December 16, 2024 • 49 mins
Experience the transformative power of music with our extraordinary guest, Brandon Stewart, co-founder and CEO of Millennial Choirs and Orchestras (MCO). As a conductor, pianist, vocalist, composer, and arranger, Brandon brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to our conversation about music education and performance. From his inspiring journey of establishing MCO alongside his brother Brett back in 2007 in Orange County, California, to their expansion into Arizona, Brandon shares unforgettable stories, including a moving account of conducting during a New York City blackout. Join us as we uncover the profound impact of MCO’s remarkable performances and their commitment to inspiring excellence and passion through music.
Discover the unique opportunity MCO offers for families to perform together and create deep connections through sacred classical music. With participation ranging from young children to adults, MCO has become a beacon of unity. Brandon discusses the importance of patriotism in their programs, especially for youth, as a means to foster unity in a divided nation and instill pride in American history. As we reflect on Brandon and his brother's familial and environmental influences, we explore how these shaped their passion for the arts and their vision for MCO's future.
Unpack the synergy between parenting, mentorship, and musical excellence as Brandon shares insights on balancing family life with artistic aspirations. Learn about the importance of supportive parents and mentors from Brandon’s own journey from Juilliard to Brigham Young University. Through personal anecdotes, Brandon reveals how unconditional love and honest feedback nurture well-rounded individuals. He also previews exciting upcoming MCO events, including the much-anticipated "Messiah in America" production, and contemplates what it truly means to be a gentleman in modern society. Join us for a conversation that promises to inspire and resonate with anyone dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in music and life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Gentleman Project Podcast.
I'm Corey Moore and I'm KirkChug.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Today in the studio we have Brandon Stewart.
Brandon is married to his wife,heather, and they're parents of
three kids.
He and his brother, brett, arethe co-founders and CEOs of
Millennial Choirs and Orchestras.
If you have been around theSalt Lake City area, the Dallas
area, the California area,you've probably seen or heard of
(00:25):
this amazing group founded in2007.
He's the conductor, pianist,vocalist, composer, arranger.
For 17 years he's devoted hislife to educating and training
thousands of people, which iswhy he's here.
We think he's going to have anamazing perspective of how to
teach through music and thedisciplines that he teaches
(00:48):
those that are in his orbit.
He also teaches a lot of adults, though, because he's got a lot
of adults in his choirs.
He's conducted hundreds ofperformances in concert halls
around the country, probablyaround the world as well.
His bio says nationwide, but Iwouldn't put it past him.
His compositions andarrangements, such as the Vision
(01:12):
, the Battle of Jericho, mary,did you Know?
O Come, o Come, o Emmanuel, joyto the World, be Still my Soul,
can be found on all of MCO'schart copy kits.
He is passionate.
If you've ever seen him performand conduct, you would know
that he's responsible forcoining the mantra, well-known
(01:33):
and recited often by the MCOparticipants.
Diction, as I mess up a wordright before I say diction,
diction, passion, testimony.
He particularly loves workingwith the youth of MCO and
inspiring them to rise abovemediocrity and be shining lights
in the darkening world.
His most memorable conductingexperience is leading millennial
(01:55):
choirs and orchestras in songon New York City's 56th Street
during the Manhattanhenge sunsetfollowing the historic 2019 New
York City blackout.
I remember seeing that on thenews.
Did I say that?
Right?
Yeah, I remember seeing thatand it just like gave me chills.
We're going to have to get thatstory on the podcast for sure I
(02:19):
can read for another 10 minutes.
The dude is amazing.
He went to Juilliard.
He has a master's degree fromJuilliard.
He's done so many incrediblethings in this space and has
rubbed shoulders with some ofthe best in the business.
So I'm going to let him kind ofround out his bio as he talks.
(02:40):
But we are honored to have youin town and Corey and I are both
super excited to come andlisten to the Christmas concert
the MCO is going to put on atthe Eccles this year or a
Bravino Bravino Hall.
So, um, amazing to have youhere.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Thank you, Thanks for having and I I am so impressed
with what you guys are doing andI think this we need more of
this kind of thing.
So well, thanks.
Congrats on the gentlemanproject uh, I have to.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I have to name drop a couple of our friends.
You're the reason.
They're the reason that you'rehere today.
Uh, derek Minor, greg Trimble,were on the podcast a couple
months ago.
We got tickets my family gottickets to come to the MCO show
last year and I had, I hadexpectations and they were blown
(03:37):
away.
I looked over at my wife severaltimes.
We were sitting by Derek andGreg and I looked over to the
left to my wife several times.
We were sitting by Derek andGreg and I looked over to the
left to my wife a couple oftimes during the performance
with my eyebrows as high as theywould go going.
Are you kidding me?
This is.
This is way better, way more,way more professional.
(03:59):
I mean, you're dealing withkids like little kids, and these
little kids are up there justgiving it all, and I just turned
to her several times with myeyebrows way high, just like can
you believe this?
It is remarkable what you guyshave done with that.
So will you give us a littlebackground of why you started
(04:20):
Millennial Choirs and Orchestrasand where it came from and
where it's?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
going Sure.
Yeah, millennial choirs andorchestras started in 2007.
So that we're starting our 17thseason this year.
Can't believe that it's gone bythat fast, but we started back
in our hometown of Orange County, california, with no intention
of expanding to any other place.
(04:48):
My brother had a very vividdream when he was finishing his
doctorate degree at CincinnatiConservatory, where he spoke in
this dream with a mentor that weboth had in high school, kind
of directing him.
You know you need to do thiskind of thing and, long story
short, he called me right afterand got me on board and I had
(05:13):
another year left at Juilliardbefore I could go move and join
him doing that.
But we got started in 2007.
And shortly thereafter, acouple years, we were in Arizona
because they were getting windthat this was going on and they
wanted it there.
And fast forward to today andwe're in Utah and Idaho, texas,
(05:34):
and we just opened in KansasCity this last year, and so we
just couldn't have imagined thatthis would have done that.
But it shows how many peoplereally are looking for something
like this in their life, notjust to perform in beautiful
concert halls and perform greatmusic with families, but also to
(05:56):
have the weekly experience andexposure of this kind of sacred
classical music that connectsyour soul to God in a unique way
, and so we've seen that reallybless a lot of families' lives.
What's neat about it is you canbe just an individual
participating in MCO, or we havemoms, dads and kids, teenagers
(06:16):
all the way down to age four.
That's unique in this world.
You don't typically have thatopportunity to be in a
performing ensemble with yourentire family, and that's
something that we think ispretty cool.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So how many people are in the group?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
So total we average between 4,000 and 5,000
participants across the UnitedStates, and it just depends on
which community you're in.
Some are larger and some aresmaller, depending.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Okay so it depends on the geography of who's
participating, yep, and are theshows similar, different, the
same?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
they're mostly similar.
Yeah, that helps us keep apretty streamlined approach in
our, in our preparations and ourproduction team, all that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
So so how many people were in the show that I went to
, the patriotic one that I wentto last year?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And that was here in Utah.
Utah's got a lot ofparticipants.
It's one of our largest localesand so that was about 1,100
people total.
I don't think you saw that manyon stage at once, but rotating
throughout the evening.
That's how many people wereparticipating in Utah.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
One of the coolest things was.
Sitting there, you're watchingthe stage and you're expecting
all the sound to come from thestage and you only seat the
floor at a Bravino Hall and allof a sudden, like you hear some
rustlings and then the lightscome on and the balconies are
filled with choir members andthey start singing.
(07:42):
It's like freaking angels withchoir members and they start
singing.
It's like freaking angels like,and it just like you have
surround sound choir andeverybody like you're watching
the reactions of people in theaudience starting to turn their
heads and look up like where'sthis angelic sound coming from?
And they realize that they'resurrounded by this choir.
(08:02):
It's one of the coolest thingslike from a performance
standpoint that I've ever been apart of as an audience member.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, I'm glad to hear that you liked it, because
that's one of our favoritethings too.
We just love to kind of wrapthe audience in this sound.
It just really kind ofsaturates your soul in what
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So one of the things that I noticed, especially in
the patriotic program that I wasinvolved with that I went to
last year, there were kidslearning things about our
country and the history of ourcountry and passion for our
country.
Call it patriotism.
What have you that you don'tsee normally?
(08:45):
Like kids aren't exposed to thesame things as you're exposing
them to, and I was watchingthese four-year-olds sing with
passion about our foundingfathers and george washington
and I still remember that thatthat beautiful fun song that
these kids sang about georgewashington wonderful, very great
man.
(09:05):
And so why?
Why patriotism?
I'm big on patriotism.
It's it's kind of part of mymakeup.
I love it.
I've always have, I'm still,involved in it.
Why patriotism?
Why now?
Why with our youth?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
It's something that we don't always sing songs that
are patriotic.
It fit with our tour that wewere going on.
We were going back east toBoston and Palmyra in a big tour
that we do every couple yearsand we wanted to expose all
these participants to some ofthese great stories of the
founding of our nation.
But over the years we've doneseveral patriotic performances.
(09:44):
There's great music aboutAmerica and it helps unify a
very divided nation and we sawthe recent concerts do that
quite significantly.
They softened people and peoplestarted, I hope, forgetting
whatever side you were on andyou're just Americans and we're
we're proud to be that and andum, we all can coexist together
(10:07):
in harmony and I think that Ithink that that concert series
really um did that and then youdo a christmas series, correct,
is that what it is?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
yes, we do a holiday series.
I don't know what you call it achristmas series every year in.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
December.
That lasts about two to threeweeks across the nation.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So that's killer.
So talk to me a little bitabout where this love of the
arts.
You were a conductor andpianist, right?
Yeah, as background, and yourbrother sounds like he's in the
arts in some way shape or form,yeah, so where did that come
from?
Is that a family thing?
How did you both end up there?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
It's a family thing.
It was also an environmentalenvironment thing.
Like we grew up in SouthernCalifornia in the Huntington
Beach Fountain Valley area.
That area in the eighties andnineties was a really booming
arts scene.
Um, so all throughout ourschooling it was just a cool
thing to do to be a part of thearts, to be a part of music.
