Zanaida Robles - Part 3

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 151: Zanaida Robles - Part 3

Looking for a way to listen to diverse creators and to support equity in the arts? Tune in weekly to For Good Measure!

In this week’s episode, we talk to Zanaida Robles about her musical mentors, listening habits, and advocating for diversity and inclusion in music education and performance. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Zanaida Robles, check her out here: https://zanaidarobles.com/. This episode was originally recorded in January 2024.

This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano),  as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/episodes/15732670

Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Addy Geenen, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin

Don't miss Ensemble for These Times' upcoming concert 'Mujeres Ahora' on May 9 at the Community Music Center, presented as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival. For more information, go to www.E4TT.org.

Chapters

• 0:38 In this week's episode we continue our conversation with Zanaida Robles, who we spoke to in January 2024.
• 0:46 Who or what are your mentors and influences?
• 3:48 What are you currently listening to or reading? Any any kind of genre...
• 6:34 You're a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in music, both in terms of education and performance. Can you talk about your work in that realm? Are there resources you'd recommend for those wishing to join the cause?

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00

[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists, sponsored by a grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble for These Times. In this week's episode we continue our conversation with Zanaida Robles, who we spoke to in January 2024 [INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. Who or what are your mentors and influences?

Zanaida Robles  00:36

I think my dad, my dad.

Nanette McGuinness  00:39

I got that.

Zanaida Robles  00:42

I both my parents, I you know, but my dad especially is an influence. I would like to name like at different stages of life, there was when I was taking piano lessons, there was, there was this place called Wilson's Music in Carson, and Lola Wilson was the owner. Her support was actually really important, I don't talk about her very much because it was a long time ago, and she's since passed away. But I just wanted to say that, because I have an opportunity to lift that up. And without those piano lessons, like, that was really important in the time when my when in my my youth, my home situation, we moved we moved around a little bit, and there was some difficulties in our family. And so piano lessons at Wilson's with Miss, Wilson's Music was really important to me in keeping me grounded and focused and centered, and felt feeling like I was I had something to offer, and I had support. In high school, the LA County High School for the Arts, the just having that as a, as a place to kind of incubate and grow and then, and so that's important to mention as an as an influence overall. And then my main and then some mentors that came out of my experience once I got to college, I'd say, well, Jonathan, honestly. Jonathan Talberg from Cal State Long Beach, he was also my teacher at Cal at at LACHSA for one year. Paul Smith at Cal State Northridge, who was the reason why I'm doing choral music, and James Walker at All Saints Church, Pasadena, who was I learned more about choral music from James Walker at church than I did in years of of like music school side, like just repertoire, learning about choral repertoire, I learned I got that from from that program and from James Walker. And I would and also I didn't realize what I was getting. But Lynn Bielefelt at Cal State, before I even knew anything about I didn't know anything about conducting. I had no, I thought it was going to be an opera singer or a jazz singer or something, but Lynn Bielefelt at Cal State Long Beach, her gesture was so beautiful that got into me, and I will never forget my experience working with with Lynn Bielefelt, that's a really important name at Cal State Long Beach. Um, yeah, and John Alexander just knows everything in Pacific Chorale. So my time at the Chorale was really important too. Lots of people obviously came together to support me, so I've been very, very fortunate.

Nanette McGuinness  03:29

Sounds like it, yeah, yeah. What are you currently listening to or reading? Any any kind of genre, whatever.

Zanaida Robles  03:37

Well, not poetry, right now.

Nanette McGuinness  03:38

Yeah, right.

Zanaida Robles  03:39

I'm taking a break. I'm taking a little break from poetry. I have, I have a couple of books of poetry that I that I keep by my bedside, and I listen to K jazz, and I listen to the jazz radio station KJazz and the classical radio radio station KUSC, like, that's pretty much all I listen to on the radio. That's not true, I also listen to Coast. And I listen I listen to pop because I want to stay current, you know, because I teach high school, so I gotta know what's out there, right? You know? And I listen to... okay I listen to a lot of things, other than everything. Also, um, I I list I and I, yeah, I guess that's, that's pretty much it, I'm doing most of my listening on radio when I'm driving in and that's, you know, because that's all I can, when I'm driving I can't multitask, so I can just, you know, so, but, yeah, I listen to a lot of radio, and then when I'm when I'm not driving, I'm too busy doing everything I can't sit down long enough to really deeply listen to something, that's that's a little bit hard for me these days.

Nanette McGuinness  04:47

Absolutely. I mean, I know, I know a lot of people, including me, who can't really have music in the background for anything except maybe cooking or something, you know where, and driving obviously, but for almost anything else, background music is not background.

Zanaida Robles  05:04

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  05:04

Or for most people...

