Shake It Up For Your Brain: Salsa’s Musical Magic With Luisito Rosario

Salsa makes your brain happy. But this interview isn’t your typical snoozefest about science. We’re talking salsa music and how it gets your brain grooving with singer Luisito Rosario! Turns out all that dancing and head-bobbing to salsa isn’t just fun; it’s good for your brain, too. Studies show this fast-paced music lights up parts of your brain connected to happiness and moving your body. Luisito says you have to experience salsa for yourself! Dance if you can, or just listen and let the music take over.

Want a taste of that salsa magic? Look up Luisito Rosario on social media or head over to his website to find his music. Don’t forget to share this interview! Let’s spread the word about the power of salsa music for your brain and your soul!

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Shake It Up For Your Brain: Salsa’s Musical Magic With Luisito Rosario

My very special guest is a very dynamic and charismatic successful singer in the genre of salsa music. He is of Puerto Rican descent born in the state of New Jersey. His name is Luisito Rosario. Luisito, welcome to the show. 

Lucy, it’s a pleasure being here. This is something new for me where we connect the brain with actually music. This is very interesting. It’s a learning experience on my behalf and I’m here because of you.

Thank you so much and it’s an honor and a pleasure to have you here. Luisito is very proud of his Latin roots and passionate about old-school salsa music. The well-known salsa family of singers, the Fania All Stars, inspired his successful singing career. In 1996, the legendary Larry Harlow from the Fania All-Stars hired him as their lead vocalist. In his heart is the desire to bring back the awesome old-school salsa music and bring it center stage. 

Neuroscience has proven that prolonged feelings of depression, anxiety, fears, and loneliness are detrimental to our joy and brain health. Here to give us that feeling of what our culture, our music, and our sense of community is about is Luisito’s official video he is going to talk to us about, which is Rumba Del Barrio. Tell us more about what you experienced during the filming of your music video, which brings to light what we’re all about. 

Music Has No Boundaries

The actual title of the song, Rumba del Barrio, it’s an amazing thing because it doesn’t matter what part of Puerto Rico or Latin American country or even here in the United States, you have del barrio, the city area that you’re born and raised in. Bringing music, which is rumba, to where you’re at, which identifies with anyone when you hear music and gets in your soul and your bones. You want to get up and dance.

The song was actually a poem. The poem, a friend of mine wrote it, “Escuchan mi canto señor traigo la rumba del barrio, vengan todos a bailar, la salsa que aquí les traigo.” As a singer, we hear in our brains this clave and that’s what we feel. We try to implement that to everyone that’s out there who does not know about our music and who does know about our music and we try to project that. It’s something that’s amazing. 

We recorded in Brooklyn, where we were surrounded by Latinos. Of course, when they hear the rhythm, they want to be part of the video, which is really nice. Rumba music is endless. It has no boundaries. It has no culture. It can relate to anyone and everyone which is why I chose in particular this song because rumba is that. You hear the rhythm, you hear the sounds and you want to be a part of it. 

What I find fascinating is that a lot of artists are not aware at that moment of the joy that it’s projecting to those who are listening and not only that but the health benefits that this kind of music has. Salsa music. Fast-paced dance music. The fact that the sounds of the instruments as they leave the instruments and go into that area of the brain that is activated in EEG scans is something that I find so fascinating. I have always wanted to bring it back, and this is a great opportunity to have people understand that if you feel it, do it. Move. Dance. It’s the momentum. 

Music Keeps Us Young

Probably because I think music keeps us young also. I saw an interview with a famous percussionist from Puerto Rico, Willie Rosario, who is about to turn 100 years old. He’s still touring and he’s still actually playing music. It’s a blessing that the music inspires him to get up in the morning and keep doing it. It activates all his system, his brain, “All right, let’s go.” It’s beautiful because it’s like a miracle that people in the 80s, 90s, and 100s, when they hear the rhythm, they want to get up and dance. It’s a beautiful thing. 

Is Salsa Dead?

I had in my show a guest who actually said, “Latin-Americans are very blessed with the music you have because it’s very lively,” and of course, that, in turn, gives us a lot of momentum, a lot of reason to feel joy because that’s what this is about. It’s not about being happy. It’s about feeling long-term joy. The more you dance, the more you listen to all this kind of music, you can bet that you’re not going to be depressed, full of anxiety or fears or feel lonely, especially when you’re dancing in the community, like in your video. What is it about, this old-school salsa music that you have always wanted to bring back? Through the years, I have heard, “Salsa is dead.” Salsa is very much alive. Talk to us about how do you feel about that? 

Being born and raised in Jersey, we had so many influences. We had Italians. We have African Americans. Of course, we have Latinos, but of different places in Latin America. It was old Puerto Ricans. I grew up listening more to freestyle music and then my brothers, I’m the youngest of five, started listening to Frankie Ruiz and Eddie Santiago, which was more lovey-dovey romantic salsa, but I was like, “Okay. I kind of like it.” 

When I heard the rhythms of Ray Barreto and Hector Lavoe singing Batacumbele from Puerto Rico and some of the music from Cuba and you hear the rhythms, you’re like, “It’s amazing.” It doesn’t focus on the singer. It focuses on the orchestra itself. It’s not one guy. It’s sometimes 12, 13, 14 musicians, including the singer. I kind of like that you get to share the stage with monstrous musicians. I’ve had the privilege of sharing the stage with bands from Japan. They’re not even Latinos, but they listen. They love the rhythm. Thailand, France, Germany, Italy. All over the world. One common thing is the rhythm. 

Our music from the ‘70s and the ‘60s was dedicated more to salsa clasica, salsa rumbera, which is the hard-hitting rhythm of the bands. Back in the days, when you heard a band by the intro, you knew it was Ray Barreto, Tito Puente or Larry Harlow, etc., where when they got to the lovey-dovey time, which was La Salsa Romántica, you were like, “Who’s that singing? Who’s that?” You have to obviously record that because that’s what the industry wants. I was singing with Larry Harlow. Larry Harlow had the best of the best, which was Yomo Toro, which is an icon from Puerto Rico playing the cuatro. 

We had Niki Marrero on the timbales, which was amazing. We had the best percussionist, the best trombonist, trumpet. Larry Hall on the piano. The bass player, Ray Martinez. Each one had to showcase their instrument and then us, as singers, had to showcase our ability of improvisation. Being born and raised in Jersey is not easy because we’re used to speaking at school in English and then you come home and you speak Spanish. You mix both of them into Spanglish and that’s when you mess up the Spanish all the time when you’re singing because you’re like, “What was that word he said?” 

I don’t know but that’s more of us as a singer how we have to listen to the singers from the ‘50s, ‘40s, ‘30s and hear them. That’s how the language, that rhythm that always focuses not only on the singer but the band itself, that’s what I love. That’s why, to this day, I do the lovey-dovey stuff, but I also do the hardcore salsa dura, which showcases musicians not only here locally when I play local but when I travel the world.

Do you consider yourself an introvert in your personal life because when you’re on stage, we’re a different person when we’re on stage, right? 

Being On Stage

Yeah, we are. People think being on stage is easy. It’s not easy to entertain and when I get up on stage, I get anxious. When I get up on stage, I feel right at home. I can see everything that’s going on. I can see when someone is down. I can see when someone is not there mentally, that’s when I work my magic, but I know in music and I try to get into their brain into their thinking. At the end of the night, they’re like, “Thank you. I needed that.” I encourage them to get up and dance, get up on stage. 

I think music is so therapeutic because it doesn’t matter if you’re in a bad mood. We’re all the same. Everyone in the world is the same. Everyone has a job. Everyone has bills. Everyone has problems. When you come to one of my shows, I try to have you forget all that, and for that 30 minutes or 90 minutes, you have a great time. Always remember that we’re always going to have problems, but there’s a way of enjoying your life and let the music and rhythms and forget all about that stuff. 

Go with the flow, as they say but this is literal. This is serious. When we enjoy those moments and make it a habit to feel that joy, that’s the miracle that happens throughout the years because those kinds of things are part of life, but it’s how you handle that moment, how you enjoy, how you capture those moments and breathe that joy in from that music, which is what you do for a living. I think that is so super awesome. 

