GWEN OWEN - Singer/songwriter, and the first student in our advanced Artist to Artist Program
Our very first apprentice in this advanced program is GWEN OWEN, who lives in Washington state.
Her master mentor, CHRISOPHER DEDRICK, in Toronto, Canada, is a composer/artist/producer/arranger to the record industry, film and television, and the concert stage - from the Free Design to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, from Captain Kangaroo to the Buffalo Philharmonic to the Canadian Brass. LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION?
Follow Gwen's progress from Day One to the present - from her application for enrollment, her autobiography, about her mentor, and progress reports to the exciting latest news on her apprenticeship and her music! Skip down to read about her current project if you wish. But come back and read her bio and her early reports as she started her journey.
"I'll be studying with Chris and also finalizing preparations for and subsequently recording an EP of my music (under The Luckless Pedestrian name) with him! ... It's unbelievably cool...
This apprenticeship is making dreams comes true, not only for me but for those around me. I feel like this advancement in my life is a gift to the people in my life and it's ripe with sweetness."
FROM HER APPLICATION FOR ENROLLMENT
February 18, 2007
Hi there!
I am a singer, songwriter, amateur recording engineer ( very amateur!), multi-instrumentalist, and composer/arranger. I know for a fact that what I've wanted more than anything for some time now is a mentor- someone to take me under his or her wing so that I can continue to learn and gain experience at the same time. Specifically, I am interested in the world of arranging string, horn, and choral parts for pop (specifically indie rock) albums.
I have a BA degree in Music Theory with an emphasis in Composition and already have some experience writing the arrangements for strings (and other small orchestrations or choral groups) to back pop music. I am extremely passionate about getting skilled at it and one day being able to provide my services to the many independent recording and/or performing artists who are longing for this kind of magical touch on their album or for their live show but who can't find anyone within reach to originate and prepare the parts for them. I want to be able to bring this sound I love to the music I love.
However, I know there is so much left for me to learn that traditional school can't even begin to scrape the surface of. I need to learn from someone who is currently or has at one time been actively involved in this industry- I need a brain to pick! "How do I find a person like this?" has been the question burning away at the back of my mind for so long. Then my friend, Mark Clem (Soul Kitchen Studios here in Seattle, WA), who is currently engineering my debut EP, mentioned that he is currently mentoring someone who found him through getamentor.org. I knew right away I had to check it out.
Can you tell me- does this area in which I am looking for a mentor have a name? Is it an area for which you can provide a mentor? Does it fall under the canopy of "music-production"? If not, can you also give me a concise, universal definition of what a music-producer really does? I can never seem to put my finger on it, but it also seems like a general area which I am drawn to, even though it's a little fuzzy...
Thanks for any answers you can provide,
I'm really excited to learn more about finding a mentor!
- Gwen Owen Seattle, WA Here are samples of Gwen's music (from her myspace page) :
FROM HER WISH LIST, SHE DESCRIBES HER POTENTIAL MENTOR
“Chris Dedrick was the primary songwriter and arranger for the 60’s group The Free Design.This is a group that has had significant impact on my more recent musical development.
Dedrick’s arrangements incorporated jazz, classical, and pop all at once, with an emphasis in both orchestral and choral sounds, in a way that I feel I can deeply connect with and would be of significant value for me in future job possibilities.
He is also currently active as a film-score composer, producer, and vocal arranger, and is commissioned on a regular basis to compose original pieces.He is certainly a working arranger/producer.”
ABOUT HER MENTOR
“…Dedrick has a place in the not-exactly-rock pantheon right alongside Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach.” - LA Weekly
Musical trends come and go, especially amidst the rapid-fire atmosphere of contemporary pop culture— but the appeal of a strong melody, creatively arranged and expressively sung, is timeless.
Which is why Christopher Dedrick is the subject of as much international acclaim today as when he began making music more than three decades ago. The Toronto-based composer, arranger and conductor has amassed a body of work that encompasses hundreds of works: instrumental, vocal, soundtracks, songs, recordings and performances, all of them the product of an attention to detail and a passion for creativity that has captivated casual listeners and fellow artists alike.
Chris’s professional career began in the late ’60s, at the age of 19, as a singer and principal songwriter in sibling vocal group The Free Design. In the midst of perhaps the most creative and competitive climate in pop history, The Free Design produced seven albums between 1967 and 1973 that stand among the most inventive and melodically seductive of their era. Of the group’s hit debut single, “Kites Are Fun, ” New York Times critic Alec Wilder wrote:
“…It was so fine that I literally wept when I heard it.”
Chris began to contribute as writer, player and producer to recording sessions for many artists, including Peter, Paul & Mary, Melissa Manchester, Barry Mann, and Simon & Garfunkel with James Taylor.
Since settling in Canada in 1972, Chris has established himself as one of the country’s foremost composers and arrangers for television and film—a status validated by the honour of a Genie for his original score for feature film, The Saddest Music In the World, and three Gemini Awards (among 12 nominations) for scores for television. His most recent nomination (2006) is for The Man Who Lost Himself. Other notable soundtracks: Shades of Black (the Conrad Black Story), Waking Walter, Childstar, Tripping the Wire, I Claudia, Elizabeth Rex, Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion, Emily of New Moon, The Avro Arrow, Walter and Henry, Road to Avonlea, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Planet of Junior Brown, Million Dollar Babies, and many more.
