Eva Moon – To Strum Along To Community and Change

Eva Moon 0:03
So, yeah, find your tribe. Connect with your community, find the people who, who light you up and pull for you. Don’t just, don’t just watch on the sidelines. It’s about taking a part.

Claudia Henock 0:21
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Your Most Precious Thing, the show that talks about the stories about items we hold near and dear to our hearts. I’m your host, Claudia Henock, and let’s meet our guest for this week.

Claudia Henock 0:32
Eva Moon is an author, musician, playwright, screenwriter, performer, and former Huffington Post blogger. Her plays and musicals have been staged across the US and UK, and her solo musical, “The Mutant Diaries: Unzipping My Genes” is streaming on Amazon. She recently released her first novel: “Pinocchio’s Guide to the End of the World.”

Claudia Henock 0:53
Hi, Eva, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Eva Moon 0:56
Thank you. Thank you, I’m, I’m fine. I’m looking forward to this.

Claudia Henock 1:00
Me too. I’m really excited. So to start, what would you say is your most precious thing?

Eva Moon 1:08
Well, isn’t that the question of the the whole day here, I had to think about this for a while, but it came down to my ukulele. And it’s not that this one particular ukulele is the most precious thing to me, it could be a different one, although I’ve had this one for a number of years. And it’s the only one that I play. But it’s what it represents to me rather than the physical object itself.

Claudia Henock 1:36
So what does the ukulele represent to you?

Eva Moon 1:42
It’s a connection with other people. And it’s a way, it’s a gift that I’ve been able to bring to a lot of other people. I’ve been a musician my whole life, I’ve played piano, I sing, I play keys, I’ve been in bands, I write music. I’ve performed, you know, across the USA, and in the UK. But a few years ago, we were planning a trip to Hawaii. And I’ve decided to pick up ukulele because I just thought it would be fun. I discovered a different world, actually, I really enjoyed playing it, it’s a lot easier than the piano and it’s a lot more portable too, you can just go and sit on the beach and strum away.

Eva Moon 2:31
But what I found when I was trying to learn how to play it, and getting tired of playing by myself, was that there are ukulele groups all around the country, it’s become very popular. And I think a reason that is popular is it’s got a rather short learning curve. Even if you’re not a musician, to get to the point where you can have fun with it. It’s a real instrument, there’s no upper limit to how good you can be at it, or how hard you can make it to play. But to get to the point where you can strum a few chords and sing some songs. I think anyone, even if they weren’t a musician, could be there in a couple of weeks. So I went, started going to a local ukulele group. And what I discovered was that here are these people. They’re not musicians, some of them. Some of them had never played another instrument. And yet, they were there every week for an hour and a half, just for no other reason than to play songs. For that time, there was no politics, there was no, no arguing, was no divisiveness, it was just fun. And I always had a positive feeling when I left the sessions.

Eva Moon 3:47
And I got to thinking, why should it just be ukulele players that get to have this feeling of being together and connecting through music, everyone should have, in fact everyone used to have it, before we got to this point where people started thinking that the only people who could make music were professionals or were on you know, America’s Got Talent. Originally music, the purpose of music was to bind a community together. I’m convinced that humans had music before we had language that the you know, a rhythmic activity, whether it was dance, or music or drumming, or whatever it was, was a way of connecting people to each other and making them feel like they belong to the same tribe or same group or same family.

Eva Moon 4:41
And then there’s been a lot of studies that support the idea that communal singing or communal playing music is healthy, that people are mentally healthier, that they’re physically healthier. They’re happier. So I went to my local city council, and I said, “I think our town should have a monthly sing along. And I’m willing to lead it.” So they said, “That’s a great idea,” and they got me a room and they put out the publicity. And I got up there the first night. This is a number of years ago, before the pandemic, with my ukulele. And over 100 people showed up to the first one.

Claudia Henock 5:26
That’s awesome!

Eva Moon 5:28
And we spent an hour and a half just singing these great old songs, and I’ll sing anything, we’ve played you know Born to be Wild, and just any crazy song, you can play it and sing it, and everyone just was happy. And it was a good, there was nothing negative about it at all. In fact, our local news covered it, a month or two later, they came and did a piece on it. There’s this activity, it just brings people together in a completely non divisive way. And it for a positive activity. So since then, I’ve been leading the sing-a-long, and I eventually ended up leading the ukulele group that I had joined as a beginner. And it’s just been nothing but a positive influence in my community.

