Adrienne Schroeder

I believe in using my life as a class. If my life was a discography, the events and lessons are the songs.

The years and eras are the albums. The moments, a melody. Each contributing member answers what works, what doesn’t work, and what works some of the time.

Each has a feeling and information. Some songs or even entire eras beg the question, “Who am I?”

My life has and continues to be a class for me when I’m able to notice it.

Last week I went for a “pre-travel” COVID test. I had long awaited plans to see my sister, brother in law and niece. My three favorite people on the planet.

I had done all of the quarantining and gotten groceries delivered. My car was checked and I was ready to go. I just needed that negative test and then I’d be on my merry way for a safe and legal visit for the holiday

 So I waited, eyes peering out over my mask and happy to be checking off my final box. Check off the box, then hit the road!

The COVID test - negative. Amazing!

Let's talk about the pandemic. The elephant in all of the rooms. The thing I sometimes forget about in my day to day at home, but the thing that is very much alive and well. As I write this, we are amidst a huge surge here in the U.S., closing in on a year of this global health crisis and I am nine months into what I’ve been calling the “virtual universe”.

As a musician, I’ve been dealt a specific deck of cards as a result of COVID. The more musicians I connect with during this time, the more I realize the unique and numerous challenges that we face in our current reality. So today I’m sharing with you what navigating the pandemic as a musician has been like, how mindfulness has been my guiding light throughout and how I’ve used this guiding light to support and create a new reality amidst the storm.

The weekend of March 17th, I was supposed to play a concert. I was playing a cycle with an orchestra here in Chicago. I was even playing 2nd horn to a colleague who is also a dear ...

A long time student of mine and I have playful banter. It’s a hoot and a half! We have a ball and get a lot done at the same time - the combination I constantly seek with any student or client. Through years of this dynamic he has blossomed and we have a rhythm as a learning team. Something I can now say to him with no explanation are these three words:

It starts with….

No need to finish the sentence. He immediately smiles and then sits up, feet hips width and flat on the ground, hips square to the piano, and his wrists enter the sweet spot blend of activated and peaceful.

“It starts with” means everything he does at the piano is affected by the way he sits down. The way he sets himself up decides if he plays at his potential. “It starts with” applies to his physical and mental foundation. What is he thinking and what he is believing  are the bedrock for his mind and heart. It all starts with how he shows up and this lays groundwork for himself to succeed or sometimes, to n...

Last week one of my piano students told me that she really missed going to concerts. She said that what she loved was being able to completely check out.

She loved checking out of where she was and checking in. Checking in to another world.

In her pieces that she is preparing, we talked about what kind of worlds she wanted to create. What world would she make and invite her audience into? What kind of a place would they be checking in?

Swirls of colors, truth, dancing, Pride and Prejudice meets Phantom of the Opera meets Les Mis, mounds of food, hearty characters and bold lines were among her descriptors. One piece would be a world of festivities and glow, another a dreamscape with an honest navy blue undertone and deliberate acknowledgement of pain.

She smiled as she shared her visions.

Both worlds stunning in their own way. Both worlds consciously chosen and then carried out through her craft.

As artists, I believe our job is to create worlds. Just like my stu...

How many times a day do you second guess yourself? Do you ever question your ideas or choices?

Do you ever think, I couldn’t possibly know what to do, I should really ask around before I make a move, right? Or, I know I feel this way, but I’m going to give this person, this idea, this experience the benefit of the doubt, only to discover later that your inner voice was spot on?

If I had to boil down one skill that I could permanently master and never need to consider ever again, it would be intuition. Or said in another way, self-trust.

We live in a world where second guessing is second nature. I operated this way for almost my entire life. I looked outside myself for the answers. It was a repetition of ending up on paths, in situations and emotional states I didn’t want to be in. I would experience disappointment after bailing on an amazing venture, knowing I hadn’t done what I truly wanted.

If only I had trusted my inner voice.

To be quite honest with you, my “sec...

A striking teenager from Sweden is spearheading the climate change movement for the world.

She leads protests, spoke at the UN, and traveled the globe spreading the urgent message of climate change and the effects on the collective.

Yes, a young person is leading the fight against the largest threat to humanity.

Her name is Greta Thunberg.

Rather than world leaders (aka adults) taking bold action in front, she is doing it.

She is the one making a ruckus. She is the one making change.

Why? And how does she do it?

I began to notice and wonder as I watched her enthrall the world. And to those who are not enthralled, I watched as she pissed them off to no end.

Her impact is powerful and great no matter which way you slice it.

I watch her and the adults around her. What does she do? What does she believe? What are the adults in her life doing? How do they act and what do they value?

What I realized is that Greta lives the pillars of Mindful Music. Not only that, the adults in her ...

Mindfulness is quite the buzz word these days.

I see it everywhere to describe something. Something in wellness, in meditation, in yoga, in spirituality, in business, in education, in really all parts of life.

Why? It’s something that works. It’s something that gives people peace, purpose and many times a life they’ve only dreamed of becoming their reality.

Clearly, I’m a fan.

To me, mindfulness is personal. It’s what I decide it is and who I am when I’m tapped in to it. To me, mindfulness is something that helps me wield my mind and my power in a way that I consciously choose.

Mindfulness is something I use to wield my gifts for the highest good. It’s simple. It’s presence. It’s a practice. It’s a way of being. It’s a way of living.

Mindfulness gives portals of noticing, a neutral gaze, space between and love in every which way.

Mindfulness allows me to stay who I really am amidst a world of structures that can pull me apart.

To me, it’s opposite is hav...

I just started the most important work of my life.

Here’s why. 

As a little girl I was free. I loved to sing, I ran around barefoot in tie-dye leggings. I would say I got “the God feeling” whenever I felt the magic of music. I wrote books and swam for hours on end. My wild curls danced as I played through life.

Very simply, I was myself, with abandon. 

For whatever reason, I was dealt a unique deck of cards in my life, like we all are. 

I was born into a highly competitive classically trained musical family. 

I have a family member that has bipolar disorder and is on the autism spectrum. 

I had a near death car accident when I was 16 years old.

I began my classical training and competitions at the piano at age five. It was there where my identity began to shift. Perfectionism seeped into my mind and heart. My output became the measuring stick for my self-worth. I was vicious to myself and was rewarded for it.

Words from damaging teachers echoed in my...