Composing The Moons Symphony: Music, NASA and the Power of an Interdisciplinary Education

Mark Taylor 00:00:00

Hello. Welcome back to Education on Fire. Today, I'm delighted to be chatting to Amanda Lee Falkenberg, and she's an internationally acclaimed Australian composer, pianist, and creator of the Moons Symphony, a groundbreaking orchestral work recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. Now, her work uniquely bridges science, music, and storytelling and is developed in collaboration with leading astronomers and institutions, including NASA planetary scientists. She is also the founder of Lunar, an immersive educational platform that blends planetary science, music, and art to inspire curiosity and ignite deeper learning in students and lifelong learners. Now, her music and educational vision has been featured internationally, positioning her at the intersection of creativity, science, and human exploration. Now, as a professional musician myself, I love this conversation and the ability to share the power of music in a way that's not just siloed for learners. Hello, my name is Mark Taylor, and welcome to the Education on Far podcast, The place for creative and inspiring learning from around the world. Listen to teachers, parents, and mentors share how they are supporting children to live their best, authentic life and are proving to be a guiding light to us all. Hi, Amanda. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Education on Far podcast. This kind of brings my entire life together. The. The musical element, the education element, the storytelling, just people's creativity. So I'm so delighted that you're here and really looking forward to hearing your whole journey about the Moon Symphony.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:01:31

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.

Mark Taylor 00:01:35

So why don't we start, first of all by setting the scene in terms of what is the Moon Symphony, first of all, and then we're sort of working the journey of how you got there, because as a musician myself, I know these things don't just happen from a composer's point of view. They don't just get recorded with the yellow. So there's so many things that go into it. So. So take us on that journey, first of all.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:01:54

Well, the inspiration came from stumbling across a website that shared with me the 10 weirdest moons of our solar system. And the reason why I landed on this website is because I was doing some research, because at the time, I was just finishing a piano composition of the piano concerto called Crossing of the Crescent Moon. And I was nearly finished that. And I thought, I'm just gonna step out of my studio, grab a cup of tea, and research some ancient symbolism of crescent moons. And about two hours into research, this is the website that I stumbled across. And I felt like there was a shot of lightning that went through my system, because I thought to myself, gosh, there's more moons I could be writing for. And so I immediately, when I saw this collection of moons, it was kind of strange because I felt sorry for them, because I thought, these aren't weird. These are wonderful. And the next thing that came into my system and my mind was, these moons need music. And then the next feeling and sensation was, these moons need emotion. And I think the reason why, I mean, it's kind of a strange thing to come to you when you're encountering such an article. But I think my background as a film composer, knowing the power of music, and when you team it up with a great story, it can really elevate someone's experience with the topic. And I think at that point I was just so giddy to have discovered these fascinating worlds I had no idea about. I'm a musician, I'm not an astronomer. And so I thought to myself, you know, what if I made it my mission to encase their worlds into music, which is what I knew best as a film composer, so that it would have more outreach and other people would be able to interact with their worlds and learn about it through the idiom of music. And so that's how the Moon Symphony began. And honestly, I felt like. Like I was the director of a film. I got to, you know, had this casting call of these moons and shortlisted them. And so I was just super excited to begin this big odyssey, if you like, of bringing their worlds to musical life.

Mark Taylor 00:04:11

And I think even when you think about moons generally, you sort of have that cinematic idea, don't you? I mean, anyone that can remember the moon landing or certainly be aware of the moon landing, you know, it's that kind of. This is majestic, it's inspirational. It's something which is. Just needs that film score to go with it in order to kind of have that sense. And so I think, like, say, marrying those two things up and like I said, with the storytelling and all that, it just makes so much sense.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:04:40

And I think, you know, when. I mean, obviously most of our inspiration, at least those of us born in 60s 70s grow up with the John Williams, you know, Star wars saga. And, you know, that came out a year after I was born, but I was still enthralled. And just the ability for music to have such an incredible visceral response to those who are watching, engaged with these big space themes. And so I thought, gosh, here's my chance to be. You know, I like writing sort of big, epic scores, big cinematic scores. And I thought, here's my chance to do that. But I think the thing that I love my little slogan about comparing John Williams with this particular project and the assignment that I set myself on was these are science fact driven stories that inspired the music. These aren't George Lucas script. And I think that's what I get really excited about. And that's where the educational element comes in, because it is science driven drama told through a musical landscape. And that is probably why we're talking together right now.

