00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:05
Speaker 1
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the podcast. It's tales of the town podcast now. And I have here Laura. And she is here to tell us the story today.

00:00:07:07 - 00:00:14:22
Speaker 2
Hi Gina, thanks for inviting me to come and be on your podcast. And I feel very honored that you asked me

00:00:14:22 - 00:00:28:19
Speaker 2
I'll start, you know, during Covid, I think that's where everybody sort of gauges before and after, Covid and, during Covid, I had a lot of time on my hands to sort of think about things and

00:00:28:19 - 00:00:34:03
Speaker 2
think about whether I was happy and, and think about my life and the direction that it was going.

00:00:34:05 - 00:01:00:07
Speaker 2
And I kind of came to the conclusion that I wasn't happy and that, I needed to take some steps before my life is over. You know, I was already in my 50s at that point and thinking, wow, time's running out. I need to start. Focusing more on bucket list things. And what's important to me like prioritizing my life and getting the most out of whatever time I have left.

00:01:00:09 - 00:01:34:12
Speaker 2
So that kind of resulted in me getting separated from my husband and, deciding that that was a journey I no longer wanted to be on and that it wasn't serving me, and achieving my goals, achieving who I wanted to be as a person. And so it was a very difficult decision. Not an easy one at all that I had thought of for a long time, but I, like I said, Covid, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I had a lot of time to sort of think about things and, decide how I wanted my future to be.

00:01:34:12 - 00:01:40:17
Speaker 2
So, long story short, got separated. And then,

00:01:40:17 - 00:02:05:23
Speaker 2
my two parents, both were diagnosed with Alzheimer's, one before the other. And so we came upon a crisis where my parents couldn't look after themselves anymore. So I moved to Windsor from Toronto, well, north of Toronto. And, really at that point was kind of deciding that I, I needed a change.

00:02:05:23 - 00:02:30:20
Speaker 2
I needed a change of location, I needed a change of people. And it was the right timing for my parents to be here and help them out and navigate their lives going forward. And it turned out to be a very good decision. So the irony of moving back home and living with your parents is that, I kind of feel like my life is going back to where it was supposed to.

00:02:30:20 - 00:02:57:23
Speaker 2
Like I've done a reset back to my 20s and now I feel like everything that I was supposed to experience in my 20s, I'm experiencing in my 60s. And, you know, it's a story of, it's never too late. So, moved back here and, prior to moving back, I had already decided, to pursue the things that I loved when I was younger.

00:02:58:01 - 00:03:27:13
Speaker 2
That work, career, family, somewhat redirected me in other directions, and now I wanted to refocus myself to the things I liked, and piano was one of them. I always wanted to be a musician when I was younger, and I had a lot of influences saying, no, no, no, you'll never make a living at it. You know, you have to focus on technology and and that is the direction I went into.

00:03:27:13 - 00:03:56:11
Speaker 2
I went into it when I was younger and I had a family very young. So, learning piano and playing the piano was not an option. So I started doing that. Found, a mentor, a piano teacher who's really helped me. And, and I also wanted to get into music writing and music production and five years later, I'm doing very well at it.

00:03:56:11 - 00:04:20:00
Speaker 2
You know, I've put a lot of work into it. And now sort of my goal is to, start playing jazz piano and maybe at some point, you know, perform or do it for a living. I'm not quite sure, but I'm working towards that goal and it's it's just interesting that I've sort of reset my goals to what I wanted them to be in my 20s.

00:04:20:00 - 00:04:27:12
Speaker 2
And now, even if it doesn't work, I don't really care. It's just that I'm doing the pursuing the things I've always wanted to pursue.

00:04:27:12 - 00:04:37:16
Speaker 2
I feel like so many things have been coming back into my life, and one of them is also dance. When I first moved here, I thought, wow, I have no friends.

00:04:37:18 - 00:05:01:20
Speaker 2
So I got to start all over again and make your friends. And, I thought, what? What can I do? And I always wanted to dance. That was another thing that when I was younger, I had a passion for living in river. There was nothing. There was really no opportunity to take dance lessons, you know, I came from a big family, so, you know, even financially, that may not have been an option.

