Music Life and Times, an ongoing discussion between internationally renowned jazz pianist Kevin Bales, and Mike Shaw, singer-pianist and author of the novel The Musician, argues that becoming an accomplished musician takes three commitments: discipline, self-acceptance or self-confidence, and cooperation. They are also the life lessons that music teaches those who would learn to play. Our podcast seeks to prove the premise through revelations about music and musicians past and present as well as from our own experiences as career musicians.
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Music Life and Times, an ongoing discussion between internationally renowned jazz pianist Kevin Bales, and Mike Shaw, singer-pianist and author of the novel The Musician, argues that becoming an accomplished musician takes three commitments: discipline, self-acceptance or self-confidence, and cooperation. They are also the life lessons that music teaches those who would learn to play. Our podcast seeks to prove the premise through revelations about music and musicians past and present as well as from our own experiences as career musicians.
On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, surgeons at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida drilled 14 holes in jazz pianist Mark Burnell’s skull and inserted 200 electrodes in an attempt to halt his increasingly frequent seizures resulting from a brain injury that had been festering since a childhood accident. In the newly developed treatment protocol designed to remove damaged areas of the brain, Burnell was kept awake and instructed to play jazz on a mini-keyboard while also singing the tunes’ lyrics. If he played a wrong note or sang a wrong lyric, the doctors were alerted by his wife, vocalist Anne Burnell, who was at his side for the procedure. At her signal they would stop probing so as not to disturb the part of the brain used for making music. In this episode we interview the couple and hear their amazing, inspiring story. Stay tuned for the results of the surgery.
Music Life and Times
Music Life and Times, an ongoing discussion between internationally renowned jazz pianist Kevin Bales, and Mike Shaw, singer-pianist and author of the novel The Musician, argues that becoming an accomplished musician takes three commitments: discipline, self-acceptance or self-confidence, and cooperation. They are also the life lessons that music teaches those who would learn to play. Our podcast seeks to prove the premise through revelations about music and musicians past and present as well as from our own experiences as career musicians.