But this doesn’t begin to summarize his many credits and interests. Among the dozens of works he has composed for chamber ensembles, jazz bands, choirs and symphony orchestras, Chris is a major creative force behind several recordings and performances by the world-renowned Canadian Brass. In addition to having arranged and composed selections from five of their 1990s albums, the Canadian Brass turned in rapturously received concerts of his suites Mother and Child (Hamilton, 1994; with the Bach-Elgar Choir) and Fantasies for Anna (Toronto, 1995). Chris also conducted the Canadian Brass and members of the New Philharmonic at the 1995 premieres of EntreNous in Toronto and New York City.
Vocal music—especially a capella choral music— has continued to feature prominently in Chris’s career. Under the direction of his mentor, Dr. Kenneth Mills, Chris sang and co-wrote many innovative and highly acclaimed compositions with the Star-Scape Singers, which produced over 15 albums, containing some 100 choral songs. "I'm very grateful to live, work and play in the world of music," says Chris. "How can anything be added to the incredible life-force that music is?" The composer/musician is an explorer who, through hard work and inspiration, aims to uncover and share some unique facet of that sublime wealth."
As if to confirm the tangible care and passion invested in Chris's music - as well as its timelessnes - his career has, in a sence, come full circle as of late. In October 2003, an American label began a deluxe CD reissue program of The Free Design's discography. The event prompted some of contemporary alternative music's most respected artists - a few of which weren't yet born when the albums were originally released - to step forward and claim the group, and Chris's impeccable songcraft, as an influence. "[It] somehow still sounds innovative and genre-defining," wrote the New York Times' Neil Strauss.
It's a sentiment that's sure to be applied to all of Christopher Dedrick's music for generations to come.
- Michael White
(Michael is a Vancouver-based entertainment journalist who has written for MOJO, the Globe and Mail, the TorontoStar, eye Weekly, and others.)
Even as a small child I knew music would play a huge part in my life. But my musical-life didn’t begin to make sense to me until I got to college. As a child I’d taken beginning violin and piano lessons and quickly tired of them.So quickly that I really just learned the basics before I had already wanted to move on to the next thing. I took up flute as my instrument for school, when the time came. I took a total of about four or five years of flute lessons. I kept waiting for “the next thing”- when was excelling at an instrument going to become what I was passionate about? If not then- when?
When I was 13, I took some jazz piano lessons. This is when the shift began for me. All of a sudden there was something going on inside the music, beyond just how the notes were executed - there was a theory with which a girl could really get her brain aligned. But my piano proficiency was lacking enough from my lack of lessons that merely having the knowledge of jazz theory sitting in my brain with no way to get out and express itself left me extremely frustrated.
At the time, I just didn’t have the willpower to work through that frustration. In high school I learned to play the bass and got involved in the vocal jazz ensemble and the jazz band.When I played bass for these groups, I realized that I was making the jazz theory I had been exposed to- come to life! I got quite good at bass, not from lessons or formal training, but from passion for the concept of what was going on. (I am still not the best bass player ever, but my passion for expression of theory has continually pushed me ahead of the class to being, at the very least, sort of the “big fish.”) After this discovery with the bass, the concept quickly transferred over to the piano. Once I realized that, while proficiency was helpful and certainly mandatory if I ever wanted to be a professional performer on the piano, it wasn’t what I needed to bring the piano to life - I simply needed enough basic knowledge of the instrument to be able to apply the exciting theory I had been exposed to.
In fact, my developing knowledge of theory is what made me start to enjoy practicing the piano for the first time, because I was exploring it from that angle rather than it just being the means to an end (an end of “being able to play some piece really well”). In college, at Seattle Pacific University, I started studying classical music theory. These were mandatory classes for any student pursuing a music degree. Most of the students going through the music program had plans to become teachers, or to place emphasis on performance. This made me nervous because neither of those areas appealed to me in the slightest. While I enjoy sharing ideas with others, I have no desire to teach in the traditional sense (lessons, high school band, etc), and I love to perform music, but not to the extent that having to perfect an instrument with hours of practice and lessons would be worth it to me. The stress of needing to decide which of my shoddily-played instruments I would specialize in became overbearing. I began to take solace in the practice rooms between classes. I’d work on my music theory homework where my mind could engage with the music. I’d sit at the various and sundry pianos these rooms were home to, and I’d sprinkle in inventions of my own that matched what I was learning about on paper. Before I knew it I was writing songs.
After some discussion with an advisor, I realized that composition was the emphasis I needed to pursue. The reason it hadn’t dawned on me sooner was that the composition department consisted of about three students; I simply didn’t know the option existed. This decision was the most relieving and exciting thing to happen to me in my entire musical-development; suddenly I was free to be me in the musical realm.
April 18, 2007 This morning I spoke with Chris Dedrick on the phone. Wow, I am so excited to start an apprenticeship with him! First of all, it sounds like he already has some ideas for things we'll work on together, and he of course seems like he really has his act together (I wouldn't have suspected any less!), and by next week he should have a pretty good sense of direction of where to begin to take things. We'll talk again then.
I am so excited to get started so soon!
