Thanks, Universe

I think that call out to the Universe might be working, because I am suddenly very busy.

I'll give you a short account of my week.

Last Friday I recorded background vocals for a nice fellow named Jon, whom I found on Craigslist. Actually, he found me on Craigslist. I had posted an ad for free studio work in hopes of getting some recording experience and he took me up on my offer. Except he paid me, which was way better. Either he don't read too good or he's just really nice.

He promised me a low-pressure, home studio environment and he didn't lie - we were working in a spare bedroom. But he had good equipment and gave good direction, and we made good progress. We got through 2 songs that first day, and he asked if I could come back the following week.

On Sunday I gigged with Vernon at the Bazaar Cafe. We drew a nice little crowd for a Sunday night, and our Glide buddies sat right up front. Vernon and I had been talking about songwriting together, and we planned a session for later that week.

I spent Monday trying to pin down lyrics for this new song that's been floating in my head. I finally nailed down a bridge and a chorus, but the melody wouldn't come to me. I was hoping that Vernon could help me with that; we'd discussed how lyrics come easily to me, but I struggle with music, and he's the opposite. I was looking forward to putting our heads together on this tune.

I also spent some time emailing with my friend Pete about another song I had written the week before. Pete is putting scratch instrumentals behind my lyrics to create a demo track. It's a pretty high-tech method of creation, this back-and-forth emailing, but it's an interesting process. We send each other mp3's of the tune in various stages, and slowly it's coming together.

On Tuesday I went into the recording studio with Leah, to watch an overdub session. Leah is in the early finishing stages of her second album and she was gracious enough to allow me to sit in on a session. She'd already recorded the tracks, but in the overdubbing process she re-recorded certain phrases that didn't sound right. She had a long list of notes that indicated specific places where she wanted to make changes, and she'd dart in and out of the booth to re-sing a piece of a line here and there. It was pretty fascinating. I was surprised to learn that you could re-record just a snippet of a phrase and tuck it neatly into a song. There were some places where she just sang one or two words, but when the sound engineer pieced it together you couldn't tell at all.

It was a much different experience from my session with Jon the week before, but I marveled at the similarities. Session work quickly grows tedious, and there comes a point where you can give yourself too many choices and be overwhelmed by the possibilities. For instance, Jon had me record one line with 3 different rhythms and then 4 different melodies. After these 12 takes we realized that I'd been singing a wrong word - and so we had to do it all over again. We'd been working for 3 hours, we were getting hungry and tired, and suddenly we had to choose the best of 24 takes - except we kept getting them confused. It's like building a quilt in your head, I thought.

I saw the same thing happen with Leah. "Wait, which one we did we like before?" she asked, after re-recording the same snippet multiple times. It was a really valuable experience to be in the studio with her, especially combined with my recent experience with Jon, and I felt like I learned an awful lot this week. I realized that a half-day recording session is probably my max, and that I should record early in the day when I'm feeling fresh. That's the kind of lesson you like to learn before you shell out your own money for studio time.

On Tuesday night I had my final sewing class where I completed my first-ever skirt! It's delightfully cute and I may just wear it on Easter. Now I can't stop thinking about my next sewing project, and when I am done with this blog post I'm off to the sewing store.

Late on Tuesday night I checked my email to find that Vernon had sent me a track for our session the next day. I wrote back to him: Just got your email; probably won't have time to work on this before I see you tomorrow.

But then I stayed up till 3 AM, writing lyrics for the tune.

It was a great exercise, but I'm not sure how he felt about the lyrics. I'd taken the song in a much different direction than his original intention. "That's great though," he said. "I didn't give you instructions on purpose; I wanted to see where you went with it." I'm not entirely sure that he liked where I went with it, but I decided that I liked it, and that was good enough for the moment.

We also worked on my tune, the one with scant lyrics and no melody. I sang him the pieces of the song as I heard it, and he asked me questions about the format and the message. I could see his fingers flexing, as though he already knew the chords he wanted to play. I'm excited to hear what he comes up with when we meet again next week.

I never did get a nap on Wednesday and I rolled into choir rehearsal feeling tired but happy. I slept really well that night. The next morning I headed off for another recording session with Jon. This time we whipped through the material, and actually recorded an extra song. "These tunes are really coming together," I told him. "I can't wait to get my copy of your album."

And now it's Friday. I'm taking a quick breather before next week hits. Today I've got to work on song notes for Pete and edit some video footage. Tomorrow it's 10 miles around the lake, training for the upcoming marathon. On Monday my songwriting class begins, and on Tuesday I've got my first meeting with a Women's' Writers group. Then on Wednesday it's another session with Vernon, then choir rehearsal, 17 miles on Saturday and then 3 church services on Easter Sunday!

I saw my friend Simon a few days ago. He'd just returned from a 2 month silent retreat. He was a bit overwhelmed to be back in the urban world.

"You look so different," he told me. "What's going on with you?"

"You mean the tan?" I asked. People keep asking me where I've been on vacation, but it's just from running outside that I'm turning so brown.

"Well, yes, the tan, but mostly your aura is different. What's changed?"

I forget that Simon has a sixth sense. I think most of us are inclined to raise an eyebrow when someone begins talking about visible auras, but Simon is so understated, you realize quite quickly that he's not showing off. He is intuitive right up to the edge of psychic ability, and he has astonished me several times with the things that he knows without being told. The fact that he was able to sense a new purpose about me made me feel like I was on the right track.

You know, you just can't go wrong by asking the Universe for help. I highly recommend it.