Claudia Henock 6:32
But I think it’s really cool sometimes of how just playing ukulele, or just having a fun little sing along it can bring essentially a community together. And I didn’t really think of it that way too. And I just thought it was really cool that you’re able to set something like that in your own community.

Eva Moon 6:47
Yeah, well, it was especially meaningful after the pandemic hit. Of course, we couldn’t do the sing-a-longs we couldn’t meet in person anymore. So we all learned how to use Zoom. And I figured out how to lead, sing-a-longs and ukulele sessions are on Zoom. And so twice a week, for three years, I led the sessions online, well we were down to once a week when we started meeting again, the ukulele group started meeting outdoors when it was you know, safer after the vaccines and it was safer to be together in an outdoor setting. And we only just stopped doing the Zoom sing-a-longs just a few weeks ago. And when we started meeting in outdoor settings, we met year round, these people would drive an hour and stand there in, you know, with snow on the ground freezing, and we had our little propane heaters and our fingerless gloves and electric vests, just to be able to play together for an hour and a half on a Sunday afternoon. So it’s meaningful, it’s been very gratifying and rewarding to be able to facilitate something that is meaningful to other people, as well as myself. And I know some of the people in the group went through some very difficult times during the pandemic, I know a number of our members lost a spouse. During the pandemic, they were, you know, locked in, they couldn’t be with their spouse at the end of their life. And then they couldn’t be with their friends and family to grieve. But once a week or twice a week, they could get on Zoom, and just play music and not think about what was going on in other parts of their lives for just that little bit of time. And several of them have told me that those sessions were just lifesavers for them.

Claudia Henock 9:03
That also shows the importance of community and having a form of escape too, especially during the pandemic as well where a lot of in person meetings or events were essentially closed off. Because it’s still really important that those little sing-a-longs or the ukulele meetup still happened on Zoom because that’s still really important for, essentially your, your friends and acquaintances you made along the way. That was really important to them because they want to have a sense of community, or a sense of escape from what was going on their lives.

Eva Moon 9:32
Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. As human beings, we’ve always thrived on community and connection. And, if you think back to the earliest days of human beings, you know, who, which groups of people survived the best? They were the ones who were the most closely connected to the other members of the group, and could rely on each other. And I think we’ve lost a lot of that in recent times. And I think music is a huge part of building community. So I credit, picking up the ukulele with enabling me to bring that to people.

Claudia Henock 10:14
That’s really amazing to hear, too. And then prior to our interview, I did a little bit of research on my end, and I saw that you are an artist, a writer. Does your love of music also play into other, into those other artistic factors as well?

Eva Moon 10:29
Yeah, well, like I said, I’ve always been a musician, I’m still, I still play in a band. We play Eastern European wedding music for people that like to dance on tables. I don’t perform my own original music so much anymore. But it’s really helped me personally cope with loss and trauma in my own life.

Eva Moon 10:53
And a number of years ago, I learned that I have a genetic mutation that gave me almost 90% chance of breast cancer and 55% chance of ovarian cancer. And I chose to have a preventive double mastectomy and hysterectomy, rather than wait to get cancer. I was very lucky to find out before it actually developed. And, you know, that really sort of threw me for a loop, I wasn’t sure what was going to, if I was ever going to play music, or write anything again. And that was what ended up being what got me through it. When I was going through it, I was having a difficult time explaining to my husband, what it meant to me to lose my breasts. And I ended up writing a song about the emotion of that. And that song expressed to him in a way that he finally, you know, understood that it was the way of communicating that depth of feeling to him. And then later I wrote another song, more humorous song, about the the crazy things that happen in sort of the lighter side of surgery, a song called Tata Tatas. And then I started, you know, putting together my feelings and my thoughts about what this process that I was going through. I was also at the same time trying to help care for my mother who was dying of cancer from the same genetic mutation.

