EP238: Amplify your Whisper with Professional Guitarist and Keynote Concert Speaker Jim Perona
Professional guitarist Jim Perona shares his journey from performing on global stages to redefining his craft after a life-changing diagnosis. Learn how he turned adversity into innovation with keynote concerts that blend music and storytelling to inspire. A must-listen episode on resilience and human potential.
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Amplify Your Whisper – A Conversation with Jim Perona on Resilience, Music, and Innovation
In this episode of The Jens Heitland Show - Human Innovation, we explore an extraordinary journey of reinvention and adaptation with professional guitarist and keynote concert speaker Jim Perona.
Jim's career as a classical guitarist was soaring when an unexpected diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) threatened to change everything. Instead of stepping away from his passion, he embraced the challenge and found a way to innovate his performance style. Today, he combines storytelling and music in "keynote concerts," a powerful new format that merges inspiration with artistry.
Key Takeaways from this Episode:
Turning Challenges into Innovation When Jim began experiencing loss of motor function in his hands, it seemed like an impossible obstacle for a guitarist. Instead of giving up, he trained himself to play without looking at his instrument, pushing the boundaries of skill and adaptation.
The Power of Amplifying Your Whisper Jim shares how listening to that small, persistent inner voice led him to breakthrough moments in his life. Whether in music or business, finding and amplifying your unique voice is the key to success.
How Keynote Concerts Redefine Performance Traditional keynotes focus on words; concerts focus on music. Jim blends both, using the power of live music to create unforgettable emotional connections with audiences.
Lessons for Leaders & Innovators Business leaders often overlook the lessons hidden in music. From Beethoven's controversial use of woodwinds to the improvisation of jazz musicians, there is much to learn about adapting to change, taking creative risks, and leading with emotion.
Music as a Bridge to Human Connection In an age dominated by AI and digital tools, Jim’s journey proves that human creativity and emotional connection cannot be automated. His performances serve as a reminder of the irreplaceable power of live experiences.
Jim’s story is not just about music it’s about resilience, reinvention, and redefining possibilities. If you’ve ever faced a challenge that made you question your path, this episode will inspire you to innovate, adapt, and keep moving forward.
Highlights:
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:32 Jim's Musical Journey Begins
02:24 Choosing the Guitar
04:16 Pursuing Music Professionally
06:00 Classical Guitar and College
08:26 First Earnings and Early Gigs
13:15 Facing Multiple Sclerosis
16:03 Adapting to MS and Continuing Music
23:35 Keynote Concerts Concept
31:57 The Power of Music and AI
42:48 Conclusion and Future Aspirations
Guest Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-perona-955b812a/
Website: https://jimperona.com/
Jens Heitland Links:
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Transcript:
(This Transcript is AI generated)
Jim, welcome to the show. Looking forward to having you.
for having me. I'm excited to be so excited to speak with you.
So human innovation podcast, and I haven't done a podcast for a long time, at least not in this style. So we are live for those that are listening to the recording. So we might get a couple of questions from the audience in between. And that's just information for those of you that are listening to the recording, and we are kind of Like looking at the questions in between.
Jim, let's get into it. So tell us a little bit. about yourself. And I want to start with a question that triggers us to get at least into one direction. One of the things I'm super interested to explore is getting how you got to playing a guitar.
Absolutely. I am the youngest of six children in a very musical family. And so my earliest memories revolve around music. So I grew up around instruments. I was very fortunate to grow up in such a musical household where I had access to instruments just by myself. Lying about the house, laying around, you know, there's a guitar over here on the couch.
There's a drum set in the basement. Here's a microphone sitting on one of the TV, uh, dining trays. And, uh, when I was in third grade, I distinctly remember my brother Tom's band would be performing at a local music venue once a month. And if I got my homework done on time, then my parents would let me go with them to And just from the very first chord that band hit and the drums came in and the singer starts singing, I was absolutely captivated.
