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Don’t Let The Tech Get You Down!

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frustrationHey guys!

 

So I had a blog post already to go for this week and then something happened. In my attempt to lift my laptop off of my ottoman on Wednesday, I managed to drop it. My foot broke the fall but, apparently, it was enough of a jostle to cause the back light to go out so it would boot up but the screen was completely black. I brought it in and, because of a few other issues that were already present, the fellow told me it wasn’t worth fixing and I should just get a new one.

So, for the time being at least, I was unable to post the blog but that’s okay because this scenario inspired a new topic altogether!

Now, this might get a little woo woo but I’m all about the woo woo so stick with me here.

Most of us use technology to create or at least support our creativity. Whether you write or compose music on a computer or you use social media to let your fans know about your next art show, technology is a part of what we do.

And sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes things go wrong at a critical moment when they really need to be going right. Your hard drive crashes just before your album’s about to drop. Your audio software won’t let you make the mp3 files that you need to send to a voice client asap.

At moments like that, thoughts can be going through your head like, “Maybe I’m not meant to do this. The universe is giving me a sign that I need to change my direction.” Trust me – I have had those thoughts many times!

But here’s the thing. The universe is not giving you a sign that you should quit.

If you have the desire to keep on, then you’re supposed to keep on. What the universe is telling you is it’s time to upgrade so things run more smoothly for you in the future. The universe is telling you to release the album next week when it will be better received because of some event that will make it the perfect time for your music to get out into the world. The universe is telling you that you might want to listen to that audio file again because you somehow failed to delete some profanities that you dropped after you made a mistake while you were recording.

And sometimes these things just happen because they happen.

When I was studying music at university, one of my professors said something I will never forget. He told us to not let our work be limited by technology. In that scenario, he was referring to the capabilities of certain software and how we can always find a way to do what we want to do but that advice applies here as well.

When you experience those crisis moments, after you’ve shed the necessary tears and cursed the gods above, sit still for a moment and ask yourself, if this wasn’t happening right now, do I still love my work? Do I love creating music/writing/making films? If you can say that, if you acknowledge that you still love the essence of the craft, than you are still supposed to be doing it.

Maybe there is a way of working that uses less technology if that’s more comfortable for you. Maybe it’s about upgrading your tools so you can work more effectively. Or maybe it’s about learning to be patient, keep calm, know that these things happen and you can work through them.

 

In Swimming Tigress Music news,

It’s September, the start of the new lesson season. So, if you or anyone you know is looking to experience the joy of learning to sing, I am currently accepting students in person and via Skype for the upcoming year. You can find more information on the Music Lessons page on this site and then contact me through the Contact page if you have any questions.

 

Well, that’s all for now. Have a fabulous day!

The Beauty of Creative Cross-Inspiration

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crossinspirationHey guys!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I talked about trying on other creative roles, suggesting that we often identify ourselves in a certain way and it can sometimes keep us in a box so it can behoove us, if you will, to try something new to inspire us and to see things from a different angle.

Today I’d like to talk about being inspired by art forms other than those in which we currently engage.

As a musician, for example, I am often inspired by the music I hear, by the elegant poetry of the lyrics, the unexpected chord progressions or the effective production of the recording. And, while I would never attempt to take from another’s work, it is only natural for a person to learn from the work of others in their field.

But I can also learn and grow as a musician from things that are not music related. My musical inspiration can come from many places, and by that I do not mean seeing daily events as thematic material for my work. There’s more to it than that.

Sometimes dancing can make me think of music. Sometimes a scene in a movie can bring melodic motifs into my head. These are obvious pairings as most dance is performed to music and there is a musical score behind most films.

But it’s not even about these art forms working together in an expected way.

When I was directing a musical earlier this year, there was a character in the show who was a refined and, yet, passionate man of Russian background. I suggested to the actor portraying him that he view videos of the amazing figure skater, Victor Petrenko. I gave him this homework because I wanted him to sing and act like Petrenko skated, with that technical perfection infused with emotion that was both moving and mesmerizing to watch.

When you watch a great new film or one of your existing favorites, notice the pacing of the action of the dialog. Notice the setting. Can you use any of the stylistic or linguistic techniques to enhance your own work? What would the bold colours of a film from the 1960’s look like as a musical piece? Does a brush stroke in a painting make you think of a haunting cello line? Does that small statue of a little girl in the museum inspire a poem or, perhaps, an entire novel telling her story?

This is all about creating a kind of artistic synesthesia, if you will, whereby the different art forms inspire and fuel each other. More about synesthesia in a future blog post.

