micro/Maker by Loose Leaf Transmissions

103 - Following the Spark of Curiosity

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Composer Austin Hammonds shares how early exposure to film scores like Jurassic Park quietly shaped his imagination long before he knew what composing even was. He and Tyler reflect on the humbling — and energizing — experience of realizing just how much there is to learn, and how a childhood passion can evolve into a lifelong creative path.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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micro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

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102 - Telling Stories Through Food

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Carlynn Crosby and Tyler talk about how food can be a deeply human entry point into topics like class, race, globalization, memory, and empathy. Carlynn shares her journey into food writing—from Ina Garten and Anthony Bourdain to graduate studies in Southern culture—and how food became not just a sensory experience, but a vessel for historical awareness and social critique. For her, writing about food is never just about flavor—it's about shifting perception and crafting narratives people can trust.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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micro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

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101 - Finding the Middle Path

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Caterina Schembri traces the long arc from her earliest training in Bogotá to the work she’s doing now. She talks about the intensity of her upbringing—full days in school followed by nights at the conservatory—and how her first living-composer mentor made the role feel accessible rather than distant. She then lays out the two poles of her formal education: a rigorous, highly theoretical composition program shaped by aesthetic dogma, followed by a film-scoring master’s that opened up new tools, new people, and a wider sense of sonic possibility. Moving between those extremes eventually pushed her toward a middle ground of her own making: a practice shaped neither by academic prescriptions nor by market pressures, but by the space she’s carved out for her own voice.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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100 - Learning the Business of Being a Composer

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Baljinder Sekhon explains why he doesn’t separate the act of composing from the life of a composer. In this excerpt, he talks about integrating career-building, orchestration, and business literacy into his curriculum — not as extras, but as essential parts of what it means to be a composer today.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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099 - Rethinking What “Composer” Means

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Chris Opperman grew up emailing guitarist Mike Keneally—digging into impossible tuplets, dissecting entire albums, and learning what made songs tick. That early mentorship led him to question how we define “composer”: is it the manuscript-paper stereotype of academia, or the broader industry sense where anyone creating music belongs? In navigating both new music and the commercial world, Chris shares why he resists exclusivity and insists there’s space for everyone’s expression.

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098 - Language, Lineage, and the Pachuco Spirit

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Nicolás Lell Benavides shares how exploring Caló — the dialect of the Pachuco community — reconnected him with his family’s stories and shaped his creative voice. He and Tyler talk about how sound, language, and memory intertwine in his recent works, from Rinconcito to Canto Caló, and how honoring ancestry through art can uncover new dimensions of musical identity.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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097 - Finding Music in the World Around Her

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Hannah Selin shares how her path to composition began not with scores, but with sound. She and Tyler talk about starting late, making field recordings in rural Ohio, and finding her way from electronic experimentation to acoustic music. It’s a story of learning to listen differently—and discovering creativity as a bridge between solitude and connection.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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096 - Losing Track of Days in the Garage

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Brett Copeland traces his earliest artistic instincts not to formal composition, but to middle school and high school garage bands—long days spent writing riffs, experimenting with recording software, and losing track of time with friends. Playing bass and singing in punk and metal bands while simultaneously studying tuba in school band, he describes living between two musical worlds that rarely overlapped, yet both felt essential. That tension sharpened when he encountered a living composer for the first time, hearing Frank Ticheli speak passionately about his own music during an Iowa All-State Band rehearsal. It was a subtle but formative realization: composition wasn’t just something preserved on the page—it was a living practice, shaped by curiosity, care, and direct engagement with musicians.

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95 - Blending Hobbies into Creative Work

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Daijana Wallace shares how her hobbies fuel and complement her creative life, from pairing albums with cooking to her deep dive into mechanical keyboard design. She and host Tyler Kline explore how customizing her keyboard setup has even streamlined her composing and engraving process, blending practical function with sonic satisfaction.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday!

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094 - Eccentricity as a Form of Connection

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Composer and organist Graeme Shields reflects on humor, eccentricity, and why playfulness matters in music. From kazoo-playing cellists to drumming on the organ with a felt-wrapped board, he finds joy and meaning in the unexpected—and sees laughter as another way to bring listeners closer to the work.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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093 - Treating Computer Tools as Compositional Instruments

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Gabriel Bolaños considers computer-assisted composition any tool that generates, develops, or enhances ideas—starting with overdubbing on a mini-disc recorder in high school. Now he relies on Open Music, a suite of algorithmic tools, to create harmonic progressions and spectral structures he once calculated by hand over hours. That tedious process, he realized, unconsciously biased him toward liking material simply because he'd invested time in it. Tools like Spear, which reveals a sound's partials and frequencies, changed how he conceptualizes timbre entirely—like seeing DNA. But as mentor Rodrigo Sigal told him, using Microsoft Word doesn't make you a technologist. The distinction isn't the tool but the thinking: using algorithms for tonal counterpoint misses the point, while using them to exceed acoustic intuition opens new ground. For Bolaños, Open Music has become the instrument he composes on, embedded so deeply in his process that he now imagines sound through its logic.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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092 - Demystifying Death Through Music

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Han Hitchen reflects on how identity in his music goes beyond queerness, reaching into universal but often unspoken experiences like death and family tension. He shares how confronting discomfort has shaped his creative practice. For him, music becomes a way to demystify what we fear, opening space for reflection, honesty, and connection.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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091 - Writing Music That Speaks Without Words