Transformation

I always say music is what feelings sound like. You’ve got to listen to that really carefully. If you are listening to an old romantic song. It makes you like, “I love my wife or I love my boyfriend or my girlfriend, whatever,” and then you listen to an exciting song, “I want to dance. I want to party. I want to drink.” It enters your ears and your mind and your soul and you’re like, “Let’s transform.” 

You’ve got to listen to the music carefully. When you do, it enters your ears, your mind, and your soul. You’re transformed.

Some people sometimes wonder, “Why is it that when I hear music I got to move?” When I hear you tapping, I don’t know if you noticed, but I automatically move my head. It’s natural. It comes naturally. You feel it. It’s in our DNA when we love this kind of music. Super awesome. What about people that you have seen in your personal life who have chronic conditions, and you see their transformations? 

Personally, in my brother-in-law on my wife’s side, Alzheimer’s is generic. He’s in his late 50s and it already started hitting him. There’s one particular song of Hector Lavoe. It’s called Mi Gente. That’s a very well-known song. The chorus is very simple. I told the family to bring him to a concert. While he was there, I had security bring him up on stage and i wanted him to sing backup, of course. These past few years, he’s been saying that he sang with me, and granted, he’s never sang with me ever in his life. 

I said, “Bring him.” He got up on the stage. You could see his face light up and his body. He actually knew what was going on. He was singing at the backup vocals and he waving to the people and dancing. His family was like, “Look at the transition that happened to him when he hit the stage and when he was upfront and he when he started background vocals.” 

Even us. My wife is a nurse and she’s seen herself where we were in Puerto Rico and there was an older lady. She must have been in her 90s. When they told her that I was a singer, it clicked. Her mind changed and her way of appearance changed. I said, “Do you know this song? I sang and she took over and she started singing and she kept singing. At one point, I was like, “Okay. Great.” She’s like, “No, I got to continue singing the song.” 

For that moment, she started singing other songs. What happens is I notice that when you get to that age of the 80s and the 90s and late 70s, I think sometimes people discard you as like you don’t love music or whatever. I encourage you. I remember when we were kids and my family will go to Paranda at Christmas time. To this day, I still do that and when we’re somewhere and I see the older person, I say, “You come up and you sing the song,” because it’s all traditional music.

It’s like a light bulb that lights them up and they take over. It’s amazing. I have it all documented on my social media, on Facebook, Luisito Rosario, and you’ll see this song of this lady where she takes over and her face lights up. It’s like she’s at a concert and she doesn’t care what anybody says, but she sings the song. It’s a beautiful thing. Nice memory.

Thank you for sharing that because even in Latin America, there’s been a stigma for many years, especially within the communities that are 70 and above. They think , “I reached this age and I feel out of place dancing in public. That used to be me when I was younger.” No, what we want to bring to light in this show is that you have to continue doing it because that’s what brings you life. You could have conditions like Parkinson’s. Studies have also shown that it’s extremely helpful. We want to get rid of that stigma. 

That’s what the show is about. Bringing to light that stigma and making sure that we make that connection that it’s not about age. It’s about how you feel when you listen to the music and move. Thank you, Luisito, for this wonderful moment that we shared here and everyone needs to listen to Luisito Rosario’s music. Also, watch the video of the lady that you’re talking about. That’s really awesome. We will definitely keep in touch. Are there events coming up soon, Luisito?

It’s not about age. It’s about how you feel when you listen to the music and move.

Yes. Anyone who wants to see not only what I’m saying here, but you can actually see it. The people who say they don’t find me, they’re liars because all you have to do is google Luisito Rosario and you’ll see all the videos, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, all that good stuff, and like the old days, the website LuisitoRosario.com. It’s there.

Thank you for sharing.

I encourage you to hire with my music. That’s what helps us musicians get work out there in the field. 

Yeah. Absolutely. LuisitoRosario.com. That’s easy. All right. Thank you, Luisito. We will catch up soon. 

Thank you, Lucy. 

All right. Take care.

Important Links

About Luisito Rosario

Luisito Rosario is an experienced Salsa singer with 20 yrs of experience, a charismatic and commanding stage presence. Born and raised in New Jersey with his Puerto Rican decent has always appreciated his Latin roots. The proximity of New York City, across the Hudson River where Salsa started in the sixties, influenced Luisito’s formative years listening to all the Salsa legends of the decade. His love for great Salsa era, especially the members of the Fania All-Stars, inspired Luisito to pursue a singing career in the genre of Salsa music.

In 1996, the legendary Larry Harlow from the Fania All-Stars hired Luisito to be lead vocalist for his orchestra. It’s been 23 successful years and they are still going strong. In 2002 Luisito recorded “Tumba y Bongo in Harlow’s 35th anniversary CD, where he and the late Nestor Sanchez also recorded all the background vocals. Also in 1996 Luisito joined the popular Salsa band from New York City “Grupo Hechizo” and recorded lead vocals in their 1998 CD “Sin Limites” where it charted in the Top Five in the record pools. Luisito toured US, South America, and Europe collecting fans along the way.

In 1999 Luisito was asked to join “Los Hermanos Moreno” and remained with them for five years, also traveling the world and learned more tricks of the trade at incorporating audience’s participation in all of the shows.

In 2001 Luisito teamed up with Mambo City Music LTD and launched his first solo CD “JURAME”, showcasing all that he had learned from Harlow and Los Hermanos Moreno. With arrangements by Cuto Soto and Lucho Cueto his romantic Salsa CD marked him as a solo artist with an array of flavors.

In 2005 he releases his second solo CD “Rumba Del Barrio” which featured the hardcore version of Salsa. Keeping all the different version of Salsa music, he focus on Charanga, Son , Mambo , Guajira and just straight forward old school style Salsa. This CD was dedicated to all the Salsa lovers of the world making him a favorite artist to the Salseros of the heart.

In 2010 Luisito releases his third CD “Casino Rueda” where he showed his skills as a composer and producer. The CD included three English Salsa version, three romantic tracks and of course, four hard hitting “Salsa Dura” tracks. He also teamed up with “Croma Latina” from Italy recording a hit “Corazon Partido” which became a Europe favorite. And teamed up with the best arranges, Tommy Villariny, Jose Madera, and Julito Alvarado to create a Salsa lover dream production.

In 2014 “Vengo A Mi Modo” where the title says it all. He went outside the box and focused on the Big Band sound of yesteryears. Featuring 2 songs (Escuchame and Princesa) with a 16 piece orchestra backing him up, which will be a collectors dream. One duet song (Fuiste Tu) with up and coming (Linda Caldas) from Cali, Colombia so radio friendly tune. Another duo with Croma Latina (Son que Son).  The entire cd will focus on the big band sound with catchy lyrics and also very danceable arrangements. This by far will be Luisito’s best recording and will truly reflect the passion, pride and respect that he has for Salsa.

In 2017 he released “Si Me Amaras” which includes romantic salsa as well as hot danceable tracks always focusing on his roots to the Classic Salsa sounds of the 70’s.

In 2018 he has teamed up with 2 living legends feat. Andy Harlow on the flute on a remake of Tite Curet  Alson’s “El Primer Montuno” which was a major hit in the 70’s. His second single will feat. Larry Harlow on the piano bringing back that Salsa Dura with his single track “Salsa Enterna”. Luisito’s mission is to revive that old school Salsa sound and make it popular and fresh again. EH LA COSA.

In 2020 he comes with his latest single “Belen” is sure to make alot of noise in the Salsa scene all over the world. This single comes with a blast from the past with hard hitting arrangement and conga solo’s and great vocals. Luisito Rosario a worldwide entertainer. 

In 2021 his latest single “Quien Dijo Miedo” which is a remake of Salsa Legend Sammy Marreo a hard hitting Salsa tune with great solos of Trumpet and Timbales for the delight of Salsa lovers all over the world. 

