[00:00:00] Welcome to Strung Out, the podcast that looks at life through the lens of an artist. Your host is the artist, writer, and musician, Martin Lawrence McCormack. Now here's Marty. Hello everybody and welcome to a quick Strung Out because we have a lot going on and
[00:00:26] always feel it's important to keep Strung Out going though, right Anya? And we have, uh, I just got a couple of great interviews in. And with Jonas Fridle, and those who are going to be coming down the pike soon, he's a Chicago singer songwriter. He played at my school. Yeah, he played at your school, so that's awesome.
[00:00:47] But today, I have an awesome artist that I want to talk about, and her name is Anya. And Anya just participated in the Illinois Music Association, and would you want to talk a little bit about it? Uh, yeah. Okay. So, I participated in the Music Association again. So this is the first time. That was last year, right?
[00:01:22] This is last year. And um, this year I beat that by getting second. I play Halloween Witches and I think the only reason I won is because I have such a great teacher. And also such great parents and great parents. And, uh, yeah, it was, it was nerve wracking. It was, I was nervous because Why was it nerve wracking and why were you nervous?
[00:01:49] You have to do a solo piece in front of a crowd when a judge is judging you. And also, there's like nine people. Even though you all get prizes, like, you know, a ribbon. It But you're competing against nine other students, right? I, like, seven. Six. Including me. Six. Yeah, I want to say, I think there were seven.
[00:02:18] I could be wrong. Including me. Seven. Including yourself. And um, and you, You received a perfect score though, right? Five, yeah. So, in, uh, despite getting a perfect score, um, the young lady that beat you, I think she, a little bit older, maybe a little more complicated piece, I don't know, what do you think? Or not.
[00:02:46] It's hard to do arpeggio. It's hard to do arpeggios. And she had a lot of arpeggios, right? Mm-Hmm. . So that right there, maybe next year, uh, you'll do arpeggios. What is it that you like about music? Well, it can transpose and you can express how you feel with music. And music is in all of us. And you know, you've heard probably all the stuff from musicians
[00:03:18] I'm just kind of saying what they've been saying mostly. Like, you know, like music is our soul, and music heals us, music allows us to express ourselves, it also just sounds good. Mm hmm. Yeah. And, is, is this something that you find that, uh, just is inside you as an artist, or do you feel like it's something you have to learn?
[00:03:46] Inside
[00:03:51] Mm-Hmm.
[00:03:55] So is, uh, when you say it's inside you, can you describe that for the everybody? Um, like, music is in me. I, I can feel and hear music and it's like a thing where I feel like, mm-Hmm,
[00:04:19] it's like light in my body.
[00:04:24] In your body. So like, uh, for me, when I'm listening, when I have. music. Usually I hear, I have like a song going on in my head all the time. And it's not like a song that somebody else wrote. It's, it's like a, a song that is being written in my mind. It's kind of a funny feeling, you know? So, and it can be a sad song.
[00:04:48] It could be a happy song, but do you have that feeling? Sometimes. You compose a lot of your own material. 10 years old now, right? Uh, yes, I do. And how do you, um, how do you memorize?
[00:05:11] Um, Memorize, like, memorize a piece. Um, well you have to learn it first, and then you have to play it a bunch of times so you can get the major melody in your head. Then, you start to slowly just remember part, like you can remember what happened, like, say yesterday, with your memories. Then um, you can slowly start to remember the piece.
[00:05:41] Okay. And then once you remember it, like, it never leaves you. Let's take a little break and we're going to listen to Anya at her competition with the Illinois Music Association. This is a very big organization. It's um, Not only for piano, but I noticed it actually had a division of drums and rock music to some degree.
[00:06:08] I was surprised to see that, but I thought that was very cool. But it's a very tough competition. The teacher herself, that was the judge, she's a composer. She's a professional pianist. Uh, she's works out of Chicago, but also North Carolina, where she's at a university there and I forget which I think it's Northeastern Illinois University here in Chicago.
[00:06:40] So it was very interesting. Nice to see the work that she was doing going through, uh, thoroughly each of these students, uh, it took about five minutes after it took longer than the piece itself to judge each competitor, right? Um, I can remember all the pieces if you want me to say it. Sure. Okay, I played Halloween Witches, a girl played, um, the Snow Castle Wolves.
[00:07:13] Snowflake Castle, I can't remember. Another one played Hamster Chase. Uh, another boy played the Loch Ness Monster. Then, um, I'm trying to remember. The Evening Tide, somebody played. It's the girl that won, I think.
[00:07:42] Yeah. Also, I need to also say, um, Oh, okay. Come back to me. There's something else you want to say. You forgot. Well, that's, that's okay. All right. We'll be back after this. You're on strung out.
[00:09:10] Hello, I'm Polly Chase here with Artwork by Marty McCormick. This is titled Dream. It's an eight by 10 pen and ink drawing. Be lovely in an office or child's room, anywhere you need inspiration to let go and see where your dreams can take you. To inquire about pricing and to view other pieces of Marty's artwork, go to martinmccormick.
[00:09:34] com. Thank you. Back to you, Marty.
[00:10:37] All right. Scoot over for a little bit. And here we are in the studio, right in our house. And this is where Anya works on her Piano, and um, you also, uh, compose here, right? And so, when you compose, what, how do you, how does that work for you? I think of a melody too, and I just start playing random things to see if it matches.