Mark Taylor 00:05:51

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, take us into that, that science ele. What is it about that side of it that then where the music came from and, and that crossover between scientists and I know you've had astronauts speaking about it as well and sort of how these two very different worlds in some ways have literally collided to sort of have that inspiration from both sides of that coin.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:06:13

Yeah. And because I started out as, you know, just the music and the emotion and, and then when I said I started my research phase, I started coming across a lot of science and I thought, gosh, you know, at that point I hadn't planned on bringing a choir into the landscape. And so I thought to myself, gosh, if I did bring in a choir to sing the science that I was discovering, it would give it so much more outreach and relevance. And it just felt like it would be such a more complete package and, you know, and an experience for those who are going to be encountering and interacting with the music and the storytelling. And so really the science was the second part to the discovery and it happened relatively soon. And then the scientists, the planetary scientists came in after I was gathering my research and was stumbling across a lot of inconsistencies, I guess you could say, you know, there's a lot of discrepancies in the Internet. And I was getting frustrated by that. And I remember turning to my husband saying, I need to consult a Moon specialist about these facts. And I didn't know they were called planetary scientists back then. And so I started trying to research who would be the best person to identify, identify, to help, you know, anchor the science in accuracy. And being a teacher at heart, I dearly wanted to make sure that I had my, my facts checked. And so that's really how that evolved.

Mark Taylor 00:07:39

Into the project and, and take us into sort of the, the, the education side specifically as well, because then I think we've sort of covered both aspects of that and then we can sort of dive into some of that history too. So how did that happen and what are you trying to be able to explain to People, show people. And what sort of age are you sort of aiming for?

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:07:59

Yeah, well, the thing is, I knew, as I said, I'm an. I'm a teacher at heart. And I knew when I was building this symphony that I really wanted to engage as much as the science as possible. And it really 100% drove all my creative decisions. And because I would not begin composing in my studio until I had gathered at least, you know, months of research and so that. So I always knew the nucleus of the inspiration was driven by information that I wanted to. I knew that I was gonna find a way in a position to then unpack it once the symphony was developed and recorded. And once it was recorded, I remember hitting that second phase which I was really looking forward to. The project which was right now, how can I package this as an educational platform, which taking me years and I'm still obviously developing it, but I found the angle in which I want to do. There's two answers to that. One is a live event which I've used. My program is called Luna, and it stands for Learning under New Artistic Regimes, which is like it basically interdisciplinary immersive experience for education. So it's the music, the art, the emotion, obviously the science and all of those themes that collide. And so I've actually been really fortunate to have partnered with Imperial College of London to beta test the Lunar Live event. And we were fortunate to grab some of the students inspiration students reaction after the concert. And it was really encouraging to me to see how much they were affected and lit up. And so we got all these raw, beautiful, giddy reactions from them about, you know, the sun and the music. And we had some NASA planetary scientists that flew over for the event and it was just. It proved to me that the formula works and that there is a hunger and appetite for this type of presentation, if you like. And so what that then led me to do, which was to create an online course so that it isn't just confined to the cities that I'm presenting the Luna Live program in. And now that has been really interesting, just trying to figure out the angle, how to package it, how to give it a look and feel. It's been so. It's been like writing a whole symphony. In fact, it feels like writing seven symphonies because each module is very specific to the scientific elements. But I found a really nice formula, I'm happy to say, and I've had the first pilot students go through the online program and I have actually been blown away by how much they have really felt and experienced Exactly. I mean, I'd always wanted it to resonate in the way that it is with students, but some of the feedback that I'm getting is just. It just makes me just keep going on and encouraged to keep rolling out these modules. So I have finished module one, which, funny enough, Mark, is to the volcanic world of Jupiter's moon IO and so I love sitting on this podcast with you, Education on Fire. So that's my first fiery educational module for Luna, which is completed. And so, yeah, that's really how I'm designing. You know, I'm offering the experience for students to. And the other fun thing about this, Mark, is, and this is what I was really passionate about, is that you don't need to be a musician, you don't need to be a scientist. You just need to come with curiosity, be in love with space and being open to learning from a very different perspective and just being, you know, a passenger. But at the same time, you know, let the course just open up your mind and expand it in these ways that, you know, you probably haven't been exposed to. A lot of the first participants had absolutely no background in classical music, and they were super apprehensive, but it ended up being a massive part of the experience that they were really looking forward to. I mean, we had Abbey Road Studio Choir, so you can. And that's part of my. My packaging of the experience is that I take them through just the choir and you have this incredible, you know, reverb from the Abbey Road studios, and of course, the artwork that's involved. And so it's really. It's been a labor of beautiful love. But I'm also really passionate to see if there's an appetite and how I can roll this out to, you know, a wider audience. So that's. I'm basically in that marketing phase right now.

