Hiatus

My husband and I recently purchased our first home. Thank you, thank you very much.

Before you get delusions of grandeur, you must know it’s a total fixer-upper.  Thus, my time lately has been spent more at Home Depot than in my music studio.  Trying to do both has almost made my brain explode.

Therefore, I am taking a hiatus until our home is finished and we move into it at the end of February.  I might even show you progress photos of my new music studio if you’re patient.

This means my album will be behind schedule a bit, but if it means a more happy less-stressed me, than I am okay with that and hope you are too. And when I re-emerge, I promise I will have lots to share, including a brand new website, news about new music videos, new music, and more.

Ciao for now!

What I’ve Learned.

Well here we are – the beginning of a brand new year.

I know many of you are working on new years resolutions, goals, and trying to find ways to make 2012 an awesome year for you.  I can surely lump myself in with the rest of you as I’m personally working on many goals this year as well.  On the music front – I have a new album coming out this year, I’ll be shooting my first music video, and I’ll also be working on several collaborations with a few other incredibly talented artists.

But I’ve also been looking back too.  Mostly, I’ve been thinking a lot about where I am now compared to 2006 when I was recording my first album, “Key of Sea” (which was released at the beginning of 2007).  What have I learned?  What am I still learning, and what do I want to learn?

While I realize that compared to many other seasoned veterans in the music industry, I am still just an infant.  Okay, maybe not an infant. How about a toddler. I can say that, right? — That I’ve graduated from infancy and am now into the toddler stage of my career.  Anyway, my POINT is that while I may not have experienced all that I am to experience, or learned all that I am to learn – I do feel that I have learned a great deal coming from where I was to begin with.  And if I had known an artist in 2006 who could have shed this insight with me then, I know I would have really appreciated it.

So, for what it’s worth, here are my gems of information – things I’ve learned from being in the music business these past 6 years.  If you are an artist just starting out, maybe you should read this.

What I’ve Learned.  And I’ll be blunt…

1.  Patience.  This encompasses so much that I’m not sure I can fit it all into once paragraph.  I’ll try.  First off, you need to have patience with the amount of time it takes for your music to get “out there”.  They say that you can’t judge how well an album has done until it’s been on the market for 2 years.  If after 2 years, you still haven’t sold more than 10 CDs…well…then there you go. Maybe it wasn’t your best work.  But if you just released it 2 months ago, don’t give up.  You have a lot of marketing still to do.

2.  You might be good, but let’s just settle down for a second. You might think that your first album is going change the world, sell millions, and win a Grammy award, but chances are, it probably won’t.  It doesn’t mean that you aren’t talented.  It just means you need to build your fan base and keep working harder.   And those Grammy awards are not always about how talented you are, but about who you know.  I know you didn’t want to hear that, but it’s true.

3.  Don’t hit that Upload button just yet.  You just wrote a new song, and you’re so excited about it and you want to share it with everyone on Facebook!!!  Don’t.  Trust me.  Don’t do it.  Reason #1 – if you give all the milk away, nobody is going to buy the cow.  Reason #2 – It has taken me a lot of mistakes and time and experience to learn that my work gets so, so, so much better with age.  A little percolating.  Let your songs sit for a bit and then come back and listen to them.  I guarantee you will either find mistakes, or ways to make it ten times better.  And this doesn’t just go for Facebook or youtube, or what have you.  Don’t share your work unless it’s something you can absolutely feel 100% proud of, because once it’s out there – it’s no longer your own.  Now the world owns it.  And you’d better make darn sure that it’s the final version you want the world to know.  When I am working on my own songs, it takes me an average of 6 months per song to be finalized – and that is on the speedy end.  I will compose it, let it sit, then come back to it, make changes (while recording it in the process so I can play it back and listen to it).  Once I have a final composition I’m happy with, then I’ll record the piano part.  Then I’ll start adding orchestration to it, let it sit for a while, come back to it, change it up, edit, add/change parts, let it sit some more, etc.  Perfection is a process of refinement.  Don’t rush it.