In 2022 he invited Lisett Morales on a classic remake of “Nadie Se Salva De La Rumba” honoring the music of the great Salsa artists Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto and Adalbero Santiago which was a big hit in the 70’s.

Also in 2022 Luisito decided to take faith into his own hands and wrote the lyrics to his latest single called “MIRAME” which brings back the romantic Salsa with great musical arrangements and also strong vocals which for sure will be everyone’s favorite. 

In 2023 Luisito he paid tribute to the great Charlie Palmeri and rerecorded “Swing Y Son” adding a twist by inviting Alfredo De La Fe on the violin and also adding a smoking trumpet solo by “Luis Bravo Caicedo” making it a dancers favorite when it comes to son. 

Keeping in track with Luisito’s romantic side he released and single called “Bebe Dame” which also topped the charts in Mexico, Colombia, Spain and US.

To end the 2023 year Luisito releases a Christmas single called “Huele A Navidad” which very fast becomes a people’s favorite which brings the real feel of a Christmas experience in Puerto Rico.

Keeping Salsa Dance Music Alive!

Interview with Music Legend Royalty, Tito Puente Jr.

Buckle up for a dose of Latin music and family fun! This episode of Your Ageless Musical Brain features Tito Puente Jr., the son of the salsa legend Tito Puente. Tito Jr. spills the tea on what it was like growing up with a famous musician dad, shares how he’s keeping his father’s music alive, and even explains why dancing is basically a workout for your brain. He also chats about using social media to connect with younger folks and keep the salsa party going strong. This episode is jam-packed with fun facts and makes you appreciate the power of music and dance. It’s like a mini-concert for your ears and a history lesson all rolled into one!

Website Links:

https://www.facebook.com/TitoPuenteJr/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tito-puente-jr-66a46620/

https://www.aermanagement.com/artists/tito-puente-jr

Mambo Mondays: Celebrating Tito Puente’s Legacy with Tito Puente Jr.

Welcome to Your Ageless Musical Brain podcast, Season 2. I’m your host Lucy Blanco. On this first episode, I have a very special guest born from music legend royalty. He lives his father’s musical iconic legacy in his euphoric, energetic, and spicy performances. In his performances, he mirrors the passion that he has for keeping his father’s memory and his impact on Latin American music, Latin jazz, and Afro-Cuban beats very much alive. My guest continues to keep fast-paced dance, salsa music, and our Latin culture vibrant and influential just like his father’s legacy. Here to tell us more about the King of Mambo and the King of Latin American music is my very special guest, Tito Puente Jr. Tito, it’s an honor to have you on the show.

Lucy, thank you for having me. I appreciate your time in celebrating the life and legacy of my late father, El Rey Del Timbal, Tito Puente.

I could see that from your T-shirt. You live it. Even from what you wear. That is so beautiful. This past weekend, you celebrated your father’s legacy of 101 years. It’s very symbolic of his birthday. You celebrate and make his spirit live on through the love of his music. That’s a very loyal and unique quality that you have. Tell me what happened. Thank you.

Keeping His Father’s Legacy Alive

I appreciate that. It’s a big shoe to fill. He passed away 24 years ago. We did celebrate his 100 and first birthday, born April 20th, 1923, Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. aka Tito Puente. Those of you who are tuning in might not know that my father’s name was Ernest Puente. Not Tito. His stage name, he’s known as Tito. That comes from my grandmother. It comes from my grandmother, Ercilia Ortiz. In the box, about growing up in New York City and Spanish Harlem, my father was born on 110th Street. He lived on the third floor.

Back then, there was no social media or cell phones or anything like that. Abuela, as we kindly called her. Grandma would yell out the window, “Ernetito.” My dad got the nickname from his friends, Tito, as something derivative and something small in Spanish, Poquito, Chiquito, and Ernetito. That’s where he got his nickname Tito.

The Secret Power Of Sound Branding With Pavle Marinkovic

More than just pleasing our ears, music possesses an uncanny ability to entwine itself with our sense of taste, a phenomenon deeply explored in the world of sound branding. Tune in as Lucy Blanco hosts a captivating conversation with Pavle Marinkovic, a leading sound expert, exploring the profound impact of music on our emotions and consumer choices. From exploring the intriguing dynamics in food shopping experiences to diving into the mesmerizing realm of film scoring, they leave no sonic stone unturned. Plus, gain insights from Pavle’s groundbreaking book, Sounds From Farm To Fork (And Back). This episode is surely a treat for your ears and mind!

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The Secret Power Of Sound Branding With Pavle Marinkovic

My very special guest today is an audio branding consultant who graduated with honors, earning a degree in Psychology in Santiago de Chile, and a master’s degree in Film Scoring from Barcelona, Spain. He’s written How to Hook Your Consumer With Music, a six-step evidence-based guide, and spreading the word about the power of music in different domains, in his newsletter, Sound Awareness. My guest is also a violin and keyboard player, music teacher, film composer, blogger, and award-winning writer at Medium. He’s very passionate about different facets of music, which are deeply intertwined with his daily work. His name is Pavle Marinkovic. Welcome Pavle to the show. 

Thank you for having me, Lucy. 

Music And Consumer Preferences

It’s a pleasure. Thank you so much for this time. We’re going to learn about the connection between music and our sense of taste and the enigmatic power of sound on our psyche. Pavle, as the sound expert that you are, tells us the power music has in provoking emotions that can lead us to have certain preferences as consumers. 

First of all, it’s important to understand that music elicits emotions in different ways. Think about sound in its simplest form without the influence of lyrics, harmony, or other musical elements. A sudden sound can scare us before we even know what’s causing it. It activates our fight-or-flight response. Now add a layer to this. In this case, the emotional reaction happens when you react to a song because of an association between the song and your surroundings. Let’s say you get together with your friends and you always sing certain songs. Lucy, what would these be in your case? 

A beat, the drums. 

In my case, it would be some folk songs I used to play with my band. After doing this several times, you’ve created a link between music and emotion. Let’s say joy in this case. The bond becomes stronger with repetition. Now, when you listen to that song, if there’s no friendly reunion, you’ll feel the same emotions, maybe not at the same intensity level, but they’re there. 

You’ve paired a song with a situation or a person and an emotion. That’s what brands try to do. Let’s say a coffee shop usually plays jazz songs when you go there. You’ve gone there several times and always had a good time. Now, if you go there again. It reminds you of those emotions because of the jazz songs and other elements even if you’re not with the same people. It’s the power of association. Music experience and emotion bind together. 

That’s super awesome and of course, that’s what triggers that dopamine rush that leads you to purchase something. That’s super awesome and what about the atmospheric, can you explain that and the illicit emotions that awaken the senses? 

It’s all about pairing the right music with the right product or service. Before the 1970s, businesses weren’t that aware of how to craft their environment to evoke a specific emotional response, either to increase the likelihood of a purchase or boost the customer’s experience but then the Marketing Guru called Philip Kotler introduced the idea of atmospherics, where you could design the sensorial experience to affect the customer, sometimes even more than the product itself. 

Kotler talked about manipulating the smell, the visuals, and the sound element to make us more relaxed, excited, nostalgic, or evoke any other emotion. Once you experience a certain mood, you link that emotional response with what’s in front of you. In this case, the product. Making it seem more appealing, the brand more relatable, or the shopping experience more enjoyable. 

For instance, Dunkin’ Donuts used several senses to direct people’s morning routine toward choosing their coffee. While people were on the bus, let’s say going to work, they would play a catchy jingle. They would also release an aroma of coffee and when they got off the bus, they would see an ad telling them where the closest Dunkin’ Donuts was. 

They conditioned people to link Dunkin’ Donuts with their morning coffee, an association they didn’t even have before. This example shows us the impact of strategic influence on our senses to change our preferences. Music transforms not only how we see the brand, but also how we feel about it on a deeper and more unconscious level. 

The sense of smell lasts for years. For example, in my particular case, personally speaking, I can smell a fragrance now, say a cologne. If I didn’t like that person, right, if I didn’t like the guy, then I would associate that fragrance with that person that I knew, and this goes back years ago. That stays in your mind for years. The same with food, am I right? When you’re in a restaurant, you’re not aware. 