Mark Taylor 00:12:48

And I think the thing that really strikes me, the thing I love so much, is the fact that so many things are siloed in education now. You know, it would be, this is the science lesson, this is the music lesson, and then within music, we're going to be doing the composition and all of that kind of thing, as opposed to this is life or this is the. The project, this is the experience we're going to have. And all of those elements are just as important of each other. And. And let's say all those people in the live event, for example, they will all have their slightly different specialties, things they're interested in, things that they love, and they'll take something out that reflects the importance for them, but it's just as important as the next person. So whether they. It's the science they really grab or the music. And like I say, so many people these days, on the face of it, they don't have any experience in orchestral music, for example, except, of course, they've all watched a million films. It's just that correlation. But saying, look, you know, about orchestral music, this is. This is orchestral music. It's just in that sort of modern genre, as it were. And so Benzel to sort of say, ah, but this is it in real life. Or this is it with a different storytelling element, rather than it just having a background of film.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:13:55

Absolutely. And I think because of the background that I have as a film composer, programmatic music is a huge part of this symphony, which is where music literally will describe the scene. And that's what I unpack to great detail in what I call the Music Safaris of the Lunar Experience. Experience at the Lunar Online course. And I really. I'm so sensitive about making sure that it's just so welcoming and warming and so not intimidating because the science. Cause obviously the science was intimidating for me. And so I'm super sensitive that I don't want the musicians to feel intimidated by the science. And so, you know, so I've got my own sort of scientific journey of trepidation. But fortunately, I had a team of incredible scientists that I could consult with to sort of, you know, really soften my experience. And so, you know, and it's really about, like you said, Mark, just getting people exposed to all these worlds that usually are, you know, separated. And, you know, back to Maren Alsop, she quotes in one of her BBC magazine articles, you know, so much of our world is siloed. And the thing I love about Amanda's Moon Symphony is this interdisciplinary place that I love to live. And I'm like, that's why, you know, we're so grateful to have her champion, you know, the Moon Symphony. So that is. And I'm really passionate about that. And I. And I. I've been told that there's nothing sort of like this in educational programs. And to be frank with you, Mark, this is tricky stuff. Like, I have spent so much, like brain power and artistic power, just really, to the nth degree, just really thinking through all the details of the program and, you know, by wording and just how it's all packaged together, like being super mindful that I'm equally ticking. All those worlds are getting center stage as much as possible and showing the synergy of them, which has been really fun as well. So it's been fun, but it's also, I can see why there's not a lot of courses out there, because it's tricky. And it's only because I have this moon symphony that I can unpack the science, and I have it all sort of there. And then I roll out this program. I mean, I think that's been really helpful. I call it like the mothership of this lunar program. Like everything stems from the moon symph. And that was easy because that was my inspiration. And. But at the time, Mark, I didn't know that. I just knew to get as much science understood in the symphony, and then I would figure out how to package it for education.

Mark Taylor 00:16:31

And one of the things that we've spoken a lot about on the podcast recently is that kind of sense that children can only aspire to what they know exists. And I think, like you say, as you have the symphony as a starting point, almost, it's that kind of, even if they haven't been to a live concert, for example, or they haven't experienced it in that way, you have that immediateness of now, they do know what that is. But then there's a continual program, then it's that kind of, there's more to explore, there's more to learn, there's more as part of the whole, rather than. I don't like these sort of sense of, you know, it's a wow day. We've been to see an orchestra play or we've just done this, which is better than not having seen anything. But it's a million miles away from that kind of immersive understanding of how all these things fit together.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:17:12