4.  Do It YOUR Way.  A lot of the recording process is accomplished quite often by the means of networking, who you know, who you are referred to because you know someone else who used that person and yadda yadda yadda.  Listen, just because your friend used so-and-so to record his album, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to as well.  This isn’t about them, it’s about you and your music and what your vision is for it.  I spent the last YEAR (or more) looking for an audio engineer that could achieve a certain sound I was looking for.  I received plenty of referrals from musician friends of engineers they had used and raved about.  It took a lot of interviewing, testing, emailing and more to finally find someone who was just what I was looking for.  And I had to go outside my normal realm of networking to find him.

5.  Be Choosy.  If you really care about your music, your career, and the quality of what you put out, then you need to be choosy with every decision you make.  I’m not saying this to sound like I’m stuffy.  All I’m saying is, say, if your friend offers to build you a website as a trade for free CDs – that’s awesome.  But if it doesn’t turn out how you want it to and reflects badly on you and your professionalism, then get it done right.  Build your professional relationships with people you can trust and depend on, and if you have to change something up, hopefully it’s with someone whom you won’t lose a friendship over for doing so.

6.  More patience.  I’ve mentioned patience right?  Well I’ll say it again.  It is far better to put out the best quality you can, over the most quantity.  It is better to look forward in hope rather than behind you with regret.  You can’t force creativity or it’s going to actually sound like it’s fake and forced.  Dig deep.  Don’t sell yourself short.  And work hard.  Work hard some more, and then some more.

7.  You are capable of much more than you think you are.  Just like how the human body is capable of achieving way more when under pressure (or under a physical trainer), your mind is capable of much more than you think.  You have not hit your creative cap, and I don’t think you ever will. You will always be learning and growing and evolving in your art.

So there you have it. My words of wisdom.  Take what you will from it.

Christmas Family Videos

Here is a little glimpse into what our Christmas was like…

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The Most Important Aspect of Performing

Being a musician is a very physically demanding art. While having good technical skill to master hard music is great, if you don’t have control of your body to accomplish the most important aspect of performance – the emotion – your performance will not be so unlike a computer generated version.

The best performers out there are great not because they are masters of hard music, but because they have learned to exercise exceptional CONTROL of their body; when to hold a pause 2 seconds longer before lifting their hands from the keyboard, how to train the muscles in their hands to do perfectly spaced 32nd notes, and how to not rush a fast song, how to control a vibrato, and how to steady that bow on a string and hold it until the very last drop of sound fades into the air.

Want to be an extraordinary performer? Learn absolute fine-tuned body control. Muscle training through strengthening and condition. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but perfect practice does.

Video Interview with Audio Engineer Rob Beaton

HMMA Recap

I just returned to a sub-zero freezing Seattle from a weekend in sunny Hollywood, where I attended the Hollywood Music in Media Awards as a Nominee for “Best Song” in the Classical/Orchestral Genre.

My #1 fan, Will (my husband), joined me on the trip and we left our two boys (ages 1 and 3) with my parents for the weekend.  It was a much needed vaca for the both of us, in which we were able to tie in with the awards as well.

Since this red carpet/awards show was a first for me, I thought I would give you a behind-the-scenes report on how it went, what I thought of it, and would I do it again?  Find out….

What to Wear…

Of course, before this event ever took place, I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out what to wear to this shin-dig.  I wanted to stay classy, chic, but at the same time not look too overly formal or out of place.

I can honestly say that I went through probably hundreds of dresses  both online and in stores, trying them on, etc before finally settling on this Adrianna Pappell black dress.  I have to thank the two talented stylists that helped me – Shannon Abbott, and Noelle Jensen.

There was definitely a wide variety of dress at this event – from tuxedos, jeans, totally weird outfits that Lady Gaga probably would have worn, to classy dresses, to completely skanky hooker wear.  Thankfully I’m proud to say I was not part of the hooker category.  Not that I would ever wear something like that anyway, I felt a bigger desire to dress appropriate for someone in the Classical genre.

Here is a photo of me with the Kodak Theater Complex in the background, more specifically The Highlands where the awards took place. By the way, you should be able to click on any of these photos to enlarge them.

The Red Carpet…

One of my biggest anxieties about this event was the fact that there was a red carpet before the awards where I would have to walk, be photographed, and interviewed by TV cameras.

