Tag Archives: music

Essays, Writing

A Creative Moment

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AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/EoiCnf

I’m having a creative moment. The level of bliss I am experiencing is every creator’s dream. It is that moment when everything feels possible, and all synapses are firing and one idea sparks another. There are so many tabs open in my brain that I need to pause and write about it for a minute just to process the joy.

Let me begin by describing the tabs open on my computer…just for funsies. I have one open that is a bank of usernames I need for different creative tools I’m using that I access through my writing company’s browser. Yes, my best friend and I started a technical writing company. We have meetings and everything. They are on our calendar. We feel very grown up. I’m working on an ebook for our company’s portfolio that is about Data Privacy. It is too wordy, and Erica (my business partner) basically told me I must go back to the drawing board and turn all my wordiness into bullet points and sound bites and images and stuff because people don’t actually like to read all that. Sigh…

In other news, I have a tab open to my current obsession, Suno, where I create music from my lyrics or AI’s lyrics, or some combination of our poetic collaboration. I just wrote a prompt to create a French swamp blues song called “Vie triste”, which translates to “Sad Life.” AI made up this chorus and I love it so much.

And with every kiss
We say to ourselves (Ouch)
But without kisses
It’s worse
(Ouch again)

Before that, I generated a sort-of-Salsa song called “Qué rico me lo bailas.” I laughed out loud at Google Translate’s suggestion for the English title as “How delicious you dance it for me.” No, I don’t think that is quite the right interpretation of the meaning. ChatGPT explained that it implied a playful and flirtatious tone, with a focus on admiring someone’s dance moves and rhythm. That sounds more like the idea I was going for. Anyway, I hope it doesn’t say anything awkward in Spanish. Someone will have to let me know if it does.

On another tab, I have an art AI program open called Artistly, where I’m trying to generate an image of a dancer to be the album cover for the Salsa song. It is a new program for me, so I am watching videos to learn how to change the color of his shirt, make him stop pointing at the sky, fix his strangely formed hand, erase the stick he’s now holding for some reason, then add a background. The technology is super impressive. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m figuring it out and having fun as I learn. And then I noticed that Suno already generated the perfect album cover. It is a picture of a bird shaking its tailfeathers. I see you AI. Very funny.

Suno AI generated based on my lyrics.

While my latest song is playing, which happens to be a Korean Bluegrass piece about an old married couple, I am working on art on my Gencraft website. One of my projects with my art is to train AI to be more diverse with body size, skin tone, hair texture, gender, disabilities, and age. I am currently trying to teach one model how to make a little black fairy have an afro instead of loose curls. It is basically arguing with me and struggling to understand.

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/aoPBmt

I am going to wrap up this blog post I am currently working on, then I plan to work a bit on a memoir I am ghostwriting for someone. Next, I will turn my focus to my own novel I am writing. If there is any time left, I will attempt to learn more about template creation for selling digital products on Etsy using a new template website I am learning how to navigate called Templett. I have started a store and am trying to fill it with unique, creative digital art and templates for people to download. There is so much I want to do and not enough hours in the day! When can I read any of my hundreds of books waiting for my attention? When can I get back to any one of my novels I’ve started to write, but not finished? When can I work on my coding classes online to make myself more marketable in tech? And I do have a real job where I work 8 hours in front of a computer with AI every day.

The reality of all this is that most of it was not possible until right now. AI was not advanced enough to be at the stage where engineers needed my help to train them with language. My job was not possible a few years ago. I am not an artist and do not enjoy attempting to create art with my hands, but for the first time in the history of ever, my words can be transformed into beautiful images by AI through collaboration. I love music and can read music, but do not have the time or musical skills on multiple instruments to create the music I am imagining to accompany my lyrics. This new technology did not exist until now. This is a new opportunity for word-creatives like me to express ourselves in a whole new way. And I am here for it.

Poetry, Writing

The Dance

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(Poem 333 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/vLmzOk

The beat is what
slips into the cracks
and fills every potential
with movement.

The lyrics are what
slide into awareness
and sing an unforgettable
melody effortlessly.

Then, it is only natural
to grab your partner
by the hand and wind
up dancing all night.