(11:05):
It wasn't frowned upon in anyway and it was encouraged in
fact.
So our parents encouraged it,our community encouraged it, our
friends' parents encouraged it.
So we were doing swimming andwater polo and we had friends in
football and baseball and theywere doing choir, they were
doing the band and the orchestraand that was just that was how
we were raised.
It was just that's.
(11:26):
That was normal to me, um, andthat's actually uh.
I see other communities in thenation that don't have that and
it.
It's alarming to me and sad tome because I want.
I want girls, boys, young men,young women and men and women of
all walks of life to know thatmusic and the arts is a great
(11:48):
thing.
I think it rounds out anindividual, it makes you a
better man or woman.
We have a culture like asubculture, I think in America,
especially right now that men dosports and women do arts, and
it's not, but it's.
It's present in a lot ofcommunities and that is
definitely something I'mcommitted to changing with
(12:10):
millennial choirs and orchestras.
We have so many teenage boysand young men and boys in this
program and I love seeing thatthey're coming in in their
football jerseys and thebasketball jerseys and sweaty
from practice and then they'reopening their music and singing
this beautiful, refined musicthat makes you a
multi-dimensional human being.
(12:31):
You know, I think a lot oftimes men and boys can be driven
to be a one-dimensional personand music and arts should be
applauded and encouraged.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I think, yeah, that's amazing what you said about
bringing people together fromboth sides.
As it relates to beingpatriotic, um, I know we're all
fairly religious folks, so, um,bringing people closer to god
and softening their hearts, Ithink you said earlier yeah,
what a great way to do it.
(12:59):
Music is probably one of thebest ways to do that, in my mind
.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And the fastest it really happens fast.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I'm interested because you have a master's
degree from Juilliard.
I'd love to hear you play thepiano someday.
Is there science behind that?
I've heard that there is, butnow I'm in the position to ask
somebody who's probably studiedit.
Why does music have such aneffect on people, Like it
(13:31):
crosses the boundaries ofemotion quicker than any other
medium.
Oh yeah, and is it just the wayour brains fire and function?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Like.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I can still remember what has it been Like eight
months ago or something.
I can still remember what is it, what has it been like eight
months ago or something.
I can still remember the wordsto that little George Washington
song going on in my head as I'mthinking about it.
Right, and I can't think ofanother song that I heard eight
months ago, that I'd only heardone time and I can still hear it
in my head Like that's powerful, right?
(14:02):
So do you have some research orsome statistics, or can you
explain why that is?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
There's so much research that's been done.
In fact, my mom got hermaster's degree and her master's
thesis was all about music inthe brain at home, growing up,
about how there is so muchscience behind the Mozart effect
(14:31):
and the math and science behindmusic and how it can literally
rewire your brain and yourthinking and your intellect.
There's been tons of studiesabout kids who study music at an
early age and how they performbetter in the classroom and they
perform better socially in life.
I mean, there's so many things.
Yeah, so it's an importantelement of our life.
(14:53):
To leave music out would beleaving out a huge part of
humanity, what it means to be ahuman, especially that connects
with God.
What I love about the music ofthe master composers is that
many of these Bach, Mozart,Beethoven, Brahms and many more
were connected to deity in someway, shape or form.
They might not have beendevoutly religious, but they
(15:15):
were connected and the musicthat they wrote was oftentimes
godly music or talking about Godor Jesus Christ in some way,
and you feel that their writingis heavenly in that way and
that's why we connect to ithundreds of years later in that
way.
But yeah, there's definitely alot of research that's been done
on that.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So talk to me about your family.
You have children, I assume,and are they involved in the
choir?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, my wife is my better half.
She's got an amazing sopranovoice and we sang together in
college in our undergraduatework.
And we have three amazing kidsand my daughter, our daughter
Ashley is actually a vocalperformance major at Brigham
Young University.
Now, I know that seems cliche.
She's coming from two parentsthat are musical, but she did
(16:07):
this all on her own and sheloves it and she's passionate
about doing that Environmentright, right, it's the
environment.
And then we have two sons.
One is a 16-year-old, he's onthe varsity basketball team and
also plays French horn.
And we've got our youngest sonis 12.
And he is also a basketball.
He loves basketball so much andfootball and he loves to sing
(16:31):
and so and play the piano.
And that's been an importantpart of our family is we want
well rounded people and that'show my brother and I were raised
, in a family that reallyemphasized being well-rounded,
not just doing one thing, andI'm grateful for my mom and dad
who realized that having aone-track person is not going to
(16:52):
lead to success or happiness inlife.
So it was a lot about balance.
When I was getting too intensewith piano as a young kid, my
mom would be like, okay, youneed to go on this camp out, or
you need to go do this or makesure you're doing this sport,
and so my wife and I try to dothe same with our kids.
I'm not big into basketball orfootball, but my sons have kind
(17:13):
of forced me into that world andso now I know more about NBA
players than I ever thought Iwould know, and I think it's
such a cool world, um, but Ialso am the first one to be like
okay, now go practice theFrench horn, get some balance.
Um, sit down at the piano,remember to to do that.
I think it makes it developsgentlemen, it develops men who
(17:34):
can be really refined before wegot on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Here we were talking about my little girl who's in
New York and she has now calledher mom and said thank you so
much for forcing me to play theviolin, because force was
probably the right word a lot ofyears when she was growing up.
So was that ever hard for youor your kids?
The whole practicing thing?
I mean?
I think it's good for them inthat it teaches them that you
(18:01):
know hard work and dedicationand skills and you name it.
But was there times when youwere done playing the piano or
that your kids just like?
I don't want to do this I'masking this for all parents
everywhere.
You know, like teaching aninstrument to your kids,
especially if you don't play it.
Yeah, what's tough, and I willgive, give my wife 110% of the
credit, but talk to us aboutthat in your mind.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, it's totally normal and we just have to kind
of roll with those moments.
Um, I think that sometimes weare too quick to say, oh, you
know what, they're just notinterested in piano anymore,
they're not interested in theviolin anymore, let's just bag
it.
Um.
But then when the coach railson the kid or they're feeling
like a failure and that we'relike get back out on that field,
(18:43):
well, let's get back on thepiano, let's get back on the
violin.
Don't give up.
It's, you're going to havethose moments.
That that shows me, in thosemoments, that we are about to
make our biggest breakthroughsand get better at what we're
doing, just like anything inlife.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Can I ask you a personal question?
Sure, what is your vision forMCO, like, what's the purpose
behind all the effort?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
What's neat about millennial choirs and orchestras
is that the vision really hasbeen consistent over the last 17
years.
There's been things added to it, but it's always been to change
people's hearts and bring themcloser to God and help them
develop a love and a connectionto this music that my brother
(19:36):
and I felt was was on its waykind of out out and we wanted to
revitalize it.
We wanted to bring it to lifein a way that connected people
to it, and 17 years has proventhat that happens.
We have kids that are coming in.
I get letters from these kids,notes that are handwritten,
sometimes from athletes orpeople that never were
(19:58):
interested in music, that arethanking us for helping them
find a love for music, andthat's really what it's all
about.
We've done that.
We started in California, we'vedone that now across the nation
and we want to continuebringing it beyond the nation.
We want to go and bring this tothe world, where we have a
growing presence on social mediaand we're having people from
(20:21):
all over the world right nowbegging us.
You know, come, bring this toour country, bring this to
Germany or Indonesia or whatever.
There's so many people that areseeing what we're doing and
they want it there too.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So in time one of those moments that you had this
great reach was this blackout inNew York City, right.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Will you give us kind of the insider's view of how
that happened?
And if you haven't seen this,go YouTube it, because everybody
had their phones out.
There's probably quite a fewcopies of this experience, but
it was on, like all the shows,like Today and Good Morning
America, and all of these placesgave it airtime.
(21:01):
Yeah, so will you give us akind of what happened and how
that reach helped you guys grow?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, we.
We went on tour to New Yorkcity specifically to perform in
Carnegie hall and we wanted ourparticipants to have that
experience and people, you know,they all paid their own way to
go and they saved for an entireyear to make this happen and a
lot of people put in a lot ofeffort and sacrifice to get
(21:30):
there.
And so we had three differentconcerts that were all the same
but to fit all of ourparticipants and audiences we
had to use the hall three timesto fill it and we gave two
performances and we were inrehearsal to sound check the
third and final performance andthe lights went out and I just
(21:56):
thought it was a thing, you know, like a temporary thing.
We were waiting for them tocome back on and we soon
realized that it was all the wayup the entire west side.
And as soon as I heard that, Iwas like this is over, like when
you have that big of a blackoutin New York, they're not going
to solve it that fast.
And so we started discussingquickly and quietly our team
(22:16):
like how are we going to do this?
How are we going to?
And these people sacrificedeverything to come and do this
and their friends and family gotto do this yesterday and this
afternoon, and now they're notgoing to.
Um, how are we going to helpthis disappointment?
And so, long story short, wewere kicked out of the hall by
New York, by Carnegie, becausethey just couldn't have
(22:37):
everybody in there in the dark,and we had almost a thousand
kids that were ready to perform,dressed in their performance
attire, in lines around CarnegieHall and then hundreds and
hundreds of adults in linesclosest to the street, shielding
them from all the passersby.
While we waited for this to getsolved and we waited for a while
Pretty soon we started hearingpeople singing, and then people
(23:01):
started coming up to us andgoing you guys should just sing
out.
And then we're like, nah, wedon't want to do that, we're
going to wait, we're going to goback in and do this in Carnegie
Hall.
And finally they convinced usand hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of people thousandsactually were starting to crowd
around, all these audiencemembers who were waiting outside
with their tickets.
They waiting outside with theirtickets.
(23:24):
They wrapped around the back ofthe hall on 56th Street and
crowded around and we got achair and the conductors took
turns standing up and conductingsongs as all the participants
sang and it echoed.
As you can imagine, in New YorkCity everything echoes and,
interestingly, right down theway, as the sun was setting, it
was Manhattanhenge, which meansthe sun is setting right
centered in between the twobuildings.
That doesn't happen very often.
(23:44):
That's a very rare thing.
