I wasn't always a musician. My life changed in 2004 when my son won tickets to the Van's Warped Tour - an annual rock musical festival. Since the venue was a two-hour drive away, I won the second ticket by default. We had a wonderful time, I recognized the live music, and I enjoyed the energy of the event. My son and I started to attend a lot of rock shows and after he left for college, I continued to attend shows alone and followed the local music scene.

 

Before long I realized that I didn't just want to be in the crowd, I wanted to be in  a band. I started to take guitar lessons and then I sought ways to speed up and round out my musical education and experience. I signed up for music theory classes at the local community college. I joined a cover band ensemble in the evenings. I took hand drum lessons to improve my sense of rhythm and enrolled in voice and choir classes. It has been a long road but I found instructors and other musicians to work with and play with to improve my musical skills.

 

IIn 2009 I posted classical guitar demos on MySpace. As a result I performed at two charity events. I joined a group  that featured different local artists performing monthly at local coffee houses for donations to help local food pantries. I played classical guitar as a solo artist and accompanied the singer/songwriter organizer by playing hand drums. In the same year I wrote my first novel after taking the National Novel Writing Month Challenge.

 

As my primary interest in music is rock music, I left the group and joined a rock school. My band performed several shows including  charity events. In 2013 I took courses in songwriting and music production. At that point I made the connection between storytelling and music and found how much I enjoy songwriting and performing my own music.

 

I shared several of my songs on Facebook and was soon asked to write an original jingle for a local Middle Eastern food market.  I created the jingle and a video to accompany the music I wrote.  I realized that I wanted to continue to expand my repetoire as a solo artist. In February 2015 I released my first solo album, Strangely Christmas. I hope that my musical journey will inspire others to take up whatever instrument they always wished they had learned.