When I first signed up at the GetAMentor website, I wasn't even sure if "Now" was the time for me to do this, because it's something I have only dreamed about for so long. But when things start to really get going and happen, it is just so encouraging, inspiring, and motivating! And I'm so glad that Chris is on board to make this happen at this point in time.
Wow wow wow! I'm going to summarize here what our conversation touched on and the resulting thoughts I had, to keep a record of them:
We first talked a bit about some of my hopes, and I found myself talking a bit about my confusion as I've tried to figure out what my place (as an aspiring arranger/producer) would be within the music industry. He's read my autobiography, which includes more on these feelings, but to summarize them here:
Sure, I could hope to someday be a totally famous producer or something, but my heart isn't necessarily in reaching that kind of extreme success - my heart is to work among my peers, to provide something special to the music I love. The music I love happens to be made by really non-commercial, starving artists.
This will be a difficult place to attempt professionalism, but I think my hope is that with someday this won't be the case, and that perhaps my commitment to bring professional quality arrangements and production to them will help have some impact on that - that they won't have to starve to maintain their non-commercial principles.
But that's looking a bit far out in the future, and I really appreciated what Chris said. He said it's hard to ever really know where you fit in when you are doing this kind of work, you just have to take one day at a time, you create a little every day, and learn what you can every day. Keep putting energy out there, and something always comes back to you even if it comes back from a really surprising direction. You never know where you'll end up!
That's sort of how I feel about the fact that I am now beginning an apprenticeship with Chris Dedrick in the first place! I exerted a pretty significant amount of energy and enthusiasm into the universe about my desire to apprentice someone skilled in this craft, and the reverberations from the universe are coming back positive!
As much as I have been hoping Chris would agree to do this, it's still such a pleasant and powerful surprise that he would be in a place in his life that it makes sense to engage in this from his end, too. One thing he mentioned was that about 10 years ago he took on a gifted young lady right as she was coming out of high school. She's gone from filing papers and whatnot to composing, editing, and now she's actually been hired to do some really interesting arranging of her own through her connections there. She's like part of the family, he said.
That is really encouraging, not only to know that he's successfully helped bring someone along in the past, and has been consistently a part of her development, but that she has become her own something-special in that time, as well. I also have to say- I love to hear about other young women going after their goals in music, because there have certainly been plenty of amazing female artists, but for a long time the history books have neglected to mention them (unless they were somehow connected to an amazing male artist), and this can be a bit discouraging.
As much as I like to think I am able to move beyond these instances of sexism in the world of music, I can't ignore it entirely and it's so good to hear that the person I'm about to be mentored by has helped out another female artist in the past, and that she is doing so well. We talked a little about each of our points of interest in the others' town. I'm in Seattle which is where the Light in the Attic label is. This is, of course, the label that has re-released all the of the Free Design's collection on CD. He's in Toronto, and I have a friend living in Toronto who I've wanted to visit for some time now.
He was glad to hear that because (much to my relief) he agreed that meeting would be a great thing to do at some point. (I just think it would be difficult for me to really have the kind of connection with a mentor I would hope for if it was all done without any face-to-face meeting.)
Meanwhile, technology has made it really quite simple for us to get started on some assignments right away. In the "old days" when someone wanted to shadow a composer, they'd have to relocate entirely, or travel all over tracing the footsteps of where their mentor went. It's not that I'm opposed to that method of shadowing (in fact, I can imagine that could be kind of fun in its own way) but it's really exciting that we can start so soon thanks to the wonders of the internet. I have few samples of some of my own music up online, and he said that what he felt from listening to it was that I have a knack for bringing something uniquely "me" into the music and that this happens by "getting out of the way."
I'm looking forward to getting out of the way even more, because, gradually since finishing school, I've felt a tendency to over-think things when I'm attempting to arrange, and what I need to have, as Chris put it, is enough technique that I don't have to think so much. (I don't know if he meant "me" specifically, because I really think that applies to most people in many categories of life, but I certainly have felt that for myself, once I have more technique I will be able to let go even further and get out of the way in all the right ways.)
I'm excited to someday have a pantry of technique and tools that I can access anytime, and that I'm so familiar with I can reach in with my eyes closed and grab just what I need. One thing I've gleaned from my own perusal of information available out there about Chris Dedrick is that there are some philosophical aspects about music that are very important to him. This is part of what cemented a good "sense," or instinct, I had that this was the right person for me to be hoping to work with. Over the phone he confirmed that he'd want to get into some philosophy, and I feel like a sponge totally ready to absorb it.
I'm so excited about all the dots that have connected in my life so far to bring me to this place, and am excited about the dots in his life as well - why me? why him? why now? Whatever it is that brings something like this about, I'm so excited to have that in my life. I can't wait to see what kinds of things Chris proposes I start working on, and I'm anxious to ask him questions and make requests and do my own part to shape this apprenticeship as well (which he made sure to encourage me to do).
I can tell that something really lasting and important is being initiated in my life and I'm excited to be aware of that as it's happening, because I think that is really rare.
April 19, 2007
Hello!
Yesterday's talk with Chris Dedrick on the phone was awesome!
I am so excited to get started, and want to do whatever it takes to officially accept him as my mentor.
Okay, you'll hear from me in a bit with journal #2.
Thanks! Woohoo!
