet and bored even is
essential for developing creativity.
And, you know, you were talking about how you started a festival
(21:15):
during COVID because you wanted to do something, because you
felt kind of sick of being stuckat home and, and you wanted to
create something. And I have to say I had the
complete opposite experience forme when we all went into
lockdown and we had to be in ourhomes for two months.
It was like one of the best things that I've experienced in
(21:37):
that moment because for the first time in my life, I felt
that I had permission to take a break.
I didn't touch the piano for thefirst month of lockdown.
I would like exercise and I would do puzzles and I binged a
lot of TV shows and I was cooking and I was talking to
friends. I was talking to family.
Like I was catching up with people.
(21:58):
I enjoyed the forced break, so to say that we had.
And then in the second month of lockdown, people started asking
me to do some like online concerts, some music series and
stuff. So then I started doing that.
And because I had never performed for just a camera
before like that, you know, likedoing a computer live stream, it
(22:21):
was so bizarre for me. It was the first time I was
doing something like that and I felt so uncomfortable.
It's one thing to do a recordingwhen you're, you know, doing a
video and audio recording, that's one thing.
But when you're like live streaming on a computer and you
don't know if like the connections, OK, you're
wondering if your Wi-Fi cut out.You're wondering if like the the
(22:42):
microphone is picking up. Well, how does it sound like?
It's very strange and awkward. So I remember doing like maybe 3
or 4 practice runs before I did my first online concert for an
actual concert series. And those practice runs I did
for family and for friends all around the world.
And for me, it was such an awkward experience.
(23:03):
And for them, they said it was 45 or 60 minutes of true joy and
love that they felt getting to feel like they were in a concert
hall, getting to hear music again live, like getting to be
part of some community. And I didn't even like realize
how much a difference it made for some people.
(23:24):
But for me, that time of Kovid was me finally taking the break
that I had never allowed myself to take.
And then I went through big changes in my personal life and
started therapy and no concerts were happening.
And so then for eight months I wasn't performing.
And so then thank God I had teaching.
Thank God I was able to teach online and earn some money.
(23:46):
But it was sort of a wake up call for me.
That whole period, as I said, I mean it was combined with life
altering, life changing events in my life that were rewiring my
brain and rewiring the way that I looked at life and approached
life. But it was for me a moment of
absolutely necessary pause. And it's taught me how to now
(24:10):
take those pauses. I don't know still how to take
them frequently. I can do it in my daily life.
Like if I'm tired and my brain is just not thinking clearly or
I'm not able to focus well at the piano, I will stop
practicing. I will not force myself because
it's it's wasted work at this point.
I've been playing for 34 years. It's wasted work if I'm not
(24:33):
actually focused on what I'm doing.
But what I struggle with still is being able to balance in this
season. So I tend to work and work and
work and work and work and then suddenly I have a break and I
burn out and I stop playing. Or for example, I stopped the
podcast for a year because I was, I was really burnt out.
(24:53):
And so like for me, I'm still struggling how to find that
balance between not only the daily life, but weekly, monthly,
yearly life. Yes, I know what you mean.
And also I, I, I hear some, someepisode in other episode where
where you talk about that sometimes you work, work, work
for a concert and then you just take one week off, completely
(25:18):
off and you don't touch the piano.
And actually happened to me also, but in a way, maybe it's
our rhythm. I don't know.
I, I, I remember a student when I was studying in Geneva at the
OTE called the music and there was this Russian chalice that
was classmate of my brother. And he made his recital and 5
(25:41):
minutes later than he finishes last note of the recital, he was
in the practice room practice for.
But other things I don't know. But it, it was so surreal
because if I did my after my recital, I was just stop playing
for a couple of days. And I don't know, I think, I
think it's maybe it's not wrong.Maybe you can we can also stop
(26:03):
thinking we should do something different and just embrace if
it's good for us to just work intensely intensively one month
and then take few days off and II don't know there there is
maybe not something wrong in thein in this.
