| My CD - about |
HOW IT ALL STARTED…Would it sound too flaky to say I’ve wanted to be a singer since I was a kid? I’ve wanted to be a singer since I was a kid. I think it all started in art class in elementary school when I chose to draw a full-size portrait of Crystal Gayle [!] with a mic in her hand… …then there was the Valleyfair amusement park karaoke recording I “cut” of Whitney Houston’s Didn’t We Almost Have It All. Played that cassette until it warped out. A lot has changed since then…my taste in music for one! Red Light, Green Light takes a number of twists through my personal music history. My undergraduate program as a music major revolved around classical voice and piano, vocal jazz and choral singing, all of which you can hear in my music. Even though it hasn’t hit the shelves yet, let me fill you in on the pre-production story. I hadn’t even seriously considered being a songwriter until the summer of ’07 at a worship team camp retreat. Over the course of that weekend, I had three different friends ask “So, you write music?”. I thought nothing of it when I was first asked and politely replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” The second inquiry had me puzzled, so I went on a prayer walk and talked to God about it. I basically said that if He was trying to get my attention on this, being approached a third time would definitely do the trick. You can imagine my giggle when the third friend made their pitch…I immediately told them of their 3rd strike and daydreamed about the life of a songwriter all the way home from camp. Tra - la la la - la la. THE PURPOSE…"purpose" Noun 1. the reason for which anything is done, created, or exists Part of the purpose behind Red Light, Green Light was a burning desire to know the answer to the question “Can I do it? ” The only reason I was able to say “Yes” every time I asked myself that question was because of the support, encouragement, and incredible talents of my husband, Dale. As important as it is for the music and lyrics to be excellent, it’s worthless for a CD if you don’t have a tech guru on your team. Dale’s level of commitment, skill, and pride in this project make it just as much his baby as it is mine. We’ve always wanted to do something like this together and the further we get into the project the bigger our vision for it becomes. Dale’s been a great source of constructive criticism as I’ve fumbled my way through learning how to write a song. He’s really challenged me to think outside the box regarding chord structure. If you hear a cool chord change in one of my songs, more than likely it was Dale’s graceful criticism that caused me to change my original idea, which was probably along the lines of a I - !V – V progression! THE PROCESS…The process of creating these songs has been daunting, to say the least. The biggest hurdle along the way has been my fear of failure, with thoughts like… “It won’t be good enough.” and “If I sing that verse, will I have any girlfriends left?!” [see Vanity Insanity] I’ve had to daily [sometimes even by the hour] lay these fears down before God and say, “Help me to write this for Your glory and nothing else.” Along the way, I found a quote by Jonathan Stockstill, leader of the worship band Deluge of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He said, “I don’t care if anybody ever knows who I am or what I’m doing. If I’m pleasing [God], and I know that I’m right in the middle of [His] will, then I’m happy…it’s fearing God instead of fearing man.” [Worship Leader, Sept. 2008] That has been my mantra while writing this album. During the time its taken to complete this project, thoughts like that have kept me grounded in my purpose. Probably the hardest part of the process was finding the best time to work with Dale in the studio…which proved to be tricky with two young children who needed to be in bed by 8:00 p.m. and their mommy’s 9:30 bedtime. Somehow, we pieced it together one hour at a time. There were many nights that Dale worked at the computer with his headphones until the wee hours of the morning, while I slept and dreamt of the next lyric. My prime time to work on lyrics and song arrangements was while the kids were in school filling their brains with math facts and phonics rules. By the time I started to work on my third song, I realized that I did my best work with complete silence in the house, sitting at the piano in the corner of the basement. Some of my song ideas popped up while I was reading Scripture, or taking a prayer walk. Songs like Red Light, Green Light and Vanity Insanity were topics that I knew I wanted to visit on my album, but I wasn’t sure of much else re: their structure early on. Just Do It was conceived while I was driving on my way to meet a dog we were interested in adopting. It dawned on me that I hadn’t even prayed about getting this dog. I knew that becoming a dog owner would take up more of my precious time, and I started to think about how many decisions I’ve made in life without consulting God first. A couple of my lyric hooks seemed to come at the strangest of times. The chorus for Red Light, Green Light came while I was vacuuming…the first line of Vanity Insanity came while I was putting on my make-up one morning. The chorus for From Here To There came at 3:00 a.m. on Christmas morning of ’08. I woke up singing it and immediately crept into our basement recording closet and whispered it into my voice recorder, afraid I’d lose it if I waited until the rest of the house was awake. The verses for Crowded made their first appearance on a napkin from Caribou as I waited for a client to arrive […amazing how well 100% recycled napkins function as paper in a pinch]. Its been so amazing to watch these songs come to life after one little lyric idea or chord progression came to mind. Dale and I are excited to continue to mold each song with our musical ideas, adding more artists and instruments along the way [at the time of this writing, we’ve only recorded the main vocals and the piano]. WHAT’S NEXT?Being a stay-at-home mom with a freelance music career has been so ideal in that, my workplace, our home, can be as peaceful and inspiring as I choose to make it. When I’m by myself during the day, I tend to listen to solo meditative piano CDs to set a good vibe. Interestingly enough, I’ve started asking myself, “I wonder if I could make an album like THAT?” I know I can, I know I can , I know I can…… |