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RealTalk MS
Episode 417: Music and the Body with Emmy Award-Winning Composer Jeff Beal
00:32:05
If you've watched the critically acclaimed series, House of Cards, on Netflix, or the OCD detective series, Monk, on the USA Network, you've already listened to some of five-time Emmy award-winning composer Jeff Beal's work. This week, Jeff...
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- [00:01]
A
I'm john strum and this is real talk, mississippi.
- [00:18]
It's August 26th and we have a lot to talk about and this week I'm talking with five time Emmy award winning composer Jeff Beal about both his Ms. Journey and his journey as an artist. If you've watched the critically acclaimed series House of Cards on Netflix or the OCD detective series Monk on the USA Network, you've already listened to some of Jeff's award winning work. And this Monday, September 1st at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California, Jeff is joining conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for a free concert featuring featuring three of Jeff's works. If you happen to be in or around Southern California this Labor Day, in just a few minutes, I'll be sharing all the details on how you can attend this free event. But before we get to my conversation with Jeff Beal, there are a few other things that you should know about.
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In previous episodes of this podcast, we've talked about the work being done to update the way Ms. Is described. Given all that scientists have discovered about ms, cinso's very familiar course descriptors relapsing, remitting, secondary progressive and primary progressive well, since they were introduced 30 years ago today. Simply put, we can do better. And doing better in describing Ms. Means scientists can conduct more targeted Ms. Research that will produce more targeted treatments. Clinicians can take a more precise, personalized medicine approach in developing an individual's treatment plan, and people living with Ms. Can look forward to a more accurate and specific understanding of their Ms. That's going to be reflective of their own Ms. Journey. There's a growing consensus among Ms. Researchers that Ms. Isn't a disease that can be classified by subtypes, but instead it can be seen as a disease that occurs along a continuum. Along this continuum, in the early stages of the disease, inflammation in the central nervous system causes brain atrophy, but any symptoms you might otherwise experience are offset by neurologic reserve. In other words, the brain has the ability to reroute the signals that, due to demyelination, are no longer getting through. As brain loss from both Ms. And normal aging continues, that neurologic reserve is depleted and the brain loses its ability to reroute those signals. At that point, the effects of what has already been taking place start to become apparent. Symptoms develop and progress. Last week, a research team made up of some of the top Ms. Experts in the world and led by scientists from Oxford University in the UK and the University of Freiburg in Germany reported that after analyzing data from more than 8,000 patients and over 35,000 MRI scans. An AI based model describes Ms. In terms of four central state dimensions that better capture the progression of the disease. These four states are physical disability, brain damage, clinical relapses, and silent inflammatory activity. This model describes Ms. As a continuous disease process with clearly definable transition probabilities between these four states. This proposed model of Ms. Enables individualized risk assessment for each person living with Ms. Rather than grouping people whose Ms. May be very different from one person to the next into a static subtype like range relapsing, remitting or secondary progressive. This model quantifies each individual's state and tracks that state dynamically, paving the way for more personalized treatment decisions and eventually highly targeted therapies. This state based modeling driven by artificial intelligence represents a real breakthrough, and it's one of many reports we're going to be seeing as this effort to develop a new way of describing Ms. Continues to gain momentum. If you'd like to review the details of what I think is a fascinating study, you'll find a link in today's show. Notes.
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Research from the Max Planck Institute in Germany has revealed that specific types of bacteria living in the human gut may be linked to an individual's susceptibility to Ms. The research team studied pairs of identical twins where one twin had Ms. And the other didn't. Because twins have identical genes, this approach allowed the researchers to study non genetic differences that might play a role in MS, and the scientists found more than 50 types of gut bacteria that were present in different amounts between the twin with Ms. And the healthy twin. As a next step, the researchers transferred bacteria from the small intestine of the twins to lab mice that were genetically prone to develop Ms. Like symptoms, and the mice that received the bacteria from the twin with Ms. Were more likely to get sick. The research team was able to identify two specific types of bacteria that appear to trigger the disease in mice. This discovery is another step toward one day developing interventions that could prevent Ms. From even starting. If you'd like to learn more about this study, you'll find a link in today's show. Notes and I'll also take this opportunity to tell you about the Ms. Microbiome study, which is focused on understanding the role of gut bacteria in Ms. This study is currently recruiting individuals with all types of ms, so if you'd like to learn more about how you might participate in the Ms. Microbiome study, you'll also find that link in today's show. Notes.
