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This is one on one.

I'm an equal American, just like you are.

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It's just the new job.

January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

I don't care how good you ar or how good you think you are.

There is always something to learn.

I mean, what other countries sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better?

People call me because they feel nobody's paying attention.

It's not all about memorizing and getting information.

It's what you do with that information.

Stars start talking right now.

That's a good question, I thought.

Everyone.

Steve Adubato, this is one on one.

This is also a mini series of doing called The Arts Connection.

All about the arts, all different forms of arts.

We're honored to be joined by Adam Slinky and Jason Shrouding, who are members of So Percussion.

Good to see you, gentlemen.

It's great to be here, Steve.

Steve, where the heck are you right now?

So we're in our studio at Princeton University in Princeton, new Jersey.

We have a percussion studio here because we teach at the university.

You're in residence there.

We'll talk about that moment.

Jason, give us a little background on so percussion.

Yeah, we're a percussion quartet.

We're kind of a band of four drummers.

We've been doing this for 25 years.

Gulp.

And, yeah, we make music.

We write music ourselves, we play other people's music, and we have a lot of fun on stage with anything you can hit with sticks.

Out of the two of you guys, Adam, hook up together.

So we work in the same graduate program at the Yale School of Music as graduate students, and it was a percussion progra that focused on what we called percussion chamber music, which is just small group percussion music rather than a big kind of orchestra group.

Help u understand this chamber music.

Define, if you will, Jason, chamber music.

And how is that different from classical music?

Yeah, I mean, I think cheering music, you know, comes out of it's definitely kind of a subgenre of classical music.

You picture, you know, like, some string players in your living room playing kind of intimate music.

That was, you know, maybe you picture, you know, somewher in Europe many, many years ago.

But just the idea that a small group of people are playing classical music without a conductor and that's kind of what we are.

But we also, you know, kind of came out of playing with rock band and making music in other ways.

So you kind of smushed those two things together, and you get kind of our wild brand of chamber music.

Adam, where does the name so percussion.

What?

Why, what is it?

Why is it.

Where does it come from?

Yeah.

Well, actually, Jason, sister, who lives in Japan and is a Japanese English translator, helped us name the grou a word so comes from Japanese.

And it means like to offer sound or to play music.

It seemed like a kind of a nice fitting thing when we were naming the band.

It's hard to name a band.

Hold on.

Was that the first name?

That was the first name?

The name?

Kind of.

You know what?

Honestly, we we when we moved studios, we found a notebook where we scribbled a bunch of different names.

We were very close to flippin coins, which I think, you know, I don't know, doesn't seem as cool.

I think.

So, you know, it has this dee meaning of like to offer sound in Japanese, but it also ha this very colloquial, memorable.

So what kind of thing to it?

And we're down, by the way, our mutual friend Pete Taft, who is a trustee of our operation at the Caucus Educational Corporation our parent company, if you will.

How the heck do you you guys know Taft?

So Pete is actually a member of So Percussions board of directors.

We're a nonprofit, and it's not just our board he's on well, I hate I hope I'm not outings him as being an unpaid board.

Go ahead.

Pete's on our board.

He's a drummer himself and he is just really been excited telling people about what we do and and telling other folks that he's involve with about the work that we do.

Let me follow up on that, because there's a connection.

We're a not for profi media organization, both of you, and Jason, I want you to talk to this are very committed to not for profit initiatives, not for profit organizations making a difference.

Talk about that piec of your work together, please.

Yeah, well, it's true, we're kind of like a band and a nonprofit kind of smushed together.

Some of the nonprofit work.

I think one of our, our main, kind of programs is our summer institute.

That happens every July in, in Princeton, we get about 40 student come from all over the country, all over the world and study what it means to, like, play percussion and to write new pieces for percussion.

A lot of the the writing of new music these days and kind of funding new art kind of comes from these nonprofit initiatives.

