Thank You, Kelly

There are about 8 billion subjects rolling around in my head that I’d like to expound on in tonight’s post.  But I fear I won’t have any readers if I don’t limit it to just a couple.  So in an attempt to keep it short (OK, not exactly short, but not as long as it could be), I’m going to tackle the following thoughts (I will hopefully actually keep it limited here, but I am known to ramble, so apologize in advance):

1. Losing my voice teacher
2. My recent performance

Starting with #1:  Kelly Ash (look her up—she’s truly talented!), my voice teacher, has just moved to NYC to pursue her masters in vocal performance at…drum roll, please…NYU!  This is really an amazing accomplishment, if you haven’t already guessed.  NYU’s program is quite competitive, and not surprisingly to me at all, Kelly got in.  Go Kelly!  She deserves every bit of goodness coming to her, and I’m thrilled for her new opportunities.

Of course, this means I have lost my voice teacher.  I think if you’ve worked with someone over a long period of time, you might understand what this loss means.  Even if you haven’t, you can probably guess at what it means.  That said, I never thought I’d miss her as much as I do.  After all, I’m 35, and she’s only 23 (just turned 23, at that).  I might be a “young” 35 (hopefully not too young!), but she is definitely a “wise” 23.  I think partially based on my limited view of this age difference, when I first started with Kelly a year and 8 months ago, I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d be able to build the rapport I desire in a teacher.  I’d had a great rapport with my former voice teacher back in Boston (way back, like 2002!), and just didn’t think I’d find anyone that could live up to my expectations.  And I was wrong.  I was most definitely wrong.

Now, Kelly and I have never hung out.  We’ve never done things socially, or met each other’s friends, etc.  But even so, she knows where my songs come from.  She knows the personal nature of all of them.  Really, ALL of them, because I didn’t start writing until I started working with her.  And I know pieces of her personal life, as well.  She’s played me songs that weren’t quite finished, and still raw.  These things make an impact.  So when I was driving my little goodbye gift over to her apartment the day before she left, I found myself getting rather emotional.  It didn’t help that I was listening to The Head and The Heart, and was right in the middle of songs about saying goodbye, losing friends, etc.  Totally unintentional, I swear!  (Though I bought  her a copy, because I’m pretty sure she’ll love it, too.)  But I just considered how for a year and a half, I’d spent one hour a week with this person, and it was a very safe place for me.  A safe place that also happened to nurture my creativity.  Other than with my previous voice teacher, this is the only other time I’ve experienced that kind of combination.  And since I was writing, this student-teacher relationship actually made a deeper impact on me creatively.

This leads me to thought #2.  My recent performance.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Kelly has pushed me to do some performances, or recitals, if you will, in the time I’ve been working with her.  She also taught a vocal workshop, with Mikaela Romero, to a handful of students (including my sister and me), and had us all perform in a showcase in June.  That’s when I lost my voice, and it didn’t go well AT ALL.  However, they were presenting another showcase in late July, and Kelly asked me to do a full set at the end of it.  The idea being that I could present many of the songs I’ve written over the year, which might not happen again for a while since she’s leaving.  And I’d get to work with a band.  A BAND!  Do you have any idea how much fun it is to work with a band?  Oh my, it’s so great!  I’ll save more on that for another post, however…

In the end, I did 11 songs, most with full band back-up, and a couple with partial band or a single instrument.  It was a ton of fun, and though I was all sorts of pitchy (left over lost voice remnants), I’m so grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with professional musicians in a jazz club-type venue (Lucid Jazz Lounge, as I’ve also mentioned in previous posts).  I didn’t do all of my songs, and I tried to choose ones with differing styles and subject matters.  I have a lot to work on with timing, stage presence, and more, but I’m still pretty thrilled that I have enough of a body of work that I could offer 11 original songs to an audience.  And I’m also really thrilled that though the audience wasn’t all there to see me, they actually stuck around for the whole thing.  What an uplifting and supportive atmosphere!

