Disclaimer: This is transcribed using AI. Expect (funny) errors.
Genein Letford: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Create and Grow Your Brain Capital podcast. I am excited to be with you here today. I am Genein Letford, your host, your keynote speaker on everything, creativity and all of the above, Lyrics and Leadership, and of course Brain Adventures. And we are here with the amazing, the musically, miraculously wonderful Mindy Peterson. Hi, Mindy.
Mindy Peterson: [00:00:27] Wow. Thank you. It’s great to be here. It’s always an honor to be a guest on somebody else’s podcast.
Genein Letford: [00:00:32] Yes, yes, you’re a podcaster extraordinaire. And let me just read a little bit of your bio. And then we’re going to just jump in because what you are doing is basically now the, the, the gist of my work of advocating for music everywhere and in everyone. So I’m excited to show our audience who you are and what you’ve done. Um, Mindy Peterson is the host of the Enhance Your Life with Music podcast, an exploration of the many ways music can make our lives better. This show spotlights practical ways music impacts our health, happiness, and wholeness in areas varied as science and health, sports and entertainment, business and education. A nationally certified teacher of music, Mindy has been a music educator since 1991 and is the Arts Advocacy Chair of the Minnesota music Teachers Association. Her career has involved the intersections of business, music, and education, and she is passionate also about health and wellness, which music is a part of. Mindy currently works with music educators in her role in the Minneapolis music instrument retailer Schmitt Music, and it is exciting to have you on this show for so many reasons, and one that will ones a purple one. Um, but, um, welcome to the show. And and how did you fall in love with music?
Mindy Peterson: [00:02:00] Oh, boy, that’s a good question. Well, I grew up with parents who had a brilliant rule, and that was that each of their children had to take one year of piano lessons, and at the end of that one year, you could quit if you wanted to, or you could keep going if you wanted to, but you had to take one year of piano lessons. So I started taking piano lessons when I was in first grade. My older brother started at the same time. He was in fourth grade at the time. And interestingly, my or our mother also started taking piano lessons with us, so I just have great memories of listening to her practice the piano after she put us to bed at night, and just listening to that and really enjoying that, and just loving the fact that we were all doing this together. So, uh, my older brother took for a year and then transitioned to a band instrument at school. I took for a year and continued taking through all of school, high school into college. Um, I have a couple younger siblings who eventually took lessons as well. So that’s how I got into music.
Genein Letford: [00:03:02] That’s so interesting. I know I ran into a violinist at at a, at an event, and his mom actually was there, like vending at a table selling some books. And I was like, oh, your son, he plays so well. And she was like, yeah, we just kind of fell into music. Um, he was going to a school and didn’t come home one time and just ended up stopping at a playground. So she moved him to the closer school that had a had a music program. Um, and but you had to take music. But here’s the thing that makes me want to dive into what you just said at this particular school where the child had to take music. The parent was required to take an instrument as well.
Mindy Peterson: [00:03:40] Oh, really? I’ve never heard of that.
Genein Letford: [00:03:43] I know I was like, really? So. So she said, yeah, he couldn’t take the cello because I was not carrying two cellos back and forth. So.
Mindy Peterson: [00:03:50] Well, I know that with Suzuki, the parents have really sort of strict requirements in terms of being involved in their child’s education and their lessons and their practice time. And. They have to read books about it. So they’re very informed on the learning method. But I have never heard of a parent being required to take music lessons. That’s really interesting.
Genein Letford: [00:04:10] Yeah, yeah. But I wanted to get your thoughts on, you know, how they said it helps the child keep going if they see the parent is is learning and, you know, struggling and having hiccups and keeping going and and going through the same process as well. And you mentioned it was cool to watch your mother, um, play with with you. Do you think we should start not start implementing like, crossing everything, but it’s not even suggested, you know?
Mindy Peterson: [00:04:36] Right.
Genein Letford: [00:04:37] So what what what do you think about that?