I can’t say that I was nervous for this, but just anxious about how I would look, worried about tripping and falling, or having an unsightly clothing mishap.  Thankfully none of those things happened.

This is Will and I waiting in line for the red carpet.  You see the “red carpet only” sign above the door. At that point, we were forced to split up – as Will headed to the VIP lounge while I walked the red carpet.  The only people allowed in the red carpet area were presenters, nominees, and press.

I was able to talk to several artists waiting in line for me, find out where they were from and what they were nominated for.  There definitely was a huge variety – from pop artists, hip-hop, instrumental, and more.  The group of gents directly behind me were instrumental nominees that came all the way over from Turkey.

Once I got on the red carpet, the bright lights were everywhere and I really couldn’t see much. I could hear photographers saying “Jennifer, look here”, or “Jennifer, turn this way and smile”.  I just tried to follow the direction of the voices and smile at whoever told me to.

Since we were there a bit late and the show had already begun, the interviewers stopped and went inside for the show.  I was actually quite relieved that I didn’t have to do any live interviews.  I was so thirsty and parched, I don’t think I would have spoken eloquently at all let alone be able to think on the spot for an interesting interview whatsoever.

I also forgot to mention that at this point I had been standing in line in high heels for about  2 hours and my feet were starting to kill me.  I just wanted to sit down.

The Awards…

The Awards show itself was definitely far, far, far from what we were expecting.

Obviously I have watched The Oscars and The Grammy Awards on TV many times and have seen what goes on. So in my mind that is sort of what I was expecting.  Well to be more accurate about this particular awards show, you have to throw out prior expectations and simply expect the opposite.

In a word, I would say it was disorganized and a little weird.

There was no where to sit unless you had purchased a VIP banquet table seat, so except for that there was standing room only.  So the entire place was filled with artists and nominees standing around, walking, etc.  There were 3 separate floors where you could “hang out”.  Each floor had a bar where you could order drinks, and occassionally there were people walking around offering appetizers.  This was great, however, from these exterior balconies and “hang out spots”, you couldn’t hear or see the awards show.  So you had to pay attention for when your category came up to be sure you didn’t hear your name called.

It was a mixture of “Ouch my feet are killing me and I just want to sit down” to “I can’t sit down because if I do, I might miss them announcing my genre and award category”.  So really, at the end of the night, we mostly spent our time standing.  I think I had about 4 blisters on both of my feet.

Did I Win?

I am certainly not one to “toot my own horn”, but when it came to this awards show I honestly thought I had a pretty good chance of winning. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of other very talented and well-qualified artists for sure.  But I just thought my own particular song was very fresh and edgy and would have caught the attention of the judges more than some of the others.

However, I did not win.  An opera singer who came all the way over from Sweden won the Classical/Orchestral award. She was very beautiful and well-spoken. I am happy for her, for certain.  I am perfectly happy for her and have no qualms whatsoever. She was beautiful and sang very nicely as well.  And I thought her comment when she accepted her award was really funny, “I’d like to thank my husband who let me spend all of our money on my recent album”. Haha how true that is…

The After-After Part

After the awards show, there was a big “after party”.  We chose to not attend, because quite honestly, the entire awards show felt more like a party instead of an awards show and frankly we had no desire to be on our feet for another few hours for yet another party.

So we left and at midnight, was finally able to eat some food for the first time in about 6 hours.

Would I Do This Again?

To be honest, probably not. Yes the whole thing was a great experience, and I do feel honored that someone out there thought my music was great enough to be nominated for this award. But unless by some miracle my music gets nominated in the future for something with a little more prestige and organization, I probably won’t do this again. At least this particular awards show.  Again, don’t get me wrong, I am glad that I went, but it wasn’t all that it seemed to be hyped up to be.  The amount of money we invested in the trip didn’t really turn the best value for our buck.

A big part of the reason I wanted to go to this was to be able to network, meet other people and artists, etc. And I can honestly say that that did not really happen.  Most of the people at this event were in a completely different genre than myself – the kind who are looking to expose themselves for record deals and whatnot.  That is not what I am looking for.  I don’t want to be signed to any record label, and am not looking to “expose” myself, per se. Well, yes I want my music out there, but I suppose this route wasn’t what I was really hoping for. What I did hope for though, was a chance to meet other artists in the LA area that I could learn from, perhaps sit in on recording sessions, gain knowledge from their experience and expertise.  And I really did not meet anyone like this at this event.  We also attended an “industry mixer” the following night, and again, it was not really anything that would have benefited me and so we left early and caught a late showing of “In Time” at the Chinese Theater.

