Agile Vocalist

Apr 30 2024
Agile Vocalist Podcast artwork

Agile Vocalist is a podcast about sound and the performing arts with a California connection. Explore artist stories and learn music history, get inspired, and learn about how sound and the arts impact our lives. Created and hosted by Rachel Medanic, Agile Vocalist is for the curious, the creative, and for anyone willing to explore the connection between sound and our shared humanity. 

Agile Vocalist episodes, liner notes, and additional visual materials also available at: https://www.agilevocalist.com

Get Sound Cocktails, Agile Vocalist's quarterlyish email newsletter about sound:  bit.ly/soundcocktails

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Salsa and Latin Music Powerhouse, a Conversation with Edgardo Cambón

Apr 30 2024 43 mins  
Send us a Text Message.Edgardo Cambón is a Uruguayan-born singer who fell in love with percussion after setting aside guitar and getting early exposure singing as a young boy. As a teacher band leader and Latin music business man now, Edgardo continues to perform. His musical career has taken him throughout South America, Europe, and Africa. Since1986, he's been in high deman

The Language that Connects Us With Poet Ali

Mar 20 2024 40 mins  
Send us a Text Message.Poet Ali is a poet, compelling performer, lyricist, performance artist and inspirational speaker whose performances and presentations focus on connection with ourselves and our environments. As a soulosopher and entertainer, he is a inspires us to use our gifts to catalyze self-discovery and well-being. As an Iranian-American, Ali gives talks for both youth a

Learn How to Unleash Your Agile Vocalist, The Podcast Turns Three!

Feb 29 2024 4 mins  
Send us a Text Message.21 Guests and 27 episodes later, Agile Vocalist has hit its three year mark (which is kind of amazing for a podcast). Thank you to my season 3 guests:Cellista, Alphabet Rockers, Rob Jensen and Warren Trezevant, Sonic Runway creators, sound healer & instructor, Melissa Felsenstein, taiko artist Janet Koike, and carillonist, Simone Browne for their amazing

The Mysterious Carillon with Simone Browne

Jan 31 2024 32 mins  
Send us a Text Message.The sounds of bells in towers is a common experience to many around the world. But the reality is there is an entire profession devoted to carillons-- actual lever and pedal instruments making the sounds of bells you hear. Carillons exist all over the U.S., Europe and other parts and are commonly heard from the top of towers and built structures.This intervie

Taiko Beat of Collaboration with Janet Koike

Dec 30 2023 41 mins  
Send us a Text Message.Janet Koike is the Founder of Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda, California. She is also the Artistic Director of Maze Daiko ensemble. In this episode she shares her journey from textile fashion design to tap dance to playing taiko, the Japanese drum. Janet's experiences bringing remind us all of the alluring power of sound, how artists are ambassadors

Sound Healing with Melissa Felsenstein

Nov 05 2023 61 mins  
Send us a Text Message.Have you ever pondered what it might be like to experience a moment of tranquility amidst the chaos of daily life? Melissa Felsenstein, the founder of Innersounds Meditation, reveals how sound healing can be your haven. Melissa used this therapeutic technique to conquer her personal battles with anxiety and depression, but she's also refined it into a un

Visualizing Sound with Rob Jensen and Warren Trezevant, Creators of Sonic Runway

Sep 30 2023 30 mins  
Send us a Text Message.What does it take to synchronize light and sound? Co-creators Rob Jensen and Warren Trezevant, talk about their work creating Sonic Runway, an art installation conceived at Burning Man. Sonic Runway immerses the spectator in colorful synchronized visuals that animate the speed of sound.Hear the story behind their meticulous creation process, making the exhibi

Liminal Space: Summer Frequencies

Jul 28 2023 6 mins  
Send us a Text Message.What did you do this summer? What's left still to experience? Better yet, what did you hear? July is a liminal space and time to dive into the creative. This summer soundscape is an annual season pause so you can listen to July. Traveling through California, Oregon, and landing in Washington at performing arts family camp, you're invited to come alo

Hip Hop for Change with Grammy-Winning Alphabet Rockers

Jun 22 2023 47 mins  
Send us a Text Message.In 2007, Tommy Soulati Shepard and Kaitlin McGaw formed Alphabet Rockers to make music that makes change. This episode discusses how they met, the wide variety of their performing backgrounds and how they, 3 professional children artists and a host of other artist collaborators use hip hop to put a child's experience at the heart of its message. The Alph

Taking Cello to New Vibrations with Cellista

May 20 2023 30 mins  
Send us a Text Message.Exposed to cello at an early age, Cellista broke away from her classical cellist training to follow her calling to create and collaborate with other art forms including beatboxers, spoken word artists, dancers, and musicians. Her work continues to reflect on and engage the cultural circumstances she experiences around her and she produces what she calls stage