"The Elephant Diet" Day # 43

It's another 'one bite' day. Church work today, meeting tonight and some booking details to wrap up in between. Bookings for the summer and fall are beginning to roll in.

I sent a vocal track to Dave today - the producer of the song "Night Of Miracles".

When you use a producer in Nashville, a lot of work is done over the Internet. It's an interesting world.

I met with him when I was in town so we got to discuss what I'm looking for. Now, this week, as he arranges for the band, he needs to have me singing it so they can play along with me. Since I'm in PA, I sent him a recording today of just my voice - no instruments. He will then paste that into his software and play it for the band. Eventually, I will go in person to record the final vocals, but all he needs right now is a general vocal track as a guide.

Just got word that Matthew West's drummer and Chris August's bassist are lined up to start working on the song this coming Monday.  It is very common for players like this to be available to play on other people's projects.

Gotta love technology!

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 42 On Hold

Chills, nausea, weak....that's how I started feeling this afternoon. By the time I left work around 4:30 I was not feeling well at all.

No food for supper...no desire for any either which is NOT normal for me. Normally I could eat an elephant. (Just had to put that in there).

I did receive an email from the producer I'm interviewing for one song and he is lining up musicians this week to prepare for recording. I am very excited to hear what he does with the song. It will tell me so much about what I need to know for my final decision regarding who I want to use to produce the whole project.

My intent tonight was to get my business plan down on paper for the meeting with my business coach tomorrow but I am too sick to think straight.

It will have to wait.

All I could do was whisper some prayers to my Father, committing this whole journey to him, again.

"The Elephant Diet" Day 41 A Business Coach

Very long day.....church work, doctor visit with my Mother, closing out a storage unit for my Mother, spending family time with my brother and his wife from New Mexico before they return home early in the morning.

Time for bed!

In the midst of it all, I did manage to connect by email with my business coach. I am preparing for a meeting with her on Wednesday when I need to have a plan in place to present so she can steer me in regard to the advertising and implementing of my plans for the CD and christmas show event.

Someone asked me when and where this show is going to be. I don't know yet, but a plan will help me know how to answer that question better the next time.

Catch you tomorrow.

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 40 A Listening Party

I can't believe it's day # 40 already.

I certainly have learned a valuable lesson.  It's one thing to be told that if you just do a little bit each day toward your goal you will accomplish a lot, and another thing to actually do it and find that it's true.

After rambling last night in my blog about all the things I wish for and complaining about being so tired at night that I'm too brain dead to do anything creative, I actually did begin to work on something else on my 'to do' list.  I guess I just needed to clear the air.

I started planning my upcoming listening party that I promised two of my friends before the end of January.  This involves putting together an interesting way of presenting the music to the girls who I hope will be my song sisters for the Christmas show (otherwise known as back up singers - though they will be more than that!!).

I began writing a script that ties everything together and tells a story of my own journey back to the heart of Christmas.  Today I finished it, recorded it and listened back, already hearing some changes I need to make.

They are coming in a couple of weeks, so I want time to let it all settle and listen again before they listen.

This is a scary adventure.  It might be compared to presenting story boards for a movie idea.  It's such a small way to present such a big vision, but you have to start somewhere.

The music is in its raw form....just a simple recording.  I want everyone to hear the finished product.  It's like getting dressed up to go out with your soon to be husband who only sees the good stuff on the outside of you (the finished recording) versus waking up first thing in the morning with your husband when your hair is a wreck and you have no makeup on (the homemade version of the music).  It feels totally vulnerable.   But I am committed to seeing this thing through.

I'll continue the journey on Monday - taking a weekend break again.  I think it did me good last weekend and I intend to do it again.

Thanks for reading and thanks for cheering me on!

Have a great weekend.  And oh - what is YOUR elephant that you could start tackling one bite at a time?  This really works!

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 39 I Wish

Sometimes I wish for.......

• unlimited resources to do what's in my heart for this project
• a creative team to help me put together Kickstarter videos like this one or a funny one you can see here (but if I had unlimited resources I wouldn't need to do a Kickstarter project so we could do cool music videos instead or whatever we wanted)
• a business manager to help me find the right venue for doing a christmas show 
• someone to look after all the details that go into doing a big show so I could concentrate on the music (ticket sales, lighting, props, stage decor)
• an image consultant to pick out a wardrobe for me so I always look 'hip' (see unlimited resources wish)
• hair and make up artist to bring out the best of me
• more creative brain cells left at the end of the day when I need to be working instead of blogging about my wish list
• a dog like the one I'm holding in the picture - then all would be well

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 38 Music lessons

Today I learned another valuable lesson in music.

I printed out the score for the song "Joy To The World" that the arranger has been working on for me.  That means that I can see note by note what each instrument is doing along with my piano parts.

Horns, Oboe, Piccalo, Strings, Timpani....they all add so much to a song in the right places.

But I noticed something as I was listening and reading.  There are places where he took away my piano parts and let other instruments carry the ideas.  Then there are places where he is having me play something a little different than I originally played.  This gives interesting contrast to the piece of music as opposed to me doing everything.

Aha.  It's like living in community with other people.  Sometimes, we need to back off and let someone else take the lead and have their moment to shine.  Marriage, church, friends, parents, children, work.  In all these various communities, we each have a part to play and sometimes the best part is silence.  Let someone else speak.  Take time to listen to them.

You never know what unforeseen lesson you'll get from a piece of music while working on a Christmas CD.

Score for "Joy To The World"

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 37 My hero

Tonight I am back to tackling my 'to do' list.

One of the things on my list is to begin preparing for a session with my music hero and live show producer Tom Jackson.

A record producer makes all yours songs shine on a recording - choosing the players, the songs and coordinating all of it.

A live show producer takes the songs and pulls them apart looking for special things within each song to help you create moments for your audience.  It's the part that really begins to help you connect with people from a stage.

I first heard Tom at a seminar for music artists in Franklin, TN.  As soon as I heard him speak,  I knew that someday I would want to set a goal to work with him.  This year will hopefully be the year.  Since that first encounter, he has become quite popular with the music industry and he's much harder to book now (should have booked him back then).

In preparation for working with him, I have to choose 4 - 6 songs for him to listen to.  I have started the list, but it's like picking your favorite 4 out of 12 children.  Not an easy task.  But since I've worked with his assistant over the years and have studied his materials over and over, I have a sense of which ones I'd like to have him tear apart.

Here's a photo of Tom's great assistant Amy Wolter and I working together last summer.