Last night was the much anticipated, anxiety inducing Mid-Pitch for the Merrimack Valley Sandbox Winter Accelerator Program. I spent the better part of the day and week before reflecting and revising my pitch outline. A challenge with selling songwriting products is finding ways to describe something that can be rather abstract and difficult to explain…
Category: artist
Singing the songs of the people.
I grew up in a small town in eastern Massachusetts on the south shore. Throughout my childhood and into college, music was my identity. I played and performed classical piano; I was first chair for the clarinet in the school band; I listened to any and all music I could find. I started plucking around…
Art takes work
I am fairly certain I have told you before that patience is not a virtue that comes easily for me. I want results, and I want them quickly. In this modern world of social networking, I am thankful to receive a nearly immediate outpouring of love and support from friends, family, and Story-to-Song fans each…
Inner voice, I hear you
I am thankful to have found a handful of people who saw me as an artist, a musician, and a songwriter and who patiently helped me begin to believe in my self as all of these identities, to learn to listen and hear my inner creative voice, and to find value and beauty in what…
Symbiosis and Songwriting
A story. It has meaning, layers of meaning. It has a face, depth, and personality. It has a life. A song from a story is all these elements with the added dimension of music and the heart, soul, and spirit of a life. This morning, a friend from my childhood came to Lowell. In his…
Examples of Story-to-Song(s)
To try to shed a little more musical light on Story-to-Song, which I typically refer to in short as STS, I thought I would share a few examples of different kinds of StorytoSong(s) that I have written. Example #1: A short song I wrote with a friend when I was learning how to write a song…
Getting to know Story-to-Song
Songwriting can be a challenge to describe in words only, particularly a method like Story-to-Song. So, I thought it might be helpful to share a couple of informational videos I put together. In the first video, I offer a definition of Story-to-Song: In the second video, I describe how I discovered Story-to-Song: The third video…
Who is Story-to-Song?
When I begin working with a participant on their Story-to-Song, I hear a few comments on a regular basis: I have a terrible voice. I am not an artist. I am not creative. I do not have any stories that are interesting. This is where I come in and assure you that your stories are…
A week in the Sandbox
Story-to-Song is an experience and an abstract one at that. For this reason, it can be difficult to describe in written words alone. When applications I have submitted for grants, conferences, and research opportunities are turned down, I try to lift my spirits with the reminder that I simply have to improve my skills at…
Getting Started
Monday was my first day in the Merrimack Valley Sandbox Winter Accelerator program. Six hours of orientation with first impressions, presentations, introductions, elevator pitches, and everything in between. It was the beginning of a new experience, one that promises to be challenging and transformative. My own first impression was one of slight intimidation. Despite the…
Guiding Song 