 

In Swimming Tigress Music news, I am excited to announce our that I have just finished the last track for the Ladybug Crossings album! The lyric video for Mr. Willywallywolowitz will be out shortly and I’m expecting the album to be released at the end of September!

Speaking of September, it is almost the start of the new lesson season. So, if you or anyone you know is looking to experience the joy of learning to sing, I am currently accepting students in person and via Skype for the upcoming year. You can find more information on the Music Lessons page on this site and then contact me through the Contact page if you have any questions.

Well, that’s all for now. Have a fabulous day!

Sometimes It Just Takes a While – Give Your Dreams Just a Little More Time!

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Hey Guys!

So, most of us, when we take on a creative career, want to reach as many people as possible. As humble as we want to be, on one level we would love to have people all over the world singing our songs, reading our books, enjoying our paintings.

So when we put something out there, when we release our child into the world, we can become discouraged and dismayed if there isn’t an immediate response – if we don’t have Hollywood directors or major publishing houses beating down our door the day after the launch. I myself have boxes of books and CDs that I’m actually pretty proud of but, for a variety of reasons, have not as yet been commercially successful, though they certainly have inspired those who have been exposed to them. 🙂

I say they have not “as yet” been successful because I am well aware that circumstances can change.   I was recently watching an interview with the lovely Rachel Platten, the singer/songwriter behind the inspirational hit of the summer, Fight Song. She spent years working regular jobs and playing gigs until the wee hours of the morning and was on the verge of giving up when she came upon one of her old journals from her childhood and found herself inspired by this young girl who had such faith in herself. And now she’s performing in front of thousands of people every night all over the world!

Check out the clip from the show and I bet you’ll be ready to make your dreams happen!

 

I also want to share a tasty tidbit from Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday when she interviewed the fascinating Paulo Coehlo, author of the inspiring philosophical novel, The Alchemist.

Now one of the most popular books of all time, having sold 65 million copies, Coehlo will be the first to admit that The Alchemist was hardly a phenomenon when it was first released. The book had a slow start, to say the least!

After selling next to zero copies of the book over several months, he went on the search for another publisher..

Then, when the book was reissued, the word started to spread like wildfire, with A-list celebrities singing its praises, and history was made!

 

I want to say this. Certainly people can change paths and there may come a time when it would be best to move on to something else that will ultimately prove to be more fulfilling for you. But if you truly believe with all your heart that you are doing what you are here to do on this earth, do what you need to do to make sure you have a roof over your head and all that and give your dream just a little more time to percolate! You’ll be glad you did!

And don’t forget to add your two cents or a nickel to this conversation. Did you have a dream come true just when you were ready to quit? Did you just know something was meant to be even though you weren’t seeing the results you wanted right away and then suddenly it all came together? Let us know!

 

In Swimming Tigress Music news this week, I’ve posted a bunch more fabulous and fun material on Pinterest, including sheet music, demos and more, so check it out and enjoy!

Have a fabulous day!

 

 

 

Busting Out Of The Box – Trying On New Creative Roles

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Hey guys!

So, I just finished working on a theatrical production currently running at our local Fringe Festival. Yay! This show has been such a journey and such a learning experience for me as it was the first time I have taken on the role of stage director.

And that’s what I want to talk about today.

Sometimes we can have the tendency to put ourselves in a box. When people ask us what we do we say, “I’m a writer” or “I’m an actor” or “I’m a country singer”. There may be a few items on that list if you consider yourself a multi-disciplinary person but many of us are very quick to declare what we do and what we don’t do and where our skills actually lie. And it certainly simplifies things to define ourselves for others in that way.

But a part of being creative, what can fuel us, is trying on new roles, expanding our horizons, flexing muscles we’ve never used before.

Here’s the thing. You don’t have to be great at it. It doesn’t have to signal a career change. In reading Creativity, Inc. – a book about the rise of Pixar Animation, which I have raved about in a previous post – we learn that Pixar encourages every employee, no matter what their role,  to take a class in using their proprietary animation software. They don’t do this because they want everyone to become great animators. The rationale is that, by being exposed to animation and drawing, employees will be encouraged to use their brains in ways they may not have been used to, helping them to approach their jobs and the world around them differently.

Whether it’s exploring a new area of your field or trying something completely different, you will undoubtedly be inspired and hopefully carry that knowledge into your area of expertise.

