Notable Artist - Tori Kelly

Dear You,

A couple years ago I started watching Tori Kelly's Youtube covers. She's been "acousticizing" (rewriting songs using only a guitar, I made it up) songs for years. She has an amazing voice (that I am completely jealous of), plays guitar like a genius, and is an outstanding songwriter/rewriter. 

She's published two EP's: Handmade Songs by Tori Kelly and her newer one: Foreward

She has an unconventional pop sound that inspiring, relateable, and clever. She doesn't try too hard to fit into exactly what everyone else writes and  has some amazing unique songs in the process. Needless to say, I love her music.

My favorite songs are 

Handmade Songs: Celestial and Upside Down

Foreward: Dear No One and Paper Hearts

I love listening to her songs and have loved watching her go from iPhone recorded Youtube cover to full blown EPs with hit songs. I'm really excited to see where her career goes next and continue watching the mindblowing Youtube covers she uploads every once in awhile in the mean time.

Comment below: Have you found any good artists through Youtube? 

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Mia B 

Vision Board

Dear You,

One of my goals this week was to create a vision board, something I can look at and remind myself of my dreams. To do great and be great, strive for greatness every single day. So here are the pictures I'm going to print out and past to my vision board:

Idols

These are most of my singer-songwriter heros in the world, they're all amazing, inspiring and have done amazing things with their lives. Performing, writing, recording, all things that I hope to do in my future. 

Quotes- dream related

I have these humongous dreams just sitting inside me. They're terrifying and I'm constantly afraid of failure and loss. But looking at quotes keeps me grounded and remember why I'm doing what I'm doing. Nothing in the world makes me happier than music and I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. To me, my dreams are bigger than pain or relationships, it's my main focus right now and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Quotes- other

I'm one of those annoying optimists whose goal in life is simply to be happy. I've come to realize that it is entirely up to every individual on whether or not they want to be happy, it's something we choose. And for me, my happiest times are moments, while things are fun and having money is nice, nothing is better than moments. Moments spent traveling, laughing, hugging, writing, talking, just finding moments. 

So there's some of my most inspiring things. It's a big board so I'll probably add some random pictures of guitars and music notes and flowers and other things that make me happy and inspire me creatively. I'm really excited to get this done and hang it up and look at it all the time, yeah exciting.

Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed and comment below: What inspires you?

Thanks for reading!

Mia B

Instruments I Play

Dear you, 

So I've loved music since I was really little, just imagine 3 year old me singing with my Barbie karaoke machine or better yet see for yourself naive little me. 

However I didn't get a physical instrument in my hands until 5th grade, I was 10 years old when I was placed into my school orchestra and I've had 1 instrument at a time ever since. 

Viola

You never forget your first ;) and I never have, the rarely known instrument looks exactly like a violin but is slightly larger, thicker, and a fifth down (1 string lower). Viola definitely wasn't my favorite, they're always given mediocre parts that are only meant to be heard as background sound so I switched rather quickly but I'll always be grateful for this instruments gateway into the rest of my musical career.

Violin

As soon as I could I switched to violin, learned the whole new clef, very challenging but I caught on, and moved to the coveted 1st chair within 6 months. This one is my mom's favorite and I do love the sound but I find it hard to compare different types of instruments like air versus string because I think they all sound so beautiful and have their own special place in the magical world of music. 

Clarinet

After moving, my new school only offered band and there was no way I could quit music so I took up the clarinet, an easy beginning to a whole new world. However I didn't like clarinet very much, like viola the parts were all boring and I didn't see much creativity with the instrument. 

Alto Saxophone

Then one day I went to a local music shop and got to try out this beautiful new instrument. I then begged to switch as soon as humanly possible and joined the altos. This was one of the best decisions ever. I loved this instrument and miss it terribly, it has a huge beautiful sound and has the most amazing solos. I didn't play it long enough to master it but I really wish I'd known about it before. 

Guitar

This is my current love. It has opened so many doors for me, I learned how to write songs from it and increased my multitasking exponentially. I love having to try so hard to figure out such complicated songs and being able to sing along to an instrument, you can't really do that on a saxophone. This is the most passionate I've ever been about an instrument but I haven't lost any love for the violin or alto.

Piano

I don't actually play piano but it's next on my list, I feel at a loss for never learning the base instrument of music. I love learning new ones but I don't want to lose my time in guitar at all and I have absolutely no room to fit a piano. Maybe after school's over I'll have more time for an extra instrument and I can start out with a simple keyboard, I'm excited :)

Anyways, those are all of the instruments I've played. I love violin, saxophone, and guitar the most, they all have their strengths and I love them all so much I could never choose a favorite. I love playing so much and I miss all of my old instruments all the time.

Do you play any instruments? Tell me in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Mia B