225 Beyond the Notes – Nikki Chooi on Musicality, Adaptability, and Artistic Growth

You're gonna love my guests today you're listening to the mind over finger podcast, and this is episode 225 Welcome to the mind over finger podcast, where we dive into the world of mindful music, making peak performance and crafting a Purpose Driven Life and career. I'm your host, violinist, certified performance and life coach for musicians, and your guide to unlocking your full potential. Dr, Renee Paul Gauthier, hi everyone. I am so excited about this conversation.

My guest today is the remarkable violinist Nikki Chewie, an artist that is praised for his powerful and poetic performances in someone whose musical journey beautifully combines depth,

versatility and purpose. Nikki is currently the concert master of the Grammy Award winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and He previously served as concert master of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where his solos were featured in Live in HD broadcasts and the Grammy nominated recording of Rosen Cavalier on the DECA

label. He's performed as a soloist with major orchestras across North America and internationally, including the Montreal symphony, National Art Center orchestra, the Puerto Rico symphony and the Malaysian Philharmonic. His awards include first prizes in the Klein international string competition, Michael Hill international violent competition in the Montreal Symphony's manual life competition, in addition to being a laureate of the Queen

Elizabeth and Tchaikovsky competitions. But beyond the impressive credentials, what really shines in this conversation is Nikki's thoughtful, grounded approach to music making. He opens up about how he prepares for high level performances, how he balances intensity with enjoyment in the practice room, how he stays artistically connected in the

middle of the mending career. And we also dive into topics like building trust in your preparation, navigating performance pressure and cultivating a mindset that allows you to grow as both a musician and a human being, whether you're a student, a seasoned performer, or somewhere in between. Nikki's insights will speak to you because he doesn't just share what he's learned. He models it with warmth, clarity and humility. So without further ado, enjoy this

inspiring conversation with violinist, Nikki Chewie. Let's go to the show. Nikki Chewie, it's so great to have you on the show. Great to have me. How are you? Renee, oh, I'm doing great. Thank you. I'm excited to have this conversation with you today. We've known each other many years. I've met you, I think, first time, when you were on tour with the NAC orchestra performing the Beethoven concerto, and you were just fantastic. And since then,

you've had quite an amazing journey. So let's start there. Please tell us about your musical journey, how that path unfolded for you sure, and yes, we do go all the way back good memories from that tour with the NAC. So yeah, I was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia. My parents were non musical. My dad works with in the computer field. And my mom, you know, she, she did math for her at university. So, so music was something completely foreign. And when I, when I was growing up, they

wanted to me to be exposed to a lot of different things. So, you know, sports, you know, I played baseball, gymnastic, a bit of soccer and music, you know, they were just one of many things I was part of. But early on, music kind of stepped forward as something that I was most interested at, and also just had an accurate right. So, you know, I progressed pretty fast, and

that gave me a lot of motivation and encouragement. And my Suzuki teacher back then was really supportive and really pushed me in a healthy way in which I had interest, but also had, you know, motive, motivation to kind of keep forward. So, yeah, so that's how I started. And. One thing led to another, and I attended the starling delay symposium program at the Juilliard School when I was 14 years old. And that was my first time in being in a city like New York City, right? So I got

really excited. I met Itzhak Perlman, Don waterstein was there, David Kim and Akiko Meyer. So just you know, Blockbuster names and people I only you know heard on recordings you know, had you know. And I remember telling my dad, who went with me in that program. I was like, I don't want to leave. I want to stay here forever. So yeah, so that I would say that was the turning point around 1314, I was like, Okay, I want to do this the rest of my life. So

yeah, that's amazing. And you did Yes, yes, Nikki, I have so many specific questions, because I get the same thing over and over from the listeners. People are so fascinated in you know, musicians such as yourself that have achieved so many great accomplishments in their career, so fascinated by the practicing process, the performance preparation process, how to how to practice musicality, things like this. So if that's okay with you, I'm going to pull these questions and start down

the list. Sure, one question that I get from listeners all the time, what is what do you go to when you're trying to learn a particularly difficult passage? What is your approach? Um, let me think I would. Say, you know. Let's say, you know, let's see, for, for example, held in Laban, we'll be playing this in a couple weeks here in Buffalo. And there's obviously some, you know, there's standards, you know, solo passages that you know everybody's prepared for, for