I’ve chosen two songs to embed here (taken on iphone video, so sound and picture aren’t great).  The first I call “What It Was,” and it’s a little bit jazzy.  I’m not really a jazz musician, but I wrote the first two verses in the car after going to one of Kelly’s shows (who is a jazz musician).  A happy example of being inspired by others’ art!  The second song is really taken from my experience as a high school counselor.  A job that I dearly love, and am so grateful to have.  It’s an issue that has not only cropped up frequently at my school, but is cropping up frequently around the country right now.  I don’t have all the answers on how to fix it, but it breaks my heart every time I hear about someone in this situation.  These students persevere, no matter what.  Strength in Spirit, I think, is what I would call that.  This song, however, isn’t so much about strength, but about the confusion and fear of the what’s next.  It’s called “The Unknown.”

I dedicate this post to Kelly Ash.  A songstress who has helped me find my own song, and who brings good wherever she goes.  Thank you.  I am so grateful.  🙂

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What Came First? The lyrics or the melody?

It seems that every songwriter at some point in their career is asked how they come up with their songs.  Sometimes the question is more specific, such as whether the music or the lyrics come first.  Sometimes it’s more general.  Although I certainly don’t have a career in songwriting, I’ve also been asked that question.  And as I’ve read from many “actual” songwriters, there is no real method to this.  However, I have noticed one thing over the last year and a half of experimenting with songwriting:  I rarely, if ever, come up with lyrics first.

Sometimes I come up with a melody—something that might be humming along in my head, or something inspired by another song or show I’ve recently been to.  And at other times I’ll get a melody and lyric all at once.  But never have I just come up with lyrics sans melody.  I find this interesting, as lyrics are what I gravitate towards in other songs.  I’ve always connected with lyrics, even before the music or melody itself.  That doesn’t mean I don’t like instrumental songs.  I do.  But I prefer lyrical ones.  I love hearing a story, or thought process, or even just raw emotion.  I love it when a songwriter lets a listener in, even if it’s not the songwriter’s own story.  So I was surprised to find out that writing lyrics on their own does not come naturally to me.

My voice teacher (aka: songwriting coach), Kelly Ash, gave me an exercise/challenge recently, in which she suggested I follow the form of another song of my choosing—using an artist I connect with.  Basically, create a new song (with new lyrics) by copying the form of another.  In a very surprising move (haha), I chose Sarah McLachlan’s new song, “Forgiveness,” from her new Laws of Illusion album.  Before I started this exercise, I had spent a LOT of time listening to that album while on my recent road trip to and from San Francisco.  By the time I sat down to try and come up with something original based on her chords and form, I couldn’t get her melody out of my head.  So as far as coming up with something original, I didn’t exactly succeed.  However, I did manage to come up with new lyrics.  I kept my favorite line in the song to honor her songwriting, and changed everything else.  This was a great exercise, and while I’ll never be able to do much with this song because it’s so similar to hers, I really feel like they are some of my best lyrics to date.

It has been fun to pay more attention to the details of songs, both lyrically and musically (and how they complement each other), as I strive to create stronger and more interesting songs.  I have a long way to go as far as creating pieces that are “listenable” or “radio-ready,” if in fact I even want to go there.  Regardless, I do want to get better at this craft.  Other than learning more about instrumentation, giving more thought to how others use chords, lyrics, space, harmonies, vocal techniques, and so forth, is proving to be helpful.  I’m finding a lot of inspiration just by making sure I am more alert when music that sparks my interest is playing.

On that note, Seattle has a new band, The Head and the Heart, who are making beautiful music and garnering some great reviews.  This is not the kind of music I will likely ever be creating, but I really love it.  It sits in my head for hours, and has me humming all day.  They go back and forth between complex and simple melodies, and have harmonies that simultaneously bring me smiles and tears.  It’s interesting to try and dissect their songs even just a bit to see how they are creating these emotions.  I hope you love it as much as I do (the CD is much better than the video that’s been captured!).  This is “Cats and Dogs”:

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