- Gwen
from Gwen's bio:
"Today, I consider myself an intermediate songwriter. However, I was recently praised by a friend of mine: 11 years my senior and the best songwriter I’ve ever met- he told me I was one of the most creative people and best songwriters he knows. “It blows me away,” he said. I can’t tell you how completely out of nowhere and insane this seemed to me, coming from him- it blew me away! It also presented a change in me- I need to start having more confidence in myself. Maybe I am better at this than I give myself credit for, as hard as it is for me to imagine that being true."
April 26, 2007
Just for today, throw your angst away And make room for the quality stuff.
Just for today, take the longer way and notice all the clouds, and how they fluff
Just for today, throw your angst away And make room for the quality stuff.
Just for today, take the longer way and notice all the coulds, and how they fluff
And how they turn into The shapes inside of you, Tucked away from view until we can see them floating in the sky.
Just for right now, let's ask the question "how?" And hope that it will lead us to the "why?"
Just for right now, know that you're allowed To grab ahold of something new and fly
Away from the disease Of negativities
In fact, it's only these that have kept you from the sky.
Just for today, tell Seattle, "Hey - There's rain outside, but Spring's inside us all."
You've gotta say, "I'm done with being grey Just to camouflage myself into the Fall."
Just for today I will float, I'll sing a higher note,And look at what I wrote - it will be written in the sky. --- --- --- ---
I usually prefer not to type my lyrics out to be read like a rhymey, chimey poem because the musical ideas that go with them usually have something significant to say about the idea I'm singing about, too. But for reasons I'll explain, I thought it'd be good to journal about these lyrics, so there they are, and here's the thoughts that go with them:
Today I sat down to write a song for the first time since I wrote the six songs for my most recent CD. I wrote those songs in November, released the CD in March, and things are starting to brew again. How can I not sing about what is on my mind since I found out Chris Dedrick would be my mentor? This song that I wrote today is still in skeletal form, but the basic idea is there, and it definitely comes from what has been going on in my personal state-of-mind for the past few months, as well just a few things that have been on my mind since my first few exchanges with my mentor.
I have been bewildered, for one, at how both he and I arrived at this stage of life where being mentor and apprentice, respectively, is something that we both want to do. It's amazing, to me, I can't get over it - people must be tired of hearing me talk about it. I happened to mention to Chris that I have to ask "Why me?" because I feel so lucky, and his reply was something to the effect of let's figure out how we are going to go about this apprenticeship first, and then see what happens with "why."
I think this was a very good way to stop my brain from flipping out with bewilderment for the time being, but also to keep the sense of "Purpose" in the back of my mind, I like this! Very much!!
So I included it in a line of this song, so that each time I sing it it will to help me remember to balance the two:
A) Taking things one day and one step at a time, and B) Feeling a sense of purpose in life, whatever it may be, and seeking after fulfilling it.
(This is an oversimplified way of expressing the idea of following a sense of calling, but I won't get into that here.) Meanwhile, I've been realizing recently that there's an incredible amount of pressure on me by my grey city, my angsty post-modern peers, and the temperature of the local music scene here in Seattle (which can be pretty gloomy at times), that to be a mysterious and interesting person with any artistic merit you have to be DARK and either broody, moody, or totally apathetic. I think angst can be a helpful artistic tool, especially when it's honest, but I've always felt inauthentic about fabricating it just to write songs that I think will be well-received by my peers.
Of course, I tend to follow my heart, and so I haven't really gotten too wrapped up in worrying about what other people will think of my music, but today I just needed to do a little something extra to re-affirm myself in my choice to stay positive and authentic in my own voice, take my own creativity one day at a time, make a choice just for today to grab on to the cheery things that my heart wants to sing about when I'm looking at the world through more relaxed but still-excited and curious eyes.
The result of my personal affirmation process today, to allow myself to be who I am, was this little song which I'm actually really pleased with and think definitely has potential, if developed correctly, to make its way onto my next personal recording project, whenever that will happen.
This thought made me wonder what other kinds of songs will pour forth from within this experience, and if there will be enough of them to put together a whole album as a collective overview of my year apprenticing with Chris Dedrick.
from Gwen's bio
...In fact, the way I found out at all was that after a year I still hadn’t received my diploma in the mail...
This whole escapade lead me to reconsider just what good a “degree” is anyway- the piece of paper that announces to the world what I studied- what good is that?... The ordeal also instigated a new line of thought in me about how education works, and what it would mean for me to continue my education at this point. Do I really want to spend more time in a school? Or do I want to learn and gain real-world experience at the same time? It’s no diploma, but it’s probably worth just as much (if not more?) in reality, isn’t it?
May 4, 2007
Thanks! I will be sending another journal entry at some point this weekend. You can continue to share my story with prospective Artist to Artist participants! I think it is really exciting to be involved on the ground floor of something like this. I've spent a lot of my teens-present years playing little parts in pioneering things, it's an interesting trend I just recently started to notice - how very cool!
