Veronica Thomas Transcript E6 S1
Videos: Video Improv Video Inspiring Excerpts Video
Podcast: Spotify Apple Amazon Music/Audible Anchor RadioPublic
short bonus podcast available on all platforms: Inspiring Excerpts Anchor podcast
Full Transcript:
Leah Roseman:
Hi. You're listening to Conversations with Musicians with Leah Roseman. In Episode 6, Season 1, I spoke with violinist, Veronica Thomas, about her unique and interesting childhood, and the work she's doing now with the Centre Préville, the Préville Arts Centre in Montreal, and their unique online offerings, the outreach they're doing with remote Indigenous communities, and her perspectives on her life in music.
Leah Roseman:
All of these interviews are available in video form. The link is in the description. Please follow this podcast so you can find out about new episodes. I talk to a wide range of musicians about their lives in music.
Leah Roseman:
Hello, Veronica Thomas, welcome to Conversations with Leah. I'm so excited you're here, and I have so many questions. Veronica is a violinist and educator, and most recently she's taken over the directorship of the Centre Préville in Montreal.
Leah Roseman:
So that was started by your mom, and I want to talk quite a bit about that, as well as your upbringing and all kinds of other music and violin stuff. So tell us about how your mom got this centre started and the legacy.
Veronica Thomas:
Sure. Okay, so it's an interesting story. My mom was an opera singer. She was born in Winnipeg and she came from quite a musical family. A lot of her siblings were very musical. She was a bit of a rebel, and she left home very young to study voice in Europe. She went to London. I believe she was 18 or 19 years old, so at that time, that was quite unheard of, but she wanted to get out. She wanted to get out and visit the world, so she studied in London, and then she was recruited to the Glyndebourne Opera Company. So I don't know if you know, Glyndebourne is quite well known. It's in Wales, and she was touring around with the Glyndebourne Opera Company, and she met my dad who is a Welshman, and they fell in love.
Veronica Thomas:
And soon after that, she decided that she wanted to come study in Montreal a little bit. So they moved to Montreal together, and very soon after their marriage, they started having children. So they had five children in quick succession, and my mom was actually at that time, a stay at home mom, because she had tried to get into the opera scene in Montreal, but it was difficult. It was a bit cliquey. It was not easy for her to make the right connections, so she was a stay at home mom, and she always had a side of her that was an activist, so she started working a little bit with the school board. She was actually one of the three women who were responsible for the first French immersion programs here in Quebec.
Veronica Thomas:
So let's say when I was a kid, we had piano lessons. We had a piano teacher coming to our place to teach all five of us, and we were involved in whatever cultural activities were around, but they were few and far between. We were living on the south shore of Montreal, where I still live, and it was a barren wasteland for cultural education. So she said, "I'm going to start a program. I have friends. I know of people who would be great teachers."
Veronica Thomas:
So her idea was to use the public schools. She said, "Look, these public schools, it's the taxpayer who are paying for them. They're not being used on weekends. They're not being used during the week after school, so they should allow us to use these premises for free. We are going to come in on a Saturday, we're going to open this up to the community. We're going to have all kinds of teachers from around that I'm going to recruit," and that's how it started.
Veronica Thomas:
And the reason it's called the Préville Fine Arts centre is because we started at Préville School, which was our elementary school. So it started in 1974. I was eight years old, so you can do the math, forget how old I am now, and it grew really, really quickly. So within the first two years, it just blew up, and we actually had to change location to go to a nearby CEGEP because we had, I think, over a thousand students in the third or fourth year of running this program.
Leah Roseman:
Wow. So it was it mostly music at that point?
Veronica Thomas:
It was mostly ... no, not only music. That's why it's called the Fine Arts. So it was a lot of music, but there was also art, visual arts, there was dance, there was theater.
Veronica Thomas:
So what her idea was, was a one stop place for families to come, so let's say your little boy wanted to take an art class, and your daughter wanted to take a piano class, and the mother wanted to sing in a choir, and the dad wanted to ... I don't know ... learn electric guitar or something. There would be something for everybody, and the idea was that the family would come together and spend the whole day there, and then partake in all kinds of cultural activities.
Leah Roseman:
So when did you start taking violin, and was it through the Centre?
Veronica Thomas:
It was through the Centre. So I had taken piano before that, and when the Centre started, my mom basically said to the five of us, "Choose an instrument, choose a different instrument."