So we do that with students over the summer, and oftentimes we tag into other programs like we'll partner with the area soup kitchen to to kind of collect donations or to, to collect food.

It's been awesome to connect with Pete on that because he' so kind of connected in the air, but we kind of like, yeah, bring these two things together, music and kind of, you know, I don't know how to describe it, kind of social justice kind of ideas and put them together.

We, we simply call it i our series, Making a Difference.

Perfect.

Yeah.

Making a difference.

Adam, if only follow up on this.

Your colleague Jason says there are 40 students from around the world.

Who are these students, and how the heck do they get connecte to the summer Institute?

Sure.

So most of the students are i pre-professional music programs at music departments and conservatories.

And so basically, they're in the position we were in when we were students looking to be to train, to be professional musicians.

You think of people training at places like Juilliard, Yale, Curtis Place.

Curtis is nearby here.

We're essentially looking for folks who are in that stage who want to have this kind of experience.

This wasn't available when we were students.

You mostly had to go to orchestra festivals.

So basically, we created the festival that we wish had existed when we were students creating music, playing in small ensembles, and doing all that kind of stuff.

What is Jason, the Princeton connection?

Well, we've been here for 12 years.

12 years, I guess.

I moved here 13 years ago.

The the music program at Princeton is just kind of awesome.

There's a bunch of awesome composers who are teaching, you know, undergraduates and and the grad program, the PhD program here is just phenomenal.

So we've tapped in.

We work a lot with the composers here.

They write music for us.

We play it on campus a couple of times every year, and then we teach undergrads just what it means to, different ideas about rhythm, different ideas about sound making.

We pop into a lot of the ensembles, and Princeton is just like music may not be the first thing you think of when you think of Princeton.

It wasn't when I, you know, for me, but it's a really kind of thriving arts community here that we've tapped into and just love being a part of.

What advice do you give the students, Adam, about?

I don't I know people don't like me saying this, the business of music because no money, no mission.

You don't want to be involved in the business, you just want to do the arts.

My argument is good.

Now how are you going to pay for it?

I'm off my soapbox.

Go ahead.

Well, we we have something with the students that we call the the four corners of.

So which is where the four of us explain to students that we've all taken on administrative specialties over these 25 years, in addition to being artists.

So I define a minute.

We call administrative specialties raising money, spending it, doing budgets, hiring, firing, developing people, blah blah blah blah blah.

Leadership and management and pick it up.

That's great.

You basically you basically covered them.

So we do talk to them about how we engage with the realities of the business.

The other thing we do is we try to help them ask the question of, what about the thing tha I'm doing here at the festival do I love?

And how potentially transferable is that to different opportunities that might come my way in life?

Do I like being in a group because I like working with people?

Do I have leadership skills?

Do I like the process of communication?

Do I like cultivating a project?

Do I like being really precis about a little piece of music?

Potentially some of those things are transferable.

So yes you may end up doing something very similar to what we do, but hopefully you may also b able to take what we taught you and look at the opportunitie that come to you in the future.

And that's what helps us not feel like this is too narrow of a of a field that we're encouraging them to be a part of.

Just want to follow up on that.

Who is the audience for your music and who is the audience and the the market, if you will, for the young people you're helping to develop to go into this art form, please?

Yeah.

I mean, I feel like what we're really looking for, an audience from an audience is kind of an openness and a curiosity like, that's what we're really looking for.

And that can come from, you know, we pla with the symphony in Princeton, and you get folks who've been coming to the symphony for years.

And I'm like, wait, this is something new.

I'm down with it.

But you get folks who are into, you know, for me, it was I grew up in the 90s, you know it was like alternative rock or indie rock bands, you know?

Now, you may have folks who are into pop music.

They're like, wait a minute, this is something different.

I hear the drums.

That sounds like a track that I love.

But wait a minute there.

Do something funky with with why are they playing flower pots?

And, you know, like, why is Melody happening on a Piper phone that they built?

