What do avocados and white wine have in common?
White wine, avocados and some other things I’ve changed my mind about…..
Hello Lovely Reader,
Can you think of a thing that you’ve completely changed your mind on from pro to con or vice versa? What made you change your mind?
Here’s a few things that are on my list;
Malcolm Gladwell
Avocados
White wine
Jazz
Misty mints
Vodka cranberry
Yoga
Some of these I went changed from for to against and some I went the other way. Can you guess which?
Another thing I have done a 180° on is performing completely on my own. This used to terrify me. I don’t play guitar or piano very well and so I fretted about how I would accompany myself. (I’ll note here that if I spent half as much time actually just practising either instrument as I did worrying about it and trying to avoid it, it wouldn’t be a problem anymore but that’s neither here nor there). I also love collaboration and the act of being present in the moment with other music makers and couldn’t imagine not having that. If I am honest though, the main reason I haven’t done this before is that I harbour a fear that whatever I did on my own wouldn’t be good enough. Have you felt that before?
There’s a lot of research out there as to why human beings change their minds. I find this interesting for a variety of reasons. So many of our beliefs are rooted in the stories we tell ourselves and the only way to change minds is to change our own narratives with emotions and or facts.
I changed my mind about the things on my list because of a few factors. This included research and statistics (Gladwell - why does he use so few women in his examples?), changing tastes (avocados), trying better quality (white wine) - let’s count that as more research, overdoing it and creating an unfavourable association (misty mints, vodka cran) and gaining a better understanding and appreciation of the art form (jazz). I also needed emotional confirmation, a positive association, a sense of belonging and endorphin related rush (yoga).
I needed to change my own mind about playing solo. So what did I do? I experimented. I researched the best looping pedals and tried them all. I watched videos of Andrew Bird and Zoë Keating playing and studied the layers. I asked the brilliant Kevin Fox for advice and a lesson. I rented many different effects pedals from Long and McQuade and returned them when they didn’t serve the framework I imagined or when I overdid the sound atmosphere and it overshadowed my song interpretation. I discovered the Big Sky pedal while watching Aysanabee perform at Folk Alliance (thanks Evan!) and then added that to my arsenal.
I broke down my own songs and folk songs and figured out their architecture and learned to appreciate how to reconstruct them with the fiddle and the sonic tools I had chosen.
I nervously shared with some industry pals that I was going to start doing some solo shows and they were not only supportive but also offered me some opportunities to play. (Thanks Tim! Thanks Cara and JD!) I’d say this got me to a 150 degree turn.
So I have done all that but now the biggest challenge remains. How can I believe that this could be enough? And that’s where you come in!
I am performing 2 shows next week supporting The Small Glories. I’ll be in Paris, Ontario on April 20th at the Dominion Telegraph and at the Paradise Theatre in Toronto on April 23rd (Shakespeare’s Birthday!) alongside some other pals, Madison Violet.
I would love to see you and play my new and old-reinvented music for you! I want to feel the emotional confirmation that I can do this and that as I rebuild my musical practice in this way, my skills plus my imagination ARE enough. I require the positive, endorphin related rush that creating ephemeral music with an audience can bring. I need your help to make a full 180 degree change.
If you can’t make these shows, I am hopeful that by simply doing them, feeling that connection I have missed and gaining the confidence I may have never had before, I will do more. Not only that but I’ve fallen quite in love with my violin again and I’m excited about the singing this new musical scaffold is allowing me so I am demoing new songs with this framework in mind that I can’t wait to share.
There couldn’t be a better time for metamorphosis than spring and so I wish you all my very best transformation greetings and I hope to see and or hear from you soon! I’d love to know what you’ve changed your mind about and why!
xo,
Miranda
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