I am in the second week of my blogging challenge: Music Success in Nine Weeks, and this week’s task is to write two or three sentences that sum me up as an artist. This “elevator pitch” (also called a 15-second pitch) is a short blurb meant to be delivered quickly to a potential fan, industry supporter, media tastemaker, etc, in the time that it might take to share an elevator ride together. Just enough description to entice them to check me out if they haven’t heard of me before and to raise awareness of my music to a new level.

Talk To Me, Otis!
This should be easy, right? I am songwriter, and I am used to using words. But… [pause] I’m not an engineer. Trying to condense my work into a couple of lines feels like trying to draft the blueprint of an amazing “elevating machine.” I know there are some hoists and some cables, and there’s a cabin nestled inside an elevator shaft. Or… maybe there are ropes or pulleys or…

From the National Archives.

I, like many artists, often create from a place of impulse. I write songs and I perform them in front of hundreds of people, but I don’t often stop to think about the impact I am making. I mean, I like it when people respond to my work. I love hearing comments and applause, yes. But I don’t really know how people, you know, see me. In my mind, I’m just doing my thing without too much thought to whether or not my slip is showing. So what could have been a ten-minute exercise – two or three sentences that sum up my sound – turned into a week-long journey into another philosophical question: what impact do I make in the world?

The Mechanics Of Un-Invisibility
I decided to ask people. I drafted up a four-question survey I called “How Would You Describe Me To Your Friends”. (I used SurveyMonkey.com, a decent platform for making free surveys.) I asked people to tell me who I sound like (similar artists), what genre I play, and what words they might use to describe my music to someone who doesn’t know me (tying this back in to what one might say to a stranger in an elevator.) I included a long list of adjectives scoured from reviews and stuff written about me. This in itself was pretty trippy: sometimes I am stuck in my own little elevator cabin and I lose perspective on where I am in my career. I found a lot of really nice write ups in the press using words like “playful”, “whimsical”, “melodic”, “bittersweet”, “expressive”, “warm” and so forth. Felt good to put the list together.

However, the moment I hit send to my newsletter pointing them to the survey, I had an incredible plunging feeling. You know… you’re standing in the elevator and you hear the moaning of cables, and the sudden lurch of the cabin and you think… “oh my god this baby is going down!” Thoughts of “self-indulgent” and “who I am to ask… who really cares about little ol’ me?” started running around inside my head.

The Rush Of Falling
Imagine then how utterly blown away I was to discover forty people were willing to take time out of their busy days to fill in my ever so clunky survey (did I mention I’m not an engineer?) People left comments that were amazing. I am reminded that just as I feel goodwill for other artists so too do people sometimes feel goodwill towards me.

The Root Verb Of The Word Elevator Is Elevate:

1. To move (something) to a higher place or position from a lower one; lift.
2. To increase the amplitude, intensity, or volume of.
3. To promote to a higher rank.
4. To raise to a higher moral, cultural, or intellectual level.
5. To lift the spirits of; elate.

While all of the above are relavent in the context of this week’s task, definition number five, in particular, catches my eye.

Here’s a short sample of the comments people wrote:

“I really enjoy having your music as part of the soundtrack to my life. When I am up it can take me just a little higher and when I am down it’s like having a friend to ride it out with. But whatever and whenever, your voice and music always feel like home.” SB

“There is something very personal in your shows. I have been to three or four, and I have always felt “close” to you, even though we never spoke. It truly feels like you are sharing your most personal feelings with the crowd… the feeling of “I know how she feels, I felt it too”.” YF

“Your music lifts my heart.” DH

First Draft
So much of what I am discovering these past couple weeks doing this blogging challenge is that to be better “business-minded” and reach new levels as an artist, my relationships with people are at the core. I was reminded again this week that my art connects me to others and others to me. And at the end of this week, I humbly submit, I feel elevated.

The pitch I wrote at the end of this process is somewhat anti-climactic after all the emotional adventures I went through. But I’ll put it down here for the curious. (A shout out to Ross Douglas and Guido Ocker whose wonderful comments were woven into directly the pitch.)

“Karyn Ellis is a gentle powerhouse of a songwriter. Playful, bittersweet and made with the finest ingredients of Folk, Country, Pop and even a trace of Jazz. Listen and be fortified.”

Please do let me know if you think it sounds like me! Suggestions for edits are welcome. I have an inkling that it does, but can I really know for sure? :)

Next week: “Your Website”.
Look for my next blog update Monday January 30th.

PS, I’ll be posting more comments and feedback from the survey as part of next week’s challenge.

Related Posts: The Difference Between Small Towns And Cities… Stickers!, and a prose poem: “Some Days It Surprises Me”

To kick off the challenge, this week (number one) is all about setting goals. Write them down, so the wisdom goes, and you’ll be way more likely to achieve them. Which got me thinking about why I have never done it before now.