This is kind of wacky.

So I think we're looking for folks who are audience members who are open to something new and kind of kind of curious.

I think there's a lot of those folks out there, you know?

But we don't kid ourselves either.

We we don't make pop music, popular music, you know, we make music that, like, is an experience, you know?

And anybody who comes to the show, a show that we do like, I think they're going to have a positive experience.

And here's something new and I think you're our audience, Steve, you know, so funny as you're talking about this, you're in the you're in music, you're in the music industry, but your form of music is pretty unique.

We see ourselves, we are in the broadcasting, we are in the media business.

But our stuff I want, I would love to say our audience is everyone, your audience is everyone, but you're not looking to pander to any audience and neither are we.

And you choose your art form.

But I want to follow u on something really interesting.

Adam, AI and chamber music.

Your turn.

I mean, I will say, like, we've all been having these conversations becaus we engage with technology a lot.

The one of the things that think we're really holding on to right now is the fundamental.

So percussion experience has come to a concert, be a human in a room with other humans who are interactin and making this thing together.

That seems pretty stable to me right now.

That seems like something that humans are going to continue to need.

And so we're really enjoying the fact that what we do, we almost wonder if what we do might become even more valuable for for that reason, because technology becomes so ubiquitous.

But the being in the roo with people is is irreplaceable.

Having said that, of course it's it's everywhere right now, and everybody's thinking about it and dealing with it.

We're doing a some project soon with some storytellers who I think are going to want to engage with this thing of, how are we all dealing with this right now?

Jason real quick, before I let you go, you went to who who went to Korea recently?

We all went to Korea.

The whole band did want to perform.

Yeah, yeah.

Who was the audience there?

Well, it was amazing.

And actually I was thinking about the audience there.

The audience was big and curious and supportive and wonderful, and culturally, they didn't have their cell phones out, almost weren't allowed to.

I think for the whole show there were no phones.

There was no phones until the encore, and they were just so pumped us to play encores because they would get out their phones.

But it was amazing.

We played a bunch of shows for great audiences, and we also studied some some traditional Korean drumming music, and it was just a blast.

Very memorable.

Good for you guys.

That is Adam and Jaso there, members of So Percussion.

Gentlemen, I wish you all the best.

We appreciate it.

Thanks.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Steve.

You got a by the way, right after this, my colleague Jackie, our senior reporter.

Correspondent has a terrific one on one interview.

Check it out.

To watch mor one on one with Steve Adubato, find us onlin and follow us on social media.

Hi.

I'm jacki, senior correspondent for One on One, and I'm so pleased to be joined now by Hannah Corbin, who's the peloton instructor that we all know so well and the author of her new book series called Did You Stretch, though?

Hannah, it's so great to have you with us.

It's so fabulous to be here.

So peloton has been a par of my household for a while now.

We were talking about it during the pandemic.

I feel like that's when a lot of people really jumped on the platform because we wanted to exercise at hom when we were all hunkered down, and it was just the perfect place to be to fee like you're part of a community.

But your time with peloton started even way before that.

You're one of the founding instructors.

Talk about the beginning o peloton, how you were introduced to the platform and being an instructor, and really how you've evolved with it over the years.

It really was so exciting to see the community grow exponentially during the pandemic.

I've been there almost 13 years now, and as an elder millennial, I never thought I would do anything for this long.

So it has been a big, sweat journey full of a lot of laughs.

That's awesome.

And starting off bac then, was it kind of just like, let's just jump in there and see what we do.

How much guidance did you get and how were you able to kind of create your brand in front of the camera in this platform?

The production quality perhaps wasn't where it is now, but the thought was always there.

The intention was that it would become a household name, that everyone on the planet would have one, and would love the workouts and lift their best life.

So it was really fun to to watch it come true.

I think it's been very interesting because in a lot of boutique fitness, the thought is that you're all the same so that you always have the same experience no matter what time you go, what day it is.