When I went to study music at university, the focus was on contemporary classical music, a genre I was somewhat unfamiliar with. As a composer, the idea of writing a piece that was not in any key or that used symbols and pictures instead of musical notes was a completely foreign concept to me. But what my education taught me more than anything was to conceive of sound in a different way, that it was not only the familiar structures and formations that could be considered beautiful. It was truly eye-opening for me and I had a blast in the process!

Yes, I have somewhat gone back to writing in more popular styles but the works are so much more dynamic because of my studies and what I’ve been exposed to. I have used my education to add some unexpected twists to what I already do.

So, even if you are a painter who has professed to have two left feet, why not try a dance class on for size? You’ll have fun, get some exercise, and connect more with your body and see what it’s capable of. If you are a dancer who swears they can’t draw stick figures, take an art class. You might find you can relate the stroke of a brush across the canvas to your feet gliding across the stage. If you are a die hard country singer, why not experiment with some classical or jazz or hip hop, even if it’s just on your own at home? You might even come up with an entirely new genre of music. You never know!

Who’s to say if I will ever get the opportunity to direct again or if I will ever chose to take on that role again? But I know that I have grown and learned so much from the experience – about leadership, about teamwork, about storytelling – and have had the opportunity to connect with some lovely, talented people whom I likely would not have met otherwise had I not taken the chance to try something new!

Speaking of new – in STM news, I have just released a new lyric video for Thanks from Ladybug Crossings. It’s a song all about showing gratitude. Enjoy!

 

The “What If” Game – A Fun and Effective Tool To Spark Creativity

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mocha_iconHi guys!

So, when you think of “what if”, your mind might drift to thoughts of doom and gloom and the ways in which people will assess all forms of potential threat to hopefully avoid catastrophe. They figure if they can anticipate every possible danger they can counter that danger and stay safe. And this is certainly one way in which the term can be applied even if, as I have found, it can cause you so much more worry than it’s worth!

But did you know that “what if” can also be an amazing tool to spark creative ideas?

A few years ago, I was writing in my journal before bed as I do most nights – unless I’m really tired and just can’t bring myself to put pen to paper!

I was writing away – about my day, about my desires and concerns – and I felt like I was sounding like a broken record, rehashing the same old things night after night – When is x going to happen? Why do I feel y all the time? And, frankly, I was getting bored with myself.

So, I decided to shake things up and play a game. I thought it would be fun to pick something, anything, in the world and make it different from how it currently was and look at the implications of that change. For example, what if the sky was yellow instead of blue? What would that mean? What else would be altered because of it?

I had no idea what was going to come up but, for some reason, the first idea that popped into my head was, what if cows really could jump over the moon? I’m not sure where the thought came from – it was likely a reference to the popular children’s poem, “Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon” – you know the one – but the poem hadn’t presented itself to me in recent memory.

Anyway, I went with it. When the question arose I immediately countered it with another question – Would they even know to try? Would a cow be aware enough to make the attempt to jump over the moon even if they were physically capable of doing it?

I immediately started writing a story about a young cow named Mocha who wondered about everything and lived her life full of grand ideas and possibilities. One day, the farm where she lives is visited by a fiddle-playing cat named Jeb heading to a nearby town. Mocha, never having left the farm, starts to ask herself where she might like to go if she could go anywhere and discovers her mission to travel to the moon – for reasons I won’t disclose because they are pretty funny so you should probably read the story!

I found this story so engaging and endearing that it eventually became my first musical for young audiences, Mocha And The Moon, which, incidentally, you can read more about on the website if you would like your theatre company to perform it.  Wink wink!

The point is, I made a conscious effort to get my head out of its hamster wheel and something wonderful and inspiring happened!

When you think outside the box, you never know what is going to arise. I just did the exercise this morning and found an entirely new world to explore – a little darker than my usual style but fascinating none the less!

So, I encourage you, when you are feeling like you are in a mental rut, to shake things up a little and see what comes pouring out. There are things you can do too – like walking in an area of town you’ve never explored before, trying a new activity. Anything that puts you in unfamiliar territory can get those creative juices flowing. You never know when inspiration is going to strike so why not give it a little room to play?

 

In Swimming Tigress news, I’ve just put up a lyric vid for the latest song from Ladybug Crossings, Bug On My Bubble! It has been a favorite in my family for years so I’m so excited to finally be sharing it with you all.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the Swimming Tigress Music YouTube channel to see the ones I’ve already posted. Enjoy!

 

Inspired and Enlightened – What I learned from Creativity, Inc.

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creativity inc cover 2Hi guys!

So, I have just finished reading Creativity, Inc. by the president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, Ed Catmull. I can’t tell you how much I adored this book! Well, I guess I just did!