May 7, 2007
Last week I received my first assignment from Chris: A string arrangement to "sweeten" a track he emailed to me. It is a terrific song to start with, as it is simple enough harmonically not to feel too threatening, but the form does some interesting things that will be fun to examine a little closer, and require my brain to remain engaged. However, I immediately noticed a mental block keeping me from feeling prepared to start arranging. I've been feeling this a lot lately when sitting down to start a project like this. I wrote through my block in the form of questions to Chris in an email. His answers were exactly what I needed to hear (and have needed to hear for a while now, I think)- so helpful! Just to think that these questions have been keeping me from doing projects for a while (simply because I didn't have someone to ask) is pretty incredible.
In fact, I never had really sat down and thought through my questions until that email, because I didn't have an excuse to. I feel like a giant boulder has been rolled out of the way, and I can't wait to see what happens next!I haven't been able to sit and really work on it until today due to some unexpected craziness in my schedule last week, but I no longer feel scared to jump right in and have been eager to start despite my busyness, thanks to his advice. Can't wait to get back to work on it and see what it turns into! I had been feeling a little unsure about something else, and that was actually referring to myself as "Chris Dedrick's apprentice." I finally decided to just ask him about his comfort-level with me associating myself with him, and explaining to others what I am doing this year, studying with him. It was a bit of a complicated concern, but I just had to wonder how up front I should be with people about my being involved with him now. I wanted to make sure to be respectful of Chris as a professional and as somewhat of a "celebrity" (even though he jabbed at the situation, saying, "most people will say, 'Who?'"), and he definitely made me feel at ease about it.I am pleased to have his blessing in sharing the story with whomever is interested.
Oh, one other thing I did this week was make a physical journal that I am keeping all kinds of notes in - it's my "official apprenticeship journal." I am printing out all the emails between Chris and myself and gluing them in, writing out my journal entries by hand prior to emailing them in to getamentor.com, any songs I begin to work on during this period of time will be written in here, and I'm taking any other notes/thoughts down by hand as they arise. It's going to be a bit of a scrap book by the end, I think, which could end up pretty neat!
And I'm sure I'll cherish it for years to come.
May 28, 2007
I haven't written a journal entry for a while because for a while there most of what I was communicating with Chris about was trying to figure out how to get my first assignment to him in a format he could view. We tried a few things, but due to email being our primary form of communication, it took about 2 weeks from the first time I tried sending it for us to get it right and for me to get feedback on the work itself. Before our emails back and forth about that, we had talked briefly about setting up a "phone schedule," agreeing that there are some things that take too long to write about, and talking would be good. But it hasn't come up again, and since the phone is such a nervous area of life for me, I am really just lacking confidence in re-initiating that conversation. I don't want to seem pushy or demanding.
Meanwhile, as I mentioned, I finally got my first assignment to him in a format that worked, and his initial response to it was really positive which is such a relief because after taking a while to hear back on it from him, I started second guessing my work a lot. (Though I don't do it nearly as much as I used to, I still have a tendency to second-guess myself, even though usually it turns out to be wasted energy spent on worry.) He said he would pose some deeper questions and thoughts on it once he gets a little break in his busy schedule, but wanted me to know he thinks that I used a lot of good ideas. He told me about some of the things keeping him busy and it's SO encouraging and exciting to know such an actively working musician doing the things I'd love to do someday.
Chris also gave me my second assignment, about which I think I will have more to say after I've done more work on it. I only just started it a few days ago. I'm feeling very good about the tasks assigned to me so far, but am a little nervous about figuring out when we'll start to talk more on the phone as well as discussing when I should plan to make a trip to Toronto, if he is still thinking that'd be a good idea (I hope he is! We only talked about just a little bit in our very first conversation but I'm really getting eager to think more about. I think getting a chance to work on some things with him in person, as well as getting to know each other face to face, would be extremely beneficial.
However, I'm not the busy, working professional in the equation so it's kind of up to him if this ought to happen and I totally respect that).
Well, that's it for this time!
6/5/07
Dear Phillip,
Let me say first that Gwen is, as you have felt, a very talented musician, a truly enthusiastic and committed student, and a lot of fun to work with. We began in late April with a lengthy phone conversation and several emails, getting oriented and establishing priorities. In May she took on a fairly major assignment, writing a string arrangement to sweeten a vocal and rhythm track. Very much a simulated professional gig. In total, I spent about 4 - 5 hours to prepare the materials, answer her questions in approaching the project, and comment in detail on her arrangement when it was done. She showed a lot of originality and skill in her work, and I think I was able to give her a lot to consider in how to take it to the next level. We'll do at least one more of these.
In other emails I covered some legal and business areas (just the beginning, there), gave some creative listening assignments, and dealt with scheduling and logistics. It looks possible that we will be able to include some in-person work here at my studio at some point in the apprenticeship, as Gwen has friends in Toronto and may be able to travel and visit. This would obviously be a huge bonus to the learning endeavour.
Please let me know if you need any further information or documentaion.
Best regards,
Chris
6/13/07
Wow, that invoice from Chris is really a self-esteem boost, and is definitely going in the scrapbook! He has been very encouraging toward me directly, as well, but it's nice to hear him say those things about me to someone else :)
I'm attaching my 6th journal entry to this email.