auditions. But there are other passages where, you know, there's, it's tricky as well, right? So for me, how I start on those passages is to kind of play it at a medium tempo, just try to see what naturally fits as a fingering, not be married to a fingering yet, and to see what's not what falls naturally on my hand, if, for example, you know, sometimes it's three, sometimes

a four, you know, a fourth finger shift. And what falls naturally on the hand I give myself, you know, if I were to do it properly, you know, I would start several weeks before, just to get a head start on it and and find what's comfortable I would give myself maybe I would say three to four practice sessions, just, you know, feeling what's natural.

Then I would decide on a fingering that's most consistent and also most, I guess, it makes sense musically, for example, staying on the same string and shifting where it makes sense musically as well. Then I would kind of break it down and, like, really, you know, you know, practice in slow motion, try to get a feel for it, you know, from a microscopic level. And then once I get that feeling, I actually push it up to a medium

tempo, and actually a fast tempo. So practicing it fast is just as crucial as practicing slow I think because you use a lot of different muscles, your reflexes are different. And whereas slow practice gets you to feel all the micro moments, the fast practice gets you to feel the overall picture. So let's say something happens. You're able to kind of get yourself back on track without fast practice. I found it really hard to do that, but you still need to still practice to kind

of get the details in. Does that answer your question? Oh, yes, absolutely. And I love that you're trying to see what comes naturally. First, I feel like something I see a lot of times as people grab the music and right away try to figure out the fingering from the get go, and then, yeah, you know, you pin yourself kind of in a corner. And it's a similar approach to what I do, which is like, what comes naturally, what

fits the musicality. And I love that you're saying you give yourself, you know, three to four practice sessions to do that same thing with Boeing's too, because, you know, as part of the role as a constant master you gotta, you know, deal with, you know, figure out Boeings. And the tricky thing about it is, you know, we have to prepare so much in advance. For me, naturally, I kind of evolve my Boeing decisions as I, you know, get to know the piece. Or it sometimes just changes over time, right?

So again, you know, I like to do you just kind of play around with it. What's natural before, you know, making a set decision, and then, you know, as you know, the rehearsals go by. If something doesn't feel natural, obviously I'll change it as well. So I like to go with what's natural first and see if that. Something I can, you know, stick with So, yeah, yeah, I love that, and I love what you underline in terms of slow practice is important, but so is fast practice,

yeah, yeah, yeah. That's something I actually learned. I wouldn't say it's recent, but I guess much further into my and it's something that I incorporate much later in my practice routine, definitely after school, you know, after I finished formal school training, and kind of figure out, you know, those were actually crucial years, you know, right

after school. So I did my bachelor's at Curtis masters at Juilliard, and the time in between was when I actually kind of figure out, kind of, you know, took all the information I got from my teachers, even from high school to and then kind of made it my own, you know, just just figure out what works, what doesn't. How can I teach myself now, now I'm my own teacher, you know. And those were actually very enlightening years for me.

So knowing what my what works for my body, what doesn't, even though, you know, the teachers might have advised this or that's the traditional way to do it, I had to kind of figure out what works and what does. So, yeah, I love that period. It's such an important one to build self trust in our own decisions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're very busy. You're concert master in Buffalo. You also are now the new concert master in the Santa Fe Opera, which is so exciting.

Yeah, and you travel a lot for solo recitals. You just recorded a concerto. I want us to talk about all of these amazing things later, but you talked about giving yourself three to four practice sessions to explore, always fingerings. But how about the time frame that you usually like? And I know it changes from, you know, project to project, but how long do you work on pieces, and how do you approach breaking down the work?