Anyway, on the eve of the release of the company’s latest production, Inside Out, which I can’t wait to see tomorrow, I thought I would share with you some insights I took away from it.

Now, if you have read it I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me how fabulous it is. And if you haven’t, you may be thinking it’s about the history of Pixar. And that is certainly part of it – and that journey is fascinating in its own right – but it’s so much more than that!

Creativity, Inc. is a story about how to make an impact in the world, be financially successful and still maintain your creative integrity. It’s a story about innovation and taking your art form “to infinity and beyond!”. Okay, I had to put that in there! It’s a story about leadership – about taking a group of people who each have their own gifts to offer and drawing the best out of them so that the company prospers and the employees go to sleep at the end of the day feeling like they have been a part of something meaningful and magical.

Who wouldn’t want that, I ask you?

But how did they do it?

They created an environment where people were heard and they felt like their opinions were valued. These days, I have been taking on my first directing gig for a theatrical production and I learned a lot about how directors are encouraged to deal with input from everyone involved in a film. When you feel like you are a valued contributor to a project, you will be more inclined to give your all to it.

They allowed employees to decorate their workspaces however they wished, realizing that one’s surroundings can help or hinder inspiration and creativity.

They created a workplace that encouraged connection and collaboration among people in different departments, acknowledging the fact that being aware of how other people do their jobs can affect how you relate to them when it comes to doing your job.

And one of my favourites, they allowed for, even encouraged, mistakes with an often used phrase being “be wrong as fast as you can” so you can figure out what works and what doesn’t and try something else. There’s an understanding at Pixar that, in order to be innovative and unique, you are going to have some things that don’t turn out so well. That’s part of the deal. If you want a failproof system, you will just end up regurgitating what was successful in the past and you won’t grow or learn from it. To move forward you have to take risks!

These are just a few lessons I took from Creativity, Inc. – there is so much more in there – and I wholeheartedly encourage you to read it if you haven’t already. It’s inspiring and enlightening and you might find you become a better artist because of it.

Okay, that’s it for today! I hope you’re enjoying the download of Ladybug Crossings I posted last time. More to come!

Have a great day!

Imaginations Running Wild! Re-imagining The Tools We Use To Create

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PleiadesGreetings all!

I would like to talk to you about imagination and the tools we use in the creative process.

I’ve been thinking about it lately and it seems to me that it actually works on both sides.

Sometimes we are struck by a brilliant idea – like the first time they put Peter Pan on the stage and wanted him to fly – and then you try to find a way to make it happen. You look at all of the technology and tools at your disposal and say, what will I/we need to do to actually make that happen? How can we make Peter Pan actually fly?

So you try this and you try that, configuring and reconfiguring your hydraulics, wiring, pully systems and whatnot, and then, next thing you know, you’ve just make a huge development in the area of theatrical technology that can be shared and used for ages to come!

This is the “necessity is the mother of invention” kind of approach and it has been responsible for some amazing things!

And on the flip side, sometimes you see a tool’s potential and you are inspired to find a place for it in your creative process.

I remember going to a Sarah Brightman concert some years back and they had this big mylar screen on stage – it was the first time I had seen such a thing and I didn’t know what it was going to be used for. But I was amazed at how the projections onto the screen placed Sarah in the middle of a pool of water, then in a garden in bloom. I was mesmerized. And then you wonder, did the producers of the show say, “Hmm… they have this technology now. How can we use it in the show?” Or were the asking, ”How can we turn Sarah Brightman into a mermaid?”

A real chicken or the egg kind of thing, isn’t it?

So, that being said, I invite you to be creative with your creativity from both sides. Think about what you might like to achieve – whether it’s a new art project or a new way of connecting with your students – have a look around and see what tools you might already have to assist you. Then, explore all the tools and technology that exist in and out of your field and let you imagination run wild with ways you might be able to apply it to your craft.

You never know what you can come up with!

On that note, I would like to share with you an amazing video by Enra – Motion Picture Performing Arts – you can check out their Youtube channel here. This dance number called Pleiades by Saya Watatani and Maki Yokoyama will blow you away as it makes use of cutting edge technology and has the dancers interacting with objects of light on the screen behind them. Chicken or egg? Who knows? But the results are stunning!

Enjoy!

&nsbp;

 

And if you would like to add your two cents or a nickel to the conversation and let us know how you’ve found some new tools to use in your craft or discovered a new way to use the tools already in your repertoire don’t hesitate to comment below! It would be great to hear from you!

Have a great day everyone!

 

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