Nashville - Music City USA!

Watch my travel vlog for awesome footage from my trip!

This has been the epic dad trip and some of my last quality daddy daughter time before I have to grow up ---> i'm getting married in 2 weeks! (story of epic proposal to follow)

We arrived to Nashville full of hope and $1600 worth of Delta credit thanks to the LA flight being full and them needing to switch us.

On mine and Mitch's first date - we thought it hilarious that we were both going to Nashville around the same time of the year. Fast forward a few months and here we are! Our trips overlapping and both of our dads on a fun trip with us. (COINICIDENCE??!!! i think not)

I planned this trip around the DIY musician conference because I LOVE their podcast.... (all about music marketing and how to make it in the music industry)

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com

and my parents ended up paying for my flight and lodging so I could attend the conference. Dad wanted to tag along and it worked out great that Mitch and his dad were there too. We stayed in airbnb's the whole time which are SO affordable!!! Get $40 off your first booking with my code here!

www.airbnb.com/c/marissab3543

The first day was spent in Chattanooga - mostly exploring my family roots and learning about Tennessee and the civil war.

When I wasn't in conference sessions - I was exploring downtown Nashville! We got some City Passes that were a good deal if you are wanting to go to multiple museums/tours.

http://www.visitmusiccity.com/visitors/discountsdeals/totalaccess

My favorite was the Johnny Cash museum! (if you follow me on instagram you saw a lot of this! @marissajenell ) I have always loved Johnny Cash but also the first movie Mitch and I ever watched together was 'Walk the Line" We also loved not only TOURING - but going to a concert at the Grand Ole Opry. Basically everyone who has ever made it big in country music has played on this stage.

The best surprise of all was getting engaged to my sweetheart. I had asked him a few nights before if he had a ring yet because we have talked about getting married. He played it cool and LIED saying he had been very busy but would get on it as soon as we got home from the trip.

WELL THEN we went to dinner with his best friend that lives in Kentucky, and afterwards, walking over the pedestrian bridge, I asked if he wanted to have a spitting contest.

Mitch: "You know you're a weirdo, right?"

Me: "That's why you like me."

Mitch: "You know I lied to you last night right?"

Me: "........................."

Mitch: "You know I want to take care of you forever right?"

Me: "........................."

Mitch: "Look over there!!!!"

Me: *turns and looks and sees nothing*

Me: *turns back and Mitch is on his KNEE*

Well i'll spare you all the details but i'm just so happy.

And how fun is it that our story has so much to do with Nashville???? MAYBE it's a sign.....

The Origin of Music

What is music but sound?

What is sound but vibration?

What is vibration but a motion

---made by a feeling?

We can feel vibrations but also see them -

as they disrupt the ebb and flow of previous stillness

What is stillness but a lack of vibration?

What is silence but a lack of sound?

Is there such a thing?

For even though we may not vibrate,

everything else around us does.

Is music there, even when we are not?

For with that notion,

even the stars are musiking in the sky while we sleep.

-mb

Evelyn Glennie - An Empress of Music

Welcome to a composer spotlight! Music is an important part of not only my life, but every one else's as well. I would like to share with you a composer and musician who has had a great impact on my life.

DAME EVELYN GLENNIE!

Evelyn Glennie is the first person in history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, performing worldwide with the greatest conductors, orchestras, and artists. She fondly recalls having played the first percussion concerto in the history of The Proms at the Albert Hall in 1992, which paved the way for orchestras around the world to feature percussion concerti. She had the honour of a leading role in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Evelyn regularly provides masterclasses and consultations designed to guide the next generation. With over 80 international awards to date, including the Polar Music Prize and the Companion of Honour, Evelyn is also a leading commissioner of new works for solo percussion, with more than 200 pieces to her name from many of the world’s most eminent composers. The film ‘Touch the Sound’ and her enlightening TED speech remain key testimonies to her approach to sound-creation.

To this day, Evelyn continues to invest in realising her vision – to Teach the World to Listen – while looking to open a centre that embodies her mission: “to improve communication and social cohesion by encouraging everyone to discover new ways of listening. We want to inspire, to create, to engage and to empower”.

As a composer, Evelyn writes and performs music for film, TV, radio, library companies and live performance. She regularly collaborates with other composers and has already worked with Fred Frith, David Motion, Terry Devine-King, MJ Cole, Ray Davies, Steve Hackett and Philip Sheppard. Evelyn’s unique style and the dizzying array of instruments in her personal collection make for an unforgettable sound.

Evelyn’s media credits include several multi-award winning films. This is very exciting to me because I am a student of film as well as music and would love to work more putting the 2 together.

A Dangerous Journey has been shown to governments around the world to highlight the humanitarian crisis of people trafficking.

Touch the Sound, which explores the nature of sound and its affect on our everyday lives, features Evelyn on-screen as well as on its soundtrack.

In one of my favorite recent projects, Evelyn joined celebrity of the technology world Paul Sonderegger as the star of this short film about Big Data. The on-screen conversation is accompanied by Evelyn’s newly composed soundtrack, co-written with Simon Lacey, which aims to mimic the structures and diversity of Big Data in a thrilling musical landscape.