00:05:01:22 - 00:05:23:18
Speaker 2
Anyhow, decided to take up dancing. When I got here, I was terrified because I thought, wow, I'm older, you know, I was just going to be awkward. And, you know, fast forward three years later and now I work for the dance studio and I help manage the studio. I have help manage with, the classes and I love it.

00:05:23:18 - 00:05:45:22
Speaker 2
And again, you know, passion number two, check it off the list of, what I always wanted to do when I was younger and, feeling that sense of, wow, I'm actually doing what I wanted to do when I was younger. And, you know, I don't plan on making dance a career of any kind, but I just love it.

00:05:45:22 - 00:06:10:11
Speaker 2
It's my passion. It's a lot of fun. As you know. We dance together and, there's just so many things, like happening that, even I've, reached out to some old, friends from high school. Like, I just feel like I'm making reconnections all over again. That of people that we're probably supposed to be in my life.

00:06:10:13 - 00:06:44:14
Speaker 2
But, through moving to Toronto, you know, lost connection with them. So it's just a constant reminder to me sometimes that, it's never too late to live the life that you were supposed to. And maybe the universe, had this plan all along. Because when I was younger, a lot of the technology was not here, for me to utilize to become a music producer or there's just so much more information out there.

00:06:44:14 - 00:07:03:03
Speaker 2
I mean, when I was young, there was no internet. So, you know, you really didn't have, accessibility to information to learn things. And so maybe now what always was the plan or always was the time to sort of, embark on that journey?

00:07:03:05 - 00:07:10:21
Speaker 1
Yeah. It's much more accessible now too, right? Like the affordability is the affordability of a home studio instead of renting or needing it.

00:07:10:21 - 00:07:34:23
Speaker 2
Exactly. Yeah. And there's so much software available that makes it easier. I could go on, on and on about how much more difficult it would have been to be a musician. And my younger days, you know, we didn't even we barely had electronic keyboards. They were terrible, you know, maybe synthesizers from the 80s and stuff. So, yeah.

00:07:34:23 - 00:08:05:10
Speaker 2
So maybe this was the right time. Yeah. For me, in the end, I mean, I would have preferred to be in my maybe 30s and, and go through embarking on that journey. But it's ironic because I have a lot more time on my hands now. I'm not working full time other than the dance studio, so I have the option now to, have more time to really focus, and put, you know, 3 to 4 hours a day into piano, into music production.

00:08:05:15 - 00:08:28:10
Speaker 2
Yeah. Into doing, a lot of the research that I need to do as well. And I just kind of learn, too, that having a mentor is, an important part of it, too, and just finding the right person to sort of guide you along and make sure that when you get stuck, you know, he can sort of help, and I didn't have that when I was younger either.

00:08:28:10 - 00:08:32:02
Speaker 2
I didn't have anybody who could be potentially a very good mentor.

00:08:32:02 - 00:08:48:05
Speaker 1
So can you take me back to your decision to start pursuing music again? Like, did you always have that feeling at the back of your mind that you needed to get into music, or was it kind of forgotten about that you rediscovered? What was the journey to find music again?

00:08:48:05 - 00:09:16:07
Speaker 2
I think it was always kind of there. I didn't know how to go about it. So when I had time on my hands during Covid, I took that as an opportunity to start playing again. And then I started going online and doing research and finding out where, like, there's a lot of YouTube, videos that I can use.

00:09:16:09 - 00:09:33:11
Speaker 2
And then there's a lot of piano players who have their own sort of instruction online that you can belong to. And I originally started out with jazz that I wanted to be a jazz piano player. So, I just started playing and then I realized I was really struggling.

00:09:33:11 - 00:09:41:09
Speaker 2
I realized that I needed a mentor at that point. So I had tried a few mentors online, and,

00:09:41:09 - 00:09:47:19
Speaker 2
some of them were over my head. I was like, wow, this is a lot like, I don't think this is going to work out.

00:09:47:19 - 00:10:20:11
Speaker 2
It was just too in-depth, theory for me at that at the time. And so, then I found, piano for producers, and, I found my mentor, and then I just clicked with him right away. He had weekly classes that you could go on zoom and just ask him questions if you're stuck on things. And that was a game changer for me, because yes, I would get stuck and not know what to do or not understand theory.

00:10:20:11 - 00:10:44:05
Speaker 2
And, was struggling to progress on my own. And, you know, five years later, I'm still with him and he's just been part of my journey of inspiring me and helping me a lot to get past a lot of the hurdles that I had with playing. So it was always in the back of my mind, like my entire life, that's all I've.

00:10:44:05 - 00:11:09:04
Speaker 1
Ever really wanted to do, but it just, you know, wasn't practical for for me to do it. You know, when you're raising a family and you're going to school and you have a career that's very taxing. You know, I went into it for a long time. So a very different challenge in its in itself. So, and I wasn't even sure I was capable.

00:11:09:04 - 00:11:21:11
Speaker 1
I just thought, I've got time and I'm going to try and do it. And I just stumbled on the right mentor. That sort of helped me at that time. Were you not.

00:11:21:13 - 00:11:24:08
Speaker 2
I guess stumbled, but like you did hire multiple.

00:11:24:13 - 00:11:26:20
Speaker 1
Yeah. He was my for one. Yeah.

00:11:26:21 - 00:11:30:07
Speaker 2
Yeah. There was a consistent effort. Yeah. For them. Yeah.

00:11:30:07 - 00:11:52:06
Speaker 1
Yeah for sure for sure. And you know I've never looked back. I always tell him, you know I, I don't seek out anybody else because I know you're always going to have the answer for me whenever I ask you. You would think this is like a promotion for him. I it's not really. He was just a big catalyst for pushing me forward, even with music production.

00:11:52:07 - 00:12:17:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. I had a friend to in the class. We became friends, and, he encouraged me a lot to go into music production, which I was terrified of. At first. It was very technical, but I was also like, I have a technical side to me because I was in it, so I, I knew that I can fit into that world of being very technical.

00:12:17:04 - 00:12:43:05
Speaker 1
And so, you know, I thought, what the heck, I'll, I'll try it. And, you know, of course, I was terrible at first, and now I'm very proud of myself of all the music that I've created and, that, I feel like I, you know, there's no monetary gain in it necessarily. I mean, there may be at some point, but for me, it's just a fulfillment of realizing my dreams.

00:12:43:07 - 00:13:11:18
Speaker 1
And, you know, at 63 to have that opportunity to say I did it and I accomplished you know, I don't have to be I think about I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have done that like it's it's nice to have that feeling of I did it, I accomplished it, you know, I worked hard to get there, but, it is gratifying and and it is a part of who I was supposed to be.

00:13:11:20 - 00:13:35:21
Speaker 1
You know, sometimes you think, well, the universe has a direction for you, and you have to go with what your gut instincts are your whole life. And, and musicians are kind of that way, that it's a nagging feeling that they always have. Like, it's an exit about I want to do this. And why. I don't know, but I just know other musicians that feel the same way.

00:13:35:21 - 00:13:46:21
Speaker 1
Like they'll spend hours and hours and hours doing something that likely will never financially give up any gain whatsoever, you know. So you do it for passion.

00:13:46:23 - 00:13:48:17
Speaker 2
I think art, all art.

00:13:48:20 - 00:13:50:09
Speaker 1
I think all art.

00:13:50:11 - 00:14:03:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. Just because it's some people might say it's worthless. It's just like a creative expression. Why do you need to spend so much time on it? Yeah. And in the same vein, like why would people buy art for millions of dollars? It's just this way of painting.

00:14:04:01 - 00:14:29:04
Speaker 1
Yeah. And ironically, you know, so little is given to, respect is given to artists. And, but ironically, what brings the most joy in the world? Yeah. What do people do when they want to relax? What gives people joy is music. Art? You know, any of the arts?

00:14:29:06 - 00:14:31:00
Speaker 2
Movies or movies?

00:14:31:02 - 00:14:56:09
Speaker 1
You know, the they're all what bring people the most joy in life. And so the irony is that we we don't respect them, you know, monetarily and and pay for what they're worth. It's, I mean, most painters, if they actually charged how much time they spent on that art, nobody would ever buy it, you know? So it's a labor of love, you know?

00:14:56:12 - 00:15:11:04
Speaker 1
Yeah, necessarily. And the same with piano. Like if I counted how many hours and how much money I've put into it. You know, it would take a lot to reimburse me for all that time, you know.

00:15:11:06 - 00:15:19:12
Speaker 2
So we're actually in Laura space right now. This is her studio studios. So what are some of the things that you're working on these.

00:15:19:14 - 00:15:47:09
Speaker 1
Yeah. So for the past few years I've been mostly working on like R&B writing or R&B music. So I'm on Spotify. Recently, I've decided to start, doing some remixes. So I have a lot of passion for kizomba music. I started taking kizomba a couple of years ago. I love the dance. I love, you know, African, Afrobeat music.

00:15:47:11 - 00:16:22:19
Speaker 1
And so I was trying to think of how could I combine my passion for dance and my passion for writing music? So I have written a few kizomba songs as well. But now I'm sort of focused on remixes for, like, deejays and just taking original combining, again, my passions, R&B music and kizomba, zouk, to Naxal beats and just creating some music with combining those two together for, for our socials.

00:16:22:19 - 00:16:25:10
Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean our out of dance socials.

00:16:25:10 - 00:16:30:18
Speaker 2
Not to add anything to your plate, but are you on TikTok? Because I feel like TikTok would love you.

00:16:30:20 - 00:16:53:17
Speaker 1
No I'm not. I don't even post anything. I'm that generation. You just really never caught on to the whole Facebook thing. Yeah, and to be honest, I don't have a lot of time. Yeah, like I'm so busy with my music stuff that, I, I'm do a very poor job, of promoting myself and promoting my music and promoting my art.

00:16:53:17 - 00:17:13:16
Speaker 1
And, you know, even my piano teacher says, you know, like, you need you need to let the rest of the world see your work. And and I said, yeah, but, like, I sort of keep it to myself because I'm like, yeah, I got too scared to share it out there. But I did put it on Spotify. But no, I don't really advertise myself.

00:17:13:21 - 00:17:46:21
Speaker 1
That's probably, something I have to do in the new year is start, going on TikTok or, you know, setting up a YouTube channel with my music and, trying to promote myself a little bit more. But I've spent most of my time, learning my craft, and I wasn't ready to do it until I felt that the level of quality of my music was, at a point where, I was proud of it.

00:17:46:23 - 00:18:02:19
Speaker 1
And so I've really spent the last two years, particularly maybe even three. Just focused on, building up my skill level and building up the quality of my music so that it sounds professional. Yeah. And,

00:18:02:21 - 00:18:04:07
Speaker 2
I think that makes a lot of sense.

00:18:04:07 - 00:18:12:07
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. You don't want to put something out there that, you know, people are going to go, wow, that's cheap. And, you know, it doesn't sound good or or.

00:18:12:09 - 00:18:31:20
Speaker 2
But it's also kind of because it would also be cool for people to see your progress too. Yeah. But even starting from now and like continuing to post in the future, there's still progress that you'll make and people can still see that. I think it's cool. Yeah, I just love it when people post process videos. Yeah, because it's all about the process.

00:18:31:21 - 00:18:39:14
Speaker 2
It's not about the end journey. Obviously the end is great too, but it's the consistency in the process that really make us.

00:18:39:16 - 00:19:05:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. Part of the process is like every, every week I meet with my piano teacher slash production teacher and he critiques my music all the time. So and then we also have a zoom call that we get together and our peers get to critique, critique our music. They usually keep pretty quiet and they try to say only nice things, but, like, Bruce will shred you to pieces.

00:19:05:20 - 00:19:06:02
Speaker 2
If.

00:19:06:02 - 00:19:30:18
Speaker 1
He. And but, you know, I've just learned that constructive criticism is a good thing. You know, I'm paying him to critique my music. Yes. I have to accept that critique. And and he always gives good advice. And so I, I've always learned that, yes, I have to expose myself in order to, improve, and let him find all the mistakes.