Thanks a bunch! - Gwen
I've been feeling unsure lately. Not unsure in my musical skills or talents, just sort of unsure of my career hopes and how it syncs up with what I'm doing with my everyday life at this point in time. I'm trying to get into some kind of more organized approach to working on assignments that I receive from Chris. It's not that a lack or order in my home has caused me to do poorly on any projects for my apprenticeship yet, but it is really getting into my brain, and I'm struggling to find an appropriate rhythm of work, play, and everything in between. A few weeks ago I started reclaiming a corner of our house that we had kept open as rental space. Rather than renting that room out, we've decided that I should transfer all my craft supplies there from out of my music studio and other corners of the house, in order to keep it from encroaching on areas that should be used for other things. This has already been helpful, but there are a million details as to why it's not the ideal solution yet. I won't write them all out here, I'll just say that I certainly don't feel like the problem is solved yet.
It doesn't help that in order to record my piano last week, I had to move it around in my house, and it's still in the middle of the room, with the top open and therefore anything I had sitting on top of it is now temporarily relocated to the mantel and blah blah, like I said I don't intend to write all about this right now, but I guess a journal entry with such details would at least be a pretty accurate representation of how busy my mind is right now with the problems of disorder in my surroundings. In addition to that, I have been finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning because I can't manage my time well, either (between cleaning the mess around me, taking care of home life, and working on music projects, whether for my apprenticeship or otherwise), and my first thoughts in the morning, since they tend to be pretty out of it at that moment in time, are thoughts like, "It's too much to deal with to try to figure everything out! If I just keep sleeping, I won't have time for anything unimportant and that will help me solve the problem of having to chose what to do with my time." Then when I do get up, I'm rushing around to get all the important stuff done. I am writing all of this mostly to say that while I seem totally capable of working in the midst of the varying levels of mayhem I always seem to have going on, and getting assignments done, and done well, it is draining on me in some huge way and I'm starting to see that it is getting worse the longer I put off finding an actual solution (i.e., sleeping away the day is probably only making things worse). Because I live, eat, sleep, craft, relax, and work all from within my home, I am simply having a hard time separating one thing from another. It's hard for me to feel like pursuing my hoped-for career is really leading me anywhere, because I'm staying in the same place around 20-24 hours almost every day. It's just complicated because I love and prefer being home, semi-isolated with my cats, in a space I'm comfortable in, and I've even done a lot to carve out two distinct places within my home for me to "get away"- a music studio and a craft room.
However, I still feel like the combined problems of clutter/disorder and being unsure of how to use my time everyday are really starting to bog down a huge part of my energy and my brain's capacity to get things done. I don't even know where to start to tackle this. If I can't manage time well and I can't manage space well, and everything around us is time and space, then it's hard to feel like I'm capable of doing anything well. Luckily, I tend to think there is more than just time and space around us, and I feel like I'm doing pretty well with many of the other metaphysical areas of life. For instance my sense of cause and being. So, I'll end on this more positive note. This week I asked myself a really good question. I started by making a mental list of things I enjoy doing in life:
1- Visual art 2- Play in bands 3- Compose/ arrange/ orchestrate (music production in its many shapes and forms) 4- Write songs 5- Throw parties 6- Play x, y, or z instrument (bass, cello, piano, etc.) 7- Making creative gifts for people
Then I asked myself, "If a book were to be written about me after my time here on Earth is through, which one of these things would I want to be the main focus of the book?" I was surprised that, even with as much as I love doing all of these things, the very loud-and-clear answer to that question was number 3. It is exciting to me how quick and easy it was to answer this question at this point in my life. It'd be easy for someone in my position to choose something like "play in bands" because of all the street-cred that comes along with being in a well-known band, and perhaps a glimpse of fame that could be really appealing to some.
Or, I'm sure that lots of people strive to be the best bass-player in the world, but that is not my passion at all, even though I like to be good at what I do. I'd take having a handle on the craft of orchestration and composition, and being skilled in music production and a part of the rich heritage of this whole aspect of music-making over the rest of my list any day. Knowing that I feel so strongly about this makes me feel as excited and pleased with my life as the moment I decided to be a composition major in college, over performance and education. It's a real boost.
06-25-07 Wow, it's so great to have a mentor in my life. I decided to tell Chris about my struggles managing time and space in my life and he gave me some great advice about getting things squared away a little better. I am working with time sheets to keep track of how I use my day and the big discovery for me is that I have 6-10 hours every day that I had been WASTING!! What a gift to have this time given back to me. I am excited about waking up in the morning now, and eager to get going on assignments from him as well as everything else I've got going on in life because I finally feel hope for getting everything done in an orderly fashion.
This brief update is just to make sure I put in writing just how empowered and excited I feel about having someone in my life I can feel confident asking advice from. Asking for help managing my time is not something I felt good about asking my parents, my spouse, or my friends about because they are just all too close to home and I'm not always 100% convinced they know how to best use time anyway ;) Not that I just assumed Chris is the king of time-management or something, but as someone who is successful at doing what I want to be able to do, as someone I look up to, I brought it up and he was able to give me a great place to start reclaiming my space and time. I feel like I've accomplished more in the last week than I have in the last 3 months.
from Gwen's bio
This coming Friday, March 2nd, marks the release of my debut album under a new, semi-solo project name, “The Luckless Pedestrian.” This time, I am responsible for everything. I wrote the six songs, played piano, bass, cello, flute, glockenspiel, and sang on them as well as arranged them for other instrumentation (played by some of my friends), and was responsible for recording everything. I also had this one professionally mixed and mastered, and this time had more say in the process because it was solely “my baby.”...