Maybe I mean the thing that always, I mean, you're right.
(26:27):
It is my rhythm and I, it's beenlike that through my life and
what I appreciate about allowingmyself to take the time off,
whether it's one day, five days,one week and sometimes in the
extreme cases, one month. It's not that I'm not thinking
about music, it's not that I'm not teaching, it's not that I'm
not involved. It's not that I have lost my
(26:50):
love for piano. It's that I have lost my energy
to do and I need to pause. And that's that's where I feel
it's not healthy still where I get to the place where I have to
pause completely. Because also then, you know, in
the extreme cases, which has happened maybe three times in my
(27:12):
life where I've stopped for likea month or a month and a half,
then I have to think about my muscle health.
I have to think about, yeah, I'mstill teaching and I'm still
like showing things and demonstrating to my students,
but I'm not really practicing. Maybe I'm reading something
occasionally, but I'm not practicing in that extreme case.
And as I said, that's only happened a couple times.
(27:33):
But when it gets to that place, I know that I haven't taken care
of myself properly. And then I have to worry about
my muscles atrophying. I have to worry about the health
of my muscles. And so then I know that I have
to build up slowly so that I make sure it's like if you've,
you know, if you normally train running every day and you train
to run half marathons or marathons every, I don't know, a
(27:57):
couple months or every six months or whatever.
And then suddenly you stop running for like a month or two,
you're not going to run a marathon the next week, right?
It's the same thing. You have to retrain your
muscles. And so, so it's also, and this
isn't about me being in shape because I can get back in shape
really fast, but the older I get, the more I need to be
(28:18):
careful about how I'm getting back in shape.
And you know, as my listeners know, I am a very intentional
and mindful person. So even if I have to get back in
shape in a very fast amount of time, I will do it in the
healthiest way possible. But that doesn't change the fact
that as I get older, my muscle recovery is slower.
(28:40):
And so I also have to be mindfulof that.
And so I'm still, I'm really still searching for this
balance. And I think this is one of the
hardest things in life, balance,finding balance in life between
our work and our play and our personal lives and our hobbies.
Finding balance in life, I think, is so difficult.
(29:01):
But for me, it's like my absolute lifelong goal to
achieve a place not where I maintain constant equilibrium,
but where every time the equilibrium gets off, I'm able
to get back to that centered place quickly.
And I can tell you I have not found that yet.
So I'm still working on it. Yes, but you know, I, I
(29:24):
sometimes I think that we also try all always to improve and
sometimes we have just to sit and see listen, you are doing
that since 34 years and not in abad way.
I mean, you did such amazing career in your musical path.
So I think you have a balance. You have an equilibrium.
Maybe it's not what you wish allthe time to be, but it works.
(29:48):
I mean it, it brings result and you can live out of that and you
have nice project, you have the freedom of choosing.
So it's not something too bad I would say.
You know what I mean? Sometimes we we think because
there are a lot of different balance.
If we were out of balance, probably we would die, I mean.
(30:11):
No, you're right. Thank you for saying that.
Honestly, I needed to hear that today.
No, really, because sometimes, yes, we are.
So I mean, I know I'm, I'm a bitlike, like you, I always strive
to improve this and I need also to improve every day and to do
better. I like that.
But sometimes we have also to recognize that it's also good
(30:33):
and enough what we have until now and we can adjust and see if
because sometimes I change things and I think I'm improving
this and actually it goes worse,you know.
So maybe if you, if you would work in another way because it's
34 years that you're working this way, maybe it would be not
(30:55):
beneficial for you. You don't know because you
didn't try. True.
No, that's true, therapist always says.
She keeps reminding me that every time I fight against
something that is part of my nature, I make it more difficult
for myself rather than acceptingthat this is how I am.
And it doesn't mean that I can'timprove how I am or I cannot
(31:16):
transform something in my character or my personality.
But accepting that I am a very detail oriented person, I can
transform it from perfectionist to detail oriented so that I'm
not constantly thinking of it ina negative way.
