criticism become inspiration! lol!

for those of you who read the post below about the various feedbacks i've received so far, you'll understand why i think this is so funny.

i was sharing the "really truly in love" feedback with my 5'10 muse, michelle, who, as i started philosophizing about it, stopped me and said, "quit talking emily! SING IT!"

...which promptly led to a sassy, silly song about how pointless love definitions are and how no one can really know what love means to different people :) LOL!


inspiration comes from all places, folks, even our favorite criticisms! ;)

feedback so far...

since i recorded my music, i've had some cool/interesting experiences getting feedback from my supportive friends and family!

here's just a few of them:

1) first of all, before i could even SHOW it to people for feedback, i was caught in a struggle of WHO to show it to. i didn't want people who knew me well to hear it and realize how 'fake' i might sound. but then...if i showed it to a stranger who WOULDNT recognize my voice... they might hate it and SAY SO! ...it was then that i realized that if i REALLY wanted feedback on what people thought of my music...i would have to be tough enough to accept rejection as well as any critiques or praise. :} you'd think that was a given, but it wasnt until that point. :)

2) first feedback was from a coworker who was concerned by the fact that the word "truce" never, in fact, appears in the song entitled "truce." i decided it didn't bother me and i intend to keep the name. :)

3) one friend said i sounded a little like Ingrid Michealson, which i found very flattering.

4) my sister told her sister in law about my music and she may use one of my songs for her awesome blog-site targeted at building up today's young women in the gospel! nothing for sure, but it was flattering she'd consider me and ask to hear the recording! :)

5) i had alot of nearly-strangers who i played for live at michelle's wedding tell me to keep writing/recording and that they wanted to hear as soon as i'd finished a CD, which was very encouraging! :)

6) one of my dearest friends who is a recording artist himself told me he loved them (HUGE compliment, in my book!) and shared some counsel with me that my music should always be ME, and not someone else. and if i wasn't sure who that was yet, to discover her so she could keep shining in my music like he was hearing. it was inspiring and has made me look at my music and the recording process very differently :)

however, my favorite feedback was:

7) one of the managers at work (who is married and quite the hopeless romantic) listened to both songs and said they were pretty but neither one sounded very happy or romantic. i protested, saying "truce" WAS a happy song but he ignored me and asked,
"emily, have you ever written a song when you were really TRULY in love?!"
i laughed, tho i wasn't sure what to say. how does one guage when they're "really TRULY in love" enough to know "its time to write a song about it"? i write when feelings strike me. ...some are playful, thoughtful, resigned, etc - i think i would call "truce's" feeling 'grateful'. i was in love as much as i knew what love was at the time, and i was grateful for what i was learning. what kind of song or feeling should i expect to be struck with if i were "really truly in love"? and why can't it be a feeling of gratitude?
however, since i'm still unmarried, i guess i can chalk it up to never having fallen in love for reals with the right guy ;) lol SO!!...i'll make sure you all (as well as my coworker) hear the amazing "REALLY TRULY in-LOVE" song that will surely be written when such a love and man eventually appear in my life! ;) loL!

it has been and will keep being an experience as i work on being brave enough to let people hear my music - i marvel at people who do this professionally! :)

thoughts on recording...

i recorded two of my songs ("truce" and "this morning") before the christmas break, and it was a terrifying experience! :}

i never knew singing live was so different from playing for a microphone. i had thought that singing into a mic by myself would be easier than in front of a room of people (which gives me sreious stage fright, ps), but it was a whole new world of scary!

live singing is somewhat forgiveable because people only remember what they choose to remember and its over once you've finished playing. not only that, but you can change up the strums, the beat, the feel, and the meaning each time, even though you play the same chords and sing the same words.