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Ania Vu reflects on a theatrical piece where aliens attempt — and fail — to connect with humans. But through music, gibberish, and emotional tone, something deeper gets communicated. She shares how this idea of miscommunication, language limitation, and embodied expression runs through much of her work.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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090 - Listening to the Clouds

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

When Yue Song moved from Beijing to Ireland, the world changed color. Gone were the endless high-rises; in their place came clouds that shifted the temperature by the minute, sunlight that turned to rain and back again. In this conversation, Yue reflects on how the piano first taught her to hear composers’ inner lives—and how Ireland’s weather, light, and soundscapes opened her ears to texture, imagery, and emotion in a new way.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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089 - Taking Big Swings for Others

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Shelley Washington reflects on the responsibility she feels to advocate for others after receiving support throughout her own creative journey. She shares her philosophy of reaching out, encouraging risk-taking, and creating space for new voices in contemporary music.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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088 - Processing Identity Through Sound

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Austin Hammonds reflects on the role of rhythm, identity, and responsibility in his work — not as fixed pillars, but as ongoing questions. He and Tyler talk about the emotional weight music can carry, why intention matters, and what it means to treat creative work (and the people around you) with care and integrity.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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087 - Questioning What Sounds ‘Right’

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Baljinder Sekhon talks about early listening experiences and how they shape our perception of musical “truth.” He shares how growing up with Michael Jackson and Queen eventually gave way to a fascination with Shostakovich and a thirst for the unfamiliar. This excerpt explores the power of surprise, the risk of rigid taste, and how open-minded listening can be its own creative act.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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086 - Discovering Film Through a Festival Doorway

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

C. Jacqueline Wood didn’t set out to become a filmmaker. Growing up, her focus was on sports, shaped by a family rooted in professional football. But a chance stop at the Ann Arbor Film Festival during her freshman year at the University of Michigan changed everything. What began as an internship in hospitality turned into a doorway to experimental film, where small, personal projects could carry enormous meaning. From her first in-camera edit to realizing filmmaking was about creating a feeling, Jacqueline describes how she found her path in art through curiosity, questions, and the power of choices.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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085 - Negotiating Place Through Sound

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Andrew Noseworthy traces his musical awakening not through the classical canon, but through a convergence of Internet-driven discovery, progressive rock, and contemporary composition encountered almost simultaneously. As a teenager, Bartók, Stravinsky, and George Crumb arrived not as historical figures, but as living forces refracted through bands like King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer—music that felt continuous rather than divided by genre or era. Growing up in extreme isolation meant absorbing ideas from afar, building an identity shaped as much by imagined scenes as by physical places. Over time, this evolved into what Andrew describes as an acceptance and rejection of locality: deeply influenced by the places he’s lived—Labrador City, St. John’s, New York, Toronto—yet equally defined by post-regional networks sustained through the internet. His work reflects a life formed both by place and in resistance to it, navigating belonging, distance, and continuity in a musical world no longer bound to geography.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday!

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084 - When the Audience Is the Performer

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Phong Tran recounts the surreal experience of creating a graphic score for the A24 film Everything Everywhere All at Once. Alongside Darian Donovan Thomas, he created a piece not meant for the stage, but for the individual performer — crafting an intimate emotional space through simple musical gestures and imaginative prompts.

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083 - Reframing Tuba and Electronics

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Brett Copeland dismantles the narrow expectations around “tuba and electronics,” laying out a clear hierarchy that moves from fixed-media “karaoke” works, to flexible broken-tape structures, and finally to fully integrated systems involving live processing, multi-channel sound, and video. For him, electronics aren’t an accompaniment but an extension of performance—something that must breathe, respond, and place real agency in the performer’s hands. That philosophy carries directly into his composing, where he’s actively working to escape what he sees as a decade of writing music that simply “sounds like a tuba piece.” Influenced by mentors and peers who pushed back against instrumental habits, Brett now approaches each new work as a stylistic challenge—asking what it would mean for a low-brass ensemble to think symphonically, or for electroacoustic music to function as art rather than a technical checklist. The conversation ultimately widens into a critique of contemporary low-brass culture itself: a commissioning-rich ecosystem that too often prizes correctness over conviction. For Brett, the goal isn’t just to add to the repertoire—it’s to help write the next piece that actually matters.

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082 - Taking Reich’s Advice

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:00:00 GMT

A nine-hour car ride with Steve Reich rewired Marc Mellits’s plan: skip the safe teaching job, move to New York, and start an ensemble. After years of mailing tapes to Bang on a Can with no reply, a surprise call from Michael Gordon led to a commission and Five Machines—a piece the All-Stars toured widely. Those performances sparked more invitations (Kronos among them) and a lesson Mellits passes on: rejection isn’t always the last word when performers champion the music.

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081 - Shaping Each Piece Without Boundaries

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Daijana Wallace walks through the evolving pillars of her creative process: intentionality, working without boundaries, and daily repetition. She and host Tyler Kline explore how she begins each piece with a character sketch rather than staff paper, how she avoids locking herself into a fixed compositional voice, and why every project is treated as its own distinct world.