I think that’s so fascinating, Pavlet. Being in a restaurant and enjoying the food and then ordering more or being in a bar and realizing that, you know, the boom, boom music is there on purpose. As consumers, we’re not aware of it. How about buying food online versus brick-and-mortar? Which one’s more effective, do you think? 

Both platforms offer different aspects of the consumer experience. Online shopping provides convenience. It’s efficient, it’s quick, and you buy it from anywhere. Physical stores offer something that online platforms cannot replicate. It’s an immersive, this multi-sensory experience. When you shop in a store, you activate all five senses, which can enhance the consumer’s connection to the product or brand. 

Most platforms offer different aspects of the consumer experience. Online shopping provides convenience. It’s sufficient and quick. You can buy from anywhere, but physical stores offer something that online platforms cannot replicate. It’s the immersive multi-sensory experience.

In this scenario, music can influence the perception of time. Let’s say you can make people think more time or less time has passed. It can enhance their moods and even affect their spending behavior. I think the future of shopping likely involves a hybrid, ensuring the consumer receives both the convenience of online shopping and the rich and immersive experiences of physical stores. 

Very interesting. What about that chocolate factory that you were in in Madrid in which you did a taste test with music? Could you tell us about that? Expand on that. 

There’s a vegan chocolate factory in the center of Madrid. I experimented there because people would go on tours and see how the chocolate was made. Before the tour would commence, I would ask them to participate in this test. I would give them a piece of chocolate from one bowl and ask them to taste it while they were listening to either high-pitched music or low-pitched music. Then I would ask them to rate this. Is it sweet? Is it bitter? How do you feel about the piece of chocolate you’re tasting? 

Then I would do the same. They would take another piece of chocolate from another bowl and they would do the same. If they first listened to high-pitched music, now they would listen to low-pitched music or the other way around. The results were fascinating. People linked high-pitched music, which would be piano music at the high end of the keyboard or chime bells with the taste of sweetness.

It made the chocolate taste sweeter and a high pitch equals sweet and then you have a low pitch equals bitter. This would be bass sounds or cello in the lower end. Then I would tell them, that it was the same chocolate in both instances. I just put them in two bowls and they were baffled. They wouldn’t think that that was possible because they’ve never thought about sound this way, that it could influence their experience of taste. This shows that the eating experience is much more than the smell and taste. It’s about the visuals. It’s about the texture and the sounds that accompany this experience. 

They probably claimed that it’s different. They probably swore up and down that it was different. 

Yes, they would say, “No, no, but this is a different one.” I would say, “No, no, the same one.” 

Just like when you were playing the violin, because I know that you started playing the violin in places where people were eating and they also had snacks nearby and you observed their reactions. I think that this is where all of this desire to go deeper into the emotions and the senses and how that connects to music probably inspired you even more. You even wrote your book, Sounds from Farm to Fork and Back, about how audio and music can enhance the food life cycle. I read the book and it is fascinating. I was wowed by it. If you can tell us more, educate us on a lot of things that I know that we are still very new at this. 

We’ve never thought about linking food and music in this way where they interact. It’s not just that you have food while you’re eating. It’s what’s music doing to your perception of taste? Is it also changing the pace at which you eat? How can you use music to enhance plant growth, make the plants more robust, and use fewer pesticides? How can you interact with music at every stage of the cycle? Until now, nobody has ever compiled all these different studies on this. I wanted to take that challenge and put them all in one book. 

You’re a pioneer in this idea. Like you said, compiling all of this in one book, which I feel is so fascinating and anybody that is in different industries can relate. That’s what’s fascinating about this book. Is it true? Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I’m in the kitchen and I’m cooking and I’m playing music, my favorite music, that’s going to create the situation in which I’m going to be more apt to eat more. 

Depending on if it’s fast-paced music and if it’s louder, it makes you focus more on the music than on the food so maybe you’re not aware that you’re eating. You overeat because you are more focused on the music that you enjoy so much. This is what happens in bars a lot. They put on loud music, people just drink more because it’s awkward to be looking at each other without saying anything. If you say something, nobody’s going to hear it because it’s too loud. What do you do? You just drink more. 

You drink more and you talk less as the hours go by, that’s fascinating but they also want you to drink more and just leave so that other customers come in. That’s the whole idea too. 

That’s how unconsciously you are more anxious to be moving because it’s fast space music and it’s sending signals that you have to move to do something different, not just stay in one place. 

Marketers’ Relationship With Healthcare

How do marketers relate to healthcare? I understand that there is a correlation there. Could you expand on that? 

First, food marketers, what do they do? They try to highlight the features of their product. They do that visually, mainly, but they also use sound when you want to boost the crunchiness of chips in a commercial. It makes the food more appealing. It’s very difficult not to want to have a Coke after you hear the can pop and hear its fizzing sound. 

These properties can also be used in healthcare. For instance, cancer patients with reduced taste sensitivity after chemotherapy might find food tastier by enhancing its sound. If you boost the sound element of the food, let’s say you give them headphones to amplify the crispiness while they eat, or as we saw with the experiment with chocolate, use high-pitched sounds to enhance the sweetness of the food they’re eating. It can help them enjoy the food more. There’s also another way you can use sounds, that is to choose healthier foods, for instance, those with less sugar. 

There was a coffee chain in Shanghai that introduced what they call a Sonic Sweetener. It was a device inserted in cups that emitted a pink light and a high-pitched sound that made the drink taste sweeter without sugar. You would tilt the coffee cup and that would activate the sound and the light. This reduced the need for actual sweeteners because the logic was since it already tastes sweeter, you don’t need any more sugar in it. All this shows that if we can harness the power of sound, there’s so much more we can do. 

If we can harness the power of sound, there’s so much more we can do.

I also read in your book talking about another facet of it is how it’s used with meats, with livestock, and how it kills bacteria. I find that super fascinating because if that works in that industry, the potential that we have as humans, we still have a long way to go to take advantage of it. If you can expand on that. 

When you learn how music interacts with these different elements in the food, like the bacteria, when you use ultrasounds to kill bacteria, and if you combine this with other elements as well, you can get to a rate of 99% of killing all these bacteria. You’re able to use music more consciously, knowing which results to expect. Knowledge helps us not only understand the world but mold it to our benefit. As the saying, “With knowledge, comes power.” 

Knowledge helps us not only understand the world but also mold it to our benefit.

This book is ahead of its time because it talks about all of the different industries in which sound is used to combat bacteria and also influences our brains. There’s still so much that we need to learn about sound and music and also use in industries like healthcare. When I hear the word bacteria, the first thing I think of is, “Let’s just hope that in years to come, the medical industry will open up to these innovative ideas, because if it works with livestock, I can imagine what it can do to human beings.” 

What do they say that we are? 60% water at least, and that makes the vibration interact with our bodies and change the unexplored topics. There’s so much more we can find that we just need to focus more on these different instances, not just because we usually think about music as something entertaining. Something that you can play an instrument or you can listen to music or dance to it. We don’t see that there’s so much more to music. If you just think in economic terms, it’s cost-effective, it’s accessible, and it doesn’t have major secondary effects. There are so many benefits to just using this element that it’s everywhere and we just have to harness this power. 

Pavle, I tell you, after reading your book, when I go to the supermarket and I’m about to grab a dozen eggs, it makes me think now, I wonder if those chickens that laid those eggs were under the influence of sound. When I’m going to buy a piece of meat, I think the same. After reading the book, you start thinking differently about what you consume. I’m wondering if there have been times when I think something is so delicious. It just makes you think. 

Maybe they could put up a label, instead of grass-fed, music-fed. 

Influenced by sound. 

That would be awesome, yes. 

Music In Film Scoring

What about film scoring? When we go and watch a movie, of course, we’re influenced by the sound. Can we explore this a little bit? I know that you compose music for films. Is that right? You’ve done that. 

Yes. When I was in film score music in Barcelona, they always told us, “If people realize they’re more focused on the music, you’re not doing your job well.” It has to be seamlessly integrated into the movie. It doesn’t have to steer your attention away from the screen, from the visuals, because that’s how it’s more powerful. You just have to see a horror movie. If you take away the music, it’s not scary anymore. 