Music just inspired me. A level of imagination and creativity the way nothing else would no action figures or whatever else a nine year old does for fun, right? and You know funny enough. There was one instrument that Spoke to me like no other, you know, there was one instrument that just Let's forgive me.
I always have guitars lying around this house as well one instrument that just Did it for me and That instrument was actually the drums, but, uh, my brother, Tony, another one of my older brothers, was a guitarist. And he said, no, Jimmy, you should try out the guitar first, because the guitar, especially an electric guitar that's unplugged, you can play it so quietly.
So quiet that mom and dad will never notice you playing and practicing way past your bedtime. So you can't really do the same thing with the drums. So that actually was what started me on guitar. And then the guitar just, I connected with the guitar instantaneously. And that was a little over 30 years ago and never really looked back from there.
So did you then get your first guitar straight away from your parents or how did that happen? That you got into it.
I, when I started taking guitar lessons at shortly after I turned 11 years old, my, that same brother who recommended I try guitar first, he loaned me one of his guitars. He had since built up a bit of a collection of guitars. So I started taking guitar lessons on his guitar and I did enough chores around the house to purchase my first guitar.
Guitar, uh, maybe around the first three or four months after I started taking lessons. And then I, I bought my first couple of serious guitars, um, when I was 16 and 17 years old, when I was working at fast food restaurants and it was an umpire for the local little league baseball league and that kind of stuff.
Nice. So then you have been in high school and what got you into studying professional music and going down the rabbit hole of being a professional musician and not being a doctor or working on construction sites?
Yeah. I, so I continued to, the more I played guitar, the longer I played, I just grew to love it more and more. I was very much into athletics in junior high until about eighth grade, till about, I was 14 and I still am, but I decided at that early age of 14 to just focus entirely on guitar as my one extracurricular activity.
And I played in bands throughout high school and I started at a, after high school, I started at a junior college, uh, near where, uh, near, near where my parents house was. Because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted to do something with music, but I didn't know what that looked like. If I would be, if I wanted to be a teacher, or if I wanted to aspire to become a teacher at a, uh, at a, uh, uh, at a, at a college or a high school, or just enter the academia world in general.
Or if I wanted to focus on something performance based, which can branch out into a ton of things, like being a recording musician, A studio musician or a number of other things, or if I want to focus on just teaching privately, so there's making a career in music. It can, that can, that can be, uh, made up of a ton of different possibilities or combination of those possibilities.
So going back, uh, to your question here, I, I needed to fill in some extra, uh, credits. And when I was attending the junior college and they offered jazz guitar and classical guitar. And I originally was trying to make it as for jazz guitar because I was already playing, uh, electric and acoustic steel string guitars with a pick and that same performance style, you know, mostly playing electric guitar with a pick.
That's the most common way of playing and performing jazz guitar. So. I figured it was a natural transition in my two years at junior college, when I was getting my associates in music degree, the last three months I ended up tacking on, I ended up had to fill up a credit again. So I was like, I'll just do this classical guitar things to fill up the credit, which is that intricate style of playing with all your fingers.
So essentially every finger is a pick that explains my weirdly long fingernails as well. And. Since I had, uh, gotten a little bit of experience playing classical guitar, I had already scheduled jazz guitar auditions for, uh, music schools, uh, getting to the next level of music school within the Chicagoland area where I lived.
And then I ended up calling them and say, Hey, can I just tack on a classical guitar audition while I'm there? Because why not? By this time ends, I'd been studying jazz guitar for three years and classical guitar for three months. And I got it after those auditions at the four different schools. I was accepted with scholarships for classical guitar and declined for jazz guitar.
And for me, that was kind of the writing on the wall, if there ever was one. I was like, okay, that has to be a sign. So I ended up sticking with classical guitar. And then just like how I was an 11 year old kid wanting to play the drums at first, and then just decided on guitar. I entered my college auditions with the intention of studying jazz guitar.
Whatever force, and we call it the universe, called a force outside of ourselves made it very clear that classical guitar was the way to go. And just like when I first started the guitar, when I first got, soon after I got into classical guitar, I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with it. And that was about 20 years ago now.
