meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

PEL Presents PvI#112: Musical Zoom w/ Jerome Kurtenbach

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jerome is an LA composer/director/screenwriter who is involved in a lot of musical improv, so Mary and Mark interview him about that and about the function of art, plus songs for pets, a support group for people who sing all the time, and more.

Hear more PvI. Jerome sticks around for the post-game, shared with you non-supporters just this once. Support the podcast to get this for most episodes, plus an ad free experience.

Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is philosophy versus improv, where two sages try to teach each other a thing or two,

0:09.4

and maybe you, the audience, gets something out of it as well.

0:12.3

I am Mary Hines, bringing the improvisational prowess, and I'm joined by my fabulous co-host.

0:18.1

This is Mark Linson-Myer, supposedly bringing some philosophical thinking to the

0:22.1

day, and we are joined by a very special guest. Jerome Curtinbach. I am a writer, composer,

0:28.3

director, and coming to participate in this lovely podcast. Well, thank you for doing that. So, Mary

0:35.2

contacted you because we haven't actually talked about musical improv

0:39.7

on this show. Whether we could actually do any musical improv, we certainly can't do it in the

0:44.2

way that you're used to doing it because you're like, you don't just sing and improv versus. This is

0:49.3

not improvised Shakespeare, right? You actually do improvised musical complement to other people

0:53.6

improvving. Usually, yeah.

0:55.8

And what's challenging in rooms like this on Zoom or any virtual stage is the sinking of things.

1:03.2

A lot of people fall out of sync. So it kind of has evolved more into either just singing without

1:09.3

any accompaniment or a lot of people preparing

1:13.4

the pre-filmed content to make that happen. So it's no longer very much improv. But musical

1:19.6

improv online can be a challenge because of that one factor alone. So it's possible, just not

1:25.6

easy. Mary, what have you done in this area?

1:28.2

I know you sing, but are the two areas coordinated?

1:33.0

Yeah, so I'm a trained singer, and I've actually done a good bit of musical improv,

1:39.3

and I've worked with Jerome a lot over the last couple years when the second city, you know, when the pandemic

1:45.6

happened and we were all squirled away in our, you know, your sister's basement or like your

1:51.9

mom's guest room, et cetera. And that's where I met Jerome and we did a lot of virtual

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mark Linsenmayer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mark Linsenmayer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.