One worthwhile part of the trip though, is I did get to visit my audio engineer (a.k.a. “audio stylist”), Rob Beaton, at his home studio in Los Angeles.  I got to talk with him for a couple of hours and listen to some stellar tracks he was mixing of some orchestral/choir works that were recorded at Abbey Road in London.  That was definitely a lot more exciting to me than the false Hollywood atmosphere at the awards show.

The Best Part…

…was really the time that I got with my husband.  Being the parents of two energetic boys who are 3 and under takes a lot of energy. TOTALLY worth it and we love them ever so much (and I missed them tons while we were gone!), but having the time with Will was so worth the entire trip.  It’s nice to know that despite all the fame, fortune, and success you can have in the world…what REALLY matters is family.

Here is a video recap from my trip.  Enjoy!

FREE Sheet Music – “Old Movie Romance”

I finally, finally, finally just put the very first song I ever wrote into sheet music form.  It was tucked and buried in a box of old music stuff never to be found – but alas, I found it.  I must say my composing penmanship was quite remarkable then – every note is so very clear.  Now it seems like my manuscripts are scribbles as I write so much faster these days.

In honor of me finally notating this song, please enjoy the free download! Just click the link below.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Final Day of Famous Musician Week: Hilary Hahn, Michael Hoppe

Today is the last and final day of Famous Musician Week.  I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my little stories of how I met these various musicians over the years. It is always both motivational and inspirational to meet someone who has acheived great things in their life – particularly when they are in the same line of work as you. I certainly do not compare myself to these superstars in the least, but I know that we all have something to offer the world and I hope that through the small contribution my music has made that I have provided a little inspiration to some aspiring musician out there.

The question remains, who are some famous musicians that I would still love to meet one day?  I do have a few that I would love to meet, but would hate to jinx my luck so I’ll keep that answer to myself.

I have two more musicians that I wanted to tell you about today - violinist Hilary Hahn, and composer Michael Hoppe.

To be honest, I don’t have a killer story to share about Hilary Hahn.  I did meet her in Seattle at a small record store when she released her Mozart Concertos album.  She is probably my favorite violinist.  I love her technique, her sound, her style.  And I also love that she is a writer.  If you go to her website, she has an extensive journal that she’s kept while on the road for the past 15 years or so.  She has definitely provided a lot of inspiration to me and I thank her for that.

One of my favorite movie soundtracks is “The Village” (by composer James Newton Howard).  Hilary Hahn was the featured violinist on the music. It is hauntingly beautiful.  That is the CD that I brought with me to have her autograph.  While she was busy autographing everyone else’s Mozart CDs, she was very excited to see me bring The Village CD to sign.  She was extremely interested in knowing my opinion of it, and told me that she had the most wonderful time recording that soundtrack and it was one of her favorite experiences.

Michael Hoppe…

 

I’m not certain that everyone knows who Michael Hoppe is, but he is a brilliant composer from England, who now lives in Portland, Oregon.  He is a GRAMMY nominated composer who’s music is heard on networks like HBO, Oprah Winfrey, and also Michael Moore’s documentary films.  He has recorded several works with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and well, his music is beautiful.

I first heard Michael’s music when I was in college.  Someone gave me a CD of his as a gift.  The album was called “Afterglow”.  The music was a mixture of piano, solo cello, and rain/thunder.  The music was so peaceful. I would listen to it often while I studied, and also to remind me of the rain in the northwest as I was often quite homesick.  It is the type of music that you would light a thousand candles to and take a bubble bath, to be quite honest.

The CD had remained a favorite of mine for years.

After I released Key of Sea in early 2007, I received an email from music reviewer Kathy Parsons, who had reviewed my CD earlier that year.  She told me that she had just had lunch with Michael Hoppe and they ended up talking about me. She asked me if I knew who Michael Hoppe was, and I said ”Yes of course! I love his music!”  I don’t remember exactly in detail what she said after that, but the gist of the conversation was that Michael had listened to my music and insisted (in an English accent if you can imagine it) that “She must enter her album into the Grammies this year and I will help with the process, if needed”.

