Valerie Liu - Part 3

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 45: Valerie Liu (part 3)

Looking for a way to listen to diverse creators and to support equity in the arts? Tune in weekly to For Good Measure!

In this week’s episode, we talk to Valerie Liu about the guidance from inspiring musical and spiritual mentors throughout her compositional journey. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Valerie Liu, check her out here: www.valerieliumusic.com. Parts of this episode originally premiered on April 2022, found on Youtube, click here.

This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano),  as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.

Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Roziht Edwards and Merve Tokar

Don't miss Ensemble for These Times' upcoming concert 'Mujeres Ahora' on May 9 at the Community Music Center, presented as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival. For more information, go to www.E4TT.org.

Chapters

• 0:46 Did any (other) mentors help with your transition?
• 3:33 Did you have any musical mentors or were they primarily spiritual mentors?
• 5:02 Would it have helped if there had been role models who looked like you, who were women or Asian-American, or was it more a matter of the light bulb going on as he encouraged you?

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness: 0:16

[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, artistic executive director of Ensemble For These Times. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Valerie Liu, who we spoke to in April 2022[INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. Did any other mentors help with your transition?

Valerie Liu: 0:52

There are two other mentors also play an important part during my transition. One mentor is my church, Pastor Jordan, he is very supportive of my career change. Whenever I have any trace about, I would just go to him, he would always reassure me, pray for me talk it out with me if needed. Another mentor is Pastor key battle. I found him online and listen to his talk a lot. He did a talk on journey to your dreams. And I find it very inspiring. He said to make your dreams a reality. You need to go through a process, train your character, learn to be patient, learn to wait. Learn to handle bad situations as they come. Learn how to be abandoned when no one supports your dream. He said that your telling can take you to places but your character needs to sustain you there so that you have the maturity to handle your calling. I was very inspired by his speech, as much as I would like to go straight to the music field. But having taken that stop at the medical field. I think he prepares me better. Because I get to witness illnesses, struggles, depression, death, warrants courage, teamwork. It helps me understand human emotions in a deeper level. And I can express that with my music. He also said that why you wait, it's a good time to work on your gift. Get prepared. Although not formally, but privately I was always performing or working with someone in the music field. So when I do study a formally, I noticed I was making faster progress.

Nanette McGuinness: 3:10

That makes a lot of sense. It's kind of like when you study a language where you go and you speak it somewhere. And then you don't do it for a while. And when you come back a year later, and it's been percolating, you make much faster progress than if you had not done that original work, that the brains been doing the work and processing it in the interim.

Valerie Liu: 3:32

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness: 3:34

Did you have any musical mentors? Or were they primarily spiritual mentors?

Valerie Liu: 3:39

Oh, the musical mentor. I will say it is. Dr. Steele, I was taking undergrad music theory class. And he was the one who first noticed that I write pretty good stuff. So what asked me? Can you share that with the class? I am not sure I was thinking is just an exercise. It can be that good. And I never thought I want to study music. I was definitely thinking Piano. Piano, piano music education composer. I'm scared of it. I mean, that sounds so great. But it just sounds so hard. So he's the one that kind of, you know, pushed me a little he said, you know, share your appease find someone to play your piece. Let us hear it. So I think because of his encouragement, so it definitely, you know, sort of there's this lie or lie maybe you should head towards composition. Instead of just music in general, like music, education or, you know, piano.

Nanette McGuinness: 5:03

Would it have helped if there had been role models who looked like you who were women or Asian American? Or was it more a matter of the light bulb going on as he encouraged you?

Valerie Liu: 5:12

Yeah, it's more like that the light bulb went on, he happened to be encouraging me to share my stuff. But I think yes, I really wish that there will there is a mentor woman in my aim, you know, in my circle that I can kind of model after. But none of my friends are or people I know that are in the music field. Yeah. Think Asian American thing right you don't study music.

Nanette McGuinness: 5:57

[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Dawn Norfleet for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT Our concert season online and in the Bay Area where to make a tax deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. "For Good Measure" is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and designed by Brennan Stokes. With special thanks to audio engineer extraordinaire Stephanie Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]