Greetings!
I have to say I'm one of the lucky ones, my band Native Souls, is a wonderful mesh of experienced musicians and singers. My best friend and I began as a singing duo dubbed "The Shanty Lasses" and she is truly a bard out of time! She hears music all the time and has the uncanny ability to create, finish, and/or polish lyrics on her own or in collaboration with myself. When we added our third (and first male) member to the group, we changed names and have never looked back. Our third, Mr. Doug Russell, is a talented folk singer/writer in his own stead and has been gracious enough to collaborate with the both of us. When we were joined by a husband and wife duo, the music and magic literally exploded! We've a range of songs from 100% kids songs such as Mr. Russell's "I Want to Be" to our latest group number of "In the Vardo" (which is still in the works). Now the challenge is to find better and more diverse venues for my group than has been afforded us via the Renaissance Festival circuit here in the lower Mid-West (Ok, Ks, Mo, Ark) and to juggle gig dates around everyone's work schedules (only 1 member is retired!).
I have found that music and lyrics flow best when not constrained by deadlines, specific structures/strictures of lyrics, and a general "stressed-out" environment. We all carry pen and paper with us so if the inspiration strikes us, we can capture it. Now to ensure we have digital recorders to capture the music that hits us like that as well!
I look forward to a further and fuller discussion on this topic!
Until then, best regards Kittye
|