[00:11:11] Like this. Show me. Okay, go ahead. Talk about it. My device is dinging. So, say I just played a note. Give me a random note. If you can play a middle A, please.
[00:11:30] Okay? Yes, I do have like a key.
[00:11:50] I get just to create a random melody around it. And, uh, it kind of just comes to you. Well, that's for me. But Do you, uh, do you find most of your things are happy or sad or what?
[00:12:08] Or sad. So let's pick, uh And what I always like to ask when I'm interviewing my guests, do you find it easier to write a happy song or easier to write a sad song? Um, it usually depends on what mood I'm in. I think it's easier to write a happy song. Um, the usual notes to write a happy song are usually C, F, C major, F, Those there, they all sound nice.
[00:12:43] They're also what? They all sound nice. They do sound nice, yes.
[00:13:00] It's easy to make a happy sound with those, but with other chords, it's kind of harder. Oh wait, that's the same chord. Mm hmm. Yeah, I put um, A, B, C, D.
[00:13:17] I see, uh, that you have on the piano here, uh, last year's third place winning piece, Trick or Treat. Do you want to play that for the audience? I will be rusty. You'll be rusty, but see if you can do it.
[00:14:06] Nice. So, Trick or Treat's, um, what kind of song is that, do you think? Trick Scary Halloween sounds. Mm-Hmm. . Um, I also noticed that you have a lot of different things hanging around on your piano. You have a book and you have a, um, looks like a wax gingerbread man. His name is Caesar Augustus. His name's Caesar Augustus.
[00:14:38] Okay. And, uh, I see you have a, a finger puppet from the Mr. Marty show. And you, yeah, that's squid. And, um, you also have just an envelope. Does an artist need to have like a, do you like having stuff around you? Um, does that make you feel like a little more creative or Right here, it's just random stuff on my piano that I've left when I come home, like, and I go to play.
[00:15:23] Um, we'll start by getting a piano, or finding a piano. And, um, Get a teacher. But also like, just mentally. Um, piano is, isn't too much of a hard instrument to play. Um, like for me, I guess guitar or violin would be harder. Um, but um. Piano is, It's usually a very, very classical instrument that is used often.
[00:16:06] It's pretty easy to learn. Um, just, sorry. Yeah, we should mention you have a toy inflatable ball that's making all that noise too. Every piano player, should they have an inflatable ball underneath their piano? Just make sure you have the right things. So you have the bench adjusted to your height, and you can, you know how to play the piano.
[00:16:35] So, for me, before I even knew how to play the piano, I just started out with like simple chords. Like, I mostly play the piano. How many years have you been taking piano now? For three. Three years. So in three years you've gone into, last year was your first competition and this year was your second competition.
[00:16:57] So, um, and you're improving. So that's good. So you practice how many times a week? Do you practice every day? I try to practice every single day. Sometimes things happen where I'm busy and I don't get to practice. I tried to repeat that by practicing more the other day. The general piano player should play 30 minutes a day.
[00:17:24] Well, I want to say congratulations again on your second place win. Uh, you, you were very close to getting first and second's really, really good. Um, can you close out this podcast by playing one of your original pieces, please? And do you have an idea? Can you, do you have a name for one? A
[00:17:53] sad one. Yeah, that's fine. Want to give it a little volume, just a tad? Um, I was just playing that song. Okay. And I'm not sad, this just is a melody. Do you have a name yet?
[00:18:10] Um, I don't know. I don't know. Okay, well you don't have to have a name yet. So work in progress, huh? This is a piece I just created a couple of weeks ago. And it doesn't have any, um, emotional influence or even connection to me. I just created a sad piece. Okay. So, yeah. So, sorry if I mess up.
[00:20:10] This is just new I created. And here
[00:20:23] comes Miss Capers.
[00:20:27] Can you give the ending? This is just, um, something I created. Well,
[00:20:52] I look forward to hearing that piece in its entirety. Uh, when it's played seamlessly from start to end. It really is beautiful. It has, um, the arpeggiations. It has, uh. Like you said, it's, it's a, it's kind of a sad song, but yet it's also kind of a hopeful song. It feels to me, uh, makes me feel like moonlight or something, you know?
[00:21:19] So, um, it's, it's a very nice piece. So I encourage you to get it totally done, finished. And, uh, again, I want to thank you for being on Strung Out this week, and congratulations on your achievement with the Illinois Music Association. Thank you. All right. And, uh, turn around for a second here. I'll scoot in.
[00:21:43] Let's get my ugly mug in here. And all you other people, uh, thank you. And, uh, we're going to be getting back in the saddle with a lot more interviews. So we've had some Like I said, a couple, uh, weeks of setbacks, uh, just with the canceled interviews and things like that. But, uh, that gives us a chance to, uh, really work on some of the accomplishments that we've been doing here on the home front with, uh, Anya's work on Frida Kahlo last week and this stupendous win.
[00:22:13] So until next time, take care and bye. Bye bye. Bye bye.
[00:22:25] Thank you for listening. For more information about this show or a transcript, visit martinmccormack. com. While there, sign up for our newsletter. See you next time on Strung Out.
[00:22:43] It's oh so wrong, this pain we feel makes no sense at all. A swan song wasn't part of the deal, was no good call. Givin out joys, givin out stares.
