As we wrap up or Get Creative theme for this month, I hope that you all will continue this trend in your own lives in your own way. Join me today in an interview of Muscian and Singer, Kayte Grace. I found Kayte through Twitter and loved her vibe. In addition to writing music, she also writes a great blog. Be sure to check it out. AND…be sure to read to the very end. Kayte Grace is offering us something pretty fun!
Here’s my interview with Kayte Grace…
~Can you tell us about how you came to develop your creative gift of music?
When I think about falling in love with song writing, I can point back to one moment that did it. I was at a youth retreat out in the woods in middle school and we were all sitting on the floor in a small, warm cabin. We were squished in there. And a girl who was slightly older than me shared a song that she’d written. And she played the guitar. When she sang, you could feel the air in the room lean in towards her, every pair of eyes, fixed on her. When she sang it rang out and everyone was captivated. I knew then that songwriting (and bravery to share the songs) was a special kind of power that you could use to transfix an audience and pass on a message to hearts that were open because of the environment I felt in that cabin.
I went home and wrote a song on the piano. It wasn’t very good. But I wrote it. I didn’t ask anyone how (that’s never been my personality). I just sat down and did it. Invented my own rules. Sometimes I think being creative has to do with giving yourself authority to name something, color something, describe something. I never felt like I had to ask anyone’s permission or get instructions when I started teaching myself guitar or how to write songs. I sort of knew that I had to, and felt that I already knew how. I read Makoto Fujimura talk in a book called “Refractions,” about how in Genesis, one of the first things Adam did was name the animals. Crazy right!? Whatever he named the animals, that’s what their names were – even God agreed to go along with Adam’s names for things. Fujimura ties this into the creative capacity and authority to “name experiences” that God’s given each of us!
Lots of other things contributed to the music that comes out of me – performing when I was little for nursing home residents and at county fairs, taking violin and piano lessons in elementary and middle school, and having so many talented (and even famous) musicians in my family. Logistically, discovering how to create music required a guitar, being able to get away by myself for a few hours, a notebook & pen and my blackberry or laptop to record “voice notes.” I find that when you set aside time to do something – like write music – and when you sit down, and stay seated long enough, you’ll start doing it :)
~How do you connect with God when you are creating lyrics, chords, songs?
Each song is such a different process. Some songs developed as vague ideas, sparked by experiences, digested over months and months. Others start as 3 chords that I just can’t get away from, and nonsense, filler lyrics that I discover aren’t really nonsense at all. Other songs I write in 15 minutes, start to finish. They just come. And in each of those scenarios, there’s a general sense of wonder on my part, because for all of the explaining and breaking down the process, I still do not fundamentally understand where the music comes from, or how the words come out, or how the melodies emerge from a sea of possible notes. What I do know, is that “every good and perfect gift comes from above.” :)
And every once in a while, I have a song writing process that feels like worship. I usually pray that God will give me the stories He wants to tell and the colors I’ll need to tell them. And ideas will just drop into my head. Phrases. Melodies. Concepts. And I know it’s God. And I get in a space where I could play what I’m playing for hours and not even feel time pass.
Songwriting is a process that God uses to reveal to me what’s in my heart and help me work through it. And not in a “ha! there’s some SIN!” kind of way, but in a “you’ve been thinking about [insert experience or feeling] a lot lately … dive into that” kind of away. I feel like we make meaning of experiences together, try to put our finger on what makes the frustrating thing frustrating, or the beautiful thing beautiful.
~Do you have any advice for those of us who are searching for ways to be creative or use their gifts and talents?
a) Get by yourself at first – try it. Whatever it is. It puts less pressure on what comes out and you can be freer to create.
b) Wait for the sweet spot, then build on that. My songs almost always begin with a chord progression or melody line or lyric that I’m obsessed with – that I can’t stop singing or playing. And I play that over and over, sometimes for months, until the “flesh” comes around it. I build out from a sweet spot.
c) Listen to what you love and figure out why. Don’t strip the mystery away, just listen really closely. Appreciate the beauty. Listen for the layers, the dyanmics the build up and the breakdown.
d) Do things that don’t make sense – like water coloring with milk, or describing a song in terms of food textures. Finding new ways to engage with old things is what creativity is all about.
Isn’t that great advice?! I think it can be applied to all kinds of creative activities and endevors.
Here’s more about Kayte Grace:
The Washington Post called singer/songwriter Kayte Grace a “talented musician” who “writes great pop songs with smart lyrics and a country feel” and declared her album (featuring Kayte’s 5 time Grammy winning cousin Victor Wooten) an “impressive debut.” Her fans call her “delightful” and “genreless.” Just four years after picking up a guitar, Kayte’s released 3 albums and 2 singles, has done on 3 national tours, and has also been featured by YouTube, The Augusta Chronicle, NBC and ABC in Georgia and Washingtonian Magazine. Kayte has acted for nearly two decades in commercials and shows like Law & Order: SVU, The Wire and Gossip Girl.
The heart of Kayte’s music is the desire for community. You feel it when you can’t help but sing along and when you hear your deepest heart cry sung right back to you, and especially in the moments right after the show when she’s hanging, laughing and grabbing a bite to eat with fans and friends who came to see her perform. It’s about those moments. And storytelling. And the audiences of her live shows feel it.
