Ashley Shabankareh - extending grace and space

In this episode, Monica has an inspiring conversation with Ashley Shabankareh - a musician, musician educator, and administrator based in New Orleans. Ashley is a trombonist, vocalist, the Director of Operations and Programs for the Trombone Shorty Foundation, works with a wide variety of organizations, teaches at Loyola University, and is an artist, costume maker and dancer. Monica and Ashley talk about the challenges with explaining what we do as creatives in a label-oriented world, describing music in terms of bands instead of genres, sharing different influences and listening habits, as well as some listening recommendations. They also have a candid conversation about the process over the end product and allowing people to fail without negative repercussions, the little bit of panic and stress that still comes from being asked to solo and dissecting why that is and how to approach learning differently from a place of extending the grace and space which allow to each other grow, while acknowledging that each of us may bring different experiences, understandings, disabilities, mental health factors, etc into any musical situation. Ashley shares how sometimes the hardest things that happen to us can also be gifts, how we are more than our titles, and the importance of allowing calm and relaxation into our lives. She also answers the "Behind the Curtain" questions.  _____________ To support Brave Musician, including the production of this podcast, please visit BraveMusician.com for information on our Pay-It-Forward model and how you can help. The Brave Musician podcast is a part of BraveMusician, which includes a variety of workshops, a blog, and other opportunities to connect within this community. Please visit BraveMusician.com to find out more. _____________ See the show notes at BraveMusician.com/podcasts.