Heather S. Ingemar's Blog, page 22

Casino Night and Sweetheart’s Dinner

I’m going to be doing back-to-back performances this Saturday and Sunday; c’mon out and see your favorite ukulele-wielding, book-herding, songwriting singer!

Liberty Theater “Casino Night” Fundraiser

Seneca Activity Center, Dayton WA

Set begins at 6:55pm.

Sweetheart’s Dinner

First Christian Church, Dayton WA

Dinner is served at 6pm; Set begins around 6:45pm.

Already said it?

I’m sure all artists go through phases where they wonder, perhaps a tad fearfully, if they’ve already said everything they needed to say, created everything they needed to create.

Lately I find myself wondering this about my own songwriting — and indeed, my other writing habits, too.

When I started songwriting that cold December back in 2011, it seemed I had TONS to say. Every two weeks, sometimes every week, I turned out another song. I wrote about love, loss, the human condition, when relationships go bad, everything. I wrote about the things that made me angry, made me frustrated, made me sad. There was an endless well of words and melodies in the depths of my psyche, waiting to be used.

Then last summer hit.

There was no earth-shattering event, no single thing I can point to that happened, but I began writing less and less. I did grow disillusioned with the local music scene for a while, but I returned to church, renewed my faith, renewed my sense of purpose… And still, the words dried up.

The last song I wrote was “Old Farm Truck,” and I feel it is one of my best, about a topic I hold very dear. That was at the end of harvest in October. I have completed nothing since. It’s almost like I only had things to write about so long as I had all this pent-up frustration that wasn’t being actively dealt with. As soon as I got past all the unpleasantness, as soon as I wrote it all until there was no more left….

I have no illusions (disillusions?) about being “through” or “finished” or anything of the sort. I live for music and that is never going to change. But sometimes I wonder:

Have I already said everything I needed to say? Are there any more songs inside me?

Creative liberties

found on George Takei’s Facebook page.

There are creative liberties, and there are Creative Liberties.

Basically, there is a right and wrong way to do things. Take a look at that version of the Star Spangled Banner up above. It is a mock up of how many pop singers and other fancy folks perform it at sporting events and the like. On my Facebook page, I’ve heard it described as the “Mariah Carey” version. Let me ask you another question. Can you even tell that it’s the National Anthem?

If you answered ‘no,’ you are not alone, and that’s the problem.

When your creative liberties extend to the point the song becomes unrecognizable, you have done a poor, poor job of performance — ESPECIALLY if it is your job to present a widely known piece of music.

There’s also the issue of what type of music you’re performing. More care needs to be taken with important songs like National Anthems than with, say, a cover version of a pop song. Put plainly, it is pretty tactless to sing a National Anthem in a manner that makes it unrecognizable. It’s like putting a huge sign on your chest saying you don’t care about the country (at the least) or that you’re telling anyone who has patriotic leanings to go screw themselves (at worst). It makes you look bad as a performer.

That said, there are right ways to make a song your own:

1. Use embellishments to showcase your talent, but use them with caution and care. They are like frosting on a cookie: to be really good, there needs to be more cookie than frosting. Too much frosting, and the cookie becomes inedible.

2. Pay attention to what you are doing and how others are responding. Audiences tend to be pretty transparent in how they respond to a performance; if they look uncomfortable or confused (or angry or…), that’s because they ARE. Which means the ball is in your court — do something different!

The important thing is just to remember there is a time and a place for everything.

Two new videos

A couple new videos this week! I wanted to try a little more informal style, just for fun.

This one’s an older song of mine, from my “Fledgling” cd. You can download it from My Bandcamp page if you like:

This one is also an older song, but it is one I’ve never performed for anyone before. Let me know what you think!

In which our author wears a cut-down traffic cone on her head

This past weekend my husband and I had the good fortune to be able to attend our SCA chapter’s “Yule Feast” event. It was a lot of fun to see faces we haven’t seen in a while (Yule had been postponed so more of our populace could attend), and many fun surprises were to be had.

A couple weeks before the event I decided I needed a new gown to better accommodate my pregnant belly — and I settled on a fashion from (roughly) the mid 1400s through the early 1500s: the houppelande, known in later times as the “Burgundian Gown.” The Burgundian era in medieval fashion was characterized by warm fabrics and designs that covered as much of the body as possible; Europe was experiencing the “Little Ice Age” and fashion changed to better suit the colder temperatures. I wanted some winter garb anyway as I had none, and it worked out well because I had a bunch of flannel and blizzard fleece on hand. I am very pleased with the result:

Dear Husband helped me with the hennin, aka. Traffic Cone Of Doom. Hennins were prevalent accessories to the Burgundian gown, and there were many different styles to choose from — many of them quite tall. This one is what they call a “truncated” — or shortened — butterfly hennin (from the way the veil sits on the wire holders). I chose a shortened style as I wanted something to compliment the dress, but wasn’t so outlandish that I couldn’t get through a standard doorway or turn my head. It walks the line nicely.

