Monday November 30, 2015

Click here to listen to:
Thousand Years by Christina Perri Cover by One Horizon

Today I would like to reflect on a project that I was a part of last year.  It was a youtube video that I worked on with Brenda Duffin and Carolyn Brady from the band One Horizon.  We wanted to recognize that November being National Adoption Month.  We posted pictures of many families with adopted children accompanied by our very own cover of the song "Thousand Years" by Christina Perri.  When I first started working on an arrangement for this song I found myself being uninspired by the movie soundtrack this song came from.  I had no desire to be conjuring up images of Edward and Bella every time I sang this song.  As I searched for my own source of inspiration I found that the lyrics perfectly captured my own experience with adoption.  Here is a sample of the song with updated vocals.  I hope you enjoy it.

Click here to listen to:

Thousand Years by Christina Perri Cover by One Horizon

P.S.  Here is a link to the youtube video we made in 2014 if you would like to check it out again.  Until next time.. Happy Songwriting!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My children are vacationing from school right now, and it is the Thanksgiving holiday, so I will be spending the next week with my family.  I do plan on keeping my mind open and allowing songs to come from my life experiences over the next few days, though.  I hope all of you continue to allow music to flow from your creative minds throughout the Thanksgiving season too, and please share when you do.

Wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I look forward to regularly posting starting November 30th.  Until then.... Happy Songwriting!!

Image courtesy of Tina Phillips at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

WaCkY WeDnEsDaY ChAlLeNgE: City Dove by Tori Kelly cover by Catrina Baum

Here it is.  WOW!!  That was a difficult challenge.  I managed to get this out amid the hustle and bustle of home life with my husband getting surgery and all the other busy plans that go along with this time of year.  I hope you like it.

Take Note Tuesday: Sterre Van Boxtel

Exploring a variety of musical genres this week, I wanted to go global and share a video of a girl I came across while surfing music channels on youtube.  Her interpretation and stage presence are top notch.  She is an 11 year old from Europe who has been in different singing competitions and is coming out with her first CD at the end of November.  I know she is not a songwriter, but maybe she will grow into that.  In the mean time, I really like the way she has added her interpretation of the songs she has on her videos.  Check her channel out.

Monday Memoirs: November 15th Thinking of Rebecca Kuhnel

Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have recently started to meet on a regular basis, with a friend of mine, who likes to write songs.  She has written several piano solos as well as a fully orchestrated piece.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her work.  Her name is Rebecca Kuhnel.  It is such a pleasure for me to explore diverse genres of music.  I find myself being inspired to continue with my work as I meet and listen to her work.  I do believe that meeting together on a regular basis with artists who desire to create music or any other form of art is truly inspiring and motivating.  I would like to share with you a sample of her work.  This song is called, "Jayne".  To hear this song click on the link: Jayne by Rebecca Kuhnel

I would love to hear some of the stories you have, of people you might meet with on a regular basis, who help you be motivated to create.  If you have not, as yet, had the opportunity of meeting with other creative artists, I would like to challenge you to give it a try and share your story.  Even if your first attempt is an epic fail, we all have to start somewhere, and I would love to hear about it.  Until next time.... Happy Song Writing.

Wacky Wednesday Challenge: CITY DOVE by Tori Kelly

WOW! This challenge ended up being a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I chose to do a cover of the song City Dove by Tori Kelly in one week.  I hope you enjoy my version of it.  Please, let me know if you decide to accept the Wacky Wednesday Challenge too.  I would love to see what you can come up with in one week.

Next week... part 2 to the Wacky Wednesday Challenge... a youtube video to go with the cover song City Dove.  :)  Until next time.... Happy Songwriting!

“Migrating Wild Geese Of The Country” by Vlado at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Click here to listen to my cover of City Dove by Tori Kelly:

https://soundcloud.com/catrinabaum/city-dove-by-tori-kelly-cover

Take Note Tuesday: Chelsey Stallings

I personally try not to listen to Christmas Music until after Thanksgiving so that I am not sick of it by Christmas day, but I could not help myself here.  Today, I would like to hi-light Chelsey Stallings.  She is a singer/songwritter that I met at the Bit Door Songwriting Conference last month.  One of my favorite songs that she has on her youtube station is an arrangement of "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanual".  It is hauntingly beautiful.  I hope you get a chance to enjoy all the music on her youtube station.

Do It Yourself Marketing

I realize that I never quite finished up sharing my notes on the songwriting conference.  Today I would like to wrap up with a synopsis of presentation called "Do It Yourself Marketing".   I really only have one more presentation to post on because I only stayed at the conference for about one more hour.   I had to leave early to pick up my child from the babysitter before the conference got over.  There were many ideas that were shared during this portion of the presentation, but the points that stuck with me were:

#1.  Create some sort of a brand.
Decide what you want to accomplish and stick to the plan.  What do I do really well?  What is my niche?  Decide what you want share and move forward.  That Brand keeps you focused.  What are you trying to communicate?  Hone in on the quality and it will push it out itself.  There should be a demand for your product.  When you have a good product it will sell itself.