- [06:29]
Many people with Ms. Find that the first disease modifying therapy, therapy they're prescribed, doesn't always work for them. The good news is that there are 20 more DMTs to try. But imagine a time when your neurologist would know how you were going to react to a disease modifying therapy before they even wrote the prescription. That way you wouldn't have to waste time on a DMT that wasn't doing anything for you. Well, recently published results of a study partially funded by the National Ms. Society indicate that we're a step closer to that scenario becoming a reality. Gluterimer acetate, better known as copaxone, is one of the earliest disease modifying therapies that became available to people with Ms. And still today, it's often the first DMT prescribed to someone who's been newly diagnosed. But like other Ms. Drugs, not everyone responds to glutearum or acetate. And there's no way to predict who's going to benefit from this therapy and who won't. So a research team analyzed blood samples from over 3,000 people with Ms. In an effort to track how the immune system responded to gluterimer acetate. Then the team reviewed the health records from nearly 2,000 people with Ms. To determine how effective treatments with gluterimer acetate or interferon beta, known as beta seron or xtavia, actually were. The researchers found that people with a specific version of a specific gene, known as the HLA A gene, specifically benefited from treatment with gluterimer acetate. They also experienced fewer relapses, less disability progression, and a reduced number of lesions on MRI scans when compared to people with the same version of that HLA A gene, but who were treated with interferon beta. This is a big step. It's the first time scientists have been able to identify a genetic marker that accurately predicts an individual's response to an Ms. Treatment, making it one of the first steps toward personalized treatment for Ms. A moment ago, I asked you to imagine a time when your neurologist would know how you were going to react to a disease modifying therapy before they even wrote the prescription. This study brings us a step closer to that day. And when you think about how many people who are newly diagnosed with Ms. And are prescribed copaxone. It's an important step that can one day help someone avoid spending months, sometimes even years, on a therapy that isn't going to help them. If you'd like to learn more about this study, you'll find a link in Today's show notes While we're talking about next generation approaches to treating ms, it's certainly worth noting that music has already been shown to help manage symptoms, improve mood, and enhance communication and motor skills among people with Ms. I'm pretty sure at one time or another we've all benefited from the way music can reduce stress and anxiety and promote relaxation. Jeff Beals Music can set a mood, communicate an emotion, and even tell a story. In a moment, Emmy Award winning composer Jeff Beal will tell his own story about how his music and his Ms. Have influenced him.
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Jeff Beal is a five time Emmy Award winning composer and if you watched the critically acclaimed series House of Cards on Netflix or the series about the OCD Detective Monk on the USA Network, you've already listened to some of Jeff's award winning work. Jeff was diagnosed with Ms. In 2007 and next Monday, September 1st, Jeff is joining conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for the premiere of his newly arranged New York Etudes, a work that reflects his Ms. Journey. The concert will also include Jeff's composition Body in Motion and the world premiere of Four Score, a piece Jeff composed in honor of Leonard Slapkin's 80th birthday. Welcome to the podcast, Jeff.
- [10:46]
B
Thanks John. It's great to meet you. Thanks for having me.
- [10:49]
A
Of course. And you know, I want to get to this upcoming concert in just a moment, but first, well, first let's talk about you. I'm curious, how old were you when you knew that music was going to be your life's work?