And with us, it was really an opportunity to be yourself, elevated just a little bit more than reality.

Talk about too, because you came to New York Cit with this dream of dance, right?

And how were you able to take what you learne in the dance world and translate it into, onto the bik and into the studio at peloton?

What's that phrase about luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

That's what it felt like with peloton.

I am in the actor's union.

I'm a long time dancer.

I'm a goofy human, naturally.

And all of these little odd jobs that I had been doing in New York for years added up to being perfect for this role.

My goal used to be to have my own DVD series in fitness, and also my goal in publishin used to be to have a pull away calendar, one for every day.

So it's funny how those dream adapt with the times and evolve in ways that you can't even see when you're in it.

So stretching.

Let's talk about it because I feel like it is one of those things.

And I have to admit that often I'm like, I have such a small amount of time to get in my workout.

I want to make the biggest bang for my buck.

I'm a working mom stretching.

A lot of the time falls to the wayside.

But you are trying to put that back front and center.

Why is stretching so important for us?

It's so interesting in those moments where we're too sick to old, too tired to sad, feeling too blah.

We would do anything to feel better, to be on the outside of that.

And I think instead of waiting until that moment to make yourself and your body feel fabulous, why don't we?

Why don't we put some effort into it little by little every day?

It doesn't need to be tha you stretch an hour every day.

Maybe not ideal.

There's not enough time in the da to get through the to do list.

That's longer than my arms anyways, but a little bit goes a long way.

So I'm hoping that the title of the book when it sits on your coffee table because it's so gorgeous that it haunts you just a little bit when you see that question staring you in the face.

Did you stretch, though?

And if the answer is no, you grab a card and give me five.

Yeah, because, I mean, my sister is in the healt care world and she often says to me, stretching will add years to your life.

And you talked about the cards, and then I have them on my desk now, because you made it really easy for u to just pull a card out and say, all right, let me pull a couple cards.

I'm in the middle of my workday.

I haven't moved in a couple hours.

Let me get down on the floor and do this.

Lady's get in rotation stretch.

How did the concept come up for these cards?

And trying to make it just more easy for us to ad stretching into our daily lives.

It's funny how medicinal recovery and wellness is for a lot of people, and I wanted to take away that layer of blah all.

Suppos that made it feel a little bit.

This needs to be over here.

It's too hard.

It's too difficult.

The barrier to entry is a lie.

So I wanted it to be fun.

Flirty, colorful.

Really simple.

You don't need to know the anatomy.

I know all of it for you.

So let's put some fun words around it.

Because I speak that way naturally.

And then give it a cool color and see what happens.

What are some of the best stretches that we can incorporate?

Just, you know, sitting at our desk, because that's where a lot of us are most of the time.

I separated I went through many iterations of how I was going to separate this card deck in guidebook, so I did my faves, Hannah Faves.

I did the spiciest ones because I do love a spicy, tangy stretch.

And in the back I did a couple of series sequences that you can do if you have five minutes standing at your desk, if you have ten, if you have a break after a long flight, what would be best then?

So I tried to really narrow it down situationally and give you the bare minimum of time that I want you to spend in each stretch.

And then if you have longer, great.

If it feels good, stay in it longer, and if not, move on to the next one.

I want to talk about spic a little bit because your foam rolling classes, they kill me ever time, but I know it's so good.

Talk a little bit about foam rolling because I know that's something a lot of people have started incorporatin into their stretching routines.

But it can be kind of painful.

Hannah.

Definitely.

I know that you've taken my phone rolling classes.

When you tell me tha you've yelled at me in your home because it's often surrounding those classes, and I love it so much because it does.

It hurt so good.

And when we think about our bodies, we're often thinking about how they felt six years ago or how we want them to feel six months from now.

So when we're really listening to it in the moment that's when it's like, oh, oh, okay, a little demon crawled into my quads and doesn't want to be released.

