Meet Barbara Bogatin, cellist and meditation teacher

There is so much serendipity in the music world! AMN’s Lolly Lewis worked with San Francisco Symphony cellist Barbara Bogatin during the Community of Music Makers program (2011-2016), when Barbara was one of the many generous mentors who coached community chamber musicians in workshops at Davies Hall.

It was only later that Lolly found out about Barbara’s “side hustle” as a meditation teacher, and that Barbara has been guiding artists of all skill levels to finding more ease and musical freedom through her innovative programs in the techniques of “mindfulness meditation “tailored especially for creative musicians.

That’s why it felt like a perfect fit when Jazzschool director Lisa Mezzacappa reached out to discuss whether AMN might want to partner in creating a mindfulness series at the Jazzschool. Lolly jumped at the chance to connect them, and to reinforce through this workshop that music can transcend all boundaries of genre.

Lolly spoke to Barbara about this work and how she envisions the upcoming workshops.

I’m fascinated by the idea of meditation and mindfulness being applied to musicianship. Can this be used as a practical technique or is it more a philosophy about music? Or both?

People often think of “meditation” as a way to “chill out” or get into some kind of “bliss state”—but really what we’re doing in Mindfulness Meditation is cultivating the skill of paying attention, to our minds, our bodies, our breath, and the sounds we create on our instruments. There are definitely very practical ways that learning how to better focus our minds and stay present with each moment can help our music making! This is what I’ll be teaching.

Can meditation help me be a better improviser?

Imagine if you had a reliable method to get right into the flow and feel connected to the musicians in your group, with no obstacles to your own creativity—something we all strive for in our playing! The practice of meditation can help us quiet our inner critic and just enjoy the music that comes out, whether improvised or written down.

What will the sessions be like? Will we all just be sitting silently for an hour?

Ha, definitely not sitting silently for an hour! I’ll be sharing my own struggles as a busy freelance cellist before I joined the San Francisco Symphony, how I never felt I was “good enough” and stressed that I didn’t have enough time to practice. My first insight meditation retreat forty years ago opened my eyes to the complementarity between music practice and meditation practice. I learned how to find a calm center within myself that allowed me to decrease my performance anxiety, discover how to practice more effectively, and experience more joy in playing music. This is available to anyone who takes the time to practice. I’ll be leading several short guided meditations and there will be plenty of time for sharing reflections and questions in the group.

Will there be some music involved?

The first workshop on Nov. 8 will be me teaching the basic elements of Mindfulness Meditation. I’ll talk about the specific ways it has helped me, particularly for calming concert nerves and staying connected to the emotions in the music as I play it. After I lead some short meditation segments I’ll explain some exercises to take home. At the second workshop on Nov. 15, I’ll focus on how meditation can inform our instrumental practice, and people can bring instruments if they choose to explore some of these concepts together in real time. Expect some learning and laughter, with a sprinkling of silence.

AMN is looking forward to it! We hope to see you there.

To learn more about the workshop, go to https://amateurmusic.org/info/workshop/mindfulness/.

To learn more about Jazzschool, go to https://jazzschool.org/.

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