a part is to be

 Well hi hello. Turns out I have been remiss about putting some recent performances on the blog, despite having published them to YouTube a while ago.

Oh wait. I just remembered that I'm embarrassed by them.

Carrying on.

I did a couple of little ditties for an open mic last month, based on songs I was into in childhood. The first was "Since I was Two" which is from the computer game Math for the Real World, an educational game whose premise is that I'm a band manager and helping a band go on tour around the country, and using ~math for the real world~ by correctly counting out change and navigating pay phones and post offices. And you also perform the songs.

This particular song was a girl bragging about how good she is at math.

Next I sang one that regular readers of the blog may recognize from last year -- "One Little Star" from Follow That Bird. Once again not including the trio harmonies in the last verse even though it's my favorite part.

So here's those.

Since I Was Two / One Little Star

That's not all that happened at that open mic, actually. I also decided to hop on with City of Stars (that's a band) and give a little, uh, color to their performance of Total Eclipse of the Heart. Boy were there some mic issues though, right?

Total Eclipse

Speaking of City of Stars, I guess I'm kinda in it? Here's a link to a Latin Night concert we did a couple weeks later.

Noche Latino

Let's see what else the summer brings, shall we?

bright with stars

 Link to my newest video!

What Dreams Are Made Of

Short and sweet! If you've ever wondered what life is about, etc., you'd need to ask for it separately.

gotta let it all die, let me go

 Where has my old friend gone, lost in a February song?

Here's a song for February. It's not a love song, just a breakup one. I'm not happy with my performance but I do not care enough to improve it more.

Chosen because the original has ukulele chords and it has Carly Rae Jepsen in it. It also, of course, happens to parallel life things, but less than you might think.

ok on your own

trace all my books [2020]

 Hello!

Here's the link to a video where I talk about these books:

Literary Nunnery 2020

And here's the books! With pictures, when I have them.

Love a la Mode by Stephanie K. Strohm

What I like about You by Marisa Kanter

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

(and Bloodleaf Crystal Smith)

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Series I'd Like to Talk about:

Twelve Houses Sharon Shinn

Sunshield/Creatures of Light by Emily B. Martin

The Spy series by Mercedes Lackey

Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

I also forgot to mention that the Dealing with Dragons series by Patricia C. Wrede holds up! Other books that hold up are For Darkness Shows the Stars / Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund, What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy, Hunted by Meagan Spooner, The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You by Lily Anderson, and just about any Terry Pratchett. (Books that I loved in the past that I wanted to see if I'd still like.)

I also reread some books that I already knew I liked but wanted the comfort anyway. And some new ones that were okay but not worth mentioning. You know, just a regular year.

songs [Christmas 2020]

 I prepared three Christmas songs this year that I will now share with you in the spirit of the season.

None of them are perfect, but they don't need to be. It's all right to showcase that I am a work in progress and celebrate the small successes. Also, I had to do three because I haven't posted anything since September, so I gotta catch up.

I was asked to provide an organ solo version of O Come, All Ye Faithful for our ward Christmas program. I knew about it for weeks but when the time came to show the music chair what I'd come up with I still only had the intro in mind. We pulled something together and I got my sister Kyra (a professional arranger -- check out Kyra Moon Music) to help me with the third verse. And so it was.

w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51NpWXGlM28

I worked on two Christmas songs for voice lessons this year. Neither of them truly got performance-ready, but I'm glad I recorded them when I did (because now I have covid and I am scared of singing).

I selected I Wonder As I Wander as a classical piece because I've always thought it was lovely. The lyrics aren't super meaningful to me, but I do like the pensiveness of pondering the condescension of Christ. What love that showed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGyXMb9uudU

And finally, I have loved this song for 15 years but it's pretty uncommon. I was looking for a jazzy number and decided to try to learn this one. I mean, I learned it. I just didn't perfect it. (The copious laughing is because I didn't know I was gonna do hand gestures until I was doing them, and they were so cheesy!) I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRyKi57DgLc

And if you're somehow still looking for more Christmas music content from me, check out last year's post! A compilation up to that point.

Christmas 2019

wrap life in the brilliance of death and humble us all

I'd been working on this song for a bit, but this week it seems there are fall colors AND I got a rejection, so I channeled those feelings into my art and got it recording-ready.

Sort of. One side effect of the rejection is I don't feel like I can sing anymore, and my technique is nonexistent in this song (I think it's playing piano at the same time that I'm still not good at?)

But done is better than good, so enjoy some fall weather and i'll, like, sit tucked away with my back to the wall craving a darkness or whatever

lol

Drought

(I'm fine btw)

Also, I am impressed that this blog, which has a strict Vienna Teng lyric post title rule, now has a Vienna Teng song on record. Like, how do I pick a lyric? Imagine the entire song as the title.

tonight the stars

 Hey there! Quick life update: I bought a piano. It's a 1950s-era Hamilton (made by Baldwin), so it's getting into antique range. But I got it tuned up this week and it still plays well enough for me.

I thought it'd be fun to try singing and playing at the same time and, haha. I need more practice. But this is a great song to start with. "One Little Star" from the Sesame Street movie Follow That Bird. Which I think is a great movie. And this is a nice song.

Stay tuned for the possibility of more videos in the future. But don't hold your breath.

Edit: I did the third verse that's a trio between Big Bird, Olivia, and Snuffy. I didn't include the piano because I didn't trust myself. But here you go!

lullaby

A few weeks ago I was traveling back down to where I live from where my family lives and I was feeling a little sentimental about my nieces and nephews, so I decided this would be my next song.

Many Things to Know, from Ralph's World

So that's this month's song down! I'm really starting to get a bit of a repertoire.

now I feel like I'm the flower trying to bloom

this picture came up in my memories and it's apt
2 yrs ago a gentleman caller gave me this bouquet
and I hoped
and a month later he'd ghosted me
it's easier not to hope

I picked my most recent song to learn simply based on the fact that I'd been enjoying listening to it, and decided to see if I could figure out how to play it. And I could! (with a slight key change, which is no obstacle for me)

And as I've been working on it (and realizing that there was no way I'd memorize the lyrics before I got bored of working on it, so I just read them) I've realized that it's actually, like, kinda meaningful.

I am the poster child for never wanting to let myself feel. If Hanahaki disease were real I'd be coughing up flowers all the time because of my utter unwillingness to be vulnerable with anybody.

So it's really hypocritical of me to sing this song and then encourage people to feel their feelings and be vulnerable about stuff. I have been shying from vulnerability as recently as, hmm, today.

But maybe, with these lyrics ringing in my ears, I'll be better?

lol

Ah my blue, blue

Hey here’s my latest video

It was the third take and maybe the worst take but it was the one with the best lighting

Like the video description says, this was the second song I learned on the ukulele but I never recorded it until now. I probably could’ve waited even longer! Practiced even more!