Now at that time, I was completely new to the whole music scene and someone putting my name in the same sentence wtih Grammy Awards of course about made my eyes pop out of their sockets.  BUT, before you get excited, you should know that anyone who has a membership in the Recording Academy can enter their album into the Grammy Awards.  So really, it’s not that special. It is special, however, if you go on to receive a nomination. But just to enter your album – not a big deal.  But at the time, I thought it was a huge huge deal.  And it WAS, in particular, to have someone like Michael Hoppe say that about my music.

Over the next week, I spent quite a few phonecalls with Michael talking about my music, the Grammy entrance process, Etc.  I remember him asking me how I did my strings/orchestration on my album.  I told him that I used a mixture of sampled strings as well as my own violin playing to get an authentic sound.  He said he thought it was brilliant.  I gleamed.

Michael Hoppe was on the Grammy board that year, and so it was hoped that with his recommendation my CD would make it into the right hands – as the deadline for submissions was literally days away and we weren’t sure if my album would make it in time.  After an extraordinary amount of overnight postage paid, my album did in fact make it into the hands of someone at the Recording Academy.  However, it was rejected because my Recording Academy membership was brand new (I applied for it at the same time I submitted my album).  Apparently, you have to of been a member by or before a deadline that was 3 months prior. There were no exceptions.

A Friendship Had Begun…

Since that whirlwind Grammy submission process that ended in ultimate failure, my friendship with Michael Hoppe ended up quite the opposite.  We stayed in contact and developed a friendship of mutual admiration and respect for each others talents, but still had not ever met in person.

A while after that, I got an email from Michael inviting me to a special Seattle PBS taping of his music.  My husband was unable to attend with me, and so I invited my good friend Erika Nisbet (as mentioned in my previous entry). I thought she would in particular enjoy the experience since Michael’s guest artist was a soprano and that was Erika’s area of speciality as well.

We arived at the PBS studios the evening of the recording, and attended a special cocktail party beforehand.  I was almost 5 months pregnant at the time with my first baby, and I remember being frustrated because I was absolutely starving and all they were serving were fancy soft cheeses – none of which a pregnant woman can eat!  So I filled up on fancy carbonated fruit drinks and tried to ignore my growling pregnant tummy.

It was a very small intimate audience of about 30 people – all of whom were specially invited by Michael.  The concert was lovely, and I really enjoyed seeing how they filmed everything.  If there was a mess-up during the song, they would just record the song over again until it was perfect.  I also got many ideas on how to better mic my own violin as there was a solo violinist that performed that evening and her violin sounded amazing with the amount of reverb they put on it.  And when the big studio cameras got right up in my face for audience shots, I tried very very hard to not look at them.  That is not easy to do by the way.

After the concert was over, everyone went up to talk to Michael. I stood in line and waited my turn as each person went through and told him what an amazing job he did and how talented his soloists were, etc.

While I was waiting in line, I remember standing next to a woman who, I honestly cannot remember her name, but she was some big to-do musician from the Seattle area.  I introduced myself to her because she looked very familiar to me, and I thought perhaps she was one of my musical friends on MySpace (this was when MySpace was really huge for musicians). To my shock, she was incredibly rude to me. I suppose she thought that she was too big and famous to be talking to me, or perhaps I insulted her when I asked her if she knew me from online?  Who knows.  She gave me daggers for a look, and literally physically looked down at me and did a guesture of disgust that I was even trying to talk to her.  The funny thing about it all, was I still had no idea who she was and yet she thought she was pretty high and mighty.

Right after our fun little conversation, Grammy award winning musician Nancy Rumbel came out (she had performed with Michael that night).  I knew Nancy from when she recorded on my mom’s album earlier that year, and in fact Nancy is responsible for getting me into composing in the first place.  We saw each other and she came right over and started talking to me, asking me how my mom was, how my music was going, and other things.  The other woman, who had earlier, been so incredibly rude to me just stood there watching us talk and I think she was a bit baffled that Nancy and I knew each other.