And it's going to be different between orchestra, so all of this, but anyway, sure, sure. Again, it's no no. That's a great question, because I love, not love, but interest. It fascinates me to just kind of figure out kind of lock, you know, little bits of myself, just knowing myself a little bit better on what I need, what's what I like to do, and kind of married it to, for example, what I mean by that is, what do I need for? Let's say, let's say,

preparing to perform mendelsso Violin Concerto. You know, something that I know very well. You know, I learned it when I was 12. You know, I have played it many times since. But what do I need is, let's say, you know, so I played it two weeks ago. How much in advance do I need to prepare for it, for something that I know very well? I would say it's, it's more useful to

kind of practice in spurts. So let's say, just after Christmas, I would spend maybe half a week on just getting through all the movements, you know, pick different spots and maybe play through a movement or two, and then I would revisit it at the end of January, and again in February, and then the couple weeks leading up to it, that's when I kind of put it into full gear. Because, you know, I know it really well, let's say the the base ranch brown concerto that was new to me. That's

that's the one I recorded earlier in April. It's a concert I've never played before. So that one, I had to take a lot

more time. So I had played it in Rochester back in October. But before that, I had almost a year with the part the score, not necessarily practicing or playing it, but just kind of living and breathing a little bit, just just, you know, having it with me, just kind of looking at it and just kind of imagine, you know, the sound world, the, I guess you know how it kind of fits with the orchestra, the rhythm, the you know, the passages and fiddling around with it, and not so much

deliberate practice, that kind of came at a later time. So that's how it approached a newer, you know, concerto, as with like symphonic works, let's say I don't know something that I something says big let's say, let's talk about how to live in again, you know, so obviously, you know, I noticed the solo passages and all that, and I've played the whole thing before, but, you know, just getting To be familiarizing with it, I would say, and getting the Boeing in

order. You know, I started our process in January, February, around that, and just kind of just living and breathing it again. So again, like you said, it differs from from work to work, right, and then stuff like so next week I'll be playing Bach double. With my brother, and we've played Bucha many times, so we're gonna, you know, we're gonna rehearse it, you know, a couple days before it'll be just fine. So, yeah, yeah, you know, it's funny, because I feel that people

really want to know what is the specific system to do that. And, I mean, I know how app operate as a musician in talking with you and everybody else, it's one more time. I want to reiterate that it really is the system that you come up with for

yourself, right? Exactly, looking at your experience, your knowledge of the piece, how long it takes you to learn things, and having that the I mean, to go back to this word again, this self trust of sort of having a theory of what could work in just getting started and see if you need to tweak along the way.

I don't know. Would you say I'm right about that? I think you nailed it, because it's more like having a plan, but also being open for the plan to evolve in a way that you know whatever happens right, that that helps it Excel, you know, hopefully, and you're totally right, and you know, like there's no specific formula that works, because you know it might have worked one way in the past, but you as a person, your environment, everything about it, it's constantly evolving,

right? So it might work in the past. It might you probably have to tweak it a little bit in the future, because, you know, life changes, and, yeah, you know, you change as a person, and you know, so you got to be adaptable to that. I think being adaptable is really important. I think that's the key word. So, yeah, what you just said makes me think of something I'd be very curious to

hear you speak about, is being adaptable. We change. And these two auditions that you took, Buffalo and Santa Fe were, you know, apart in years, you've evolved. You've learned what was different between the process and what is you would say, maybe your current approach to audition preparation, I would say, I mean, audition preparation is just like, I would say it's just like preparing for anything else, you

know. I think the only difference is that it's in very short spurts and and the range the, I guess, the selections is a lot. So an abundance of, you know, different works, so different you got to be, you know, I guess, quick to switch from one style to another, from one composer to another, from

one period to another, right? So I would say the preparation and difficult passages, you know, decisions on bowings, fingerings, all remain constant between, you know, preparing for excerpts versus preparing anything else that you're playing. But I would say the the mental approach to being able to kind of execute on the spot with very little runway to to to get

yourself there, right? So, you know, for example, you know, if you're playing on Tchaikovsky concerto, you know, you have the tutti, you have, you know, a nice opening to then you kind of settle into the theme. And then you get to the hard spots sometimes. But with experts, you just start there. So you gotta, you know, be in a mindset and train yourself in that mindset to be able to suddenly, boom, right? So, yeah,

what does that look like for you? This this mindset, this mental approach, the preparation, the preparation for the mindset, I would say, just constant repetition, repetition, and meaning like just repeating the situation as much as possible. So let's say I'm preparing for an audition, and, you know, I want to train myself to be able to play X