Mindy Peterson: [00:04:39] Yeah, I my thoughts on that, I would say I definitely think that it really could, um, demonstrate to your child how seriously you’re taking this commitment that they’re making because it’s requiring a commitment of the parent as well. I think there’s a lot of ways to demonstrate that, though. And it’s not that’s not the only way. So I think, um, personally, I grew up with parents who were not really into music, like we there was never music playing in our household other than what we were making as we practiced our instrument. Um, but they just had an appreciation for it and had a sense that it was, uh, piano lessons was a very foundational instrument. And just having a basic knowledge of music had a lot of benefits that extended to other parts of your life. So my dad, one thing that he did, even though he wasn’t much of a musician, he took just a very limited number of years of accordion lessons. Uh, as a kid back in the 40s, 50, I guess 50s. Um, so he wasn’t really an active musician, but he did appreciate it. And he would, on the weekends, just come into the living room where the piano was and say, Mindy, can you just play the piano for me? I just love listening to play. And he would lay down on the couch and close his eyes and just listen, and I could just tell that he really enjoyed it and just valued the fact that I had this skill and was developing this talent. So that’s another way that parents can really demonstrate to their kids the value that they place on it. Um, I would say one thing that I hear of parents doing that just sort of breaks my heart is when they do the opposite, like make comments like, you need a digital piano so you can put headphones on and practice, and I don’t have to listen to you. Like, that’s the exact opposite of what we want.
Genein Letford: [00:06:39] I don’t have to listen to you.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:41] Right, right. But I mean, if parents take their children to hear live music, like, take them to the orchestra or take them to a rock concert, jazz, like, have them listen to various genres of music, play music in the house. Um, you know, there’s so many ways that you can demonstrate the value that you place on music, on music education, and on their specific instrument that they’re learning in.
Genein Letford: [00:07:04] Their lessons are so, so good, so good. And and just. Yeah, with that, the importance of your reaction to it is huge.
Mindy Peterson: [00:07:15] Oh, totally.
Genein Letford: [00:07:16] Um, yeah. I have story after story of people saying, oh, this. Yeah. What are your thoughts about this? Um, the Uber driver told me this story of like, yeah, you know, when I told him that I did music and I love music, he was like, I was just in third or fourth grade, and the teacher just came around and had each child go like, la la la. And you’re like, nope, nope, nope. Can’t sing. Nope, nope. And she picked her few out. No, no, I never sang for the next 20 years or so.
Mindy Peterson: [00:07:46] I hate hearing stories like this, and I know it happens. I know it happens regularly. No, I hate hearing stories like that? No, not a fan of that approach at all.
Genein Letford: [00:07:56] Yeah. And and now that, you know, you, you know and I would love, love to for you to share a few of your gems that you’ve gotten with all of your interviews over, over the years. Um, but, you know, my background is in the, the neuroscience and, um, and the, the effects of music on the brain and the importance of of it. Um, yeah. What have you learned by just amassing a lot of your podcast episodes with sitting with the greats? I mean, people who I would love to get on my show. Doctor Nina Kraus.
Mindy Peterson: [00:08:27] Yeah, yeah.
Genein Letford: [00:08:29] Levitan.
Mindy Peterson: [00:08:30] Yeah. Well, it’s interesting that you mentioned the neuroscience, because the neuroscience aspect of music and music’s effect on the brain is one of the things that was an impetus for me starting this podcast. And that was I was I was always really intrigued by articles that I would come across in the news about music’s effect on our lives in ways that people might not pick up on and notice. And one of those articles was back probably 12, 13 years ago. There was a state rep, uh, I think she was a state rep, not senator. Um, my memory is getting a little fuzzy on this, but Gabby Giffords, she. Well, from your state, Arizona. Okay. Um, and she she was shot at, uh, publicity event, and she survived the shooting, but had traumatic brain injuries as a result, she had to relearn how to speak. And this story, there are others that were injured at the same in the same shooting event. It was horrific. And so the story was really big in the news at the time, as it should be. But at one point after it happened, maybe, I don’t know, a few weeks later when she got to the point where she had recovered enough to start relearning how to speak. The news article just buried in an article somewhere. It came out that her medical team was using music therapy in order to help her regain her ability to speak. She had aphasia and to learn relearn how to speak.