Sound has such an impact that it can change how we feel, and the amount of time we feel it fast but if it’s fast-paced, we think, “Everything is going too fast.” Many elements interact and as film composers, you also work alongside the director all the time, trying to figure out what is his intention behind a certain scene. As a film composer, you should be able to say, the scene doesn’t need music. You just have to portray the scene. It’s more impactful if it’s just in silence, like no music at all. You also have to be aware that if you put too much music everywhere, it’s going to lose its effect. 

I want to share with you something that I have always wondered about. When I go to a movie that I’m enjoying, you know what happens to me? This has happened for a long time. When I’m enjoying a movie, Pavle, I look at the time and not because I want it to end. I just want to see how much more time I have to enjoy the movie. That’s strange. Have you ever heard of anybody saying that to you? No? 

I would assume the other way. If you’re looking at your watch, it’s like, “When can I leave?” 

No. To me, it’s the total opposite. I’m like, “I’m enjoying this. I hope it doesn’t end. Let me see what time it is. Oh, yes. I still have this much more time to enjoy it.” Isn’t that weird? Strange? 

Everybody experiences these art forms differently. If we were all the same, it would be so boring. We wouldn’t know it’s a variety. 

Everybody experiences art forms differently. If we were all the same, it would be so boring.

Sensory Awareness

Have you ever analyzed yourself? I’m curious. Since, you know, you’ve been in this field for so many years and since you have in the same way by reading your books, by reading your writing. All of these things make us more aware of our senses. Are you aware of your senses when you go to a restaurant, or when you go to movies? How does that affect you? Do you lose less interest since you’re part of the creation of what happens behind the scenes? 

Yes, I think I’m too aware of the sound elements, but maybe not as much of the smell or the visuals. Maybe I’m more drawn to somebody asking me if I go somewhere, ”Did you see that person?” “No, I heard them. They had a nice voice.” Instead of looking at certain features in their face. I guess as musicians, maybe you get more prone to think about sound instead of other elements. 

Do you know what’s happening to me now after reading your material, I go to the supermarket and I am more aware now than ever, not only the visual, because I told you before, that when I go to a supermarket, I just want the supermarket to be mine. I want to own it because of the colors and the way they are structured, I know there are consultants, and there are people out there who work on the psychology of the visual. 

Now that I go to a supermarket, I go to a store, and I say to myself, “Wait a minute now, the music that’s playing is playing on my psychology somehow.” When I go to the mall, I say to myself, “Now I have to control what I’m going to buy. I have to control not to spend so much money.” That’s what happens when you start learning more about these things.

Exactly and it has less influence on you because you are more aware. It doesn’t penetrate all these barriers, these awareness barriers have. It has less toll on you. When we were talking about a film score inside a movie, if you’re paying attention to the music, you’re already out of the scene, out of the narrative, out of the engagement with the characters. The same happens when you go to a store. If you say, “Now you’re trying to get me with fast-paced music and get me out of the store. No. I’m not going to react to this.” 

Yes, you resist it. That’s awesome. You have very interesting, very educational, hypnotic information that you always write via a medium. I want to also let our readers know how important it is to educate ourselves on all those things on how powerful sound and music are to connect to our senses. That’s what we do in the show. 

We create awareness of how important it is to connect to our senses because that in the long term affects the positive way our brain health and our health in general. You are such a big part of this. I thank you so much, Pavle, for joining me on the show and creating awareness of how important sound is to the psyche. 

Thank you for this opportunity. 

Thank you so much. How can we find you? I know you’re on LinkedIn, right? 

Yes, I’m on LinkedIn. I always write there. I link to my articles there as well. On Medium, I have a newsletter. Now I had to change from Substack to Beehive. I’ll send you the links. 

You’re also in Sound Awareness, correct? 

It’s called Sound Awareness, but just the provider is different. Also, I got my book. 

Yes, and your book. It’s going to be in the notes. You’re funny. 

I got it physically until now. It was just online when you read it. It was just on Kindle or online formats, but now I have a physical.

You have to translate it Pavle, in different languages.

Yes. Spanish first. 

Listen, more people got to know about it. Yes. That’s a very important topic. Thank you so much, Pavle. We’ll be talking soon. 

Thank you very much, Lucy. Bye bye.

Important links

Unleash The Healing Power of Dance: Move With Parkinson’s! With David Leventhal

Dance for Parkinson’s? Yes, please!

This episode of Your Ageless Musical Brain explores the surprising connection between dance, music, and brain health for people with Parkinson’s. Host Lucy Blanco chats with David Leventhal, a Dance for PD® authority. David shares how dance improves physical and emotional well-being, empowers individuals, and even slows symptom progression. Tune in and learn the science behind the magic of music and rhythm for healing, how dance fosters community and self-expression, and Dance for PD’s® global reach and culturally-sensitive programs.

Parkinson’s? There’s hope! Dance for PD® offers a path to rediscovery, connection, and joy. Tune in and visit https://danceforparkinsons.org/ to find a class or explore online options. Let’s move!

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Unleash The Healing Power of Dance: Move With Parkinson’s! With David Leventhal

My very special guest is a sought-after speaker and recognized authority in the world of Dance for Health. As a Program Director and Founding Teacher at Dance For PD, he leads classes for people living with Parkinson’s Disease around the world. He trains thousands of teaching artists in 28 countries for the Dance For PD approach. His name is David Leventhal. Thank you for coming to the show, and welcome.

Lucy, I’m glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

The pleasure is all mine. Thank you, David. David also pioneered an innovative Google Glass app. It’s an idea called Moving Through Glass. It’s a dance-based app for people with Parkinson’s. He’s also co-authored numerous peer-reviewed studies on the impact of the Dance For PD approach and the impact that it’s had on people living with Parkinson’s disease.

David designed a dance-based course for the narrative medicine curriculum at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He’s also a dancer. He performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1997 to 2011. David, let’s talk about what you do and how you create value for people living with Parkinson’s. Talk to us about your classes and how people benefit from them.

Transforming The Journey Through Dance

My goal is to help people living with Parkinson’s transform their experience, story, and journey with Parkinson’s through dance. What that looks like is different for each individual, but overall, what we see is that dance supports both a physical, emotional, and social journey for our participants. What I mean by that is we see a range of physical and motor benefits. IE dance positively impacts a number of elements related to physical skill, balance, coordination, and gait, such as walking, and this has all been picked up in the scientific literature. There are significant changes in those motor scores for people participating in the Dance for PD program.

We’re also seeking to support our participants by providing an expressive and creative outlet by creating a sense of community and giving them a sense of belonging to a group when a number of people feel isolated and perhaps stigmatized by their Parkinson’s. We have also seen in the research literature benefits in cognition, particularly in terms of executive function, which is one of those aspects of living with Parkinson’s that has started to change. We see dance as a full-spectrum activity that can respond to and support the full-spectrum challenges of Parkinson’s.

Dance has also done the crossover now with health. It’s been scientifically proven now how beneficial it is.

Dance has been connected to healing and well-being for millennia. When we look at traditional and indigenous societies, we see that dance and music are used as part of traditional healing rituals. It’s only in the last few hundred years that we’ve separated medicine from art and medicine from dance. What we’re seeing now with the benefits of modern scientific research, we’re starting to understand how supportive and beneficial dance is for a wide range of conditions, particularly those on the neurological spectrum, but also conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and depression or people living on the autism spectrum. It is a wide range.

My focus is primarily on dance as a tool and support for people living with Parkinson’s. Research has shown that over a three-year course of investigation, people participating in a weekly Dance for PD class showed a slower symptom progression than a control group not participating in dance. This is significant because we know that dance is effective. We know it helps people feel better. It gives them a sense of confidence and helps them work on specific skills like balance and walking. To show over time that it contributes to a slowing of symptom onset is a significant finding for a condition that has no cure.

It has long-term effects. Talk to us about the movement, embodiment, and temporality. I understand that you have taken part in a case study called From Patience to Dancers. Can you elaborate on that with regard to the transformation through the arts?