And haven't looked back on that since either. So,
So then how did you, let's talk about how did you earn your first bucks through playing a guitar?
yes. So a couple of different things, I started playing in pit orchestras for local, uh, community theaters. I played in the, uh, pit orchestra for Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Little Shop of Horrors, Seussical the Musical, and The Wiz. And then around that same time, a friend of mine, also a friend of mine from high school, he was attending college at Northwestern University in Evanston, which is near Chicago, and he had, Secured a gig a week of, uh, weekend gig every weekend performing at a local Potbelly's sandwich shop on campus there at Northwestern University.
And he asked me to come by and we were basically a guitar duo. And, um, now that. paid us in, I think it was 25 bucks a piece plus a big roast beef sandwich or something. And, but we were able to solicit tips as, as well. So that's where I started. You know, we all have to start somewhere. And it really wasn't until I graduated, uh, college that I started, um, earning more class solo, classical guitar bookings.
That, that paid as well.
Yeah. So one of the things we have talked outside of the recording is being on stage. And I've seen like a couple of videos of you obviously being on stage. How was it for you to, one thing is sitting in the pit and playing the guitar where nobody sees you, at least that's what I'm guessing, to then getting on stage and being seen from the whole audience?
And then even for you being alone on stage.
That right there was the big differentiator Jens. I had been playing in bands for many years, so I was used to playing on stage, but that was, that was me and at least three other musicians. And that was also in a bit of a, a bit of a less intricate style of guitar. It was electric guitar was rock music.
It was banging your head and jumping up and down, which was awesome. And I, I still love to do that. I put, um, But when I started getting up there by myself, I definitely had stage fright. I definitely, uh, cause there was less of a, there's less of a safety net there. If you make one little mistake or mess up a note with a band, most likely people aren't really going to notice, especially.
In the environment, those performance tip, those performances typically occur in, at a bar, people are talking loudly to themselves. Um, we probably sounded better, the more drinks they were consuming, you know? Um, so that, that, that, all the, all those, uh, all those things create a bit of a safety net for mistakes. But with that classical guitar style, it's just me. Uh, it's typically not going to be performed at a loud bar. Um, and especially if it's a recital setting where the etiquette is to stay quiet and just watch and then maybe clap at the end of a piece or a, or a number of pieces you clap. That was so, uh, challenging for me at first.
And that's the way it is with most guitar players, but you do like anything else. You get used to it. If you stick with it, you get used to it. You get used to how you have to adjust. How do you have to adjust your practicing regimen to where, uh, the way I put it is most people within the first few weeks of playing guitar, they can strum one chord successfully.
And so the philosophy I started working up was I practice, even if it's the hardest piece in my repertoire, practice it to a point where everything is as easy and as effortless as Strumming that one chord.
Fascinating. Yeah. We'll go back to, to the stage before we go into the super interesting topic, which I would really like to deep dive into the keynote concert part. You have had an interesting story in between that time and today. and somehow limiting you and kind of reinventing yourself. Tell us a little bit more about that and how the thing happens to you, the story about it.
absolutely. I had moved back to the Chicagoland area after earning my master of music in classical guitar performance in the spring of 2010 from the New England conservatory of music in Boston. And it was time to figure out how to become a full time musician. And. My, within a couple of years, my schedule started, I started to get some traction with performing at weddings and other private events, events that paid, uh, much better than, um, different other opportunities, basically.
And I, I was able to scale that. I stuck with that for many years and about almost 10 years, about 10 years after into this career, I remember being, I was performing at a, uh, at a, at an event at a local restaurant. And I started losing mobility. I felt like pins and needles were dancing all around my fingers.
And it was, it was getting in the way of how I play guitar. Cause I was losing motor function. And, uh, I, that, as you can imagine, that scared me a good bit. And then right around that same time, just weird things started happening. I started losing vision in my left eye to where it was. Looking in my left eye, it was like everything was being looked through a filter of Vaseline.