Mindy Peterson: [00:10:07] They used music therapy. And I remember seeing that and thinking, oh my goodness, this is huge. Like, this shouldn’t be buried in this article. This should be a headline. I don’t think most people, unless they’re a musician like me, and just really hone hone in on these types of details. Most people are not going to notice this. And so anyways, her music therapist was one of my very first guests on my podcast. She was incredible. Megan Morrow is her name, and she did such a great job of explaining how music has a superpower to build detours around the damaged areas of our brain. Just the ability that music has to bring about Mechanical changes in our brain neuroplasticity. And so it was just really incredible. So yeah neuroscience music’s effect on the brain hugely intriguing. And in the last five or so years, maybe ten years now, there’s been so many develops medically with functional MRI and ways, non-invasive ways to really see exactly what is happening scientifically and provable ways in our brains as a result of music, whether we’re listening, whether we’re making music. You can read stories in the news about musicians who have brain surgery, and they’re playing their violin throughout the surgery so that the surgeons can make sure that they’re not damaging in any way, those parts of the brain that are being I mean, it’s just it’s really fascinating.
Genein Letford: [00:11:39] Yes. Actually, I was just watching a footage of that. I grabbed a video from a site and that’s what he was doing. I was like, I’m probably going to use this in a class somewhere. So let let me just.
Mindy Peterson: [00:11:49] Yeah, right.
Genein Letford: [00:11:50] Yeah. Uh, and it’s powerful. And that’s why I am number one. So excited to to meet you, to share your work and to get people to to listen to your podcast as well, but also to reposition because I think music had an important position, you know, thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago, like it was just seen as a part of life, like breathing and talking to your neighbor and coming together to play instruments and sing. It was just like there wasn’t a small selection of people who did music. Yeah. It was it was just throughout the, um, throughout the the neighborhood. Right.
Mindy Peterson: [00:12:26] Um, yeah. No culture that we know of existed without music of some sort. And like you said, it wasn’t relegated to people who considered themselves musicians or professional musicians. Everybody did it. It was a way of life.
Genein Letford: [00:12:40] Yeah, yeah, I heard that somewhere in Europe when they established the music hall. Like, that’s when it started to make its transfer into a elected group as opposed to a societal norm. Um, so yeah, that was very interesting. And just with with who you are, um, are in, in interviewing and the different aspects that you’re, you’re, you’re seeing out there, what should parents know about getting, um, getting their kids involved in music earlier than later?
Mindy Peterson: [00:13:12] I just want them to know what a huge gift it is that they are giving to their child by providing lessons and figuring out whatever you need to do to help that child stick with lessons. Because face it, there’s a lot of parents who say, ah, my kid just doesn’t want to practice. And guess what? That’s normal. Like, your kid probably doesn’t want to do homework after school either. But you know what? You figure out ways to make it work and make it happen. They probably don’t want to brush their teeth. So depending on your family and your parenting style and your child how they’re wired. Figure out a way to make it work. Um, because it is such a huge, huge gift. And my podcast, I like like you said in the introduction, I cover the holistic effects of music on our lives, whether it’s health and wellness, whether it’s business, whether it’s sports and entertainment. And education is another huge category. Those are sort of the four categories that my episodes tend to fall into. If you’re a parent and you’re considering putting your child in lessons or they’re in lessons and you want to understand more about the huge gift that you are providing your child and all the many ways that this is benefiting your child beyond just the fact that they can play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano or the violin or whatever instrument they’re there on. Go to that education tab on on my website you can go to the archives tab.
Mindy Peterson: [00:14:41] And on that page you can see all 200 plus episodes. But you can also sort by category. And one of those categories is education. If you go to that, just go to that and just kind of scan the the titles and find the ones that look interesting to you and look like they apply to your situation. There’s a pretty well known series of parenting books called How to Talk. So kids will listen and listen so kids will talk. And those authors were guests on my podcast and specifically talked about how to apply their principles to kids who are not wanting to practice piano. So if you see that and you’re like, that’s what I need, go to that. Or if you see something about how music training affects your child’s ability to learn in other areas, whether it’s reading and literacy, whether it’s math, whether it’s learning a second language, whatever it is, you know, listen to that. Um, social emotional skills, executive function, time management focus. I mean, there’s I know I’m preaching to the choir with you, but there’s so many ways that music affects a developing child’s brain. And so I would say, yes, you’re doing a huge service and providing your child with a huge gift by giving them music lessons and finding ways to motivate them and get them to stick with it. So yeah, listen, listen to some of those episodes and be inspired and hopefully you’ll come away with some good resources and tips to from those episodes.