Here is a logo created by my talented Friend Mishelle Stott for a band I belong to called One Horizon.  I thought of this logo as I learned about the importance of creating "some sort of brand".

#2.  Decide what you want your image to be.
Who is your demographic?  Who do you want your audience to be?  Build off of your demographic.

#3.  Recognize the benefits of Social Media.
Share what you have on youtube.  Realize that followers have expectations.  They want to know when the next video is.  Post at certain times.  If you schedule at certain times people can come back. Find out what they like and deliver it to them.  Recognize that you do have to start somewhere, so be realistic.  Do what you can to bring quality because it DOES matter.

#4. Get your music to as many people as possible.
It takes time.  Put focus on one song at a time.  Post and promote that song.  Put effort into the initial climbing phase until people want to come back to your art.  If there is not a demand for your art re-evaluate and improve the art.

These are all great bits of advice that can help improve a songwriters business.  I look forward to trying to apply these ideas into my own musical life.  Please share any experiences you might have with these ideas by commenting below.  Until next time.... Happy Song writing!!

Wacky Wednesday Challenge

I have decided to try having a theme to my blog each week to give me some direction with my posts.  I am looking forward to Tuesday being my day to hi-light new singer-songwriters with "Take Note Tuseday".  On Wednesday I would like to try an experiment of sorts as well.  I am not sure how long this will last or how well it will go, but I think it will be a fun experiment that might be adjusted as time goes on.

The experiment is this: Today I am going to pick a song to do a cover for and then see if I can come up with my own version in one week and record it so that I can share it with all of you next week.  Sound crazy??

As a follow-up to this experiment, the next consecutive Wednesday I plan to make some kind of music video to go with the chosen song to post on youtube.  In the end Wacky Wednesday will be a flip-flop from recording music to videotaping something to go with the song.  I would like to encourage anyone who is interested to try it.  It is kind of wacky to see what you can do with music in one week, but in the end I think it will be a great way to grow and learn.  I think the scariest part will be that I have to share the song or video in one week no matter what shape it might be in, even if it isn't my favorite.

What do you think?  Any one else up for the challenge??  I hope so.  I want to hear what others can do.  Until next time.... Happy Songwriting!!

“Vintage Microphone Isolated On White” by Just2shutter at freedigitalphotos.net

Take Note Tuesday: Erika Guitron

After returning from attending a "Big Door" Songwriting Conference, 2 weeks ago, I felt a great desire to put forth more effort into my music on social media and the internet.  I found myself setting a goal to write in my songwriting blog on a regular basis.  To help me stay on a schedule I would like to start a regular Tuesday post, called "Take Note Tuesday".  This will be a post where I share some amazing songwriting artists that I have come across in my research of music on youtube and the internet.  I would like to warn you that my love of music expands over all genres so I will be sharing a wide range of artists.  But please, try to keep an open mind and just enjoy the beauty of music.  If you know of anyone you would like me to check out please leave a comment below.  :)

The artist that I would like to hi light today is Erika Guitron.  I came across her amazing cover of Meaghan Trainor's song, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You", last week.  She combined her efforts with Kylan Road, a songwriting duo from Los Angelos.

Erika's voice is flawless.  She also writes her own music.  I especially like her original song, "Nobody".  You can check her out on youtube, sound cloud, Facebook etc.  Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.  Until then... Happy Songwriting!

Erika Guitron and Kylan Road Cover

Great Start

"Piano" courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at freedigitalphotos.net

Last week I shared a recording of the original song, "Moments of Memories" and told you I would let you know what feedback I got after sharing this song with Bobby and Tiffany.   Well, here it is:

After nervously singing the song "Moments of Memories" Bobby said, "Catrina, where did this idea come from?"  I notice that Bobby asks this question a lot and it is usually asked when he feels that the song he is critiquing has not been completely flushed out.  I knew right then that I did not get the point of the song across to him.  The idea for the song came from more than one place and as Bobby continued to share his thoughts I realized that I needed to narrow the source of my inspiration down to one idea.

Tiffany agreed with Bobby.  She said it was a "great start", but that the source of my inspiration did not come across in the song.  I was discouraged as I usually am when I initially get anything but glowing feedback, but I tried my best to get past the emotion of it all as soon as possible and get to a point where I could start making improvements on the song.  It has been an enjoyable challenge.  I look forward to sharing the revised version with you all soon as possible.

Having said that, I am continuing to try to allow what I have learned to help me as I wake up with musical ideas or find myself humming a tune and coming up with catchy lyrics just doing mundane everyday life sorts of things.  I hope you all will never give up on your chance at creating something beautiful.  When you do create something, please leave me a link to your creative projects.  I love to enjoy the work of others while I continue to create myself. Until then.... Happy Songwriting!