Hello World, Welcome to my new blog!
Let’s be honest, it’s not easy making yourself vulnerable; putting yourself out there, especially through song.
As a child, I remember a guitar sitting in the corner of our living room, a lonely instrument that was never played. We were not allowed to touch it and to me, that’s a darn shame.
I loved music. Loved it. And growing up in a rather sheltered and strict environment, most popular music was taboo. I do remember listening to the radio and borrowing tapes from the library though, finding ways to listen to music, random picks of tape covers that appealed to me, although Mozart was one of my favorites. I can hum along to most of his pieces even today!
And here I am, today, naturally and instinctively drawn to the truthful and poignent style of Joni Mitchell’s early music.
Driving along in my car just a number of years ago, my dearest friend in the world and I drove along, singing a song we had heard on the radio “Big Yellow Taxi”. My friend stopped singing to say, “How much Joni Mitchell do you actually know?” he asked.
“Not much” was my reply – he paused, thought for a moment and said, “You know, your voices are very similar….” I continued to sing and he said, “Hm…must be something in that Saskatchewan water….” I laughed as we both knew Joni and I grew up about 100 miles apart. Different eras, of course, but I was intrigued by his thought. My friend proceeded to put on some more of her early music, the stuff of legends and admittedly, I was hooked, and not just a little.
Later, we made a trip to our local guitar shop and we browsed through the vast selection and none stood out to with one exception; the Taylors. Pulling them down off of the wall, one after the other, I tried each one out, plucking and strumming, drawn specifically to the bright tones of the Taylor Spider, the sounds bright and deep, shockingly beautiful and easy to strum and form chords on.
And so, I bought my first Taylor guitar and along with that… began my journey, the study of music and study of Joni’s musical style.
I wish I could convey how I feel about music. It truly is an art and Joni’s music is just that, for lack of a better word, it is art. It is nearly impossible to mimic. To play just like her would be like trying to paint like DaVinci or to photograph like Jay Maisel. You end up just painting by number or trying to copy camera settings but when it really comes down to it, the art is way deep inside your guts and nothing but time put in and experience can begin to make it your own when learning from a master.
Thanks so much for peeking into my world and I can’t wait to share more with you coming soon!
~ Avigail
Leave a Reply