Because of what I’d learn from a one-on-one mentorship, I believe I will one day feel truly, rightfully confident in my own abilities as an arranger, and perhaps one day move on to other aspects of music production... The idea to begin a hunt for a mentor began after some serious soul-searching. As I was spending some time being very confused about how I fit into the “big-picture” of the music world, a good friend of mine drilled this mantra into my head: “Ask yourself, ‘What do I really want?’” And I followed the question up with one of my own, “What’s stopping you?” As I spent some time (over a year, really) meditating on this, I realized that what I really, truly want more than anything (don’t laugh-) is to be taken under the wing of a producer, arranger, and expert songwriter. Unfortunately, I began to see a pattern in my life where the answer to the “What’s stopping you?” question was that it often required something from someone else - usually someone to whom I couldn’t even obtain access to try and persuade them to help me reach my goal...
Your program has made me feel like I’m allowed to dream big. I specifically spent time praying that there would be an advocate, somebody out there who would be sincerely excited by my dreams and goals to get involved in arranging for recordings- it felt like a crazy prayer because I am surrounded by people who seem to insist on struggling to do everything by themselves. (I am very tied in and connected to the indie-music scene in Seattle.) It can feel so intensely foolish to expect anyone to want to invest in my project when they could very well be investing in their own.
But GetAMentor has made it clear that their own interest and project IS my goal. This is such a godsend, at least in concept. I hope it works out because as of now it has restored my hope that there is an advocate out there for the little guy (us would-be-apprentices), after all... Thanks for this amazing opportunity!
July 11, 2007
Hi everyone at Get A Mentor! Hope you are all well.
Just a quick update- I have some pretty bad repetitive stress issues in my wrists right now and am not able to type much (or even do much of anything involving hands). This has been going on for a week and a half. I'm taking a break from typing (as much as is possible) for the rest of the month (and will be out of town for the last 2 weeks of it, pretty unreachable). Once I am back in full effect, I'll write a nice juicy journal entry, I promise :)
Meanwhile, there won't be much to report anyway, since Chris and I are on the same page about taking this month off and will get back into things in August. Just wanted to keep you in the loop. Things are going great with the apprenticeship, though, so I look forward to writing more!
Thanks a bunch, Gwen
PS-- if you reply to this, you'll get an auto-reply saying I can't type. However, I still receive and can read messages, so feel free to write back if you want/need to let me know something. For any kind of response from me, though, please call.
9/7/07
Hi there,
Sorry it's been so long since I've written! Things are going well I've just been out of town off and on a lot lately. Here is my latest journal entry. Hope things are going great with all of you!
Is it already the 7th of September? I haven't written anything about my apprenticeship for a long time- months it seems! This is mostly because from late July through September 1 both Chris and I had a lot going on so we decided to take a little break. I was out of town for about 3 weeks, total (on two separate trips) and he's been busy, too. But now we are getting ready to pick things up again, I think. The cool news is that during my two trips out of town I got pretty inspired, musically, and before I knew it I had written a handful of new songs I'm thinking of working into a new album (probably another EP). I wasn't planning on being ready with material so soon after my last EP, so this took me by surprise. I told Chris about it and asked if there was some way we could combine my working on a new album with the apprenticeship.
All of a sudden it made so much sense that having his help working on production of this kind of project could tie in all the things I'm hoping to learn from him. I'm still not sure exactly what this will look like, or how it will work, but this week I've been recording scratch versions of the songs and sending them his way. We'll see what happens next!It's felt very productive to spend time at home working on songs when I haven't been out of town. Anyway, there's not much more to report right now other than that I'm really excited to be working in this direction.
- Gwen
10/20/07
Sorry I never replied to this! Thanks for passing along those links. Also- I have heard of some of those bands and really like 'em a lot!
Here is my Journal #9- it's been too long since I updated you all last, and things are really exciting for me right now, so I hope you enjoy hearing the latest news! Talk to you soon, Gwen
I'm still having wrist pain that makes long typed stuff difficult, but here is an overdue update: Chris and I are currently planning for me to make a trip to meet him! During my trip I will be recording a 4 song album of my music (I am writing, arranging, and co-producing) that he is producing for me!! This is huge news for me- I'm SO excited.What a dream come true! It's been brewing for a while, but I felt a little weird about "announcing" anything before we had a good sense of what the project would look like. I will update you as we continue to get a better idea of what is going on. This all came about when I recently began writing a lot of songs all of a sudden, and rather unexpectedly. I told Chris, and we decided a project like this would be ideal for me to continue learning all the things I want to learn from him. I'm not only getting some insight about song-writing as I write the material, but I will be getting further insight about about arranging and orchestrating when I get to that stage, as well as the whole production process, of course. So not only do I get my next album produced by an amazing producer- but because he's my mentor, I get to learn about every step of the process as we go. It's such an ideal situation. I will also be "shadowing" Chris to a certain extent while I am there- being around while he works on projects of his own. It will be so great, I am really looking forward to it so much. We are still working on dates for the trip. I was just thinking last night as I was falling asleep about how taken-care-of I feel right now, as I am journeying down my career trajectory. I'm very excited about where I'm going, what I am doing right now, and I feel like I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have people helping me all the way. It's a blessing I really can't ignore.