Yeah. And I think, you know, as my husband was always, you know, he's an educator as well. He's a musician and composer and big champion, of course, the Moon Symphony and my journey with all of this. And he was. He knows how passionate I am about education and being a teacher at heart. And he, you know, but first and foremost, what we were always concentrating on was making sure that emotionally the music really resonated. And then that would be the gateway for those who wanted to, you know, look under the hood and figure out, well, what else is under there? Like, you know, like you said, like, so it's a starting point. And the thing that I'm happy about, the fact that, you know, it's going to take me a while to roll all this out, but, you know, each moon will have its own module. And so, you know, and it's associated with a different planetary system for the most part as well. And there's just so much to be learned out there, especially with these latest legacy missions that have gone out in the last 20 years. And it was an incredible opportunity that I just didn't want to ignore. And because I had access to people leading these, you know, flagship missions. Zibi Turtle, Dr. Robert Pappalato, Dr. Linda Spilker, Voyager. And they were just, I mean I, I attended as much as I could. They invited me to a lot of the science conferences and I mean that's, we can talk about that a little bit later. But that was super inspirational. And this is of course, when I'm still building the symphony. So it was really, as my husband would say, like for the. I was really nurturing my relationships with the scientists. And then once all the research was done and the symphony was composed, the next phase was nurturing the musicians and finding the conductor, the marinal sops. And so it's been such a journey. And I think and you never, I mean you always approach as an artist your work with, well, at least most of us do, with just authenticity and integrity and you know, and always my big thing mark was how far can I take my own creativity and what I encounter as an artist? How can I infuse that in an artistic experience? And I think what's coming through with the lunar program, at least from these first participants, is actually more than I even thought. Like, I just thought, yeah, I mean it's well enough, it's all well and good for me to kind of go, yeah, I know how deep all these levels and layers are. But it's actually came through, you know, a recent student and who went through the program, like, wow, like. And of course I've had the. So I've had literally all ages interacting from the lunarlive. I had teenagers, so like 15 to 18 year olds, but also like teachers that attended the event as well, right up to. I'm getting a lot of interest from like 60 plus 70, 80 year olds because of course that's their era. They saw all the, you know, the Apollo mission and so that's a lot. It's almost like there's a nostalgia there for them. And so it's really like a past, present, future, a platform to get excited about because it is about the legacy space missions. But we've got Dragonfly going out to Titan, a follow up mission with Lizbeth Turtle leading that. We've got others, you know, got the Europa Clipper on its way to Jupiter's moon Europa with an ocean two and a half times larger than planet Earth. I mean, so there's a lot of relevance as well for students to be, not just historically, but also. And One thing that Dr. Zibby Turtle made a comment to me about, she said, the great thing about what you're doing with your lunar program and these outer solar system explorations, they take so long to get out there. But what you can do is wet the students appetites while they're in high school. They can select their subjects and the time the spacecraft lands at the planetary system, they're going to be looking for graduates. It's to help unlock all the data. And so it's just. I loved how she pointed that out to me because obviously wasn't thinking from that perspective. I've got millions of other things in my brain, but I, I just like, fantastic, you know, if, if that is, is an opportunity to do that, well, that's, we can get really excited about that.

Mark Taylor 00:21:30

So I love that. So let's, let's talk about that a little bit in terms of. I think it's so easy to be. We talked about being siloed. It's like, I'm a student, I'm at school, school, I'm a teacher. It's all within the confines of, you know, the four walls and sort of inverter covers. You've obviously had this piece of music you've been able to compose and then you've gone out each of those different steps. You know, we want to get it recorded. We want the people who are going to be passionate about it to do it, the scientists, all of that. So how did you go about it in terms of a mindset approach? You know, how do you go about saying, I'm just going to reach out and ask or where do I find this information from? And how do you make that happen? Because I think it's very easy with an educ to think we just have to do what we're told. But with, with social media, with the ability of the Internet and with people being interested in having conversations like this, the opportunities are there as long as you have that mindset in that sense of, well, I'm just going to try and make it happen because I'm passionate about it, because I've got something to tell the world, because I think I've got something that's going to help people like say those people that are going to be graduates when, when these sort of things are going to be happening to be able to Spark that imagination. And to sort of do that, we sort of almost o everyone that we're involved in education to sort of make, yeah, this is possible, and this is the world that you're going to be inhabiting in the future.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:22:50