Eva Moon 12:44
And I ended up writing this whole one woman show with nine original songs and the whole story. And it was a sort of a musical comedy about everything that I was going through. And it really helped me process it, and what especially helped me was afterwards performing it for audiences across the country, and I’ve done it twice in the UK. And it’s on on Amazon streaming video, as well, as the name of the show is The Mutant Diaries: Unzipping My Genes. And the gratifying thing and the healing thing about that was being able to do this show for people, many of whom were sort of at the beginning of similar journeys, and to be able to show them that there was an after that there was, you know, that they could, there was a possibility of resilience, and a possibility of discovering things about yourself that you might not have discovered if you hadn’t gone through that trauma, and how it could be a positive growth time in your life, to go through a hard time and see how capable you are of coming out even stronger than you went in.

Claudia Henock 14:18
Yeah, I’m, to be honest to you, I’m just kind of just speechless at the moment too…

Eva Moon 14:23
Sorry!

Claudia Henock 14:24
No, you are fine!

Eva Moon 14:25
Just blindside you with that.

Claudia Henock 14:27
No, you’re totally fine, because that’s how these interviews tend to go as well as you’re not alone. But just based on my experience, and just based on the person who’s telling their story. Sometimes, essentially, humor is the best medicine and especially for someone who is really scared about going through a process such as like, getting cancer taken care of. They’re probably like really scared, so that they probably saw your show and they were like, “Okay, I think I’m gonna be okay.”

Eva Moon 14:56
I hope so. I mean, I’ve talked to people who’ve felt inspired and felt comforted and felt heard. You know, I see a lot of nods in the audience when I do my show.

Claudia Henock 15:08
I think that’s most important thing as well. Do you still do performances of the show?

Eva Moon 15:13
I don’t, I’ve moved on. I’m not a regret person. I’m always looking at the next thing. But I still, you know, and that was a big event, and it still continues to give me questions that I want to find answers to, as I move on, and gain more perspective after having gone through all of that.

Eva Moon 15:38
Most recently, and allow me to plug my latest project, which is…

Claudia Henock 15:42
No problem!

Eva Moon 15:44
I just published a novel. It’s called Pinocchio’s Guide to the End of the World. And it’s about Pinocchio’s life after he became human. And then people don’t think, people think that “Well, he became a real boy and his happily ever after”, but I, my perspective on Pinocchio was, well, here’s this wooden puppet boy who experienced a drastic physical change. He became, went from being wood to being flesh and blood. And how did that work out for him? You know, did it make him as happy as we thought it would be? Were there any downsides to that change? And even though his change was wished for more than mine was, I think humans are not that good at predicting what’s going to make us happy or unhappy in the future.

Eva Moon 16:43
So I started wondering, how difficult was that for him to assimilate that kind of a change because I had changes to assimilate in my own life. I had lost so many body parts that I associated with being a woman, I had to adjust my thinking about what it meant to be a woman. And so Pinocchio sort of became my mentor, and dealing with imposter syndrome and self doubt, and, and struggle to assimilate your external view of yourself and your internal view of yourself. And to make it an adventure story. I set it in the years between the World Wars in Europe, and he has to deal with the political things that were going on at that time, the rise of fascism and the depression. And so it was an adventure from beginning to end. And it’s a fun, fast read, has been getting terrific reviews. So if you’re if your listeners are curious, just go look for a Pinocchio’s Guide. If you search for Pinocchio’s guide, it’ll get you there on Amazon. But it’s Pinocchio’s Guide to the End of the World by Eva Moon. So you know, that continued to be a way that I’ve dealt with understanding myself and understanding change.

Claudia Henock 18:08
And that’s always something important that we always have to keep in mind as well, because we always go through, I guess, some sort of change in our lives, whether it’s like big, huge major changes, or just like, small changes that we just always have to be aware of, but it’s good to have like inspiration around you, too. Whether it’s from the people around you, or, or using inspiration from fiction, like from Pinocchio, for example. Because you said you relate to a lot of his struggles too which just going through all these changes in life which led to the story.