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080 - Three Lenses for a Creative Life

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Shruthi Rajasekar talks with Tyler about the three touchstones she returns to again and again: identity, community, and joy. She reflects on how understanding identity—both self-defined and externally perceived—helps her shed fear, claim space, and recognize the privileges and complexities within South Asian artistic lineages. She also unpacks how her understanding of community has shifted: from being raised within a tight immigrant network to realizing that real community includes disagreement, multiplicity, and the difficult work of holding many viewpoints at once. Finally, she speaks to joy as the constant in her creative life—not as surface optimism, but as a commitment to imagining possibility even within serious or painful stories. Together, these three frameworks shape not only her music but the experiences she hopes to cultivate around it.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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079 - Endurance, Memory, and Meaning

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Sean Hamilton shares how his relationship with composer Stuart Saunders Smith has shaped his artistic identity — not just through mentorship, but through the challenge of performing Smith’s 50-minute vibraphone solo Queen Anne’s Lace. In this excerpt, Sean reflects on the rigor of memory, the discipline of presence, and how the piece prepared him for the large-scale improvisational work that now defines his creative practice.

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078 - Navigating Composition Without a Map

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Dorm-room sketches, oversized George Crumb scores, and a business minor no one thought he needed—Tyler Kline recounts how an unlikely mix of research fellowships and mentoring moments set him on the composer’s path. From discovering The Artist’s Way to a pivotal lesson with James Grant that rewired his sense of musical punctuation, Tyler traces the do-it-yourself mindset that still drives his work today.

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077 - Presenting Experimental Work to Open Audiences

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Gabriel Bolaños co-founded Proyecto Eco, Nicaragua's first new music ensemble, during a Fulbright stay while finishing his dissertation. Working with conservatory faculty and collaborator Guillermo Norori—a musician trained at the Royal Academy but rooted in Nicaragua's pop scene—they presented experimental chamber music at bars, cultural centers, and conservatories. Audiences proved remarkably open, even to hyper-experimental pieces that might alienate US listeners, perhaps because expectations about classical concerts were less rigid. Bolaños and his wife also launched Palenque Vivo, a home concert series funded by ticket sales from wealthy attendees, with free follow-up shows open to the public. The projects were flourishing when political crisis shut everything down. But Bolaños learned to conduct by necessity, and watching Norori pitch contemporary orchestra music to beer companies taught him how to frame the work's value from the ground up.

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076 - Music for Places We Miss

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Hannah Selin traces the origins of her Pieces of Place project—a cycle of works that weave together memory, geology, and ecology. She and Tyler talk about composing during the pandemic, the ache of distance from nature, and the challenge of translating vast natural processes into human-scale sound. Through landscapes like the Chesapeake Bay and the Catskills, Hannah’s music becomes a way to listen for what’s shifting—within the Earth, and within herself.

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075 - Being in Control Without Knowing

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Austin Hammonds shares a lesson from composer John Powell that reshaped his thinking: you don’t have to know what you’re doing — you just have to be in control of what you’re doing. He and Tyler talk about the gap between confidence and uncertainty, and how learning from mentors (and tackling new creative challenges) helps keep the process alive, curious, and deeply human.

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074 - Hearing the World More Closely

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Michael Frazier reflects on how birdsong entered his music not as a technical exercise, but as an extension of a long-standing, personal relationship with birds themselves. What began as visual fascination gradually expanded into sonic exploration, shaped by listening, whistling, and close attention rather than transcription alone. Drawing inspiration from Messiaen while diverging from his methods, Frazier describes how access, travel, and the internet have changed the possibilities of birdsong today—and why he now prioritizes sounds he has encountered firsthand. By grounding his work in local environments and lived moments, birdsong becomes less a historical reference and more a living record of place, time, and identity.

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073 - Listening as Creative Practice

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Vanessa Ague talks about her creative rituals — daily listening, long walks, and the rhythm of language — and how each plays a role in shaping her work as a writer. She discusses the subtle tensions between repetition and variation, and how her process combines deep thought with lived experience and stylistic precision.

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072 - What It Means to Be a Woman Composer in Iran

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Mahdis Golzar Kashani opens up about the profound challenges women face in Iran—and how those obstacles have shaped her life and work as a composer. In this excerpt, she reflects on restrictions placed on women performers, the societal pressures she’s navigated, and the courage of a new generation rising to create change. Through it all, Kashani’s music carries both anger and hope, serving as a powerful outlet for self-expression in a system that often seeks to silence women’s voices.

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071 - Empowering Students Through Sound

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

What if high schoolers were given permission to make noise—messy, weird, beautiful noise—and call it music? After finishing his PhD in 2019, Nathan Hudson launched a virtual project teaching families to perform non-traditional notation. That experiment grew into the Forage and Flourish Contemporary Music Festival, a weeklong celebration of graphic scores, unconventional sounds, and creative ownership. From libraries and breweries to arts centers, Hudson and his faculty invited Atlanta-area students to discover the joy of making choices, not just following directions. The result: a ripple effect of schools programming non-traditional works and student composers taking the leap.

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070 - Anatolia as a Mother Language

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Beyza Yazgan describes how the idea of Anatolia—rather than Türkiye as a modern nation—quietly surfaces in her music through instinct rather than intention. Layered histories, blended cultures, and inherited musical language emerge only after the music is written, often revealing themselves as something familiar yet untraceable, like a half-remembered dream. Her process begins with improvisation as an emotional, almost therapeutic act, followed by careful listening, notation, and refinement. Meaning, geography, and identity arrive later—never planned, never imposed. What results is music shaped less by concept than by trust: allowing sound to lead, and understanding to follow.

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069 - Cribbage, Comedy, and Composition

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Chris Opperman believes music can—and should—be funny. From his tongue-in-cheek album Chamber Music from Hell to a set of 12-tone Cribbage Variations, he shows how humor and playfulness can open doors to deeper engagement with music. He shares how embracing wit, audience connection, and even chance operations has pushed him to expand his creative voice while making contemporary music feel more alive and inviting.

