June 20, 2013-July 27, 2013
Looking for love as a musician means one of two things: long distance or short term. I met Maria on the Get Ready tour in Perth earlier in the year and we stayed in touch: Skype and Viber and email and Facebook are incredible blessings when it comes to keeping love alive.
So I borrowed some cash and booked a flight to Australia to visit. The times visiting before were marked categorically by heat, but as July in the Southern Hemisphere is winter, the environment had changed. The company, however, hadn’t and I was met again with open arms.
To pay for the trip down under, I booked a series of workshops in Perth and Melbourne by way of from Amelia Alder. I taught kids and adults, experienced singers and first-timers. I learned as I taught. Actually, when my teachers said that, I hated it! “I’m going to learn as much as you this year,” blah blah blah. But here I am saying it. It helped me realize why I sing. It helped me perform better. It helped me speak better.
My take on music is that it comes from within. We become experts in our instrument to bring emotion outside. We choose our instrument simply by opinion…any emotion can be brought out with any instrument. I work with voice because I like to feel as close to the emotion as possible. With beatboxing, I can express the fits and shouts that come from my soul as closely as I hear them in my head. The goal of my workshops is to help people find that expression.
Much of my music comes from the exasperation from love. In Australia I was able to spend time with Maria all the while knowing that I would have to depart after the workshops when the shows started again. My music becomes long distance; calls into the universe to feel the love you feel in person.