excerpt. So I just, sometimes I would just pick up my violin random and just play it, or play it for people, you know, a number of times, and just just be in on in an unnatural, uncomfortable position for you to be able to execute those excerpts, so so that when the audition does come, and it might be uncomfortable, but you're already comfortable with that discomfort, yeah? So that's what I call adversity training, yeah. So you kind of go a little bit further than you know what

you might need to deal with. But then you never know, right? You might have to that training might might be helpful in some way or another, yeah, yeah. I think, yeah. I think in all the ways, yes, yeah. But then sometimes. Doesn't work. So, you know, you try again, you find another method. So I'm not saying that this is the way to do it, but I found it helpful in some ways.

And of course, you know, there's other other things that you know might happen that you might not be prepared for, and you just kind of learn along the way and just try better the next time. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is kind of bringing me back to what you talked about, that period right after school. And when we build that, you know, our new footing, that self trust. And I find that this is a moment that a lot of people have a hard time maneuvering. There's so much information out there. Oh my

gosh. You know, YouTube, Google, Tiktok, Instagram, there's, you know, all these other wonderful platforms. You know, there's people like me, and I find that people are often looking outside of themselves for all of the answers. And while information is great, sometimes it's difficult to find your own voice in there. What would you say to these young people coming out of school trying to find their

footing, starting on that professional journey? How does one go about, you know, letting go of the dependence on the our teachers advice or outside sources advice? Yeah, yeah. No, that's, that's like you said, you know, it's a journey, and for me it's fascinating, because, you know, like, first of all, I guess if you have an abundance of information, that's actually a resource, right? You know, you

don't have to invent the wheel from the ground up. You can maybe take one method and kind of personalize it to your own liking, or combine several methods. You know, it doesn't have to be one way. But I guess the most important thing is, again, being adaptable. And if it's if it doesn't work, you almost have to face the mirror and kind of, kind of tell yourself, you know, it's time, time to change it up a little

bit. But again, there's a fine line between changing it up constantly, because you you need to try a few times, you know, like, kind of double down on something and to to figure out if it's for you or not, because you need a little bit of time to do that. So, um, yeah, so there's a fine line on and

again, it's just learning about yourself. I just want to maybe give an example of, let's say, a fingering that I, you know, or something that I'm working on, you know, if I'm working on, if I doing a fingering and doesn't, I can't nail it in, like, four or five tries. I gotta switch it, you know, like it's, it's, you know, switch it, try something else and maybe go back to it. So for me, like doing it over and over, if it still doesn't work, you know, there's a, there's a, you know, a

constant evolving process about it, right? So, yeah, whether you get back to it eventually because you've tried different ways, you know, and maybe have a fresh perspective, or maybe you have to move my elbow a little bit, you know, help from the shoulder, but, you know, you gotta move on from that and try different ways and then come back to it. So, yeah, yeah. I like that word that you're using adaptable,

yeah. It's like the scientific method, just, you know, yeah, develop a hypothesis, experiment, and then, yeah, tweak, if necessary. I love that, yeah, yeah. I guess I don't know, for me, I think the whole thing, you know, life in general, you know, you're able to look at it objectively. The whole thing is a process, right?

It's not about just, you know, winning this job or you know, or playing this concerto Well, or doing this or that, even though those might be milestones in your life, but at the same time, it's in the grand scheme of things, it's how you kind of, you know, see the life in general. It's the whole process too. So, yeah, yeah, I really like that, yeah. How about musicality? How? How do you work on that? How do you develop your voice as you're working on repertoire? Sure, sure. Um,

how do I develop my voice? Um, are you talking about, like, solo repertoire in general, like or orchestral or preparing for excerpts? Because I can go into like, the topic is very broad. No, all of it. Why not all of them? Because I think a question I get a lot is, you know, you hear people say it just never sounds exactly the way I have it in my head, or people feel that maybe the depth of emotions that they're feeling does not quite trans. Late on

the instrument. So that's a question I get a lot. How do I practice musicality? I practice musicality? Um, for me, musicality is it's more of a it's a more of a mindful approach. You know, there's a way of phrasing, a way of, I guess, approaching, you know, harmonic changes, approaching rhythm a certain

way. To me, that's musicality. Let's say if you're performing, and, you know, there's emotion to it, that's, that's almost, that's, that's more of a, you know, there's, there's, there's a plan to it, there's, there's, you know, but there's also an X factor where it happens, kind of, you know, spontaneously on

stage. So I try to differentiate the two, you know, like when I'm in my practice room and and trying to figure out, you know, let's say, you know, a slow movement of a Mozart concerto, you know, and to to really be convincing with the line, the phrasing and, and how, how much you know, how warm the vibrato

should be. And you know that to me is kind of, you know, there's a planning to it that kind of goes into it, and then hopefully, you know, I'm, I've gotten into my system enough that when I play it in the performance, obviously you still need practice, but maybe kind of practice performing it a few times to kind of let it all go and just kind of feel the music

simul simultaneously as you play it, right? So there's, again, there's a process in that too, you know, you practice, you figure it out, and you practice performing it, and then you actually perform it. So there's three stages to that, yeah, yeah. It's also that quality of attention in the moment, yeah, exactly, yeah. So that when you're actually performing,

you're able to feel but also be in control. Because sometimes, you know, I've had moments where maybe I've been working too much on, I guess, the emotional, spontaneous side of things, which doesn't mean it's spontaneous anymore, because you're working on it, right, but kind of just, you know, having too much fun practicing sometimes, and then in the, in the on stage, it kind of falls apart, because I'm not in

control. So, you know, you need the control to be able to be expressive, and then when you're able to, again, you know, combine the two, that's when, you know, good things happen. So yeah, I love what you just said there too. Because, um, that's one thing that I think people separate sometimes, is they feel that the expression, for lack of a better word, I'm not really sure how to put into words, but it feels it, it comes

straight from their heart to their instrument, yeah. And what I like to say is, well, hold on, there's kind of a few steps in between there, where there's, you know, if you're a wind player, there's the technical abilities you have with air flow and air support. And if you're a music violinist, or, you know, a string player, then bow technique is very important. And as you said earlier, choice of vibrato? How wide? Well, am I using vibrato? If so, how wide, how fast, where into the note?

Like, there's all of these decisions that we can make ahead of time, combined with really good technique and a continuation of, you know, building more and more skill on the instrument. Yeah, and then yes, it goes from the heart to the instrument, but it goes through this filter of skills and technique.

Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Another thing, what you had mentioned earlier was you mentioned that some, some people might have, difficulty in translating emotions, you know, they feel it, but then it doesn't sound and I think sometimes, when you feel something, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're actually doing it, you know. And I think that's where the control comes in, because you got to figure out, okay, this is, you know, two pretty basic terms.

Okay, this is where the phrase goes. Where's the high point of phrase? What happens when you have a high point and phrase, what? Break it down to very basic words. Is it like more pressure on the string? Is it, you know, wider vibrato is it, you know, flatter hair, you know, break it down so you actually know what it actually means. It means it can mean so general to just have a high point of phrase, what does it

actually mean? Technically, right? Yes. So once you get that down, and then you actually feel it, and you're able to feel what you play, that's yeah, like, you know, going back to. We just talked about. So, yeah, oh, yeah. Beautifully played, uh, beautifully said, Yes. It's like, once you know how to execute it, you can do it anytime you feel the inclination to do it. Exactly, yes, I love that. Yeah, how about it's again, it's easy, easier said than done, right?

That's why we have to practice right. Exactly, yeah, how about finding this, this balance with that's another question I get a lot, is okay, so many programs, concerts, different things. And how does one find balance in one's life. And I have a lot of opinion on this topic. Before I say anything, I I'd be curious to hear what that looks like for you. Life like outside of music, yeah, the whole thing how it comes. Yeah, okay, okay, um, first of all, you know, I'm lucky to have a supportive wife.