@Home Studio – 333rd poem of the year

Runner ups for the Dancing Robots photos to accompany my poem:

Poetry, Writing

Dance Little Girl

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(Poem 316 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/aqLk7a https://gencraft.ai/p/XaodDL

Dance, little girl
when the music
calls to you
and starts
your feet twirling

When your heart
makes you soar
in pattern with the birds
whose wings beat time
to the rhythm that is you

When the sky’s painted
hues look like melted
cotton candy and the trees
sign your name
with their branched hands

This joy that you feel
is the song
of your birthright
and proof that the universe
was built as your playground.

@Home Studio – 316th poem of the year

Runner ups for the Wind photos to accompany my poem:

Poetry, Writing

Space Singing

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(Poem 309 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/g5Q0Ky

It always starts with humming
a tune or whistling a little ditty.

Then she gets caught up in her
own musicality and can’t help
but start belting out a few show-
tunes and catchy pop numbers.

Before you know it, others have
joined in with their makeshift
instruments and attempts at
harmony, creating spontaneous
improvisational magic, the likes
of which might not be heard
again for a billion years or more.

@Home Studio – 309th poem of the year

Runner ups for the Space Singing photos to accompany my poem:

Poetry, Writing

Music

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(Poem 210 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/vePvG3 https://gencraft.ai/p/7GAsJs https://gencraft.ai/p/aMGzb5

Kazu Music
discordant at first
too much stimuli
for neurodivergence
to tolerate without
an escape plan
in place
unless love and
patience can
settle and soften
and rebuild a
family in all its
lovely mess.

@Home Studio – 210th poem of the year (After watching Music by Sia with Debbie and Celinda.)

Sia, Music. Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Maddie Ziegler, Hanway Films, 14 Jan. 2021.

Runner ups for the Music photos to accompany my poem:

Fiction, Poetry, Writing

Across the Universe

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(Poem 89 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

Actors (clockwise from top C) Martin Luther McCoy, Dana Fuchs, T.V. Carpio, Ekaterina Sknavina, Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Kiva Dawson, Joe Anderson and Halley Wegryn Gross are shown in a scene from the film “Across The Universe” in this undated publicity photograph. https://images.app.goo.gl/VGx3qPKwxrQnu3xp6

i’m just a Girl standing here
wanting you to Hold Me Tight
so i can give you All My Loving.
I Want to Hold Your Hand.
though i endure tough times
With a Little Help From my Friends,
It Won’t Be Long before i need
more than they can give, but
I’ve Just Seen a Face that i can never
forget, and that is saying a lot for me.
i pray that god will Let It Be our
destiny that we will Come Together
forever, and if we ever get married,
Why Don’t We Do It in the Rain?
If I Fell, would you catch me?
I Want You to be the one who
always catches me, not the one
who says, “She’s So Heavy”, and
shirks the hard parts of love.
Dear Prudence will be our saving
grace, for our future will never
lack with us in it. we’ll be Flying
high the Blue Jay Way over the
rainbow and off to neverland
where I Am the Walrus and you are
the Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
because you make my heart soar.
Something you said to me changed
my perspective forever, Oh! Darling.
you loved me as i was, freckles and
paleness, green-eyed simplicity, and
Strawberry Fields Forever.
it was a Revolution to be loved for
myself and celebrated for my curves.
you love me when i suffer,
and While My Guitar Gently Weeps,
you hold and comfort me, transporting
my grief Across the Universe.
you love me when my anger has
turned our world Helter Skelter and i
have forgotten Happiness
is a Warm Gun aimed at a Blackbird
the only way to handle strife?
no, you have shown me that
it’s ok to walk away, to pause,
to let things simmer down, then say Hey
Jude-iciously discuss our differences.
Don’t Let Me Down, my love.
don’t ever become someone other
than who you are. whoever said,
All You Need Is Love, never got a divorce.
you also need the right person, a
person who makes you feel like
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
when things are rough and you feel like
lana in the dirt with slime.

@Home Studio – 89th poem of the year

Todd, Suzanne., et al. Across the Universe Widescreen., Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2009.

Poetry, Writing

Life is a Carnival

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(Poem 14 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

“Oh, there’s no need to cry because life is a carnival, and it’s more beautiful to live singing.” -Celia Cruz “Life is a Carnival”

“Ay, no hay que llorar que la vida es un carnaval, y es más bello vivir cantando.” -Celia Cruz “La Vida Es Un Carnaval”

“Ay, no hay que llorar…”
Tears don’t heal a scar.
Instead, accept la paz
granted only by loss
to those hit by the rule
“Que la vida es cruel.”