Genein Letford: [00:16:12] Yes, yes. And just looking at the list of benefits, you know, neurologically, socially, academically, uh, personally, professionally emotional and, and health wise, right. How frequencies move through the body. Yeah, I know I feel so much better after I sing let it go really loud. You know, from the color purple or purple or purple rain. Um, and to me, you know, would you even position yourself to say this is a justice issue? Now that we’re finding out so much about how music really shapes the brain, really increases the pathways between the hemispheres, really strengthens areas and makes kids just emotionally just aware. And you said executive function. Some people may not know what that term term means. Um, but people’s ability to make decisions and imagination, creativity and judgments and, and logical thinking and creative thinking, is this a justice issue? Eventually. Do you think.
Mindy Peterson: [00:17:14] Um, I haven’t done a lot of thinking about it through that lens? Um, I do definitely think that it’s part of a well-rounded education, for sure. And I feel that as a culture, you mentioned sort of a point in time where the music halls became established, and that was a little bit of a turning point in certain cultures view of music. And I definitely think that across the board, most developed cultures have shifted from seeing music as an educational tool, a cultural tool and just a way of life to something that is purely entertainment.
Genein Letford: [00:17:52] Mhm.
Mindy Peterson: [00:17:52] And if you’re not being entertained and you or, and or you’re not making money and set your standard of whatever limit of money or you need whatever threshold you need to make to consider that appropriate, then it’s like, well, I don’t want my kid to go into music because they’re not going to make any money, or I’m not interested in learning about music because I don’t care about that particular genre or I don’t care about that particular performer. You know, it’s it’s seen purely through the lens of entertainment and making money. So I, I do feel that we really need to go back to the way cultures used to integrate music into all aspects of life. It was a social component. It was an element in healing. Yeah. And wellbeing. Mental health. Expression, creativity, uh, bonding and sort of demonstrating your cohesiveness and increasing that cohesiveness as a tribe. You know, there’s so many ways that music is part of our lives. And we’re we’ve increasingly come to see it only as a function of entertainment. And how much money am I going to be able to make or not make in music?
Genein Letford: [00:19:08] Wow. A function of entertainment. And so we have lost the awareness of its function as a life well lived and well-being and health, um, and communication, you know.
Mindy Peterson: [00:19:20] Yes. Um, flourishing. Thriving as human beings and as communities.
Genein Letford: [00:19:25] And that’s why I said I in my life, um, I, you know, on your podcast, I brought this up, I categorize it as a justice issue because even looking at my own son, I’m like the kid down the street, you know, they they have the resources to do music. They just choose not to or don’t know it’s an option. But now my son has, you know, seven years brain development with music being the foundational piece or one of the foundational pieces. That to me, I don’t want to say it’s not fair, but all kid, you know, the same as read reading to me, you know, it’s reading and math and music the same thing. So, so that’s, um, amazing. And what about adults, though? I know we we talk about kids, but with the whole dementia crisis, we’re in Alzheimer’s numbers are skyrocketing. Arizona is leading in that, sadly. Um, and I thought about this when you when you mentioned your mother was playing along with with you, you know, doctor Nina Kraus talks about what happens with music and the auditory system strengthening and being to hear in background noise better. What are your thoughts with adults really taking this on as a part of their brain strategy? Brain health strategy?
Mindy Peterson: [00:20:32] Oh 100% do it. Yeah. I mean, there’s so much research that supports the benefits of of music playing. Listening to music is great. You can get a lot of benefits out of that, but I’ve heard playing music compared to listening to music, uh, sort of similarities compared to watching football and playing football, you know? Yeah, maybe it’s fun to watch. Maybe you have a team that you’re rooting for, or maybe you have some social benefits of watching it with friends. You get excited. You’re happy when your team wins, you learn something about the game and the rules. When you’re out there playing football, it’s a whole different ballgame. Pun intended. So same with music training. I mean, it’s one thing to listen to music that’s great. There’s a lot of benefits to that, even like just exponentially more benefits when you’re playing music and making music yourself. So, so many neurological benefits. One of the guests that I interviewed on my show was at the time, he had just written a recently released book, Tom Vanderbilt, and the book was, I think it was actually called beginners, but it was basically a book, not Necessarily specifically about music, but he references music in the book. And that’s what he was talking about, of course, when he was a guest on my show. But the whole book was about the benefits of being a beginner as an adult and what that does to your brain and what that does to your coordination, your small muscle development, your large muscle development, depending on what it is you’re doing.
