31 SONGS in 31 days!

Happy 1st of July. I can't help but wonder what I did the first half of the year. Setting big goals and plans surely wasn't part of it. I made a tough and hard decision at the beginning of the year;  I let my baby, long time commitment "Otto's Daughter" go. Probably the hardest and most painful thing I've done, and I've done some pretty challenging things in my life.

I felt a lost, not sure what to do next, besides the obvious, writing music for libraries and film/tv placements. I can't stop making music and being who I am living my purpose. I am an artist and need to express who I am not just by writing but through love performance. I'm a performer and need the stage.

So many of us get so busy with life that the one thing we love the most we do the least. Something so painful and sad about this picture.  And time goes by and another year passes. You make money, lose it all but you can make it back, your relationship collapses, eventually you find someone better,  fall back in love and be happy again, all is good. One thing we don't get back is TIME!

Today I decided to challenge myself, to write one song a day for the entire month of July. It doesn't have to be a vocal track, nor does it have to be a completely well produced song. Just a good foundation, first draft that can later be perfected with a re-write and production skills.


The idea is to just write, step outside the box, get creative and allow myself to just be. Pick different topics, genres, whatever comes out. It's about working that creative muscle, making the time and allowing creativity to flow. I'm completely open to collaborating and invite you to become part of this journey.  Does it spark your Interest? Let's keep it simple.

Do

Here are two different ways to go about it:

Option 1) We collaborate in person. Hit me up, we set a date and time and spend 2 hours writing a tune. (Yes, two hours only, trust me this works)

Option 2) Online. Send me a track, an idea. Can be a piece of music or hook or lyric and I'll take it from there (or the other way around)

Important is, that it needs to be done on that day within a certain time frame. No excuses. No over analyzing, criticizing, just writing, letting the creative juices flow)

Many artists feel like they are not inspired, they have writers block, can't write while under pressure, the goal is to work through this resistance by just having fun and not taking it all so serious! Just allow the magic to happen, or maybe even not, and that would make an interesting song as well, lol

We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for! No more waiting for tomorrow for what can be done today! You want to expand, write, create and collaborate, here's my invitation. Regardless, I am committed to go on my "July 14 - One Song A Day in Journey". 31 songs are waiting to come to life!

I will post updates on here as well as on facebook and soundcloud.
Ready Go!
;)

Every Student Is A Teacher

I give voice lessons a few times a week. I find teaching extremely rewarding, I get to help others become confident singers/performers, encourage them to be creative and to embrace their own unique sound and style.
Inspiring and motivating others gives me great pleasure, seeing them excel and having fun while they're learning is what it's all about! Plus, I get to remind myself to follow my own advice!
I have this new student, she's 5 years old, adorable and smart. She told me that she writes her own songs. So I asked if she would like to sing one of her songs for me. She replied "sure, but I need the piano", so we switched seats.
Her eyes started to search for ideas while tapping her pointy finger on her cheek..."let me think" she said...than she hit the highest note on the piano (twice) followed by the lowest (twice), she repeated it a few more times and finished off with a random note; a little above the middle C.
She looked at me with a big smile and said "that's it". I said, wow, that's a very short song...and with confidence she affirmed..."yes, that's it"
I thought it was adorable. She didn't question her ability to make up a song, she just went for it. I didn't correct her by saying, well that's not a real song. Who am I to judge? I wanted her to be creative and express herself and she did the best she could. And that is what really matters, to start wherever we are, to just go for it.
As creative people we tend to get a little too serious, trying to be perfect at all times, overthink and over ananlyze. It sucks the creative juice and fun right out of us. Of course we need to be great at what we do in order to be successful but we shall not forget that it's ok to suck sometimes, to write or create something that may never be recognized, seen or heard.
We can only get better by doing, learning, listening and keeping an open mind.
Cheers to more fun!
PS: If you are interested in finding out more about my teaching, visit thevocalgym.com ;)

The Adventures of an Illegal Alien Part4

How I miss the lower east side. One of our coolest friends was Pete. He played bass in a well known band at the time and had an apartment on 14^th near 3^rd Ave.

Pete had a roommate, his name was Greg. Greg was hilarious, one of those typical, cynical New Yorkers with extremely dry humor. The sky was always fallen, doomed to be a slave to the grind struggling to make it with his music, hating his day job and life in general yet always displaying a little smirk while complaining. His music was pretty cool and I wish I could remember the name of the band. It was very NYC lower east side rock’n roll.

Well back to Pete. His apartment was very typical of Manhattan; small; the bathtub and sink were in the kitchen, a tiny shitter, yes, just a toilet in a room big enough to fit one in it; two small rooms. Pete was super cool. He used to wear a lot of kilts or tight jeans and was a total punk. He had bleached blond short hair, always leather clad with a ton of belts and buckles and dock martins.

We had such a Blast with those guys. Pete called his flat the “Freak out Pad”. How appropriate. He looked like a bad ass, actually a little like Billy Idol, but deep down he was the sweetest most generous guy you could ever meet.

