micro/Maker by Loose Leaf Transmissions

Composer and percussionist Sean Hamilton didn’t plan to become a musician — in fact, he came to drumming through historical reenactments, not the school band. In this episode, Sean shares how he discovered his voice through punk, screamo, and grindcore, and how those early influences continue to shape his approach as a composer and performer. He and Tyler discuss what it means to seek out the edges of a genre, the importance of taste over technique, and why playing music was the first thing that truly felt like his own.micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!Listen to music/Maker with Tyler Kline wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @loose.leaf.transmissions.micro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Anna Huffka joins Tyler Kline to talk about the intentional design behind her salon, from the layout of the service to the feeling she wants clients to carry with them. She shares how her approach centers on comfort, calm, and care — down to the gratuity structure, the dry approach to cutting, and a signature lay-down shampoo experience. Tyler also reflects on his own shift from viewing haircuts as purely functional to recognizing the artistry behind them.micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!Listen to music/Maker with Tyler Kline wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.Follow us on Instagram: @loose.leaf.transmissionsmicro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Improvisation reshaped how James May thinks about composing. In this conversation, he talks about how studying free improvisation at University College Cork helped him move away from rigid notation toward scores that invite performers to explore sound and texture. James shares how this shift—from control to collaboration—has led him to create music that’s both structured and alive, blurring the line between composer and performer.micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!Listen to music/Maker with Tyler Kline wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.Follow us on Instagram: @loose.leaf.transmissionsmicro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

What began as a budget constraint became a revelation: when Emma O’Halloran couldn’t afford a librettist, she turned to her uncle, the celebrated Irish actor-playwright Mark O’Halloran. Adapting his fierce short play Mary Motorhead into an opera showed Emma the power of direct, unflowery text—and the joy of music layered with words. Their partnership grew into Trade and beyond, a collaboration marked by trust, humility, and discovery. For Emma, it was also a backdoor into opera itself: a genre she once dismissed but now embraces as fertile ground for creative exchange.micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!Listen to music/Maker with Tyler Kline wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.Follow us on Instagram: @loose.leaf.transmissionsmicro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Caterina Schembri talks about returning to her earliest creative love—literature—and how that reconnection reshaped her compositional voice. What began as a lifelong attachment to books eventually surfaced as a desire to write her own texts, opening up a new dimension in her work where language and music develop together. She describes the different ways text enters her process: sometimes through existing poetry, sometimes through her own writing, and often through a fluid, iterative exchange where musical ideas and words evolve in tandem. She also reflects on the freedom and vulnerability of writing original text, the intuitive choices that emerge from rhythm and phonetics, and the shift that happens when she treats language not just as something to set, but as a structural and expressive force in its own right.micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!Listen to music/Maker with Tyler Kline wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.Follow us on Instagram: @loose.leaf.transmissionsmicro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Emily Koh talks with Tyler Kline about her evolving identity as both a composer and bass player — and how those worlds finally merged after finding community in Georgia. She shares the origin of her “super bass” concept, composing for violin and bass as a single sonic unit alongside percussion, and the inspiration behind her piece Memento Mori. Emily also reflects on the physicality of bass frequencies, and how playing bass can feel like becoming one with the instrument.micro/Maker episodes release every Tuesday and Friday!Listen to music/Maker with Tyler Kline wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.Support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.Follow us on Instagram: @loose.leaf.transmissionsmicro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.