The Multi-Tasking Mind & Dimensional Thinking
What you are really doing when juggling tasks will make you think twice about classical music stereotypes.
What do we know about any one thing? When we talk about music, the study or understanding of music, we enter a world full of threads for exploration and connection—a kind of super ontological experience of how all things connect back to music.
Education is classical music — it’s what brings all the subjects together, applied. Intellectual — soul — physical — heart — psyche — humanity — ecology — nature — love — and even economics! It’s all there in one package!
When you learn music you learn everything — physics — philosophy — aesthetics — history — appreciation — gratitude — team work — independence — responsibility — everything a parent should want for their kid : it’s counter to what many believe — that music doesn’t prepare you for life — when it actually is the everything — and completely integrated — like the perfect meal, balanced and varied with every vitamin, enhanced.
And so to be a musician is to be a multi-thinker. One of my former teachers told me that when he thinks of a note in a work, he sees it on the staff, on the piano, within a chord, that chord within the harmonic motion, its place within the work, within the phrase, and so on, and of course seeing is also hearing all at once.
Stuart Isacoff, the author of Temperament, talks about how in the past everyone who studied anything also knew music — it sat always in the realm of education somewhere between science, math, literature, art, nature, and love. It was never this segmented separate thing but rather connected to the learning and understanding of everything. Specialization is where we are now in the world, but education without the study of music is a lost connector — the glue that not only holds all knowledge together but a way to connect the people of the world. Music plays the vital role of understanding between cultures in a real and active way, bringing people and their ways of thinking together.
Being a musician is more about being an ambassador of humanity. The soul of the world is depending on you. Yes it’s that big. Economically speaking, we have to start valuing the role of the musician if we want to save ourselves from ourselves. It’s the house that Bach built. Everything we create in music brings people together in a way that nothing else can. To be a musician is to be a historian, physicist, psychologist, anthropologist, eco-scientist, economist, and on and on.
So naturally, a musician is studying many things, including other instruments. Always learning, expanding, and somehow finding time to do it all. Our guide today to the first lesson of being a proficient multi-tasker is Bettina Simon. While more musicians take up conducting as a side gig, Bettina has found a more unusual combination. Let’s see what she has to say about all of that…
Kathy Geisler: What is your current job in the field of classical music? (what are you currently working on)
Bettina Simon: I am a soprano, baroque oboe and recorder player specializing in historically informed performance, working as a freelance musician. Based in Vienna, Austria, I also teach baroque oboe as a member of the faculty at the Cologne University of Music in Germany (Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln).
Kathy: What were some of your early lessons or experiences in classical music?
Bettina: It all started by joining a recorder orchestra in Hungary as a child — baroque costumes and everything! I remember our concert tours with other schools and orchestras through Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, etc. Of course, back then I didn’t know that one day this is going to be my actual work — traveling to all these amazing places, meeting fascinating new people and doing what I like the most: being on stage and making music. Just allowing myself to go with this amazing creative flow, creating and experiencing special moments while singing/playing for the audience.
I think having learned the abilities of being flexible, curious and open-minded at a young age certainly helped me for my work as a freelance musician today.
Kathy: What is one of your favorite places and why?
Bettina: Recently I visited the Poseidon Temple in Sounion, Greece. I have never before experienced such a harmonious combination of natural beauty and deep history all in the same place. It was truly breathtaking…
Kathy: What is one of your favorite pieces and do you have a favorite performer or experience of it?
Bettina: So difficult to pick… One of them is probably the Aria Agitata da due venti from the opera „Griselda“ by Vivaldi, especially in the rendition of Cecilia Bartoli and “Il giardino armonico.” I remember YouTube just becoming popular while I was in high school and that was the first video I ever watched. I decided instantly that early music should be my path, this is what I wanted to do with my life.
I felt so honored when someone recently told me that my passionate way of singing reminded them of Cecilia Bartoli — even thinking of that connection still makes me blush…!
Kathy: Is there an artist no longer living who somehow made an impression on you?
Bettina: There is one artist (still alive) who definitely formed me into the musician I am today: Andrea Marcon, the Italian harpsichord and organ player, conductor, leader of La Cetra Barockorchester Basel and the Venice Baroque Orchestra — my longtime inspiration and musical mentor. His creativity, energy and immense knowledge inspires me every single time I make music with him and gives me true ”musical wings.” I feel that simply through his presence I am becoming a better musician. True legend.
Kathy: What is one thing you think will be different about classical music 100 years from now?
Bettina: I think the future of classical music lies in versatility: experimenting with numerous nuances during the same concert, be it several instruments played by the same performer or exploring different musical styles and formations. With a warm heart and an open mind we can bring artists and audience closer and closer, diving together into new adventures within classical music.
Kathy: What is something about your work that you think most people have no idea about?
Bettina: Striving to self-define myself as a versatile musician, singer and teacher I am compelled to be extraordinarily conscious considering my time management. When I am not teaching or catching an early flight, my day usually starts at the university with an early session of vocal training. I practice my favorite exercises from Rossini’s Gorgheggi e Solfeggi and work on my repertoire. I actually prefer to practice at school, working in an environment with fewer distractions always aids my focus. :) Although sometimes it is not pleasant to sing very early in the morning, these practice hours motivate me for staying productive throughout the whole day. When I am on tour, I usually practice in my hotel room: I am not only singing but also playing the oboe and checking my reeds for the current project. Making reeds as well for the baroque oboe as for the classical and also the oboe d’amore is a big part of my daily life. Doing almost everything by hand, I have to plan enough time to maintain the materials. Planning my teaching lessons and university projects, researching repertoire for my students are additional tasks I have to manage daily.
Currently I am also writing my Master’s thesis at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (Austria) and applying for Doctoral studies at the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece); conducting my own research is essential in order to complete the tasks and achieve the goals I set for myself
Kathy: Did you have any life-changing experiences that put you on the path that led you to be doing what you’re doing today?
Bettina: I originally started by playing the recorder and went on to study at the concert and pedagogical departments of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. After a short time I felt that something was missing: the opportunity of playing in an orchestra regularly was still a big dream of mine. Initially I wanted to play the traverse flute but the professor referred me to my first baroque oboe teacher, having known that there are more opportunities with the oboe (there are simply more orchestral pieces written which include oboes). After moving to Basel, Switzerland to complete my master studies for baroque oboe at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, I discovered my passion for baroque singing: it was a huge surprise for me that my voice is so well suited for the ‘sporty’ coloraturas of the baroque era. So, I guess the keyword is Basel: this is the place where I met such great artists and many dear friends; and this is definitely the place I first walked the path I am still following today.
Kathy: Is there anything else you would like to say about yourself, your work, or classical music?
Bettina: I feel very honored as a young woman to have the opportunity to educate students on a university level and help starting them on their professional musical journey. Many of them regularly participate in extracurricular educational programs for children and are even politically active which makes me extremely proud. Seeing the recent developments of girls being denied the right of education in many parts of the world makes me feel that now, more than ever, is the time to acknowledge that opportunities as well as the possibility for expression and the building of a better future are not guaranteed for everyone. Through music, I want to strive with every chance I get together with my students and colleagues to show the power of hope, expression and freedom.
