A Walk in the Garden... After the storm

Friends, allow me to invite you into this secret garden. Let’s take a walk and look around. We can enjoy silence, or talk about life. Would you like to join? 

It’s been a quiet span of peaceful days here in Lake Lure. This garden you’re seeing is a result of massive rainfall and flood warnings, all which has resulted in these extra brilliant colors of green. Flowers are in bloom, leaves of Lamb’s Ear are softer than ever. The ground is nourished with vibrant soil ready to birth new roots and limbs of oxygen for us to breathe.

I see this garden to be symbolic of the past few months. Flood warnings are similar to the fear ingested among this global pandemic. After a long wave, many of our people have gone. Many fellow plants, they have floated away into the river and onto the next part of their soul's journey. Among their departure, it is here that new life is being born. 

What do you see now? 

Is there anything symbolic to you in these flowers?

Mother Earth's complexion appears more radiant today... after the storm.

I’ll tell you, my friend, I’ve walked this path many times but have never seen it so dazzling. With that, I’d like to share an experience with you. 

Last Thursday I had a bad day that later resulted in an extraordinary blessing. Let me explain. 

First, a fairly heavy Bluetooth speaker dropped on my foot. Just after two rounds of ice and some bandaging, my power went out. I looked at the clock and realized it was only an hour till my next lesson with my composition mentor. I’d been excited for this all week, in fact, I’d already finished my assignments 4 days before (on the night of our previous lesson). Without too much thought, I packed my guitar, computer and manuscript paper ready to drive to the resort and use their WiFi. My foot was rather fragile and limp, but nothing that would stop me from attending the lesson. 

Half way to the resort I was stopped by firetrucks and a tree down in the middle of the road. This lovely tree had knocked out the power lines, they were doing their best to fix it and asked me to turn around.

I chose to see this as an opportunity for creativity and headed home to my cabin. One hour into a timed practice, my phone began showing a signal. 

I figured why not, I’ll do a quick live stream and say hi to everyone. Two songs later, I clicked offline to discover that my Bluetooth speaker was on for the entire duration of the stream. *If this means nothing to you, just assume that the sound was warbled for the entire performance, and I had to immediately delete it. 🤷‍♀️

Without the thought of giving up, I decided to try again. 30 minutes was spent getting the GoPro Camera in the perfect spot to not hear the loud generator on the other side of the house. I matched that spot with the perfect light before sunset and thought, “It’s on now!” Feeling good about the camera angle and what I wanted to play, I started recording with “Live Stream take 2.” It was going well, for a minute... until my camera died. 🤷‍♀️

Well, apparently mercury was in retrograde that day. I took a flashlight up into my studio to find the power supply for my GoPro. I remembered it being plugged into a certain outlet near my guitars, and was bent down on my knees looking for it. The plan was surely to bring it downstairs and charge it with an outlet attached to the generator, and do live stream take 3.

The good news is that I found the power supply. Unfortunately, however, I stood up too fast with great enthusiasm, and severely hit my head on a QSC K12 Speaker. This took me to the ground hard, I cried like a baby, and at that point decided there would be no live stream that day. Even worse, the phone signal was back to “no service” zone, and WiFi wasn’t working even with the generator.

I laid there on the floor for a while trying to make a call. At least 10 tries, and the phone lines were completely down. I’ll have to say with such a head bang in the middle of a rain storm and power outage, this got me pretty shaken up. I felt alone, saw stars somewhere through the darkness, and panic started to arise. 

I took many deep breaths, then a few more until I calmed down. I gripped to find my balance, and after a few tries was able to stand up.

For several hours after this head bang I could not make a call. I’ll be honest that I no longer cared about live streaming, my camera or the lessons missed that day. The only thing present was this large bump on my head, tears that wouldn’t stop flowing and the constant rejection of my phone on multiple attempts to reach out to someone. 