RECORDINGS, however, will be played again and again. any flaws will be there for cross-examination each time someone listens to it. doensn't matter if you were having an 'off' day and could play a better version for them now, that's all they'll hear. not only that, but since you have to play and sing separately, you need to keep a consistent beat, a recognizeable strum pattern, and choose exactly what little isms you will and won't include - cause there's only one take of it people will hear. :}

don't think it was an awful experience though, i loved it! it was just terrifying :D lol

...seriously? seriously.

i wrote an earlier post where i wondered why it was every band felt the need to drop the f*bomb in order to seem cool.

i have wonderful news to report - i recently went to a concert and had CUSS-FREE experience! and it was Good Charlotte!! :D
i will admit, i NEVER would have guessed them as the one band i would never hear cussing from, but so it is!

i was thrilled - i liked some of their music before, but i respect them now like i never thought i would before. :) it IS possible to be cuss-free and popular, folks - Good Charlotte is proof of it!

my nights

put it in drive, turn on the lights,

let’s get clear away from here

so I can clear out my head

turn on our song

you hold my hand tight

as we sing along my troubles fade away

*CHORUS*

just keep going, driving to wherever

just keep smiling, and I’ll pray that this ride never ends

this ride never ends

we’re wasting your gas

and wasting our time

but I can’t think’a better way

i’d like to spend my night -

like to spend my night.

you make me laugh, i tease you back,

tracing patterns on each other’s hands

as we talk about the day

who could have know something so simple

could be exactly what I need,

and how you help me find my way?...

*chorus*

fall into silence, my eyes start to close...

your truck, it rocks me off to sleep

and I am warm and safe in your care...

your smile astounds me, your life surrounds me

and I can’t think’a better way I’d like to spend all of my days…

and nights

like to spend my nights

like to spend my nights!

'my nights' was a first for a few reasons -
1st - it was an UPBEAT song, which michelle had been after me to attempt for a while ;)
2nd - it was a belty placement, which was scary for me :}
3rd - it had a CHORUS, which no other song of mine had yet - i have this fear of redundancy...
4th - i wrote out all the lyrics to the verses and the chorus before i ever picked up my guitar. (that was during Accounting 200, if truth be told. ;) time well spent!) usually i needed to get a chord progression that i liked and a melody that inspired me before i could write lyrics...not to mention how much harder it is for me to come up with a sound that follows the song i imagined in my head after the fact! :}

the inspiration for this song came from two sources -
1st - a few lines of poetry that i wrote before my mission 'we're wasting your gas and wasting our time, but i cant think of a better way i'd like to spend my night' that referred to driving all night with kim and jack. i stumbled across it cleaning and it got me thinking about how much i love to drive at night...
2nd - the rest of this song goes back to a short but fun period i spent dating my friend tyler, since some of my favorite memories of him were as we drove around at night in his jeep. :) (you might note that the last verse referrs to a 'truck' and NOT a jeep, which was done for two reasons - one, 'jeep' didn't sound right, and two, 'truck' took me back to the setting of the original lines i wrote where it would be kim, jack, and i in his truck...in which i DID often fall asleep ;) lol!)

love this song, love how it came together, love that it was a step forward for me in alot of ways! :)

buried past

Time is fading
fast
And you are nearly my
buried past
‘Cause suddenly, the sun can see
My eyes once more
And all it took, was giving up
What I adored
Its true, It was you
I adored

Your heart is what I thought
I’d always know
I lay you down to sleep where
I can let you go
Your smile will stay a memory
To light my day
I’ll keep that close to my own heart
And find a way
Hope comes with the dawn
I give away

But time was never our companion
Even you had to abandon
The dreams I thought we’d shared
I thought we’d share...

The ghost of all I hoped to be
Sits by my side
Whispers thoughts of moving on
And finding life
The song will change from dark to day
And heal the soul
And what was left broken here
Will one day
I know that one day
Will be whole

this piece was a sad one - i first began writing it with my grandmother in mind. ...wondering how she was able to move on and keep going after my grandfather - her heart and her life - passed away. the song took a more personal turn when i met a wonderful girl who was my age and trying to recover from losing her fiance - her heart and her life - in a car accident.
the gospel changes everything about death - gives it meaning - and pain is still part of the reality. :} but it doesn't have to consume us.
...that's why i wrote this song.

is this necessary?

after recently attending yet another concert, i can only wonder -

is it really necessary to replace every adjective in the human language with the f*bomb?

i mean, really.