So I think getting rid of all of that stuck stress can be a little precarious.

The body is used to that level of stress.

It took a lot of time building it, and it doesn't want to let it go because it's familiar and it's comfortable.

But once we release it and then we release it again and again and make it a habit it doesn't feel so treacherous.

Yeah, during it is tough afterwards.

Like, I'm glad I did it.

They had another life tha you've been really open about, and I'm wondering how stretching kind of, was forefront during this time in your life when you were diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease and autoimmune disease?

Talk about those healt challenges for you at that time, and how important it was for you to be your own advocate.

My personal mantra even before the unwanted diagnosis of an autoimmun disease, was to treat your body like and belong to someone you love, and that has lots of layers to me, because I've had to define it to myself and then also redefine it when that was tested on a level that I wasn't expecting.

And I think we writ these stories about ourselves, and you have to take a moment to mourn that story.

When something slaps you i the face like that, you know it.

It made me question the definiti minimum of it all.

What does healthy mean to me?

What does treating my bod like someone I love really mean when it's put to the test and you know.

Thankfully, I was able to put one foot in front of the other instead of just unpacking and living in my grief.

But it definitely was a bit of a journey.

I think a lot of it started with shifting auto immune to auto amazing, and then I was able to see all of the opportunities in front of me, instead of al the things my body couldn't do well, really quickly to describe what disease is, because so many people don't know about it, and a lot of times it is misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all.

Definitely, my thyroid essentially doesn't work.

There's lots of levels to blood work, and that's what doctors are for.

But it it controls everything your metabolism, your mood, your weight.

And when the body stops doing all of that, you know, you feel like an alien in your own skin.

And I think healthcare i general, especially for women, it's been a journey.

But a lot of people didn't believe me because how do you explain to someone how tired you are?

It's hard to measure.

How do I tell my mom, my friend who's a mom with three kid that I'm more tired than she is?

How do I tell my performance friend, who also has seven gig at a time, that I'm more tired than they are?

So the conversation was a little skewed for a while, and I heard many a time that, of course you're tired, you work out for a living.

So that was a bit of an interesting journey for me to convince people that I was as tired or more tired than I felt.

And finally, when I got the right care team around me, things started changing and you were able to get back to feeling more like yourself and continuing to show up in the peloton studio.

For all of us at home, and who come in for the live classes.

Finally for you.

What is next for Hannah Corbin?

I hope we'll keep seeing you on our screens through peloton but what else is in the future for you that you're working on?

There are so many things at my fingertips.

I feel like I've been in preparation mode again for a long time in an exciting way.

Especially with Hashimoto's.

You become a shell of yourself because you have no energy, and any energy that you do hav is for the bare minimum, right?

For me, it was keeping my dream job at peloton and I starte letting go of everything else.

Now I've been able to take on more.

I've been able to step back into that powerful version of myself that wants to do more.

Not for more sake, but because it's interesting, it's intriguing, it's invigorating.

And so putting putting a lot of a lot of little moments out there, some of these dreams are a little too big to whisper and others are.

Oh, I want to shout them from the rooftops.

So we're we're right in the thick of it.

Well, we can't wait to see what comes next with you.

Thank you for putting together this coffee book type table.

I know Oprah was talking about it already.

These cards are really great.

I think one on Oprah Self-care Award.

So incredible for that recognition meant so much to you.

And it's just getting this ou there to more and more people.

Because if you stretch, life is a little bit better.

It's really been a joy helping people feel better.

Thank you so much, Hannah.

Thanks for joining us.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you for Steve Adubato and myself.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.

One on One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provide by Hackensack Meridian Health, PCN, G and JM insurance Group.

The new Jerse Economic Development Authority.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the new Jersey Education Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, new Jersey Sharing network, and by the fund a foundation serving children.

Promotional support provided by sea I, a NJ and Commerce magazine, and by insider NJ.

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