00:19:30:18 - 00:19:34:09
Speaker 1
And, and then I go back and fix whatever it is that, you know.

00:19:34:11 - 00:19:46:07
Speaker 2
Yeah. That was a really hard one for me. Was learning how to take constructive criticism. Yeah, I still get hurt by a lot, but I know it's coming from a good place.

00:19:46:07 - 00:20:09:09
Speaker 1
Yeah, I do too. I, I still struggle sometimes with, feedback but I've learned now to. Yeah I my first response is usually anger. Yeah I'll get a little emotional and defensive, but then I'm like tone it down Laura. Like what can you learn from this. Don't put emotion into it.

00:20:09:14 - 00:20:10:06
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:20:10:08 - 00:20:35:21
Speaker 1
Take the emotion out of it and take it as could I do better. Did they have some legitimate, feedback that I should be listening to? And, you know, one of the things I've learned is that, you don't learn unless you make mistakes. The best way to learn is to make mistakes. So embrace mistakes. Embrace failure. Because if you're if you never fail, you never get better.

00:20:35:23 - 00:20:59:11
Speaker 1
You're just not willing to put yourself out there to fail. So, I've learned that. Yeah, showing people my music, within the team and letting Bruce critique my music. It's only going to make me a better, music producer and songwriter over time. And, yeah, some people are not going to like my music. Some people, it's just not their genre.

00:20:59:11 - 00:21:22:18
Speaker 1
And you know, I've had people not be interested in my music and I and I sometimes think, okay, it's they're not R&B people, if, you know. Yeah, I'm not crazy about, country music. So, you know, I, I would have a hard time being objective, listening to music that, you know, there's very few music genres I don't like.

00:21:22:20 - 00:21:31:21
Speaker 1
But countries probably like, not that I don't like it, but I don't put it on my radio if I'm listening to music in the car. So.

00:21:31:23 - 00:21:44:06
Speaker 2
Okay. Yeah. I love this conversation so far. I want to help promote you, obviously. Where can people find you? What's your Spotify under your name?

00:21:44:08 - 00:21:47:23
Speaker 1
On your Spotify. It's LA piano vibes.

00:21:47:23 - 00:21:49:17
Speaker 2
Okay.

00:21:49:19 - 00:22:17:17
Speaker 1
I think it's pretty much all one word. And that just stands for Laura la and piano vibes. Kind of, describes my music. It's very sort of R&B ish. Slow. Yeah. And, I mean, that's R&B has kind of been my passion. I was born in Windsor, grew up in Windsor, and, was exposed to a lot of R&B here because of Detroit being across the river.

00:22:17:17 - 00:22:30:20
Speaker 1
And I just grew up being an R&B girl and loved that genre of music. So I pretty much stick to that for most of my music. But, yeah, I'm also on SoundCloud as well.

00:22:30:22 - 00:22:33:17
Speaker 2
Okay. And then we'll drop the link in the description of the show.

00:22:33:17 - 00:22:35:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. For sure.

00:22:35:14 - 00:22:37:03
Speaker 2
Are you on Instagram?

00:22:37:05 - 00:22:40:02
Speaker 1
Not really, I am, but I don't really post.

00:22:40:03 - 00:22:54:23
Speaker 2
Okay. And, once you get your YouTube channel up and go, you can let me know. I push that into the show links too, and I just thought it would be really cool if we could play your some of your music. Sure. And just have people listen at the end of the episode. Sure.

00:22:54:23 - 00:22:56:21
Speaker 1
Yeah, that would be great. That would be great.

00:22:56:21 - 00:22:58:01
Speaker 2
Yeah. Let's do that.

00:22:58:01 - 00:22:59:11
Speaker 1
go.

00:22:59:13 - 00:23:22:13
Speaker 2
So you're playing the piano. I'm doing almost all the way and everything. Oh, you hear the trumpet? Oh, cool. I play the strings. I have apps, that, simulate. So those are me on the strings. Then? So I play it on the piano, and I pull the strings, guitar, trumpet, like all. And I've got apps for all the instruments.

