Just Add Music (with Minna)

Send us Fan Mail Don't have the CALM app yet? Fear not! My love letter to Notation episode is here to help you rest that weary body and heavy eyelids.  Cozy up with your favorite blanket and hear me wax poetic about my love for the art of notation (the art of creating sheet music). While some composers view notation time as drudgery, I find it soothing and a constant reminder of how the human...

Send us Fan Mail The big day is here! Time to go to the studio and finally record the final versions of these two short pieces. It's August 2023 and we are in Oakland at 25th Street Studios with a 13 piece string section, a trumpet player, a french horn player and a flutist. I am conducting and producing the session.  Listen to how we build each piece layer by layer. Thank you to Gabe Shephar...

Send us Fan Mail At last, the final episode of the Overture Series is here! It's been 3 months since that first call and finally I get to hear the final reveal on tour, loud and proud!  Welcome to the Season Finale of Just Add Music Season 2, the Overture series!

Send us Fan Mail It's been about a week since I fiddled around with the first draft of the Postal Service Overture. During that week of waiting, I felt overwhelmed with the amount of fixing I was going to have to do. The memory of the draft in my head turned out to be way worse than the reality of what was sitting on my hard drive so when I actually sat down to work on the piece, it wasn&apos...

Send us Fan Mail We've all felt it, but no one (to my knowledge) has ever named it. You know that feeling when you send your first draft of a fresh new idea, your baby, your precious to someone for their feedback? But you haven't heard anything back yet? What emotions do you feel? I feel relief. I feel like I've earned the right to rest and it feels incredible. Here's an episod...

Send us Fan Mail Today we move onto writing the overture for Death Cab for Cutie. My relationship with DCFC goes back to 2011 when I wrote my first string arrangements for their Codes and Keys album. Shortly thereafter, we toured an orchestral collab set in 2012 with the Magik*Magik Orchestra. Because of this history, the writing process for DCFC felt so different from what it was like writing for...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the 2nd Season of Just Add Music! For this series, we are delving into the behind the scenes of the composing process by tracking the lifecycle of 2 short music commissions from start to finish. The pieces in question? Two 1-minute orchestra overtures for the bands Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service to open their 20th Anniversary Tour in 2023 and 2024. Join Minn...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the 2nd Season of Just Add Music! For this series, we are delving into the behind the scenes of the composing process by tracking the lifecycle of 2 short music commissions from start to finish. The pieces in question? Two 1-minute orchestra overtures for the bands Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service to open their 20th Anniversary Tour in 2023 and 2024. Join Minn...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the 2nd Season of Just Add Music! For this series, we are delving into the behind the scenes of the composing process by tracking the lifecycle of 2 short music commissions from start to finish. The pieces in question? Two 1-minute orchestra overtures for the bands Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service to open their 20th Anniversary Tour in 2023 and 2024. Join me a...

Send us Fan Mail Oh Yenta, Yenta, Yenta. This episode is dedicated to my dear friend Agii, who has always been there for me in good times and bad. Your podcast inspired me to make my own and our daily chats are life giving. The spirit of Fiddler on the Roof reminds me of you and of your family's path to the states. I'm so grateful for our friendship, Happy Hanukkah my friend. Here's...

Send us Fan Mail Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I'd love to say I saved this episode for last to match with the Christmas holidays but in fact I saved this episode for last because I was feeling very unconfident about my ability to play jazz or even talk about it. I debated not recording this one because the music is so outside my wheelhouse but it brought up some topics I felt were re...

Send us Fan Mail After listening back to the Charlie Brown Episode I recorded 5 months ago, both my producer and I thought it left things a bit unresolved.  I've always taken a bit of pride in my ability to play most things by ear, but here and there I come across a piece where I have to admit defeat and buy the sheet music online. This was one of those times!  To all who took the time to lis...

Send us Fan Mail It's hard to overstate how impactful this film was to me as a young watcher and listener.  Before I understood the Korean or English words being spoken at me as a baby, I was able to understand the musical gestures I was seeing and hearing on the screen with this film. Being able to understand a story with just visuals and music and no speaking was impactful beyond my compreh...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the 4th VHS tape of our series: Amadeus! This is the first of the tapes that isn't really a kids movie. There are depictions of suicide attempts, blood, sex, etc. But, there are also many more depictions of sublime music, so make the call yourself on who in your house gets to watch this movie and who doesn't. The way Salieri talks about Mozart's music is...

Send us Fan Mail Can't afford music lessons for your kid in this economy? Just buy the Sound of Music and play on repeat. Maria was my first music teacher and she taught me so much about how music is constructed, complete with puppet shows and rolling hills. It'll be the best $14.99 you'll spend this year. Julie Andrews: baby's first music teacher. 

Send us Fan Mail The first episode of the VHS Tapes Series. Join me as I explore the VHS Tapes of my childhood that were my first music teachers. First up: The Little Mermaid! This was recorded in early May 2023 before the new version came out. I had seen the trailer online but the movie hadn't dropped yet. I loved Halle's version of the song as well, including her ascent to that high no...

Send us Fan Mail Hi! Welcome to Just Add Music, a podcast for the music curious, aspiring music makers and anyone in need of a  creative companion on a lonely day.  My name is Minna. I'm a professional composer living in the Bay Area. 15 years ago I started an orchestra called The Magik*Magik Orchestra and have composed music for hundreds of bands, filmmakers, artists on creative projects of...