Episode Details

Curiosity. Play. Discovery. Music. 

For singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and music educator Cory McAtee, play isn’t simply something children do. It’s a way of discovering the world: experimenting, moving, making mistakes, following curiosity, and paying attention to things we might otherwise overlook.

In this conversation, Cory joins Scott to talk about a musical life that began with pots and pans and neighborhood performances, coalesced through clarinet, saxophone, tuba, piano, and more, and eventually led her back to a childhood ambition to write and perform her own music.

Along the way, they explore what it means to make music for “children of all ages”; why Cory refuses to underestimate the intelligence and curiosity of young listeners; the trees, creatures, and natural world that populate her songs; and why adults may lose something important when we stop playing and begin to assume we already understand the world around us.

They also talk about music education and the formation of listeners; joy, melancholy, and music as an emotional language; the freedoms and frustrations of being an independent artist; home recording and the creative possibilities of experimentation; and Cory’s contribution to Chris Redding’s GRAMMY-nominated The Colors in My Mind.

There are also saxophones in redwood groves, Bananarama, an unfortunate click track, looming bagpipe lessons—and the story of a windy day, a football field, and a sousaphone bell.

At the center of it all is a wonderfully simple idea: growing up doesn’t mean growing out of  wonder. Attention, curiosity, play, and discovery are joyous practices we need throughout our lives.

Episode Highlights

·      Rediscovering a childhood ambition to write and perform music

·      Tim Noah and the encouragement that helped Cory begin songwriting

·      “Steppin’ Into the Outside” and the relationship between music, movement, and nature

·      Why children don’t need to be protected from sophisticated ideas or language

·      “This Old Tree,” mycelium, and imagining the hidden lives of trees

·      What happened when Cory took her saxophone into a California redwood grove

·      Play as a form of learning, discovery, and attention

·      What adults may lose when we stop playing

·      Songs as part of a listener’s lifelong emotional vocabulary

·      Measuring artistic success one meaningful listener at a time

·      Joy, melancholy, minor keys, and music’s ability to help us move through difficult emotions

·      Teaching children not merely to play notes, but to become expressive musicians

·      A tuba bell and Cory’s Mary-Poppins-ish encounter on a windy football field

·      Hearing arrangements from the perspective of multiple instruments

·      Chris Redding’s The Colors in My Mind and making music collaboratively across distance

·      The freedom, experimentation, and occasional disasters of home recording

·      Kindies Do the 80s, Bananarama, and making a familiar song your own

·      The instruments Cory still wants to learn—Bagpipes, anyone?

Cory’s New Music: “Scary Night”

Cory’s new single “Scary Night” is out now, accompanied by a new music video. Built around the wonderfully spooky vocabulary of Halloween—mysterious noises, creaking doors, howling dogs, and things that go bump in the night—it’s another example of Cory’s knack for turning the familiar world into an invitation to listen, imagine, and play.

Find Cory’s music, videos, and more at her official website, linked below, and look for Steppin’ with Cory and “Scary Night” wherever you listen to music.

About Cory McAtee

Cory McAtee is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music educator, and recording artist who