A couple of years ago I was talking to a gentleman about singing at a fund-raising event, and he told me about his grandaughter. She was a streetwalker on Vancouver's East Side, and was one of the women who had gone missing from there in recent weeks, and was quite possibly dead. I could hear the sadness in his voice as he told me the story.
It made me think about how we lose people in our lives through misunderstandings and wrong turns.... mistakes we make... actions we regret.
So I sat down and wrote a song called 'I Will Remember You'. I soon discovered that Sarah McLachlan had a hit song with the same name. So I rewrote my lyrics and called it 'Still I Dream of You'.
It really means a lot to me.
After I recorded the lead vocal, I listened to the playback and I liked what I heard. The ethereal nature of my voice seemed to express the longing I felt as I thought about those in my life that have taken paths I cannot see, and how they are lost to me. Those who know me know I'm a big fan of harmony & creativity with the vocals on my songs... but for this one, I decided to leave it as one simple quiet voice.
I hope you find it meaningful.
Free download: http://www.myspace.com/vikkiflawith
The full CD is available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/flawith
TGIF - eh?
Today in my muic bubble I’m getting 6 demos ready for mastering; am in the process of writing several other songs; am reading Jason Blume’s ‘6 Steps to Songwriting Success’, am choosing the repertoire for a prestigious gig; I just organized a face-to-face with the author of the ‘musician’s bible’ when I’m in LA; I walked (and came up with 3 song ideas), did my vocal exercises, ate a healthy lunch; am listening to MTV & brainstorming ideas for pop-rock songs; am organizing a rehearsal schedule for my trio; I’m reading guidebooks for my trip; I’ve been playing with the ‘the songwriter’s source book’ to come up with more interesting chord progressions.… plus taught my Friday students. Oh, I have to do my Pilates & update my websites with gig info.
Time for a nap :lol:
Time for a nap :lol:
inspiration & perspiration :-)
I was thinking late last night about the 'inspirational talk' I'm giving later this month. I haven't felt very inspired about it - not that I don't talk all day and every day about the creative process and its capacity to lift us and move us forward - but everytime I think about it, I get this picture in my head of what the audience is going to see, and I picture them saying to themselves, 'yeah right, like she knows anything'. And right there is the problem with most performance anxiety.
I decided to overcome that by reading a book about public speaking. Funnily enough, it just happened to be on my sister's bookshelf yesterday when I was browsing to see if she had any interesting novels to read. I've read the first few chapters now, and one truth that jumped out at me was that if you talk about something you're passionate about, you will engage an audience. I see this as Passion plus Courage = Inspiration.
I get many comments from folks on how much I do and how deeply involved in music I am. But for me it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything extraordinary - I'm just living my creative life, fueled by the passion to do so, and thrilled everytime I am inspired to create, teach, perform and play.
When you have a healthy passion for something that lights you up inside - whether it's collecting elephants, running, or songwriting - and you embrace that passion on a routine basis, and you make choices in your life that support that passion, then I believe that light shines through you. And that your act of being passionate about that great thing you love to do.... sends ripples out into the energy of the world and because of your creative act.... someone else you probably will never know will be inspired to do the same. You don't set out to 'be' inspiring, you just 'are' because you are living your life with a meaning that you have defined for yourself.
Just think what would happen if half the world's population got passionate about peace. And they started by looking inside themselves and finding peace within, doing acts of peace like meditation or running or writing or painting or whatever it is that makes them feel still & serene inside. They worked on understanding their programming & preconceptions, and live with compassion, tolerance and understanding. They learned to listen rather than preach. They learned to hear instead of judge. They passionately believed that most human beings have the potential to be something extraordinary, if they could rise above the doubt, the integrated limitations, and live with passion. Slowly, as their passion for peace manifested in their own spirit, they'd begin to do acts of peace in their own family, in their neighbourhood. They'd make it a goal to have a peaceful home and a peaceful community, and they'd approach that work with passion, compassion, and belief. Passion would motivate them to overcome the setbacks. They'd 'pay it forward' whenever they could.
See what I mean :lol: - I started to talk about something I'm passionate about.... and that's what came out of my head & heart. Thought for the day, I guess.
I hope this week you will renew your passion for music and embrace it everyday in small ways as you walk along the path of life.