From Patients To Dancers

In this particular essay, I was interested in understanding how participating in a dance class can help people living with Parkinson’s reform their identities. This is one of the fundamental things that arts interventions can do. When people come into a dance class, they are immediately treated as dancers. They are not treated as patients. In the rest of the world, they are seen as patients. They are medicalized. Parkinson’s hovers around them like a cloud.

One of the fundamental things that arts interventions can do when people come into a dance class is they are immediately treated as dancers. They are not treated as patients.

In a dance setting, we, as teaching artists and choreographers, don’t seek to learn, explore, and experience this incredible art form. We see that people are coming in like all of our other dance students. They’re coming into treating them as dancers, artists, and individuals. Parkinson’s is present in the back of our minds because we want the class to be safe and evidence-based. We’re drawing on what we know from a research standpoint.

When they’re in that class, we approach it as an artistic experience. Every way that we interact with our participants as fellow dancers. We’re working collaboratively with them to change the feelings that people have about their own identity and think about their Parkinson’s story. Parkinson’s is not taking over their lives. They have agency. They have the ability to be creative and physical problem solvers like choreographers are and take on the identity of a dancer.

I think of a wonderful quote from one of our participants in the film Capturing Grace. She says, “When I’m in this class, I have to treat my body like a dancer. I have to think about being a dancer and take on that persona.” That affects things like posture, how we hold ourselves, and how we approach music and rhythm.

Our whole feeling about what it means to live with Parkinson’s and to think like a dancer is to have agency and power over your body to control your body, think about possibilities, and not be walking around in a cloud of limitation and doubt. That transcends or spurs people on to other experiences that will fulfill them in similar ways and help them reform an identity around what’s meaningful to them rather than the health condition they’re dealing with.

I love the way you play choreographer, and they’re the actors. They’re the ones that are visualizing being in a different character. I see the expression on their faces. I’ve seen the videos of your programs, and by envisioning themselves as different characters, they go with the flow of that moment and seize the moment, which is a beautiful thing.

We talked a lot during our training, and we embedded this idea of co-creation in our classes. It’s not only that the trained teachers are offering movement material for people to learn, but we’re also providing opportunities for our Parkinson’s dancers to create their own dances and choreography. That’s important because it’s a critical part of the creative and artistic process of being a dance artist.

It’s also important because they have to contend with the choreography of life. When they leave the studio and go out into the world, they are their own choreographers. They have to figure out how to navigate challenges that come up and how to navigate parameters that the world places around them. To be able to navigate that creatively with the mind of a choreographer is incredibly powerful for them.

Creatively navigating challenges and the world’s limitations with a choreographer’s mindset is incredibly empowering for them.

They end up telling their own story of their own transformation, which is a beautiful thing. What about the new projects that you’ve been working on? Tell us about that.

Music And Mind

I’ve contributed to editing an election of essays about music and health. The book is called Music and Mind. It’s edited by Renée Fleming, who needs no introduction. Renée has been interested in the healing and health-related properties and power of music for a long time. She and Francis Collins, former Director of the National Institute of Health, have partnered on a sound health initiative, which looks at music and health from a wide-ranging set of perspectives.

Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness

Renée asked me to contribute a chapter about music, dance, and Parkinson’s. It’s been clear to us from the first class that I taught that music is the fundamental foundation and the underpinning for everything that we do. One of our participants said that music is like a red carpet that rolls out in front of him and provides this incredible sense of support, power, and joy.

It’s a magical experience.

As with most things that seem magical, there’s a lot of strong science supporting the transformative power of music for people with Parkinson’s. We’ve looked at for a number of years what would be called rhythmic auditory stimulation. This idea is that you can take rhythm and, through rhythm, synchronize pathways in the brain. The auditory and motor systems work together in synchrony. That is particularly important in Parkinson’s, when an internal sense of rhythm may be more difficult to access. I will talk about that in the chapter. I talk about the importance of eating and rhythm.

Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) is a technique that uses rhythm to synchronize pathways in the brain. This helps the auditory and motor systems work together in Parkinson’s disease.

Is that like rhythmic entrainment?

Entrainment is part of that. We entrain to rhythm. What happens in the class is we’re in training to the rhythm we hear, but we’re also in training to a rhythm we seek because dance is a visual form. We see the teacher or the other participants moving to a certain rhythm, which also supports this idea of moving to music.

In the chapter, I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to understand the elements of the beat. For example, upbeat and downbeat might be particularly supportive of something like walking. I wanted to talk about something in music called anacrusis, which is a strong upbeat that leads into a downbeat. This anticipatory action and rhythm is what gives someone living with Parkinson’s, or I hypothesize, this sense of getting ready to move, initiate, and be on the music on that first beat.

I also talk about duration, which is important because in Parkinson’s, sometimes sustained movement can be quite difficult, and music gives us a roadmap for how to sustain movement through a musical phrase. That is something that dancers train to do from a young age, where it’s not a move that goes out and comes in, but it’s about how you get there. How much time do you have to get there?

People with Parkinson’s often find sustained movement challenging. Music provides a roadmap, guiding them through a musical phrase and helping them maintain movement.

The anticipation can feel what the rhythm is going to be. Your body is in sync with that.

You feel that anticipation. You’re ready to move. The music gives you a roadmap for how to move and how long to move. All of that information is embedded there without having the analytical. I quote the art historian Walter Peter, who said, “All art aspires to the condition of music. Music has a direct relationship.” This means that we can’t even put it into words, but somehow, we know what music is telling us.

As dancers, even beginning dancers, when we hear music, we start moving and tapping to it. There’s a direct entrainment to it. All of that points to the immense broad-spectrum power that music has. I also talk about music’s power to connect us to a great community. We are bonded by shared experiences that have us moving to the same beat. That is part of our human evolutionary instinct.

We were meant to be in the community setting.

The way that we express that is through moving and dancing together.

It’s self-expression.

One reason that evolutionary biologists feel that dance has continued on through our species, even when it doesn’t necessarily provide us with food, nourishment, or economic stability. There’s something that dance must do. There are numerous health benefits, but one of them is the idea that it brings us together as a species. It helps us work and communicate together. Music plays a huge role in that.

The brain is resilient. It continues to be resilient as long as we give it permission to be.

It’s more than permission. We have to find opportunities that stimulate the brain in novel and new ways, but also ways that we’re already wired to move. Music is both novel and familiar. It’s novel in that we may not have heard the music before, but it’s familiar in that we recognize the elements of it. We recognize rhythm,  phrasing, and emotional tone, even if we don’t know the music. Music sounds a certain way to us happy, sad, or melancholy. We get that right away, even if we don’t have a degree in music or we’ve never played an instrument. That’s what Walter Peter is talking about. It fosters an immediate instinctual reaction that generates a response.

To stimulate the brain, we need opportunities that are both new and familiar, aligning with our inherent movement patterns. Music perfectly embodies this concept.

Thank you so much for sharing. With regards to the book, that’s going to be in the show notes. The audience can purchase the book. How do we get to know more about you? Dance for PD is where we can find you.

DanceForParkinsons.org has lots more information. One of the other things that we’ve been working on is creating more access to our classes by sustaining the online classes that we started during the pandemic and creating opportunities for people all over the world to dance with us, even if they’re not able to get to a live class.

This is something that we feel strongly about because there are more than 10 million people around the world living with Parkinson’s. The vast majority of them are not engaged in any movement activity, physical activity, or creative activity. We want to change that. Dance is a universal art form. It is found throughout the world. It is found in almost every culture. There is a dance infrastructure that exists in almost every culture.

Our goal is to empower that infrastructure that’s teachers, studios, dancers, and choreographers to reach out to the Parkinson’s community. We’re in 30 countries, but there are a lot more countries where this work needs to happen. We want to figure out ways to make that happen in ways that are culturally sensitive and specific. It’s not about an export or colonizing approach. It’s about partnerships and collaborations that build trust. Local partners who might be interested in this know that they can develop this program using our templates, models, and methods, but on their own terms, artistic style, and cultural language. That’s important.

