I’m writing this as I listen to a song Tayler Kopp, who I met shortly before the pandemic at one of the last (and first) open mics I made it to at the Ranger Station, posted on IG—and as I stumble across this old picture of my brother and I apparently playing the piano, or at least pretending to.

When I decided to focus time on making music, I didn’t think of myself as a musician. I took a deep dive into learning the guitar this year and when I began to burn out (which I partly blamed on my hurting wrists) I decided, why not pick up something without strings, like a clarinet? Suddenly, I found myself back on the “fast track”—that period of time when learning is easy and fun. There’s no plateau to push through yet. You’re still new enough to have a bag of excuses. I soon realized, however, that this rapid learning curve is possible because music has been a part of my life since the beginning. My parents loved music. I never met an instrument I didn’t want to pick up and play, even if I didn’t know how.

I started playing the flute in 5th grade when I was 11, and while it wasn’t my first choice, I stuck with it. I switched to guitar in college so I could sing with friends and because I didn’t understand how flute could fit into my life without me being a music major or playing in a symphony or orchestra—and I certainly wasn’t going to get up 5am for marching band.

Circling back to this year, when I decided I wanted to really learn the guitar, like I learned the flute, I struggled admitting that I’d been playing for so long but was still at the “campfire guitarist” level. I hunkered down, learned, and practiced scales almost daily. Music theory morphed into a rental cabin’s puzzle missing myriad pieces, yet still exciting and time-consuming to assemble. Slowly, my interest in the guitar transferred to a broader theme of composing, arranging, and playing “all” the instruments. None of the songs I started recording this summer for a solo album are complete yet. I thought, if I get good enough, I can play what I hear in my mind. Only now, what I hear in my mind is more intricate, nuanced, and layered than before and I lack some of the naivete that makes action easier to move into and through.

This question, why is music so nostalgic? feels like a new and much-needed spark. It is, after all, somewhat rhetorical, linking me to why I always come back to music much like I always come back to photography (even after famines). It’s a language that can express what I often can’t with any of the other languages I know. It’s a time machine. A teleporter. Sunshine and a patch of blue skies in a long winter of rain. A hug amid a touchless pandemic. Heartbreak when I’ve forgotten how to feel. A short story that lingers like fog on a windowpane. A reminder that life is ours to live, and while we may not want it to be easy, we want it to be meaningful.

The post Why is music so nostalgic? appeared first on Jewels.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewels (@juellez)

The post Jessie’s Girl (bar n power chord practice) appeared first on Jewels.

Days can turn for no obviously apparent reason, though I can give hormones a starring role alongside our new antagonist pandemic. So when I found myself in bed for a happy hour call at 7, I was startled to find myself motivated to get out of bed by simply hearing a song. 

Sure, I adore Gillian Welch. Still, I couldn’t put my finger on the pulse of the inspiration to move, to listen, to play, to sing. As I first sat down to learn it and adapt it to my limited finger picking repertoire, I started to second guess my instincts. 

• Everything is free now. I’d be playing her song, making it free. 
• Try to make a little change at the bars. Our bars are closed and even when they open, I doubt I’ll be visiting anytime soon.
• Everything I ever done, gotta give it away. Someone hit the big score, they figured it out, that we’re gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay. Ouch, yeah…
• Every day I wake up, humming a song; but I don’t need to run around, I’ll just stay home. Stay home, save lives.
• And sing a little love song, my love and myself. This felt GOOD, comforting. A nice reminder that self love and self care is so critical.
• If there’s something that you wanna hear, you can sing it yourself. OK, I’ll sing it myself.

On the surface, it spoke to me in the moment, and while I battled the appropriateness of covering it and sharing it (for free), I ultimately found so much reprieve in the doing that I did it. And it motivated me to finish some work I’d been procrastinating; and I fell asleep peacefully, already rested.

When I woke this morning, I decided Wednesday would be a RESET day, a wonderful opportunity to shape my day around calm, acceptance and more productivity than the past couple of days. And then it hit me: Gillian’s song is about that acceptance. Accepting a new way of life and singing yourself a love song to help soothe the struggle in that transition.

‘Cause everything is free now, that’s what I said
No one’s gotta listen to the words in my head.
Someone hit the big score, and I figured it out
And I’m gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay

Gillian Welch, Everything is Free

Thank you to Gillian and all artists who risk vulnerability to share their stories as inspirations for us all. While I haven’t been able to watch any long form shows or movies, or read long form books, I’ve found so much comfort in music—especially in the past few weeks as our realities continue to shift like ‘ol 49ers panning for gold. Even if I don’t fully understand why any particular song sings to me, they are all helping me accept a new way of living and of being … and continue to push me to practice finding my own voice and sharing my own stories.