Everything was smudgy, blurry, frighteningly unfamiliar, and these things like this just started kind of adding up. And it got to a point where I scheduled an MRI, and Then in spring of 2022, this was actually on the day of my 38th birthday, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And I learned that the pins and needles feeling I was, I spoke of while playing guitar that comes from the six lesions.
on my cervical spine that had, by that time, done enough damage to leave a lot of scarring on that part of my spine. So that when I, whoo, there it is right there, when I tilt my neck down like that, I feel this jolt of, like, this feels like electricity or pins and needles. It doesn't exactly hurt, but it's very distracting and very uncomfortable.
And, uh, and, uh, MS community and multiple sclerosis community, that is a, uh, well researched symptom called the Lhermitte's phenomenon. My wife and I just call it the tinglys, but that's essentially how it feels. And ultimately, My way of adapting to that, to maintain and continue to thrive in my performance career was to take all the hundreds of songs that are in my existing repertoire and just get comfortable playing them without looking down at my hands, excuse me, without looking down at my hands or at my guitar.
And cause some of the performance situations I do, I do performances where I'm essentially playing background music for a corporate cocktail hour or something like that. But some of them are more high stakes. I play it anywhere from 35 to 55 weddings per year. And so I'm often playing the bride out where all that's happening in that huge moment in somebody's life.
All that's happening is the visual of the bride walking down the aisle and the other sense is the music It's what i'm playing. So I am the soundtrack to one of the biggest moments of somebody's life So I don't take that lightly and I knew that I still had more to I wasn't done performing um, so it was imperative and incumbent upon me to Adapt to this curveball that life You And that was the way of adapting, just play, playing no look guitar, essentially, and it's, it's, it's going well.
I'm two hours, two, two, two years into it now, and it's feeling more comfortable every day.
Yeah. So if I understand you, right, it's, it's, it's still existing today. And it's only when you're, when you're putting your head forward
That's right. Upon this types of flexion of the neck, like that.
and it's, is it ever going away or
Uh, it probably isn't going away. There is no, I'm sorry, I'm a little out of focus right now. Uh, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis. Uh, I am on the typical treatment called a DMT, a disease modifying treatment. I get infusions, uh, twice a year. Where I basically sit in a chair for six to seven hours and they put Pump the whatever magic juice in me and it's just meant to stop the progression of the disease not get rid of the disease That being said Jens MS is a disease disease that feeds on inflammation So taking cold showers eating clean Being remaining active those lifestyle things really add up and they they they help so much So even though I don't expect it to go away You Um, I'm very much at peace with that because I've, I'm learning to adapt, I'm learning to adapt.
it's fascinating that. A curve ball like this is still not stopping you and you're moving on. You're kind of relearning how, I mean, not relearning how to play guitar, but you're kind of adjusting how you play a guitar and you're still performing on the highest level because I've, I've seen you performing in smaller instances, at least live.
It's, it's incredible that, that even in this short amount of time, comparing to the 30 years, the two years that you have it now is, is a short amount of time that you have kind of. learned and taught yourself on not watching, which I even didn't know that like guitarists are watching at their hands all the time.
I didn't know. It's fascinating that you made that.
Thank you. Uh, there's just no other, there's no other, in my opinion, or in my perspective was there's no other choice. There's no other choice. Do it, wake up, get into the, and that's, that's a part of just that big difference between yeah, it was a goal, but that goal wasn't realized without making it a habit to work at it every single day.
So how, how, how, let's get back into the time where, when you noticed that you need to learn yourself, like not watching at your fingers, how was that time for you? And how did you get into
Even though I speak about it with, uh, confidence now, it, it, it certainly wasn't that. Like that in the beginning, shortly after the diagnosis, I was the night I, or I got diagnosed that afternoon. And then that, the night of, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, crying while my wife consoled was consoling me.
