I'm busy working out the track order for my upcoming cd, The Day the Money Run Out. I am finding it a fascinating process. We've recorded 14 songs, so how many possibilities does that add up to? Anyone want to do the math for me? (If I remember anything from Grade 10, I believe that might involve exponents).
Some choices are so easy: the first and last songs are no brainers (Buy More Buddhas and Never Too Late, respectively), and for some unknown reason, it seems dead obvious to me - like a law of nature - that the title track should either be Track 3 or Track 4. Why? I have no idea, except that my favourite song on an album is so often the third or fourth, that it can't be a coincidence. As for the rest of it, it's all trial and error, moving things around, listening, rearranging, trying to create the right flow of tempo, theme, key.
How do you approach these kinds of tasks? Not necessarily in terms of an album: what about set lists or scenes in a story or play, arranging quilt squares or photos in an album or pieces of art for a gallery show (or on your walls at home)? What are the rules you're guided by, the beliefs, the prejudices? I'm curious to learn more about how ordering contributes to the impact of creative work, how a greater whole is created out of different elements.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Creative Marathoning
I know a lot of long distance runners, which is a pretty weird thing since I am a sprinter (in the sense of being willing to run short distances to catch a bus). I guess I got jealous of all of the training and the runner's high my friends described, and thought, there must be some way I can get the same effects doing something I love.
So, I started doing creative marathons. Marathon is really a misnomer here, because the event is more like a Creative IronMan. It requires stamina as well as inspiration, since it is a 12-hour event in which participants devote an entire day to creating in any way they choose. The goal is to create 20 original pieces of work in one day, in one or more creative disciplines – it might be 20 songs or 20 paintings, 20 quilt squares, 20 poems, 20 photographs, or 20 of anything! It’s amazing what great songs and art can be created in these sessions, and no surprise that some truly awful songs and art also get produced. And that’s all part of the fun.
And, it's also part of the point. Often, we are held back from creating by the voices in our head that say, "This is no good. It's not working. I can't do this." During a creative marathon, those voices usually get exhausted and give up, freeing each participant to create work without editing themselves. This is usually accompanied by giddiness, euphoria and an 'anything goes' attitude: the creative's high.
At the end of the marathon, participants can organize an optional potluck dinner party and show some of their work: I encourage people to share the work they like the best and the piece they think is the worst and/or funniest. In a context that makes creating feel like play again, we open ourselves up to our creativity and delight in our own and each other's abilities and talents.
I try to plan the marathons to take place near an equinox or solstice, but they are notoriously rescheduled. I welcome people to contact me to join in on the next one, which will take place on June 19, 2010 - or organize their own. The idea for these marathons was inspired by the book, “The Frustrated Songwriter’s Handbook” written by a Nicholas Dobson and Karl Koryat, a couple of members of the Immersion Composition Society. Visit their web site and/or buy their book; you'll find lots of great ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
So, I started doing creative marathons. Marathon is really a misnomer here, because the event is more like a Creative IronMan. It requires stamina as well as inspiration, since it is a 12-hour event in which participants devote an entire day to creating in any way they choose. The goal is to create 20 original pieces of work in one day, in one or more creative disciplines – it might be 20 songs or 20 paintings, 20 quilt squares, 20 poems, 20 photographs, or 20 of anything! It’s amazing what great songs and art can be created in these sessions, and no surprise that some truly awful songs and art also get produced. And that’s all part of the fun.
And, it's also part of the point. Often, we are held back from creating by the voices in our head that say, "This is no good. It's not working. I can't do this." During a creative marathon, those voices usually get exhausted and give up, freeing each participant to create work without editing themselves. This is usually accompanied by giddiness, euphoria and an 'anything goes' attitude: the creative's high.
At the end of the marathon, participants can organize an optional potluck dinner party and show some of their work: I encourage people to share the work they like the best and the piece they think is the worst and/or funniest. In a context that makes creating feel like play again, we open ourselves up to our creativity and delight in our own and each other's abilities and talents.
I try to plan the marathons to take place near an equinox or solstice, but they are notoriously rescheduled. I welcome people to contact me to join in on the next one, which will take place on June 19, 2010 - or organize their own. The idea for these marathons was inspired by the book, “The Frustrated Songwriter’s Handbook” written by a Nicholas Dobson and Karl Koryat, a couple of members of the Immersion Composition Society. Visit their web site and/or buy their book; you'll find lots of great ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Why I love Twitter
Another month has rushed by and I find myself at the last minute again, wanting to write at least one post before the month is over.