11/14/07
Hi all!
Attached is Journal 10. Tomorrow morning I am leaving to meet Chris and spend 4 weeks working with/ learning from him. I am SO EXCITED. See the journal entry for more details :)
Hope everyone is doing well at GetAMentor! Best, Gwen O. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long story short- I leave for Toronto tomorrow morning!!!! I will be there for FOUR WEEKS- that is the longest I've ever been away from home on my own. (I've never traveled outside the country on my own! I'm pretty nervous.) As I mentioned in my last update- I'll be studying with Chris and also finalizing preparations for and subsequently recording an EP of my music (under The Luckless Pedestrian name) with him! Should be 4-ish songs, written, orchestrated and arranged by me under Chris as producer and mentor. That means that I will co-produce the thing and be learning about all the aspects of the project from him every step of the way. That is so much more incredible than just having a good producer. I mean... it's a dream come true that he's producing this- I can't believe it in fact. But on top of that, I get to learn from him as we go- that is the primary focus which is exactly what I need in order to grow in these areas that I want to grow in, musically and in my career. It's unbelievably cool. Words cannot express everything I am feeling. If I had to try, though, I'd say: - Excitement to the max - Nervousness- mostly about travel, not so much about the work or meeting people - I'm bracing myself for so much personal growth, but knowing that it will ultimately happen in ways I can't expect or plan for- it makes me both really nervous and really excited. - Anxiousness - Awe and gratitude I'll be there over the US's Thanksgiving Day and I feel like this is the perfect place for me to be on a day of reflecting with a thankful heart because I feel so immensely and richly blessed by this whole experience. I plan to be journalling through the it all, but I don't know what that will look like yet. I have been struggling with physical health issues due to my wrists. I started seeing an occupational therapist last week and we have come up with helpful solutions and ways to make my music and composition work-space more ergonomic- hopefully it will translate okay to my set-up in Toronto. But if it is too difficult to type, I won't be able to write about it that way so I will have to figure something else out. I will do my best to write at least one good entry for GetAMentor while I'm there. So excited!! This is a time of tremendous growth and transformation for me, and it's absolutely tied in to this apprenticeship. It is not difficult to imagine what a rut I'd be in were it not for this experience. ... Oh!! One last thing- have I mentioned my friend from Amsterdam in one of these entries, yet?? Berend is his name- he is an incredible musician over there (see www.bauer-plaza.com or www.myspace.com/popduobauer to check out his work)- we connected over the internet thanks to our mutual love of The Free Design (Chris' group from the 60s-70s). We have been collaborating musically long-distance, and getting to know each other. He is flying to Toronto to play drums and sing on my album!!! This is one of the coolest things EVER. Our connection due to Chris' musical influence on our lives just seems really magical and I can't believe that because of me and my apprenticeship, Berend will also get to work with a musician he has long looked up to. It's such a blessing.
This apprenticeship is making dreams comes true, not only for me but for those around me. I feel like this advancement in my life is a gift to the people in my life and it's ripe with sweetness.
January 23, 2008
My trip to Toronto to study in person with Chris Dedrick and work on the recording project was INCREDIBLE. Such an amazing time of great growth- spiritually, creatively, personally, and of course for the advancement of my career (WOW there are so many exciting things on the horizon for me with my music).
I will write a proper journal entry soon.
Life is going a million miles per hour for me right now! So busy, but also very exciting and new.
February 29, 2008
A lot has happened over the last 3 months. Much of it is extremely personal and I'm not sure I'm ready to go into the details in the format of a journal-open-to-the-public, but I feel like giving a little update would be a good idea, just to keep people posted on where things are.
A whole new era of my life has begun. It's been a very bitter-sweet time for me, endings and beginnings surround me from every angle. It's been almost a year, now, that I've been apprenticing Chris Dedrick and the forecast still looks bright for where things are going with it. We are still trying to pick my recording project back up after my trip to Toronto, so unfortunately I have no news on that front and might not for a while. I know that is a little disappointing, but it makes soo much sense considering the massive craziness that has been going on in my life. As much as I can't wait to get rolling on it, it would be insane to try to make that happen right at this moment in time. Soon, I think.
To summarize what all has had me so busy: I've just moved for the first time in 5 years (which means sorting through piles and piles of "life-debris" that I've accumulated), I've been working on developing some musical connections I made in Amsterdam through Berend Dubbe (who was involved on the recording project with Chris) which have contributed to me needing to actually make some trips overseas, every significant relationship in my life is seeing big changes, and meanwhile I've found need to finally begin the hunt for a day job of some kind.
So things are kind of all over the place, but the apprenticeship is still in tact and I still believe great things are on the horizon, that horizon might just have been postponed for a little while until things settle down a little bit. To be completely honest, I believe that GetAMentor has had a lot to do with the life-changing things that are going on for me right now. They may seem hectic, but I know there is so much important change and goodness happening right now. When I decided to take on my goal of finding a mentor and really pursuing my dreams, I started to grab a hold of a tiny corner of a blanket that had been poking our from underneath something, trapped underneath for a long time. I think it may have caused me to "pull the rug out" from under my life. In a good way.
That's all the news there is for now!
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