So it was a special night andeveryone was feeling the power
of this, as thousands of NewYorkers were hearing this music.
They were coming to listen, andso phones were out and everyone
was filming.
I don't even know how manyvideos of this thing are out
there and so phones were out andeveryone was filming.
I don't even know how manyvideos of this thing are out
there, but it turned out to bethe most memorable moment on
(24:07):
that tour.
It was disappointing, yes, butit was also incredibly memorable
, and people still talk about itto this day.
That was a great story.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I got chills and I haven't even seen it yet.
I'm going to have to watch thatlater and have my family watch
it.
That's cool.
It was cool.
How fun Was your family there?
Some of your family.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, my family had already performed.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So my wife and kids were walking down 27 flights of
stairs from the hotel becausethe elevators were out.
So they were making their hikedown and everyone was figuring
out.
But it was, um, it was reallycool to see the team effort of
millennial choirs and orchestras, because you had thousands of
participants who already hadperformed, drop all their plans
(24:48):
and rush to the aid of all thesekids that were out there.
You know they were helpingchaperone and helping protect
these kids.
It was, it was a unifyingmoment that's cool.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
So talk to us a little bit about your upbringing
and like what made you you like.
I like to get into that becauseI feel like like what your
parents taught you or whatexperiences you had define who
you become a little bit rightand then you take off on your
own in your teens and twentiesand learn for yourself.
But talk to us a little bitabout your upbringing.
(25:20):
What made you you?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yeah, I think the first thing I would want to say
for parents who are listening isthat my upbringing wasn't
perfect and my parents weren'tperfect, and they'd be the first
people to tell you that youmight see a person on a stage
performing and think, oh, theirupbringing must have been so,
you know, fill in the blank.
Oh, their upbringing must havebeen so, you know, fill in the
blank.
But we had our difficult timesand we had like you brought up
(25:44):
earlier the battles to get yourpracticing done or the
disappointments in life thatevery family goes through.
We also had some really reallyhard times that we had to wade
through as a family, and I thinkwhat I'm most grateful for is
(26:04):
the fact that my parents were asconsistent as possible, so the
schedule and the reliability wasalways there, even amidst the
turbulent times in our familylife, and so we had incredible
mentors and my parents weregreat about making sure that we
(26:25):
had the best mentors.
I remember the time that I wastaking from one piano teacher
and we went to a pianocompetition and my mom noticed
several students of anotherpiano teacher being awarded
prizes and she noticed how theyplayed and she paid attention to
how much they had improved fromthe year before and she walked
(26:52):
right up to that teacher at thatcompetition afterward in the
hallway and said I want my kidsto take from you and she was
just determined to get the bestteachers and the best mentors
for us, and that lasted throughour high school.
Um experience with ourconductor in high school was
just brilliant and had one ofthe best programs in the state
of California, and so I'mgrateful for them, for looking
for um, for excellence in whowas going to teach us.
(27:14):
They'd never settled formediocrity and I think that's a
big shout out to my parents forthat.
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Did you want to be at Juilliard like your whole
childhood?
Was that the?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
was that the Holy grail for you as a kid?
No, like I, I didn't reallythink about it.
I just was a kid and so I loved.
I knew I loved doing music, butI also love doing other things.
I love swimming and I lovedoing other things.
Um, we spent all of our summerson the beach in Huntington Beach
being junior lifeguards, and sowe had a lot of fun things and
neat things that werechallenging us and helping us
become who we were going to beLater on, as I was heading
toward college years or thinkingabout applying for college,
(27:53):
that's when I started reallythinking about you know what do
I want?
to do and where do I want to go?
And again, my parents hadraised me to always shoot for
the most refined or the highestlevel of training you can get,
and so that's where we ended upgoing and doing that.
So, and again, it wasn't justJuilliard.
Brigham Young University wasenormous in my development and
(28:16):
my brothers as well.
Such incredible training thereat that school.
It's an incredible school ofmusic.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Both of you went to Juilliard.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
No, just both of us went to BYU, both of you went to
BYU and you went to Juilliard Iwent to Juilliard and my
brother went to CincinnatiConservatory Another great
school, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Wow, what difference is their age with you and your
brother?
Four years he's older.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, by four years, and you're both very involved
with MCO.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
We are co-founders and co-CEOs and we've been on
this journey since the verybeginning, so I mean that's cool
, that's I mean to do that, asyou know, your love is your
living and your passion andthat's that's awesome.
Yeah, it's, we're very gratefulfor it.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
And how did you meet your wife?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
My wife and I dated in high school.
Oh, no, kidding, yeah we werefriends for a long time and then
we ended up dating.
And then I went and served amission in South Carolina for
two years and she dated otherpeople and then I came home and
we ended up getting married Nice.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And then did you live with her, did you say, in New
York with your first child for abit?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah, so we had our daughter.
Well, we were at the tail endof our time at BYU and then we
went to Juilliard for mymaster's degree and my daughter
was like a year and a half old,and so it was fun having a kid.
It had its challenges, but itwas fun having a kid in New York
City.
She definitely got a lot ofattention on the subway and in
Central Park.
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, you don't see a lot of kids in Manhattan anyway
.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, it's certain pockets you do yeah, okay, well,
I wouldn't know because Ihaven't lived there enough.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
but that's cool, that's a great place.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So going back that far, I know that I would be a
better or different father todayif I had kids again that were
little.
How did your fatherhood journeyadapt from first kid to third
kid?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Oh, wow, it's well.
Each kid is so different, buteven with just my first one, I I
think I changed a lot.
I was so determined when Ifirst got married and when we
first started having childrenthat I was going to teach them
all piano and they were going tobe amazing musicians, right,
because this is my world andthey all come with their
(30:28):
different likes and dislikes.
And I I started with mydaughter with very I was
teaching very intense piano,like I had a studio of very
competitive students and I justwanted her to be part of it.
So I started teaching her and I, after a year, I was like this
isn't working.
I can't be dad and mentor atthe same time and so it just
(30:53):
didn't work.
It works for other people, butit didn't work for my
personality and hers, and I alsorealized that this isn't her
love.
This wasn't what she wanted todo, but she was very talented
and it turns out that she lovessinging so much and I just
changed, enforcing or kind ofbroadcasting my desires for my
(31:17):
kids onto them, and just wantedto expose them to things so like
, for instance, my son who lovesbasketball.
I wanted him to be into musicsomehow, because I knew that
that was in there somewhere andI knew he loved movies and he
loves movie scores.
So I started playing moviescores, like as we were in the
car, and I'd be like that's acool instrument, or you know
(31:40):
what instrument that is, orwhatever, and we talk about it
and he always started kind ofleaning toward that's a cool
moment.
And it was always the Frenchhorn and I love the French horn.
So I started I just had was onthis project like sneak in, I'm
going to get him to like theFrench horn because I could
totally love that in my housebeing played.
And he just kind of gravitatedtoward it more and more and
(32:00):
finally we're like, okay, let'sdo this.
You know you're going to do it,but I wanted it to be him that
liked it.
You know, if we force stuffupon our kids, I don't think
it'll end up being what they'repassionate about.
I've seen a lot of kids who hadthat experience and they
actually pull away from it.
But if we can let them kind ofmagnetize to it themselves, then
(32:24):
I think that they're going toend up sticking with it for a
lot longer and loving music, andso that's the change I've made
as a parent is just kind ofexposing, hoping that they
gravitate towards something, andthen, after they do, that's
when I will be like, okay, I'mgoing to hold your feet to the
fire, said you're gonna do this.
Now we're gonna stick it out,because that's just a principle
(32:45):
that I believe in in anything,if sports or school or music or
anything that's good.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Who was it that said throw away the script?
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Rob.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Schellenberger, yeah, Rob Schellenberger.
He kind of similarly said I hadlike this script for what I
wanted my kids to do and howthey were going to behave and
what they were going to become.
And then you realize that theyare them and that you know
they're going to be themselvesand they're all so different.
And so he said that his quotewas throw away the script and
(33:13):
just throw nurture them along.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Yeah love yeah yeah, I agree with that that's cool.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I like that a lot um, tell us, uh, you, you've.
You've talked to us a littlebit about some of these mentors
like your, your high school ummusic director, and probably
some of these people at byu andjuilliard that really formed you
into who you are and increasedthe love of the thing that you
(33:44):
were, that you were doing.
Is there anybody that youhaven't mentioned?
That's been just pivotalpivotal in your life that you
wouldn't be the same without um,I think I can mention every one
of them.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Um, our, our piano teacher growing up.
Her name was Susan and she wasincredible and she just was such
a unique individual.
She was not a member of ourfaith, she was from a different
country.
Um, um her.
Her family was from a differentcountry, her family was from a
(34:20):
different country, and so shehad a very different outlook on
life than my family did.
And so this LDS family comes toher and she's learning like,
okay, what is this culture youguys are raised in?
And I was so grateful becauseshe was able to call out the
cultural cop-outs that we had asa family and we did.
(34:42):
We had some of them.
And she would just say that's acop-out, you're just settling
for mediocrity or you'resettling for this.
And I was so grateful she hadthis outside perspective of the
world and this universalperspective.
It wasn't just America or myLDS faith, it was the whole
world.
And she would teach us fromthat perspective Like this is
(35:02):
what happens in this country,this is what these kids do in
this country, and you're goingto be competing against this
type of person and you have tocome prepared to meet that.
That was pivotal to ourupbringing and we were with her,
sometimes twice a week.
We would drive 50 minutes inSouthern California traffic
(35:24):
twice a week to have privatelessons and then group
instruction.
So two miles Right Totally andit was a lot of time in the car
and a lot of sacrifice for momand dad.
I remember my dad taking us alot to those lessons, driving us
in traffic.
But exposure to that wasinstructional, it was
(35:49):
foundational in our development.
It was therapeutic in a lot ofways.
I mean, any great teacher knowsthey're not just a teacher,
they're also a therapist.
This is just how it is.
You're working with the psycheof your students always, and she
really helped develop thepsyche of my siblings and myself
and developed us into mybrother and I, into the men that
(36:10):
we are today in a huge way.
And of course, all the mentorsafter that continued that as
well.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
That's cool.
