The Power of Music Thinking

Intrinsic motivation, leadership, and extreme performance are at the heart of this podcast episode, where Christof Zürn deconstructs the mental models of exceptional individuals who perform at the top of their fields and also happen to be musicians. This conversation explores the profound links between leading academic scientists and playing historical string instruments - featuring expert research, unique mindsets, and the intense discipline you can leverage as a toolkit for your own path. Meet the Guest: Ralph Meulenbroeks has lived a fascinating, multitrack life. He started his career in physical engineering, researching large-scale solar cells, before pivoting to become a full-time, professional bass and viola da gamba player for ten years - recording 15 albums, winning an Edison award, and touring the world. Today, he is a full professor of scientific literacy and chairs the Freudenthal Institute at Utrecht University, where he leads 120 highly autonomous academics. Yet, every single morning, his day still starts with meditation and playing his instrument. Key Insights from the Episode The Pressure of the Passion: Discover the unique qualities of the viola da gamba - a historical, fretted relative of the lute family with six or seven strings - and what it feels like to endure the immense psychological pressure of playing the highly exposed solos in Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Tuning In under Pressure: How the intense process of silently tuning highly sensitive gut strings during a 45-minute wait in the St. Matthew Passion translates directly to 'tuning in' to the emotional temperature of a team of academics at the start of a meeting. Redefining Intrinsic Motivation: Why almost everyone misinterprets this term. Ralph explains that true intrinsic motivation means the activity is its own reward - not a means to an end - and why it is an incredibly robust predictor of high performance in teams. Ensemble Forgiveness: Why the ultimate leadership tool is behaving like a classical or free jazz ensemble. When a mistake happens, you cannot point fingers; you must instantly forgive, adapt, and restore the balance together so the audience never notices. The 'No Excuses' Mindset: Why playing a difficult instrument forces a high degree of self-reflection. If a wrong note happens, it is almost always the player and rarely the instrument's fault - a humbling lesson every leader needs to embrace. The Macrobiotic Chord: How a 35-year practice of macrobiotic cooking and balancing Yin and Yang perfectly mirrors the tension and relaxation required to create musical, but also business harmony. Show notes: Connect with Ralph: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphrousseau/ St. Matthew Passion Excerpt (Komm, süßes Kreuz): https://youtu.be/WvHTBBLXa-g?si=HIv_K-6ZxzMGt50u Podium Klassiek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzWjGyjIAQ8 The Jazz of Physics by Stephon Alexander: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/26195938-the-jazz-of-physics Music Thinking Society on Substack: https://musicthinking.substack.com/ More info and downloads on Music Thinking: https://musicthinking.com

Our guest today is both an accomplished musician and a fascinating researcher. Dr. Sandra Garrido is a pianist and violinist who holds a PhD combining the worlds of music and psychology. Her work focuses on a question that touches all of us: how can music regulate our mood and improve our mental wellbeing? What's truly unique is that she explores this not just today, but through a historical lens, uncovering how music has always been used to help people feel better. In our conversation, Sandra gives us fascinating insights into the paradoxical appeal of sad music. We discussed why the same Adele song might comfort one person while sending another into a negative loop. Sandra also shares how music can be a powerful tool for young people with depression and its surprising role in dementia care. This makes this a conversation you won't want to miss, with practical tips like how to organise your summer playlist (or the winter one if you are down under). Show notes Connect with Sandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandramgarrido/ University profile: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/marcs/about/our_people/researchers/dr_sandra_garrido MoodyTunes website: https://www.moodytunes.com.au Dementia resources: https://www.musicfordementia.com.au Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.