Leah Roseman:
Fantastic.
Veronica Thomas:
So it was just like, honestly, I was just like, "I don't know, violin, maybe?"
Veronica Thomas:
So I started the violin at the Centre, so I guess I was eight or nine years old, which is already a little bit late, and I think my first three years were a bit iffy. I didn't really have a teacher who was very serious. I didn't really get into it, and it was only at 12 years old, when she hired a teacher called Hratchia Sevadjian, who was a new immigrant, and he had been teaching actually at the Moscow Conservatory. I'm not sure what the reasons why he came to Montreal, but he arrived here and my mom met him and scooped him up and said, "You're going to teach with us," and so it was really when I was 12 years old that it started, the actual rigorous training that we know to be able to get to a professional level. So I am eternally grateful for that, because it allowed me to have the career that I had.
Leah Roseman:
Yeah. So was it just a lot of etudes and scales right off the bat with him?
Veronica Thomas:
Oh yeah, he was a task master. He started right away, because I think I had ... I guess I had some natural ability-
Leah Roseman:
Obviously.
Veronica Thomas:
... and he saw that in me and he said, "Okay, if you are going to do this, we're going to start now, because you don't have any time to waste." So yeah, he was a task master. Books and books of etudes, the Sevcik ... I had six or seven books of technique pure, and then of course we started on the Bach and the concertos and the ... it was quite something.
Leah Roseman:
So I noticed that you competed a lot in music festivals when you were younger.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
And then you ended up being on the ... I don't know if you call it judge, but one of the adjudicators for the Canadian Music Competition in 2014.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
So what was it like being on the other side of that, having [crosstalk ].
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah, it was beautiful. That was actually, I would say, one of the highlights of my career was doing that adjudication. It was with Lana Henschel, who's an amazing pianist. She was teaching at the University of Calgary, and Marc Bordeau.
Veronica Thomas:
So we actually toured Canada that year. We started in Vancouver, and did all the provinces, and listened to ... my gosh ... hundreds of kids play, and it was phenomenal. It was just a beautiful experience. I had participated in those competitions when I was a kid, and it was just so touching and so beautiful to hear the phenomenal talent that we have across this country, and to be able to see really ... go literally coast to coast and meet people, and just see the dedication of not only the students, but the dedication of these amazing teachers. So that was a beautiful, beautiful experience.
Leah Roseman:
And having to perform like that under pressure as a kid, how was that for you? Did you have nerves when you were younger?
Veronica Thomas:
Terrible, terrible nerves. I've always had nerves. Well, you know how it is.
Leah Roseman:
Yeah, but for me it was different. I didn't have very many opportunities to perform at all, so I blame that as maybe that impacted me, so I don't know. It works in different ways.
Veronica Thomas:
Well, you're such a beautiful player. I think my ... okay, so my teacher, he was really from the Russian school, so he basically said, "You have to perform every opportunity you had." So we'd be on these TV shows, TV talent shows here in Montreal, and I was in this awkward teenage years. So I said, "Yes, I'll do it," but I went a little bit ... there was a side of me that was shy about it. I was in high school. None of my friends did music. It was like this alter ego that I had, right?
Leah Roseman:
Yeah.
Veronica Thomas:
But I guess there was a part of me, and he was such a strict teacher, literally every second lesson I would come home bawling, because it was so difficult, but there must have been a part of me that really wanted it, and somehow knew in the back of my mind that if I want to do this, I have to go through this, because my parents would say, when I would come home crying and discouraged and say, "I can't do this," they'd say, "You can stop anytime. You don't have to do this."
Veronica Thomas:
But like I say, I think there was a part of me that said, "I want this. I want this experience, so I will push through," and I pushed through it. I'm really, really grateful, because I got to meet incredible musicians like you, and play with some of the best.
Leah Roseman:
Well, you've had a very interesting career because you've done tons of session work.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
You're Assistant Concertmaster of the ballet orchestra. You've been in tango groups.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
What are some of highlights looking back?
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah. Well, I really love that being able to straddle those two worlds of not only doing classical all the time. I love being in the pop world, so we did a lot of cool gigs where I'd be on stage with Pavarotti, be on stage with Barbara Streisand. I got to play at Celine Dion's, her first child's baptism, so it was cool. We got to do all these cool things, and I loved working in studio, but I always loved just being in an orchestra and that beautiful sound, and that feeling of just being within this group of amazing musicians.