Evelyn enjoys a long-standing relationship with Audio Network, one of the media industry’s fastest growing music library companies. Evelyn regularly works with a number of producers and co-composers to achieve a diverse portfolio suitable of the highest quality. This makes her compositions available to many different people and places around the world. Linked below is her audio network profile.

https://www.audionetwork.com/browse/m/composer/evelyn-glennie_28

Evelyn has composed many more works for a wide variety of instruments and I encourage you to listen to some of her music and get inspired! Check out her website below!

https://www.evelyn.co.uk

Going to church won't save you.

"Knowing the gospel is true is having a testimony. But being true to the gospel is having a continuous conversion."

As many of you know, I spent a few years in the southern states of the US being a missionary.
They talked a lot about how "it is by grace we are saved."
and though I wholly believe in this concept, I want to take another angle.

When I was little, I took music lessons.
I really liked my music lessons!
But it's important to note that if I hadn't practiced, I wouldn't be able to progress in my piano/guitar/percussion playing abilities.
My mom would still pay for my lesson and my teacher would still teach me... but I didn't grow.

A concept really hit me today.
Church is the vehicle to the gospel.
Going to church is not the thing that will save us.

It is our faith in Christ that does that. Not just our daily acts, but our hearts.

Now, don't get me wrong because I love everything about church.
I love 3 dedicated hours a week to take my mind off of how I wish my life was perfect, and learn how to make it that way.
I love the activities that church gives us. Church activities have taught me SO MANY life skills, good habits, talents, and prepared me for my future life not only physically but spiritually too.
I love that church gives us a family when we otherwise might not have one. There is always a place to belong and people for you to love.

But I think that sometimes (especially growing up in Utah) we put a little too much faith in the "church" and not in Jesus.

Christ is the one who saves me daily.
Would our worship be different if on Sundays we woke up thinking, I get to go hang out with the spirit instead of thinking about "going to church?"

I think most of us are pretty good at this and I just wanted to share my thoughts about elevating our minds. The gospel is about faith, not food or friends.

Church teaches us how to get to our destination but it won't take us there.
It will prepare us and teach us everything we need to know, but it's up to US to get back to God. We all want to be with our families forever. Our covenants and promises that we make to God and keep are the most important thing we can focus on.

I've heard time and time again that the gospel is not a to-do list or a box to check off in our weekly plans. But it is the way we live our lives. Becoming like Christ isn't a game of tag that we try to reach him every so often until he taps us back, but it is about walking with Jesus and letting him carry us when we need it.

Thank you to my parents, siblings and other family members, bishops, leaders, missionary companions, good friends, and home and visiting teachers that have taught me the way.
Because of all your lessons, care, love, and examples... I have slowly learned more and more about who Christ is and what the gospel is.
Now it's my job to live it.
Going to church won't save you, but the things you learn there will.

Peace and Blessins,
marissa xoxo

P.S. (those music lessons eventually paid off when I WANTED to learn and get better!)

How to have a Harry Potter Party

Everyone loves Harry Potter these days. With the "Cursed Child" book release and the new movie "Fantastic Beasts" coming out this November, Harry Potter hype is back in full swing.

 Please watch my youtube video linked above to get an idea of what we did at the party and how everything was organized and set up. Plus there is some footage and ideas that aren't featured in this blog post. But I will include some pictures for you to get a few ideas as well!

What really makes a Harry Potter Party magical is the details. Look on pinterest and google for printouts and try to put everything in containers or bowls to keep the magical effect.

 Having your guests dress up is a great way to keep the Hogwarts vibe going! Everyone loves a good excuse to dress up. If your friends are having a hard time making a costume, invite them took look at target or walmart especially in the men's sections. They often have Harry Potter shirts. If not, websites like Hot Topic usually do!

Creating a magical atmosphere is something your guests will never forget.

-marissa moments-

Pressures of Perfection

"Fake it till you make it" is one of my favorite sayings.
With enough encouragement and positive affirmations you can convince yourself of almost anything.
Confidence is one of my strongest attributes. But what you don't know is that I have an insecurity that has been plaguing the back of my mind for years.

 I really started noticing it in Jr. High school. People I thought were my friends brought to light an imperfection that I was blissfully unaware of.
Beaky. That's the first name I remember. I was standing at my locker putting on some lip gloss when the comment was made. I carefully inspected my profile and noticed that indeed my nose was humpy.

People have asked to feel it. I have been counseled that I would make a really good Halloween witch multiple times. I remember once on my church mission someone answered their door and said "nice schnozz."

Each time one of these comments has been made, it cracks my confidence. My belief in myself to be anything and anyone I want slowly becomes limited to "the girl with the big nose."

There are some days that having this insecurity feels like a flashing neon sign and the only thing that people notice about me when they see me. But in reality, I'm sure it's quite the opposite. That in reality the people that really love me hardly notice.

Every morning I look in the mirror and reflect on all the blessings and good things in my life. But there is always the little voice in the back of my mind saying "I'm sure I would be happier if I could just change this one thing about myself." But.. it's no secret that there will always be things we don't love. It's the conditions of mortality and living in a fallen world. We will never be truly happy in the flesh.