One of many nights we went over to the “Freak out Pad” for some “home made” (fresh out of the can) deep fried beans, rice and chicken fajitas. Apparently that was Pete’s specialty and he loved to cook it. We brought some beers and the party began. The food was delicious, something I’ve never tasted before. I loved it, I remember it being pretty spicy; we told Pete it was delicious and something we could get used to. He had this big grin on his face and was extremely proud of his cooking.

Since Pete was signed to a major label, he’d pretty much get CD’s thrown at him all the time, so while we listened to music, we’d go through the CD’s and start sorting them out by “This Sucks”…”Got to Go” and “Pretty Good, we’ll keep it”.

I love NYC apartments, they might be small but they have a ton of character, you look out the window and always see a fire escape. He was on the top floor and his window overlooked a huge roof. So every CD that didn’t make it went out the window onto the roof.

We were laughing our asses off. This must have gone on for an hour or so, after a while we even tossed the once we kinda liked because it was way too much fun. The roof looked messy to begin with, apparently; we weren’t the first to think of the roof as a way to get rid of unwanted things around the pad, lol.

Many beers and a ton of laughter’s later, it started to escalate so much so that Pete decided the CD Player has to go too, hahahaha. And out it went. I don’t know what else we through out there but my stomach was hurting from laughing so hard.

Pete had this really cool skull that I loved and at one point he was about to toss that out too. Noooooooooooo I yelled, I want that; and mine it was.

It must have been around 4 am when we decided it was time to go back to our lovely hostel on 20^th. So, we headed out walking drunk on 14^th, laughing, me with my skull under my arm.

The area can be a little spooky at times but I swear no one dared to mess with us.

Cheers to the good times at the “Freak out Pad”

xoxoxo
JVB

The brakes are off

I did my power hour today, which felt amazing. What that means is; I took time for myself, I went to the park, did my workout, connect with other human beings and smiled at every single person I met and doggies of course. Did my affirmations, set myself up for a successful and productive day.


It really worked for me. (the power hour) I got great news in the mail, via e-mail and through a phone call.

I ended up doing a last minute collaboration with a composer friend of mine after getting a call from him saying something like "I just got an e-mail from this music supervisor; that's what they're looking for and oh yeh and it's due tomorrow morning; what do you think?" I started laughing and said:" well...let's do it". Not even an hour later he send me a rough track. I send some vocal tracks back and boom, we were on a roll. I love working with him.



We did the song (long distance collaboration) in less than twelve hours. It's crazy and fun! Not what I had planned but I love it. And I was taken to a Sushi dinner in between. Life is indeed great!

I can't wait to set myself up for another incredible day! I'm expecting a call from Dave in the morning telling me the supervisor loves it and they'll use it.


PS: I'm not hoping for it; I'm expecting it!
xoxo
JVB

JVB BOOK?

I've been playing with the idea for a while now and my fabulous encouraging man keeps telling me that I really should write a book about my story. I'm getting pretty consistent with my writing since I'm getting into blogging on a consistent basis. The more I write, the more stuff comes up, it seems like I opened a can of worms. It's incredible. I'm really excited getting up in the morning and blogging/writing. Have I found a new passion? With all my typos I never considered myself a writer other than a Songwriter. lol Well, the proof is in my hear, the pen just doesn't want to stop, well, the fingers pounding on the keyboard, lol.

Of course typical JVB-style, I can't just do one thing at a time, I'm working on 4 different writing projects. One poetry book, 2 coffee table books and one about my journey so far.

They all have a title but once I'm closer to completion I'd like to ask people for their input, after all it's all in the title isn't it? I'm so excited.

Time to work on music! I'm starting to love my new program MUSE, even though it's been a headache from day 1.

Who let the squirrels out?

While strolling in the park I couldn't help but notice all the squirrels. It was funny, I've never seen so many in one spot. It seemed like at least 15 of them. My mind went two ways, ever watched the movie "The Birds?" lol. Slighty creepy, however I decided to choose the happier imagination and see them all lined up dancing to "Who let the dogs out".

It was fun to be around them and very inspiring. They are somewhat cautious but fearless. They came right up to me posing for the pictures.

Amazing little creatures! So if you want a huge smile on your face, just go outside and watch the miracles all around you. Magic is everywhere.

Getting down with the Monkeys

Our trip to the LA Zoo was refreshing and a lot of fun. I haven't really been doing anything fun lately and considering we only live 5 miles from the Zoo, kinda pathetic we haven't gone there sooner. The line wasn't that long, well we got there around 3pm, still was packed inside. Got monkeys on my mind...so that was our first destination. It took us a while to find them and when we finally got to them they weren't in the mood to show off anymore. Well, the elephant, peacock, tiger and a few other entertainers made up for it. I had a BLAST. It must have been the time, it looked like the Zoo was running out of animals. lol We'll go again. 10am sometime in june;)