Has she been to the shows?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Yeah, she comes when she can and and she's just
always a huge champion for whatwe do.
She loves it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
She has to be, so like this is awesome she's great
, I remember all those days youdidn't practice brandon.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yep, she does she sees the whole picture from
beginning to end, like in a waythat even our college professors
don't, cause they didn't see uswhen we were eight.
You know that's a.
That's a unique perspective shehas, but she was.
She was so good at pointing outour personal um flaws, but also
(36:53):
our mental, like the way wewould try to get around things
or maneuver like, try to get outof doing things or take the
easy route.
She was like so good atspotting that and she would call
you out on it immediately andshe'd call her favorite term was
professional fake.
So she'd be like Brandon,you're being a professional fake
and I'm like what's that?
She would explain how you knowyou it's, it's packaged in
(37:16):
professionalism but that youdon't have the cred underneath
it because you're not taking thetime to really do this or do
that or study this.
She wanted to develop peoplewho were credible in their field
and sigh admire her and I'mgrateful for her for that.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
That's awesome.
Anybody else?
Speaker 3 (37:36):
If I started naming them, it would be the rest of
the podcast.
It really was all, the all ofour professors at BYU, um, irene
Perry Fox was instrumental forme at BYU.
She was just powerful inhelping me develop into the
professional um and steer mycareer in the way that I wanted
(37:57):
it to be.
Um, and then at JuilliardJerome, jerome Lowenthal, who is
still alive he's in hisnineties, still teaching at
Juilliard.
And um Judy Clerman, who taughtme conducting there, and many,
there's so many others, though Idon't want to like leave
anybody else.
So all of them at at BYU and atJuilliard Um, and then all the
(38:20):
way from when I was a young kid,they were powerful mentors to
me.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
I think it's important that we like that, we
hear the stories, like just thatstory of your childhood piano
teacher.
Some of those things are verytranslatable in the way that we,
that we speak to our youth, um,um, I know I was pretty good at
trying to get out of stuff.
I know my kids are pretty goodat trying to talk themselves out
of stuff and to get over thatthat bump of doing things the
(38:50):
right way, not the easy way, youknow, and those are all things
that we need to be teaching our,our next generation, um, to to
overcome.
So I think it's valuable to hearsome of those stories of people
that have held your feet to thefire through love yes uh, not
because you were a reflection ofthem, but just because they
(39:13):
demanded greatness, there wassuch demand and I'm grateful for
it and I I I really gravitatedtoward that.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
I think my personality liked that and I
responded to it.
And I know there's somepersonalities that they they
appreciate a softer approach andthat's fine as long as there's
an approach.
You can't just go into thiswith this.
You know if they love it,they'll, it'll come.
No, there has to be guidanceand there oftentimes has to be
firm and loving guidance.
(39:40):
I remember Dr Perry Fox atBrigham University.
There were many students whothrived under her and there were
some who had maybe a hardertime because she was very
specific about her expectationsand she wouldn't let you cop out
.
And people I think came from asituation where copping out was
(40:04):
allowed.
They didn't realize it, butonce they got with Irene Perry
Fox it was very much made aware,it was brought to light.
But I'm so grateful for that.
I mean she would sit there andtell me straight when things
weren't working.
She was also incredible aboutspotting the slightest mistake
(40:25):
in your playing.
So I'd be playing the fastestpassage by Beethoven or Liszt or
Rachmaninoff and she would stopme and say you missed two notes
.
She had such incredible earsand that could be daunting at
times to go.
Okay, I mean, I'm practicingsix to eight hours a day and you
spotted two notes, but that'sthe stuff that I feel like in
America generally speaking we'relosing a lot of.
(40:50):
We're losing a lot of.
You miss those two notes andinstead it's just like you did a
great job and I think it'sgreat to do a great job and make
people feel like they did agreat job.
But I'm carry all of this stufffrom the Susan Bonner to the
Irene Perry Fox and I put itinto my work with millennial
choirs and orchestras, and whenthey're singing I'll stop them
(41:10):
and say that sounded bad andI'll let them know I love all of
you, but that sounded bad and Idon't want you to sound bad.
You don't want to sound badbecause you're going to be
performing in front of almost10,000 people in a Bravino Hall
in the next month.
You know we're going to do fiveconcerts in a Bravino Hall.
That's almost 10,000 people, andyou deserve to sound your best,
(41:31):
and so there's a way to do itand of course that's you're
walking a tightrope as a mentor,always and I see coaches walk
this tightrope as well ofdemanding and enforcing versus
loving and inspiring.
But I've seen that, generallyspeaking, the majority of these
kids they actually will thriveoff of that and they'll rise to
(41:52):
the occasion and they'll go.
We never knew we could soundthat good and that's what a
mentor is for is to spot theweaknesses in you and inspire
you to shed all of that, all thecop-outs, all the excuses, and
become the greatest version ofyourself.
I think parents can do that tooin a loving way, but parents
(42:15):
have to team with mentors.
It has to be a teamwork thingin my opinion.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
You hit on something pretty big there in that I tell
people it works, even in ourprofessional construction
industry.
If they know you like them, ifthey know you're coming from a
place of we care about you, wecare about your future, we care
about your project, we careabout you as a person and you're
brutally honest with them andyou'd be.
(42:43):
That's the best scenario, right?
Yeah, Same thing with your kids.
I do agree that your kidssometimes need someone that's
not the parent Totally.
The parents should still do itthat way.
Right, I love youunconditionally and I'm going to
tell you how it really is.
I'm not going to fake it withyou.
Um, but the mentor, sometimesthey don't hear the parent after
(43:04):
a while, Like they just theytune you out, they roll their
eyes, Cause I've seen and I'msure you guys have too, I've
seen it where I've said theexact same thing to my son or my
daughter, right, what?
Regardless of what it is,whether it's violin or tennis or
basketball, right?
And I say, well, you're bud,you're not doing this with your
serve, and it's like whatever,dad.
(43:24):
And then two hours later, hiscoach says the exact same thing
and he's like, oh, that's goodadvice, yeah see dad.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I need to do this.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Okay, buddy, right, but I think that's a valuable
lesson for everyone.
This idea of if I can show youunconditional love, then I'm
able to give you criticism.
But it is a tightrope, it isright, but I think as they
mature, depending on the person,obviously makes a difference.
But I think that's a good lifelesson.
(43:53):
Is those that combination?
Speaker 3 (43:55):
it is, and I tell the singers and instrumentalists in
our orchestra that because Ican see in their faces sometimes
they get overwhelmed because Iwill give them these lists of
things that need to be fixedright and it sometimes is a lot
at once and you can sense, youcan feel the room get like, okay
, we're about to explode withbeing overwhelmed and feeling
(44:17):
anxious about this and I I justtell them listen, if I finished
that run with you or thatsection with you and said
nothing to you, that's when youshould be concerned.
If there's nothing to say, thatmeans that I don't believe in
you that you can do it, but I'mnow handing you all these things
that I totally believe that youcan do to become better.
(44:38):
Take it as a compliment.
So I try to remind themusicians in MCO to take it.
I know you have to think aboutthat differently with parenting,
but it works in MCO.
When I'm with them once a weekand I can deliver those hard
messages sometimes, it's becausethey're worth it.
It's because they can do whatthey're being asked to do.
It's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
There's lots of translation there that we're
going to let our listenerstranslate for themselves,
because I think it doestranslate well into parenthood,
right?
I think sometimes we just getinto those comfort grooves of
things are not bad, we're justgoing to leave them like they
are and we don't push forexcellence.
(45:25):
But I mean we've talked aboutthis as a consistent theme
throughout this podcast is thatwe demand excellence, but we do
it through love.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yeah, and that's parenting.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Right, so we are out of time, but I'm excited to go
to this concert.
If you haven't got your tickets, I think you're probably out of
luck, right?
They're also.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
I think they sell out In Utah you are, I think we
have some in Austin and KansasCity.
They can still go there, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
You got to get on these tickets quick because they
go quick, because, uh, once yougo one time, you want to go
again and you tell all yourfriends how amazing it is.
So, uh, yeah, millennial choirsand orchestra.
Is there a website they canvisit to learn more about this
and also to get the book thatour friend greg trimble wrote
about the choir?
He's on the board and abeautiful book about the choir,
(46:25):
what it means and the history ofit, how it builds and
transforms our youth.
It's a beautiful book.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
It's an awesome book.
Where do they go?
Yeah, they can go tomillennialorg two L's, two N's,
millennialorg.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook.
They can go to millennialorgtwo L's, two N's, millennialorg
Um.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook and we
perform not just in December,but we perform twice a year,
every year, so people can come.
We're doing a huge productionin the spring called Messiah in
America, our largest productionwe've ever done, and, um, we're
(46:55):
teaming up with Gentry to dothat performance.
It's going to be awesome, sothey can come there if they miss
the Christmas one.
We know the Gentry guys.
Yeah, they're great.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
We know the Gentry guys Awesome.
We always ask our guests at theend of the podcast what they
think it means to be a gentleman.
Would you answer that questionfor us?
Speaker 3 (47:16):
I love that question, that question for us.
I love that question.
I think I came into thispodcast to meet with you both
and already on my mind, the ideaof a gentleman to me is to be
more than one or two dimensionalTo me.
To be a true gentleman, youcan't just go to church and be a
(47:39):
spiritual guy and then watchthe football game and go to work
.
That's just one,two-dimensional.
We need to have a well-roundedexposure and outlook on life,
and I think that the arts is soimportant to make that happen.
In fact, I know it is.
I know that God thinks this,because God is the ultimate
(48:02):
musician.
He is the one that is creatingall this beauty for us to enjoy
on this earth.
And so it is not just music'sfor women.
Sports is for men.
We've got to break that walland come at this as young men
(48:22):
and men and become gentlementhat are multidimensional.
And then you realize that whenyou value great music or sacred
music or the arts, you can seehow that develops and deepens
your spirituality as a humanbeing.
Some of the greatest athletesunderstand that the arts make
them better athletes.
You start realizing that thiswhole and deepens your
spirituality as a human being.
Some of the greatest athletesunderstand that the arts make
them better athletes.