And I'm wondering what, what, what does this mean for my music career? But Oh God, wait, what does this mean for my, my life? Right. And, um, I,
if I kept feeling like. This is before I started thinking, I started, uh, thinking about or navigating what the potential solution was, the way to adapt to this was. All I was thinking at the time was when I look down, I can't really, you know, like this, this, this disease is making it much more difficult for me to play the guitar and I could still.
Kind of struggle my way through some of the pieces or most of the pieces, but I knew it wasn't at the quality that I had worked years and years to achieve. So my mindset at the time was I had no interest in continuing on with music at all. If I was going to be a lesser version of what I had worked up to be. And, um, one of the, uh, mottos that I've since adapted for myself is amplify the whisper. I think it's so easy for all of us. It's a, I think it's a very human thing to, uh, submit to the why, or to submit to the, like that negative voice in your head that can be, you know, Giving you a million arguments of why you should maybe quit something.
Why you should maybe pivot away from something that you, especially something that you love. But for me, there's always this, this quieter voice, more like a whisper, that is speaking from a place of, uh, purpose and resilience. And, uh, I've, when I was, one of the nights shortly after I was diagnosed when I'm just laying awake at night thinking about what the next version of me is gonna look like, that whisper comes in like, you know, you love this.
You know, this is what you were born to do as far as music and playing the guitar, figure out how to manage these symptoms. And by that time in my life, moments like that, where that whisper had come into my head, every time I had followed that whisper, every time I answered the call of that whisper, I never regretted it.
It led to good things. So I figured, okay, if there's, if I've learned anything at this point in my life, I should, I shouldn't quit yet. I should give this a shot and see what happens. And that's how it ultimately came around to, uh, working on managing the symptoms and adapting my performance style.
Let's get into keynote concerts before we go into how you do it and what it is. Or not, not mainly how you do it. It's like, tell us what is a keynote concerts for those that have never heard about the keynote concerts. Like I first time be when we met, like, what is that? I was thinking what it is, but I have no idea.
Tell us.
absolutely. A keynote concert, uh, we'll, we'll talk about in the context of a one hour program. It'll be three stories mixed, intermingled with three musical performances. And the musical performances will be music that is very much related to or in context with each story. So, story, performance, story, performance, story, performance.
And It is meant to be, uh, mostly a motivational speech in which, uh, in my case, I'm demonstrating what I'm, what the things that we've already spoken about, like how I've had, how I've had to adapt to playing guitar, how this and that. I'm basically demonstrating that out loud and trying to be, uh, a living, breathing example of you can.
And, um, so that's the general, that's the general format of a keynote concert, three stories, three musical performances, and then there's crowd engagement throughout. There's certainly the content portion, uh, that will be that much more specific to whatever theme of the keynote is. Um, whether, um, whether it's at a, uh, uh, conference designed around adapting to artificial intelligence, et cetera.
So,
That's interesting. How was it for you? I guess at least the, like the music part was the easy thing. It was more of the other part where, which you have not done so much on stage at least, I guess. How was that? Yeah.
that's really interesting because I immediately felt drawn to the whole, once I even became aware of the very concept of keynote concerts. It just resonated with me right away. I have never, uh, done, I had never done formal public speaking, uh, performances or engagements or programs. However, for the past eight years, I have been performing at assisted living centers, memory care centers, uh, retirement communities.
And I'll lean into the memory care center portion, these facilities where the residents are all suffering from varying degrees of mentally debilitating illnesses, Alzheimer's, dementia. And when I first started performing at these events, uh, Jens, I was very nervous because right before I started my first performance, they said, uh, the caretaking, the caretaker team told me, by the way, talk about the music, talk about yourself because the residents love that, but I'd never done that before. So essentially I had years and years of just on the spot practice of speaking to an audience and creating a connection for, from stories about my life, about my career, about the things I've. experience with the music I was playing because it was so helpful to engage with those residents. And I got very comfortable with it after years of doing it.
And I started to get more and more confident with it. When I Cause the thing is at these, at the, especially this type of audience, if somebody is suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, there's no filter, there is no filter. They will, they will, I'll be, you know, somebody could be performing for them. And if they don't like it, they will literally, they can literally do something like nurse come in, wheel me away.
