Q: Your new album has the enigmatic title of Butterfly Soul. What is a Butterfly Soul?
A: It is a metaphor for inner transitions. It is symbolic of my recovery after a really devastating accident where I lost my singing voice for many years.
Throughout my life the quest has been to hunt, discover, and then allow what comes to come. Sometimes it is very painful to process a piece of art or a piece of music. This, too, is what a butterfly must feel when trying to grow in such a contained space. Does the butterfly know what it will be or is it just brave enough to become what its destiny has designed? This process is an act of faith with the choice on my part to take what comes and make it useful and beautiful. Those are my personal requirements.
Q: There is certainly a therapeutic quality to the album. How does that relate to your own life and helping others?
A: I have been privileged throughout my life to have served the community I lived in, in many ways as executive director for non-profits as a creative arts teacher and as a care coordinator for special needs kids. There is not a life that has no challenges and some of those challenges are immense. The ones who have over overcome them and evolved are the ones who have tapped into their inner creative force and grown out of a painful situation by work, faith, and creativity. I am deeply grateful for witnessing this human gift again and again, and now I live my life sharing my own transformation and assisting others in finding that inner gift. As you can see for me the creative force given to any of us can free the Butterfly Soul in all of us.
Q: What are your goals for the future, in terms of being a musician?
A: I am working on more songs and a musical. I will honor what comes. It would be wonderful to see a production of the stories and the music as a larger piece. It would be really awesome working with other singers, actors, and musicians that benefit the community in some way. That would be the complete package!
Q: Do you take any vocal lessons? Where did you learn how to sing?
A: I have had voice lessons my whole life. I am currently working with a speech pathologist at a mayo clinic to keep my voice and a voice coach here at the University of North Dakota.
A: It is a metaphor for inner transitions. It is symbolic of my recovery after a really devastating accident where I lost my singing voice for many years.
Throughout my life the quest has been to hunt, discover, and then allow what comes to come. Sometimes it is very painful to process a piece of art or a piece of music. This, too, is what a butterfly must feel when trying to grow in such a contained space. Does the butterfly know what it will be or is it just brave enough to become what its destiny has designed? This process is an act of faith with the choice on my part to take what comes and make it useful and beautiful. Those are my personal requirements.
Q: There is certainly a therapeutic quality to the album. How does that relate to your own life and helping others?
A: I have been privileged throughout my life to have served the community I lived in, in many ways as executive director for non-profits as a creative arts teacher and as a care coordinator for special needs kids. There is not a life that has no challenges and some of those challenges are immense. The ones who have over overcome them and evolved are the ones who have tapped into their inner creative force and grown out of a painful situation by work, faith, and creativity. I am deeply grateful for witnessing this human gift again and again, and now I live my life sharing my own transformation and assisting others in finding that inner gift. As you can see for me the creative force given to any of us can free the Butterfly Soul in all of us.
Q: What are your goals for the future, in terms of being a musician?
A: I am working on more songs and a musical. I will honor what comes. It would be wonderful to see a production of the stories and the music as a larger piece. It would be really awesome working with other singers, actors, and musicians that benefit the community in some way. That would be the complete package!
Q: Do you take any vocal lessons? Where did you learn how to sing?
A: I have had voice lessons my whole life. I am currently working with a speech pathologist at a mayo clinic to keep my voice and a voice coach here at the University of North Dakota.