The easiest topic to write about tonight is something I've been thinking about a lot lately: just how much I love Twitter.
The fact that I love Twitter actually baffles me. When I first started tweeting, I didn't get it at all. It seemed boring and pointless. Blah, blah, blah: just one more social network-y thing to have to pay attention to.
Then, I had an epiphany - I realized that Twitter would deliver information to me. Weird, random, funny, useful, useless, interesting information. Whenever I chose to look at Twitter, it would invite me to run madly off in all directions, following links about things I'm interested in and things I didn't even know I was interested in.
My friends who know that I love to tweet, sometimes ask me, "Will Twitter help me extend my brand?" "Will it help me enrol more students in my classes?" "Will it help me sell more records?"
The simple truth is, I have no idea if Twitter can do any of those things. I do know that it helps me feel more fertile as a songwriter: my tweeps tell me things I would otherwise never know and expose me to diverse and fascinating ideas and viewpoints. And, they inspire me. My twitterverse is populated with creative, energetic people who are deeply committed to their beliefs, their passions, and to our world.
It's a pleasure to spend time with all of you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights, disappointments and triumphs, your beautiful humanness, 140 characters at a time.
The easiest topic to write about tonight is something I've been thinking about a lot lately: just how much I love Twitter.
The fact that I love Twitter actually baffles me. When I first started tweeting, I didn't get it at all. It seemed boring and pointless. Blah, blah, blah: just one more social network-y thing to have to pay attention to.
Then, I had an epiphany - I realized that Twitter would deliver information to me. Weird, random, funny, useful, useless, interesting information. Whenever I chose to look at Twitter, it would invite me to run madly off in all directions, following links about things I'm interested in and things I didn't even know I was interested in.
My friends who know that I love to tweet, sometimes ask me, "Will Twitter help me extend my brand?" "Will it help me enrol more students in my classes?" "Will it help me sell more records?"
The simple truth is, I have no idea if Twitter can do any of those things. I do know that it helps me feel more fertile as a songwriter: my tweeps tell me things I would otherwise never know and expose me to diverse and fascinating ideas and viewpoints. And, they inspire me. My twitterverse is populated with creative, energetic people who are deeply committed to their beliefs, their passions, and to our world.
It's a pleasure to spend time with all of you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights, disappointments and triumphs, your beautiful humanness, 140 characters at a time.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Songwriting and blogwriting: Sometimes even writing once a month can be difficult
Gee, it's almost the end of February and I haven't once found time to blog. Fortunately, I have a perfect topic for this evening - the process of trying to write.
I was honoured to be invited to facilitate a songwriting workshop this past weekend. It was a fun one, intended to demystify the process a little and open up some space for the participants to write a song from wherever they were at. We had about 2 hours to work together, and in that time, a number of the participants created some lyrics or a tune, or part or all of a song.
I think it would be fair to say that some of the participants found the prospect of trying to write a song a little daunting. There is a sense that music-making is reserved for a 'special' subset of the population, not something that can be enjoyed by anyone.
Even those of us who write songs a lot experience times when the well is dry. The important thing, it seems to me, is to keep showing up, heart in hand, to see what is waiting inside us and outside us.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a song today. No pressure. But go for it.
I was honoured to be invited to facilitate a songwriting workshop this past weekend. It was a fun one, intended to demystify the process a little and open up some space for the participants to write a song from wherever they were at. We had about 2 hours to work together, and in that time, a number of the participants created some lyrics or a tune, or part or all of a song.
I think it would be fair to say that some of the participants found the prospect of trying to write a song a little daunting. There is a sense that music-making is reserved for a 'special' subset of the population, not something that can be enjoyed by anyone.
Even those of us who write songs a lot experience times when the well is dry. The important thing, it seems to me, is to keep showing up, heart in hand, to see what is waiting inside us and outside us.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a song today. No pressure. But go for it.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Zen and the Art of Hosting a House Concert
I love house concerts and they're definitely trendy these days. I get a lot of questions about them from friends and fans. What are they? How do they work? Are they fun? Could I host one?
With a major house concert performance coming up in just a couple of weeks, there's no better time to write about what house concerts are and how they work.
So, what is a house concert?
