Chris Blaber - Ecstatic Waves
Chris discusses handling many projects, growing pains in the arts, and the physical demand of musicianship.
![Chris Blaber - Ecstatic Waves](/content/images/size/w1200/2022/02/art-feat-27.jpg)
On the Rhythm Changes Podcast, Chris Blaber meets me to discuss handling many projects, hardships, and growing pains in the arts—as well as the physical demands of being a musician.
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We talked about:
- The Woodstove Festival
- Playing Balkan folk music with Mike WT Allen, Ashton Sweet, and more in Balkan Shmalkan (kind of like my friend Steve Clements)
- Dance’s role in folk music
- Scrap Arts Music, with whom Chris plays and briefly moved to Victoria to work (founders Gregory Kozak and Justine Murdy; fellow percussionists Masako Hockey, Alex Campbell, Kristin Klehr)
- Composing at Simon Fraser University and working with the Burnaby Arts Council in a 12-week project (David Knights Cowling involved)
- Practicing for an audition
- Ecstatic Waves projects with Jaya Story, Erica Regehr, and Nadia Schibli
- Physical recovery for musicians (pair with Emily Wood and her insights on music and the brain)r
- When to take vacations to rest your chops
- Practicing slowly to learn how to move better
- Differences between athletics and music (comes down to goals)
- Getting better without hurting yourself
- touring in BC by bike in 2018