I received several compliments, and there’s nothing quite like feeling you look awesome, except receiving your very first Scroll…

Remember back in November when my Hearpe project won the Arts and Sciences competition? The Baron and Baroness of our local chapter presented me with a lovely hand-painted scroll for my efforts, as well as the Champion’s Cloak. Awesome. In the SCA, scrolls are quite the honor; they are presented by the highest ranking member(s) of a chapter, and are given to recognize all kinds of deeds from championship winners to recognition of selfless service. It’s quite a nice, tangible way to honor those who have put in effort into playing the game.

The Jive Aces’ “Bring Me Sunshine” — and other musings on sunny songs

Did you or did you not just start bugging around in your chair with a silly grin on your face?

There’s a lot of truth to this video: when times are at their darkest and dullest, people turn to lighthearted entertainment to make life bearable. It may sound like I’m trivializing the value of entertainment, but I’m not. Having that bit of sunshine is important, because its hope. Tangible, lovely, hope. In times of difficulty, people need that.

The issue I see is, too many musicians are wanting to be taken “seriously,” they have a message to get across and they think that the way to do this is to be angsty and hip and raw and sing about tough, sad, ugly things…

(Myself included. I fell into that trap this last year, biiig time. More about that in a minute.)

…When really, the reason people are turning to the arts is just to get away from all of that.

It’s kind of the same thing I’ve always harped on about novels versus Literature. We can only hear how horrible and nasty and evil humanity is for so long before we’re sick of it and need an open window to get away…

I have been very lax lately, in that I haven’t been writing as much. I haven’t been writing because (see above), I fell into the trap of wanting to get an Important Message across. I didn’t want to write until I had said Message, and it stifled my creativity. Music very quickly became WORK, when it is something that should be done only for love and enjoyment. I do believe I have learned my lesson, though. I need to just write. About anything, even if it is silly and happy and fun. Because that is why musicians (and artists and dancers and painters and writers and…) are here. To make life beautiful and fun and life colorful, just like the Jive Aces did for those washed-out people in the video.

I think I have finally found my New Years’ Resolution: to bring some sunshine wherever I bring an instrument. Because that’s more important than being raw and emotional and serious.

Worship music

I started going to church again for the first time in a long time last summer. I feel very lucky to have been welcomed into the congregation so warmly and so speedily, and I have since begun playing music with the small worship “band” every Sunday.

The thing is, I find I don’t care for worship music.

(I know, right? Blasphemy at its highest.)

I have been considering it a lot and the deal is this: it has nothing to do with the subject matter, and everything in the way it is presented. So far for the most part, I’m finding it terribly bland and unimaginative. Nine times out of ten (because there is always the exception), the lyrics have no connection to the greater public. There’s no compelling argument, nothing to reach out and grab folks by the lapels and shake ‘em. Even the melodic lines are plain — and not typically what you’d call “simply beautiful.” The lyrics and melody stick in the head after the service, sure, but they do so like tacky little commercial jingles. “Praise God for he is great, and great for youuuuuu…”

(Certainly, talented musicians can do amazing things, but to do truly fantastic things they need something better than sub-par material to work with.)

I think most of the music you find in churches is geared toward those who are already Enthusiastic True Believers (frequently seen singing with their hands in the air) — they don’t need convincing, they don’t need any personal connection to the music other than knowing it’s about their God and Savior. For them, that’s enough. Unfortunately, it leaves the rest of us (those who love God and have accepted Him, but are not “on fire” with purpose because they haven’t found it yet) lukewarm or even cold.

Which is my whole beef with worship songs. There needs to be more of them that offer something personal to the listener, in addition to affirming the greatness of God. This is where “Your Voice” came from. I don’t normally write spiritual songs (though music is a spiritual calling for me), but the lackluster songs and state of the world got to me. I was frustrated,  sick and weary of hardship. Feeling on the brink of throwing in the damn towel… and then hearing God speak. And knowing, deep in my core, that things will eventually be alright. Because He is awesome. He’s got it all under control.  In ”Your Voice,” I attempted to offer up something of myself to you who may be listening, in the hopes that you may be able to hear Him, too.

That’s what I want to hear more of in worship music, and I don’t think I’m alone.

Beautiful Miracles

Photo © Holly Karlin

That’s one of my closest friends, Maria. She’s amazing. She lives and breathes music. Her soul is made of it, and for three years, she lived a nightmare.

