Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Life is in flux BIG TIME these days. I want to keep in touch with all of my peeps. The Internet is this beautiful thing. I can move to a brand new city and still stay in easy, near-daily contact with the people I love. When I feel connected to the people in my life that matter, I am unstoppable!

Making Music

These little tracks are all about me learning to write songs and how to “think in the language of chord progressions.” Despite all my musical training, it’s still something that eludes me, because usually, I’ve been asked to sightread music written by others. Learning how others have used chords in songs helps me to start to feel more comfortable using them myself. Learning to use Garage Band is a handy skill to have, too. It helps me hear how it all goes together when its’ just me in the room. I’m still writing songs separate from this, but this little side project is really helping me to get a little more confident as a user/ wielder of chord progressions.

  1. My first try with Garage Band. I made up a little ditty then sang along, adding several tracks of my own voice. Layering is fun!
  2. A poorly-timed song inspired by love. It’s another track created by several layers of my voice. Me singing with me!
  3. A cover of Tom Boy by Bettie Serveert. This one is a bit of a mess, but I learned a lot making it. For this, I listened to the original in one headphone while playing guitar along. Then I listened to my recorded guitar track and sang along the second time through.
  4. After Tom Boy, I learned that it was just fine to just sing and play at the same time. No big whoop. This is We Are the Light by The Alarm off of their great album Declaration.
  5. Eet by Regina Spektor. It’s a really recent release of hers. I love it so much. It’s another where I’m just playing and singing.