I don't like this.
Yeah.
That that's common. That's common. And of course, they're not doing it. To, uh, they're not, it's just, they they're suffering from a serious. Uh, you know, illness and once I was able to get more comfortable performing for that kind of audience and really get them engaged that I figured, okay, if I can speak to them and keep them, keep them interested, keep them, uh, captivated by what I'm talking about in this, this very no filter audience.
And I'm enjoying it as well. This is something that I want to explore. This is really something I want to explore and then a tiny other portion of that is You know, when I'm playing a bride down the aisle, for example, that is not at all an appropriate time for me to speak about how much I love the piece I'm performing, right.
Da da da da. So the Bridal March was composed, you know, right. So, um, I love just forming that much more of a connection with, with the audience by, uh, creating a powerful and meaningful context behind the pieces that I'm going to perform. Cause I'm all instrumental. I don't sing. So. Typically with a song, obviously there's a story in the lyrics, and that's very clear, but I'm all instrumental, so that message, or the intent of the music, um, it can help that much more if I'm able to, uh, explain the things to listen for, to look out for, and here's what it means to me, but here's what it can mean for you, or you figure out what it means for you, and And I feel like I'm just barely scratching the surface.
So it's, it's, I'm having so much fun with it.
Yeah, I see that. And I mean, I have seen the at least the videos, I'm still looking forward to get to a live one where you where you do that in a room. It's it's fascinating to see as well the reactions of the people and the interviews afterwards that you have shared with me is because it's so new. It's it's it's not existing.
And I have never heard about it before. I think it's also opens up the music world into a completely different perspective because I come from business like big corporate stuff. It's not that you invite a musician like especially not guitar player who is who is doing background music in a normal business meeting.
And providing value through that, but linking this, because what, what a lot of corporates do is they invite keynote speakers and motivational speakers to get the team like into a different direction, change management and motivation and so on. I think this is now opening up the world in a completely different way for.
people that are less exposed to music as well, especially classical music and, and, um, not just like charts, pop music that's, that's going on right now. It's, it's really getting people into that. And as well, because what I see from my musical experience and I have been playing in bands and so on also for 25 years, not any longer, but,
Really? I
I have seen.
is there's, there's quite a lot of depth in, in the music when you, especially when you look into the old classics, where corporates and managers, like in my case, from, from the previous experience can learn from if they understand more about it, but if they're not into music, they will never learn. So I think it's a, it's an interesting way to bridge all of that.
Yeah, absolutely. And it's so, it, what I've really enjoyed, uh, discovering and I'm still discovering is it's a whole new outlet of creativity. Imagining, um, like for example, uh, Adapting to working with AI, I, when I started, when I started trying to draw those parallels, those connections between what I do and, uh, connecting with what someone in the workplace might be struggling with, uh, getting used to with working with AI.
It's like, okay, it's like a, it's like a duet partner. With music and you can play off of each you play off of each other's strengths and on the end greatness and new ideas can come out of the other side. And so that that that it's a whole new outlet of creativity in that regard. And that's just one small example.
And yes, I just this time I just started thinking about shortly before. Shortly before our call here. It's the the the potential for this kind of thing is The it's the ceiling is so high Uh, because it's not just music it could be with any art form. Um, i've experienced live painting performances like all these kind of things just for example, or you know, all these kind of things can um can be Applied to a quote unquote traditional You
What is quite cool about that, On one hand, we are in a, in a time where like, like you said, is AI and technology is so fast and it's getting so intelligence in, in what is happening. But then you go on the other side is this cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. Yes. Maybe music, music creation as such, but especially when you go into a life in a physical environment into a room.
It's still completely different if you are in front of a computer or in front of a, like a person that is playing guitar in your case, and then on top of that, giving a keynote and mixing this to and explaining in details of it. AI can't do that. So. That, that's for me is always the fascinating things because even the podcast is called human innovation.