This is a personal story about my first online interview at the end of the 1990s. It is a trip back in time with original sound snippets from the interview with famous conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim in the Opéra Royale at Versailles. Find out how we did this technically and what questions the maestro was asked that came from the internet. This is another special episode where I experiment with different kinds of storytelling. This time, it is also about pioneering the internet and music thinking. You hear original sounds from 1997 that might sound a bit bumpy but have historical value. It shows unreleased material from a great musician, an empathic, sympathetic person in a relaxed, collegial atmosphere. Show notes Europa Concert 1997: https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/europakonzert-1997-chateau-de-versailles-paris-daniel-barenboim-conductor-and-piano-berliner-philharmoniker-ravel-mozart-beethoven Daniel Barenboim Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​

A few episodes ago, I asked the question What is Orchestration? This was because I saw a lot of different orchestrators, nota bene, non-musical orchestrators with job titles like Design Orchestrator, Value Network Orchestrator, Data Orchestrator and Innovation Orchestrator, just to name a few. This is an ongoing research, and I am writing a paper about what people do when they say they are orchestrating. But today, we flip the side and talk with a music orchestrator, or, shall I say, an original orchestrator? We speak with Robin Hoffmann, a prize-winning composer, arranger and orchestrator from Berlin. We talk about orchestration in music and the difference between composing, orchestrating, arranging and conducting in Hollywood films, games and concerts. This is a deep dive into the music industry and all its facets and an inspiration for everyone orchestrating something. Robin shares with us many insights and a great story. Show notes Connect with Robin: https://www.robin-hoffmann.com/ Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​

Today we speak with Willemijn van Hussen - a trained concert pianist, strategy consultant - co-founder and owner of Sonic Branding agency TAMBR. We talk about the power of our senses and how sound can make a difference in recognising a brand and what it stands for. Willemijn shares with us insights from an audio branding project, with a sonic logo, brand anthem and different sound assets that are used strategically. Among others, we hear the brand anthem of Lazy Vegan and how this might be different from other brands in the industry. Willemijn gives tips for students who work on sound assignments and for brands that want to make a start with sonic branding. Show notes Connect with Willemijn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willemijnvanhussenfuhring/ TAMBR Sonic Branding Agency: https://www.tambr.nl/en/ Steve Keller Audio Alchemist: https://musicthinking.com/blend-sound-science-with-sound-art-to-make-sound-decisions-with-steve-keller/ Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​

Christof Zürn talks about music thinking, the music thinking framework, and JAMMIN’ before SCORE and what this means in the context of co-creation in the business. How does this sound? It sounds marvellous; we hear a lot of musical experts from the new (digital) album of MRZ - an ambient improvisation trio - and get an explanation of how this relates to the music thinking practise. Show notes Thinking Music Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0yITUGcz4pH8qU0FbN4vhc?si=bdb26633538a4495 Download Music Thinking Framework: https://musicthinking.com/download-music-thinking-instruments/ MRZ on Bandcamp: https://mrznl.bandcamp.com/album/improvisations-in-an-ambient-space Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​

join us in our conversation and hear more about the journey from Poland to Germany and the US, from playing violin in a top-notch orchestra to getting an MBA at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and writing a white paper about AI and music. Show Notes Connect with Anna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniaf/ Berlin Philharmonic: https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/ AI White Paper: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7228754698395148288/ Performing at Stanford: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJIjLMMMuYg Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​

We don't just hear; we engage with sounds. Our hearing is always on, and we can't close our ears the way we close our eyes, yet we can ignore unimportant sounds. Making sense of sound is one of the most challenging jobs we ask our brains to do. But how does this work? Today, we speak with Dr. Nina Kraus, scientist, inventor, book author, Professor of Neurobiology at Northwestern University, and Director of BrainVolts. Nina's research reveals that our daily lives, filled with sound, play a significant role in shaping how our brain interprets the sounds we hear. This influence can be both positive, as seen in musicians and bilinguals, and negative, as in the case of concussion, hearing loss, and language disorders. Sound, therefore, leaves a profound imprint on our identities. Nina talks about the partnership of sound and the brain and how sound processing drives many of the brain's core functions. To give you an idea of our conversation, there is a short, surprising sound example in the intro of the episode that will make you wonder! Because we only hear what we know, we have to hear and listen a lot to better understand our world and ourselves. So, relax and join our conversation about exploring sound and listening! Or how Nina also talks about her work and book: It is a love letter to sound. Show Notes Brainvolts website www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu Book Of Sound Mind: https://brainvolts.northwestern.edu/of-sound-mind/ Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​