Suzy Q Homemaker

Word on the street (the Blissdom/Twitter street!) is that this Yanni Voices thing will be really, REALLY good.  Me, I’m skeptical because…well…it’s Yanni.  Or maybe I’m jealous because I wish I could be as successful as these folks.  Regardless, I think I may actually tune in to the PBS Special on March 2.

If you’re interested, you can check out the video that introduces this whole shebang.  The Yanni Voices CD releases on March 24th.

If I end up loving it, it’s too bad the tour starts right about when I’ll be birthin’ this baby!

Thanks to One2One Network for giving me the heads up on this project.

‘Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences than other people.’
— Steve Jobs

Monday’s Muse asks whether or not we agree with this quote. My mind has been racing, mulling over different ways I could interpret these words.  The first person I thought of (aside from myself) was my little sister, who earned her degree in graphic design–the epitome of “creative.”  I don’t think I’ve asked her how she did anything unless I really just wanted to know, technically, how she did it.  What I do know is that she spent four years of her life taking theory, history, another art-related courses to further enhance her knowledge.  I believe this made it possible for her to explore new avenues of creativity.

As a musician, my creativity doesn’t always shine through.  I am first a choral musician, my heart dedicated to the sounds that many voices can make together.  Sure there’s room for a little creativity which depends on the style of the piece we’re doing, but it’s not like we’re all taking jazz solos or anything.  As a soloist, I apply what I learned in my own college career and mesh that with the experiences of my own life to create a piece that’s my own.  I can’t tell you how it happens, though.  It just does.  And if I sit down to tell you how I come to interpret a piece like “The Trees on the Mountains,” I’ll probably just start crying.  It goes that deeply; before I begin to love a piece, I feel it in my soul first.  And sometimes, it hurts.

I certainly can’t say that I’ve had “more” experiences than other people.  I’ve had different ones, sure, but don’t we all connect our experiences to aspects of our lives?  My musical creativity does feel natural to me, though I would hardly say it’s because I’m more worldly.  That would be extremely presumptuous.

I owe this blog so many updates, it’s ridiculous.

So, in no particular order, here we go:

Look how sweet! I received these two lovelies in the Softie Swap. I hope that she got hers (the sweet little lamb pictured below).

He was so cute that Aiden had to have one for his birthday.

I tested out this infant top pattern for a fellow hyena. She was kind enough to offer us a license to knit for profit for one year! I think it’s adorable. That being said, I still have open custom slots on my Hyenacart. What are you waiting for?

In music news, my Appleby Library Concert is next Tuesday at 8:00 and I think it’s going be a really nice program. Don’t just come to hear me! I’m sharing the bill with two other fabulous musicians, Carl Purdy and Larry Millen.

boomp3.com

This is a recording of “Farther Along” as performed by me, Mary Ann Turner, Nichole Keuhl, and Tom Rogers. If you don’t know who Tom is, he used to be a pianist for Brenda Lee and is featured on this DVD. It’s a privilege to say I know him and especially to play music with him!