The post Everything is Free: a song about pandemic life appeared first on Jewels.

November was National Solo Album Month (NaSoAlMo). Inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) the challenge is to write and record a solo album at least 29:09 in length and with only one cover. 

Even though I waited until Dec 2nd to record my solo album, I’m counting it. I spent the majority of my November traveling, first for a week in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica with my friend to do aerial and yoga in the jungle. Then, for a long week in San Francisco/San Pancho, Mexico for roughly 8 hours of acro training x 7 days. When I wasn’t napping or making new friends, I was doing my best to work on songs. I brought my guitar, which landed me an invite to a local Open Mic, in which I performed (a fun story for another time.  Most of musical month was spent working with scraps of songs, words and melodies I’d started in October (see my previous post about the 5 songs x 5 days challenge), September in Santa Cruz and spring in Denmark.

Reflecting on it now, I appreciate my determination to essentially write and record the album “fireside” style in my living room, given that each song had been born in a different place. What a fun way to weave places together: my brother’s couch in Kansas City, an empty and hard bed along the beach in Mexico, a friend’s cozy apartment in Denmark, a surprisingly desolate and rocky beach in Santa Cruz … When Nov 30 rolled around and I was too exhausted from a weekend of Thanksgivings, Friendsgivings, errands, housework, cleaning and crafting, I nearly resigned myself to failing the challenge.

And then I listened to Laura Vanderkam’s “Before Breakfast” podcast yesterday (“Should You Raise Your Goal’s episode). I decided to try slacking some goals to build momentum, practice repeatability and continue my never-ending pursuit of consistency. And I reminded myself of the FedEx model we love to emulate in software: Just Ship It. Otherwise, the philosophy tornado of “done” vs “Done” vs “Done Done” will entangle you forever, dust will bury your ideas, and your voice…locked in a tiny box in the bottom of the ocean, not unlike Aerial’s, and forgotten.

In that vein and to avoid having to be rescued by a prince, my first solo album, recorded live in one short, albeit late, sitting. Just like cranking through detailed documents, some things are best left to the quietest hours of midnight-1. I hope you enjoy and welcome your feedback. While the album is done, I’ve come to realize that songs live on.

See my previous post on writing a song a day for lyrics to one of the songs included on this album, Amber.

The post Living Room Midnight Songs by Juellez – my NaSoAlMo experience & live album appeared first on Jewels.

The first time I attempted this feat, I ended up writing 4 songs, 2 of which I spent considerable amount of time re-working after the fact. This time, I only wrote 2 — and only put 1 to music. (Full disclosure: I’d like to share an excuse for why I only got to 2, but that’s silly. Part of sharing is to keep myself honest, share the journey and ditch perfection.)

I’ve been writing nearly ever day since Sept with only 7 missed days (and I’d venture to guess the actual count is less since I sometimes write after midnight, like now). Mornings tend to be free-writes and evenings tend to be processing and recapping my day. The gist of writing a song a day is similar: just write.

Give yourself permission to write something stupid, banal, off the cuff, spontaneous, detailed, meticulous, dopy, serious, whatever-the-heck-you-feel. Part of this is for the muscle and the practice. Part of this is so you have material to whittle at later. What keeps coming back to you in the shower? Or waiting in line at the grocery store?

Another quick parallel: now, when I travel, I give myself permission to take the tourist photos. I know that to get the intimate shots I love, I need to get the other stuff out of my system. Daily writing can be an equivalent of getting the pretty, food and sunset porn photos out of your system so you can catch the out of the ordinary.

Day 3 Song “Harvests Moon”

Writing Prompt: Harvest Moon as the title. Kicker: start in a key most difficult for you.

she harvests moon beams for the seller of suns
harpooning narwhals carrying daymares, bucking sons
of giants carting fireballs across galaxies, across skies
while she drowns quietly, hair spiraling, eyes open wide

Can you see her in your dreams?
Calling quietly, singing longingly?
Can you hear her in the wind?
Calling softly, singing sadly?

Mythical creatures, mystical features
never crease, never cease to teach her
The history of where we were born
The history of the sea swallowed unicorn

I wonder who even listens to lyrics
Is the art of life one of thought or empirics?
Empires were built on less than this idea
From  before all legends, mages and Pangea

Nevertheless, I will sing to she who
Harvests moon beams for the balu
Harpooning narwhals narry to marry,
tusking all who fuss with me
Joisting for attention

Day 5 Song “Amber”