00:23:22:14 - 00:23:24:16
Speaker 2
Oh, cool. That's so cool.

00:23:24:21 - 00:23:36:02
Speaker 1
Yeah, I. Play. And to. Use.

00:23:36:04 - 00:23:46:12
Speaker 2
The only thing I'm not playing is the drums. I just a way file with the drums on it. Sometimes I do the drums too. Like there is a song I'm working on right now that I'm doing the drums.

00:23:46:14 - 00:23:50:06
Speaker 1
Next time.

00:23:50:08 - 00:24:09:14
Speaker 2
Right now I'm working on, a Michael Jackson song. Do you remember the time? Not Michael Jackson. Oh, okay. Maybe if you play it, I'll know. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Totally. You'll know it.

00:24:14:09 - 00:24:21:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. I'll give you the waveform. This is the Michael Jackson song.

00:24:25:00 - 00:24:32:17
Speaker 2
You remember that song?

00:24:32:19 - 00:24:39:21
Speaker 1
Six minutes ago.

00:24:39:23 - 00:24:58:15
Speaker 2
So I'm adding all the drums in, and I'm going to take their drums out, and I'm going to turn it into a kizomba song. And it'll have a beat to it. Yeah. So I'll just pull the, What I can do is pull all the individual instruments out of the song. So I'll just take the vocals out, I'll take the drums out, and then I'll put in.

00:24:58:15 - 00:25:22:06
Speaker 2
I'll just only keep the vocals and I'll put in my own bass. I'll put in my own drums. Yeah, I'll probably do some of the keyboard, the synthesizers as well. Is it hard to isolate the voice? No. There's an app called, isolate. Oh, okay. And, yeah, it's an app that I use. I think this is it.

00:25:22:08 - 00:25:45:10
Speaker 2
That's in master. Yeah. So you just put it the app in and you put the song in, and it'll isolate all of the instruments for you. Wow. And then I just download it and then upload it into logic, which is the, the a door they call it. It's, digital audio workstation. Yeah. And I just put it in there and I can take out any instruments that I don't want to use.

00:25:45:11 - 00:26:06:08
Speaker 2
Yeah. And, put in my own instruments. That's awesome. Yeah. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing me. Yeah, it's very interesting. I mean, not everybody would find it interesting, but I find it interesting. I, I don't know, I think it's interesting. Yeah. It was before, but. Yeah. Yeah. There's so many great apps out there.

00:26:06:08 - 00:26:35:02
Speaker 2
Like I said, you know, there's so many great things that you can do. Like, even for my piano, I'm learning, fly me to the moon right now. So, you know, I can go to a YouTube website, learn the piece. They also have a lot of websites that have backing tracks for jazz songs. I can just grab those, put them in logic, and then create my own backing, backing tracks to accompany me as well.

00:26:35:03 - 00:26:57:09
Speaker 2
So, yeah, it's just makes it a lot easier when you're a musician. And, so having all the tricks of the trade. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's a lot of. It's a great time to be a musician, you know, in terms of even ChatGPT like, it just helps you a lot with, how to do things.

00:26:57:11 - 00:27:13:07
Speaker 2
You know, in the apps. So very cool. Yeah. It makes it interesting. Okay. I think that's we can wrap up there. Oh thank you. That was easy. Yeah it is easy. Thank you for being on the podcast. Bye bye.

00:27:13:07 - 00:27:22:03
Unknown
Love me, love me better. Love me, love me better.

00:27:22:05 - 00:27:30:02
Unknown
Love me, love me better. Love me, love me better. Me.

00:27:30:04 - 00:28:11:07
Unknown
How can I refuse you? You know we a joy to live within the scheme I can't love. I'm losing love in some confusion. Tonight. Can make refuse. How can I refuse? Oh, you know it's what to do. Good things keep looking at me. Refuse to love it I should never have to feel this way. But every time I try to walk away.

00:28:11:09 - 00:28:12:11
Unknown
You love a man