Da Capo Conversations with Juhi Bansal and Jonathan Bailey Holland

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 87: Da Capo Conversations with Juhi Bansal and Jonathan Bailey Holland

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Today we revisit Juhi Bansal’s and Jonathan Bailey Holland’s advice to young women and emerging artists. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Juhi Bansal and Jonathan Bailey Holland, check them out here and here. Parts of this episode originally premiered on February 21, 2022, click here, and January 27, 2021, 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.

Co-Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-Producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
With assistance from Hannah Chen, Sam Mason, Renata Volchinskaya

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists, sponsored by a 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 Da Capo Conversations, a mini series where we'll be giving familiar segments a topical twist [INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. Today we revisit Juhi Bansal's and Jonathan Bailey Holland's advice for young women and early career artists. Here's what Juhi Bansal had to say:

Juhi Bansal  00:41
Two pieces of advice: one, because I always get this question about how do you get started as a composer, and I think the answer is not to overthink it and just do it, just write music. And write, I say loosely, write doesn't necessarily have to mean write with pen, doesn't have to mean write on the computer, write just means create music, play music, record music in whatever way you can. Because I think everything else, all the refinement, all the technique, comes from there. That has to start with first making sound, right? The other thing, and I think this is probably more pertinent as composers get a little further in their career, is just how important it is to be flexible. That word came up came up earlier, and to be entrepreneurial. I think, you know, our field has just feels like it's rapid fire, how quick it's been changing, even in the last 10, 15 years, you know, think about technology and people's attention spans and now the pandemic and how that's going to change everything. I really think for us to survive as artists, we have to be almost more entrepreneurial, and more able to pivot and find opportunities than non artists do. That sounds counterintuitive in some ways, I know, but I really think that it's important. So study business where you can, find opportunities where you can, make opportunities where you can possibly put something together, I think those are just core ideas that are so important for any musicians right now.

Nanette McGuinness  02:19
Here's what Jonathan Bailey Holland had to say.

Jonathan Bailey Holland  02:22
In terms of advice to young aspiring artists during these uncertain times, my advice would be that there have been many uncertain times in the past as well, and that we have figured out how to persevere and push through and overcome. And the same will happen now. And if you have the conviction to create art, then you probably don't know how to not create art and will continue to feel compelled to do so. And I think that artists are the ones who tell the real stories of what it's like to live right now. And so I think that we just have to continue to create and adapt and move forward.

Nanette McGuinness  03:26
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure's Da Capo Conversations, and a special thank you to our guests 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, or 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 co producer and audio engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure" [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS].