I like to refer to my song writing process as organized chaos. I have bits of paper that I put in a suitcase, and I have journals filled with words that would later become sentences in songs. The next thing I know I’m using my phone to record these little tunes that start forming in my head that feel right for a song, then I go to the piano. This process can take a few minutes or years to go from start to finish. The first time I played my songs that I had hummed into my phone I was unsure if they would amount to anything. My husband Greg kept asking me throughout last year to show him what I had written but I wasn’t ready to play my songs for anyone. Then one day I asked my friend Laura Reznek to come over and listen to my songs, sing and play my piano to see if something worked, and then guess what happened?
The musical time with Laura went really fast as we went through each song with her playing the piano, and we were suddenly in some sort of zone, doing harmonies, improvising, having fun! She had remembered when she was little and I had given her my first CD Songs from Space. She is all grown up now and an incredible musician/ singer in her own right, and I had called upon her to play and sing my songs to hear them come alive. Greg mentioned later that when he left our place, he could hear Laura and I talking shop about the songs and the structure, going back and forth and playing, laughing, singing. I think that was his way of knowing that this album was finally coming out of me. He knows me. When I’m creating, I may at times be a little challenging to live with. Who me? Yep! I say “Its pre-show time everybody!” and my friends and family seem to understand that I may be, uh, a little distracted.
That day I realized that I was on the right track with my new songs, which are collected on a new CD called The Story of Me, Myself & I (here’s the part when I say go to STORE on my website and for $7 you can buy my new CD!) Now, in the end, the writing of the songs took very little time but sometimes my thoughts got stuck for months and my worry about succeeding got too big. But then when the words came out as I wrote: “I sat down at my desk again, turned a page and then picked up a pen, hummed the words I heard inside my head, could have stopped there but wrote it down instead…” The words kept falling off my pen (yes I still write with a pen and a book) and I felt relief.
The theme of my album is about turning challenges into successes. I wanted to get across the idea that it’s okay for children and youth to go through challenges. You can get through hard times but you must never give up, and I wanted to talk about this through music. The songs on this album also connect to when I was growing up on our farm. I had a lot of energy as a child and would often be found climbing up door frames, jumping from trees or daydreaming. If I was worried I would get outside into nature and just ‘be.’ My dad taught us to plant trees every year to give back to the farm. My mom and dad would walk with us three kids and talk to us about our feelings and how we were doing at school. The farm was a refuge for me and a place for me to develop my talents.
Then I got Magrau for Christmas! Life was never the same again and I was on stage whenever I could be onstage.
Magrau was blue as a little bird before he turned into the colourful bird he is today.
This May 15th at 11am there will be a show by Magrau, Kamilla and myself. This performance will highlight my new music that was inspired by my childhood on our old farm. We will have my new CD’s and this event is FREE for everyone on this Sunday afternoon at ArtStarts in Schools Gallery at 808 Richards Street downtown. Bring your cameras and your imagination. This is going to be a ton of fun! It’s difficult to forget your childhood when you watch the children watching the puppets and I perform, interacting with the story and dancing to the music. Oh yes and please come up after the show and take a picture and say hello if you wish. We’d love to thank you for coming to this celebration! How many sleeps are there until May 15th?
Cheers
Kellie