Beautifully said. And there's a couple ways I want to answer that. I. So, to your first question, I, as I said, I was coming across all this inconsistency, and I wanted to approach a scientist to help me anchor the facts in accuracy. And so I Then I was watching this particular gentleman on YouTube because at that point I was studying Europa and the character of the moon Europa, and I thought, oh, gosh, he seems like such an interesting person. He was dressed in, like, an Eskimo gear, and he is talking about the science of this moon. I mean, this is just a couple years, I've realized after they even had announced that they were going to send this spacecraft to Europa. So in some ways, that whole mission and the moon sippy kind of grew up together. And that's a whole other fun conversation which I'll be putting into Module two, which is devoted to Europa. But anyway, so I said to my husband, I think I found someone I need to consult with. And I said, look. Oh, he's from NASA. And I describe it as this black hole email. You know how you'd have this little box and you just write your little message and you just press send. There's no email, there's no nothing. And I'm like. So I turned to my husband, like, I'm just gonna send him my mission, my vision and my mission, and to see if he'd be willing to talk to me. And by then, I hadn't written any music. I'd only just started researching. And so I sort of told him about my dream about having these big concerts and these moons in concert. And. And so I didn't think anything of. I sent it off in the black hole and email. And sure enough, he got back to me seven days later and said, amanda, your project sounds really interesting. I'd be happy to Skype with you. And so we did meet and we had a video call, and it was incredibly exhilarating. I was telling him some of my musical sort of plans, and he was telling me about the types of rockets they're going to launch the spacecraft on. And we had a very lively conversation. I think just towards the end, he said to me, he said, you, Amanda, I think the scientists would be really interested in what you're doing. And I said, really? And he said, oh, yes, I think they would. And then little did I know that he went and told Linda Spilker, Dr. Linda Spilker, who's now heading the Voyager missions, spacecrafts. And so she told her about my project. It was at the time that I was doing a TEDx youth talk here in Dubai about. And I was, my talk was based about, on my Moon symphony, which I was still composing at that point. And so I did this TEDX youth talk and I sent it to him who then forwarded onto her. She watched it all and she said she was hooked. And she said, right, I'm inviting Amanda to NASA jpl. I want her to give a presentation to the scientists who was still then in mission. That was their final year in 2017. So yes, the following year I went to NASA JPL and I gave a 20 minute presentation to the scientists that had inspired the musical direction of the third movement. So that. And then it just sort of snowballed from then. And then while I was there, I got to meet some other, I got to choose who would be the next scientist for the next moon. And so it was really such a wonderful, like collaborative spirit that I just wanted to embrace why I had these incredible opportunities. And I knew I would never have that opportunity again once it was built. It was built. I mean, sure, I'd be able to do little, you know, tweaks, maybe here and there, but essentially the science was always going to be established. So, yeah, so that's sort of how all that sort of snowballed.

Mark Taylor 00:26:18

Amazing. And so then take us into the musical side of that then in terms of, you know, having the LSO record at the London Symphony Orchestra, you know, one of the world's greatest orchestras and like, say, being able to have it related to Abbey Road and all of that. I mean, these are iconic things. And it's one thing thinking you can make that happen, but even if you're in a position to think about making that happen, there's still the practicalities and their schedules and budgets and a million other things that go on. So that's very different than kind of I've got this great symphony, but I need to find someone local to be able to do it or we're going to try and do it in some way. So I just, I love the majesty in the fact that it's been done in a way that can be presented in that kind of, you know, this is beyond earthly because we're talking about, you know, planets and, and moons and solar systems and things beyond anything anyone's experienced. And so it's feels right that it should have that kind of grandeur that goes with it.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:27:12

