Zanaida Robles - Part 7

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 155: Zanaida Robles - Part 7

In this week’s episode, we talk to Zanaida Robles about her advice for aspiring studio singers and emerging composers, why musicians choose to pursue music, and the premiere of her piece "The Song of Significance" at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Zanaida Robles, check her out here: https://zanaidarobles.com/. This episode was originally recorded in January 2024.

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.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/episodes/15732947

Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Addy Geenen, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin

Chapters

• 0:22 In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Zanaida Robles, who we spoke to in January 2024.
• 0:30 How would you advise an aspiring studio singer to get started? What would you recommend?
• 3:12 So in addition to that, looking now towards composers, do you have advice for young women composers, composers of color, or just even emerging composers in general?
• 7:18 Are there any recent or upcoming projects you're excited about that you'd like to share with us?

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 conversation with Zanaida Robles, who we spoke to in January 2024 [INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. How would you advise an aspiring studio singer to get started? What would you recommend?

Zanaida Robles  00:36

You got you've gotta be a top notch musician. Top notch musician, you've gotta... sight reading, it's paramount. You've gotta have amazing ears. You gotta be able to hear things, memorize things quickly. You gotta be able to, and you have to, you have to be able to think on your feet, and, and, and, and school is really important. I think I'm not sure that, you know, it's emphasized how important, like, especially being out here it was really, like, the connections that I made. There's a reason why, you know, the local universities kind of surrounding the studio area, you've got, you've got, you got Hollywood sort of, and in downtown Los Angeles, where Disney Hall is and sort of where everything is happening. Well, the surrounding schools are USC, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, you've got Loyola Marymount has a, you know, program. These universities are, you know, and other, you know, just all of these universities. They're connected, and they are training the future singers. The future session singers and the cream of the crop come out of those, those universities, and sometimes the universities have, they have, like training programs, or they'll or they'll be the, they'll be the choir that will be engaged for maybe a smaller caliber event at a large at a major venue. You get seen, or you get connected. You get the experience of that, and then you go audition for other things and and honestly, it's your connections, because it's not like you can just go on, you know, you know, Indeed and apply for a session singer job. That's not how it works, like you've got to know people. It really is true. You you gotta know people, you gotta be seen. You have to be on a roster. Because what the because the the the contractors, they don't have time to audition people. They're not auditioning you. They're looking for who is on, who is already singing with the best singers in town. So I got on, I got into session singing because I sang with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. And honestly, a lot of Los Angeles Master Chorales do session work. Now there's other ensembles as well. And you know, the university ensembles count as as well, but you gotta be in the top ensembles in the area, and all of that school experience is vital and matters, because that's how you get seen by the contractors, to be honest.

Nanette McGuinness  03:00

What a great answer. And nice to hear school is important to those people who wonder, right?

Zanaida Robles  03:05

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  03:06

You know that the education and the school...

Zanaida Robles  03:07

That's where your recommendations come from, hey.

Nanette McGuinness  03:09

Yeah that's true. So in addition to that, looking now towards composers, do you have advice for young women composers, composers of color, or just even emerging composers in general?

Zanaida Robles  03:22

Yeah, an emerging composer can be any age, by the way. I just want to say that, like, I considered myself an emerging composer, like, five years ago, like, I just emerged. I don't know if I, maybe I'm still emerging. And I think that's really important to say, because I didn't think that I was going to be a composer. Like, I didn't see myself that way. And so I would just say, if you compose music, you're a composer. If you've composed a piece, you are a composer, your work is valid, you, and keep working on it. If you, you know, you it's it's just important that if you enjoy the craft, you compose. I think that, and I always, the measure of whether or not you're, I don't know, doing what you're what you're supposed to be doing, is, would you do it anyway, even if you weren't, even if you weren't the best at it? Would you do it anyway? Would you do it anyway even if you weren't getting paid? Are you doing it anyway? You know, that's how you know you're supposed to be doing something. I was composing before I was ever paid for it. I mean, most, I mean all composers, probably you're composing, you just, it's just something that comes out of you because we're humans, and humans have to, humans are expressive creatures. We have to express and if that's your mode of expression, you do it because you have to do it, like you're internally you're called to do it. And you know, don't let, always always be true to yourself. If you're doing it because somebody told you, oh, you should do this because you're good at it, that's honestly not a good reason to do it. The reason to do it is you feel compelled to do it because your heart's telling you you love it and you want it or you can't, you have to get it out. You know, that's that's sort of what happened, how it worked for me, and it hasn't steered me wrong when I listen to this, this is my heart. It tends to work out, when I listen to other people, not to say, don't take advice, I mean, I'm sure there are great people in your life, there are, take it, listen to advice, but, but listen to this mostly, and that you know, and don't and don't do it just because somebody said this is what you should do, or you should gotta have a backup plan, or you gotta, you know, it doesn't work that way. You have to do what, what's inside, what you feel called to do. Find that, and you'll find a good degree of satisfaction.