Mindy Peterson: [00:22:03] One other thing that I just want to point out, too, is if you Google grip strength as a health indicator, that has become really huge recently, and I would say there’s not much better way to improve your grip strength than to start playing a musical instrument. Whether it’s piano, violin, guitar, whatever it is, you’re going to develop some incredible small muscle control and small, small motor skills. And grip strength is increasingly being seen as a really influential health indicator of your overall health, particularly as we age. So yeah, so many benefits. And then if older adults do have dementia, musical memory is the last to fade away. So I would just like a little plug. Watch a documentary documentary that’s called Alive Inside. And it is a documentary where they show people who have dementia, they’re virtually unresponsive, don’t know their loved ones, are non communicative. And when music that was important to them in their youth is played for them, they literally come alive. I mean it just is almost eerie and gives you goosebumps and it’s so incredible to see this transformation happen. Obviously it’s not a cure. It doesn’t last forever, but those people have a quality of life restored to them, whether it’s minutes, hours, whatever it is, and their loved ones have them back for that period of time. So it’s really extremely powerful for people who have memory loss and dementia.
Genein Letford: [00:23:46] Ah, that’s that’s so good.
Mindy Peterson: [00:23:47] It’s also a very great preventative for dementia too, which there’s been a lot of guests covering that on the show.
Genein Letford: [00:23:53] Yes, yes, I remember Doctor Daniel Levinson. He calls me music neuro protective. And I was like, I like that phrase neuro protective. And that’s to me another pinpoint in the justice issue. If I know it can do all this for the brain on the beginning part of life. Uh, what’s also the effects? Um, as as the brain continues to to age, you know, um, and I know the sooner you you get it in there, the better, right? Um, so a live inside, that’s one wonderful we know with music, especially if people decide to take this on as a profession or go into the arts, you know, just going out for auditions, going out for these things. Just how are you creatively courageous in your work.
Mindy Peterson: [00:24:41] Mhm. That’s a good question. I would say I mean you know this whenever we put ourselves out there you’re kind of putting yourself out there. I mean you’re making yourself vulnerable and uh taking the risk that you’re going to say something wrong or somebody’s not going to like something or you’re not going to get the downloads that you like or whatever it is. So I would say just putting putting myself out there in terms of being a podcaster is one way that I make myself vulnerable. Um, I actually the job that I’m in right now was, was a big career shift for me. So that was very exciting, but also took some courage because I did have a business background, but started teaching piano lessons when I was still in high school. Okay. And once my husband and I had a young family. We just decided that based on the the hours that he was working and the travel, the commuting, the stress level, the hours, all of that, we decided together that we weren’t both going to be investing in our careers in that way when our kids were young. And so I ended up going back to teaching at that time and taught for decades as our kids were growing up. So to then make that shift into back into the business world was exciting, but definitely took some courage as well. And I have no regrets. It’s been really fun. Um, and I’m able to sort of mix some areas that I’m passionate about. I know in your introduction, you mentioned my career being sort of at the intersection of education and music and business and running my own studio for decades definitely gave me the ability to use some of those business skills, and now I get to use them in a different way. So that’s that’s exciting and has been a learning curve and a lot of fun.
Genein Letford: [00:26:39] I mean, when I think about music, I think about the way that it does connect, you know, different areas. Like, I just I think musically I see, see connections. But even when you know you’re doing marketing or you just see patterns or you have to think of a jingle or, you know, like, I’m doing a lot, a lot of brain stuff. So like, let’s make a song about this and, you know. Yeah. So I just so many things just sit on on it no matter what field you’re in. Having a music background can support you no matter what. Just hearing the melody of someone’s voice and seeing the emotional communication underlying. It’s just like these are the skills that we’re vying for, we’re looking for. And I think the arts have it embedded in how does having the music and the arts just really get the rest, the next generation of leaders ready to lead?