That is what’s worked so far for this program around the world because music and dance are universal, but they’re also specific. The music that individuals with Parkinson’s in Senegal might be different from the music that people like in New Zealand and China. We want to create a framework or a template that can then be adapted in ways that make it culturally specific, attractive, and fun for the individuals in that particular community.

You make such a difference. I love the awareness that you create, and we will keep in touch. I can’t wait to see more of what projects you’re going to be involved in and how you continue to grow in dance for Parkinson’s. Thank you so much for the value you create and your agentless musical brain, David. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having me back.

Important links:  

About the Guest

David Leventhal is a founding teacher and Program Director for Dance for PD®, a program of the Mark Morris Dance Group that has now been used as a model for classes in more than 300 communities in 25 countries. He leads classes for people with Parkinson’s disease around the world and trains other teachers in the Dance for PD® approach around the world. He’s conceived and co-produced five volumes of a successful At Home instructional video series for the program and has been instrumental in initiating and designing innovative projects involving live streaming and Moving Through Glass, a dance-based Google Glass App for people with Parkinson’s. 

For his work on behalf of the Parkinson’s community, he received the Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award from the Parkinson’s Unity Walk, the Martha Hill Mid-Career Artist Award, the IADMS Pioneer Dance Educator Award, and the 2016 WPC Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Parkinson’s Community. He was recently featured in the 2024 ‘Art Desk 100’ listing of creators, thinkers, and voices who give the best of themselves and “evangelize for a better world in a way that transcends their own success.”

Leventhal has contributed chapters to the Bloomsbury Handbook of Philosophy and Dance (Bloomsbury, 2021), Moving Ideas: Multimodal Learning in Communities and Schools (Peter Lang, 2013), and Creating Dance: A Traveler’s Guide (Hampton Press, 2013), and has served as a co-author on a number of peer-reviewed studies. Leventhal designed and currently teaches a pioneering dance-based elective course that is part of the Narrative Medicine curriculum at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He’s featured in the award-winning 2014 documentary Capturing Grace directed by Dave Iverson. 

Leventhal serves on the Board of Directors of the Davis Phinney Foundation and Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation and on the Advisory Board for the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center Arts & Humanities Program. He’s a charter member of IADMS’ Dance for Health Committee.

As a dancer, he performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1997-2011, appearing in principal roles in Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, on Motifs of Shakespeare. Leventhal received a 2010 Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for his performing career with Mark Morris. He graduated from Brown University with honors in English Literature.

Board Member, Davis Phinney Foundation

Founding Member, Dance for Health Committee, IADMS

Founding Advisor, NeuroArts Blueprint

Founding Advisor, Georgetown Lombardi Arts & Humanities Program

Mambo Mondays: Celebrating Tito Puente’s Legacy With Tito Puente Jr.

Buckle up for a dose of Latin music and family fun! This episode of Your Ageless Musical Brain features Tito Puente Jr., the son of the salsa legend Tito Puente. Tito Jr. spills the tea on what it was like growing up with a famous musician dad, shares how he’s keeping his father’s music alive, and even explains why dancing is basically a workout for your brain. He also chats about using social media to connect with younger folks and keep the salsa party going strong. This episode is jam-packed with fun facts and makes you appreciate the power of music and dance. It’s like a mini-concert for your ears and a history lesson all rolled into one!

Website Links

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Mambo Mondays: Celebrating Tito Puente’s Legacy With Tito Puente Jr.

Welcome to Your Ageless Musical Brain podcast, Season 2. I’m your host Lucy Blanco. On this first episode, I have a very special guest born from music legend royalty. He lives his father’s musical iconic legacy in his euphoric, energetic, and spicy performances. In his performances, he mirrors the passion that he has for keeping his father’s memory and his impact on Latin American music, Latin jazz, and Afro-Cuban beats very much alive. My guest continues to keep fast-paced dance, salsa music, and our Latin culture vibrant and influential just like his father’s legacy. Here to tell us more about the King of Mambo and the King of Latin American music is my very special guest, Tito Puente Jr. Tito, it’s an honor to have you on the show.

Lucy, thank you for having me. I appreciate your time in celebrating the life and legacy of my late father, El Rey Del Timbal, Tito Puente.

I could see that from your T-shirt. You live it. Even from what you wear. That is so beautiful. This past weekend, you celebrated your father’s legacy of 101 years. It’s very symbolic of his birthday. You celebrate and make his spirit live on through the love of his music. That’s a very loyal and unique quality that you have. Tell me what happened. Thank you.

Keep His Father’s Legacy Alive

I appreciate that. It’s a big shoe to fill. He passed away 24 years ago. We did celebrate his 100 and first birthday, born April 20th, 1923, Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. aka Tito Puente. Those of you who are tuning in might not know that my father’s name was Ernest Puente. Not Tito. His stage name, he’s known as Tito. That comes from my grandmother. It comes from my grandmother, Ercilia Ortiz. In the box, about growing up in New York City and Spanish Harlem, my father was born on 110th Street. He lived on the third floor.

Back then, there was no social media or cell phones or anything like that. Abuela, as we kindly called her. Grandma would yell out the window, “Ernetito.” My dad got the nickname from his friends, Tito, as something derivative and something small in Spanish, Poquito, Chiquito, and Ernetito. That’s where he got his nickname Tito.

Sweet too and the sweetness. I understand that your father showed signs of this talent in the kitchen as a little boy. Tell us the story.

He showed signs of talent at a very early age. My grandmother, Ercilia, used to take a quarter from my grandfather and she would send my father to go play piano. That’s where the piano lessons were. Nothing but a quarter back then. This is maybe 1929s or 1930s. My father was very young at the time. Maybe 7 or 8 years old. He was a child prodigy, but he was a dancer first.

He danced. He played mambo music and won dance contests around the neighborhood in Spanish Harlem, New York, with my aunt. They used to win all the contests and win $50 here and $20 there. He was a very wonderful dancer. Tito Puente was a dancer first and then became a child prodigy of music. Piano percussion, that’s what he got himself involved with at a very early age.

The neighbors complained about the banging of the pots and pans. That was funny.

They said, “Put that kid in school.” He was banging up pots and pans all the time. He was running around. He’s a very hyperactive child as far as music. He would bang up the walls of the actual building that he lived in. They had stairs. There were no elevators back then. My dad told me that he would be banging on things and his mother said, “Let’s put him into training into learning on how to learn syncopated rhythms and piano.” That’s one of the greatest percussive instruments out there.

As far back as you can remember, what were those moments that impacted and wowed you? I’m sure there were many, but as far back as you can remember where you made the choice, “This is the life I’m going to lead.”

Being his son, I always recognized the fact that he was a brilliant genius when it came to composition and arranging music. I would see that from my own eyes being a young child myself in the ‘70s and the ‘80s and seeing how he worked very diligently on the piano in writing and composing music throughout his entire career from when I was alive.

Tito Puente: Being Tito Puente’s son, I always recognized the fact that he was a brilliant genius when it came to composition and arranging music.

I can only imagine his upbringing but it must have been very tumultuous for him as he was a veteran of the United States of World War II and a Navy soldier as well, and just being young. My recollection of him working a lot and being somewhat absent in some aspects of it was because he worked on the road. My father was a performer. He worked all the way till his passing in 2000. Being young and not having that father figure there at the time when I was young was something that I remember the most and my sister too as we went through our early childhood years.

As I got older, I started realizing that I wanted to spend more time with him. My mother did too because she was always watching us. She said, “Why don’t you go on the road and take your father around?” At the ripe old age of 14, 15, and 16 years old, during the summertime, I would go with my father and set up his drums. I learned more about him on his professionalism. I knew him as Tito Puente, the father, and then I learned more about him as Tito Puente the professional musician. It was a great experience for me.

Current Projects And Contributions

What about Arts Garage? Tell us about Arts Garage because I know that’s very important for you. Also, as a member of Playing for Change. I know it’s very important nowadays for many younger generations who are getting depressed. The difference in the lives of younger generations, you may tell us about that.

