Finding harmony
Maestro Rhonda Muckerman on conducting music and life

For this week’s “Between the Beats,” I had the pleasure of sitting down with local musician, conductor, associate director of the Durango Choral Society, Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner and author, Rhonda Muckerman.

Muckerman recently authored her memoir, “Of Song and Water,” which was published this past spring. In a world filled with trauma, stress and uncertainty, Muckerman’s story (and occupations as both music conductor and healer) offer a path toward union and finding harmony with ourselves and each other. Grab a copy of this formidable work at that badass local bookstore, Maria’s, or at that beautiful bastion of books, botanical gardens and sweet, sweet WiFi – the Durango Public Library. May Muckerman’s words be healing music in your ears. Guys, gals and non-binary pals, I give you the one and only Rhonda Muckerman.

What set you on the path to pursue a career in conducting?

I was a total band kid. I was in the wind ensemble that you audition for, and I knew it all along: “Yep, this is what I’m doing. This is what I’m going into.” I decided to go to Michigan State University, because they had the first Music Therapy Program in the country. So, I went there, and within one week of being there, I changed my major. We had this really beautiful conductor, Stan DeRusha, and I was like, “Oh my God, this is so beautiful.” And, I thought, “I want to be a conductor.”

What are the qualities of the ideal conductor in your mind?

Someone who’s not there to intimidate me. Somebody who is open-hearted, somebody who looks me right in the eye and is so excited about the music. Somebody who is really focused on the union of all of us that are creating something that’s elevated. A person who knows that the way to get to this union and elevation is through love, respect and inspiration.

How did you end up in Southwest Colorado?

I went to this channeler – it’s a little woo-woo (laughs). So, I’m talking to this channeler, and she says, “Your kindred spirit is in the snow-capped mountains of Colorado.” She didn’t know anything about me, what I did professionally, and she started laughing. She said, “I don’t know why I’m seeing this, but I’m seeing you in front of a band with one of those big sticks, conducting.” The moment she said that, it was one of those things I knew to be true. I was meditating one day, and I said, “OK God, where is my spiritual family? I’ll go anywhere.” And I literally heard the voice say, “Go to Telluride.”

I was in Seattle at the time, and I finished the teaching year, got in my little Suzuki Sidekick, and after a month of traveling, I finally landed in Telluride on July 26, 1994. I set my tent up in Town Park, and there was this moment where I was standing in Elk’s Park looking at the courthouse, and I recognized it from a dream three months earlier. I had never seen a photo of Telluride before. At that moment, I looked to the sky and said, “Yes, sir!” Within three weeks, I had 28 private students, I found a place to live and met my future husband, Peter, in a meditation class. So, the short answer to that question is, divine intervention.

How would you describe the programs you like to put together as associate choral director?

A little bit of pop, a little bit of international flair, a little bit of humor. I hope that a lot of my programs appeal to everyone. I like to have a really diverse program centered on a theme. Oftentimes, my themes are connected with nature, with love, with good messages, because in this world, we need good messages. 

How has studying the Japanese healing modality, Jin Shin Jyutsu, complemented your work as a conductor?

It’s all the same energy because, ultimately, what is it that music does for us? It brings us into union, and it heals us. We can get into the intellectual study of music and be inspired and fascinated by that. But, what music really does is, it reaches our hearts, and, for most people, that’s why they love music. Because we all need healing at one level or another. The interesting corollary is that Jin Shin Jyutsu is performed in silence. I listen for the energetic pulses and listen for the harmony of those in silence, and that’s where the curing happens.

Your jaw-droppingly beautiful memoir, “Of Song and Water,” is about your healing journey in the aftermath of your son’s accidental drug overdose in 2014, as well as your husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. How would you define “healing” in the aftermath of addiction, loss and illness?

It means to come to a degree of peace with something where we can leave it in the past and say, “That’s what happened, I’ll miss this person forever.” But, I’m at peace with it, and the trauma that I sustained from that is not going to affect me with regard to how I feel in the present moment. It doesn’t mean that I liked it, but … I have a degree of forgiveness for it; to go on in life with a sense of optimism and hope. Every single one of us has the list of things that have traumatized us. That’s part of being human. But, when we’re able to say, “I accept it, I forgive it, and I’m grateful for what I have now” – that hurt and sting, we can leave it in the past.

When we’ve healed from something, we find that we have more capacity to get through another challenge in the future.

Connect with Rhonda at www.rhondalmuckerman.com to keep tabs on her performances, speaking engagements, author talks and for more details on her memoir.