Writing Prompt: “She is hard and hollow like a fallen tree” — use that as a starting point.
Guitar: Capo 2 | Dm, F, hammer on C (middle), E (middle off) / Am, Key of Gm

hard and hollow
like a fallen tree
you and me,
we're hard to follow
like a shooting star
we have far to fall
hard and sallow
turned to amber beads
if truth is what you seek
it's hard to swallow
and it has yet to set me free
...
[am] vulnerability is an [e] ability to ache,
an invitation to pain,
a mystery of mastery,
a frequency of agency,
a healthy rage,
[dm] a wealthy mage
for all the ages
...
hard and hollow
like a fallen tree
you and me, we're
hard to follow,
like a shooting star
we have far to fall.
hard and sallow,
turned to amber beads,
if truth is what you seek
you best not seek it from me.
it's hard to swallow
and it won't set you free

The post How to Write a Song a Day with bonus new songs “Amber” + “Harvests Moon” appeared first on Jewels.

It’s been 2 years (not counting the Feb draft I’m publishing now) and I don’t feel like talking about the time that’s passed. I’m currently overnighting in Brugge, Belgium. I’ve recently picked up a new-to-me guitar and decided to give it a whirl by playing a new-to-me song by Florence and the Machine.

A little over a week ago, I made a commitment to push myself into my growth’s edge by recording a new song or acro/aerial trick every week and sharing it. No getting it just right. No perfection. Just action. g-u-l-p

It seemed fitting, then, to take the opportunity to break my silence with song and share in my own space.

Added 9/24: Working on an original with the working title, Bodies Don’t Lie. (Update 10/20: Can’t wait to record an update on this as it’s getting closer.)

Added 10/20: Cover of Elephant Revival’s Sing to the Mountain

https://soundcloud.com/jewel-mari/sunday-jam-singtothemountain

Learned a new song to practice mandolin and harmony. Even to get a rough cut was tricky, because something on my mobile recording setup was creating a delay when listening to the main track while trying to record a second track — as I wanted mandolin/vocals as my “base” and then to play over it when guitar/harmony. To try and combat the delay, I played with a metronome but that didn’t help me drown out the base track which I needed to know when everything began … so I decided to scratch the mobile recording and start from scratch on my laptop. I started with a metronome and a count-in, so I could start strumming on count 1, making it much easier to record additional tracks. Practice tips for next time: it pays to figure out my bpm and key before recording.

The post Silence, Growth’s Edge, Sky Full of Songs (Updated) appeared first on Jewels.

1. Ask a friend to record you, stealthily. People asked me to go live on Facebook and since I was already dangerously close to puking, I couldn’t handle the thought, let alone plan it. Luckily, a friend thought to record each of my songs, from a phone in his pocket. He then sent me the files, privately. Like a PRO. He let me decide what and if I wanted to share. Had some remote friends and family not asked to listen, I would have kept them private. But if you do share, you can use them as motivation to keep practicing.

2. Listen back. Holy moly this is almost as hard as playing. At least my nausea came back. But once I got over the nerves, I realized I could learn a lot from these by listening for that gap between what the audience heard and what I thought I played. So it’s not about what I’m hearing in the recordings – it’s lining that up against what I remembered. So listen the next day.

3. Avoid soda water and other carbonated beverages several hours beforehand. I was paranoid about burping while singing. It happens at home aaallll the time. But I’m happy to report my first set was burp-free.

4. Strategize your set list. If you can, squeeze in a shout, holler, yell, belting song up front. Or do 20 jumping jacks in the bathroom right before. I did NOT do these things and my first 2 songs were strained and off-key. I was soooo nervous. I did some voice warmups on my ride over to the venue, but that didn’t combat my nerves. When planning my set list, I thought I’d need a few mellow songs to warm up + I picked my weakest songs … Thinking I’d be warming up and folks would still be trickling in. Talk to other musicians and learn more about how they plan a list. I’m definitely going to do that before I try again.

5. Practice your banter at home. Don’t mumble. Don’t race. Silence is OK.

6. Practice with a PA/amp and headphones at home to get used to hearing yourself as others will hear you.

7. Start slower than you think you should. If you’re nervous, you’ll likely race through a song, thinking you paced it perfectly. Or, since I didn’t try it, I’ll practice with a metronome and see if there’s an app that can vibrate to a beat I can try while playing.

Photos from friends, https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiDLDcArB_/?igshid=kyq23e99di6t

Set on SoundCloud, https://soundcloud.com/jewel-mari/sets/live-at-barrio

The post Singer songwriter tips for that first gig appeared first on Jewels.

1. It’s very well organized. So well that unless you take the time to think about the wizardry, you wouldn’t need to because it was such smooth sailing. Despite a minor inconvenience of having no potable water at the main stage (thus requiring a brief hike back to the water station by the bridge), the layout and physical logistics were superbly thought out and designed. Talent hiccups were well handled and schedule adjusted smoothly. Entering the festival over a wooden suspension bridge set magical expectations and the planning committee delivered on the magic.