And not only that, LSO would always performing Star wars. It was the go to orchestra. So I also love that connection. I've got a lot of stories behind there, but I think what I'd like to start by saying is that I started when I was getting ready to finishing all of this. I was making a lot of trips back and forth to London and a very dear family friend of mine started watching me build the project and becoming really fascinated by over the years at how it was coming together. And he offered to put on a private dinner at his house in London. And by that point, Nicole Stott, the astronaut. Nicole Stott was very, very. Has always been a big champion about the whole message, the whole journey, and so supportive of this mission and its message. And so she flew over to be. To present to this private audience that he basically both. She has obviously a lot of connections as well, you can imagine. So we. He held this private gathering for about maybe 50 people to just sort of beta test it because it hadn't been beta tested by that point. And so it was basically the first presentation I ever gave. And so we did it in. In this. In their beautiful home in London. And we just did it to test the, you know, whether the message was impactful. And so yes, Nicole flew over and gave her little presentation and then I walked everyone through excerpts from all seven moons. And by then it was only the electronic recording I had at that point. And then so the reaction was totally mind blowing. It was more than I ever would have ever thought or dreamt of. And it was a signal to everyone who was there. We're like, okay, we've got to have it with lsa. We've got to have it with Premium. Premium, Premium. Everything has to be premium to get this. The dream team was the word that was getting tossed around. We can't just have any orchestra do this. And I'm like, wow, gosh, you know, this is really incredible. And then so we were sort of on a trajectory for, you know, getting all that going. Covid hit. And weirdly enough, just before COVID hit, I was frantically trying to get LSO's diary lined up with Marin Allsop's Diary lined up with Abbey Road Studio's diary. And none of it was collide. None of it was happening. We did actually have some dates in for 2020, but obviously that was the COVID That was the end of the first Covid year. And right. The sort of like I Think it was in, like, October that my booking got cancelled, obviously for the rich reason. But the other sort of serendipitous timing of that date mark was it was actually 100 years after Holster Planets was recorded with LSO now host. The planets has nothing to do with the inspiration behind this. And I often get asked the question, and I have a talking point for that now, but it was purely just science and moons, which is what inspired me. Not, oh, I'm trying to do a Holst thing. And it wasn't that at all, but that was kind of poetic to me. 100 Years Holst and pairing it with planets and moons. But it turned out that Marin couldn't have done it anyway. Her schedule was absolutely slammed. But then Covid hit and then it was about June into Covid when obviously all her schedules. Schedule collapsed. And I get this random email saying, hey, Amanda, my schedule's become clearer now. Do we want to think about getting this recording of your moon symphony? And I'm like, oh, my God, she's now back in our orbit. Because we tried for about three months and we just couldn't land it. So it was Covid that really brought all the elements back together, weirdly enough. And so we ended up doing Not In Abbey Road. We recorded the orchestra in LSO with Maren conducting. And then we had had the choir recorded separately at Abbey Rose Studios, which is good for production because it gives separation and it means you just get a much more better tone, production, clarity of different elements coming together. And so. And they'll have a little kind of a coda to that later on. So that's actually how the project all came together. And it was because of the exposure to this initial listening party in London, thanks to my patron who gathered all these people that gave the evidence that, you know, there is this. You know, people were saying, this thing has legs, this thing has legs. So it gave a lot of confidence to then go and help fund that first phase of. Of the journey. And so that's really how all that came about.

Mark Taylor 00:31:52

And I just think it just goes to show you just have to make those initiatives. You know, like I say, it went to the black hole of the email. It just, you know, the box that's never open ending. And sometimes you just have to do it and you don't know all the steps. Like you say, it's just the first step which takes you to the next one. You don't know who's then going to talk about it, what those connections are going to be. You Know, from America to London and like, say, you know, a world event which just changed everything overnight, which then became the thing that enabled what the vision was to actually happen. I mean, you can't make any of that stuff up. You. You just literally have to do what you think feels right in the time and. And let the rest of it happen. And I think when you're passionate about something, when you've real sort of vision for what you want to do, there's something about the energy that goes with that that I think people get drawn to. Hence the reason it becomes a reality and the success that comes with it.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:32:44

You know, that's so perfectly phrased, Mark. And, you know, going back to the Holt comment, I was really racking my brains to sort of have my talking point for when people. Because people saying people are going to draw parallels to planets and your moons, and they said, you better be ready. And I'm like, God, okay, fine. Really, the only way I sort of knew Hol music was through the TEP score for Star wars, and George Lucas used it to sort of guide John Williams. And I'm like, well, that's kind of cool. So that works. So I have that talking point, but actually it was. There's a much stronger and deeper authentic parallel that I really feel resonates with, you know, the whole story. And if I am gonna draw it with my own story. And that is. His was a passion project, and mine was a passion project. And, you know, he took two years to write his. He was absolutely enthralled with the mytholog, you know, aspects of the planetary system. I was enthralled by the scientific aspects of the. Of the moons. And he. Yeah, so I feel like that's my. That's my favorite parallel that I like to share with people about our own sort of artistic journeys.