I decided to overcome that by reading a book about public speaking. Funnily enough, it just happened to be on my sister's bookshelf yesterday when I was browsing to see if she had any interesting novels to read. I've read the first few chapters now, and one truth that jumped out at me was that if you talk about something you're passionate about, you will engage an audience. I see this as Passion plus Courage = Inspiration.
I get many comments from folks on how much I do and how deeply involved in music I am. But for me it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything extraordinary - I'm just living my creative life, fueled by the passion to do so, and thrilled everytime I am inspired to create, teach, perform and play.
When you have a healthy passion for something that lights you up inside - whether it's collecting elephants, running, or songwriting - and you embrace that passion on a routine basis, and you make choices in your life that support that passion, then I believe that light shines through you. And that your act of being passionate about that great thing you love to do.... sends ripples out into the energy of the world and because of your creative act.... someone else you probably will never know will be inspired to do the same. You don't set out to 'be' inspiring, you just 'are' because you are living your life with a meaning that you have defined for yourself.
Just think what would happen if half the world's population got passionate about peace. And they started by looking inside themselves and finding peace within, doing acts of peace like meditation or running or writing or painting or whatever it is that makes them feel still & serene inside. They worked on understanding their programming & preconceptions, and live with compassion, tolerance and understanding. They learned to listen rather than preach. They learned to hear instead of judge. They passionately believed that most human beings have the potential to be something extraordinary, if they could rise above the doubt, the integrated limitations, and live with passion. Slowly, as their passion for peace manifested in their own spirit, they'd begin to do acts of peace in their own family, in their neighbourhood. They'd make it a goal to have a peaceful home and a peaceful community, and they'd approach that work with passion, compassion, and belief. Passion would motivate them to overcome the setbacks. They'd 'pay it forward' whenever they could.
See what I mean :lol: - I started to talk about something I'm passionate about.... and that's what came out of my head & heart. Thought for the day, I guess.
I hope this week you will renew your passion for music and embrace it everyday in small ways as you walk along the path of life.
Ack! (and "artist development")
Ack! Look how long between posts. Yikes! If I had readers, they have now gone elsewhere. But I'll still post, cause this is supposed to be a journal. Had a busy summer, mostly spent out of town and away from computers. Have been back a few days, and busy getting back to teaching, paying bills, organizing my life, procrastinating, and generally being ineffectual. Then I got a cold. But I am now bouncing back so here I am again... :-)
Hey, well I was just on another board and someone had posted about 'artist development' and it got me to thinking. How many of us want to be professional singers/artists? And how many of us have mapped out some sort of development plan for this goal? If you were starting a business, for example, you would be expected to create a business & financial plan showing your goals and ideas for the next 3 to 5 years. So, do you have a treasure map for your personal artistic success? Say, for the next year?
Here's mine:
singing/instruments
- continue vocal coaching
- continue guitar lessons
- take mandolin lessons
- try out the fiddle
- take some jazz piano
performance
- open stages & open mics
- songwriter's nights
- look for hour-long paying gigs or feature performer slots
- apply to music festivals for next year
conferences/travel
- Road Rally music conference (LA), November
- Nashville next spring??
songwriting
- complete my solo electronic-pop album
- pitch film/tv & songs
- complete all current collaborations
- read up on industry
- keep marketing current CD
- keep writing!
producing
- read Studio Buddy
- get a larger hard drive
marketing
- stay up-to-date with all web pages
- get CD reviews
- work on getting more radio play
How about you? :-)
Hey, well I was just on another board and someone had posted about 'artist development' and it got me to thinking. How many of us want to be professional singers/artists? And how many of us have mapped out some sort of development plan for this goal? If you were starting a business, for example, you would be expected to create a business & financial plan showing your goals and ideas for the next 3 to 5 years. So, do you have a treasure map for your personal artistic success? Say, for the next year?
Here's mine:
singing/instruments
- continue vocal coaching
- continue guitar lessons
- take mandolin lessons
- try out the fiddle
- take some jazz piano
performance
- open stages & open mics
- songwriter's nights
- look for hour-long paying gigs or feature performer slots
- apply to music festivals for next year
conferences/travel
- Road Rally music conference (LA), November
- Nashville next spring??
songwriting
- complete my solo electronic-pop album
- pitch film/tv & songs
- complete all current collaborations
- read up on industry
- keep marketing current CD
- keep writing!
producing
- read Studio Buddy
- get a larger hard drive
marketing
- stay up-to-date with all web pages
- get CD reviews
- work on getting more radio play
How about you? :-)
organzie, smorganize
02July06 - Hey, I am getting organized. I got all kinds of paper spread out on my coffee table in little piles, and envelopes set up to put them in, and I got the recycle bag right here so I can put the endless papers that I don't need but seem to keep around in there and get rid of them.