You know she she comes, you know, she comes to all the concerts. And you know she also is able to stand my practicing while she's working. So super lucky to have that. And you know, to have her as a sounding board, you know, to, you know, to kind of express, you know, whatever I'm going through. You know, as US musicians, we kind of almost live in our heads sometimes, and it's healthy to have, you know, you know, a

support system that that helps us get through it. But in terms of balancing life, honestly, for me, it obviously surrounds, you know, what I do in my in my career, and to kind of fill things that, you know, I enjoy doing, besides just the violence. So I would say these last few weeks have been actually, like, you know, if I were to say an ideal succession of weeks, this would be it, because beginning of April, I

perform, recorded the Raj barring concerto. Next week, I played Mendel concerto just outside of Boston now two weeks in a row, playing here in Buffalo Dvorak, six Mendelssohn talent, and next week playing with my brother Bucha in Winnipeg. So so just having that diversity of playing, whether it's concerto playing, orchestral playing, you know, and you know stuff with my brother, and to fill it in with, you know, I guess what we like to do, you know, me and my wife,

we like to visit coffee shops. We enjoy, you know, just kind of exploring different neighborhoods, you know, and and meeting up with friends. So that's just, that's, you know, it's, it's a healthy balance. So everybody has their own balance. I guess I like watching basketball as well, so that keeps me, keeps me up at night. So, yeah, yeah, that's my balance. To be such an interesting topic, because I think if we aim to achieve it perfectly, then then

we lack balance. I feel that it's a balancing act most of the time. That's true. Actually. You know what is balance? Because you can never have so it's either you have too much work or you have you don't have enough, right? You have nothing, right? It's, it's either or, but then trying to make the most out of either or situation, you know, let's say you have a lower time of the season. What can you use it to kind of balance out the rest of

it? You know, maybe attend, you know, more fitness classes, you know, cook a little bit more and stuff like that. And if you're really busy, how can you, I guess, you know, find time to to kind of, you know, reset, recharge and all that. So, yeah, like you said, it's a balancing act, then finding balance. Yeah, yes. Thank you for sharing this. Very helpful. Nikki, I I love these questions from the rapid fire. So do you mind if we jump into

that? Course? Yeah, awesome. Let's see. Which ones do we okay, I love this question, what thought or belief has changed your life, or a thought or belief that helps supporting you? I don't know where I read it, but I'm sure it's been so many time it's it's like, the the close thing, it's, it's about the process. So, you know, don't think too much about where it begins, where it ends, but everything in between, and as long as it's like a forward motion, you know, you learn

about it every day. You know the destination kind of comes and goes as you move through that, you know, through this train, whether it's fast, Low, medium speed, doesn't matter. You know you're going to go past, you know, different tent poles. So it's about the process and trying to, you know, extract as much as you can with what you have. So, yeah. I love that. A big thing for me is finding ways to make practicing

enjoyable. Now we know practicing is also work, but there are ways to make it feel more fulfilling, more enjoyable, and in my opinion, that makes it more effective. So what are some ways that you make it enjoyable for yourself, enjoyable and definitely have a nice cup of coffee beside your beside your music stand. And for me, it's, it's dividing. You know, finding a balancing act within your practice session.

You know there's going to be periods where it's going to be intense, detailed work, you know, working on, let's say, a difficult passage, like we talked about earlier. But also, there are times where you got a score study, and that's also work too. Sometimes we kind of, you know, push that aside, but that's part of practicing stuff, you know, your practicing

session. And to also leave time, you know, some, not every day, but sometimes I leave, you know, half an hour or 45 minutes to just kind of enjoy and play, to just kind of not lose sight of, you know, the enjoyment of playing. Because sometimes I get really into, you know, let's say, figure out, you know, just problem solving, you know, a page or two of something, and,

you know, I come out of there like, Oh my God. Like, so then, you know, if I just kind of go back play some Bach, or play something that, you know, passage from the Beethoven concerto, it just kind of resets me, just, you know, just gives me a breath of fresh air. So, yeah, I love that. How about a favorite tool in the practice room? Ooh, it is technically my phone, but, you know, I need to remember to

kind of turn it on airplane mode or something. It's not always, like sometimes notification, but you know, it's got my tuner, it's got my my metronome. It's got, you know, I can record on it, you know, and, you know, play it back if I need to, you know, rapidly if I need to just check on how something sounds. So, yeah. So I would say my my phone and check the basketball score once a while, exactly,