- [11:02]
B
I think it started pretty young. You know, there was a piano in the house. And even before I started playing trumpet, which has really been my main instrument professionally, I was tinkering around, you know, and before grade, in grade school, and then I think around third grade I started playing trumpet. My dad took me to an assembly, this is in Northern California. And I remember there's two epiphany moments in my musical life. The first was playing jazz around middle school when I started improvising. And that's improvising is like spontaneous composition. And all of a sudden it was like this world opened up to me, you know, like, wow. I found there was something inside me that wanted to express itself. And then the other time when that was like solidified times 100, I guess was when I was a little older in high school playing trumpet in the Oakland Youth Symphony. We were playing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which is an amazing piece of music.
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It's, it's. And if you never you probably never sat in the middle of an orchestra, but this actually the best place in the world to hear music. And especially that piece because it's just so amazing. And it just kind of blew my mind. And I thought, even though it wasn't film music, it's interesting because it was a ballet and it was a story that was told. And I thought, that's what I want to do. I want to write music and I want to. I want to tell stories and I want to write for orchestra. That was kind of the. The genesis of a lot of things that followed.
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A
Those are amazing experiences, and to have them so young. I'm not really sure that you chose music. It sounds like music chose you.
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B
No, it chose me. You know, it's, it's, it's. It's. Yeah. I don't know what else I do. I mean, obviously it's. It's just a very happy obsession. You know, it's not. It's, it's. It's a vocation. It's something you don't retire from, obviously. It's, it's. It bring. You look at John Williams, you know, he's just 90 something. You know, he's still writing music. And, you know, it's. It's a lifelong. If you're lucky enough to do it, and especially as lucky as I am to do it professionally, it's something you. You generally don't usually put away.
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A
So. So to the point of being lucky enough to do it, I'll ask you the question that every aspiring artist wonders about. Music is such a competitive field. How did you break through?
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B
I think there's. I mean, I think there's a lot. You know, it's the old joke. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Right. I mean, there's a lot of effort that goes into achieving mastery, certainly as a performer, but also as a composer. There's hours and hours of work to go into it. But I also feel like to be a successful composer, I think it's really. It, it's. It's necessary that whatever, everybody has a voice. Every composer has a voice. But when you. I think you. What you need to do is you have to discover what that is and, and nurture that. And, and really, it's like a plant. You water it. And also you. You water you. Every day you try to write some music. Every day you try to create something. You know, there's. There's a lot of ways in which all these dots connect professionally. But I think I. Big believer in education, actually. My wife and I both went to Eastman School of Music, which is a wonderful university, in, in New York, Rochester, New York. And. And when I got my first big break, really was in Los Angeles around 2000. And this is. There's a funny connection to everything I already shared with you, which is that Mark Isham, who's still a really dear friend, but also a fellow jazz trumpet player, we. We became friends when I moved to la. He recommended me to Ed Harris, who was doing a film called Pollock about the American painter, you know, Jackson Pollock. And the funny connection to the trumpet is that at the time, I think the reason he had reached out to Mark and Mark wasn't available was that maybe they wanted a jazz score. So, long story short, after a couple other failed attempts at music, I was actually the third composer hired on that film. But I feel like that movie in, in 2000. Well, I think it came out in 2000, kind of changed my life. I often say, like, I know what had some sort of career doing what I do, but I definitely feel like I have the career I had because I did that movie and, and the music. The film was a small film at the time, but it, you know, went on to do really well and got me noticed in Hollywood especially, and opened up a lot, a lot of other doors that follow, follow that.
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A
You know, a lot of people, myself included, listen to music to relax and unwind a little. But I'm curious, does that work for you or as a composer, do you find yourself sort of focusing on the more technical aspects of whatever piece of music you happen to be listening to?
- [15:35]
B
Well, no, it's. It's an excellent question because it's also my job. So when I'm composing them in a certain brain, it's a very much a flow state. It's very engaging and it's also, in some strange way, meditative. But I have found that I love listening to music. But for me, and I. I love recorded music, but my favorite way to hear music is in a live concert. I think it's because that's the. Where I came from. From. It's also. It's why we're what. What we're doing in Los Angeles next weekend. But to me, and I think the pandemic also kind of doubled down my attitude on this whole thing. I enjoy music the most when I go out and, and hear it done by humans in a room. That's kind of the most pleasurable thing. And, and my wife and I, we spent 30 years in Los Angeles, but we relocated to New York City around 2021 and that is really a joy because LA is a great town for live music but the logistics of getting to a concert halls and stuff are a lot different. I mean in New York it's like a candy store. We walk down, we walk to Lincoln center, we walk to the Met, Opera, Cardi hall, jazz clubs, you name it. So I love, I love it, I love it, I love, I think music is a huge part of my life. Obviously there's times when I just want to be quiet, you know, just read a book too. Obviously, you know, there's a lot of music already going on on any given day.