And then right after that, Michael Hoppe saw me and said “Jennifer!” and grabbed me for a hug. He put his hand on my small pregnant belly and asked how the baby was and we laughed and talked for several minutes.  He was the first person to ever feel my belly and so I have to say it was a little bit weird, but whatever!  All the while, this other famous music rude lady was watching me and had this astonished look on her face.  My friend Erika got a kick out of it and I think she was trying to not laugh.

I am still friends with Michael these days and what a treasure that friendship is.

As for the “rude famous lady”, whoever she was, I personally do not think there is ever call for someone to treat other people like that.  No matter how big and famous you are, or might think you are, it does not make you better than anyone else.  And that is also the moral to all of these stories I’ve shared with you this week.  It’s so easy to be starstruck by famous people, musicians, or whatnot.  But when it comes down to it, they are just normal people like you and I who started somewhere and worked their way up to where they are now.  They have lives, families, and problems just like the rest of us.  Hopefully what we see though is the incredible inspiration of their hard work.

And with that, thus concludes Famous Musician Week.  Ciao!

Famous Musician Week: The Time I Met Luciano Pavarotti

Okay, I lied. I didn’t really meet Luciano Pavarotti, the greatest tenor of our time, but one of my very best friends did.  And so I asked her to write down her story (because it’s a rare one), and share it with all of you.

Those of you who are familiar with my debut album, Key of Sea, know that there is a song on there called O Mio Babbino Caro.  I realize that it is a huge contrast in style compared to the rest of the songs on the album, but the reason it found its way onto the CD is because even though I am a pianist, I am a lover of good vocal music.  The vocalist who sang on that song from my album, Erika Nisbet, is one of my very closest friends.

(This is Erika and I at the Renee Fleming concert with the Seattle Symphony)

I didn’t ask her to sing on the album because she was my friend though, but because she is one of the most talented opera singers I know.  If you could only hear her sing some of Mozart’s Arias, you would think you were floating on some magical cloud in a musical heaven.

This is Erika’s story of how she got to meet Pavarotti (twice) and sit on his knee.  I’m not joking.

A Lucky Chance Meeting

By Erika Nisbet

My friend Jennifer decided to share stories of famous people she met and asked if I would share a special story with you.  It was a one in a million chance meeting.

I graduated from the University of Washington in 2005 with a degree in Vocal Performance.  In the spring I auditioned for a Young Artist program to take place in Oregon, which I attended.  It was there where I met a very special, well known and talented lady by the name of Cynthia Lawrence.  She used to perform around the country as one of “The Three Sopranos” in the 90’s and around the world with other world famous performers (soon to be revealed), and has a resume that almost all performers would kill to have.  But, as you will see, she isn’t even the most famous person I have met.

I worked very hard that summer in the program and each of the performers were given time with different coaches.  Fortunately, I was given time to work with Cynthia on a one-on-one basis.  I had a breakthrough at that lesson and it became one of the most inspirational experiences I have had in music.   We formed a special connection and friendship that day.

Meeting Pavarotti for the First Time…

After the program was over, I kept in contact with Cynthia and she invited me out to Los Angeles for a lesson.  Little did I know how that lesson would change my life forever.  So I hopped on a plane to So. Cal excited for this great opportunity to work with one of the premier sopranos in opera once more.  The day of my lesson, she was rehearsing at the Disney Music Hall, and she informed me that there was someone else rehearsing that day as well – the world renowned Luciano Pavarotti.  I was excited, nervous, and could not believe my luck.

After she finished with her rehearsal, she approached me and the rest of her entourage and asked if any of us would like to meet him.  OF COURSE!!!!!  Nobody had to ask me twice.   Everyone else had met him on several occasions and insisted that I go alone.  Cynthia gave me special instructions to follow after his rehearsal: “When he is done, he moves quickly off stage so if you want to meet him, I will tell you when to move and you will need to quickly come down to the stage to meet him.”  Duh!   I would have ran a sprint if she asked.

The time came and I moved very quickly and we ran backstage to catch him.  There he was in a scooter from the Scooter Store.  Not really, but I thought I would try to be funny.  He had a double hip replacement several months back and that was why he was scootin’ around.