Simply put, a house concert is a performance that takes place in someone's home. House concerts are usually cozy affairs, unamplified, with lots of opportunity to chat with the musician(s), before, after and even during their sets. I often perform songs at house concerts that I would never pull out in a public venue - songs that are too intimate to share with the rowdy regulars heckling from the bar.
There are many benefits to house concerts - they are family-friendly (no need for a babysitter), recession proof (BYOB) and if you're the host, or a close neighbour, you won't have to go far to get home once the show is over.
Great House Concert Experiences
I played some fabulous house concerts last year, often as one of two singer/songwriters, swapping songs back and forth. Here are just a few of my magical house concert memories of 2009.
At a show just outside Halifax, with Dolores Dagenais, Dol wowed us all when she demonstrated her prolific songwriting abilities: she wrote an entire song during the intermission (the song was about Hurricane Bill which was forecast to strike Nova Scotia later that evening).
At a matinee in Newcombville this summer, Susan Crowe and I shared our ideas about songwriting (illustrating our points with our songs) to an audience of writers, and raised over $1,000 for the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia.
Outside of Peterborough this fall, I debuted my first ever spoken word piece to a lovely audience, while sharing the stage with Tanya Philipovich. On the drive there and back, Tanya and I brainstormed a bunch of ideas about how to improve our lives as musicians. I came away from that evening a whole lot wiser, as well as richer.
And last, but not least, my penultimate show of 2009 was a Christmas party at the home of a friend and fan; I performed two sets and then a number of us sang together into the wee small hours of the morning. Here's the feedback from that show (reproduced with permission): "My friends are all still raving about you!!!! In fact a couple of them said that unlike most musicians you sounded better live than on CD. And they should know as they listen to your CD every time they come over :)."
What is required to host a house concert?
All you really need to host is a love of music and space to put a enough people to pay the musician for their time and talent. Different musicians will be looking to make different amounts. Maybe you can fit 10-12 people and charge 20-25 dollars a head, or 20 people at 15-20 dollars a head, or 30 people at 12-20 dollars a head. Some hosts arrange for a portion of the door to cover refreshments, or to donate to charity; in other instances, all of the proceeds go to the artist(s).
Upcoming house concert!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have a big house concert coming up in a couple of weeks, on Saturday, January 23, 2010. I'm very excited about it. It is being hosted in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood by Sarah Hopen, the principal of STAR Company. She is running a series of house concerts from January to June 2010, with a broad spectrum of brilliant musicians and writers, so you'll want to get on her mailing list.
More information is available on the Starry Nights Facebook page.
Tickets for my Starry Nights performance ($12/person) are now available through Eventbrite.
One of the easiest ways to decide if you would like to host a house concert is to attend one.
(For more information about hosting house concerts, here are a couple of good online resources: Concerts in Your Home and Acoustic Roof.)
With a major house concert performance coming up in just a couple of weeks, there's no better time to write about what house concerts are and how they work.
So, what is a house concert?
Simply put, a house concert is a performance that takes place in someone's home. House concerts are usually cozy affairs, unamplified, with lots of opportunity to chat with the musician(s), before, after and even during their sets. I often perform songs at house concerts that I would never pull out in a public venue - songs that are too intimate to share with the rowdy regulars heckling from the bar.
There are many benefits to house concerts - they are family-friendly (no need for a babysitter), recession proof (BYOB) and if you're the host, or a close neighbour, you won't have to go far to get home once the show is over.
Great House Concert Experiences
I played some fabulous house concerts last year, often as one of two singer/songwriters, swapping songs back and forth. Here are just a few of my magical house concert memories of 2009.
At a show just outside Halifax, with Dolores Dagenais, Dol wowed us all when she demonstrated her prolific songwriting abilities: she wrote an entire song during the intermission (the song was about Hurricane Bill which was forecast to strike Nova Scotia later that evening).
At a matinee in Newcombville this summer, Susan Crowe and I shared our ideas about songwriting (illustrating our points with our songs) to an audience of writers, and raised over $1,000 for the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia.
Outside of Peterborough this fall, I debuted my first ever spoken word piece to a lovely audience, while sharing the stage with Tanya Philipovich. On the drive there and back, Tanya and I brainstormed a bunch of ideas about how to improve our lives as musicians. I came away from that evening a whole lot wiser, as well as richer.