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068 - Bridging Two Notation Worlds

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Shruthi Rajasekar looks back at her earliest compositions—letter names scribbled on loose sheets, drifting between Carnatic training and an intimidating Western notation system that never felt built for her. She and Tyler talk about gatekeeping in classical music, the shame that can shadow beginners, and how she learned to decode theory through a hybrid vocabulary of her own making. What begins as a conversation about notation becomes something broader: a reflection on who gets welcomed into classical spaces, who gets left behind, and how genuine encouragement can change the trajectory of a young artist.

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067 - Composing Outside Your Comfort Zone

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

In this episode, Baljinder Sekhon describes his conscious decision to stop composing percussion music — despite being a percussionist — in order to break creative habits and push his own boundaries. He also explains how that mindset now informs his teaching: encouraging students to write outside their comfort zones, take risks, and explore unfamiliar musical terrain.

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066 - Expanding Possibility From the Inside

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Returning to the University of Northern Iowa as a faculty member, Brett Copeland describes the strange cognitive dissonance of inhabiting both student and professor roles at once—still attending everything, still assigning himself weekly goals, still operating with a learner’s mindset. Teaching in Iowa has sharpened his awareness of how limited many students’ career models are, shaped largely by the visibility of band directors as the primary professional endpoint. Rather than rejecting that path, Brett works to widen the frame, introducing students to alternative models rooted in performance, electronics, entrepreneurship, and hybrid careers that don’t fit traditional academic narratives. His approach is grounded less in disruption than in exposure: showing what’s possible by example. The conversation culminates in a broader philosophy of work and life, illustrated through a parable about unknowingly building the house you’ll one day live in. For Brett, the lesson is simple but uncompromising—love the daily process, because the career you’re constructing isn’t abstract. It’s the structure you’ll inhabit every day.

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065 - Letting Process Demand Presence

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 17:27:04 GMT

Sinclaire Marie describes atmospheric firing as a collaboration rather than a technique—one that requires attention, patience, and a willingness to relinquish control. Drawn to fire as both an ancestral element and a living force, she frames wood firing as a communal, physically demanding process that demands full presence: listening to the crackle of the flames, responding to their rhythm, and accepting that the kiln will not always do what you want it to do. She reflects on how this uncertainty becomes a teacher, revealing growth through small, unexpected victories—a cup whose surface finally shows looseness and history, or a teapot that playfully subverts its own form. Rather than chasing efficiency or perfection, the process becomes about attention, endurance, and learning how to play seriously—to let labor, tradition, and experimentation coexist in the work.

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064 - Exploring Identity Through Language

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Ania Vu reflects on the interplay between language, identity, and musical composition. Drawing from her multilingual upbringing, she shares how text influences her creative process — not just through semantics, but also through the sound and feel of words.

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063 - Composing Without Boundaries

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Hannah Selin talks with Tyler about GADADU, the cross-genre songwriting project she co-leads with her husband, composer/pianist Nikki Adams. The duo’s kaleidoscopic mix of jazz, pop, and experimental textures has deeply shaped Hannah’s work as a composer, challenging her to rethink form, rhythm, and collaboration. She and Tyler reflect on what happens when concert music and songwriting meet—and why embracing both can make each more alive.

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062 - Rejecting Permission-Based Creativity

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Andrew Noseworthy reflects on how a DIY ethos became less a philosophy than a survival skill—one forged through limited access, institutional gatekeeping, and the repeated experience of being told “no.” Rather than waiting for permission, he learned to build the structures he needed himself: founding labels, curating genre-fluid concerts, organizing consortium commissions, and prioritizing collective momentum over individual validation. For Andrew, the appeal of DIY practice isn’t just autonomy—it’s sustainability. He questions institutional models that fund single premieres without long-term life, and instead advocates for communal approaches that allow pieces to circulate, evolve, and be heard multiple times by different performers and audiences. Drawing inspiration from band culture and touring models, he frames DIY work not as an alternative to legitimacy, but as a way to imagine a future where new music grows beyond its own bubble.

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061 - Inventing Instead of Practicing

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Shelley Washington shares how her earliest experiences composing music were actually a creative rebellion against piano practice as a child — a spark that would later shape her career. From early improvisations to discovering composition formally during graduate school, Shelley’s path unfolded with encouragement, collaboration, and discovery.

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060 - Integrating the Unexpected

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

From an early encounter with a living composer who jokingly warned him about the difficulty of the profession, Charly Daniels moves through the formative stretch of his creative life — first believing he’d follow a conventional composer’s path, then discovering that the reality was far more winding. He recalls early orchestral successes, the ego shock of graduate-school rejection, and the moment he realized his music needed to expand beyond the frameworks he'd been taught. That realization led him to form his own “chamber-rock” ensemble, integrating percussion, intuition, performance, and personal history into a practice that felt more fully his. It’s a story of recalibration — and of reshaping a career to reflect the artist he was becoming.

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059 - Following the Fringe

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Composer and percussionist Sean Hamilton didn’t plan to become a musician — in fact, he came to drumming through historical reenactments, not the school band. In this episode, Sean shares how he discovered his voice through punk, screamo, and grindcore, and how those early influences continue to shape his approach as a composer and performer. He and Tyler discuss what it means to seek out the edges of a genre, the importance of taste over technique, and why playing music was the first thing that truly felt like his own.