Mindy Peterson: [00:27:31] Oh, 100%, yes. I agree with everything that you’re saying there. Uh, music does enhance your skills in so many different areas. I love hearing stories. Actually, one of my most recent podcast guests was telling a story about how his dad was a surgeon and a musician. Like a really accomplished musician. He had played. He was a pianist. He had played at not only Steinway Hall in New York, but Carnegie Hall. Just really incredible musician. And so I just love hearing stories about that where, um, somebody who has that music ability uses all of the skills that were developed through that and can apply them to other areas. Condoleezza Rice was in and is an incredible classical pianist. And yeah, yeah, in fact, it’s it’s interesting to hear her story because I can relate to some of the things that she talks about. She talks about going to Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan. And this is as a kid. I don’t remember exactly how old she was, if she was in high school or younger, but she went there. And here’s this piece that she had been practicing and perfecting, learning, perfecting for months shows up at Interlochen, and there’s kids there who are half her age who just learn, like they’re just so incredibly talented that they’re picking it up and learning it in a week, you know? And that was sort of her wake up call that.
Mindy Peterson: [00:29:01] Yeah, I’ve worked really hard at this and I’ve developed some real skills, but there’s some really talented people out there and maybe this isn’t the best ultimate career path for me. Um, and so she obviously made a change with her career, but I’m I know, and I’m sure she would also say this and affirm this, that there’s so many skills that she learned in learning the piano that helped her in, in her career as secretary of state and just the other political appointments that she had. So empathy is a huge one. Uh, when you think about playing with other people, you have to be able to really listen to what they’re doing and be able to adjust and play accordingly. Even if you’re not improvising or doing a jazz riff type of a style playing, if you’re playing with anybody, even if you’re accompanying a vocalist, as a pianist, you really have to be listening. So that really develops listening skills. Nina Kraus has done a lot on how that particular skill helps older adults with their listening. As they’re listening, um, in their hearing sort of decreases and diminishes. Musicians are better able to pick out speech in noise. So, for example, if you’re in a noisy restaurant, you’re better able if you have that music background to pick out the speech of the people that you’re talking with and tune out all of the other noise that’s bouncing off the walls around you.
Mindy Peterson: [00:30:30] So, um, I’m kind of rambling here a little bit, but yeah, 100% agree that there’s so many skills that you learn in the process of learning a musical instrument that are completely transferable. We talked about executive function, decision making, time management, empathy, grit. That’s one. There’s a book called grit that’s just amazing. And just that frustration tolerance that kids develop when they’re learning a music instrument. I had a student years ago whose mother told me, I am keeping my son in piano lessons for as long as possible, even if it’s only because of the fact that he’s so smart. Everything comes easily to him, and when he’s learning piano, that’s the only time he experiences frustration because his brain knows what his the brain is telling his hands to do, and his hands aren’t quite able to do it without practicing and really establishing those those neural pathways going from the brain to the hands. And so it’s like he had to do it and do it and do it over and over and over until he finally was able to get his hands to do what he wanted them to do. And she said, he’s just so smart that everything comes easily to him and he doesn’t experience frustration. So this really develops that frustration tolerance for him. And I thought that was brilliant of her as a mother.
Genein Letford: [00:32:02] No, that’s a good observation too. Um, and I really now I’m looking at mine. I was like, yes, as long as possible because you need to get frustrated, then teach your brain how to work through it. Right. And then feel that win, you know, like.
Mindy Peterson: [00:32:15] Yes.
Genein Letford: [00:32:15] You did it. Yes. No.