And last, but not least, my penultimate show of 2009 was a Christmas party at the home of a friend and fan; I performed two sets and then a number of us sang together into the wee small hours of the morning. Here's the feedback from that show (reproduced with permission): "My friends are all still raving about you!!!! In fact a couple of them said that unlike most musicians you sounded better live than on CD. And they should know as they listen to your CD every time they come over :)."
What is required to host a house concert?
All you really need to host is a love of music and space to put a enough people to pay the musician for their time and talent. Different musicians will be looking to make different amounts. Maybe you can fit 10-12 people and charge 20-25 dollars a head, or 20 people at 15-20 dollars a head, or 30 people at 12-20 dollars a head. Some hosts arrange for a portion of the door to cover refreshments, or to donate to charity; in other instances, all of the proceeds go to the artist(s).
Upcoming house concert!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have a big house concert coming up in a couple of weeks, on Saturday, January 23, 2010. I'm very excited about it. It is being hosted in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood by Sarah Hopen, the principal of STAR Company. She is running a series of house concerts from January to June 2010, with a broad spectrum of brilliant musicians and writers, so you'll want to get on her mailing list.
More information is available on the Starry Nights Facebook page.
Tickets for my Starry Nights performance ($12/person) are now available through Eventbrite.
One of the easiest ways to decide if you would like to host a house concert is to attend one.
(For more information about hosting house concerts, here are a couple of good online resources: Concerts in Your Home and Acoustic Roof.)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Artistic Cross-pollination
As a musician, I often have opportunities to collaborate and jam with fellow musicians. In 2009, though, I was lucky enough to enjoy some cross-disciplinary collaborations. I'd like to share these experiences with you in that hope that they will inspire you to find ways to cross-pollinate your work with that of other artists.
The first of these collaborations actually started in the spring of 2008. My friend, Josephine Guidolin, offered to shoot photos of me to use on the album cover and liner notes of my cd, Love Bites. I don't enjoy having my photo taken and was relieved at the thought of doing the photo shoot with an old friend. I had some ideas about what I wanted and Joey brought her ideas and inspiration to the shoot, too. We shot most of the photos in Dufferin Grove park, a few at my apartment building and some more at an abandoned building in my neighbourhood. Because of the title of my cd, I wanted some close ups of me biting into a pear or apple. We found some beautiful pears at the Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market and Joey put together just the right composition and lighting for a nice, juicy bite.
Flash forward a year to the summer of 2009: Joey dropped me a line to let me know that she would be submitting the pear photo, along with a number of others, to a jury for consideration as street banners in the Bloorcourt business district. Lo and behold the pear shot, and several of Joey's other photos, were selected. The banners were installed in early December and now a giant image of my nose and mouth can be viewed at the corner of Bloor and Delaware (and virtually here.)
The other major cross-collaboration I enjoyed this year was with visual artist, Alex Mac Donald. I met Alex at the Tallgrass Festival in Seaforth, Nova Scotia, in 2008, where he provided us with excellent sound and shared some of his marvelous original songs around the bonfire at the end of that glorious day. This year, Alex decided to create a series of videos in which he paints abstract works on glass to the sound of independent musicians. When I heard about this, I eagerly asked if I could contribute my song, Mercury Lights, to the project; Alex graciously accepted my offer. The result is simply stunning as you can see for yourself (through the miracle of YouTube).
I am very moved by the way these projects have broadened my understanding of how we can inspire one another as artists and how rich and fertile we can be in collaboration with one another. I am looking forward to further collaborations in 2010.
The first of these collaborations actually started in the spring of 2008. My friend, Josephine Guidolin, offered to shoot photos of me to use on the album cover and liner notes of my cd, Love Bites. I don't enjoy having my photo taken and was relieved at the thought of doing the photo shoot with an old friend. I had some ideas about what I wanted and Joey brought her ideas and inspiration to the shoot, too. We shot most of the photos in Dufferin Grove park, a few at my apartment building and some more at an abandoned building in my neighbourhood. Because of the title of my cd, I wanted some close ups of me biting into a pear or apple. We found some beautiful pears at the Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market and Joey put together just the right composition and lighting for a nice, juicy bite.
Flash forward a year to the summer of 2009: Joey dropped me a line to let me know that she would be submitting the pear photo, along with a number of others, to a jury for consideration as street banners in the Bloorcourt business district. Lo and behold the pear shot, and several of Joey's other photos, were selected. The banners were installed in early December and now a giant image of my nose and mouth can be viewed at the corner of Bloor and Delaware (and virtually here.)