I thought we were supposed to be the paperless society, but when I look around, all I see IS paper. Music (on paper). Bills (on paper). Diary (made of paper). That ever-changing schedule that I print off every two days - which invariably changes as soon as I print it off :lol:
And lists. I've got lists right here in front of me as I type. A list of songs for my summer album. A list of listings to submit songs to. A list of names that are on my newsletter list twice. Lists of co-writes to work on.
But I have to list things. I can be really bad at prioritizing and I will forget something important if I don't write it on a list. Lists are good. Doing something that is on the list is even better. And hey 'update your blog' is on the list, for Sunday. And today's Sunday and I'm doing it even though I feel like a nap... and the little piles of receipts are feeling lonely without me shuffling through them and trying to remember what I did on March 11th.
Today I signed up for "50 songs in 90 days" = sort of a personal challenge. I did something similar a couple of years ago, which was to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. I think I came up to about half that total. Anyway, 50 songs in 90 days starts on July 4th.... so stay tuned, I will let you know how I am doing. I'll be away for some of the time, but I can write and travel.
Yesterday I found out my entry into the made it to the second round of the Just Plain Folks Lyric Contest. I made the top 50 out of 500. I'm really pleased about that. There's some really great lyrics in the top 50, so we'll wait and who moves to the next round of 20.
Hope you are enjoying your Canada Day long weekend, or your July 4th long weekend.... or if you live elsewhere, just have a great weekend!!!!
I thought we were supposed to be the paperless society, but when I look around, all I see IS paper. Music (on paper). Bills (on paper). Diary (made of paper). That ever-changing schedule that I print off every two days - which invariably changes as soon as I print it off :lol:
And lists. I've got lists right here in front of me as I type. A list of songs for my summer album. A list of listings to submit songs to. A list of names that are on my newsletter list twice. Lists of co-writes to work on.
But I have to list things. I can be really bad at prioritizing and I will forget something important if I don't write it on a list. Lists are good. Doing something that is on the list is even better. And hey 'update your blog' is on the list, for Sunday. And today's Sunday and I'm doing it even though I feel like a nap... and the little piles of receipts are feeling lonely without me shuffling through them and trying to remember what I did on March 11th.
Today I signed up for "50 songs in 90 days" = sort of a personal challenge. I did something similar a couple of years ago, which was to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. I think I came up to about half that total. Anyway, 50 songs in 90 days starts on July 4th.... so stay tuned, I will let you know how I am doing. I'll be away for some of the time, but I can write and travel.
Yesterday I found out my entry into the made it to the second round of the Just Plain Folks Lyric Contest. I made the top 50 out of 500. I'm really pleased about that. There's some really great lyrics in the top 50, so we'll wait and who moves to the next round of 20.
Hope you are enjoying your Canada Day long weekend, or your July 4th long weekend.... or if you live elsewhere, just have a great weekend!!!!
Summer Solstice
24Jun06 - As the summer solstice began I felt a shift in energy. Even tho the sun is shining, something in me feels very low. Sometimes the struggle feels like an impossible one. I know we all feel this from time to time. I comfort myself with the knowledge that it is the *act* of creating, of playing, of singing that is meaningful to the spirit - not the validation of others. Still sometimes this journey of ours feels very lonely. You put out your CDs and post your music and play your gigs... and the money you get never covers the bills. You start to read the want ads as your heart drops through the floor.
And you wonder if you'll ever get good enough to get some real recognition or some real money. But the next day you wake up and you do it all again, because it took you so long, it took so many years to finally find your passion and live it... you just can't give up on it, no matter what. It is life to you. It's who you are and what you do all wrapped up into one. It's as vital to you as your heart and lungs.
So you weep a little, and watch dreadful re-runs on tv... and after a couple of hours, you get out the guitar and write a sad song. Somehow, you feel better.
Seasons change, pulse with fluid movement, flow softly over our consciousness... beat on our foreheads or dance on our pillows as we dream our dreams. And, from time to time, we are awake enough to acknowledge that there's something undeniably magical about being alive.
:) I don't know if any of that makes sense, but it's what came to me as I sat here clickin' on the keyboard.
