There are a few talented musicians in my family, but I was never one of them.
Three years ago when I was in my late 50’s, I started having irresistible urges to rock a baby-guitar in my arms. I’d never experienced maternal instincts before, is this what they felt like? Fortunately the urge was easily satisfied in a music store because, even while purchasing my tiny ukulele and signing up for lessons, I suspected I was in the grips of a passing whim. The longest I’d ever stuck with an instrument before was a year of 5th grade piano, and the only reason I stuck with it is because my mother made me.
The idea of writing songs lived in a universe so distant, it was not even a faint blip on my radar screen.
Two years later while I was editing the memoir of a good friend, a fragment of a melody popped into my head, transforming a few of his sentences into lyrics. Since he is a talented songwriter/musician, I sang it to him and encouraged him to turn it into a song. He responded to my suggestion with a chuckle. The next few times we worked his book, the melody reappeared, and I made the same suggestion. Again, he chuckled. The third time it happened, I realized what the chuckle meant. Only then did it occur to me…
I would have to write the song myself.
I picked up my ukulele, started to strum, and landed on the key of A. Not yet convinced I could actually write a song, I grabbed a trivial piece of scrap paper and scribbled in pencil until it was done. The tune was actually pretty sweet. It had all the parts, even a bridge. I’d written a song! Over the next few weeks I played my ‘greatest hit’ at least a million times and got so bored of it, the only remedy was to write another one. This cycle repeated itself obsessively over the next year.
No one in my family has ever been admired for having a beautiful singing voice.
Unlike me, my sister Elizabeth continued with piano past the first ‘mom-mandated’ year and became one of the family’s talented musicians. Over time, she wrote some songs and eventually wanted to record them, but needed a singer. When she heard Trina Brunk soloing in a local choir, she instantly felt her search had ended. Serendipitously, she ran into Trina in the restroom, gathered her courage, and introduced herself. Little did Elizabeth know at the time that Trina has a broad diversity of skills and talents that allows her to take an idea or nascent project and fully develop it into a professionally produced, finished product. Trina agreed to explore the possibility of a musical collaboration, and not long after, their CD “May You Be Blessed” was completed. Last spring, my sister suggested that I contact Trina to see if she’d be interested in doing a similar project with me. But I held back. I wanted to do it myself! After all, I’d been playing uke now for three years! Taking singing lessons! Even attended a home-recording workshop! I floated around in that bubble for a few months until it popped.
I emailed Trina.
She responded, open to the idea of co-creating a similar project with me even though—as she later wrote—she had no idea what she was in for. ‘Astoria’ was the first song I presented to her, and she agreed to give it a whirl. Her version was stunning, and I was thrilled. I had sung ‘Astoria’ hundreds of times by now, but this was the first time I heard it sung beautifully. As autumn unfolded, one song led to another, and our album, This Sweet Day is now released.
Trina’s renditions have delighted me, left me speechless, and brought tears to my eyes. I am so grateful to her for breathing her astonishing gifts into my ukulele songs...
For more information about Trina Brunk, Singer/Songwriter and Transpersonal Hypnotherapist, please visit: www.trinabrunk.com, www.trinabrunk.bandcamp.com, http://soulpathintuitive.com, www.patreon.com/trinabrunk ,