Veronica Thomas:
I have to say, one of the highlights was for me playing tango music, because I did get to play with some absolutely phenomenal musicians. So I played for years with this Argentinian pianist, Victor Simon, and we got to do some amazing concerts all around. We traveled around and we recorded, and that, for me, for some reason, tango music was ... I guess I felt very at ease playing that kind of music, maybe because there's almost a bit of a gypsy feel to it, and I felt it came very naturally to me.
Veronica Thomas:
So you could be a little bit wild. Didn't always have to be absolutely perfect, where in the classical world every single note and intonation-wise is so precise. I think in the tango you can be a little bit freer and just let yourself go.
Leah Roseman:
And you want a bit of edge too, with tango .
Veronica Thomas:
You need the edge, yeah. You need the bit of wild, but if you're sometimes a couple of notes are a little bit off, it's not so bad. So it was really, that was a blast.
Leah Roseman:
I know you've done a bit of teaching over the years. Do you feel like you do things differently as a result of your experience with the strict ... the way you were taught, that you-
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah. Well, I think I'm sure you know this too, that it's like how we raise our children a lot the way we were raised. I feel that teaching is a lot like that, that even it's subconscious sometimes.
Veronica Thomas:
I remember coming out of some of my lessons, so upset and so angry with my teacher and saying, "If I teach, I'm never, never going to teach like that." But unfortunately I think I ended up with a lot of influence from my teacher, which are the good and the bad. I had the idea of a bit of a rigorous training, which we know that we need on the violin, and yeah, sometimes in my teaching, maybe I was a bit strict. Maybe I was a bit pushy, but I had a good, almost 20 years, of really solid teaching.
Veronica Thomas:
I don't think I produced any major talents in the music world, but I know that years afterwards, I have met former students, a lot of them are still playing in amateur orchestras. So a lot of them did continue actually playing the violin. I remember running into a mother of one of my students, and she said, "You were such a huge influence on my son. He so enjoyed playing the violin with you, that he's a brain surgeon now, and all he listens to when he's doing his brain surgery are violin concertos."
Leah Roseman:
Wow.
Veronica Thomas:
So I thought sometimes these relationships develop in a different way and we don't know the impact we have on our students, and I think sometimes we can touch people very profoundly.
Leah Roseman:
Yeah, there's actually an interesting link I find with biomed and music and-
Veronica Thomas:
Absolutely.
Leah Roseman:
... a huge number of my students have gone on, and actually some of the people I'm teaching now are doctors.
Veronica Thomas:
Yes. Well it's funny you say that, because when I was growing up in Sevadjian's class, there was this superstar. His name was Raymond Thibodeau, and I remember ... I would just watch him play. He'd play the 24 Caprices in one concert. One of those crazy guys who would do that. I idolized him, and everyone was saying, "Well, this is going to be the superstar. This is going to be the guy." And actually, I believe sometime in his 20s, he just switched and said, "No, I'm becoming a doctor," and he became a doctor. I think he continued to play. But there is ... and in here in Montreal, I don't know if in Ottawa ... but there's actually an orchestra made up only of doctors.
Leah Roseman:
That is interesting.
Veronica Thomas:
I think it's called I Medici or something or-
Leah Roseman:
Okay. Yeah.
Veronica Thomas:
I believe that's the name. So they're all doctors and they're all actually really amazing musicians. So these are people who could probably have gone on to a professional music career, but it is certainly is interesting.
Leah Roseman:
It's interesting, and I think during this pandemic, we're speaking here during this time, I think a lot of people have taken up music-
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
... for the first time or coming back to it, that's what I have noticed. And it provides such a wonderful connection and solace and purpose.
Veronica Thomas:
Absolutely.
Leah Roseman:
But I think for people that are amateurs, they don't have the pressure we have as professionals to be perfect. They can just enjoy, they can just play whatever, and I think that's probably why a lot of people don't opt to go into music professionally because they know.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And sometimes we can be a little bit jealous of the amateurs.
Leah Roseman:
Yeah.
Veronica Thomas:
And say, "If only we could always enjoy just, and not have to think about the money-making part of it," because it's hard. We know how it's not always easy, and how somehow people have an idea that you do that as a career. "What is your real job?" How many times was I asked, "Okay, well you're a musician, but what's your real job?"