You start realizing that thiswhole thing works together to
(48:47):
make you a deeper person.
So yeah, that would be mydefinition of a gentleman.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
We've never heard that one before and I really
like it In the context.
I think it makes perfect sense.
So thank you, brandon, forbeing with us today.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
It's been a pleasure to have you here while you're in
town and we will see you at theshow.
Awesome, we'll wave.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yes, thanks for spending time with us and thanks
for your insights.
It was really cool.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Thanks for joining us today on the podcast as well.
If you found this interesting,if you found it helpful, if
you're going to glean somethingfrom this for your own life,
consider sharing it withsomebody else that might do the
same, and we appreciate youspending your time with us.
I'm kirk chug and I'm corymoore.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Thanks, everyone up.
Welcome to the Gentleman Project Podcast.
I'm Corey Moore and I'm KirkChug.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Today in the studio we have Brandon Stewart.
Brandon is married to his wife,heather, and they're parents of
three kids.
He and his brother, brett, arethe co-founders and CEOs of
Millennial Choirs and Orchestras.
If you have been around theSalt Lake City area, the Dallas
area, the California area,you've probably seen or heard of
(00:25):
this amazing group founded in2007.
He's the conductor, pianist,vocalist, composer, arranger.
For 17 years he's devoted hislife to educating and training
thousands of people, which iswhy he's here.
We think he's going to have anamazing perspective of how to
teach through music and thedisciplines that he teaches
(00:48):
those that are in his orbit.
He also teaches a lot of adults, though, because he's got a lot
of adults in his choirs.
He's conducted hundreds ofperformances in concert halls
around the country, probablyaround the world as well.
His bio says nationwide, but Iwouldn't put it past him.
His compositions andarrangements, such as the Vision
(01:12):
, the Battle of Jericho, mary,did you Know?
O Come, o Come, o Emmanuel, joyto the World, be Still my Soul,
can be found on all of MCO'schart copy kits.
He is passionate.
If you've ever seen him performand conduct, you would know
that he's responsible forcoining the mantra, well-known
(01:33):
and recited often by the MCOparticipants.
Diction, as I mess up a wordright before I say diction,
diction, passion, testimony.
He particularly loves workingwith the youth of MCO and
inspiring them to rise abovemediocrity and be shining lights
in the darkening world.
His most memorable conductingexperience is leading millennial
(01:55):
choirs and orchestras in songon New York City's 56th Street
during the Manhattanhenge sunsetfollowing the historic 2019 New
York City blackout.
I remember seeing that on thenews.
Did I say that?
Right?
Yeah, I remember seeing thatand it just like gave me chills.
We're going to have to get thatstory on the podcast for sure I
(02:19):
can read for another 10 minutes.
The dude is amazing.
He went to Juilliard.
He has a master's degree fromJuilliard.
He's done so many incrediblethings in this space and has
rubbed shoulders with some ofthe best in the business.
So I'm going to let him kind ofround out his bio as he talks.
(02:40):
But we are honored to have youin town and Corey and I are both
super excited to come andlisten to the Christmas concert
the MCO is going to put on atthe Eccles this year or a
Bravino Bravino Hall.
So, um, amazing to have youhere.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Thank you, Thanks for having and I I am so impressed
with what you guys are doing andI think this we need more of
this kind of thing.
So well, thanks.
Congrats on the gentlemanproject uh, I have to.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I have to name drop a couple of our friends.
You're the reason.
They're the reason that you'rehere today.
Uh, derek Minor, greg Trimble,were on the podcast a couple
months ago.
We got tickets my family gottickets to come to the MCO show
last year and I had, I hadexpectations and they were blown
(03:37):
away.
I looked over at my wife severaltimes.
We were sitting by Derek andGreg and I looked over to the
left to my wife several times.
We were sitting by Derek andGreg and I looked over to the
left to my wife a couple oftimes during the performance
with my eyebrows as high as theywould go going.
Are you kidding me?
This is.
This is way better, way more,way more professional.
(03:59):
I mean, you're dealing withkids like little kids, and these
little kids are up there justgiving it all, and I just turned
to her several times with myeyebrows way high, just like can
you believe this?
It is remarkable what you guyshave done with that.
So will you give us a littlebackground of why you started
(04:20):
Millennial Choirs and Orchestrasand where it came from and
where it's?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
going Sure.
Yeah, millennial choirs andorchestras started in 2007.
So that we're starting our 17thseason this year.
Can't believe that it's gone bythat fast, but we started back
in our hometown of Orange County, california, with no intention
of expanding to any other place.
(04:48):
My brother had a very vividdream when he was finishing his
doctorate degree at CincinnatiConservatory, where he spoke in
this dream with a mentor that weboth had in high school, kind
of directing him.
You know you need to do thiskind of thing and, long story
short, he called me right afterand got me on board and I had
(05:13):
another year left at Juilliardbefore I could go move and join
him doing that.
But we got started in 2007.
And shortly thereafter, acouple years, we were in Arizona
because they were getting windthat this was going on and they
wanted it there.
And fast forward to today andwe're in Utah and Idaho, texas,
(05:34):
and we just opened in KansasCity this last year, and so we
just couldn't have imagined thatthis would have done that.
But it shows how many peoplereally are looking for something
like this in their life, notjust to perform in beautiful
concert halls and perform greatmusic with families, but also to
(05:56):
have the weekly experience andexposure of this kind of sacred
classical music that connectsyour soul to God in a unique way
, and so we've seen that reallybless a lot of families' lives.
What's neat about it is you canbe just an individual
participating in MCO, or we havemoms, dads and kids, teenagers
(06:16):
all the way down to age four.
That's unique in this world.
You don't typically have thatopportunity to be in a
performing ensemble with yourentire family, and that's
something that we think ispretty cool.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So how many people are in the group?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
So total we average between 4,000 and 5,000
participants across the UnitedStates, and it just depends on
which community you're in.
Some are larger and some aresmaller, depending.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Okay so it depends on the geography of who's
participating, yep, and are theshows similar, different, the
same?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
they're mostly similar.
Yeah, that helps us keep apretty streamlined approach in
our, in our preparations and ourproduction team, all that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
So so how many people were in the show that I went to
, the patriotic one that I wentto last year?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And that was here in Utah.
Utah's got a lot ofparticipants.
It's one of our largest localesand so that was about 1,100
people total.
I don't think you saw that manyon stage at once, but rotating
throughout the evening.
That's how many people wereparticipating in Utah.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
One of the coolest things was.
Sitting there, you're watchingthe stage and you're expecting
all the sound to come from thestage and you only seat the
floor at a Bravino Hall and allof a sudden, like you hear some
rustlings and then the lightscome on and the balconies are
filled with choir members andthey start singing.
(07:42):
It's like freaking angels withchoir members and they start
singing.
It's like freaking angels like,and it just like you have
surround sound choir andeverybody like you're watching
the reactions of people in theaudience starting to turn their
heads and look up like where'sthis angelic sound coming from?
And they realize that they'resurrounded by this choir.
(08:02):
It's one of the coolest thingslike from a performance
standpoint that I've ever been apart of as an audience member.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, I'm glad to hear that you liked it, because
that's one of our favoritethings too.
We just love to kind of wrapthe audience in this sound.
It just really kind ofsaturates your soul in what
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So one of the things that I noticed, especially in
the patriotic program that I wasinvolved with that I went to
last year, there were kidslearning things about our
country and the history of ourcountry and passion for our
country.
Call it patriotism.
What have you that you don'tsee normally?
(08:45):
Like kids aren't exposed to thesame things as you're exposing
them to, and I was watchingthese four-year-olds sing with
passion about our foundingfathers and george washington
and I still remember that thatthat beautiful fun song that
these kids sang about georgewashington wonderful, very great
man.
(09:05):
And so why?
Why patriotism?
I'm big on patriotism.
It's it's kind of part of mymakeup.
I love it.
I've always have, I'm still,involved in it.
Why patriotism?
Why now?
Why with our youth?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
It's something that we don't always sing songs that
are patriotic.
It fit with our tour that wewere going on.
We were going back east toBoston and Palmyra in a big tour
that we do every couple yearsand we wanted to expose all
these participants to some ofthese great stories of the
founding of our nation.
But over the years we've doneseveral patriotic performances.
(09:44):
There's great music aboutAmerica and it helps unify a
very divided nation and we sawthe recent concerts do that
quite significantly.
They softened people and peoplestarted, I hope, forgetting
whatever side you were on andyou're just Americans and we're
we're proud to be that and andum, we all can coexist together
(10:07):
in harmony and I think that Ithink that that concert series
really um did that and then youdo a christmas series, correct,
is that what it is?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
yes, we do a holiday series.
I don't know what you call it achristmas series every year in.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
December.
That lasts about two to threeweeks across the nation.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So that's killer.
So talk to me a little bitabout where this love of the
arts.
You were a conductor andpianist, right?
Yeah, as background, and yourbrother sounds like he's in the
arts in some way shape or form,yeah, so where did that come
from?
Is that a family thing?
How did you both end up there?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
It's a family thing.
It was also an environmentalenvironment thing.
Like we grew up in SouthernCalifornia in the Huntington
Beach Fountain Valley area.
That area in the eighties andnineties was a really booming
arts scene.
Um, so all throughout ourschooling it was just a cool
thing to do to be a part of thearts, to be a part of music.
(11:05):
It wasn't frowned upon in anyway and it was encouraged in
fact.
So our parents encouraged it,our community encouraged it, our
friends' parents encouraged it.
So we were doing swimming andwater polo and we had friends in
football and baseball and theywere doing choir, they were
doing the band and the orchestraand that was just that was how
we were raised.
It was just that's.
(11:26):
That was normal to me, um, andthat's actually uh.
I see other communities in thenation that don't have that and
it.
It's alarming to me and sad tome because I want.
I want girls, boys, young men,young women and men and women of
all walks of life to know thatmusic and the arts is a great
(11:48):
thing.
I think it rounds out anindividual, it makes you a
better man or woman.
We have a culture like asubculture, I think in America,
especially right now that men dosports and women do arts, and
it's not, but it's.