Mark Taylor 00:33:53

And I think the beauty of that is the fact that when you have that common starting point, but then it goes into so many different directions. You know, this doesn't sound like this. It's not even coming from the same sort of perceived center, but yet we have this completely unique vision of. Of what that is. I think then. I think it gives everyone a sense of, you know, what's your passion? What's your interest? What is it that you're trying to do? Even if someone says, oh, but isn't it like this? Or isn't it coming from this thing, you're able to say, no, this comes from me because of this. And then it's. It's an easier conversation then, because you're authentically like saying no, exactly what you're trying to achieve.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:34:31

And another to that point, I just had a world premiere of the Moon Symphony Choral Suite, which is an adaption from the actual Moon's symphony, which is about to have its world premiere. So for the recording, the premiere recording, the choir and orchestra were not together for that. As you know, we had them separately. So it would be the first time that choral forces and symphony will be on stage for the full experience. But what happened in Pennsylvania this year? Nevada Philharmonic, sorry, NEPA in Pennsylvania with Melissa Brignett who was conducting, they did an abbreviated version. So it was a 22 minute version of the Moon Sympathy. So we had choral forces and orchestra on stage and it was. So it was a glimpse of what's going to happen next year in Nevada for the world premiere with Laura Jackson conducting. So I'm super excited about, about that. But anyway, going back to that conversation about having that the Coral Suite premiered in Pennsylvania, I remember the executive director saying to me, oh, so the instrumentation looks pretty because they were doing Holst first and then mine would follow. And he said, oh, it looks very similar to Holst. And I'm sure that was planned. I'm like, no, that was not planned. It was not planned. So, yeah, another like parallel to the Holst story. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, that wasn't planned. Coincidence. So, yeah, it's kind of, it's just, it's been a fun sort of D to the journey, the musical journey. But yeah, I'm just thrilled that, yeah, people are pairing it with Holst. And in fact, next year the actual premiere is going to be paired with John Williams, A New hope. It's the 50th anniversary of the score. So that's a really nice, beautiful sort of knowledge. Knowing that your music, you're sharing the stage with Maestro John Williams. That's kind of dreamy, I would have to say. That's right up there with bucket list stuff.

Mark Taylor 00:36:31

Yeah, for sure. So just for people who are obviously going to want to find out more about it, where would you like them to go and visit and what's that sort of touch point that you'd like them to do to sort of find out the next step, so to speak.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:36:48

Yeah, so I have a designated website called the Moon Symphony and there's. You can go and interact with the music. You'll see the lunar program has its own designated menu as well and you can sort of dive through that and yeah, so I do. Before someone Enters the module. The first module, what I did is sort of like a pre course and I call it Gateway to Lunar, which is an immersive, very cinematic overview of all the seven moons. And it's about a 45 minute immersive video musical presentation where I basically, you know, just sort of, sort of explain what Luna is all about and what they will encounter for those who want to go deeper in the, in the journey and sign up for the modules as they are developed. And so that Gateway to Luna is available as well to just sort of get a taste of it and then decide whether they want to enroll in a trek or do a full module. There's four treks in the first module, like Star Treks, Moon Treks. And so, yeah, so that's like, as I said, it's just been finished beta testing and that's all available on the website moonsymphony.com but if you just Google the Moon Symphony, it will come up.

Mark Taylor 00:38:09

Yeah. And we'll have links to everything in the show, notes in that as well. So do check that out if it's something which is excited you as much as it has me for, for sure. Now, obviously the acronym FIRE is important to us here on the podcast and by that we mean feedback, inspiration, resilience and empowerment. What is it that strikes you when you hear this? And I think everything we've spoken about so far, you could pick out any of those based on such a long journey to get to where you've got to. But what is it that strikes you?