But the fact is I am very detailoriented and I like that about
myself. I love noticing all these tiny
(31:39):
little details and things, even if it, you know, nobody else is
going to pay attention to that. And in the same way, just
thinking out loud, thinking whatmy therapist would say if I
learned be better, how to acceptthe rhythm that is natural for
me, that seems to be natural forme.
Whether it's part of my personality or it's my
character, it's how I was raised, or it's the environment,
(32:00):
I don't know. It could be a combination.
But if I learned to accept that rather than fighting it, maybe
it would be easier. I don't know.
I, I I. Think that change start with
accept where we are. If you, if we don't accept where
we are, it's difficult to changeand to just see, OK, now it's
like this. It's not too bad.
But I would love to do like a little bit more of this of that.
(32:24):
And then we, we are also a little bit more light because if
change doesn't happen, we will not think, Ah, but I'm very bad,
bad situation right now. It's OK.
I mean, we already did somethinggood in our life, so it's
already good. I would love to do better.
So let's try. But what I really like what what
you said before about that with the age, we need a little bit
(32:47):
more time to rescue our our muscle and to bring again the
the shape of our body into playing.
I think I really, I really was shocked in the next years, I
have to say how much my body is changing in term of energy
resources and needed rested time.
So it's, I think it's extremely,extremely important for our
(33:11):
health, for our tendons and muscle to, to take time and to
plan, to have enough time to be,to be prepared.
And I think you were also a little bit like me in the young
age. We would just practice for three
days, 14 hours a day, a concertobecause we were late in our
(33:32):
preparation. And nowadays, I mean, I, I even
because I don't know, I, I thinkI, I practice much more in the
days nowadays than when I was 20, when I was that I was just
reading everything worked, but musically was much more flat
probably. And now I play one line and I
could stay hours, days or monthsinto, into every notes and what
(33:54):
I want to do with these notes. So of course, this also bring
the problem that we have to plana lot of time to just digest, to
understand what we want to say. And of course for the muscle to
re adapt and not be too brutal because the body change and we
(34:15):
have to accept it absolutely. And it's, it's time planned to
rest and time planned to recover.
And I think these are things that we're not taught.
We are taught to practice. We are taught, we're not taught
how to practice, but we're taught to practice.
We're taught to learn, but we'renot taught how to be efficient
(34:35):
in our practice, how to be efficient with our muscles in
their healthiest way possible, in the healthiest way possible.
We're not taught how to listen effectively for the most part.
There's some, you know, some professors that are amazing.
And I think the person that taught me the most about
listening was Bashkirov. He taught me how to listen at
(34:58):
the piano, and that has changed my entire way of practicing
because when you learn to finally actively listen at your
instrument, it's like you've rewired your ear, you've rewired
your brain completely. I'm not able to sit at the piano
now and not listen. I'm always listening, I'm always
(35:22):
hearing what's happening, and therefore I can also react and
adapt and adjust things a lot faster than when I was younger.
And I had to repeat things 10 times because it wasn't working,
but I didn't understand what was.
Absolutely. Yes, well, we could go on for.
Hours but thank you so much for being here and chatting with us
(35:42):
today. It was really lovely to share
our experiences together and I'mso happy to have met you, not in
person yet, but I hope soon. And yes, thank you for for
everything that you also give tothis industry and to this music
world. Thank you so much for.
Your podcast and for your friendship, even if it's not not
(36:03):
physical for now, I really thinkthat your students are very
lucky to have this kind of guidance because you, I think
you learn so much in your life now.
It's just so, so much treasure that you can just bring them So
they, they, they have a lot of luck.
Thank you, Bellavi. Thank you all so much.
(36:27):
For listening, I am truly grateful for the support.
Please share this episode in this podcast because the more
awareness we bring to mental health, the sooner we can break
the stigmas around these topics and the faster we can help make
our world a healthier place. Don't forget to subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts and see you next time for
another episode of The ConsciousArtist.
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