"The Elephant Diet" Day 135 Always Learning!

Sunday turned out to be a great day at the Mercersburg Mennonite Church for "Biker Sunday".  I could have worn jeans and leather if I would have thought about asking.  I wasn't prepared for all the bikers to show up dressed to ride!  It just goes to show that you should never assume anything.

Concert at Mercersburg Mennonite Church

I wasn't able to ride because I had music equipment to take and CDs to sell, but my heart went with them as they all pulled out of the parking lot after my concert and quick lunch.

Days like that remind me of why I love to do what I do.  There is so much work behind the scenes to get the music ready for a CD and share it at concerts, but the payoff comes when I stand up in front of the audience of people eager to be touched and encouraged in some way and see them respond through laughter and reflection.

Yesterday I hired a sound tech for the first time (for a smaller venue) and it was a wonderful experience.  It has me thinking about how I can increase my revenue so that I can afford him more often.  I didn't have to load up my van (except for keyboard, guitar and CDs), unload it all again at the venue, get ready for the concert, pour my heart out for an hour or so in music, sell CDs, take down the equipment, load it all up, get home and unload it all again.  As you can see, it was such a treat to have someone have everything set up and take it all down.  I'm hooked.  Thanks Brian Gayman!

Bikes just waiting to ride on Biker Sunday at Mercersburg Mennonite Church

Saturday I spent some of the day getting song files ready for Nashville AGAIN for Song of Joy.  The files I sent apparently weren't in the right format, so I had to try it again.  If I have it right this time, I need to re-do the files for Portraits of White too (both Enya type tunes). This tech stuff is a challenge to me constantly, but I just keep plugging away, learning all that I can.  

 Ronnie Brookshire also mixed my "Inside Things" project.

Fortunately, Ronnie Brookshire is so easy to deal with and after another phone conversation with him, I learned a little bit more.  He could use some prayer as he works on this project.  His mother lives 300 miles away from him in TN and she is in the hospital and has been for a couple of weeks.  He has to go and help care for her and I know it's putting a strain on the things he needs to get done, let alone the strain it is on your heart when you are caring for you mother.

Praying for you Ronnie!

A special announcement: "The Payoff"

I started studying the life of David (from the book of Psalms) in 2010.

I began writing songs from the lessons I was learning.

I recorded my ideas behind the songs and recorded my first ideas for the song "Nobody Sees" on May 21, 2010.

I spent a co-writing session with Darwin Moody (Embassy Music) in Nashville, TN and walked out with a completed song that I really liked.

I began sharing it with audiences and getting positive feedback.

In 2012 Eric Copeland and Phil Naish decided to collaborate together and come up with a compilation project of Creative Soul Record artists called "We Are Creative Soul".

I submitted "Nobody Sees" as a possibility for one of the songs I would record (out of 3) and they chose "Nobody Sees".

Phil and Frances January 2013

In January 2013 we gathered in Nashville, TN to work on the project.

On August 29, 2013 I received the artwork for the single - the sign of a finished song.

Hours of studying, praying, recording and re-writing have paid off.

Yesterday the song was released on iTunes. (September 5, 20130).

This only fuels my determination and excitement to see the Christmas project through to "The Payoff" - one bite at a time.

Links of interest:

Listen to the story (podcast) behind the song and a conversation with Grammy award-winning producer Phil Naish

Buy song (iTunes)

Embassy Music (Darwin Moody) Co-writer of "Nobody Sees"

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 134 Busy Bee!

I have been a very busy bee.  Buzzing here and there, working hard on a special announcement. It's been driving the elephants nuts.  Such a small insect.

According to sciencemag.org, elephants don't like bees:

"East Africa’s elephants face few threats in their savanna home, aside from humans and lions. But the behemoths are terrified of African bees, and with good reason. An angry swarm can sting elephants around their eyes and inside their trunks and pierce the skin of young calves. Now, a new study shows that the pachyderms utter a distinctive rumble in response to the sound of bees, the first time an alarm call has been identified in elephants." 

I know the buzzing will pay off soon. There will be sweet honey to enjoy!  But alas, those elephants will be back to haunt me with more 'to do' lists so I can't get stuck in the honey very long.  (I think I hear Winnie The Pooh saying 'oh bother').

Here's another "oh bother". A decision has been made about the song with the children, that's not so sweet.  As much as I loved having them sing last week and as wonderful as they did, my team and I have decided not to have a children's choir on the Song of Joy at all.

It has been a difficult decision but the whole point of a producer is to help make these tough decisions.  It is not a reflection on the children.  It is a reflection on what fits the song the best.  Either we had to hire a professional children's choir or let it go.  Phil didn't feel the song was the right type of song for a children's choir and that using children wouldn't 'make or break' the song.

I did learn through this process that there are trained children's choirs in Nashville that work with a coach on diction, pitch, rhythm and other things!  We considered hiring someone like that, but in the end felt that the song had to be the final decision maker and no one felt the song called for their sweet voices enough to go to that expense.

The fun part of this is that the children last week got a great experience in recording that not many children will ever have AND they get their own personal recording of what they did so they can listen as much as they like.  I even created a video for them of their day in the studio so they can enjoy the memories for years to come.

Now back to my beehive.  I have a concert on Sunday to finish rehearsing for.  It's 'biker' Sunday at a Mennonite church and I've been invited to 'ride' with them.  Not sure if I'm creating a beehive or hornet's nest?

