Please tell me I'm not the only one with this childhood fantasy?! Ever since I was a little girl rockin’ out on my toothbrush &/or hairbrush and recording music videos with my sister on my mom’s old video camera that recorded straight to VHS – yes we had one of those.
This fantasy or buried dream is something that has become more and more apparent to me as I continue my life on this earth. Little moments and events keep awakening this dream for me. Everytime I go to concert, singing live karaoke at the one and only, one of my BFF bestie's, Melanie Alexander’s (One of my dearest friends who continues to inspire me. She is now rehearsing her first lead in a musical in San Fran. SO proud of her!) birthday celebration in college, my first time really singing in front of audience on my maiden voyage of Semester at Sea, seeing Kat rock on in her awesome band Sad Robot, every performance I've ever seen of my friend Reece's rockin' pirate band The Dread Crew Of Oddwood, playing rock band and my many, many renditions of “None of Yo Business” by Salt and Peppa at karaoke. I LOVE performing! It’s been something inherent in my being since I was little. Since I would organize my cousins in my grandma’s back room with curtains, cued up tapes and a "stage" to be the MC for our very own talent show. My 9 – year - old rendition of “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s Pocahontas was TRULY one of the most heartfelt things I’ve ever seen me do caught on film. I was COMPLETELY in the zone.
College taught me through theater classes and voice lessons, that singing is HARD. So much harder than it looks and even people who make it look easy it’s still HARD. Performing is HARD. Giving yourself and your energy on stage. Telling a story, a feeling through your words, melody and emotion. Not to mention how hard it is to learn and diligently practice playing musical instruments. I learned that through my beginning guitar class I took in college and at Disney and my ukulele class that I also took at Disney taught by the marvelous John Quinn.
A passion for music has been something that has ALWAYS been a part of my life. From going Christmas caroling with my family of former choir teachers and members, to singing & listening to Jimmy Buffett, the Beatles and MJ while growing up, watching my mom dance and sing as she would clean or fix our sink or build something (my mother is basically the best father/mother combo a daughter could ever ask for. Check out my mom's amazing blog "The World According to Mama Pandza...I'm Just Sayin'"). Not until I got older did I realize the power of music and its ability to change people. I feel it is one of the few and ONLY art forms that is universal and has the power to reach people on an instantaneous level. To completely shift a mood, inspire or motivate with a first few notes, strokes of keys, strums or acapella hums and lulls. I know this to be true. Every time I hear songs like “ You Can Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor, “The Wind” By Cat Stevens, “Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters” By Elton John, “Ready for Love” by India Arie and “I Believe in Love” by The Dixie Chicks I know that music is truly a spiritual and universal experience. There’s just some sort of trigger it hits in my heart that shifts my entire being whenever I hear it.
I attended Mosiac’s Musment Compose event a couple of Thursday’s ago and it reminded me of the magic of music. A group of artists gathering together for pure play. Having to compose something in just an hour and a half with a team that I had just met and never worked with before, with just a few instruments, some spray paint cans and our voices. Some of the art that I witnessed come out of that night was truly inspiring.
Music is phenomenal. Every single genre of music ASTOUNDS ME! It inspires me and moves my soul. I realized the amazing amount of different types of music that I didn’t even know existed at The Grammy Museum a few Saturdays ago at the WriteGirl songwriting workshop. There I watched our WriteGirls pump out songs in a day. Their eyes glimmered and I got chills all over my body and tears in my eyes as they were performed on the fly by professional singer songwriters. It was truly indescribable.
See some amazing examples of videos from the workshop below:
A beautiful song by an amazing WriteGirl, Cree Nixon.
One of my favorite songs that was created in the workshop.
I think the title was "Fear of Falling."
I think the title was "Fear of Falling."
A hilarious, rockin' song by the wonderful WriteGirl, Amaya McGinnis. I was blessed to be her assigned mentor for the Fiction Workshop. I'm guessing the title is "Happy Love Songs."
Witnessing this at the workshop even made me believe that if I kept up with my guitar basics and vocal warm - ups that maybe someday I could write a song - but not just the words, the melody and rhythm too. Maybe that all female rock band isn’t as far from reality as I thought.
I LOVE singing and writing and performing so maybe someday it will happen. Another buried dream unearthed and acknowledged. Who knows if I’ll actually end up doing if for a living or just for fun. Maybe I could be the next Sara Bareilles or India Arie?
Hey – a girl can dream can’t she?! And nothing will ever stop me from continuing to do so.
Carly, I so totally feel the same way about music, I think it's in our Cantrell blood. There is a video on you.tube about an elderly man who didn't speak much or do anything but sit in his chair, and when they put an ipod on him with his favorite music he came alive. I feel music is a healing medium and I always need to have it playing around me. Let's sing the next time you are in town. Love you Carly
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