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058 - Treating Hair the Way It Lives

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Anna Huffka joins Tyler Kline to talk about the intentional design behind her salon, from the layout of the service to the feeling she wants clients to carry with them. She shares how her approach centers on comfort, calm, and care — down to the gratuity structure, the dry approach to cutting, and a signature lay-down shampoo experience. Tyler also reflects on his own shift from viewing haircuts as purely functional to recognizing the artistry behind them.

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057 - From Precision to Possibility

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Improvisation reshaped how James May thinks about composing. In this conversation, he talks about how studying free improvisation at University College Cork helped him move away from rigid notation toward scores that invite performers to explore sound and texture. James shares how this shift—from control to collaboration—has led him to create music that’s both structured and alive, blurring the line between composer and performer.

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056 - Revealing Power in Words

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

What began as a budget constraint became a revelation: when Emma O’Halloran couldn’t afford a librettist, she turned to her uncle, the celebrated Irish actor-playwright Mark O’Halloran. Adapting his fierce short play Mary Motorhead into an opera showed Emma the power of direct, unflowery text—and the joy of music layered with words. Their partnership grew into Trade and beyond, a collaboration marked by trust, humility, and discovery. For Emma, it was also a backdoor into opera itself: a genre she once dismissed but now embraces as fertile ground for creative exchange.

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55 - Letting Language Lead the Way

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Caterina Schembri talks about returning to her earliest creative love—literature—and how that reconnection reshaped her compositional voice. What began as a lifelong attachment to books eventually surfaced as a desire to write her own texts, opening up a new dimension in her work where language and music develop together. She describes the different ways text enters her process: sometimes through existing poetry, sometimes through her own writing, and often through a fluid, iterative exchange where musical ideas and words evolve in tandem. She also reflects on the freedom and vulnerability of writing original text, the intuitive choices that emerge from rhythm and phonetics, and the shift that happens when she treats language not just as something to set, but as a structural and expressive force in its own right.

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054 - Vibrating with the Instrument

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Emily Koh talks with Tyler Kline about her evolving identity as both a composer and bass player — and how those worlds finally merged after finding community in Georgia. She shares the origin of her “super bass” concept, composing for violin and bass as a single sonic unit alongside percussion, and the inspiration behind her piece Memento Mori. Emily also reflects on the physicality of bass frequencies, and how playing bass can feel like becoming one with the instrument.

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053 - Learning a New Musical Language Abroad

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Shruthi Rajasekar talks with Tyler about what pulled her toward the UK—first as a study-abroad student, later as a graduate student, and eventually as part of her professional orbit. She traces the pattern she’s begun to recognize in herself: moving toward the things that scare her, even when the first experience abroad was marked by culture shock, loneliness, and the complexities of navigating race in Britain. Over time, that instinct led her to study Indian classical music scholarship at SOAS, dive into composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, and—almost accidentally—enter a series of early-career “schemes” that reshaped her trajectory. What emerges is the story of how a sequence of UK mentorships, opportunities, and artistic communities opened doors she never planned for, and how those connections continue to ripple through her career today.

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052 - Balancing Structure and Freedom

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Ania Vu shares how she wrestles between musical freedom and formal clarity — between gestures that defy meter and notational structure that keeps things communicable. She discusses her favorite extended techniques, the challenges of letting go of control, and the artistic impact of works like Joshua Hey’s Lens from Alpha Centauri.

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051 - What Biocentric Music Means

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Hannah Selin unpacks her idea of biocentric composition—music that honors and engages with the natural world. She and Tyler talk about field recordings, data sonification, and what it means to write music in dialogue with nature rather than about it. Along the way, Hannah reflects on the limits of concert music as activism, and how meaning begins when sound and awareness meet.

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050 - Where Craft Meets Collaboration

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Nicolás Lell Benavides talks about what it means to compose for real people—and the accountability that comes with it. He and Tyler discuss how opera has reshaped his sense of collaboration, why trusting performers makes the music stronger, and how staying open to revision keeps the work alive. It’s a look inside the workshop: where artistry meets empathy and every choice counts.

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049 - Finding a Way Into Composition

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Hannah Boissonneault shares the winding path that led her to music school—one filled with detours, self-doubt, and ultimately, resilience. In this excerpt, she recalls the first time she met a working composer, how one supportive teacher helped her take the leap, and why it took persistence to find her place in the composition world. Her story is a powerful reminder that there’s no single right way to begin a life in music.

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048 - Why Variety Fuels Creativity

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Chris Opperman’s career defies categorization. From video game soundtracks to jazz, rock, classical, and experimental projects, he thrives on variety—taking inspiration from Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, and Carla Bley in continually evolving his voice. He shares how hyperfocus, single-tasking, and even a “six-minute rule” help him balance composing, orchestrating, teaching, and running his label—while keeping his creative practice energized across every style.

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047 - A Mother’s Support in an Uncertain Musical Landscape

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Composer Mahdis Golzar Kashani shares memories of discovering music as a child in post-revolution Iran. In this excerpt, she describes how early improvisation at the piano opened the door to composing, even as formal training and musical resources were limited. With the encouragement of her mother, Kashani began creating pieces that blended her natural musical instincts with the sounds she heard in classical piano repertoire.

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046 - Realizing the Art in Analysis

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Vanessa Ague reflects on the early moments that shaped her path as an arts critic — from a life-changing childhood viewing of Spirited Away, to writing an extra credit essay in high school that sparked a love for interpreting meaning in art. She talks about her long-standing connection to Miyazaki's work and the importance of recognizing criticism as its own creative act.