Either way - I must get back to the elephants soon!  They won't be dissuaded forever.

"The Elephant Diet" Day 133 Kiddos

Rehearsing the song before we record

What a fantastic day!

The Pontius children (may I mention that there are 6 of them total) all arrived with their mom and grandma to spend the day in my studio working on the last song of the project "Song of Joy".

Can anyone say "EXCITEMENT".  I'm not sure who was most excited.  The children, the mom or me, but it doesn't really matter.

Aidan working hard on solos!

I even got to take them to the local Newville diner (we don't have much else here) and I have to say I'm not sure I ever remember having so many children to eat lunch with in one sitting, while their mom went shopping at the local BB's (crash and dent store as we know it).  People don't know where Newville is but everyone seems to know about BB's.

After a lively lunch, we walked to the fountain and got spritzed by water and then on to the library.  They went home with a ton of books and I took a few myself.

Thank you Pontius children!  You were awesome to work with and you sang great too.

Enjoying a break at the Newville Fountain

"The Elephant Diet" Day 132 Green and White

Today I worked on getting all the files ready for Portraits of White to send to the engineer who will begin mixing all the Christmas music.  Portraits Of White is a fun song - stacked 106 tracks of vocals -

It's my Frances version of Enya and I love it!  All the vocals were done in my studio so I could focus on getting all the tracks I want for this piece.

It meant a phone call to TN to talk with Ronnie the engineer and clarify the lingo - consolidate files, set to zero, keep the pan settings and put them in the Dropbox as a WAV file in stereo separated by lead and harmony, file with reverb and one without reverb. 

Whew - I sent them off - hope they are right.  I'm sure he will let me know!

Ronnie Brookshire mixes most of my music and he's another Grammy winner who works magic to music.  Artists like Michael W. Smith, Nicole Nordeman, CeCe Winans, etc., appear on his client list. But when he answered the phone he was as friendly as a southern gentleman and I knew he would make sure I understand all the tech stuff to make this great.  A cordial "I feel like we're leaving ya to the dogs" comment wrapped up our conversation and I laughed.  I'm in good hands.

Other stuff on the agenda today?  

Green beans blanched and in the freezer

Learning how to organize my life with Evernote (a green app)

Listening to a new podcast I really like (while I did my 1200 jumps and 50 minute walk) called "The 5 a.m. Miracle"

Groceries

Recording vocals for the last song on the project "Sing A Song Of Joy"

Practice the piano

Financial matters for my mother 

Time to rest.

Podcast episode # 23 "Gone Too Soon"

Frances shares an interesting outcome from her interview with Chris Fabry on the Moody Radio Broadcast back in 2009.  Hear a few songs for some very special children!

Check out this episode!

"The Elephant Diet" Day 131 Hoof Stompin' Mamas

I started the morning of my last day in Nashville by walking/jumping through a beautiful housing development near my hotel.  Stately trees, perfectly manicured lawns and flower gardens decorated the yards of the mansions.  Much to my delight, I came upon five fawns in someone's yard who were not at all alarmed by my presence.  Eventually three doe appeared, probably their mamas I decided.

It was such an amazing sight, that I decided to sit down on the pavement and just watch them.  All at once, another doe appeared and perked up when she saw me.  She began to make her way over toward me and stopped.  Raising her right leg, she began to pound her hoof into the ground with distinct, quick movement.  It was so pronounced I began to wonder if I might be in danger.  Would a doe charge a human?  I had no idea and I began to get a little bit nervous.  All at once, she snorted and took off and everyone followed her.  At that same moment, I heard a snort behind me and turned to witness a deer bouncing off behind me.  Aha.  They must have been communicating with each other and I was the monkey in the middle.

When I arrived at the studio, I asked the guys if they knew why a doe would stomp at me.  They didn't seem to know, so I googled it and sure enough, a doe will stomp their hoof as a sign of danger or to establish territory.  In all my lifetime of seeing deer, I have never witnessed that and it was quite a moment to behold.

In fact, it made me a little bit late to the studio.

Precious Moments

Just as we began to wrap up all the vocals on Friday, my videographer arrived at Phil's studio.   Lights, camera, action.  It was a much more subdued session than the night before because Billy was trying to capture the essence of recording vocals which basically means I stand in a booth with headphones on and sing my heart out, while Phil sits at the computer and engineers.

After catching an interview with Phil, Billy zoomed in on me singing in the booth.  It feels a little bit odd to sing when a camera is buzzing around you.

After Billy packed up his equipment and left, we kind of just took a big breath to relax and then re-set the studio for an exclusive interview between Phil and I, compliments of Phil.

Working with Phil has been an amazing experience and I humbly asked if he would allow me to do an interview with him for my podcast.  He graciously agreed and informed me that he was doing more talking (between the video interview and the podcast interview) than he has done in 10 years.  I am getting a special thank you package ready to send to him as a BIG thank you!!!

I was so touched by the next hour of conversation that we had.  It was as if I stepped back into time and witnessed the beginning of this man's career and his dream to pursue music.  As he leaned back in his chair and reflected over years of experiences, I realized that I was witnessing a very precious gift and one that I don't take lightly.  I will treasure it forever.

No matter how hard those mamas stomp their hooves, it will not keep me away from Nashville, TN.  I might even write a song about them.