Musical sketch

The window reflected in the keys of my keyboard.

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My keyboard is in front of a window. Sometimes while playing or listening back, I look out and up. The sky becomes a screen and the music becomes the soundtrack for whatever is happening. I often create quick musical 'sketches' ... using musical notes rather than a pencil to sketch what I see or feel as I gaze out/in.

What scene unfolds through your window when you listen to this sketch?

The 4th song (2008)

This is the song I've chosen to be #4 on my "Soundtrack for 2008".

2nd song in my 2008 soundtrack

"Big Time Sensuality"

i can sense it
something important
is about to happen
it's coming up

it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore and the gentle
big time sensuality

we just met
and i know i'm a bit too intimate
but something huge is coming up
and we're both included

it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore and the gentle
big time sensuality

i don't know my future after this weekend
and i don't want to

it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore and the gentle
big time sensuality

First of 12 songs in my soundtrack for 2008

Now and then a song comes along which I can't help but play repeatedly - for days, weeks, possibly even months (mostly in the case of a whole CD) ... until my mood/vibration changes and requires a new soundtrack to accompany it.Above: singing and bopping to my January 2008 theme song. I love it: the words, sentiments, beat, melody, energy. Yesterday I must have played it hundreds of times for the day alone - and today will be similar. It speaks on so many levels, the way I see it: not just as one lover to another, but as self to self and the Divine to the human/vice versa.

Healing Haniel

This morning I took my keyboard to Mr. Dixon in Diego Martin who will diagnose and treat accordingly. Doesn't seem to be the battery causing the problem. Perhaps it is a fixable issue, perhaps not. I don't feel attached to the outcome. I am grateful for the years of music Haniel (name of my keyboard) has given me (and by extension others) ... but if it's time to move on, so be it.

Happiness - by Elspeth & Liu

This is an experimental audio track my nephew (age 8) and I did some time ago while playing around. The object of our 'game' (which we recorded using Garageband on the laptop) was to spontaneously say whatever positive words, images or thoughts came to our minds in time to the background rhythms provided by Dandelion.

Tickets are ready!

Tickets for Greenlight Network's Environmental Concert 2007: LIVE THE PLEDGE have been printed and are now physically available! We will soon be placing tickets at select locations (to be announced) ... but for now, you can call 645-0157 and arrange to pick yours up from Greenlight's headquarters - 21 Lyndon Street, Curepe.

We strongly advise you to do this, since people have already been calling and booking blocks of tickets. You want to be sure that you and your friends get yours!

Artistes, the same goes for you. No doubt your family, friends and fans want to come and give support. Make sure they secure their tickets in time.

At $40 and for a very good cause (future GLN environmental awareness-raising projects) you can't go wrong!

Please pass this message on.

Thanks!
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THE DETAILS

LIVE THE PLEDGE
When? Saturday 29 September 2007
Where? JFK Theatre, UWI, St. Augustine
What time? 2:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Admission? $40
All proceeds will be injected back into Greenlight's creative environmental awareness-raising projects!

This event is a 6 hour music and multimedia marathon. Bring the family and come! Enjoy, be enlightened, shake a leg or two!

Performers:
5 O'Clock Shadow
Anti Everything
Brother Resistance
Don't Panic
Elspeth Duncan
Glenford Bhagat
John Pollard
Jointpop
Malik
Mark Ng Wai
Broken Mirroz
Ozy Majic
Rahil Babooram
Tie Dye Kitty

Two surprise guest artistes!

Videos!

And more!!

Ma Me Mi Mo Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Last night I had my first singing lesson with Jean Marc. He started me off with some deep breathing exercises which were easy for me because of the yoga. But somehow breathing for yoga and breathing while singing are two completely different things for me.

We did a series of vocal exercises using vowel sounds: aaaa-eeeee-iiii-oooo-uuuu (running up and down like a scale). Then maaaa-meeee-miiiiii-moooo-muuuuu ... and so on. Then Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall (going up); Humpty dumpty had a great fall (going down); all the king's horses and all the king's men (up); couldn't put Humpty together again (down).

He described things to me in a visual way. This works best for me in terms of understanding - if I can see and imagine something visually taking place, rather than trying to understnd with my mind how it works. When I visualised the things he was saying, I really heard my voice change.

E.g.
Imagine the note rising from my stomach and out through the top of my head like smoke.
Imagine the voice projecting from my third eye.
Imagine a fountain holding up a ball and the water that falls does not let the ball fall (i.e. the note).
Imagine walking up steps (i.e. with the rising scale of the ma-me-mo part)

And so on ...

I sang "In This Garden" for him and asked him if I could work on that as part of the singing classes. Rather than just 'learning to sing', it makes more sense to me to experience a two-fold process: learning to sing while singing my songs. By the time the Greenlight Concert rolls around on 29 September I won't be sounding like a nightingale, but at least I would have picked up a few tips to improve upon how I sound now.

There are so many things to get into with proper singing: how to warm up, how to hold a note, how to breathe properly, how to make a smooth switch from low to high register (natural to falsetto), how to sing with emotion/expression, how/where to place my tongue, how to open my mouth and form each vowel and syllable, how to relax and not think abut the singing, how to sing softly and keep the voice controlled, and loudly without sounding harsh and forceful ... etc.

Phew!

With all this learning happening all at once (French, drumming and singing) ... in order to get my homework and practice in, I'll have to do them all together: sing my French homework while drumming.

Book your 'Live the Pledge' tickets

Ticket design: Brown & Partners
Printer: Andes Printery

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Tickets for the Greenlight Network Environmental Concert 2007: LIVE THE PLEDGE will be available for public purchase from the first week in September. There have already been call-in requests for bookings ... so call Greenlight Network's headquarters: 645-0157 or e-mail greenlightnetwork (at) gmail (dot) com to secure your tickets now!