yeah, yeah. What is the habit that you have, that you know supports you, that that you find supports you in your success. Ooh, a habit that I have. I think my wife would answer that question better. I would say, I would say, maybe to kind of, kind of run, no matter how big the pressure is, no matter how looming that that that concert or that audition or that performance might be, to just kind of downplay, just just to

make it feel like every day. So I try to run my my mind, my habits, you know, as though it's just another day, just, you know, just, just create as normal a situation as possible. So I don't, you know, I guess get stuck into my head too much. So, yeah, I don't know if that answers your question, but I love this, this, I've never had this answer on the show before, and it's so great. It's like you put things back in perspective all the time. Yeah, it's just another day and just things move on.

I love that. What skills do you think young musicians studying today should acquire in addition to learn to play their instruments, in addition to just playing instruments, I would say, I mean, again, just the topic of being adaptable, right? Like being adaptable to the environment that you're in being able to adapt to people that you're in because you know music, making, playing an orchestra, playing chamber music, being a soloist, being this or that you know you at the

end of the day, it's about people, right? So having social skills, people skills, you can be an introvert, but, but you know that that doesn't mean you, you know you're closed off or anything. It's just how you carry yourself and being approachable and all that. So I think, I think just finding what you're comfortable with. Don't go out of the way. And, you know, doing something that seems completely unnatural, but I think it's still an important skill to have to be able to

relate and communicate with people. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Finally, how about a quick, actionable tip that the listeners could implement today in their musical lives? Um, national tip. Um. I would say, I would say, I think every experience that you have in life, whether it's through music, whether it's through music making, or through life in general, it all. It all kind of comes together, you know, into how you approach instrument, how you how you

perform, right? I, if I is, it's more of a I'm not, I'm not sure if I'm communicating it properly. But you know, how you play is how you are as a person. So, you know, like if you go through something and experience it reflects in your playing as well. So, you know, take that in with an with an open arm, you know, like, just take it all in and, you know, let yourself evolve and let yourself grow as a human being, and that will, in turn, help you grow as an artist as well, really well said,

Nikki, tell us everything about where we can catch you soon. So you just mentioned Bucha bowl. Yeah, then the Santa phase coming up. I'm sure there's some really fun things in Buffalo coming up. The Yeah, upcoming recording release everything. Sure, sure, sure. Um, I guess immediately I'm playing a concert with my brother and Winnipeg with the Manitoba Chamber of orchestra. So that's Bach double and we have this fantastic Canadian composer, David Baird composed interludes

in between the Bach double movements. So one based on, I guess, a bohemian style riff, and then in between the first and second movement, and in between second third movement something a little bit more jazzy, so just something to change it up. So we'll see how it all comes together on on Tuesday during rehearsal. So did you practice that more than the Bucha bowl?

Honestly, just just to get a hang of it, yeah, just to, just to see what, honestly, I can't, it's a little hard to imagine it right now without Timmy, without my brother, so we're gonna get a start on it this this weekend, just just to put it together before we put it together with the orchestra. So I think it'll be, you know, it'll be more clarifying. So yeah, concert is going to be next week, and then what's happening after, then I'm doing the last two performances here in with the Buffalo for

harmonic. We're doing Gina sterra And then held in Laban and held on Laban to close the season. So that's going to be nice. That's going to be fun to do. And then it's going to be the opera season in Santa Fe which is going to be my first summer there. And I'll be performing La Boheme turn up screw marriage to Figaro and the Valkyrie. So super excited for those four operas and so many of my favorites on that, yeah. So I'm really looking forward to just being in that environment,

you know, the, you know, Santa Fe itself is gorgeous. I've been there for, you know, just a couple days at a time, never, you know, for an extensive period. So I'm excited to kind of just live and breathe that that part of the world a little bit for the summer, and then, yeah, so that takes us all the way till the end of summer. So it's going to be fun, exciting. That sounds great. I'm going to put all of the information on where to find you in the show notes of the episode. So I hope

people check it out, sure. And so I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show. It's always so fun to you know, speak with you and hear your perspective on things. So thank you for being with us today. Thank you, Renee, pleasure to be here, and thanks for having me. And there you have it. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it. If you'd share with your friends and colleagues, take a

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