I’m confident that this year’s experience will inform next year’s decisions, thus making next year only better. (To which point I’ll be curious to see how they handle the pack-in-pack-out theme + plastic cups used for sale of alcohol after the kanteens ran out.)

If you enjoy being close to the main stage, bring a sun shade, umbrella or straw hat.

2. Scenic with room to explore. I may have mentioned the suspension bridge in #1 and it’s worth mentioning again as it served as a gateway to a beautiful park of trails and refreshing river. I definitely don’t feel like I did all the exploring I can do in the area and am excited to return with hiking shoes and kayaks.

3. Lo-fi. Even though most folks had reliable cell phone coverage and the ability to post, tweet, share and play on the internet, most didn’t or kept it to a minimum. I was stoked to find the glow in the audience during Helio Sequence due to regular, old fashioned pocket lighters and not cell phones. On the old fashioned front, I even spotted folks using film cameras. I can’t wait to see the picts. (I’m attributing this to a mix of having a Friday start with minimal options to recharge devices and the power of nature to help us unwind.)

4. (A Tie) Amazing Vendors + Awesome Graphic Design. Even though I packed in what I needed for the weekend, I couldn’t help but accept a bite of the famed Gyros. As delicious as were rumored. A root beer garden, ModCloth tent, stylish merch and other vendors were conveniently placed yet not overwhelming or detracting from the scenery (see #2).

5. (Another Tie) It’s inexpensive and conveniently close to Portland. And the lineup was a good balance of folks I’d seen before and jaw dropping newcomers I’m excited to add to my library.

Extra: Today is Day 14, Post 12 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene. 

The post Why you should check out Timber! Fest Next Year appeared first on Jewels.

While I had a few queued posts about my past week at OSCON rising, my baby brother, Jake, surprised me by strumming up a rendition of Of Monsters and Men’s “Little Talks.” It, of course, kicked off a family band session including some beat box slide whistle (all Jake) and inspired my morning serenades on the (never annoying) squeeze box.

Don’t be fooled. I am not a great musician. I have no aspirations of starting a touring band or creating an album. I do love making music however, even if I’m not well versed in other people’s music. This typically involves me either spontaneously living in my own personal musical, pulling the high school flute out of retirement, futzing around on my girlfriend’s keyboards or adapting someone else’s song for my own technical abilities.

My lack of skill (rooted in my lack of practice) is why I get so darned excited when one of my brothers, my parents or my sister is around and we can play Family Band for a while. With the exception of Jake, James & Jenni, we’re fabulously mediocre. Lucky for me, they’re also well versed in other people’s music, making it much easier to relate to others around a campfire, at a party, and so on. What that means for me is that I get a new song I can add to my playlist for when I’m solo. I love it, as I’m solo a lot.

One thing that getting older does is affords us more time to spend on those activities we love, getting better at those things we love. A challenge I’ve long had is the … determination … ? … to focus on one thing long enough to pass mediocre. Sometimes I wonder if I’d want to do things differently and try a rotation through my many passions and risk missing out on all the tryings of new things. (I will come back to this in a future entry.)

I also love that our default activity when getting together is rooted in making something together. That something isn’t always music. Home repairs and yard projects likely top the list, followed by music, fun, movies and food. And when we’re not making, we’re playing games, taking walks and retreating into our own quiet spaces.

As I prepare for a weekend of music, including a brother-sister duo Noah Gundersen, I know this is not all families and that not all Family Bands are for everyone. Still, they are great for a few nights.

Extra: Today is Day 12, Post 10 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene. // Despite going dark for a few days while I was working OSCON, I plan on sharing those insights after I’ve had time to decompress and bounce back from getting car sick trying to blog and ride.

The post Family Band appeared first on Jewels.

Here’s a few of my favorites from the event which I shot on a Nikon F3 with Ilford Delta 3200, a trusty Ikoflex before the sun went down and a Cannon 2Ti with some borrowed lenses which were very hard to give back (a 1.2 fixed 50mm plastic lens and a 3.5 zoom wide angle). A few things learned about shooting a stage and dark room full of people:

• Setting -2 EV on the digital allowed me to trick the light meter and get the exposures I wanted while still picking up detail in the shadows.
• Setting -2 EV on the film camera did not.
• When shooting for an event, vs for fun, I need to move around more. It’s fine and dandy to zone out and enjoy the music but if I don’t move, my pictures don’t, either.

The full event by pictures can be found @ Flickr along with info on who’s who. Enjoy and don’t forget to check out the event next year.

Rock Against Alzhiemer’s in Pictures

The post Rock Against Alziemer’s 2011: Not to be forgotten appeared first on Jewels.