We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Linert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

From a young age, I always enjoyed music. My music training created opportunities of community and leadership that I loved. Almost immediately I was chosen to lead sectionals with my peers and friends and help new students to our classes. My high school orchestra director knew how much I loved teaching music and set up opportunities for me to provide private lessons for children and adults. I tutored and organized sectionals because I genuinely liked it. I loved making music, organizing, and tutoring during those formative years but never proclaimed to myself that “this is what I want to do with the rest of my life!” The summer before my junior year of high school, I auditioned and was accepted to a summer of intense musical study at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. For eight weeks I practiced, lived, breathed music with like-minded musicians my own age; it was like Utopia summer camp for musicians! During this time, we lived in cabins, learned from professionals in the industry, and practiced and performed music constantly. One night during a faculty performance of the “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” (Quartet for the End of Time) by Oliver Messiaen, I had an epiphany and broke down. It was this moment I knew I was going to have music in my life as much as humanly possible. Following that summer, my mindset focused on going to college for music and with the help of my family and teachers!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Hi, I’m Michael Linert, a music educator, advocate, and performer looking to connect with vibrant, passionate, loving people through performance, education, and advocacy.

I believe everyone should have access to music education, so I currently dedicate the majority of my time advocating and providing access to music for underprivileged communities as well as focusing on encouraging those from privileged backgrounds to look for ways to enhance musical experiences for others.

Performing arts education, when done well, has the capacity to change the culture of a community into one that supports, encourages, celebrates, and looks out for one another. Performing arts programs should be one of the main cornerstones to a school’s educational format. We should seek excellence for ourselves and others, rather than competition, while pursuing new ways to both learn and succeed for ourselves and for others. It should be the unspoken mission of musicians and music educators that if we do not build up others while we are growing, we are not thriving to our optimal capacity.

All aspects of my music education, advocacy, and performance initiatives and projects are driven by this philosophy. Most recently, I have begun live streaming online (twitch.tv/themlconnection) and have enjoyed connecting with people in this new format!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I seek to create a world fully enriched by music, providing accessible and varied opportunities for all who desire music in their lives. Everyone should have access to learn and perform music. Much of my focus pertains to high-school-aged or younger students to help ensure they are receiving quality music education which not only includes musical training but valuable life skills which transfer to all areas of life. Although K-12 education prioritizes emphasis on learning reading, writing, and math skills (which are extremely important), many students miss the opportunities that music education provides to grow healthy social, emotional, and mental well being skills. Students need to feel a part of a community, and a high-quality music education is one of the best ways to help students of any age to feel included.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Through my public school music educator experiences, I have found that students wanted to play and sing mariachi music. My musical upbringing and training had not included much study of mariachi music previously, however, as I went through my music studies, I was tasked with studying a wide variety of musical styles from numerous countries and time periods. Simply put: if I wanted to be the best musician and music educator I could be, I had to understand how music works and apply research skills to understand what I did not already know. I applied these skills to authentically understand, teach, and perform all styles of music, including mariachi music. Doing this takes time, and a large part of my successes as a mariachi advocate and educator are the direct result of my mariachi mentors and educators who have helped and continue to help refine my techniques and process so that I can more effectively and authentically present Mexican culture. I have much to learn, but some recent positions presenting and teaching at the Colorado Music Educators Association, American String Teachers Association, and through the Aspen Music Festival and School, have allowed me to share my knowledge and experiences with other music educators wishing to enhance their mariachi experiences for their students.

Contact Info:

• Website: michaellinert.com
• Instagram: TheMLConnection
• Facebook: TheMLConnection
• Twitter: TheMLConnection
• Youtube: michaellinert
• Other: Twitch.TV/TheMLConnection