Goals – sigh – why bother?
According to the doomsayers – the Mayan Long Count calendar ends on December 21st 2012 and therefore, they conclude, humankind will be toast too. *cue ominous music* Uneasiness is sweeping the general population like the flu: freaky weather, volcanos and earthquakes, oil spills in the ocean, economic struggles in Europe, full body scanners at airports, newsfeeds describing unending tragedy and mistrust between fellow human beings. Doesn’t that list just go on and on…

In the face of all this doom ‘n gloom, I’m sitting down to write out my goals for the next 3-months, 6-months, 1-year, 5-year and lifetime, and I’m thinking… geez, December 21st is less than a year away. Does that mean I shouldn’t bother with anything beyond the 6-month plan?

Neverending Story
But wait a minute, I thought Y2K was supposed to be the doozy that would knock us all out with errant missiles and misbehaving computers. And, wasn’t last year home to a couple of rapture ascension dates that never came to pass? In fact, a quick look at Wikipedia tells me that there have been over a hundred apocalyptic dates throughout history, and more to come (assuming we make it through this year.)

So you can see why when it comes to setting goals – just like quitting smoking – there has never really been a good time.

Okay, sure. Consciously I do not actually buy into the doom ‘n gloom model. Quite the contrary. My worldview can be summed up by this quote: “I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!” (Louise Bogan)

This week, however, I was embarrassed to discover what has been stopping me from expressing my goals all these years. Somewhere along the way my hope fell out of favour, and hopelessness gained entry into my subconscious. I have been worn down by the barrage of bad news and numbed by it.

Crazy Little Thing Called Hope
Well damn you, doom! The reason I became an artist in the first place was to hang on to this little spark called hope. Even in this time of winter, I call forth music like spring calls forth poppies. I will sing and write songs like blooms waving freely across a field.

Yes, what I have realized this week is that it is no small act – writing down one’s goals (aka dreams.) It goes beyond mine or anyone’s personal aspirations; I see expressing them as an act of hope. By affixing goals/dreams into concrete form, I am saying to the world I trust that you are going to be here with me on December 22, 2012 and as far into the future as life takes me.

So Don’t Blame the Mayans
If anything, let’s applaud them for their incredible forward thinking and rich civilization. After all, they created a calendar cycle 5,126 years long, setting their sights well beyond any single lifetime. That’s advanced goal setting if I’ve ever seen it. The fact that the calendar runs out this year means it’s more than overdue for me… for us… to take it from here, thanks.

This week I have created a number of pretty 8 ½ x 11s describing my goals for the upcoming year, and I have placed them in my newly created “Goals Book”, a document I will refer to again and again throughout the coming months and years.

For the record (and in honour of the Mayan long count calendar,) let me add one here too. “It is December 22nd, 2012. Happy solstice! It’s good to be alive! To celebrate the returning sun, today I am sharing my homemade video for “Winter Song” (one of my new songs from my new album recorded this year) online through my newsletter, website, various online social media sites, etc. Enjoy!”

What are you doing December 22nd?

Next week: “Creating The Perfect Pitch”.
Look for my next blog update Monday January 23rd.

Related post: (1) I Like Lists

I’ll take this as a positive sign from the universe that I’m on the right track with my new year’s resolutions. I’m making a new album this year.. woo!… and along side of that creative project… I have decided it’s time to make a concerted effort to get organized!!!! I’m delving into marketing, admin and all that crazy business stuff that seems to go along with the job of being an independent musician these days. I want to turn those seemingly four-letter words into things that are okay… or, you know what… even better than okay. I am embracing the idea that it is GOOD to get my music out there in the world.

To that end, I have just started an online blogging challenge called “Music Success in 9 weeks”. Based on Ariel Hyatt’s book of the same name. Each week I (alongside 60 other songwriter colleagues / challengees) am assigned a task designed to kick up the “career” side of things for my music, starting with week 1… Setting Goals! I then get to blog about it. To share with you, my dear reader, the entire grueling process of getting my biz in order. Once a week, expect me to be elated, embarrassed, annoyed, enthusiastic and all sorts of other things starting with not only vowels, but consonants too! Join me on my journey. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this process too.

Post script: According to the fine print of my camcorder prize, I won’t actually get it in my hungry little hands for another eight weeks or so. So let’s think of it as the carrot that keeps me on track with this blogging challenge. By the time my camera arrives, I will surely be launching into the new and rejuvenated moi! And just in time to film the making of my new album, too! Yes!

PPS, I’ll be posting my progress once a week on Mondays. My first “Music Success in 9 weeks” blog goes up Monday January 16th. :)

xo Karyn

You can look out your front door here in the interior of British Columbia and see all sorts of wildlife milling around in your yard.

There may not be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but there are giant tires.

Quesnel, BC, October 2011.

At a friend’s birthday party in Quesnel, BC, October 2011. No dogs, but lots of dancing.

One chilly October night in Quesnel, BC.

I love the randomness of the flame. Makes my job as photographer super easy… simply keep clicking until the flames composed themselves nicely. (Needless to say, there are lots of outtakes.) This was completely done on my camera phone. No modifications/Photoshop whatsoever. [Actually, that's true of most if not all of this recent series of pics.]

Warming oneself by the campfire on a chilly October night in Quesnel, BC.

Winter is coming. October 2011 in Cottonwood, BC.