I want to be brave. I want to be confident in my own beauty and happy with the way God made me.
But it is SO HARD.

There is such a constant level of perfection and standards of beauty that are unattainable and insignificant.
What if instead we focused on a person's worth and contribution to the betterment of our world, rather than things they can't really change?
What if everyday we looked for the beauty in people instead of the imperfections?

Sometimes I think that my nose is holding me back from becoming the real me. But in reality, it is what makes me unique and special. When people see me they see more than just my nose. They see my smile, my eyes, and the passion and zeal I have for life.

When I hold myself to a standard of having a narrow nose, I am in turn having a narrow mind. And those that can't accept me for the beautiful person that I am because they are too hung up on an imperfection... they are narrow minded too. And they are missing out. I would much rather be ravishingly interesting than drop-dead gorgeous. Beauty always fades with time.

"Anyone can be pretty with enough engineering. Interesting is more than just dyeing your hair pink or getting a septum piercing. Interesting requires genes. An interesting beauty stands out from the crowd."

And besides all of that - big noses are sought after in many countries outside of the USA. They display such a sense of pride in your heritage! If someone tells you that you have a big nose, it is a compliment, because along with that, it comes with the associate that you have wisdom and prosperity. Ancient mythology Goddesses and much of European art are depicted with women having larger noses because without them, they are completely boring.

At the end of the day, I may suffer with this insecurity but I don't know if I would want it any other way. I do not want to be just another cookie cutter pretty girl, I don't want to be just another face in the crowd. I want to be Marissa and I want to be happy with that being enough.

Your insecurities do not define who you are. They make you special and they make you worth knowing. You can always change something you don't like, but I also feel like there will always be something you need to change, so you might as well learn to love and respect yourself the way that the people who truly love you do.

Don't change - your imperfections make you sparkle.

Why I am a Music Student

I have been thinking a lot lately about the WHY’s of my life. Why do I do things? For personal fulfillment, or obligation? I think the whole point of going to college is to learn for ourselves, so that we can give back to the world; a time to focus on how we want to benefit others. So why on the earth would you go to college to study music?

I think there is a few things people don’t realize. The whole reason musicians do what we do – and for that matter… singers, photographers, actors, dancers, and artists in general – isn’t because we just think it’s fun or we’re not good at anything else.

It’s because we have found that the best way to inspire OTHERS and to give back to the world around us, is through our art form. When we are playing a concert, we are playing it for YOU. We’re not playing it for ourselves. So for me, studying music is a no brainer. I love to bring people joy.

Sometimes when you’re listening to music, you may have something that I’d like to refer to as a “musical moment.” At this moment, you feel a connection to something greater than yourself. Call it good energy if you like, but for me, this is the way that I feel the spirit of God.

God gave us many ways to find access to him while we are on this journey of life. And I strongly believe that music is one of them. Have you ever been so moved that a “musical moment” brought you to tears?

I can think of many. Most recently, I was playing a marimba arrangement of the song “Over the Rainbow.” I was playing in a recital hall all by myself, preparing for my recital the next day. Notes ascended up the keyboard into a climax and then settled into a quiet “why, then oh why can’t I”…. and I felt very emotional. Unfortunately my performance the next day didn’t go as well as I would have liked, but I will never forget that moment that I had with the marimba on that lonely stage. I hope I get another opportunity to have my audience feel what I experienced.

Music is literally what feelings sound like. It puts substance to our emotions and innermost thoughts. It brings people together.

Being a music student is taxing. I go to bed physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted in every way each day. There are many things I don’t get credits or recognized for. Many of my classes require hours and hours of practicing yet are 1 credit. I maxx out each semester on 18 credits…. When in actuality it feels like 25. Every hour of my day is planned and most days I pack a lunch and dinner.

It is so hard sometimes to not get burned out. But the things that are hard… are worth it. Isn’t that true in life?

I want each day to get better. I want to push myself. I have learned many times throughout my life that you will never grow in your comfort zone. Those that strive for greatness will achieve such. Music is the best way for me to keep growing and learning because I am passionate about it.

Being a music student is ridiculous. Sometimes it is discouraging. I can make mistake after mistake after mistake and get so frustrated…. But that makes all the perfect moments that much better. It’s a constant war in my mind of feeling inadequate and feeling inspired. Sometimes I have to remind myself that at the end of the day the only person I should compare myself to…. Is myself. I should become a better musician because I want to be.

If life is passing you by too fast, don’t forget to take a minute and breathe. Remember why you are doing in in the first place.

I see the arts declining in our society of technology that we live in. I want to keep the arts alive. I want people to attend real live concerts, support their communities, and I want teachers to be recognized as some of the biggest affecters of the next generations.  I hope that you can help me in this cause! Music blesses our lives in so many ways!

I would love for you to leave a comment on this post and let me know how music changes your life. I think it is important that we remember how much it means to all of us, and especially to remind us music students that you need us in this world!

Love, Marissa