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I'M A MAN 6/08
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"Tough Year" by Jennifer Hill available here courtesy of iTunes
To me, Music is life.....I have never known a day in my life to be without it. I got my voice from my mother. She was really into singer/songwriters and used to wake me up every Saturday morning by vacuuming and BLASTING Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carol King, Phoebe Snow....She also taught me the lyrics to songs by playing her records over and over..."Bobby McGee " being her favorite sing along in the car song........
When I was around five I began getting alot of attention for my voice. I was singing solo parts in the choir at church and entertaining my friends with my Annie renditions (every recess they made me sing "Tomorrow" or "Maybe"). But I was kind of shy. My mother would take me on auditions and I would freak out...so I did alot of group music things and started piano and flute lessons at age 7..............it wasn't until 7th grade that I finally shed the fear of performing alone.
It was time for our annual Talent Show and I was trying to get all these girls to do a duet with me. My choir teacher heard I wasn't going to perform if I had to do it alone and she pulled me aside. She told me that if I ever wanted to be a musician I had to learn to do things alone.She said it was going to take alot of courage and strength but in the end I would succeed. "Jennifer you can do it....you have a beautiful voice and I will be backstage if you need me.".....and that was it. I respected her so much that I couldn't let her down. So I got up the strength to sing "Lost in Your Eyes" (yes Debbie Gibson....she was my role model at the time....we both played piano and sang) in front of the whole school. I have a video of that day and it is funny to see how I start very shy,nervous, staring at the audience. It seems as out of nowhere I find my self and my voice...and this light just turns on. It was a wonderful feeling and I got a standing ovation.....that was the turning point.
I have not stopped singing or playing since. I started going to Hartt School of music as a sophomore in highschool. I won a scholarship to be in an honors choir and take lessons at the University. After highschool they gave me a scholarship to enroll there...so I stayed there for a year. It was too close to home and I needed to spread my wings so I left to move to Durango Co. with my 3 best girlfriends.
Luckily they had a great music program and alot of my credits transferred. I ended up staying there for the last 3 years of school. I loved the beauty of Colorado and the "freeness" of the atmosphere.
I was exposed to different music out there. Durango is in the 4 corners area so, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona are not far away. My college did alot of traveling and we sang with all different choirs and musicians.
We were pretty well known as a group and we performed at the opening ceremonies of the Colorado Music Educators Convention. We also sang in Dave Brubeck's Rock Mass "To Hope", and were the choir of the Santa Fe Opera's "Ballad of Baby Doe." We did alot of "coaching"and went into the communities of our surrounding states singing and teaching other choirs.
I started REALLY writing songs while in Durango. I had a band with all original music called Acoustic Grin. We had a violin which added a bit of bluegrass to the sound...(southwestern influence).. and it was something different (for me) ......but it wasn't a big town so once you played there you had somewhat conquered it. I needed some more adventure. I loved being in the mountains but I have always had a major crush on New York.
As a kid I would go to see plays in New York with my mom. I was so into the city that I would beg her not to bring me home. As soon as I got there I would say "I'm Home Mom!"
I used to tell everyone i was going to be a starving musician and live in a Loft with out furniture.
I was almost right.....but I didn't get a Loft. I got a 9/9 living area with a tiny ass kitchen with the best bathroom I've ever had (for real!)....I made the Upper East Side my home till 2001 and then I moved to Ct for a bit to raise my daughter. I am currently in between New York and Ct weekly.By day I run a music/ performance school . I have about 30+ students............By night I perform in various clubs in the New York area. I usually do things solo, but I have a few musicians I work with from time to time.I have spent the past 6 years writing a lot of music.I feel like I've grown a lot as a writer and musician. I chose to shut off the cable for the past 3 years so that I wasn't distracted by all the celebrity weirdness that has invaded music. I write when the feeling moves me. I sit down and spill out the radio in my head onto the paper and the keyboard. It is my therapy and my career all rolled into one. Sometimes a Gift, sometimes a curse.It is what my air is made of....I can't breathe without it.I get a lot of my musical influences from my mom's vacuuming days. The songs that used to annoy me must of buried themselves into my brain because now they are what I put on my most influential songs list.I am madly in love with Bjork, Tori Amos, Madonna, Janis Ian, Esthero, Phoebe Snow, Joni Mitchell, Sarah Vaughn, Robert Plant, Eddie Vedder, Ani Difranco, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison, and Fiona Apple. I could listen to a great blues album all day (especially when it's raining)....I could bury myself in a book all night......I am almost 2.....My music is me and what moves me.....Please listen with an open mind and soul.