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A
I'm sure.
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B
Let's be hon.
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A
Yeah, I'm sure. So how have you seen your Ms. Journey impact, your journey as an artist?
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B
Well, it's interesting, you know, this is not unusual. I was in my 40s, mid-40s when I was diagnosed and I was very much mid career and I think the first, the first couple years which were the scariest and obviously I, I've been very lucky and responded well to therapies I was put on and other things I've done, I think. But I think I, I considered myself very lucky. Listen, I work at home. I was able to create a new. I'd already sort of worked this way anyways, but I was, in order to keep working, which I'd been very glad I've been able to do, I, I sort of had to kind of be a little smarter about how to manage my workday. I mean you, you know, anybody with ms, the, the fatigue is real and the energy tank is not as full for anybody. Even with somebody with sort of in a remission, relapsing, remitting state as I am. So I sort of learned really quickly how to manage my time better be efficient. But the interesting thing about it is that I think in a strange way, I think I rediscovered my joy for making music in a way because.
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The fact that I could still do it and be artistic and express myself made me feel like, okay, you know, this is the weird thing with, the weird thing about a journey with chronic illness. If you have the version of Ms. Which is chronic, which is the most common, obviously the next question bees well is I think for all of us is like, what's my life going to look like? How am I going to move in the world? You know, and, and you know, I think also the people, the caretakers are a huge important part of one's life. I, I was very, I'm very lucky to be married to a wonderful wife, Joan who's really been my champion. She's been a champion in my whole life in other ways, but on a health front. She was my champion from the year I was diagnosed. And, and like a lot of other people, we were also raising our son when I was diagnosed. He was a young teenager.
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So I think, you know, navigating all that stuff.
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Was a challenge and, and it still is, but I think, I think, you know, I'm doing the best I can, let's be honest. You know, that's what we all do.
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A
Exactly right. You know, as I mentioned when I introduced you, you were diagnosed 18 years ago now.
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B
Yeah.
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A
What's the one thing you wish you knew about Ms. Then that you know about Ms. Now?
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B
And I've had this conversation with other people newly diagnosed. The, the, the, the way there's waves with the disease that, that are sort of triggered by many things. Could be heat, it could be stress, could be what a panoply of factors. But I guess what I, I guess what I, for somebody that is in my situation that has, you know, basically a disease in remission was to don't project onto the worst day of symptoms the rest of your life because often that's, you know, a flare is a phase that doesn't last forever. It's horrible. And I, I have them and I get frustrated and depressed about it and you know, or any sort of a flare or I call it an exacerbation, you know, you know, I think, I think that was one thing and I think the other thing.
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It was more something I wish I was able to permission I was, wish I was able to give myself. I had a really hard time in the early years just even giving into a nap in the middle of the day, which is very common for somebody with Ms.
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And, and, and I'm much more kinder to myself. So I think, I wished, I wish earlier in the journey I, I had a better way of just having just given myself a break, you know, and being a little more graceful towards my own.
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More. The moral factor of this, what this is, it's not every day isn't an easy day and you do the best you can.
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A
You know, you talk to a lot of people about Ms. What do you find is the biggest misconception that people have about multiple sclerosis?
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B
Well, it's, I think it's, it's very, it's a good question because I present like a normal, you know, now I'm 62 years old, a normal 62 year old man. And so I had to learn early on, how much to share. Because I think.