It's present in a lot ofcommunities and that is
definitely something I'mcommitted to changing with
(12:10):
millennial choirs and orchestras.
We have so many teenage boysand young men and boys in this
program and I love seeing thatthey're coming in in their
football jerseys and thebasketball jerseys and sweaty
from practice and then they'reopening their music and singing
this beautiful, refined musicthat makes you a
multi-dimensional human being.
(12:31):
You know, I think a lot oftimes men and boys can be driven
to be a one-dimensional personand music and arts should be
applauded and encouraged.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I think, yeah, that's amazing what you said about
bringing people together fromboth sides.
As it relates to beingpatriotic, um, I know we're all
fairly religious folks, so, um,bringing people closer to god
and softening their hearts, Ithink you said earlier yeah,
what a great way to do it.
(12:59):
Music is probably one of thebest ways to do that, in my mind
.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And the fastest it really happens fast.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I'm interested because you have a master's
degree from Juilliard.
I'd love to hear you play thepiano someday.
Is there science behind that?
I've heard that there is, butnow I'm in the position to ask
somebody who's probably studiedit.
Why does music have such aneffect on people, Like it
(13:31):
crosses the boundaries ofemotion quicker than any other
medium.
Oh yeah, and is it just the wayour brains fire and function?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Like.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I can still remember what has it been Like eight
months ago or something.
I can still remember what is it, what has it been like eight
months ago or something.
I can still remember the wordsto that little George Washington
song going on in my head as I'mthinking about it.
Right, and I can't think ofanother song that I heard eight
months ago, that I'd only heardone time and I can still hear it
in my head Like that's powerful, right?
(14:02):
So do you have some research orsome statistics, or can you
explain why that is?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
There's so much research that's been done.
In fact, my mom got hermaster's degree and her master's
thesis was all about music inthe brain at home, growing up,
about how there is so muchscience behind the Mozart effect
(14:31):
and the math and science behindmusic and how it can literally
rewire your brain and yourthinking and your intellect.
There's been tons of studiesabout kids who study music at an
early age and how they performbetter in the classroom and they
perform better socially in life.
I mean, there's so many things.
Yeah, so it's an importantelement of our life.
(14:53):
To leave music out would beleaving out a huge part of
humanity, what it means to be ahuman, especially that connects
with God.
What I love about the music ofthe master composers is that
many of these Bach, Mozart,Beethoven, Brahms and many more
were connected to deity in someway, shape or form.
They might not have beendevoutly religious, but they
(15:15):
were connected and the musicthat they wrote was oftentimes
godly music or talking about Godor Jesus Christ in some way,
and you feel that their writingis heavenly in that way and
that's why we connect to ithundreds of years later in that
way.
But yeah, there's definitely alot of research that's been done
on that.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So talk to me about your family.
You have children, I assume,and are they involved in the
choir?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, my wife is my better half.
She's got an amazing sopranovoice and we sang together in
college in our undergraduatework.
And we have three amazing kidsand my daughter, our daughter
Ashley is actually a vocalperformance major at Brigham
Young University.
Now, I know that seems cliche.
She's coming from two parentsthat are musical, but she did
(16:07):
this all on her own and sheloves it and she's passionate
about doing that Environmentright, right, it's the
environment.
And then we have two sons.
One is a 16-year-old, he's onthe varsity basketball team and
also plays French horn.
And we've got our youngest sonis 12.
And he is also a basketball.
He loves basketball so much andfootball and he loves to sing
(16:31):
and so and play the piano.
And that's been an importantpart of our family is we want
well rounded people and that'show my brother and I were raised
, in a family that reallyemphasized being well-rounded,
not just doing one thing, andI'm grateful for my mom and dad
who realized that having aone-track person is not going to
(16:52):
lead to success or happiness inlife.
So it was a lot about balance.
When I was getting too intensewith piano as a young kid, my
mom would be like, okay, youneed to go on this camp out, or
you need to go do this or makesure you're doing this sport,
and so my wife and I try to dothe same with our kids.
I'm not big into basketball orfootball, but my sons have kind
(17:13):
of forced me into that world andso now I know more about NBA
players than I ever thought Iwould know, and I think it's
such a cool world, um, but Ialso am the first one to be like
okay, now go practice theFrench horn, get some balance.
Um, sit down at the piano,remember to to do that.
I think it makes it developsgentlemen, it develops men who
(17:34):
can be really refined before wegot on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Here we were talking about my little girl who's in
New York and she has now calledher mom and said thank you so
much for forcing me to play theviolin, because force was
probably the right word a lot ofyears when she was growing up.
So was that ever hard for youor your kids?
The whole practicing thing?
I mean?
I think it's good for them inthat it teaches them that you
(18:01):
know hard work and dedicationand skills and you name it.
But was there times when youwere done playing the piano or
that your kids just like?
I don't want to do this I'masking this for all parents
everywhere.
You know, like teaching aninstrument to your kids,
especially if you don't play it.
Yeah, what's tough, and I willgive, give my wife 110% of the
credit, but talk to us aboutthat in your mind.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, it's totally normal and we just have to kind
of roll with those moments.
Um, I think that sometimes weare too quick to say, oh, you
know what, they're just notinterested in piano anymore,
they're not interested in theviolin anymore, let's just bag
it.
Um.
But then when the coach railson the kid or they're feeling
like a failure and that we'relike get back out on that field,
(18:43):
well, let's get back on thepiano, let's get back on the
violin.
Don't give up.
It's, you're going to havethose moments.
That that shows me, in thosemoments, that we are about to
make our biggest breakthroughsand get better at what we're
doing, just like anything inlife.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Can I ask you a personal question?
Sure, what is your vision forMCO, like, what's the purpose
behind all the effort?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
What's neat about millennial choirs and orchestras
is that the vision really hasbeen consistent over the last 17
years.
There's been things added to it, but it's always been to change
people's hearts and bring themcloser to God and help them
develop a love and a connectionto this music that my brother
(19:36):
and I felt was was on its waykind of out out and we wanted to
revitalize it.
We wanted to bring it to lifein a way that connected people
to it, and 17 years has proventhat that happens.
We have kids that are coming in.
I get letters from these kids,notes that are handwritten,
sometimes from athletes orpeople that never were
(19:58):
interested in music, that arethanking us for helping them
find a love for music, andthat's really what it's all
about.
We've done that.
We started in California, we'vedone that now across the nation
and we want to continuebringing it beyond the nation.
We want to go and bring this tothe world, where we have a
growing presence on social mediaand we're having people from
(20:21):
all over the world right nowbegging us.
You know, come, bring this toour country, bring this to
Germany or Indonesia or whatever.
There's so many people that areseeing what we're doing and
they want it there too.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So in time one of those moments that you had this
great reach was this blackout inNew York City, right.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Will you give us kind of the insider's view of how
that happened?
And if you haven't seen this,go YouTube it, because everybody
had their phones out.
There's probably quite a fewcopies of this experience, but
it was on, like all the shows,like Today and Good Morning
America, and all of these placesgave it airtime.
(21:01):
Yeah, so will you give us akind of what happened and how
that reach helped you guys grow?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, we.
We went on tour to New Yorkcity specifically to perform in
Carnegie hall and we wanted ourparticipants to have that
experience and people, you know,they all paid their own way to
go and they saved for an entireyear to make this happen and a
lot of people put in a lot ofeffort and sacrifice to get
(21:30):
there.
And so we had three differentconcerts that were all the same
but to fit all of ourparticipants and audiences we
had to use the hall three timesto fill it and we gave two
performances and we were inrehearsal to sound check the
third and final performance andthe lights went out and I just
(21:56):
thought it was a thing, you know, like a temporary thing.
We were waiting for them tocome back on and we soon
realized that it was all the wayup the entire west side.
And as soon as I heard that, Iwas like this is over, like when
you have that big of a blackoutin New York, they're not going
to solve it that fast.
And so we started discussingquickly and quietly our team
(22:16):
like how are we going to do this?
How are we going to?
And these people sacrificedeverything to come and do this
and their friends and family gotto do this yesterday and this
afternoon, and now they're notgoing to.
Um, how are we going to helpthis disappointment?
And so, long story short, wewere kicked out of the hall by
New York, by Carnegie, becausethey just couldn't have
(22:37):
everybody in there in the dark,and we had almost a thousand
kids that were ready to perform,dressed in their performance
attire, in lines around CarnegieHall and then hundreds and
hundreds of adults in linesclosest to the street, shielding
them from all the passersby.
While we waited for this to getsolved and we waited for a while
Pretty soon we started hearingpeople singing, and then people
(23:01):
started coming up to us andgoing you guys should just sing
out.
And then we're like, nah, wedon't want to do that, we're
going to wait, we're going to goback in and do this in Carnegie
Hall.
And finally they convinced usand hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of people thousandsactually were starting to crowd
around, all these audiencemembers who were waiting outside
with their tickets.
They waiting outside with theirtickets.
(23:24):
They wrapped around the back ofthe hall on 56th Street and
crowded around and we got achair and the conductors took
turns standing up and conductingsongs as all the participants
sang and it echoed.
As you can imagine, in New YorkCity everything echoes and,
interestingly, right down theway, as the sun was setting, it
was Manhattanhenge, which meansthe sun is setting right
centered in between the twobuildings.
That doesn't happen very often.
(23:44):
That's a very rare thing.
So it was a special night andeveryone was feeling the power
of this, as thousands of NewYorkers were hearing this music.
They were coming to listen, andso phones were out and everyone
was filming.
I don't even know how manyvideos of this thing are out
there and so phones were out andeveryone was filming.
I don't even know how manyvideos of this thing are out
there, but it turned out to bethe most memorable moment on
(24:07):
that tour.
It was disappointing, yes, butit was also incredibly memorable
, and people still talk about itto this day.
That was a great story.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I got chills and I haven't even seen it yet.
I'm going to have to watch thatlater and have my family watch
it.
That's cool.
It was cool.
How fun Was your family there?
Some of your family.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, my family had already performed.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So my wife and kids were walking down 27 flights of
stairs from the hotel becausethe elevators were out.
So they were making their hikedown and everyone was figuring
out.