Mindy Peterson: [00:32:17] Yes. Well and that builds confidence. Like, oh, I didn’t think I was able to do that. I pushed through it and now I can do it. I can play the right hand louder than the left hand before I can do that. I was trying to and both aunts were playing the same volume, and now I can bring out the melody in the right hand and that increases your confidence. Like, oh, I can do hard things. If I can do that, maybe I could do something else. And I just think of students, one in particular, who is really timid about playing in front of people, did not want to play at a recital. And, uh, the first year that he took lessons, he just was adamant he was not playing in the spring recital. And that was the one event that I didn’t usually give students a choice about. They had to play just for that. There are other opportunities that were optional, but the spring recital they all had to perform at at the end of the school year, he was adamant he was not going to, and I agreed and told him he didn’t have to, but he needed to show up and be a part of the audience and just listen and watch. So he did that the following year in the spring. I just assumed that he would play. I didn’t ask him about it. I didn’t present it as an option. I just assumed he would play and he did not push back. And he did it. And he it was like the biggest light bulb moment for him, that it’s like he faced his greatest fear. And he turned into my student who anytime he was out and about and saw a piano, whether it was he was with his Boy Scout troop and they were at an event and there was a piano in menards, or there was a piano in a hotel where they were staying, or he was at a friend’s house and they had a piano. He would just sit down and play. So I just love seeing that confidence boost and students to through music training.
Genein Letford: [00:34:10] And it’s like another language. They say when you learn more than a more than one language, you open up your mind, map your whole world to these other groups of people who speak this language, you know, but don’t speak your primary language. And I think I see that the same way of now he can speak the language whenever he sees a piano. You know, there’s some people who walk past it. They can’t do anything with it. Totally have that. It’s a beautiful thing.
Mindy Peterson: [00:34:33] Um, yeah. Well, and kind of going along with that too, with that, with that recital and that performance, I would talk a lot about my students in the months leading up to it about performance skills, whether it’s poise, stage etiquette, but even things like memory techniques and keeping your game face on, if you make a mistake, don’t acknowledge it. Just keep right on going. Keep that game face on. And, um, and then there’s so many performance skills and techniques that we’ve learned from sports performance. Sports psychologists have been way ahead of musicians on this, but there’s so much carryover in translation but between the two fields. And I’ll tell them as as we’re talking about performance skills and performance techniques, focus, things like that. I say this isn’t just for your recital coming up this spring. You can use these skills when you’re up in front of your class, giving your book report or your your oral presentation. You can use this when you see that cute kid at school and you want to go talk to them and you’re nervous, you know, use these performance skills then, or you go into your first job interview and you’re trying to get a job bagging groceries or, you know, serving ice cream or whatever it is. Any kind of performance can, uh, make use of these performance skills that we’re learning from you for music application.
Genein Letford: [00:35:56] Yeah, yeah. I remember my last recital that Sean played at, um, or his last recital. Um, he had he added in an extra note. I knew it because I, I heard the song previously, several times beforehand, but just his amazingness of the extra note and he just went on. So if you didn’t know, most people didn’t know know the song. So it sounded right. But I, I made the point to to pinpoint that and highlight that like, great job just keeping on knowing knew and you just almost improvise your own song with that extra, extra note. Um, so now when I watched the video, I see it, I hear it, but yeah, my sister’s an ER nurse and she’s like, you know, being an ER in the neuro nurse ward, you know, when things happen, some folks freeze, but she’s a dancer and she played flute and you just learned that, you know, on that dance floor, if the hat drops, you keep on dancing, dance and dance and pick it up if you can. But if not, the show must go on.
Mindy Peterson: [00:36:48] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Right.
Genein Letford: [00:36:50] So it’s so important. So with you, um, having all these guests, what was like a big, um. And I know that you didn’t. I didn’t prep you with this, this question, but any, like, a big aha or a surprising gem that you learned from your show.
Mindy Peterson: [00:37:05] Uh, well, I learned something every single time I talked to somebody. So that’s one of the I love to learn. And so that’s one thing I love about podcasting. Yeah. Um, one, I guess. I don’t know if this is totally fits with your question, but one thing that I can talk about is, like some of the most impactful guests and conversations that I have. And I would say some of those there’s been a few, many, but some of the most, some of the conversations, the episodes that stick the most in my mind and impact me the most are guests who have just an incredibly powerful story. And one that comes to mind is Richard Kasper, who founded the nonprofit Creative Arts. He works with veterans. He himself was was a veteran in Iraq and survived, uh, his Humvee going over an explosive device. His buddy was right next to him, was killed in the incident. He came back to recover from that, came back to the US and had brain injuries. He spiraled into a depression. He finally pulled himself up by his bootstraps enough to try to go to the community college and get some kind of degree. Um, was sort of flunking out of those classes. And finally, as a last resort, it was like, you know what? I’m just going to take the easiest go, go through the easiest program I can, and that’s going to be art. So. So he went through the arts program and it saved his life. And just the stories that he tells about being able to express himself through art and process the traumatic events that happened.