Nanette McGuinness  05:46

Yeah, what the little voice inside says you have to do, yeah. I always say, and I've said this for a long time, there are many, many talented musical people in the world, and many of them become doctors, engineers, and scientists. The ones who become musicians, okay, some of them do it because their family has done it, and that's the family trade, but most of us who stick in this industry have to do it for our spirits to feel complete.

Zanaida Robles  06:15

It's that exactly. It's exactly. There's no way I'm doing this for the money. It's not the money, oh my god no. But yet, I'm doing it, I'm doing it because it's what I I believe I was made to do, um, and it's okay if it, actually it's okay to do it even if you don't feel like you were made to do it, it's okay. You gotta, you gotta listen to what, if your if your heart's telling you, doing this is what's going to fulfill me, doing this is what's going to make me happy, doing this is what's going to, you maybe one day, maybe something, you know, doing this, this gig is going to pay a bill. Okay, fine, it can pay a bill, it's okay, it's okay. But, but don't let that, don't let the whole, you know, I gotta make it, you know, to to be of value to anyone, or I gotta make it in order to be of value to myself. What does make it mean? It means nothing.

Nanette McGuinness  07:09

It's a moving target.

Zanaida Robles  07:09

Only thing that matters is, do you feel fulfilled when you when you work on, when you do this work?

Nanette McGuinness  07:15

Really valuable advice, that's great. Are there any recent or upcoming projects you're excited about that you'd like to share with us?

Zanaida Robles  07:24

I have a commission that's going to be premiered with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in, I think the date is April 6th and 7th at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It's sort of like my biggest profile commission. I'm really I can't believe they asked me to do it.

Nanette McGuinness  07:44

Congratulations.

Zanaida Robles  07:45

Especially because it's like writing for your family like that's, I I sang in the Master Chorale, I sang for Grant Gershon, Grant, you know, I'm such an admirer of Grant, I mean, another, another very influential person in my life, someone I admire so deeply. And to get to write a piece for that ensemble, I definitely am taking advantage of the fact I know they can sing double choir works so it's a double choir piece. Acapella, because I know they can handle it. I know they have the capability to stay in tune. It's harmonically challenging, it's really thick, and I just can't wait to hear it in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Like, I can't believe I get to hear something I wrote come to life in the concert hall with a professional choir. Like, that's the best. I just can't believe it, it's gonna be...

Nanette McGuinness  07:45

That's really exciting.

Zanaida Robles  07:47

I hope it's, I hope it's a good enough piece.

Nanette McGuinness  08:37

What's the name of the piece?

Zanaida Robles  08:38

The piece is called, it's, what is the piece, The Song of Significance, is what the piece is called. It's called The Song of Significance. And it's the first piece that will be performed on a concert that is entitled, I Believe. And so it's all and it's the music of Bach and Margaret Bonds, who's another black female composer, and Robles, which is me, right? And so...

Nanette McGuinness  09:09

Oh wow!

Zanaida Robles  09:09

He sort of weaves together these ideas of, you know, like, what do you believe? And what do you you, sort of like, what we were talking about, being a composer, you know, that doing work that is significant to you, doing work that is good for humanity and making sure that, you know, whatever you belief you have, whatever you know your dogma is, is it really something that is, you know, feeding our souls and you know, The Song of Significance? The text, by the way, is is by, it's interesting, it's not a poem. The text is by Seth Godin, who's a serial entrepreneur, entrepreneur and marketing strategist.

Nanette McGuinness  09:09

Nice company.

Zanaida Robles  09:10

Yeah, it's a really interesting, and this person is, I mean, it's, I there's a whole story of of my journey with Seth Godin, and just how this intersection with marketing and his his concept of why we work and why we tell stories and try to get people to buy into what we do, we need to make sure that what we're trying to get them to buy into is worth buying into, and what is, you know, the work that you're doing, is the work that you're doing just part of a system of cogs and wheels that are that serve to perpetuate a race to the bottom, or is our work significant in a way that helps uplift humanity, helps care for each other, helps care for our planet, points us towards a higher power or, or points us towards something greater than ourselves? That's that's the point. And so somewhere in in the text, all of that, it's about all of that.

Nanette McGuinness  11:01

That's amazing. It sounds very powerful.

Zanaida Robles  11:03

Yeah, I think it's gonna be good.

Nanette McGuinness  11:05

Yeah. Well, thank you so very much for doing this interview with me, for us. It's been great.

Zanaida Robles  11:12

It's been my pleasure. Thanks so much. It's always just a massive honor to be asked to talk about, honestly, I talk about myself a lot, and it's, in a way, it's sort of like, eww wait really, like, but it's also very affirming. And I'm I come away from this with an immense amount of gratitude for this opportunity.

Nanette McGuinness  11:35

[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure and a special thank you to our guest, Zanaida Robles, 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 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 design 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].