But it was, um, it was reallycool to see the team effort of
millennial choirs and orchestras, because you had thousands of
participants who already hadperformed, drop all their plans
(24:48):
and rush to the aid of all thesekids that were out there.
You know they were helpingchaperone and helping protect
these kids.
It was, it was a unifyingmoment that's cool.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
So talk to us a little bit about your upbringing
and like what made you you like.
I like to get into that becauseI feel like like what your
parents taught you or whatexperiences you had define who
you become a little bit rightand then you take off on your
own in your teens and twentiesand learn for yourself.
But talk to us a little bitabout your upbringing.
(25:20):
What made you you?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yeah, I think the first thing I would want to say
for parents who are listening isthat my upbringing wasn't
perfect and my parents weren'tperfect, and they'd be the first
people to tell you that youmight see a person on a stage
performing and think, oh, theirupbringing must have been so,
you know, fill in the blank.
Oh, their upbringing must havebeen so, you know, fill in the
blank.
But we had our difficult timesand we had like you brought up
(25:44):
earlier the battles to get yourpracticing done or the
disappointments in life thatevery family goes through.
We also had some really reallyhard times that we had to wade
through as a family, and I thinkwhat I'm most grateful for is
(26:04):
the fact that my parents were asconsistent as possible, so the
schedule and the reliability wasalways there, even amidst the
turbulent times in our familylife, and so we had incredible
mentors and my parents weregreat about making sure that we
(26:25):
had the best mentors.
I remember the time that I wastaking from one piano teacher
and we went to a pianocompetition and my mom noticed
several students of anotherpiano teacher being awarded
prizes and she noticed how theyplayed and she paid attention to
how much they had improved fromthe year before and she walked
(26:52):
right up to that teacher at thatcompetition afterward in the
hallway and said I want my kidsto take from you and she was
just determined to get the bestteachers and the best mentors
for us, and that lasted throughour high school.
Um experience with ourconductor in high school was
just brilliant and had one ofthe best programs in the state
of California, and so I'mgrateful for them, for looking
for um, for excellence in whowas going to teach us.
(27:14):
They'd never settled formediocrity and I think that's a
big shout out to my parents forthat.
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Did you want to be at Juilliard like your whole
childhood?
Was that the?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
was that the Holy grail for you as a kid?
No, like I, I didn't reallythink about it.
I just was a kid and so I loved.
I knew I loved doing music, butI also love doing other things.
I love swimming and I lovedoing other things.
Um, we spent all of our summerson the beach in Huntington Beach
being junior lifeguards, and sowe had a lot of fun things and
neat things that werechallenging us and helping us
become who we were going to beLater on, as I was heading
toward college years or thinkingabout applying for college,
(27:53):
that's when I started reallythinking about you know what do
I want?
to do and where do I want to go?
And again, my parents hadraised me to always shoot for
the most refined or the highestlevel of training you can get,
and so that's where we ended upgoing and doing that.
So, and again, it wasn't justJuilliard.
Brigham Young University wasenormous in my development and
(28:16):
my brothers as well.
Such incredible training thereat that school.
It's an incredible school ofmusic.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Both of you went to Juilliard.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
No, just both of us went to BYU, both of you went to
BYU and you went to Juilliard Iwent to Juilliard and my
brother went to CincinnatiConservatory Another great
school, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Wow, what difference is their age with you and your
brother?
Four years he's older.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, by four years, and you're both very involved
with MCO.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
We are co-founders and co-CEOs and we've been on
this journey since the verybeginning, so I mean that's cool
, that's I mean to do that, asyou know, your love is your
living and your passion andthat's that's awesome.
Yeah, it's, we're very gratefulfor it.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
And how did you meet your wife?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
My wife and I dated in high school.
Oh, no, kidding, yeah we werefriends for a long time and then
we ended up dating.
And then I went and served amission in South Carolina for
two years and she dated otherpeople and then I came home and
we ended up getting married Nice.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And then did you live with her, did you say, in New
York with your first child for abit?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah, so we had our daughter.
Well, we were at the tail endof our time at BYU and then we
went to Juilliard for mymaster's degree and my daughter
was like a year and a half old,and so it was fun having a kid.
It had its challenges, but itwas fun having a kid in New York
City.
She definitely got a lot ofattention on the subway and in
Central Park.
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, you don't see a lot of kids in Manhattan anyway
.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, it's certain pockets you do yeah, okay, well,
I wouldn't know because Ihaven't lived there enough.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
but that's cool, that's a great place.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So going back that far, I know that I would be a
better or different father todayif I had kids again that were
little.
How did your fatherhood journeyadapt from first kid to third
kid?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Oh, wow, it's well.
Each kid is so different, buteven with just my first one, I I
think I changed a lot.
I was so determined when Ifirst got married and when we
first started having childrenthat I was going to teach them
all piano and they were going tobe amazing musicians, right,
because this is my world andthey all come with their
(30:28):
different likes and dislikes.
And I I started with mydaughter with very I was
teaching very intense piano,like I had a studio of very
competitive students and I justwanted her to be part of it.
So I started teaching her and I, after a year, I was like this
isn't working.
I can't be dad and mentor atthe same time and so it just
(30:53):
didn't work.
It works for other people, butit didn't work for my
personality and hers, and I alsorealized that this isn't her
love.
This wasn't what she wanted todo, but she was very talented
and it turns out that she lovessinging so much and I just
changed, enforcing or kind ofbroadcasting my desires for my
(31:17):
kids onto them, and just wantedto expose them to things so like
, for instance, my son who lovesbasketball.
I wanted him to be into musicsomehow, because I knew that
that was in there somewhere andI knew he loved movies and he
loves movie scores.
So I started playing moviescores, like as we were in the
car, and I'd be like that's acool instrument, or you know
(31:40):
what instrument that is, orwhatever, and we talk about it
and he always started kind ofleaning toward that's a cool
moment.
And it was always the Frenchhorn and I love the French horn.
So I started I just had was onthis project like sneak in, I'm
going to get him to like theFrench horn because I could
totally love that in my housebeing played.
And he just kind of gravitatedtoward it more and more and
(32:00):
finally we're like, okay, let'sdo this.
You know you're going to do it,but I wanted it to be him that
liked it.
You know, if we force stuffupon our kids, I don't think
it'll end up being what they'repassionate about.
I've seen a lot of kids who hadthat experience and they
actually pull away from it.
But if we can let them kind ofmagnetize to it themselves, then
(32:24):
I think that they're going toend up sticking with it for a
lot longer and loving music, andso that's the change I've made
as a parent is just kind ofexposing, hoping that they
gravitate towards something, andthen, after they do, that's
when I will be like, okay, I'mgoing to hold your feet to the
fire, said you're gonna do this.
Now we're gonna stick it out,because that's just a principle
(32:45):
that I believe in in anything,if sports or school or music or
anything that's good.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Who was it that said throw away the script?
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Rob.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Schellenberger, yeah, Rob Schellenberger.
He kind of similarly said I hadlike this script for what I
wanted my kids to do and howthey were going to behave and
what they were going to become.
And then you realize that theyare them and that you know
they're going to be themselvesand they're all so different.
And so he said that his quotewas throw away the script and
(33:13):
just throw nurture them along.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Yeah love yeah yeah, I agree with that that's cool.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I like that a lot um, tell us, uh, you, you've.
You've talked to us a littlebit about some of these mentors
like your, your high school ummusic director, and probably
some of these people at byu andjuilliard that really formed you
into who you are and increasedthe love of the thing that you
(33:44):
were, that you were doing.
Is there anybody that youhaven't mentioned?
That's been just pivotalpivotal in your life that you
wouldn't be the same without um,I think I can mention every one
of them.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Um, our, our piano teacher growing up.
Her name was Susan and she wasincredible and she just was such
a unique individual.
She was not a member of ourfaith, she was from a different
country.
Um, um her.
Her family was from a differentcountry, her family was from a
(34:20):
different country, and so shehad a very different outlook on
life than my family did.
And so this LDS family comes toher and she's learning like,
okay, what is this culture youguys are raised in?
And I was so grateful becauseshe was able to call out the
cultural cop-outs that we had asa family and we did.
(34:42):
We had some of them.
And she would just say that's acop-out, you're just settling
for mediocrity or you'resettling for this.
And I was so grateful she hadthis outside perspective of the
world and this universalperspective.
It wasn't just America or myLDS faith, it was the whole
world.
And she would teach us fromthat perspective Like this is
(35:02):
what happens in this country,this is what these kids do in
this country, and you're goingto be competing against this
type of person and you have tocome prepared to meet that.
That was pivotal to ourupbringing and we were with her,
sometimes twice a week.
We would drive 50 minutes inSouthern California traffic
(35:24):
twice a week to have privatelessons and then group
instruction.
So two miles Right Totally andit was a lot of time in the car
and a lot of sacrifice for momand dad.
I remember my dad taking us alot to those lessons, driving us
in traffic.
But exposure to that wasinstructional, it was
(35:49):
foundational in our development.
It was therapeutic in a lot ofways.
I mean, any great teacher knowsthey're not just a teacher,
they're also a therapist.
This is just how it is.
You're working with the psycheof your students always, and she
really helped develop thepsyche of my siblings and myself
and developed us into mybrother and I, into the men that
(36:10):
we are today in a huge way.
And of course, all the mentorsafter that continued that as
well.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
That's cool.
Has she been to the shows?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Yeah, she comes when she can and and she's just
always a huge champion for whatwe do.
She loves it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
She has to be, so like this is awesome she's great
, I remember all those days youdidn't practice brandon.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yep, she does she sees the whole picture from
beginning to end, like in a waythat even our college professors
don't, cause they didn't see uswhen we were eight.
You know that's a.
That's a unique perspective shehas, but she was.
She was so good at pointing outour personal um flaws, but also
(36:53):
our mental, like the way wewould try to get around things
or maneuver like, try to get outof doing things or take the
easy route.
She was like so good atspotting that and she would call
you out on it immediately andshe'd call her favorite term was
professional fake.
So she'd be like Brandon,you're being a professional fake
and I'm like what's that?
She would explain how you knowyou it's, it's packaged in
(37:16):
professionalism but that youdon't have the cred underneath
it because you're not taking thetime to really do this or do
that or study this.
She wanted to develop peoplewho were credible in their field
and sigh admire her and I'mgrateful for her for that.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
That's awesome.
Anybody else?
Speaker 3 (37:36):
If I started naming them, it would be the rest of
the podcast.
It really was all, the all ofour professors at BYU, um, irene
Perry Fox was instrumental forme at BYU.
She was just powerful inhelping me develop into the
professional um and steer mycareer in the way that I wanted
(37:57):
it to be.
Um, and then at JuilliardJerome, jerome Lowenthal, who is
still alive he's in hisnineties, still teaching at
Juilliard.
And um Judy Clerman, who taughtme conducting there, and many,
there's so many others, though Idon't want to like leave
anybody else.
So all of them at at BYU and atJuilliard Um, and then all the
(38:20):
way from when I was a young kid,they were powerful mentors to
me.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
I think it's important that we like that, we
hear the stories, like just thatstory of your childhood piano
teacher.
Some of those things are verytranslatable in the way that we,
that we speak to our youth, um,um, I know I was pretty good at
trying to get out of stuff.
I know my kids are pretty goodat trying to talk themselves out
of stuff and to get over thatthat bump of doing things the
(38:50):
right way, not the easy way, youknow, and those are all things
that we need to be teaching our,our next generation, um, to to
overcome.
So I think it's valuable to hearsome of those stories of people
that have held your feet to thefire through love yes uh, not
because you were a reflection ofthem, but just because they
(39:13):
demanded greatness, there wassuch demand and I'm grateful for
it and I I I really gravitatedtoward that.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
I think my personality liked that and I
responded to it.
And I know there's somepersonalities that they they
appreciate a softer approach andthat's fine as long as there's
an approach.
You can't just go into thiswith this.
You know if they love it,they'll, it'll come.
No, there has to be guidanceand there oftentimes has to be
firm and loving guidance.
(39:40):
I remember Dr Perry Fox atBrigham University.
There were many students whothrived under her and there were
some who had maybe a hardertime because she was very
specific about her expectationsand she wouldn't let you cop out
.
And people I think came from asituation where copping out was
(40:04):
allowed.
They didn't realize it, butonce they got with Irene Perry
Fox it was very much made aware,it was brought to light.
But I'm so grateful for that.
I mean she would sit there andtell me straight when things
weren't working.
She was also incredible aboutspotting the slightest mistake
(40:25):
in your playing.
So I'd be playing the fastestpassage by Beethoven or Liszt or
Rachmaninoff and she would stopme and say you missed two notes
.
She had such incredible earsand that could be daunting at
times to go.
Okay, I mean, I'm practicingsix to eight hours a day and you
spotted two notes, but that'sthe stuff that I feel like in
America generally speaking we'relosing a lot of.
(40:50):
We're losing a lot of.
You miss those two notes andinstead it's just like you did a
great job and I think it'sgreat to do a great job and make
people feel like they did agreat job.
But I'm carry all of this stufffrom the Susan Bonner to the
Irene Perry Fox and I put itinto my work with millennial
choirs and orchestras, and whenthey're singing I'll stop them
(41:10):
and say that sounded bad andI'll let them know I love all of
you, but that sounded bad and Idon't want you to sound bad.
You don't want to sound badbecause you're going to be
performing in front of almost10,000 people in a Bravino Hall
in the next month.
You know we're going to do fiveconcerts in a Bravino Hall.
That's almost 10,000 people, andyou deserve to sound your best,
(41:31):
and so there's a way to do itand of course that's you're
walking a tightrope as a mentor,always and I see coaches walk
this tightrope as well ofdemanding and enforcing versus
loving and inspiring.
But I've seen that, generallyspeaking, the majority of these
kids they actually will thriveoff of that and they'll rise to
(41:52):
the occasion and they'll go.
We never knew we could soundthat good and that's what a
mentor is for is to spot theweaknesses in you and inspire
you to shed all of that, all thecop-outs, all the excuses, and
become the greatest version ofyourself.
I think parents can do that tooin a loving way, but parents
(42:15):
have to team with mentors.
It has to be a teamwork thingin my opinion.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
You hit on something pretty big there in that I tell
people it works, even in ourprofessional construction
industry.
If they know you like them, ifthey know you're coming from a
place of we care about you, wecare about your future, we care
about your project, we careabout you as a person and you're
brutally honest with them andyou'd be.
(42:43):
That's the best scenario, right?
Yeah, Same thing with your kids.
I do agree that your kidssometimes need someone that's
not the parent Totally.
The parents should still do itthat way.
Right, I love youunconditionally and I'm going to
tell you how it really is.
I'm not going to fake it withyou.
Um, but the mentor, sometimesthey don't hear the parent after
(43:04):
a while, Like they just theytune you out, they roll their
eyes, Cause I've seen and I'msure you guys have too, I've
seen it where I've said theexact same thing to my son or my
daughter, right, what?
Regardless of what it is,whether it's violin or tennis or
basketball, right?
And I say, well, you're bud,you're not doing this with your
serve, and it's like whatever,dad.
(43:24):
And then two hours later, hiscoach says the exact same thing
and he's like, oh, that's goodadvice, yeah see dad.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I need to do this.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Okay, buddy, right, but I think that's a valuable
lesson for everyone.
This idea of if I can show youunconditional love, then I'm
able to give you criticism.
But it is a tightrope, it isright, but I think as they
mature, depending on the person,obviously makes a difference.
But I think that's a good lifelesson.
(43:53):
Is those that combination?
Speaker 3 (43:55):
it is, and I tell the singers and instrumentalists in
our orchestra that because Ican see in their faces sometimes
they get overwhelmed because Iwill give them these lists of
things that need to be fixedright and it sometimes is a lot
at once and you can sense, youcan feel the room get like, okay
, we're about to explode withbeing overwhelmed and feeling
(44:17):
anxious about this and I I justtell them listen, if I finished
that run with you or thatsection with you and said
nothing to you, that's when youshould be concerned.
If there's nothing to say, thatmeans that I don't believe in
you that you can do it, but I'mnow handing you all these things
that I totally believe that youcan do to become better.
(44:38):
Take it as a compliment.
So I try to remind themusicians in MCO to take it.
I know you have to think aboutthat differently with parenting,
but it works in MCO.
When I'm with them once a weekand I can deliver those hard
messages sometimes, it's becausethey're worth it.
It's because they can do whatthey're being asked to do.
It's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
There's lots of translation there that we're
going to let our listenerstranslate for themselves,
because I think it doestranslate well into parenthood,
right?
I think sometimes we just getinto those comfort grooves of
things are not bad, we're justgoing to leave them like they
are and we don't push forexcellence.
(45:25):
But I mean we've talked aboutthis as a consistent theme
throughout this podcast is thatwe demand excellence, but we do
it through love.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yeah, and that's parenting.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Right, so we are out of time, but I'm excited to go
to this concert.
If you haven't got your tickets, I think you're probably out of
luck, right?
They're also.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
I think they sell out In Utah you are, I think we
have some in Austin and KansasCity.
They can still go there, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
You got to get on these tickets quick because they
go quick, because, uh, once yougo one time, you want to go
again and you tell all yourfriends how amazing it is.
So, uh, yeah, millennial choirsand orchestra.
Is there a website they canvisit to learn more about this
and also to get the book thatour friend greg trimble wrote
about the choir?
He's on the board and abeautiful book about the choir,
(46:25):
what it means and the history ofit, how it builds and
transforms our youth.
It's a beautiful book.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
It's an awesome book.
Where do they go?
Yeah, they can go tomillennialorg two L's, two N's,
millennialorg.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook.
They can go to millennialorgtwo L's, two N's, millennialorg
Um.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook and we
perform not just in December,but we perform twice a year,
every year, so people can come.
We're doing a huge productionin the spring called Messiah in
America, our largest productionwe've ever done, and, um, we're
(46:55):
teaming up with Gentry to dothat performance.
It's going to be awesome, sothey can come there if they miss
the Christmas one.
We know the Gentry guys.
Yeah, they're great.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
We know the Gentry guys Awesome.
We always ask our guests at theend of the podcast what they
think it means to be a gentleman.
Would you answer that questionfor us?
Speaker 3 (47:16):
I love that question, that question for us.
I love that question.
I think I came into thispodcast to meet with you both
and already on my mind, the ideaof a gentleman to me is to be
more than one or two dimensionalTo me.
To be a true gentleman, youcan't just go to church and be a
(47:39):
spiritual guy and then watchthe football game and go to work
.
That's just one,two-dimensional.
We need to have a well-roundedexposure and outlook on life,
and I think that the arts is soimportant to make that happen.
In fact, I know it is.
I know that God thinks this,because God is the ultimate
(48:02):
musician.
He is the one that is creatingall this beauty for us to enjoy
on this earth.
And so it is not just music'sfor women.
Sports is for men.
We've got to break that walland come at this as young men
(48:22):
and men and become gentlementhat are multidimensional.
And then you realize that whenyou value great music or sacred
music or the arts, you can seehow that develops and deepens
your spirituality as a humanbeing.
Some of the greatest athletesunderstand that the arts make
them better athletes.
You start realizing that thiswhole and deepens your
spirituality as a human being.
Some of the greatest athletesunderstand that the arts make
them better athletes.
You start realizing that thiswhole thing works together to
(48:47):
make you a deeper person.
So yeah, that would be mydefinition of a gentleman.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
We've never heard that one before and I really
like it In the context.
I think it makes perfect sense.
So thank you, brandon, forbeing with us today.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
It's been a pleasure to have you here while you're in
town and we will see you at theshow.
Awesome, we'll wave.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yes, thanks for spending time with us and thanks
for your insights.
It was really cool.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Thanks for joining us today on the podcast as well.
If you found this interesting,if you found it helpful, if
you're going to glean somethingfrom this for your own life,
consider sharing it withsomebody else that might do the
same, and we appreciate youspending your time with us.
I'm kirk chug and I'm corymoore.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Thanks, everyone up.
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