So the, the human element is, is growing and the creativity of the human of what you're doing cannot be replaced by AI. Yes, you can use it as, as a supporting instrument or a supporting tool for you, but it's, it's quite interesting that the creativity that you can bring back, that's just what I foresee I'm just imagining you in front of, let's say a boardroom of 20 people that are in high stakes situations and really need to look into where do we move this big company towards?
And then going into details of how you can inspire them. One thing is obviously with your story and the background, but as well giving knowledge from a music perspective of. The old music and bridging things because music is, I mean, music, I don't know, it's so old that you can learn just by. by how music evolved over time and bringing that into boardrooms and into management and into large corporations and small corporations in the same way.
I think it's a fascinating way to explore going forward.
I could not agree more. And that's one of the things that, um, as far as latching on to what you said about the, even the way music has. Uh, that's, uh, that's another parallel to, uh, uh, some of the fears of, of AI or some of the, the increased prominence of AI. It's a new tool that, uh, and new can be very scary.
And some of those reasons or concerns are of course, very valid. One of the connections I drew is. One of the connections that you very much can draw with music is when Beethoven first started, uh, utilizing more woodwinds, he faced so much clap back, so much resistance because woodwinds were woodwind.
Instruments were supposed to, were supposed to be more of an accompanimental thing of just fleshing out. fleshing out kind of thing within the context of a large symphony. And Beethoven took that and he started attaching the major melodies, the key core ideas onto the woodwinds and he faced blowback for it.
But like so many other great artistic accomplishments after his time had come and gone, we recognize the magic in that. We recognize the significance. Of that the ninth symphony would not have been what it was if he hadn't uh Stepped outside the norm and stepped outside of the comfort zone and took a risk
Yeah. If we, if we quickly go back to amplify the whisper and the keynote concert that I've seen at least videos or snippets from what you mentioned, there are three main. Parts of that, that keynote, what are the three main parts just to get people hooked to it? Because I want to, by the way, everyone that is interested in it, uh, we will share the links as well in the show notes.
So you can check out Jim and of course you can book him if you're interested, but tell us more about the, the three, three story pieces that you are telling just for people that want to dive deeper into it.
yes, so the first story will be the setup story um Typically a lighter story. Uh, you know, pretty funny, more innocence in my setup story. I speak about a little bit of what I already spoke about here as far as how I discovered my love for music and my love for the guitar and, um, the way my setup story unfolds.
Uh, typically, typically will, and, and this can be, again, this can be altered depending on the, uh, specific, specific type of event I will be giving a keynote at, but when, but I talk about how I'd, I'd work my way through, um, My love for music, guitar, played in bands in high school, studied in, in college and everything and moved back and I landed my first paying gig.
Well, paying gigs. I was booked for three performances at the local Microsoft store and I got so excited about these gigs that I did the smartest thing anybody can do. I signed the contract without reading it. Yeah. And, um, yeah. If I had read the contract, I would have saw that crucial clause that these performances, which were holiday performances in December in Chicago, the Windy City, were to be held outdoors.
And it was, which meant it was so cold I could barely play my guitar and, Oh my gosh, it was a disaster, but you know, I, I amplified that whisper that says, all right, this is a setback, but keep going. So, you know, there's that, that's typically, um, the kind of thing that send the setup story will be. I mean, there's certainly could be another way of framing that anecdote about playing in the cold weather where it's much grimmer, but I make it, you know, I tell it in a way that's light and funny.
Right. And then, uh, so there'll be a musical performance after that. And which will be in context with that. Set up story and then the second story will be the standout story, typically the longest story and this is also where things get intense. Things get that much more. And that's where I go into, uh, I build up the moment of my career was just really taking off.
I was living the dream. So to speak, I received all kinds of performance awards, five out of five star reviews all over the place. But then, you know, Something weird happened. I started losing vision in my left eye. And then so I lead into the MS story. And then at the end of that standout story, what really makes it stand out is you, you build up how good things were going so that, uh, so that that huge curveball is that much more impactful, but it, you know, Ends in triumph.