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:38:40

Well, I think, I mean, all of them do. And I think what I'm going to go for today is the word resilience because I obviously have done a whole lot of research about, you know, the science behind these missions. But these missions, you know, did not happen overnight. They take decades of federal funding and setbacks and new administration come in, they, the budget is shrunk, the budget is back to normal and there's, you know, it is just this. I mean there's some, obviously I've read some incredible books about the journey of like the Europa Klippa mission and you know, all these missions and, and just the resilience of the scientists. And again, it's the passion that drives their desire to just stick with it, even though, you know, funding's being cut, but they just keep, you know, chipping away at it. And I, and I think the other thing that I love about when I found very deeply resonant about comparing the synergy of a planetary scientist with a musician is that Both of those creatures, careers are very long timescale. You just don't become a musician overnight. You don't come a planetary scientist. At least with these, you know, deep space missions overnight, they are you. We need to be in it for the long game. And it takes a certain type of personality and mindset. And it's that resilience that just really resonated with me. I'm like, I could really pivot to any of those fabulous four words here. But I felt like from my, I guess, you know, my own journey, that and just watching the resilience of those scientists year in, year out. And then of course, you know, once they launch the mission, I mean that they've had 20 years of preparing for that, but then they're waiting another seven years before it arrives in the planetary system. I mean, so it's just that constant, you know, just in it for the long game. And you need that R word to really help sort of see the bigger picture. And your passion has to drive and fuel that ability to stay resilient.

Mark Taylor 00:40:39

I really love that. And it just strikes me, you know, as a musician myself, you know, the 10,000 hour rule, all of that kind of thing. The moment when you're on the Albert hall stage performing is the, like you say, the equivalent of the 25 year wait to get there. You know, the moments when you're just practicing in a room on your own for the nth hour of that particular week and you just have to realize you, that, that like you're saying what is it you're doing, why are you doing it, why are you passionate about it? But understand the process. You understand the fact that everything that you do, the resilience, the empowerment, the inspiration, the feedback, you know, when people are doing those things, they're all part and parcel of what it is that you're having to do, what you're having to learn. And those educational things are things which I think can be instilled through understanding exactly what we've spoken about today. Because someone just telling you that it's going to take this amount of time or you need to work this hard. It's all very well and good, but it's very hard to, to do that without the, the touch points along the way, the celebrations of the little wins, the understanding of, of what that is. It's not about, in 25 years we're going to see this happen. It's about today we've managed to get something to move. For me as a musician, it was that kind of, that bit of Technique or this thing I've never been able to do, I was able to do it, you know, the. The first little concert with a junior windband, whatever it happens to be a bit like, like you said, make that first email, take that first step and allow the rest of it to happen. And I think the way you've explained all of that has been really, really important.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:42:09

I love how you mentioned the word 10,000 hours, because obviously we've read the book by Markham Godwell and that was hugely inspirational to me as an artist. And yeah, so it's just those. I mean, and it's, you know, even that him writing that book and spelling out that this is really the formula behind. And then your story and the planetary scientist story, I. I just think we all have a part to play to just keep propelling ourselves and with that, within that wave of passion and, you know, it's not, you know, especially in this, in this day and age where everything is quite an instant society, instant gratification. You know, I think that's why I love hanging around with these planetary scientists, is that they really understand that that is not the world that they've come from and nor us musicians. That is not our world as well. And I think that is what will always be legendary about being a musician, especially in today's climate. It is. It is such a, you know, just the. It's classic. It's a classic. Something that I cannot take over. Something that is inherent in all of our souls. And it's so satisfying, you know, like you said, celebrate each little step, each little milestone, and, you know, live off the joy of that to propel you to the next little landmark that you're going to set for yourself and your milestone. And. Yeah, so I think these conversations are hugely important today. And yeah, I. Thanks. Thanks so much for having this conversation. It's awesome.

Mark Taylor 00:43:36

Well, thank you. It's been a real joy. And like I said, it brings all of my passions together. And I think sometimes being able to see that, that's the whole, you know, it's not I'm a musician today. It's not that I'm a educator day. It's not I'm a podcaster today. It's. I'm still me today. And to be able to sort of share all those things and bring them together is an absolute, real pleasure. So, yeah, thanks so much for sharing your story and the best of luck with. With like, say, the premiere next year and everything that goes is Luna develops.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg 00:44:03

Thank you so much. And hopefully one day Moons will be invited to Albert hall because that is a big dream of mine. So maybe that will take, who knows, 25 years, who knows? But we just keep the vision and we just keep having fun along the way.

Mark Taylor 00:44:20

Fantastic. Thanks so much.