Practicing

“I’ve been practicing with words for a really long time.”

I have been a poet since I was a child, before I ever even played an instrument. I found poetry to be a safe space in which to share my feelings, to really explore them in a way that felt somewhat secretive. As I grew as a person and a writer, I found that finding just the right word or line to express my meaning was a huge thrill to my nerd self. It felt like scoring a goal or landing a rad trick. Satisfying, but safe. I even did a few poetry readings. They are less safe than writing in your journal. That experience definitely had a big impact on how I wrote. The very thought that people might hear me say these words aloud made me absolutely insistent that they freaking sound cool. I wanted to say something, and I wanted it to mean something, and I wanted the sounds of the words to flow together in a pleasing manner. I was asking a lot of language, but we’d known one another for quite a while, and I felt sure she’d enjoy the mission as much as I did. One of my favorite pieces from this time period is now a video on YouTube called, “From Everyone to Ourselves”. Please find it and take it as the hug it is meant to be.

I played instruments as a kid, recorder like us all in the US, then a violin. I taught myself to play bamboo flute and started writing melodies on that. I learned a little bit about hand drumming. My whole life I have been a huge fan of music, listening to all the layers of songs, inspecting the lyrics of songwriters I love to listen to. Songwriting was a craft that seemed far beyond me.

On Valentine’s Day in 2012, I bought myself my first baritone ukulele for $45. I lived in Ypsilanti at the time in Depot Town and there was a music store there, Dennis’s Music, that I could walk to from my house. I had had trouble trying to play guitar in the past and wanted something a bit bigger than a standard ukulele. When I learned that baritone ukuleles can be tuned like a guitar, so that the strings are linear, with the lowest string on the top, unlike standard ukuleles, I decided to try one out. The music store had one on the wall for $45. I got that and a book and was playing three chords before I left the store.

I spent a year learning chords and picking patterns and slowly learning to strum before I even tried to play a song. I’m not sure why. I had this assumption that it was something I wouldn’t be able to do, playing and singing at the same time. And yet, I was making up silly songs for my cats. Then in April I finally learned to play No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley. It was less than a month later that I wrote my first song. After each of the first, probably, ten songs I wrote, I thought they were flukes and was sure I’d never figure it out again.

I am very happy to report that I have full confidence that I will write more songs for as long as I do things on this earth. The ability to do so is a dear and precious gift to me.