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045 - From Reluctance to Revelation

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

When his teacher first suggested organ lessons, Graeme Shields wanted nothing to do with it. Years later, that same instrument would become a central part of his creative and professional life. In this conversation, he and Tyler talk about discovering unexpected inspiration, writing for community, and how artistic values can stay constant even as life and context change.

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044 - Learning to Listen Differently

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

A scholarship took James May to Ireland—and changed his creative life completely. In this conversation, he recalls how studying experimental sound practice at University College Cork opened his ears to new ways of listening, performing, and creating. From free improvisation to extended vocal techniques, James shares how that year taught him to trust instinct over tradition and to see music as something far broader than notes on a page.

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043 - Experimentation with Purpose

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

For Yue Song, composing always begins with a feeling—a fleeting sound, image, or story that sparks curiosity. From there, it’s about experimentation, not for novelty’s sake, but as a way of keeping music alive. In this conversation, Yue reflects on balancing respect for musical tradition with an openness to new forms, and how every composer plays a small part in the long history of sound.

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042 - Navigating Creative Collaboration

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Joshua Mallard breaks down what it really means to collaborate in creative industries — from game audio to classical commissions. He and Tyler talk about how making music for interdisciplinary teams flips the lone-genius composer stereotype on its head, and why work-life balance becomes the next frontier for working artists.

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041 - Embracing the Imperfect

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Anna Huffka talks with Tyler Kline about how her Japanese heritage and design sensibility influence her approach to beauty. She shares why the concept of iki — celebrating imperfection with intention — resonates more than chasing unattainable ideals. They also touch on Japanese beauty trends and the thoughtful attention to detail that defines them. For Anna, it’s about making people feel seen by embracing what makes them unique.

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040 - Writing From a Place of Deep Connection

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Shelley Washington shares how her deep connection with family naturally flows into her music, whether consciously or not. The strength and joy of her familial bonds become a quiet, continuous thread that shapes her creative spirit.

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039 - Confronting the Taboo Through Music

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

For Han Hitchen, taboo isn’t a gimmick — it’s a consequence of writing honestly about what society tries to ignore. Inspired in part by Julius Eastman’s unapologetic music, Han shares how his work confronts subjects like death, periods, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and queer identity itself. By turning discomfort into dialogue, his music insists on visibility for experiences many would rather erase.

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038 - Letting Emotion Lead the Process

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Phong Tran discusses his deeply collaborative approach to composing for performers, and how writing with others in mind becomes a shared artistic identity. He opens up about a moment of learning with pianist Miki Sawada, and how it reshaped his views on virtuosity, labor, and care in the creative process.

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037 - Reframing Creative Phases

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Hannah Boissonneault shares how her path shifted from film scoring dreams to a love for concert music and live performance. She reflects on the challenge of seeing her creative pursuits as separate — band work, composition, performance — and how she eventually came to embrace all of it as part of a unified artistic identity. Through pandemic isolation, shifting priorities, and personal healing, Hannah has found clarity in seeing her career not as a fixed goal, but as a series of evolving creative phases.

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036 - Creating Better Together

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

What does it mean to build something slowly — with trust, curiosity, and mutual respect at the center? Emily Koh shares her love of long-haul collaboration with Tyler Kline, explaining why her most meaningful projects often take years to develop. Whether it's a solo piece with layered complexity or an opera grounded in community stories, she values process over speed — and prefers to let audiences form their own relationship with the work.

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035 - Becoming a Composer by Accident

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Baljinder Sekhon shares the moment a piano professor casually told him, “You should be” a composition major — a moment that shifted the course of his life. In this excerpt, he talks about changing majors, assembling his first portfolio at a FedEx Kinko’s, and how composing moved from a side hobby to something he took more seriously, even while still identifying primarily as a percussionist.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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034 - Following the Path Back to Music

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Vanessa Ague talks about growing up with an exploratory relationship to music — improvising on violin from a young age, engaging with minimalism through playing, and ultimately deciding not to pursue a performance career. Instead, she followed her passion for theory, history, and context, which gradually led her toward a life in music criticism.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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033 - Archiving a Life Through Media

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

C. Jacqueline Wood describes her art as a tension between the analog and the digital—between what can be touched, saved, and archived, and what disappears into streaming platforms, algorithms, or failed hard drives. From cataloging every physical book, CD, and record she owned for her exhibition What Makes a Life to re-recording double-exposed slides until they disintegrated into static, Jacqueline reflects on how technology shapes memory, permanence, and loss. At its core, her work wrestles with what remains when media fades and what it means to long for something round when faced only with the flat.

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032 - Building a Record Label to Make Space for Yourself

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

At 19, Chris Opperman thought his future was slipping away—Frank Zappa was gone, and no label wanted a young composer making instrumental music. So he built his own label, Purple Cow Records, funded by a scrappy internet “mini mall” selling movie posters. Two decades later, after a PhD detour and a changing music industry, Chris revived the label with a fan-supported Kickstarter and a flood of orders that filled an entire mail truck. His story is equal parts urgency, reinvention, and resilience.

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031 - Channeling 90s Nostalgia

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT

For Emma O’Halloran, the 1990s weren’t just about mixtapes, tribute bands, and chaotic tin whistle classes — they became part of her musical DNA. In this conversation, Emma reflects on how those formative sounds continue to resurface in her work, including her piece Constellations. Whether it’s grunge, boy bands, or Led Zeppelin colliding with the Backstreet Boys, the spirit of the 90s remains a wellspring of color and emotion she draws from, consciously or not. A window into how memory, nostalgia, and gut instinct shape a composer’s voice.

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030 - The Invisible Art of Game Audio

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Joshua Mallard explores the creative overlap between composing and sound design — from the pitch and texture of metal pipes to the way middleware helps shape immersive game environments. He and Tyler talk about how subtle sonic choices help guide the player’s experience, and how technical and musical fluency go hand-in-hand in modern game development.

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029 - Pouring Intention into the Cup

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

From high school French press flops to slinging espresso for Scarlett Johansson and André 3000 in New York, Nathan Hudson’s journey with coffee is as layered as his career in music. He recounts opening pop-up “illegal coffee shops” in college, teaching as a barista educator, even roasting beans professionally—discovering in the process that coffee isn’t just a drink, but a practice of intention, connection, and surprise. Whether it’s pulling the perfect shot or composing a piece, Hudson finds joy in the balance of control and unpredictability—because in both coffee and music, the magic comes from what you can’t plan.

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028 - Challenging Institutions to Do Better

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Shelley Washington shares her candid perspective on tokenism in classical music and why real, lasting change requires more than checking a box. She discusses the importance of creating meaningful opportunities for marginalized artists — and how she uses her platform to push for greater equity.

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027 - Writing for a Funky Pocket

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Groove isn’t just ink on a staff—it’s where you place the beat. Marc Mellits tells Tyler Kline how he coaches classical players toward “smooth, funky legato,” invisible accents, and a center-or-back-of-the-beat feel that actually locks in the pocket. They also dig into orchestral drum set pitfalls, cymbal choice as personal voice, and why leaving slashes for improvisation often beats writing every note.

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026 - Internet Nostalgia as Creative Fuel

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Phong Tran reflects on his formative experiences growing up online, and how internet culture shaped his musical taste and personal identity. He shares the emotional origin of his album The Computer Room — a tribute to the friendships and memories made in digital spaces that no longer exist.

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025 - Blending Persian and Western Traditions

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Mahdis Golzar Kashani reflects on how Persian traditional music shapes her compositional voice. In this excerpt, she shares her experiences blending Iranian and Western classical instruments, navigating the challenges of writing for oral traditions, and collaborating closely with performers to create new musical dialogues. From early influences to large-scale cross-cultural projects, Kashani describes her process of expanding and preserving Persian musical heritage within contemporary composition.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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024 - Choosing Concert Music Over Hollywood

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Roger Zare discusses his early interest in film scoring, his decision to attend USC, and how that experience ultimately led him to pursue a career in concert music. He shares how his initial attraction to storytelling through music evolved into a desire for more personal creative freedom.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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023 - The Line Between Craft and Art

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Austin Hammonds reflects on the difference between creating as a craftsman and creating as an artist — and how his time at Bleeding Fingers and remote control reshaped his understanding of both. He shares what he’s learned from mentors like Hans Zimmer and John Williams, and why he’s striving to be the kind of composer who knows every corner of the work that bears his name.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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022 - Listening Beyond the Surface

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Vanessa Ague pushes back on the idea that drone and ambient music are easy listening. Instead, she describes them as some of the most demanding musical forms — requiring focus, presence, and deep engagement with subtlety and change. She shares how listening to this kind of music can offer a richer, more immersive understanding of sound and attention.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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021 - Weaving Efficiency into Intuition

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Tyler Kline turns inward, outlining the four pillars that anchor his composing life: musical efficiency, instinctive intuition, a sense of ritual and patience, and a deliberate curiosity that guides what he consumes and creates. He explains how fractal motifs, organic rhythms, and spacious pacing let his music breathe—offering a calm counterweight to deadline-driven modern life. It’s a peek into the methods—and mindsets—that keep his work evolving on and off the page.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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020 - Starting from a Human Place

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

What does it mean to be an artist without boxing yourself in? Emily Koh shares with Tyler Kline the three pillars that guide her creative life: starting with being human, staying curious, and releasing the pressure to make a masterpiece. For Emily, every piece is just a step toward the next — and every so-called failure is part of the process of learning.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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019 - Staying Curious in the Craft

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Anna Huffka talks with Tyler Kline about the artistry behind hair — not just as a surface-level service, but as a sculptural, responsive craft. She shares how curiosity, communication, and a respect for individuality shape both her creative process and her approach to hospitality. They also reflect on growth, inclusivity, and what it means to find the right medium for your work.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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018 - Letting Go of Creative Expectations

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Hannah Boissonneault shares the pillars that have helped shape her current creative practice — from letting go of perfectionism to embracing play, intuition, and deep intentionality. She talks about how her mindset has shifted since school, especially around productivity and self-worth, and how collaboration with her longtime bandmate and fiancé continues to reshape her songwriting. Whether composing for others or writing lyrics for herself, Hannah’s process now centers around trust, patience, and a growing sense of personal clarity.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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017 - Feeling Horizons in Sound

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Shelley Washington and Tyler discuss how the expansiveness of the Midwest subtly weaves its way into her music — sometimes intentionally, sometimes through the deep-rooted identity of home and memory. Shelley shares how location, travel, and homesickness continue to shape her creative language.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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016 - Just Vibes: Friendship as Practice

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Phong Tran shares the origin and ethos behind Media Queer, a creative collaboration with Darian Donovan Thomas. What began as casual conversations became a trusted creative feedback loop — and a reminder that not everything has to be formal to be meaningful.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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015 - Preserving the Joy of Writing

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Carlynn Crosby talks through the tension between creative identity and economic survival. She shares why she’s hesitant to turn writing into a full-time career, how labels like “writer” and “journalist” still catch her off guard, and what it means to embrace both passion and practicality in a world where everyone wears multiple hats.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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014 - Bridging Science and Sound

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Roger Zare reflects on how his lifelong love of science — from NASA launches to particle physics — influences his music. He shares stories about pieces inspired by natural phenomena, like the Green Flash, and how writing about science became a major creative thread throughout his work.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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013 - When a Theme Becomes a Path

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Austin Hammonds traces the profound and recurring impact Jurassic Park has had on his life — from falling in love with the score as a kid, to hearing it live, to writing his first orchestral piece, and finally hearing the LA Philharmonic perform it just after moving to Los Angeles. He and Tyler reflect on how a single piece of music can quietly shape a whole creative life.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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012 - Embracing the Weird Stuff

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Vanessa Ague shares how her listening habits shifted in high school — from an early contrarian love for classical music to discovering Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac. What started with burned CDs and record store finds led to a broader embrace of experimental rock, and a deeper appreciation of sound’s emotional range.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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011 - Contextualizing Every Sound and Silence

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Sean Hamilton shares the core philosophies that guide his music-making: a timbral approach shaped by Helmut Lachenmann, a fluid rhythmic sensibility influenced by Stuart Saunders Smith, and an immersive spatial awareness inspired by Morton Feldman. In this excerpt, Sean walks Tyler through how these principles inform his hybrid setups, his electronic processing, and even the contents of his “suitcase of goodies” — all in service of creating performances that are fully alive in their own moment.

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010 - Composing Through Story and Imagination

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Mahdis Golzar Kashani shares how stories, feelings, and visual imagination are central to her creative process. In this excerpt, she discusses how she approaches composition almost like film scoring—following imagined scenes and emotions as if directing a film in her mind. Kashani explains how personal memories, visual imagery, and narrative depth fuel her music and create a vivid sense of storytelling through sound.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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009 - Emerging Stronger from an Artistic Slump

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Composer Daijana Wallace reflects on the complicated realities of increased visibility following 2020, sharing how questions of identity, recognition, and artistic worth shaped her creative path. She and host Tyler Kline talk about balancing opportunity with authenticity, processing the emotional layers of that period, and ultimately emerging with a stronger sense of artistic confidence.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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008 - Practicing Empathy in a Disconnected World

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Carlynn Crosby shares why historical context, cultural awareness, and empathy are essential to her creative practice—and how these values are becoming harder to hold onto in an increasingly distracted and polarized world. She and Tyler talk about what it means to be a steward of the future, how technology can erode our sense of connection, and why writing with care is a radical act of preservation.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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007 - Navigating Music as a Chameleon

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Joshua Mallard shares how his journey from wanting to be a chemical engineer to landing on a desire to be a full-time musician was guided by a practical mindset and an openness to multiple creative paths. In this excerpt, he reflects on the generational shift in how composers define their identity, the value of being a “chameleon,” and how exploring adjacent fields like radio, game, or film music can create more freedom in one's art.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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006 - Distilling Emotion Through Form

Fri, 30 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Phong Tran shares how architecture and emotion form the foundation of his creative process. He walks Tyler through the feedback loop he uses — moving between improvisation, sketching, and reduction — to capture the emotional essence of an idea and translate it across media.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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005 - Resisting Time Through Music

Tue, 27 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Ania Vu describes how personal hardship shaped her relationship with time and led her to create works that resist its forward motion. She shares how those moments became a turning point in her practice — and how sounds of the natural world, poetic time structures, and bell-like pacing became expressive tools in her musical language.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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004 - Discovering Orchestral Color

Fri, 23 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Roger Zare shares how hearing Stravinsky’s Firebird live reignited his love for orchestral sound and sparked an early creative outpouring. He reflects on the excitement of writing for large ensembles and how those formative experiences shaped his approach to texture and musical color.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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003 - Taking Big Risks for Big Dreams

Tue, 20 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Shelley Washington reflects on the pivotal leap she made when deciding to pursue a master's in composition — after a year of soul-searching, unconventional jobs, and weighing big financial risks. Encouraged by mentors and driven by passion, she embraced the unknown and built a new creative life in New York City.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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002 - Pursuing Curiosity Over Clout

Fri, 16 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Vanessa Ague reflects on the importance of curiosity in music criticism — especially when tempted by the visibility of writing about what's popular. She shares how thoughtful listening, genuine inquiry, and the willingness to explore beyond the mainstream have helped her develop a more honest and personal perspective as a writer.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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001 - Finding That Truth in Music is Fluid

Tue, 13 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Baljinder Sekhon unpacks how expectations shape our sense of musical “truth” — and how stepping outside of those expectations can lead to deeper listening and creativity. He shares how a performance of Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel became a defining moment of surprise, and why remaining open to sound—no matter how unfamiliar—can help us stay curious and engaged as artists.

micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!

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Trailer: micro/Maker by Loose Leaf Transmissions

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 21:44:10 GMT

micro/Maker is a podcast of short, unfiltered moments from longform conversations with composers and other artists. These bite-sized episodes offer glimpses into the creative process — exploring ideas around craft, inspiration, philosophy, and the often messy realities of making art. If you’re a creator, or just curious about how artists think and work, subscribe and come along for the ride.

Episodes release every Tuesday and Friday beginning May 13, 2025!

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Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.

micro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

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