“Notes” About Me
Ok guys, this blog is slightly different from the usual blogs I write, but I am super excited about this one! Back in January, I asked people what they wanted to read more of from me in 2023. One dear friend said he wanted to know more about my musical abilities. He asked some different questions that were really interesting and fun for me to think about!
I will be going through answering each of his questions and elaborating on some of the questions he asked. So this blog is all about me and music … which is why I titled it "Notes" About Me … get it? ;)
Note: I wrote a three-part series on how being a musician played a major role in my eating disorder. This blog won't deal too much about my eating disorder but if you are curious about my musical career and eating disorder, you can read about that here - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!
Can I pick up my violin and play a song or play along with a song I have just heard? Or do I have to start by reading the music and memorizing it?
I have never been good at picking out music by ear. I have never been one to be able to hear a tune and play it on my instrument. But as the years have passed, it has become easier for me to do that just because I have been doing music now for over fifteen years. But I am much better at learning music if I can see the notes. It's harder for me to memorize notes and lyrics if I am just relying on my ears, but if I can look at it … then it's much easier for me! I am a very visual person. :)
2. At what age did I start playing and developing my talent?
I was nine years old when I started playing the violin! I had started playing piano a year or two before that. I was never great at the piano and didn't want to be good at it; I knew it wasn't a fit for me. But I knew that I wanted to play the violin. However, I didn't start developing my skill until I was thirteen years old! I started taking violin more seriously. Then when we moved to Nashville in 2012, I started working even harder at music.
3. What other musical instruments do I play or am I one who can pretty much play "anything"?
I am 100% not one of those people who can play pretty much anything! Haha!! I wish I were! I admire musicians like that so much!! As I said earlier, I started out playing piano. Then I switched and just focused on violin and, later on, voice lessons. Violin and voice lessons have continued on to this day. (Except I am currently taking a break from violin lessons but hope to continue in the future.)
Although, at one point in my time in Nashville, I was taking lessons for mandolin, guitar, piano, violin and voice. I actually really enjoyed the challenge of working on those different instruments. I'm not someone who could just pick up a mandolin or guitar and start playing on it. I have had to work really hard on whatever instrument I play. But when I was taking lessons for those five instruments, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of it!
4. What type of music do I enjoy the most?
Hmmm, I like a lot of different music, but if I had to pick one genre that was my favorite, it would be the 40s & 50s! I have loved music from that golden era since I was a little girl!
If you want to know what instrumental music I like the most, it would be movie soundtracks! I think it's because many soundtracks combine classical, fiddle and a mix of all kinds of different styles of music into the soundtrack! I hope that makes sense!
5. Do I use music (playing or listening) as part of my personal therapy?
Before I went to the treatment center back in 2015, I would have said a hard no. But I remember when I was at the treatment center, and my ability to do music with my sisters was taken away, I realized what a privilege it was that I got to do music with my sisters. I remember getting in the mail our newest Christmas EP (“Simply Christmas”) that we had released while I was in the treatment center. They sent me a copy and I was able to listen to it. I remember listening to it repeatedly, filled with gratitude and pride that my sisters were such incredible musicians. So much jealousy had tainted our music and I couldn't stand my sister's musical abilities because I was filled with so much jealousy and insecurity of my own musical abilities. But it switched when I was alone at the treatment center. Some reason the Lord allowed that EP to bring a lot of healing to my heart. That's the first time I remember music being a type of therapy for me.
Over the years, sometimes, when I sing with my sisters, it soothes my heart. It has taken years to get to the point of being able to perform and have music touch my heart. Nerves always got in the way. But in the later years, it has slowly started to switch to where now when I perform certain songs it calms my heart.
But listening to music is the biggest way I use it as therapy. Music holds the power to stir people's hearts, unlike anything else in this world. It can be used for good and bad; it's a weighty thing. But if we use music for God and the way God intended us to use it, I think it has the power to move, calm, comfort and heal in a way we have yet to see in this world! I think we have been able to get glimpses of it through different musicians and pieces written over the years, but I think we haven’t seen the fullness of music’s power yet … but one day we will!
Quick side note: The word "Entertain" means: to admit into the mind. I realized that music/entertainment has the power to enter in one's mind. Think about that. So with that, Satan will use music/entertainment to destroy and kill, but God uses it to heal, penetrate, redeem and comfort. I think that is why Satan has gone after the entertainment industry so hard. Satan knows the power music has. But that's also why for us and our music, we feel compelled and called by God to do music because as much as music can be used for bad, it can be used for good! So that's why we keep on keeping on with music. We want to see God's power and how He can use music to penetrate His light into this dark world we live in.
6. What does music mean to me?
I'll be honest, I have had a love/hate relationship with music. As a young girl, I loved music but I also remember being very sensitive to music. I have always been really sensitive to music and couldn't listen to a lot of music my family liked because it made me feel things. I don't even know exactly what it made me feel, but I would get a pit in my stomach and become scared and emotional. I don't know why but music has always had a strong hold on me.
Yet, at the same time, I loved music! I loved doing plays at my school, I loved singing and I loved the challenge of performing. So even at a very young age, I had a complicated relationship with music. Then as I got older, my music was one of the first targets of my eating disorder. I remember it switched almost overnight, and I hated music. I hated doing music. I didn't want to become a musician. I hated that I had to go into music. All that hatred stemmed from my eating disorder and the fact that God called me to do something I didn't want to do.
Music would be my last choice if I had been able to pick what I got to do in life. I will say this; I am probably the most unlikely and unnatural musician. There are a thousand other things I would have been better at and more natural at … but God called me to music and it was a calling I tried to get out of, ignore and fight out of … but God was stronger. ;) And I am so thankful because He has used music in such a powerful way in my life. He has used it to break, heal, and draw me closer to Him.
As you can see, music is a major part of my life and God has used it to help shape me into the person I am today, which makes music extremely special to me. Yes, it's been a bumpy road, but I can honestly say that it is a privilege and an honor to be a musician. I thank God for not letting me have my way and for making me be a musician!
I hope this has been different and interesting for you all! I'm sorry if I got a little wordy at times, haha! I want to thank my dear friend for taking the time to ask those questions and for writing to me! And as always, thank you for taking your time to read my blogs! If any of you want to know something else about me, have any questions or want me to write about anything else, just let me know in the comments below!
~ Natalie