Veronica Thomas:
And yeah, I think it's wonderful, and I think that there's a lot of high level amateur groups out there, because I think a lot of people are smart to say, "Maybe I'm not going to push it to try the professional route."
Leah Roseman:
So in your family, did your mom have you guys singing together in harmony? Did you guys jam?
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah, yeah. We did a lot of singing. It was funny because she was the kind of mother would say, "Perform." She'd always push us to perform at family gatherings and stuff, and we really didn't want to, but later in life, my sisters ... we were three sisters in the middle. My eldest sister moved to China very young, and spent most of her adult life in China. So the three sisters in the middle, we actually did have like a little singing group, and we would sing in harmony, and we'd play at different parties and stuff, nothing ever professional. But we did do a lot of singing.
Leah Roseman:
And your mom, I think I'll put the link in the description of this video. There's going to be links to your Centre de Préville, and all kinds of interesting things, and your mom wrote a memoir that I really would like to read.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
So I'll put a link to that as well.
Veronica Thomas:
It's a good book. It's a good book. I think as most memoirs, I don't know. I haven't read that many memoirs. I haven't known the people who wrote the memoirs, but as I was part of this life, a large part of her life with her, a lot of it is ... it's not the way I remember things. So I think we say it's a memoir and it's fact, but at the same time, memories are different. But it's a beautiful story. She wrote it beautifully, and she talks a lot about her childhood growing up.
Veronica Thomas:
She grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Winnipeg, and her family was very tight. Her parents were immigrants from a shtetl in, I guess, Belarus, and they left at the beginning of the 20th century because of the pogroms.
Leah Roseman:
Yeah, like my family.
Veronica Thomas:
Right. Where was your family from?
Leah Roseman:
Well, different places like Ukraine and Latvia and Belarus.
Veronica Thomas:
So it's the same area, and they must have come over about at the same time?
Leah Roseman:
Yeah. In the first 20 years of the 20th century. Different people at different times.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah, exactly. And they set up ... I know that the story is that they set up a loan society. It was called the Pepoysk Loan Society, and they would collect money from people who had come over, and loan it out so that more people could just keep coming. So it's a very close knit community.
Veronica Thomas:
And so she talks about her childhood. She talks about growing up in that, and all the musical influences and the cultural and the religious influences, and then how she really broke away from that, because she married my dad.
Veronica Thomas:
It's a very interesting story. We won't get too much into it, but my dad was born Protestant. Of course, he was Welsh, but my dad was a bit of a searcher, so he lived in Europe in his 20s, and he found the Gurdjieff movement. And so he really got into a lot of this mystical religious spiritual path, and he converted to be a Muslim. So my mom actually, being a good Jewish girl, married a Protestant who converted to be a Muslim. So for my grandparents, that was it was just so shocking, but my dad is just such a great guy, that they ended up accepting him, and growing up in our household, it was very amazing and interesting, because we actually celebrated all three religions. So we did celebrate Christmas, but we also celebrated Hanukkah, and we would also read the Quran. So in a way we got this overview of all the great Western religions.
Veronica Thomas:
And it was interesting. Let's just say our conversations around the supper table were always quite interesting.
Leah Roseman:
And then Centre Préville, I was looking at the offerings. It's quite expansive, and I understand you have a really robust day camp that's starting up soon. So maybe you won't talk to us about that.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah. So the Centre d'art de Préville, the Préville Fine Arts Centre, started almost ... it'll be 50 years, I guess, soon ... it's quite a long-standing institution here on the south shore of Montreal. So we're really in the suburbs here, and we started the day camp, I guess, about maybe 20 years ... maybe not even ... 15 years in, to the working of this school. And we modeled the day camp after the way we thought of the centre.
Veronica Thomas:
So we allow kids to have choices. So the kids get to choose four different activities during the day that they're at the camp. So they can choose to play drums, they can choose an art class, they can choose an outdoor activities class, and they can choose a robotics class. So I think for a lot of parents, it's super-interesting, because it's very stimulating. It's fun. It's not like it's a crazy, crazy education camp. All of our programs are really designed to introduce kids, so it's an introduction to piano, and then you get a feel for it. And if you want to continue, you can continue during the year. But it's a very one of a kind type of camp, and they get exposed to a lot of different things.
