*The following post has breaks in the format. I apologize as this is not how it reads when I try to edit it. I am new to this site and I haven't figured out the editing and format features I should be using. Please know that I know it's wrong!
It's taken me nearly 52 years to sort through some things about myself that have been a mystery to me. At age four I suddenly could play the piano. My Mom had painted a picture of me at age tworeaching up over my head and fondling the keys of our family piano. I imagine that I have been
infatuated with the piano from the time I could stand.
One of my earliest childhood memories was a look of almost terror on my Mom's face. I began
playing a song that my twelve year old sister had been practicing on the piano. I was four. My mother came into the room to compliment my sister on the piece and she found four year old me at the keys
instead. It scared Mom to death and me too. I thought something was wrong with me! This ability
wasn't limited to the piano. I found out in 6th grade that I could also play the oboe, flute and saxaphone quite well. I still play my flute now and again but I no longer own a sax. My Mom thought it funny looking for a girl to play sax lol. I bet I could still play one. I also have been known to be
able to play bass guitar and pick out a melody line on a guitar.
I have been playing by ear all my life. I tried many times to learn how to read music to no avail. I
either couldn't get my brain to work that way or I didn't have the patience to learn. Some songs that I
have learned are very easy for me and others, I have to pick apart and learn. I can't play just any song.
The songs that I play, just kind of come to me. Thats why I say that my cover songs find me.Recently, I decided to try to write a song just to see if I could. Something that I haven't heard
before that is completely from my own creation rather than something I have heard. I was surprised to find that I could! I constructed chords, a vocal melody line, and even set lyrics to the composition/ arrangement. I even toyed with the melody line inserting a violin accompaniment that I wrote and
recorded for my YouTube channel .http://youtu.be/nAVkKmaAVF0. The violin is actually a voice that my piano can make. So I created that passage from a setting on my keyboard. I tried to play it as if I
were playing the violin. I actually felt as if I had played the violin. Hence my OMG expression at the
end of my clip lol.
can write my own originals. This isn't a great song. I had it looked at by random people and it's not
compelling I've been told. In fact, it may even suck lol. Oh well, it's mine all mine and it holds deep meaning to me on so many levels It was almost a spiritual experience as it was unfolding beneath my
fingers. This means, I'm not limited in ability to what I hear! I can create!
I look forward to my next song. Whatever that may be. I'm really hoping to get away from trying to
do covers. Copyright laws are very strange. Some artists/ most artists allow covers of their songs. One artist in particular that I cover has a media company that trolls the internet and YouTube. This
particular artists social media mafia take down videos that even have his own recorded music in
them! Vacation videos with his own recording in the background! Long story short, my cover of a song this artist wrote got me a copy-write strike against my YouTube account. Thinking the problem was I didn't site it properly, I revised it and posted it again. Bam, another take down and copy-write srtike! YouTube has a three strikes your channel is done policy. To add insult to injury, this was the very first video I ever posted on YouTube lol! I was crushed
I actually ended up writing to this artists management company to ask permission to cover this song to put on my YouTube channel. I inserted a small video clip of me playing his song. I explained that I was a housewife playing from a spare room. I am not making any money from this and that my only purpose for doing so is out of the enjoyment and adoration for his brilliant composition! I never heard
back from his management company. Other cover videos of the same song/artist are available for view on YouTube, why was mine not allowed? I also asked this, no reply back. After all what did I
expect, I'm only a 52 year old housewife. Why should they bother acknowledging my efforts?!
Anyway, I think I'll keep myself out of trouble and try to write my own songs to do lol... I have a pet name for my keyboard called, "The Keys To My Happiness". It's deep within my soul to play...I imagine as long as I am physically able to do so, I will!