LIVE THE PLEDGE
When? Saturday 29 September 2007
Where? JFK Theatre, UWI, St. Augustine
What time? 2:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Admission? $40

All proceeds will be injected back into Greenlight's creative, environmental awareness-raising projects.

This event is a 6 hour music and multimedia marathon. Bring the family and come! Enjoy, be enlightened, shake a leg or two!

Performers:
5 O'Clock Shadow
Anti Everything
Brother Resistance
Don't Panic
Elspeth Duncan
Glenford Bhagat
John Pollard
Jointpop
Malik
Mark Ng Wai
Broken Mirroz
Ozy Majic
Rahil Babooram
Tie Dye Kitty

Two surprise guest artistes!

Videos!

And more!!

Beginning again

A snippet of another Beginning (made yesterday).
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Even though in yesterday's post I said I would wait until the suggested date (September 1) to send off the Beginnings, I couldn't resist going to the Post Office with two yesterday: this one and this one. They feel like wild birds which can't be kept in a cage.

The other night I was going to a friend's performance. I ended up chatting with someone (another performer) who told me "Girl! You are lapsing!!!" because I have so much music and I am not performing. He was prodding me to begin again.

What he is saying is true. It's been ages since I've had any kind of show or exhibition and I need to start back.

Today I will begin singing lessons. I took about four in the past, but dropped out because I wasn't very disciplined (never practiced at home in between classes) and it didn't make sense. But this time I will make every effort to practice and be serious about it. I think I have a good voice but it is a rough diamond in need of polishing. (Example of my voice). Apart from me on my own realising that my voice could be better/stronger, two comments from the past made me realise that singing lessons would help immensely.

1. A man told me after a performance: "You have great songs! You should get someone who can sing them."

2. One of my ex yoga students, after a performance came up to me looking concerned and said: "You sing so well when you are teaching yoga. What happened tonight?!"

Those were the only two comments I got of that nature. Even if others feel I can't sing, they've never told me to my face. Then there are those who say the exact opposite - that they love my voice. A friend of mine once said that a friend of his was indoors at a bar (the performances were outdoors) and when he heard my voice he ran out to see who 'that haunting voice' belonged to.

I don't let any of it daunt me. You can't please everyone.

But it is time for singing lessons. I want to do justice to the songs by bringing out the real strength and projection of my voice.

Magic (video)

Video: Elspeth Duncan
Music: Gary Winter
Length: 3:11

The music I used for this video is one of a few mp3s Gary of Psychedelic Zen Guitar had sent me when our first collaboration was underway. The video was shot using the iSight camera on my Macbook, Satya.

We are doing three short collaborations to present to you. Stay tuned for the third one sometime this week. For that one, I also invited Gary's wife, Susanne, of Creative Mother Thinking to take part.

In Time for You

Open your mind.
Tune out ... and tune in.
Relax ... and fall asleep if you want to.
Have a far out (yet right inside) experience.

IN TIME FOR YOU is a meditational vibrational experience, open to all who wish to be present.

Admission: FREE

Date: Saturday 30 June
Time: 4 - 6 p.m.
Venue: The Centre for the Arts, 1 DeVerteuil Street, Woodbrook (625-2843)

Bring a yoga mat or thick towel.
Wear loose, comfortable clothing.

This intimate event is a part of Greenlight Network's (resumed) once-a-month interactive happenings for the healing of our inner and outer environments. All we ask is that you be either early or on time ... (not Trini time)!

Wow

Check out this site (Baratuques). I had never heard of body percussion before ... even though it's something we all do from time to time - using parts of our body to make rhythms and sounds.

Click on 'English' in the lower right corner (unless you speak Portuguese).

Liming late at Lula (revised, with a P.S.)

(Canada Chronicles continued ...)

People Project performed first (at Lula Lounge), impressing the crowd with
their jazzy guitar styles, Sting-like vocals and vocal beat-box rhythms.
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I'm blogging early today. My friends in Trinidad will be shocked to hear that I was out in a club last night and didn't get home until this morning. I myself am amazed that I made it past the 8 p.m. bedtime mark without falling asleep ... and I'm still wide awake at 1:58 a.m. The long daylight hours are tricking me into believing it's still 'early' ... and I find myself going to bed much later than I normally would.

The innovative Kobo Town performed second, stirring the crowd with their fusions. A film crew from the office was there filming their performance, as they are one of the bands being featured in the documentary series on musicians.

It was refreshing being out at a nightspot and not choking on smoke fumes or going home smelling like a stale ashtray. Clubs in Toronto are smoke free. It was also refreshing not to have to consider any of the following on the way home:
(1) Is anyone strange following the car?
(2) Will a drunk driver flip the median or break a red light and slam into the car?
(3) Are bandits lurking nearby?
(4) Will I be kidnapped?

P.S. (6:43 a.m.)

When I woke up this morning (no matter how late I go to sleep I always wake up early), I thought about last night. I thought about how I'd ended off the blog post with the list of 1 - 4 potentially 'bad things about being out at night in TT'. Yes, they are unfortunate considerations ... and yes, unabashedly there are times when I think of TT and have no desire to go back ...

But ...

Last night I felt connected. Kobo Town has Trini members in it and they live in Toronto now. Last night as they played, their professionalism, talent, humility and joy at sharing their music was evident. It was not 'Trini' music, yet it was. I found it to be a fresh fusion of 'home' and other' influences. The crowd represented that fusion.

At one point as Kobo Town was playing, I got a strong sense of them in the moment: "This is what we love to do, it's what we are here to do and we are doing it the best we can." Something in my chest swelled up. Could have been pride, could have been tears, but was probably both.