During that time, I laid on my couch in deep silence. There was a lot of deep breathing as I soaked in ice packs on my head, neck and foot at the same time. Somewhere in there I probably laughed a little at the irony of the situation, although not for long, as laughing seemed to make the headache worse. I breathed a little deeper. 

Believe it or not, among unstoppable discomfort and body aches, when that power came back on at 2am I wanted to record some music. I wasn't sure what exactly, but those raw emotions needed to be expressed somehow. 

This forced burst of self healing declaration lasted for a couple of hours. Once adrenaline subsided, however, I noticed the computer screen increasing a massive headache that I couldn't fight. I closed the recording program.... and haven't opened it since.

The next day I showed up for a zoom guitar lesson with one of my greatest mentors of all time. I intended to work with my high school guitar teacher, John Michael Parris on my most recent composition “Bird Whispers." Strangely... I started to play, and could hardly remember the piece. My fingers didn’t seem to be functioning, and felt quite slow in response to what my brain was telling it to do. I went completely blank and felt embarrassed. 

We moved on to other things. I started asking him about some pieces that I’m notating, and strangely recognized that my questions weren’t making any sense. I noticed that I just felt “off.” 

Admittedly when I hung up from that lesson, I got straight in bed, hugged my pillows and cried hysterically. To feel that embarrassed and blank in front of a teacher was horrible to my integrity, and I couldn’t understand what was wrong. I did mention to him that I’d hit my head really hard the night before and didn’t feel right, then apologized for feeling off that day.

After enough tears to move through it, I called my friend Jenni. Jenni is a long time dear friend and wonderful nurse so I thought she might have some insights. I expressed that I was scared of what was happening to me, but even more apprehensive to go to a hospital and risk exposure to the coronavirus. 

Jenni encouraged me to call my family doctor instead, and thankfully I was able to get a video appointment with the doc. Sadly, I was told that I was suffering from a concussion, and instructed to stay away from screens and go on brain rest. 

I have to say that "putting my brain in a sling" has been quite challenging but also nourishing. Last week’s stream was cancelled, and I apologize for any inconvenience. Resulting in this experience, all future streams will be cancelled until further notice and I look forward to coming back soon. 

As of today, I’m thankfully feeling a little more like myself. I’ve stopped drinking coffee to avoid stimulation, have not read any books, have barely played guitar, and little by little am feeling normal again. 

Yesterday I visited this garden. I’ll admit that I’ve been here many times, but I’ve never seen it in the same way. I sat on this swing for a long time and looked around. I admired the majesty of the mountains, the song of the river, the mystical fog in the sky after several days of rain. I looked around, and did nothing. Just me, the swing, the breeze and beautiful flowers. No thoughts, just presence.

Slow and steady, I’m finding my balance again. The sun is peaking through clouds after another sweet rain storm. My little cabin creek is as loud as a river and has never resonated so much in my heart. Birds are singing, and I have to say, I’m not “thinking” about any of it. I’m just sitting here now, feeling. The world is calm, yet more alive than ever.

If the universe needed to give me a concussion to remember what it’s like to truly feel and experience life, then I say thank you. There is a world beyond the screen out there, and truth is, the world HAS slowed down. Prior to this injury I was planning, producing and exploring everything I could “do” with this extra time for tireless hours every day. I tried to challenge the universe, but her message finally came through loud and clear:

"Slow down, dear one. Slow down."

It sure is nice, even just for a little while to remember how to be with time. Maybe it’s not all about doing. Maybe when I walk in this garden from now on, when I walk through this life, I might see the world a little different. I might choose to not walk through the garden, but rather to be in the garden. Maybe I’ll just swing on this swing and look around. 

How about you? Are you in the garden with me, or are you walking through it? Sit here with me, dear. Let’s be here now. 

What do you see? 

I see life.

I feel love. 

I see flowers coming up from under the ground... 

After the storm. ☺️ 🌺

Guitar Tips: How to get most focused and intentional in your practice :)

How to get focused and intentional in your practice

- Christie Lenée

A friend asked me the other day if I ever have “musical ADD.” He said that sometimes if he’s working on something he can easily get distracted by composing something, then go in the creative direction and forget what song or technique he was practicing in the first place. 