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For example, the fatigue thing, you know, it was, it was very, it's people are just making people saying what they say. But you know, if I would try to share the struggle with fatigue with somebody, with somebody I was working with or another human, you know, sometimes you get back, oh yeah, I, I get tired too or I need a nap too. And I think the thing that's hard for somebody that doesn't have anything that involves, let's say, chronic fatigue, for example. I think it's hard for somebody that doesn't experience that level of exhaustion is it's hard for them to have empathy for that. I don't know how you explain that to somebody. I do remember, you know, in my own life with my wife, you know, like it's also some, like I'm getting over a little flu, I just got back from Europe and you can probably hear it in my voice. But it took me a while to make sure I was sick. And part of the reason that was is because I always just feel a little, you know, there's always an off, it's not quite, you know, normal. And I remember that first time that happened to my wife and I, and she said, and she got it too. And she goes, oh, this is what you have, this is horrible. And I just thought, yeah. And then she, and it was really in a sad, in a horrible way. But she realized like.
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That the spectrum I think of just sort of symptoms or pain or suffering or exhaustion or, you know, there's sort of a low level thing when you're, when you're living with Ms. That, that's hard for somebody to, to sort of get their handle on. And this, it's not their problem. I mean, it's not their reality. But yeah, that's, that's one thing.
- [22:59]
A
Yeah, I, I, I hear you. I, I think, I think sometimes some of the most common symptoms are, are hard for people to really appreciate if they're not dealing with them themselves. You mentioned fatigue and. Well, that's the one isn't affects so many people with Ms. And yet if you don't have ms, what do you immediately say to somebody? Well, maybe you should get more sleep.
- [23:22]
B
Yeah, exactly. You know, which is logical or, you know. Yeah, and, and it's just, you know, it's, it's a kind of, you know, that, that level of fatigue is, you can't even function. You just gotta, you've got to lie down or move, you know.
- [23:35]
A
Exactly.
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B
So yeah, it's, it's interesting. Yeah.
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A
So let's talk about this Labor Day, September 1st. It's the music and the Body event at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. It's. It's quite a program. What can you tell me about it?
- [23:49]
B
Well, this is interesting how like a small idea sometimes grows bigger and bigger the more people that get involved in this in a beautiful way. During the pandemic, I started writing piano music. I started actually practicing piano because I was really missed making music with other people. You know, like I said, as I said, Trump is my first instrument. If you hear like on the House of Cards, that's me playing trumpet. Early, early on in my 20s and 30s, I made some solo records as a jazz trumpet player, but I've always played piano and I played it on my scores, but it's kind of a second skill. But really during COVID I said, I really want to get better at this. So I just. And I was too depressed to write music when I didn't have a deadline I had to do. So I just practicing like crazy. And then about, you know, three years ago, I started writing these pieces, these solo piano pieces. And the record, the first record was released last year. The second one will be released next year. Fast forward to. To another relationship, another since moving to New York City and some other situations I've had finally met, had time, to be honest with you. After finally raising our son and getting through the pandemic, I'm finally involved a little bit with this, with the Ms. Foundation. And I've known for a long time. I think, you know, it's funny, most of my Ms. Legions are actually in the corpus callosum. And I'll talk about this at the concert a little bit or at the panel or polls, you know, which is known as an area of the brain that basically connects the left and right hemispheres. The irony of this is that the, this is an area of the brain that's known to be hyper developed in the brains of musicians because music is a. Is an art form and a skill that actually leverages incredible cognitive work in the brain. It's incredibly complex and intricate the way it does. And, and my wife said something when she saw that first MRI with those leashes, she goes, oh, now I know why you've stayed so musically active all this time. You know, because even before I was diagnosed and I loved your last episode, when you're talking about the years before, somebody presents symptoms, right? Somebody, people in your life notice things about you, right? She noticed the fatigue, she noticed the depression, other things that, like what's this, you know, But I. I made a decision then, and I'm still doing that. I really realized for myself. Part of the way I told myself a positive narrative was staying active musically is a big part of my health.