The other major cross-collaboration I enjoyed this year was with visual artist, Alex Mac Donald. I met Alex at the Tallgrass Festival in Seaforth, Nova Scotia, in 2008, where he provided us with excellent sound and shared some of his marvelous original songs around the bonfire at the end of that glorious day. This year, Alex decided to create a series of videos in which he paints abstract works on glass to the sound of independent musicians. When I heard about this, I eagerly asked if I could contribute my song, Mercury Lights, to the project; Alex graciously accepted my offer. The result is simply stunning as you can see for yourself (through the miracle of YouTube).
I am very moved by the way these projects have broadened my understanding of how we can inspire one another as artists and how rich and fertile we can be in collaboration with one another. I am looking forward to further collaborations in 2010.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Singing for my Supper (an organic, locavore supper!)
Tomorrow, between 4 and 7, I'm going to be playing and singing at the first ever Winter Market held in the Sorauren fieldhouse in Parkdale, in Toronto's west end. This will be a monthly event until the weekly market resumes in the spring. The Sorauren Market is run by the West End Food Co-op, an inspiring group of people who, in addition to running the market and a food mapping project, are developing their vision to raise capital and create a co-operative retail food store in Parkdale. Just two weeks ago, on November 2, I was delighted to perform a few songs at the West End Food Co-op's Bond Campaign Launch at the Gladstone Hotel.
I love good food and co-ops and farmers' markets. I believe markets are a perfect setting for the kinds of songs I like to write and perform: songs about people, cities, relationships, ecology and economy. Over the past couple of summers, I've been known to trek across to the east end of town to play for the good folks who frequent the Withrow Park Farmer's Market. Back here in the west end, I'm lucky to live near several of Toronto's best markets, including the year-round market in Dufferin Grove. The broad spectrum of fresh, organic food (including bread baked in a stone oven in the park) and the feeling of community appeal to my hopeful, upbeat side. Market shopping is a small thing that many of us can easily do to support local food producers and nurture ourselves and our communities with healthy, sustainable food.
Plus, markets are fun! Many feature musicians and artists, educational programs and craft projects for kids and grown-ups. Great conversations seem to spring up between all sorts of people and I often run into folks I haven't seen in a while (the most extreme case of this occured last winter when I ran into sustainable food educator, Garden Jane, and we realized that we recognized each other from a university course we had taken together many years before).
So, if you're in west end Toronto, I'd love to see you tomorrow afternoon/evening at the Sorauren fieldhouse. Come out for great food, community and music. Talk to the West End Food Co-oppers about their plans and their Bond program. And wherever you are, I encourage you to look into ways you can participate in neighbourhood gardens, local markets, community shared agriculture programs and food co-ops. If you can't find anything like that in your community, why not get some neighbours together and create something new? And then write a song about it.
I love good food and co-ops and farmers' markets. I believe markets are a perfect setting for the kinds of songs I like to write and perform: songs about people, cities, relationships, ecology and economy. Over the past couple of summers, I've been known to trek across to the east end of town to play for the good folks who frequent the Withrow Park Farmer's Market. Back here in the west end, I'm lucky to live near several of Toronto's best markets, including the year-round market in Dufferin Grove. The broad spectrum of fresh, organic food (including bread baked in a stone oven in the park) and the feeling of community appeal to my hopeful, upbeat side. Market shopping is a small thing that many of us can easily do to support local food producers and nurture ourselves and our communities with healthy, sustainable food.
Plus, markets are fun! Many feature musicians and artists, educational programs and craft projects for kids and grown-ups. Great conversations seem to spring up between all sorts of people and I often run into folks I haven't seen in a while (the most extreme case of this occured last winter when I ran into sustainable food educator, Garden Jane, and we realized that we recognized each other from a university course we had taken together many years before).
So, if you're in west end Toronto, I'd love to see you tomorrow afternoon/evening at the Sorauren fieldhouse. Come out for great food, community and music. Talk to the West End Food Co-oppers about their plans and their Bond program. And wherever you are, I encourage you to look into ways you can participate in neighbourhood gardens, local markets, community shared agriculture programs and food co-ops. If you can't find anything like that in your community, why not get some neighbours together and create something new? And then write a song about it.
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