Arts Garage is a wonderful venue in Delray Beach, Florida. I’ve been doing this for about seven years now. I’m celebrating my 53rd birthday here. I’m performing there on May 31st and June 1st. My birthday falls on the second, but I’ll be celebrating my weekend. It is the anniversary of my father’s passing on May 31st as well as the 24th year of his passing. Not only will I be celebrating my birthday but also not a tribute, but more of a celebration of his life as we celebrate Arts Garage in Delray Beach.

It’s a wonderful nonprofit where they bring all types of different styles and genres of music. Playing for Change is a fundraising effort with many musicians including my favorite Carlos Santana where we remade Oye Como Va along with Becky G and many other artists. Playing for Change is one of those organizations that brings global awareness to music.

Playing for Change is one of those organizations that really brings global awareness to music.

What it does is it makes changes in different parts of the world, especially in Africa and poverty-stricken countries. They donate to local charities. I’m proud to be a part of that whole Playing for Change. There are some very major artists. Sheila E., my friend, is participating in Playing for Change as well. You can go to PlayingForChange.org and see more about the great contributions that they have given to many different countries around the world and music.

Music is built for change. Music is built for the mind and the soul. It brings people together. It’s very healthy for you, salsa dancing and mambo dancing. I try to encourage everybody to listen to Tito Puente or when you leave your homes, tell Alexa to play some Tito Puente music or when you come back home, it won’t be one song repeated. Tito Puente is very energetic. It’s full of life. It’s very good for your cardiovascular.

I try to tell kids to listen to Tito’s music. There are health benefits to listening to Tito Puente’s music and what my father left on this planet before his untimely passing. It’s a great opportunity for young kids who are tuning in to this episode. Listen to Tito Puente. Google his name and learn a little bit more about the history of why they called him the King of Latin music.

It has also been proven through EEG scans and neuroscience. Many years ago, we go back 50 years ago, science didn’t pay attention to how beneficial dance music and the arts, especially dance drumming. That’s even newer in the realm of science. Now, it’s been proven through EEG scans how beneficial drumming is. A lot of people, when you say good morning, I notice the reaction of some people. They’re like, “What’s so good about it? It’s Monday.” Not on your calendar. What happens on Mondays, Tito?

I always celebrate Mambo Monday. There are 52 Mondays a year. I know that’s the day that everybody is dreading going back to work. I always encourage everybody with my social media posts with the Mambo Monday and inspirational quotes or inspirational photos and show you that Mondays are not as bad as we always think they are.

I always encourage people to listen to mambo music and listen to the music of Tito Puente on Monday morning to keep them awake. I try to do that in my car when I’m driving my kids to school. They get turned off by it but I push it in their ears. They understand now that they’ll always remember how Mambo Mondays were represented by Tito Puente and Tito Puente Jr. Listen or watch some Puente music every Monday. That way, you can be tuned in. It inspires people too. It inspires people to get through their workday with mambo music.

Do you know what it is too? It’s that energy that we keep inside. I’m a firm believer in connecting to our senses. Not allowing the external world to be the ones to guide us into how our lives are going to be, but connecting to our inner senses. That energy that we keep inside, especially when we sing, dance, and move. That’s what the show promotes. It’s momentum. I love momentum.

Even at my age, I can tell you that I get very excited when I see people dancing, skydiving, and doing all these things that are meant to be in a lot of older generations of Latin America. In their minds, “That’s what is appropriate. Only age-appropriate for when you’re young.” That’s not how you and I think. We think differently. We already know that age has a stigma attached to it, an age-appropriate mentality. What do you say to younger generations who are always on their phone or a lot of times, more on their phone than they are and activities such as these, and also, older generations who think they’re too old to dance and sing?

It’s funny that you mentioned that because I connect a lot because I have teenagers. I’ll understand their language and we were teenagers at one time too, so we get it. I’m Generation X, so I’m a little bit different, but I understand the new generation now. The Millennials, how they think and they are very involved in social media, computers, streaming platforms, and things of that nature. We have to reconnect with them in those aspects.

The new generation is very involved in social media, streaming platforms, and things of that nature. We have to reconnect with them in those aspects.

How do we get them motivated? We show them, old cats as we call ourselves now. I don’t look at it like that because if you take a look at Jennifer Lopez, she’s kicking butt. I had a doctor tell me, “You look very young for your age.” I’m going to be 53. I have no white hair like Tito Puente. My father’s age had a full head of white hair. I’m doing pretty good. I’m drinking a lot of water. We’re very health conscious now about what we put in our bodies. We live longer. Men live longer now, especially Hispanic men. We’re learning more about heart disease and how to avoid it and things that are causing cancer carcinogens.

We’re eating better. We’re learning a lot more about movement and the intake of different foods, grains, salts, and things of that nature. We have to monitor them. I feel like I’m healthier and I feel more driven to bring this music and all that I know about my wisdom to the next generation. Puente, the last name. Puente means bridge in Spanish. My father bridge five generations of musicians and people together, starting from the 1940s throughout his whole entire career throughout the Palladium era and those great songs like Oye Como Va and all those great songs that he had throughout generation after generation learned about movement, dancing, mambo music, and salsa, as we call it today.

I continue to do that and I’m trying to bridge now the younger generation to the music of Tito Puente. A kid who is twenty years old never got to see Puente or understand who he was. It’s up to me to bring that knowledge and wisdom to them so they can be inspired for the new generation. I’m hopeful that my son, Tito Puente III, can inspire the next wave of Latin percussion players.

I’m sure he will. Also, throughout the world. Now, we have salsa radio stations in different countries. In London, we have that. We have salsa dance classes in Switzerland. That was unheard of 50 years ago or 40 years ago. People are getting the idea of how contagious our music is and our culture. Not only that but it’s also for brain health. We want to be independent. We want to grow older and be independent. Not feel pain here and pain there. Dance so that you don’t feel the pain. I love it, Tito. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to have you on the show. We’ll keep in touch.

That’s right. Muchas gracias, Lucy. Thank you very much. Mucho amor. Thank you so much for following me. Follow my social media. Remember Mambo Mondays.

Ciao.

Gracias.

Important Links

Learning How Music Protects Your Brain from Aging Prematurely

Have you ever wondered how music can have a profound impact on your brain health and overall well-being long term? In the fast-paced world we live in, it’s crucial to take control of our lives and think preventively. Music, with its enchanting melodies and rhythmic patterns, has the potential to empower our brain in mysterious ways, preventing premature brain aging and guarding from falling prey to mental illness and chronic diseases and suffering long term. Discover the enigmatic connection between music and the human brain on my blog, “Your Ageless Musical Brain.” Explore how music nurtures our mental stamina, enhances cognitive functions, and brings us closer to a life of wellness and vitality. Unleash the power of music and unlock the secrets of your ageless musical brain.

Music and Wellness: The Harmonious Path to Mental Health

In a world filled with stress, anxiety, and depression, finding natural remedies to enhance our well-being is crucial. Music, a universal language that speaks to our souls, has the potential to transform our mental health and bring about a sense of inner peace and balance. At “Your Ageless Musical Brain,” we believe in the profound connection between music and wellness. Join us as we explore the therapeutic benefits of music, how it alleviates stress, boosts mood, and promotes emotional resilience. Discover how incorporating music into your daily life can be a powerful tool in cultivating a state of wellness and embracing a harmonious path towards mental health.

The Magic of Music: Unveiling the Secret attraction to the Human Brain

Welcome to “Your Ageless Musical Brain,” where we unravel the mysteries of the ageless brain through the magic of music. Music has the unique ability to touch our hearts, evoke memories, and transport us to different emotional landscapes. But did you know that it also holds the key to unlocking the secrets of an ageless brain? In this blog post, we delve into the fascinating research that highlights the transformative power of music on cognitive function, memory retention, and overall brain health. From the soothing melodies that calm our minds to the upbeat rhythms that ignite our spirits, music has the potential to nourish our brains and keep them vibrant and youthful. Join us as we embark on a captivating journey exploring the intricate relationship between music and the ageless brain.