You see, it’s a lie,
this compunction to cry,
for it says we’re alone,
pero “nunca estará solo.”
Dios está contigo.
God is where we go.

And when we hate
or raise complaint,
sin, pollute, make war,
“Ay, no hay que llorar…”
Rather, sing one and all
“que la vida es un carnaval.”

(@ Home Studio after watching the Spanish musical La Usurpadora: The Musical with Celinda and Debbie, which featured Celia Cruz’s song as the opening number. I have many happy Salsa memories dancing to this song – 14th poem of the year.)

Translation Spanish to English (It will not rhyme in the translation):

“Oh, there’s no need to cry…”
Tears don’t heal a scar.
Instead, accept the peace
granted only by loss
to those hit by the rule
“that life is cruel.”

You see, it’s a lie,
this compunction to cry,
for it says we’re alone,
but “we are never alone.”
God is with us.
God is where we go.

And when we hate
or raise complaint,
sin, pollute, make war,
“Oh, there’s no need to cry…”
Rather, sing one and all
“because life is a carnival.”

Cruz, Celia; Daniel, Victor, “La Vida Es Un Carnaval,” Mi Vida Es
  Cantar, 1998.
La Usurpadora: The Musical, Limón; Santiago, Hiojos, María. Walden
  Entertainment, Inc., 2023.

Essays, Writing

Musical Bribery

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Music is a fantastic way to bribe (ahem) encourage high school students to behave in the classroom.  Nobody is allergic, it won’t send anyone into a diabetic coma, and it is free if you have YouTube!  I let each student pick a song to add to our ever-expanding playlist.  It can be any genre as long as the lyrics are appropriate for a classroom.  I am fairly conservative with my judgment because I don’t want my principal walking in to “I Wanna Sex You Up” type lyrics.  Also, my classroom is in a psychiatric treatment center and we have to be aware of patients’ triggers.  If the song is screamy or super energizing, we might save it for an exercise break, clean up time, or as part of a game.  I don’t play Lamb of God’s Set to Fail when we are in the middle of a test.  Common sense needed.      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc-C3Iove3I

As long as students are working, giving best effort, and meeting expectations, we play our class playlist.  If not, the music gets turned off.  I love it when I hear kids policing each other.  “Stop talking to me or she’ll turn off the music.”  “Do your work or she’s going to turn off the music.”  It brings joy to my heart.  Another one I’ve heard is “Be nice to her, she lets us listen to music.”  I wonder if music has helped keep me from getting punched in the face all these years…

One of the coolest effects of music chosen by students is all the new songs I have been exposed to because of their varied tastes.  I never would have found some of these songs or artists on my own.   These may not be the clean versions, so if you are a teacher, be sure to listen to them for yourself before playing them for your particular group of kids.  Students introduced me to the following:                 Weak by Wet.                                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L2tfNrKsYI                                Steve Lacy’s      C U Girl                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJIUXbfARk                               This Too Shall Pass by Ok Go                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juX7VJIMsqc                               High Tops by Del Water Gap                                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksrb33z3boo                                         Alec Benjamin’s My Mother’s Eyes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q_15W7eBH8                                   Color Blind by Diplo (featuring Lil Xan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ResGBWo10GQ                                  Juice WRLD’s Lucid Dreams                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fh64GbFSw4                                      Long Black Train by Josh Turner                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZtwxc423jg                                          Falling Down by Lil Peep and XXXTentacion    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0jIW_pgGzE

Those are just a few from the last semester that I thought were worth sharing.  Since I mostly listen to easy listening/70’s/80’s/Pop music, it introduces me to some of the new stuff kids like (or old stuff I’ve never been exposed to.)  And I get to share some of the songs I like with them.  Many have never heard songs I choose by Prince, Bob Dylan, The Who, The Beatles, Blondie, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Duran Duran, The Cure, U2, etc.  They are intrigued, though, often write down the name of the song and band and want to look it up when they get home.  It fosters a back and forth that is purely enjoyment based.

I may tweak my system a little this year, but will definitely still be using music in my classroom to foster interest, good behavior, and a little bit of buy in to our classroom.  It’s like saying, “I get you.  Your taste in music is noted and appreciated.  Let’s share it with everyone.”

(The picture above is Lil Xan, a current musician? some of the kids like.   All music was once radical to somebody.)