Eva Moon 18:42
Yeah. But I think that you can, in some ways, prepare yourself for change. And, you know, if you understand that change is always going to happen. And if you notice the times in your life, when you’ve gone through an upheaval of some kind, and you’ve recovered, then you know, you have resilience, you know that you have the strength in you to cope. If I had the strength in me to cope with everything I went through, after I learned of my genetic mutation, I have the strength to cope with a lot. And I didn’t know that before. But I know it now. And I know that in spite of all the precautions that I’ve taken, that I still get cancer, which is possible, that I’ll deal with it. And you know, you never know what else could happen. I mean, I’ve been so lucky in my life so far all knock on the wood of my ukulele.

Claudia Henock 19:44
Knock on the wood of my desk as well.

Eva Moon 19:45
Yeah, you know, and getting back to the theme of your show, you know, you’re holding on to your precious things, and understanding them, not just as things, but what they represent in your life. And you know, When you understand what a precious thing represents, in your life and in your struggles, and what is meant to you, maybe it’s a reminder of a struggle that you went through. I think they can provide touchpoints for finding your resilience when you’re faced with another struggle in the future. So that adds a layer beyond just the material.

Claudia Henock 20:33
Definitely. And that’s why I want to try to do with my show is, I know a lot of items that people have talked about on the show have stories, and I want people to be able to tell these stories. And that’s whether it’s stories of change, resilience, bravery, I want to be able to hear the stories and share them with the world, which is what I want to do. So, Eva, I want to say thank you so much for being on my show. I know we talked a little bit about your new book on Amazon. Is there any other work that my listeners should check out?

Eva Moon 21:06
Well, I, they can check out my show, The Mutant Diaries on Amazon. Yes, Amazon streaming video, I feel like. The book is the main thing that I’m interested in now, but I also encourage people to check out ukuleles! You can get a absolutely perfectly, playable ukulele on Amazon for about 40 bucks. And there are great beginner tutorials on YouTube to learn the beginning skills. And there are ukulele groups that welcome beginners all around the country, and internationally as well. And if you’re not a musician, but you thought they think it might be fun to give it a try. Just give it a try and don’t you know, you have nothing, you have very little to lose by giving it a try. And you might find a community of people that you connect with and you might find something that you love doing. And it’s not, it’s not hard. I have this, I can play a C chord with just one finger on the ukulele. Here’s an F with just two fingers. So it’s a really good instrument if you thought you might like to try playing an instrument, but weren’t sure you wanted to go through. Learning how to play guitar or piano takes much longer to get to the point where you could just run to the beach and have fun with it.

Claudia Henock 22:45
And trust me you’re definitely a better ukulele player than I am, as someone who used to play piano when she was younger so. So Eva, before we close, before we close out, do you have any final words to say to my audience about anything?

Eva Moon 23:03
I encourage everyone to try to find their tribe, whether it’s music, gardening, or sewing or whatever, you know, skiing, a sport, pickleball, and all the things that are out there that are open to people at the beginner level. Don’t be afraid to be bad. And because everyone is bad at the start, and me too, I was terrible. I thought I would never be able to strum at even rhythm and sing at the same time ever. But it happened and I’ve seen it happen to people, to a lot of other people who weren’t musicians to begin with. So yeah, find your tribe, connect with your community, find the people who who light you up, and in pull for you. Don’t just, don’t just watch on the sidelines. It’s about taking part.

Claudia Henock 24:03
So, Eva, I want to say thank you so much for being on my show. And I hope you’re having a little bit more of a sunnier of your day than it is on my side.

Eva Moon 24:14
Yeah, the sun is shining. We’re gonna have friends over for a barbecue shortly, so thank you so much for having me on your show. It’s really been fun.

Claudia Henock 24:23
I really appreciate it and thank you as well.

Eva Moon 24:26
All right, thanks!

Claudia Henock 24:32
Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Most Precious Thing. If you want to support the show, you can leave a review on your favorite podcast platform and share your favorite episode with a friend. You can also contact me @claudiahenock on Instagram and Twitter, and Claudia Henock on LinkedIn. In addition, you can also contact me at claudiahenock1@gmail.com. You can also follow Your Most Precious Thing through my official website, www.claudiahenock.com, and anywhere where you listen to your podcasts. Intro and Outro music is Synapse by Shane Ivers and you can also listen to his music on silvermansound.com