As I stood there, Cynthia reminded him of an earlier conversation regarding her voice student and he said, in his very Italian accent (try to imagine it), “Yes. Yes.  Where is she?”  She then introduced me, “This is my student, Erika.”  He then said, again in an Italian accent, “She is very tall and beautiful.“ He shook my hand and I froze…. All I could barely push out of my mouth was a soft “hi”.  He then asked me, “Is your voice as big as you are?”

I couldn’t respond… I heard what he said and I understood what he said, but nothing was coming out of my mouth.  I was star struck.  I could have kicked myself and nothing would have changed.  Cynthia then piped in and answered for me, “Oh definitely.” 

As he let go of my hand I was still a little frozen and excited and numb… his hand left and impression burned into my mind forever. His hand was so soft yet commanding – not strong and overpowering, but not weak and frail – it seemed just right and fit him well.    It was a moment that very few people ever get the chance to experience, to meet someone who is a house-hold name all over the world.  And to this day I can still imagine what that man’s hand feels like as he shook my hand.

Hollywood Bowl and Pavarotti, again…

If you think that this is the end of my story, I have a surprise, it’s not.  It was an impressive event, but there is more.

After rehearsal, Cynthia and I did our lesson, and it was the worst lesson I had ever had.  I think a combination of travel and being star struck by meeting the great Pavarotti ruined my true intention for the trip.  But not one regret!  Anyway, after the lesson we talked and she asked if I would like to come to the performance the next night at the Hollywood Bowl.   OFCOURSE!!!!!  Only a fool would have said no.

The next night came and I got dressed up in my best travel apparel.  A black rayon skirt from The Dress Barn and a stretchy leotard type shirt (not sure where I got it.  Target?   I don’t know…) along with my graduation jewelry from my Mother-in-Law.  The jewelry was definitely the most expensive thing on my body and my outfit cost less than $50 maybe $40.  (Like it really matters)  But I didn’t think it was going to be anything more than the typical comp tickets that a performer gives to their family and friends.  In my case usually the back row or up in the nose bleeds.

I get there and they hand me my tickets at Will Call and I proceed to walk up the hill to the back of the Bowl getting read y to take my seat in the grass.  I showed my tickets to the gentleman at the gate and he pointed down the hill for my tickets.  So I walked back down and was escorted to my seat four rows from the front of the stage.  WHAT!!!! These weren’t comp tickets.  I looked around and saw all of Hollywood sitting around me dressed in their expensive Dolce & Gabanna and there I was wearing The Dress Barn.   (Oh well!)

Just to give you a little idea of who was there, behind me was Tracey Ullman with an up and coming Tenor, and next to them was Cynthia Lawrence’s friends.  Next to me were the cutest old ladies and I wish I could tell you their names, but I was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.  Just kidding!  There were a lot of people I recognized, but I couldn’t tell you their names.  I almost ran into Cloris Leachman and in front of me off to my right was Garry Marshall.  I took pictures with my razor phone.  The performance was amazing and to know that I was there on Pavarotti’s Farewell Tour couldn’t have been better. Again, what luck!

After the performance, I started walking with Cynthia’s friends to the back stage area and bypassed all of the “big to dos” in Hollywood who didn’t have passes.  (Which was most of them.   Who’s got “the in” now, Hollywood?!  Woot!  Woot! LOL)

We went back stage and stood in line with Cynthia Lawrence to meet Mr. Pavarotti again.  In front of us, his nephew and his nephew’s girlfriend got pictures with Pavarotti.  We waited for a short period of time, and soon we were escorted into the room where the most famous man sat.  There we stood in that room while he sat in a chair wearing his famous black shirt and colorful scarf around his neck.

Cynthia asked if we could have a picture and he agreed as his PR guy said it was the last picture for the night.  He looked at Cynthia and asked where her student was and she turned his attention to me.  He smiled and said, in his Italian voice, “Why don’t you come sit down here” pointing to his right knee.

I heard he was a little bit of a charmer with women.  I thought that he was a little bit of a dirty old man myself, but in a really sweet way.  We took the picture and we all stood up.  He said a couple of things and I finally got my voice back, so I asked a few questions.  I don’t remember what I asked but it seemed like hours later when he finally finished talking.  And I don’t remember what he said, but I do remember he started telling us stories of himself and his experiences.