I had to laugh as I COMPLETELY resonate with this feeling. There have been many times when I go off on “musical tangents” and completely ride off the rails of the direction I was heading... not just in music, but in life. I suppose this comes with the territory of being a creative individual, and personally I find it sweet and endearing. It’s like a little kid going out on a bike ride, then seeing a turtle crossing the road and deciding to pull over and watch to make sure it doesn’t get run over, or to help guide the turtle to the other side. Or maybe the kid is distracted by a bird, a butterfly, or some interesting side road that he or she has never ridden upon.

This is similar to what my friends and community call “squirrels.” Personally I think we all have these moments, but over the years I’ve tried to get diligent about noticing them. Sometimes I’ll let them distract me for hours at a time, or stay up all night following them. In other moments I’ll just quickly “say hello” to them, record the idea and get back to what I was doing. 

To me, curiosity and creativity should never be ignored regardless. In fact, it tends to take priority in my book. That "lighting in a bottle" can come and go, so in my opinion it's good to catch it while it's hot! :)

Personally, the only thing that has helped me with these “squirrels” is to have very specific goals in mind. If you’re wanting to be able to perform or record a piece by a certain date, try to think about how many hours you might need to work on this. Then get real about it... this might be 10 hours, it might be 100 hours, etc. There might also be exercises that need to be done every day to help alleviate the ease of certain sections. You might also want to schedule time with mentors to help reach this goal. 

Once the amount of time needed is at least vaguely determined, try scheduling your practice time over the course of many weeks to assure all of those hours get in. I mean this seriously... schedule rehearsals with yourself at specific times, then once you start, set a timer and an intention. Such as this: for the next “x” amount of time I will work on “THIS.” No phones, no text messages. Make it a committed meeting with yourself and your instrument. 

If “squirrels” come and you start composing your next brilliant composition in the middle of it, I say if you have the time, go ahead and run with the muse. :) Strategically, I just suggest that if you go off on a creative tangent, notice where the timer stopped and make note of how much time was spent that day. Then you can make up for it later.

A teacher once said to me, “it’s not always about how long you practice, but WHAT you practice it and HOW you practice it that makes all the difference.” 

Another quote that resonates is that “it’s better to know one thing 12 ways, then to know 12 things one way.” With this in mind, try to go deeper. If it’s your own composition you’re working on, how many ways can you slide into that one note, or how many ways can you express that single melody? If you’re working on a scale, how many different fingerings do you know for that scale? Can you start it in different places on the neck, and play it in multiple different musical patterns, rhythms, and rhythmic combinations? How many melodies can you come up with that use that group of sounds, whether existing melodies or the creation of your own?

I’ve found that thinking about things like this makes my "practice” more fun and creative. Then I might actually want to practice a Lydian scale with multiple fingerings, because maybe it will inspire a melody and new musical chord shapes. 

To me, practice and composition can go hand in hand. My take on the “Musical ADD” piece is mostly this: don’t be too hard on yourself if you get distracted by something creative. In fact, celebrate it! So long as you keep the goals in mind and try to be at least somewhat strategic, it’s all part of the journey. Most importantly, have fun, and stay curious. :) 

- Christie Lenée

www.christielenee.com

CHRISTIE LENEE RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:

- Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2019 (Music Radar Magazine, London, UK)
- International Fingerstyle Guitar Champion 2017
- Featured Coverage in Guitar Player Magazine, Acoustic Guitar Mag, The Art of LA, Guitar World, Vintage Guitar, Premier Guitar
- International Concerts with Tommy Emmanuel, Andy McKee, Christopher Cross, Jake Shimabukoro, Kaki King, Amy Ray, Tim Reynolds (Dave Matthews Band) and more.
- Nominated in 2016 Posi Awards, “Songs for Personal Transformation”
- International Tours in US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia

Guitar Tips: Tapping Guitar and Economy of Motion

Guitar Tips! 🎸An extremely talented guitarist/composer I’ve been teaching recently asked a question regarding the tapping style of guitar. Since many others have been asking about these techniques, I thought I’d share my response.