And you wonder if you'll ever get good enough to get some real recognition or some real money. But the next day you wake up and you do it all again, because it took you so long, it took so many years to finally find your passion and live it... you just can't give up on it, no matter what. It is life to you. It's who you are and what you do all wrapped up into one. It's as vital to you as your heart and lungs.
So you weep a little, and watch dreadful re-runs on tv... and after a couple of hours, you get out the guitar and write a sad song. Somehow, you feel better.
Seasons change, pulse with fluid movement, flow softly over our consciousness... beat on our foreheads or dance on our pillows as we dream our dreams. And, from time to time, we are awake enough to acknowledge that there's something undeniably magical about being alive.
:) I don't know if any of that makes sense, but it's what came to me as I sat here clickin' on the keyboard.
Cold facts on IQ study
Here's an interesting factoid.... this one from professor Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster, who has been doing a study on IQ. Among other things, he claims that people who live in countries with cold climates have higher IQs, likely stemming from the fact that they have to look for food in harsh conditions and that takes brain power. I know what a struggle it is to find the grocery store in the snow, especially if you want to park your skidoo near the entrance so you don't freeze on the walk back to your vehicle. Keeps the groceries fresh, though.
He also claims that people who live in cities have higher IQs, because, he says, people who live in towns were smart enough to leave rural life behind, perhaps because country grocery stores are more elusive & tend to hibernate, making mealtimes skinny.
Still, I would like to introduce the professor to a few of our Canadian citizens, who live and work in the cold climate of the big city of Ottawa, Canada's capital, supposedly running this country. Based on their current activities (or lack thereof), I don't think the prof can use them as an example to prove his theory. I'm sure he missed them when he was doing his survey. Perhaps they were out hunting moose.
When I lived 'up north' I was fascinated by the things we intelligent cold city folk would get up to, like getting your tongue stuck on an icy metal pole or driving a skidoo on thin ice, or wearing slacks underneath your dress so your legs wouldn't freeze on the way to school. I see big city girls in warm places like LA copying this fashion nowadays.
They take it a step further though - perhaps because it's warmer - and only wear their silk slips, which are finished with lace, over their slacks -- attractively ripped, of course. Another fine fashion, adopted by big city boys, is the wearing of pants so loose your fly is down at your knees. I hate to tell them, but really what they are wearing is a mutant version of the skirt-over-slacks.
In the boy's case, they are wearing a skirt that turns into slacks at the knees, and then bags down over their ankles so they have those attractive trailing bits of cloth decoratively drooping around their expensive, scuffed running shoes with loose laces flapping musically as they lounge by, hands in their pockets & ball cap jauntily hiding their intelligent eyes as they hunt for nourishment.
Anyway, it's nice to know that living in a cold, damp city makes you smarter. I hope I can find the grocery store tomorrow. I'm out of country crock.
He also claims that people who live in cities have higher IQs, because, he says, people who live in towns were smart enough to leave rural life behind, perhaps because country grocery stores are more elusive & tend to hibernate, making mealtimes skinny.
Still, I would like to introduce the professor to a few of our Canadian citizens, who live and work in the cold climate of the big city of Ottawa, Canada's capital, supposedly running this country. Based on their current activities (or lack thereof), I don't think the prof can use them as an example to prove his theory. I'm sure he missed them when he was doing his survey. Perhaps they were out hunting moose.
When I lived 'up north' I was fascinated by the things we intelligent cold city folk would get up to, like getting your tongue stuck on an icy metal pole or driving a skidoo on thin ice, or wearing slacks underneath your dress so your legs wouldn't freeze on the way to school. I see big city girls in warm places like LA copying this fashion nowadays.
They take it a step further though - perhaps because it's warmer - and only wear their silk slips, which are finished with lace, over their slacks -- attractively ripped, of course. Another fine fashion, adopted by big city boys, is the wearing of pants so loose your fly is down at your knees. I hate to tell them, but really what they are wearing is a mutant version of the skirt-over-slacks.
In the boy's case, they are wearing a skirt that turns into slacks at the knees, and then bags down over their ankles so they have those attractive trailing bits of cloth decoratively drooping around their expensive, scuffed running shoes with loose laces flapping musically as they lounge by, hands in their pockets & ball cap jauntily hiding their intelligent eyes as they hunt for nourishment.
Anyway, it's nice to know that living in a cold, damp city makes you smarter. I hope I can find the grocery store tomorrow. I'm out of country crock.
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