Zanaida Robles  05:05

Once, once it's classical music, I'm sitting down and I'm analyzing, and I'm taking notes, and I'm stealing material, and you know like, I'm composing and, you know, yeah, and similar with jazz also, I think a lot about, you know, I'm thinking about style. I'm trying to identify the, you know, if it's not immediately clear, who the, you know, maybe I just turned the radio station on and it's jazz, and I'm saying, you know, who's that artist? Is that Miles Davis' sound, you know, is that or is that a different trumpet player, and, you know, sax player, where where are they, where are they from? What, what side of the, you know, is this, East Coast, West Coast, like, you know, all of these things happening, right? So it's the same. But if it's like, if I'm just kind of like, I need a mood, you know, then I'll pop in, usually something super familiar that I don't have to think about.

Nanette McGuinness  05:05

Yeah.

Zanaida Robles  05:05

Yeah, no, that's, that's, well, it depends on the style for me. If it's class, I cannot listen to classical music in the background that at all. It's too present,.

Nanette McGuinness  05:56

Right, that doesn't engage your brain.

Zanaida Robles  05:58

But like for me, it's like, you know, what was I listening to when I was in middle school, you know? I was listening to Janet Jackson, you know, or Mariah Carey, honestly, I was listening to Whitney Houston. I was listening to those, those artists. So I can pop that in and just let it be in the background and get a vibe going. I can do that.

Nanette McGuinness  06:17

That works. You're a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in music, both in terms of education and performance. Can you talk about your work in that realm? Are there resources you'd recommend for those wishing to join the cause?

Zanaida Robles  06:31

Um, this is a little bit of a tough a tough question, just because I'm in a place now where I'm, I remain I remain a very strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in education and performance, but I'm not actively doing like that work. At any, just, I you know that work was that work is, is difficult, especially as a person, you know, as a black woman, um, there's, you know, and especially coming through, you know, the years, you know, the you know, the previous, you know, presidential administration and covid and all of that. There was a lot there's, I felt a lot of pressure internally and externally, to do that work, because I felt like there was such a huge need. Now, I feel like there are lots of organizations, institutions, and individuals who have taken up that mantle. And I don't, I no longer feel like, you know, I have, I feel like I did, I did what I needed to do, you know what I mean? So and, so I guess that's this, maybe two thoughts about that. One is, you know, in one, in some ways, we can never let up. We have to be vigilant. I'm vigilant. And, you know, I'm still working in institutions where that, that is an issue we are continuing to work on, and it's, it's, it's all kinds of manifestations of of diversity and inclusion, from the institutional to the individual, you know, there's, there's so many different ways to look at those issues. We have to be vigilant about all of them. But also, there are so many resources now. There are so many organizations, and I think, I'm sure, not every organization, but most arts organizations, performing arts organizations, have have some or some kind of cultural competency where they're doing that work, or have done that work. And I don't, and so and so, in a way where we're moving towards being, you know, you know, it can't, it it can't be just, you know, you don't just put a stick, you can't just put a sticker and say, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion certified. You know, it's like we're living it now. We're in the pro, yeah, we're not just stamping anymore. We're living it now. And I think that that has given me a little bit of peace to say, I don't have to, I don't have to represent what I used to have to, what I used I feel like I had to represent whether I had what I really had to or not, I don't know, but now I feel there's a bit more freedom, there's a bit more space. We're a bit further removed from that tense, in intense time of hyper focus on it. Thankfully, there's been so much progress and so much work that put towards diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, access, all of those elements, and there are so many others that you know have done so much work and research and study and scholarship on this, you know, I'm, I am not. I wouldn't even call myself, you know, I've never been an expert, and I'm definitely, you know, at this point, I'm watching others ascend and soar in this work, doing doing greater things and more than I could have ever imagined doing, and I'm very grateful for that.

Nanette McGuinness  06:47

Right, so it's no longer a case of, if not I, who will?

Zanaida Robles  10:24

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  10:25

And so, you don't have to carry the torch, because so many people are running with it.

Zanaida Robles  10:29

Exactly, and they're really, and I'm inspired by what I've seen. I mean, you know, there, anyway, there's a lot of, there are there are all kinds of people that come to mind and organizations and things like that, you know, but, but there's so many, like you wherever you are and wherever, you know, sphere of the country you're in, or the world that you're in, you can, you can, you probably, people, we have people in our midst now that are doing that work and that that makes me feel great.

Nanette McGuinness  10:55

No, it does, it really does.

Nanette McGuinness  10:57

[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure and a special thank you to our guest, Zanaida Robles, for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media, and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit us at E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council, and generous donors like you. For Good Measure is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and design by Brennan Stokes, with special thanks to co-producer and audio engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure" [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS].