Name: Monika Herzig
Nationality: German-American
Occupation: jazz pianist, composer, author
Current release: Monika Herzig's Both Sides of Joni, a collaboration with the late Janiece Jaffe, is out via Acme. Buy via Monika's website (link below).
Recommendations: Light as a Feather – album by Chick Corea
Gross, S. A., & Musgrave, G. (2020). "Can Music Make You Sick?: Measuring the Price of Musical Ambition" (p. 198). University of Westminster Press.

If you enjoyed this Monika Herzig interview and would like to know more about her music, visit her official website. She is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I don’t have any synaesthesia – which is an interesting phenomenon. I mostly listen to music for education and learning and curiosity – my pleasure with music is making it myself.

Of course, early on I discovered jazz because the sounds and the inventiveness attracted me. I like to go to concerts of friends and colleagues rather than listening to recorded music because I can experience the interaction in 3D and it’s a social experience.

What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

All my first steps were communal in school groups, church groups, singing with the family for parties and celebrations – the impact was to see music as a social experience, a co-creation.

That’s what got me later to jazz, experience in the practice room is important and I still practice several hours a day. However the creative process is the goal.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music meant to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

We form all our preferences by that age, music as well as any other interests and tastes. Music at that time meant discovery, finding interesting, appealing sounds that go new directions and learning about the musicians and their concepts behind the music.

The following was an earlier experience than 13 – but I remember my older brother one afternoon pulling me in his room, he had a record in his hands and put it on the player. He started it and we listened through the whole thing in silence – it was Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, which had just been released.

When the alarm clocks went off and panned through the speakers, it was awesome, same with the cash registers in "Money", and then of course one piece led to the next. It was awesome – and I still believe in the power of concept albums and of course, that album is a crucial part of my taste palette.

Of course, after years of studying and making music my profession, it now touches every facet of my life, but the teen preferences remain.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?
 
I’m a pianist – the piano is queen. I also have a church organ education and played services for about 30 years, the organ is powerful and the king. I do everything at the piano.

My husband is a guitarist, we learned how to not get in each other’s way with chords and comping – great exercise for couples!

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

My key idea is creativity and my pieces are meant as vehicles of communal expression. I love the excitement of hearing a band play one of my compositions for the first time and getting an immediate feel if that one is here to stay or not. Unfortunately, I’m not good at production and using software, I need a lot of help with that. I rather get musicians together and try out things in real time.

My life functions through the motivation to create – new ideas, music, writing, experiments are what I thrive on. If I’m in an environment where that’s not possible, I get terribly unhappy and frustrated.

In fact, I recently quit my university job and moved to a different continent because I had reached creative limits and couldn’t function anymore.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

Listening functions on three levels – the first emotional impression, the recognition of elements, and finally the analysis of the parts. We can all choose to listen at either one of those levels, however if we enter the analytical level too early it could mean that the emotional effect is minimal. My guess is that’s what Paul Simon meant is that he checks on the emotional effect – if it’s strong enough to initially overshadow the analytical listening.

Personal sound is a bit of a different topic – I would describe mine as a combination of a colorful harmonic language and a preference for unconventional forms. It’s hard to analyze yourself, maybe others have a better description of my sound.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I wrote a song called “The Hill Country”, where I’m capturing the sights and sounds of Southern Indiana and it became quite a hit in the area. Many seemed to identify with the melody and the gospel feel, which means a successful capture of the impression.

Southern Indiana was also the home of one the most influential US impressionist painters, T.C. Steele. His resort close to Bloomington is lovingly called the House of the Singing Winds. We recently did a project composing and improvising impressions based on his nature paintings.

I love what we did with the House of the Singing Winds, imagining lots of nature and animal sounds at night that one can hear in a home in the wilderness around 1900.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I’m not particularly drawn or drawn away from any extremes, however I believe in variety. For an audience and for the musicians, it’s important to communicate with ups and downs and all facets of the spectrum, otherwise it’s a monotone monologue.

Finding the right mix is the key.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

I’m a jazz musician by trade and heart. What works best in my environment are pieces with strong melodies and harmonic structures that provide interesting and inspiring vehicles for improvisation.

Symphonies and techno tracks probably provide less of that option.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

Our new album is Both Sides of Joni, a collaboration with my dear friend Janiece Jaffe. During the pandemic, she would suggest the songs to me and I would go in explorer mode which meant listening to the original many times, understanding the lyrics, and thinking about musical elements that best describe the expression of the song. Then I would find a rich harmonic and rhythmic structure and envelope the words with it.

The first draft would go into experimentation phase with my vocalist friend. Once she would be able to fit in the lyrics and express accurately, we’d stick with that framework and create the lead sheets to be rehearsed with the band.

I did one of my Talking Jazz episodes describing the process for several of these songs and sharing the original and the arrangement. 



Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

The process of research functions the same in arts and science.

There is a question / hypothesis that we’re curious about. First we find all the information that already exists about the question, then we’ll device the best strategy to collect data and build a theory, and then we present the results to the world.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Music is my life – everything circles around it, any projects that I do, any teaching, all activities.

I’m an improvising musician – the biggest life lesson for anyone is that improvisation is a life skill and it needs to be practiced on a daily basis to be ready to take risks and solve problems.

I developed a model based on the jazz jam session with seven factors that guide successful group interaction. If anyone is curious, I explain everything in my TedX Talk.



Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Music is a higher language for us humans where we communicate beyond words. We can express emotions with instrumental music that can not be adequately put into words and understood.

Hence, when someone describes a great performance to you it never elicits the same impression and response as witnessing it. That’s why every culture has music to communicate from the earliest stages on.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

I mostly listen to instrumental music, lyrics mean very little to me – I look for the musical language and interaction.

However Joni Mitchell’s “River” expresses such deep sadness that even I can’t escape.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

We need a better support structure. The digital age has changed the way we create and the economic structure. It has become extremely difficult to create high quality recordings without grants or outside support as recordings are no longer profitable income streams.

If we don’t find a way to subsidize the music production process we’ll lose a lot of material and potential that can’t be documented due to missing resources.