And the way my stand up, my standout story ends in triumph is 584 days after I was diagnosed with this incurable autoimmune disease. I ran my first ever marathon. I crossed that finish line. And then there's a musical performance that is once again, in context with that.
And then finally, the third story will be the send off story. Um, it'll encapsulate what I've learned. I always start my send off story very light again. I usually, I really like to start it with some name that tune. Like I've, so ladies and gentlemen, for the past 40 years, I've talked about my challenges.
But now it's time for me to challenge you. To a game of name that tune. And so, and it's, it's a way of me to reconnecting with some of the most basic name that tune is a, is just a basic example of the power of music. How as much as even one, two, three notes can connect us right back to music and by proxy connect us with the memories we have of that particular song, where we were, who we were with, what was going on in our lives.
Uh, I'm sorry. I, I really like music and I get into it, but. And then also, so that's how I like to kick off my send off story. And so I'll talk about, you know, summarize the things I've learned from this, how I'm, the ways in which I'm excited to continue to proceed further, uh, further with, uh, Uh, all these experiences I've had, what I've learned from them.
And that's also where the content section will come into play. Like, here are the five ways you can amplify your whisper, for example. And then, once again, of course, end it with a musical, uh, a musical performance that, I liken it to like the recessional at a wedding. Every, when the, for the first time, Mr.
And Mrs. People are clapping, they're cheering. And then the music, the music's not going to be some minor key Baroque piece, right? It's going to be uplifting and jubilant. And so same thing with the music in the send off. Story. It's an uplifting, jubilant piece. And so that, that's the way you kind of put a bow and wrap up that keynote concert experience.
Nice. Yes. It's a fascinating concept and yeah, we'll definitely, um, I'm, I'm trying to figure out how we maybe can do something for the audiences of the podcast in the future. Like you did with the five minute keynote thing. Maybe we can do something like that in the future as well to see if we, if we get an online version of that, that would be fun to, fun to test pure innovation as always with me.
Very inspiring, my friend.
leading us home, we'd love to get to know how can people connect to you? So how can people reach out to you? How, where can people find you? The
Yes. My name, Jim Perona. Jim Perona. And actually in the process, in the next, uh, I would say two to three weeks at the most, um, you can reach me through my current website. We're in the process of building a new website that will, uh, reflect the keynote concerts. Right now, my website is almost entirely performance based, and you can still contact me through there in the next couple weeks.
Again, two to three weeks, a new website's going to go up that will, um, tell and speak to my keynote concerts, that whole experience, what you can expect from those, um, still find out about my performance side and also the author side of me as well. So, uh, my long winded answer, jimperona. com, which will take on different, a different form and a different aesthetic within the next few weeks.
old version is still, um, amazing. I have shared it with my mom during Christmas. Like, like I, I said to you as well, because they're amazing guitar, um, musical pieces on it, which are unusual. I'm not saying more, figure it out yourself for everyone who is interested, check out jimperona. com. Last question, Jim, what stage.
Do you want to perform in 2026?
For years, Jens, it was The answer to that would have been Carnegie Hall or the Red Rocks in Colorado or any of the amazing stages throughout the world. And, but now
what I want to, the stage I want to perform on wouldn't even need to be a stage. I want to perform. It would be the audience specifically, instead of the stage, I want to perform for an audience, people who are in any way, Like me, when I was at a very impressionable age and I didn't really have much of a passion to sink my teeth into, but once I was exposed to music that had such a profound effect on me and it ended up having the most profound effect on my entire life.
So rather than a specific stage, I would just love to perform in front of an audience, no matter how small or big of people who are still. impressionable to any degree who have the, who could potentially be inspired or being moved or be, or open themselves up to the power of live music.
Beautiful. Jim, thank you very much for joining me live this evening or for you at lunchtime. Um, looking forward to connect forward, uh, further, and I'm really looking forward to see you live one day with a keynote concert. Thank you very much for joining me on the show.
Honored to be here, Jens. Thank you so much.