In regards to connecting to the fretboard with the right hand, I try to avoid hitting the string too hard. Creating a “whack” on the string like a baseball bat and starting far away from the neck uses much more energy than needed. Thankfully, there’s an easier way! Try having the right hand thumb resting on top on the neck. For your right hand tapping fingers, aim for a relaxed pose with all fingers as close to the fretboard as possible. With this technique, you can literally let the finger fall by grace of gravity and land on each pitch with a sweet sound. 

My approach to the guitar is to use economy of motion as much as possible. Since the hands develop habits when we get excited, it’s a good idea to slow everything down significantly and and focus on minimal movement with both hands. We should never feel like we’re squeezing the neck, and the closer we can position ourselves to use the force of gravity, the better! 

My recommendation is to practice very slow, meditative, and evenly with a metronome. Sink into the tempo and get deep into the connection of each pitch. Try to feel the sounds past your fingertips and connect with the frequency in your soul. The tapping notes should feel almost just as beautiful as if you were to play it really sweet and soft, plucked with normal guitar style. 

Remember it doesn’t have to be an “attack.” Have your finger so close to the note you can almost touch it. Then like an exhale, fall onto the sound. It should feel effortless, and when you find that ease you’ll know you’re playing slow enough to breathe and embrace minimal motion. At such a tempo, you can get even deeper into the music, then day by day increase the tempo. 

If you can maintain a level of ease and continue breathing no matter how fast you go, the music will become effortless. Most importantly, make everything you play a part of you. :)

#guitartips #guitarlesson #tappingguitar#guitartapping #playingguitar #learnguitar 🎸

Interview on Eclectic Listener

Check out this recent interview on Eclectic Listener. We got pretty deep into my history of music and transformation as a composer/songwriter. The story could be a novel really, though I am still adding to it every day. Knowledge is an eternal journey! http://eclecticlistener.com/2013/01/15/larger-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-the-multi-faceted-artistry-of-christie-lenee-2/

Interview with Rockethub

Hey acoustic music lovers!  I am running a campaign to release my instrumental album and am seeking support from fans.  This is an opportunity to pre-order the album, house concerts, and previews of digital downloads.  In turn, your participation will allow me to fund the remainder of the project!  Rockethub just interviewed me about the project and I'd like to share it with you- see below.  Here is a link to the project:

http://www.rockethub.com/projects/12176-instrumental-guitar-album-christie-lenee

What was the inspiration behind the international guitar music project you are currently running on RocketHub?

- In my freshman year of high school I saw John Michael Parris, professor at Blake High School of Performing Arts, perform Andrew York's guitar piece "Sunburst." Hearing that composition was a transforming moment in my life. I felt the light of inspiration spark and heard an orchestra of music explode within me.  Since then I have spent hours and hours a day practicing and composing music, studying an expansion of musical styles, and touring all over the US to get my music out there.  I want more people to feel what I felt that day and be inspired to follow their hearts.  

To translate this incredible feeling, I've often put a lot of focus on my vocal music.  Many of the lyrics are about believing in yourself, taking from life experiences, learning, growing, and making your a special mark on the world.  Since I've focused so much on this message with hope to inspire people, every CD I've put out thus far has only included one instrumental song.  However, I've recently noticed that this message translates thoroughly through my instrumentals as well.  In fact, the music and expression of the guitar translates more emotion than any lyrical song in my catalogue.  It is something more profound then words could justify.  The music is a journey in itself. 

When I see tears of joys sparkle in the face of an audience it is a pure, fresh feeling all over again.  That feeling is inspiration: like cool rain on a summer day, like warmth when you're falling in love, like speaking something that means the world to you... and feeling yourself heard.  I've seen the response when performing this music and felt a raise of vibration.  Hearing the crowd get intrigued and express their experience is also more than rewarding. It reminds me why I do this in the first place, for it puts me at peace and leads to the most grand symphonies of my dreams. 