Leah Roseman:
So last year you were entirely online. This year, is it entirely in person?
Veronica Thomas:
It's entirely in person.
Leah Roseman:
Okay.
Veronica Thomas:
So we did the camp online last year, because it actually was a really, really good thing for our organization to do that. We ... yeah, sorry, I'm just getting messages in ... so yeah, we did it online because when the pandemic hit. We were in the middle of, basically our winter program and we have this amazing guy who sits on our board, who's also very involved in our education. His name is Alex Somma. So he's a brilliant, brilliant programmer, and one of the reasons he's part of Préville was because when he was a teenager, he came to Préville on a bursary program, and he claims it saved his life in a way, because he was a bit lost as a teenager, and he found that by taking art and music, it was just almost a therapeutic thing for him.
Veronica Thomas:
And he is eternally grateful to the Préville Fine Arts Centre for that, so he said, when the pandemic hit, "Let's just put all the classes online." So we started on, what's called the Jitsi platform. This is an open source, kind of like Zoom, but it's open source. So we gave all of our teachers their very own classroom, which could be open 24 hours a day, and so this started slowly and we started introducing people to using these platforms. At first a lot of our students were like, "No, we don't want it. We only want to be in person." But as time went along, people started getting used to it, and in the spring, in about May, we had to take a decision.
Veronica Thomas:
We weren't sure yet whether the government was going to allow summer camps. They finally decided they would, but the restrictions were so specific that for us, as a music camp where people are touching things and using paint brushes, and we just said, "It won't be possible." It'd be so crazy for us. So we said, "Let's take this opportunity and put everything online."
Veronica Thomas:
So our partners at Robot in a Can built this phenomenal virtual school for us. So it's a bit like Zoom, but actually it's not. So you come into the school, you come into the lobby, and there are people hanging out in the lobby, and you have a whole list of classrooms that are on a menu bar, and you can jump from one classroom to another, without leaving the school. Once you're in the school, you have one password and that's it.
Veronica Thomas:
So we just thought, "We're going to try this." It was brand new for everybody, but it was wildly successful, because what we had is not only could the kids easily go from one class to another, but the teachers were collaborating together. So teachers would come to the lobby and say, "Hey, have you seen this teacher?" And they'd say, "Well, go to the classroom," and they'd just basically jump from one virtual classroom to another.
Veronica Thomas:
So some day, Leah, I would love to show you our platform, because it is really one of a kind, and most educators who see this platform say, "We need that," because it just simplifies everything, and makes things so much easier and more accessible.
Veronica Thomas:
So after the first week of camp, it was just second nature to be in this space, and people were collaborating and kids were ... and we were seeing, it's pretty amazing. Like little kids would come in for their class in the morning, and sometimes they'd come back in the afternoon just to hang out in the lobby and do their artwork, because there was people in the lobby having a jam session or something. So it was a really, really cool feeling.
Veronica Thomas:
And what we said after that summer camp is, "We are going to have our private lessons. We're going to continue everything." Everything had to be virtual, "But we're going to start an online school, because we think that people are still going to want to take certain classes online." So we worked like dogs, and I have to say, I just have to mention, because her very well, Heather, Heather Schnarr, our good friend, she came on in the spring, in May, and she has just been phenomenal through this process. We worked together with another one of our colleagues, Maria Gacesa, and we built these programs and we put them online, and we took the chance, and we now have a super-successful online school, and we will be going back to our in-person school in September. So we'll always have these two streams going along.
Leah Roseman:
That's wonderful.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
And you have programs for special needs?
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah.
Leah Roseman:
Yeah.
Veronica Thomas:
Yeah. We have started programs for special needs young adults. There was a group that was here that we were already connected to, and we said, "Let's start. Let's just try the online thing." So we actually had a teacher from Vancouver, her name's Karen Natho, just phenomenal. So she had one online class. We had one of our dance teachers who was offering a online dance class.
Veronica Thomas:
So this has developed incredibly rapidly, so I just want to plug a little bit-
Leah Roseman:
Of course.
Veronica Thomas:
... because what we're doing now is absolutely phenomenal, and if anybody wants to learn more of what we're doing, so we started getting in touch ... well actually people started coming to us.
