The journey of writing and recording "Circles On The Wall" has been a long and memorable one. The journey of becoming a musician has been a much longer and harder road.
I guess I can trace my musical desire back to my dad. I used to sit at his feet while he wrote song after song. He was always working on a new one, whether it was a blues song or a string quartet. I also remember him recording countless demos in studios all around the country.
At age 3 I taught myself the Bonnie Raitt song “Let’s Give ‘Em Something To Talk About†on a little keyboard. At age 6 I began singing in a choir and started learning how to play the piano correctly. During these years my mom would make me practice diligently, and was the backbone behind my being classically trained. She made sure that the music that she had listened to prior to my being involved in music was not easily accessible. Everything from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Motown was turned off, leaving room for me to appreciate music that most of my friends weren’t listening to or even exposed to. I continued to sing in various choirs and develop my all-around musical knowledge. During those years I could be found on the floor of my bedroom playing with Lego’s and listening to John Williams , who I absolutely idolized, and still do.
From the ages of 9-16 I immersed myself in many genres. With each new one came a new instrument -- Drum set, Trumpet, Cello, Timpani, as well as every other kind of orchestral percussion I could find. I started composing during this time as well. I started out attempting to write what I listened to, which was John Williams and other film scores. I can’t say that I succeeded immediately but I was obsessed with being the next “greatest†film composer. I continued to write as much music as I could.
At age 13 my voice started changing. I had been a first soprano my whole life and was slightly depressed about this unstoppable occurrence. As a result, my parents bought me a very small computer-based recording rig that steered me to be more of a composer/songwriter/producer rather than only a singer. I felt like the coolest kid around with my new setup. I spent hours and hours learning the art of recording. And getting the sound I wanted with the limited capabilities that I had available.
When I was 14, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to apprentice to a professional film composer and work on projects (some with writing credits) for The Learning Channel , The Discovery Channel , The History Channel and Disney , which made it necessary to become a member of BMI .
Between the ages of 15 and 17 I had many of my compositions performed by various orchestras and choirs around the country. Prior to this, I took conducting lessons, which allowed me to conduct some of these performances. During this time I had also started playing around with the idea of writing “songs†rather than compositions. I wrote my first “pop†song when I was 16, and after many years of working on my songwriting skills I have arrived at this...