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So. So really, the first half of the concert, which I'm so excited about, which was not the part that I was the big idea, which is the second half. But, you know, through my relationship with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, which is a wonderful orchestra, they encouraged me to arrange some of the pieces with orchestra. So the first, whole first half, I'm going to play 10 of the Etudes in front of an orchestra, which I've never done. I may play piano in public now for the first time in. In the last few years, which is really fun. That's another theme I think of. Of aging is just Lifelong learning is another theme of the wellness story. So that'll be the whole first. The first half will be five from the first record and five from the second record. All. All with strings. The second half is. Is another love of mine, but that isn't related to what people know me for. And that is my concert music. You know, I've done many concerts of my film music around the world. But I also love writing what I. What you might call pure concert music, whatever that is. Right. Or just music that's not. Doesn't have a screen attached to it. But I still love storytelling. So we have an amazing violinist from New York City, Kelly Hall Tompkins, who's going to play my violin concerto Body in Motion, which I wrote for her. We first did it with the St. Louis Symphony. And then Leonard Slatkin, who is one of the really most celebrated conductors in the US and the worldwide, really is someone that's champed in my music for a long time. And Leonard has an amazing story that connects back to Hollywood as well. His parents were musicians. They played in the studios back in the 50s and 60s when he was a young boy, maybe the 40s even.
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So I've written a symphony in honor of Leonard's 80th birthday. And the symphony is fun because it's a real sort of bang. It's called for score. And even though it's not film music, I thought, what if I write a piece of concert music where I feel free to sort of access my vocabulary as a film composer? So it's probably the most colorful and dramatic of all the pieces, let's put it that way. So it's a very fun, fun program. I'm. So that's the concert part, but Laco also has, has created all these other, you know, it's wonderful that there, there's a person at, on staff at LACO who was hired just this year who has Ms. And I've become, I've had some talks with her and they're just a wonderful organization. So they got really inspired by this idea of partnering with the Ms. Foundation. That's a, they are also a partner in presenting this, this concert. And, and so they've designed a whole day and it's a Labor Day concert. So there's going to be some, some other activities there. There's going to be music in the afternoon. There's going to be an instrument petting zoo which I think if people have kids they can bring them to try out some instruments. And we're gonna, you and you will be hosting a panel, we'll do some neurologists. But the whole idea of the idea is this connection between the body and, and music and, and, and you know, we live in this era of smartphones and screens and distraction. And I think a big part of what will be fun about this day for people is just to, just to start to think about their own relationship to their body, their own relationship, their health and how if music can maybe enter, be a part of the rituals that they might put into their lives that would maybe bring them some sort of calm or engagement in their life. Yeah, it's a lot going on, so I'm super excited about it.
- [29:41]
A
Well, if you're listening and you're going to be in or around Southern California on Labor day, that's Monday, September 1st. It's a free family friendly day at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. Activities get underway at 11am they continue throughout the day leading up to the concert at 2pm When Jeff and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will perform three of Jeff's works, including a world premiere. I will say it again, this entire day is absolutely free and you'll find a link to the online registration in today's show notes. Jeff Beal, thank you for all you do to not only make the world a better place through your music, but for using your music to raise awareness about Ms. Thanks so much for talking with me today. I'm looking forward to being with you on September 1st.
- [30:28]
B
Thank you so much, John.
- [30:30]
A
That's going to wrap up this episode of Real Talk Ms. Real Talk Ms. Is powered by the National Ms. Society and you can share this episode of the podcast by letting your friends or family members know that all they have to do is point their web browser@realtalkms.com 417. You'll find that link in today's show notes, so you can easily copy and paste it right into an email or a text. When it comes to managing ms, your most powerful tool isn't a pillar. It's not an injection, not even an infusion. When it comes to managing ms, your mindset is one of the most powerful tools you have, and a growth mindset can make all the difference in how you experience your Ms. Journey. Next week on Real Talk MS, we'll be talking with Dr. Miriam Franco about how to go about cultivating a growth mindset when you're living with Ms. I hope you'll join me for that conversation. I'm John Strum. Thanks for listening. Stay safe and make healthy choices.
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B
Sam.