See, Maria has Multiple Sclerosis, and shortly after I met her — after I got a good glimpse of what a fantastic, beautiful musician she was — it attacked her hands and stole her entire ability to even HOLD her instrument. I watched as her life fell apart around her, with Maria clawing and fighting for every rotten inch. Being a musician myself, my heart broke in pieces to see what MS had done. When she lost her hands completely, all the medics and specialists said she’d never play again. Hell, they had YEARS of documentation, scans, records of the damage MS had inflicted on her brain. The chances of someone recovering from that type of extensive damage are astronomically tiny. As much as it hurt to see, Maria couldn’t play anymore. She closed her instrument cases for good and packed them away. There is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis. And all of us were helpless to do anything about it.

Pretty bleak, eh?

But the story isn’t done, because, a couple years ago, Maria lived a MIRACLE.

A year or so ago, shortly after her birthday, her last remaining violin student asked her to demonstrate a technique. There were no recordings, no videos of it. MS doesn’t just affect one part of your body, it affects them all, and Maria couldn’t even sing the rhythm for the guy. She knew he would get it immediately if he heard it, so out of desperation she took her student’s violin, thinking, if she could just squeak it out, even pitifully, maybe it might help a little…

…and she didn’t just play the technique, she played the ENTIRE SONG. Nearly perfect.

She was so stunned she didn’t sleep for three whole days because she was afraid that if she did, she’d wake up and it would all be gone. Can you imagine? Having something you would live and die for be ripped from your life — only to come back — but who knew for how long? MS is a real crapshoot that way, not knowing from day to day what will work and what won’t and what will hurt and what won’t. I don’t think any of us could understand her very real fear.

But as the days and weeks and months piled up, though her hands were rough and out of practice, she played, and the music didn’t vanish. Slowly she began to re-learn everything she could do before. And the spare minutes of music from her hands turned into an hour, and then two… Each day it was there, like it never left. Her neurologist was baffled, the MRI techs were baffled, the doctors were baffled. Because all the new MRIs and scans show her brain damage has vanished. Like someone erased it….

A miracle. Maria still has MS, but she has her life back. She can play again, and it’s beautiful.

She just entered this photo contest through the MS-Living Symptom Free page on Facebook. If you’ve been touched or moved at all by her story, and have a Facebook account, please consider voting for her. You have to “like” the page first.

Maria is a special lady. She’s probably laughing at me right now, but I’m going to say it anyway: It has been a privilege to know her and an honor to play music with her. She’s an inspiration. She’s lived through Hell, and survived. She’s back to playing now at the local Theater she loves so much, and she’s finally strong enough she can play her beloved viola. I visited her last year for the first time since I graduated college, and she played for me.

It was a beautiful miracle.

Cover songs, anyone?

I don’t like New Years’ resolutions for a very good reason: all too often they are “made to be broken,” so to speak. And with a baby on the way, I know I don’t have the luxury of making goals that are outrageous (performing in ten different establishments every weekend) or aren’t going to be feasible to keep, long term (like writing the next Great American Novel while simultaneously recording three more CDs, all while juggling the Day Job and Infant Wrangling).

That said, I do like to make resolutions goals regarding career-oriented topics, like finishing up long-overdue poems and stories, writing songs, or just practicing more.

This last summer I saw several musicians doing cover song challenges, basically, setting a goal to learn songs by other artists and post YouTube videos of the results. I am interested in such things, because I love learning cool songs by other people, and I have a YouTube channel…

The things I’m not so sure about are:

-Aren’t cover song videos overdone?

-Aren’t they kind of illegal if you have your own work that you’re promoting?

-And, does anyone watch them? (I.e. are they a waste of time?)

Thoughts, anyone? I would be more than willing to do a “cover-song-a-month” challenge if I thought I could get away with it.

Music & poetry

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about writing, composition, music, and poetry — and how it all relates (If it does).

In my humble experience, I’ve always said that writing and music were not that different. Hearing that ten-note riff and knowing where in that song it will fit and seeing that scene in the next chapter play out before you’ve gotten there… It always seemed to me like those things used the same skills. Also take into consideration that many artists are eloquent speakers and writers, and it seems pretty cut and dried.

But here’s the thing I’ve been noticing lately: since I got back into playing music heavily, My creative juices seem to manifest in poetry, rather than straight, regular prose.

I wonder if its just natural for us creative types to take on aspects of the things we are involved with. For example, I’ve been playing music, specifically contemporary songs, and therefore, I have “Absorbed” the song format so much that my own words try to come out in a like manner. Are most musicians also poets? Or are poets also musical?

An interesting idea.

So my question to my writerly friends: have you found your writing to take on aspects of other things present in your life at the time?