Veronica Thomas:
So the first group that came to us was the Maison Internatinale Rive-Sud, so this is an organization for new immigrants to help them find their way. So they were saying, "Could we get some activities for our members, a lot of them are isolated." These were older people who were stuck in their homes, so we started an online art class for them. They loved it so, so much. We provided them with tablets, Kindle Fires that were pre-programmed, we would deliver to them with their art supplies. And they just had to one click and they were in the school, and it was one of the most beautiful programs.
Veronica Thomas:
So after that, we're now working with three different school boards, so one of the CLCs, a community learning centre, approached us, said, "Look, we have a grant. We have a literacy program that we would usually do in person. We can't do it in person. Can we do it online?" So with the Riverside School Board, we developed this program where families together were doing painting classes. They were doing poetry classes. They were doing reading literacy, English literacy, and they were doing robotics. And our robotics program is one of the most amazing around. So we do Robot in a Can, which is a little can that you get your robot in. The robot is made of recycled materials. They work with the teachers, they program the robot with their computer. They can make it move. It's just phenomenal what they do.
Veronica Thomas:
So from there we said, "Let's get in touch with other school boards," so right now we have workshops, virtual workshops, running at the Lester B. Pearson School Board, because people were looking for cultural events, but they couldn't do them in person. So we said, "Well, we've got these virtual events," but I think what is the most touching of all was, we've been in touch with two first nations communities.
Veronica Thomas:
So the first one that we started partnering with is Kitigan Zibi, which is actually about an hour and a half from Ottawa, and we offered a bead weaving class with one of the members of their community. Craig Commander, who's studying here in Montreal at Concordia University. He said, "I will teach this class." So a bead weaving class online, with people. We had one lady taking from Alberta, we had some ladies from Montreal and we had some ladies from the Kitigan Zibi Reserve. Then, what we're doing right now, actually today, was one of the last days of the classes was a partnership with Rapid Lake. Now, Rapid Lake School is about four hours north of Gatineau, and we said, "Would you guys be interested in having some classes?" They have been basically isolated for more than a year, and they said, yes. So we had Heather actually delivered art kids, robotics kids, and we have classes going on there now.
Veronica Thomas:
And it is one of the most amazing experiences, I know for those kids, but for our teachers as well, because these are a really, really special group of people. The teachers have been working closely with us, and this is something we are really, really planning to expand on, is really go to visit more of these communities who need connection. It's not always easy to have a connection in person, because they're far away, but we want the connection virtually and open the world up to them.
Veronica Thomas:
So the robotics class that we had in Rapid Lake, our robotics teacher was actually in Mozambique. So the kids were in Rapid Lake, they were on our platform, and the teacher was teaching them from Mozambique.
Leah Roseman:
What's the time difference?
Veronica Thomas:
So the time difference is six hours.
Leah Roseman:
Oh, it's not too bad.
Veronica Thomas:
So already the kids were saying, "Wow, where's Mozambique?" So the first class the teacher said, "Go to your map. I'm going to show you where I am," and then they said, "What time is it there?" And he said, "It's four o'clock in the afternoon," and it was 10 o'clock for them, and they were, "What?"
Veronica Thomas:
So for us, it blows our mind because it just opens the world up to these kids. It can bring them so much closer to so many more special educators, just beautiful artists around the world. So this is really something we're going to be concentrating on for the next few years.
Leah Roseman:
Your mom would've been so proud.
Veronica Thomas:
Wow. She's there. She's around. She's making things happen.
Leah Roseman:
Well, thanks so much for this conversation. Everything's going to be linked, and that's just so great, all the work you're doing. Really, really enjoyed talking to you.
Veronica Thomas:
Well, thanks Leah, for inviting me. It's so great, and hope to see you in person sometimes.
Leah Roseman:
Okay, thanks.
Leah Roseman:
So here I am with Veronica Thomas, and we're going to try a little improv back and forth.
Veronica Thomas:
You want me to start?
Leah Roseman:
Yeah, you start.
Veronica Thomas:
Okay, I'll start.
Leah Roseman:
I think that's a beautiful way to finish.
Veronica Thomas:
Thanks, that was really fun. That was cool. Thanks Leah.
Leah Roseman:
Season one of this podcast had 20 episodes and season two continues with a really interesting mix of musicians talking about their lives and careers, with perspectives on overcoming challenges, finding inspiration and connection, through a life so enriched with music.
Leah Roseman:
Please follow this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, to be informed about each new episode.