This album is about evolution, changes of seasons, and cycles of the moon. It is the purest essence of emotion without speaking a word- an expansion of light, love, and expression.  I'm excited for others to experience the journey.

What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of cool music in Philadelphia, New York, and beyond  - how are your supporters responding?

I feel very blessed to have so many fans and friends who support the music.  In turn, I've put a lot of effort into charity events and coordinating concerts to help benefit others.  It is the giving sensation in me which achieves rewards much larger than money could buy.  Call me silly, but doing a fundraiser for me is something that I'm not completely comfortable with.  Quite frankly, there are bigger things in this world then just one person.  However, I recently had a realization that this is not just for me- it's for the fans and acoustic music lovers of the world.  Knowing that allowed me to justify doing a fundraiser.  This is about musical expansions, inspiration, and a raise of vibration.  I am beyond grateful for everyone who contributes to the cause.

Any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?Work hard to follow your dreams.  Nothing comes easy, but if you maintain persistence you will achieve results.  When you connect with the power of true intention and live from your heart, magic happens.  

----

Thanks for reading!  Please take a moment to view my Rockethub page:

http://www.rockethub.com/projects/12176-instrumental-guitar-album-christie-lenee

Benefit Concert Thursday, Dec 6th at Milkboy Philly

Christie Lenee and Community Rocks! New Jersey have teamed up for a benefit concert at MilkBoy Philadelphia this Thursday, December 6th to raise funding for people displaced by Hurricane Sandy. The concert, “Philadelphia Cares” will featurea reunion of the “Christie Lenée Project” with crafted instrumental acoustic pieces, soulfully-inspired lyrics, and music often compared to Michael Hedges and Dave Matthews Band. Trevor Gordon Hall, Philadelphia based acoustic instrumentalist will open the show, followed by the sweet vocal harmonies of “No Good Sister," the electrifying guitar stylings of Brian LaPann, and a special performance from singer/songwriter Casey Alvarez. All proceeds will be distributed via the Community Rocks Organization to help replenish items for schools on Tom's River, New Jersey that were affected by the storm. In addition, they will be collecting small items to include in goodie bags for kids including warm socks, crayons, notebooks, pens, toothpaste, toothbrushes, snuggle bears, etc to distribute to kids who were affected by the storm. Tickets are on sale now for only $10 advance and $12 at the door. Come support this great cause and experience a memorable night of music! www.milkboyphilly.com     

Click here for list of items needed

Collecting Items for Victims of Hurricane Sandy!

Attention Philadelphia area friends!  The MOM's Club of Malvern, PA and Nelson Building Services Group is helping collect necessary items for victims of Hurricane Sandy.  All items will be loaded onto a bus (sponsored by Krapf Buses) and delivered this Saturday to shelters and distributions centers at the Jersey Shore.  If enough is donated, multiple buses will be going out!  Please help contribute so we can directly help people in need!

If you'd like to help, please consider donating:
- blankets
- non-perishable food with protein such as jars of peanut butter or cans of tuna
- canned goods
- hand sanitizer
- cleaning supplies: buckets, mops, brooms, clorox, rubber gloves, laundry detergent
- warm clothing and coats
- plus size clothing
- toiletries
- men's and women's new underwear - all sizes
- new socks
- diapers and pull-ups
- baby formula and baby food
- double AA batteries
- new pillows
- animal food bowls
- litter boxes/littter/scoops
- cans of dog and cat food
- gift cards to: Shop Rite, Walmart, Target, PetSmart, Home Depot and Lowes 

You can bring items to the bus lot, Kitty #12 will have a collection location in the garage clearly marked.

Items can be dropped off at the Nelson'sHome:

340 E Broad St, Malvern, PA before Friday at noon. 

Please put items into boxes or hefty bags and leave them on the tarp in the driveway.  Thanks so much for being a part of this!