Mindy Peterson: [00:38:50] He now created this foundation called Creative Arts Nonprofit, working with veterans. One of the outlets for this nonprofit is working in Nashville with songwriters, singer songwriters who are professionals there. So they’ll have veterans come in and work with these songwriters to kind of tell their story, but they’re able to do it in sort of an abstract way. So the lyric with the lyrics, the lyrics are not explicitly rehashing the experiences, the traumatic experiences that these veterans had. It’s more an abstract reference to, for example, I lost my mind by the side of the highway. And for that specific soldier, it may have been like Richard, where there was an explosion and they literally have no long term memory or short term memory or whatever is affected by their brain injury. So they feel like they lost their mind. But in writing these songs, they’re able to therapeutically process what happened to them in a way that they aren’t otherwise able to. Partly, maybe because they’re not open to talk therapy or it just impacts them differently than talk therapy. And they’ve had family members of veterans who, after their loved one goes through this experience of with with Creativets say thank you so much. And hearing this say my husband or my my son or whatever, they’re hearing the song that they wrote. That was the first time I was able to hear anything about their experience they won’t talk to me about it. So that was one. I guess that really made an impact on me because of his story.
Genein Letford: [00:40:33] What’s his name again?
Mindy Peterson: [00:40:34] His name is Richard Casper, and Creativets is the name of the nonprofit that he founded.
Genein Letford: [00:40:42] Oh, yeah. No. That’s amazing.
Mindy Peterson: [00:40:44] Yeah. So if listeners want to find that, I mean, we could definitely have it in the show notes. Or if you just go to the archives tab on the website and just do Control-f and find Creativets or Richard Casper and it’ll pop up.
Genein Letford: [00:40:58] Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for for sharing your just, um, your musical wisdom and, and you just gathering all these great stories of understanding why it’s important for music to be a part of our life, you know, for enhancement for for wealth and wellness for so many reasons. Um, of course we are the the diamonds. And we do end with a gem. Um, so what’s just one gem that you would leave our listeners today?
Mindy Peterson: [00:41:23] Mhm. Yes I love that. I would say for my GM I would say it’s never too late to reap the benefits of music, whether it’s learning more about how music can impact you or your child, your child’s developing brain, how it can affect you and your own neuroplasticity, whether it can, how it can affect your aging relative who maybe has Alzheimer’s. How you can prevent dementia through music. Just enjoying music as a way to express yourself without words. Whatever it is, whatever benefit you want to reap from music, it’s never too late to tap into that and experience those benefits.
Genein Letford: [00:42:08] Awesome, awesome. And I fully agree. So thank you so much. If people wanted to find out more about your podcast or your other work, where should they go?
Mindy Peterson: [00:42:16] Yeah, my website is the best place. It’s M Petersen Music.com. Um, and then you can just go to the, the menu there to go to the podcast tab and learn more about that. Um, the podcast is on all places where you get your audio too. It’s called Enhance Life with Music. So you can also just go directly to your favorite podcast listening app, whether it’s Apple Podcasts or YouTube or iHeart radio, Spotify, whatever it is, and it’ll be there. Just look for enhanced life with music.
Genein Letford: [00:42:45] Awesome, awesome. Um, I know I’ve seen some podcasters put their episodes into a book. I was toying around with that. Um, so it’ll be cool for you to like the conversations with me. Right. And there’s a free, free book. Just. I mean, just a ready to go book. Alright. You already wrote it, right?
Mindy Peterson: [00:43:05] Right.
Genein Letford: [00:43:07] That’s wonderful. So thank you so much for for joining me and sharing your work with everyone. And thank you, audience for listening. Go and enhance your life with music and don’t forget to shine bright. We will see you next time. Bye bye.
Transcribed by Sonix.ai