Tag: Jazz

Musings

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Had a fun two hour conversation this evening with a physicist on the ability of art to make people happy and whether or not I should drop everything and run off to some remote part of the world to become a jungle or cave dweller for a while. I think the conclusion I came to was not…yet. <wink>

Addiction – The Neuroscience of Art

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I haven’t been engaging as much as I would like in music lately, and my brain feels empty and unfulfilled. I know my mood tends to be better and more even keel when I sing consistently. Here’s why: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=176870. This study explains that music triggers the same mechanisms as highly addictive drugs like cocaine in the brain. My remedy is to seek out a support group of similar artists who can’t function without music. 🙂 Time to find a band to play with….

 

New Song: Poison (Wheels Moving Forward!)

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One of the highlights of every week are my voice lessons. I really grow and learn as a person every time and it really centers me. I thank my teacher almost every other week for how great they are.

Today’s lesson focused on ironing out the form of my new song, Poison, and finalizing Impossible to get ready for my next gig. Here’s a clip on Soundcloud of just voice and piano for Poison: https://soundcloud.com/samayaformusic/poison-piano-and-voice

I started tearing up and breaking down emotionally with the changes my teacher suggested for Impossible. It’s always a good sign when changes make you get into the core of a song and sometimes you just know when things fit. We were trying it out a couple of different renditions and making the song sound more vulnerable really brought out the emotions in it.

Curtain Lyrics Video on Youtube

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Finally, after several requests from folks, here’s a video with lyrics for Curtain. This is the only footage we have of the entire recording session which happened a year ago. Really grateful to Max Savage for thinking of taking the video on his phone. There were so many firsts during the two sessions…I was working on my first EP, and it was my first time recording music at a professional studio. I still remember how amazing it felt to be there.

Ecstatic Moments and Reality Checks

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Had another gig at Martuni’s on Monday, and it was great. This is a photo of me singing my new song, Impossible: https://soundcloud.com/samayaformusic/impossible-piano-and-vocals. I saw Karsh Kale in concert tonight, which was such an amazing experience that it made me feel like anything and everything was possible in life.

The music industry, though, is a competitive and extremely difficult space with no guarantee of a steady income. This is what I get even from people who are close to broke but absolutely love what they do. Being the kind of person that I am, I’ve always had to learn to navigate fitting into systems while really being on the fringes of it. Some of us get really lucky and don’t ever have to learn what it means to make a compromise in life. For some of us, life is only ever comprised of things you settled for. Is it a difference in attitude? Or just sheer luck?

All I know for sure is, I felt really lucky at Martuni’s, and truly grateful to the universe to have had such a great night tonight listening to amazing music and hanging out with great friends.

Magical Escape

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Magical Escape

The film crew redid my parts in the music video for Nighttime Story. Check out the new version of the song for the video: https://soundcloud.com/samayaformusic/nighttime-story-video-edit.

Every time I get into the production for the video, or am in the studio recording or composing I escape to these incredible realms. Tuesday night’s shoot felt magical, and I was so happy and energized after.

I felt the same rush today, when I was working on the chord charts for Porcelain Doll before my voice lesson so I could go over the theory with my teacher. In one part of the song, I hit an A flat major chord, then a D flat major, and that progression is triumphant in what it declares. I felt like life was perfect, and I could repeat that moment over and over again; I never wanted it to stop. I felt powerful in what I was trying to express, and felt confident that I was capable of unconditional love and forgiveness. I felt at peace, even as I was feeling a rush of energy.

These are the moments that I live for.