From a Detroit high school full of concert grand harps to the experimental clubs of the East Village, Parkins traces the unlikely path that made her one of the most restless instrumentalists in contemporary music.
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Today we're putting The Tonearm's needle on Zeena Parkins, composer, improviser, and one of the most singular forces in experimental music.
Zeena has spent four decades dismantling what the harp can do: through electronics, object preparations, and a series of custom electric instruments she built herself, she's turned a concert hall fixture into something alive and unpredictable.
Her collaborators range from Björk to John Zorn to Pauline Oliveros. Last year, she released two records paying tribute to her years teaching at Mills College before its closure: Modesty of the Magic Thing and Lament of the Maker. And she's performing this spring at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. She's also a Guggenheim Fellow and a three-time Bessie Award winner for her work composing for dance.
We cover all of it: her instruments, her process, and what it means to make music at the edge of what's possible.
(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Zeena Parkins' album Lament of the Maker)
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[00:01:27] Mills College and the Loss of Bay Area Arts Institutions
[00:05:05] Fred Frith, a Teaching Lineage, and Finding a Home at Mills
[00:07:22] Lament for the Maker and Commissioning Her Colleagues
[00:09:42] What Teaching Actually Gives You
[00:12:46] Turning Down a Job — and Getting a Call from Björk
[00:14:32] New York in the Mid-Eighties as Graduate School
[00:18:46] The Pacific Rim: Gamelan, Lou Harrison, and Jay DeFeo
[00:21:00] Modesty of the Magic Thing: Instruments, Art, and Oakland
[00:23:21] Growing Up in Detroit and the Discovery of the Harp
[00:26:37] Bard College, Experimental Film, and Not Being a Concert Pianist
[00:29:50] The Electric Harp: How It Came to Exist
[00:30:34] A Circus Troupe, an Accordion, and Chris Cutler
[00:33:37] Marilyn Bartlett, Skeleton Crew, and the Necessity of Volume
[00:38:04] Limitations as Catalysts: The Harp's Impossibilities
[00:42:45] Repertoire, Improvisation, and the One-of-a-Kind Instrument
[00:43:20] Composing for Dance: Jennifer Monson, Neil Greenberg, and More
[00:48:21] How the Collaborative Process with Choreographers Actually Works
[00:51:04] Big Ears Festival and Modesty of the Magic Thing with William Winant
[00:52:34] What's Next: New Harp Projects, Daphne Oram, and the Eclipse Quartet
[00:53:33] Lace: Five Scraps of Fabric and a Score That Keeps Growing
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Visit Zeena Parkins at https://zeenaparkins.com
and follow her on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/zpribbon
and Bandcamp → https://zeenaparkinscatalytic.bandcamp.com
Purchase 'Lament for the Maker' (Relative Pitch Records, 2025) from Bandcamp → https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lament-for-the-maker
or Qobuz → https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/lament-for-the-maker-zeena-parkins/qrjulu98gdaqb
and listen on your streaming platform of choice → https://album.link/i/1840490640
Purchase Modesty of the Magic Thing (Tzadik, 2025) from Qobuz → https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/modesty-of-the-magic-thing-zeena-parkins/z90pcrjtt3y9b
or Squidco → https://www.squidco.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=36552
and listen on your streaming platform of choice → https://album.link/i/1819571411
For extensive show notes, links, and podcast information, go to https://podcast.thetonearm.com
Be sure to check out The Tonearm, an online music + culture magazine featuring fascinating perspectives and conversations with creative people → https://www.thetonearm.com
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