FUN Fridays!

So ... A great way to start off the weekend was having Karmin stop by for an office visit. If you don't know who they are, you should get familiar. Graduates of Berklee Amy and Nick were discovered from covering some of their favorite songs on YouTube. Their most notable a lyrically packed "Look at Me Now" cover. Now they are signed to Epic records and recently released their own single "Brokenhearted." I'll be looking out for their project which should be coming around May!

Check out their performance from SNL.

#Random ... Someone Like You Cover

So someone posted this video on Facebook and I took the time to watch. This kid murders this record. I love his inflections and interpretations of the record! Take a minute and check it out.

I was just thinking ...

“...even if you're doing what you love, there will be times when you don't want to do it anymore, wish you could take a break, or otherwise just get a little tired of it. That's completely normal, and don't let it convince you you're on the wrong track.”

This is a quote that was shared me by my good friend and co-worker Caitlin Vivian and it couldn’t be more on point.  Sometimes I feel like I clearly will never find that one thing that is just satisfying all the time. The best thing about this quote is that it can be applied in all areas of your life. Whether it’s your career, relationship, whatever … sometimes you just aren’t going to want to do it. But how often do we take that as a signal to quit? Being great at anything quite frankly takes a lot of work! I have to remind myself that while pursuing my songwriting endeavors. This business is so not for the faint at heart. When people say you will hear a lot of NOs before that special YES … it’s TRUE! But I know that when I complete a song, my soul smiles. It’s a feeling that I am willing to strive for the rest of my life. We work at jobs for the security and healthcare, but the love of something is what makes it all worth it. I know that I can’t continue to work a “job” for the rest of my life because without the love I’m sure I will be quitting for the rest of my life. With love comes endurance and this quote is a great affirmation of that. 

Adventures in Vocal Lesson ...

So I recently embarked on taking vocal lessons at Deliverance church in Philadelphia. And really I’ve gotten way more than I bargained for, in a good way. If I’m being honest, I started out taking the class because it was less than the vocal lessons I was looking at, at Temple. But after settling into it, I realized that I might grow much more in a church setting. Well right from the first day, I appreciated how the teacher just made us sing! No fear! I usually spend a lot of time complaining about how much I don’t want to sing before I actually do it, But I could tell there was going to be no room for that in this class. The greatest part about the class is that it’s so much bigger than “learning” how to sing. It is really about the anointing of singing and how to use singing as a tool. She talks about the importance of singing and how singing can pull you through battles. It took away a lot of the shyness I was feeling about my voice. There is something about singing songs for God that makes the importance of the notes fade away. And in that, you end up singing better because you’re not thinking so hard about it. I know a lot more about music than I give myself credit for. I often deal with insecurity in writing music based on the fact that I haven’t had much formal training. For so long I just wanted to understand the music that I hear in my head and be able to translate those musical ideas better to those that can execute it. So what I find in my voice class is not so much that my voice is getting better than it was, I am just gaining more confidence to use what I already had. Don’t get me wrong … reading with sheet music and singing with the piano is still very helpful ear training for me. I can be all kinds of flat and sharp and I am really trying to wrangle in my ear. I’m looking forward to getting in the studio and seeing the difference in my recording.