When we walked away, Cynthia turned to me and said, “He has never done that before.  In all my years of knowing him, he never just talks to anyone.  I wish I had a recorder to record what he said, because he really talked to us like we were friends.  I walked away feeling like this experience was almost better than my wedding day.  Almost…

It wasn’t long after my chance meeting with Pavarotti that I heard the solemn news that this super star performer had passed on.  The fact that I had met this great man really affected me and made me realize it was a really lucky opportunity.

Some would think after an experience like that, I would have been destined to do great things.  I was!   I am a stay at home mom who does a little data entry in the morning and sings daily to my boys.  It’s the most challenging job and the most exciting job.  And the memory of meeting one of the most famous people in the world before he died, is just that… a sweet, wonderful memory.

Famous Musician Week: The Time I Met Pearl Jam

So far, I’ve told you about my meetings with a few well known classical musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Josh Groban, and Lang Lang.  Well, that is not the case today.

Today I am going to tell you about how I met Pearl Jam.  You know, as in the popular 90′s band from Seattle, known for hits like “Better Man”, “Nothing As It Seems”, and “Black”.  http://www.pearljam.com/

Again, it was purely accidental…

With most of my experiences meeting musicians, it was in thanks to a job that I had with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.  And it is no different with this story.

As I’d said before, I worked in the Education Dpt for the Symphony where I got to teach people about musical instruments, perform on violin and piano all day long, and attend as many free concerts as I wanted to.  The section of the Hall where I worked was on the northwest corner of Benaroya Hall. We had our own little recital hall with a grand piano and an exterior entrance to 2nd avenue, just a block away from the Pike Street Market (where I would go on my lunch break and get THE most delicious gyros from the Greek Delicatessen).

The back entrance to our little world, with a series of special numerical codes to unlock doors, went through the basement practice rooms underneath the concert hall, through the chef’s kitchen, up a service elevator, and put you right backstage behind the big concert hall.  You had to take this route to get to another elevator adjacent to the concert hall, which then took you up another 2 stories to the administration offices on the top floor – where I went quite often to use the copy machine, check the mail, etc.

It had been the talk of the town that Pearl Jam was going to be performing at Benaroya Hall that week.  It was the first time that a “band concert” of that caliber and genre would take place in such a prestigous hall.  And being that Pearl Jam is from Seattle, you can imagine all of the local fans that were lined up down the streets for days outside the ticket offices trying to get tickets for this concert.  I also had many friends beg me to get them tickets for this concert, which happened to be one concert I was not allowed to get free tickets to.

Well, I was working one day that week, and had completely forgotten about Pearl Jam coming to perform and which day it was going to be.  I was just busy working and had some tasks to do that day that required me to go up to the 5th floor administration offices.  Several times actually.

When I went through the back entrance through backstage, I noticed that something was up.  This was not the normal pre-concert rehearsals that were going on.  Usually I would see casually dressed violinists or trombone players walking around.  But that day there were sound engineers all over the place, big huge cables along the floor backstage, and not a classical musician in site.

I didn’t think anything of it, because honestly what it looked like to me was another film scoring recording session with all the big cables and engineers.  But as I rode the elevators that morning, I found myself talking to grungy tattooed people.

Um, this person is definitely not going to be performing a Mozart Concerto as far as I can tell, I thought to myself.

Our conversations were just that – elevator chatter.  ”Hi, how are you?” “Nice day isn’t it?” and yadda yadda yadda.

Later, I was back down in our little recital hall and asked my co-worker, ”Soooo, what’s going on backstage today?”.  He looked at me as if I’d just asked the stupidest question of the century.  He answered, ”Um, PEARL JAM.  Duh.”

Ah-ha!  ”Ahhhhh okay, I was wondering about the tattoos.” I replied. And then I went back to work.

I’d listened to many of Pearl Jam’s songs over the years, but honestly I had no clue what they looked like.  Well, now I know. First hand. I’d been riding the elevators with them all day while making small talk.  Who knew?

You can catch their “Live at Benaroya Hall” CD that was released in 2004 at: http://www.pearljam.com/music/releases/Live%20CD%20Complete/live-benaroya-hall