German Popsongs?

Dear blog-readers, some time has passed since my last post but I have not been lazy ;-) In the past few weeks (maybe months) I have experimented with writiting more lyrics (+ song accompaniment) and I surprised myself with what came out of it in the end.

I started writing English song lyrics some time ago because I wanted to be understood by everyone (including my international musician friends) and because most of the music that I listen to is in English. I wrote 2 or 3 tunes (including “Sleepless Night” which you can find here in the blog as well) and although I would say that my English is alright I was really scared of making grammatical mistakes as I am not a native speaker (actually the same goes for this blog which is why I try to double check everything that I write with different language tools haha.. But I think some mistakes in a blog are okay). Also I found out that it is harder saying things in a really precise way. I am very happy with Sleepless Night but the other two didn’t feel as much like me.

So then I decided to give German lyrics a chance and it worked surprisingly well. I felt really inspired and wrote 3 songs in a short period of time. Before, I was afraid that it would be really hard to find a good balance in being intimate but not cheesy at the same time when writing German song lyrics. But it turned out to feel ok and having new songs (next to some new piano tunes) added to my repertoire makes me very excited for the next gigs I will play.

For a long time I wanted to add my voice to my songs (which I have partially done already by adding some mmmhhhs and aaaaahhhs but I don’t want to do this for the whole set :-D) because I love singing, I think I’m doing it well and a voice catches people in a different way than any other instrument. It makes telling a story on stage (during and in between songs) much easier and also opens the door to new performance venues. In the past I felt most comfortable playing on a real upright piano instead of an electric piano because when I play strictly instrumental songs, an upright piano transports the atmosphere I wanna create best. With lyrics I feel that an electric piano is a solid choice (although I’m still a huge fan of upright pianos for every occasion :-D)

Anyway. Apparently now I am an artist who composes instrumental pieces but also German popsongs and that is a whole new but very fun identity that I have to get used to :-) If you wanna hear me sing in German you can just come to my next concerts which will be in September and November so far (go to “shows”). Of course I’ll keep on writing more and more lyrics so there will be a whole family of new songs that I can sing. I think they also go well with my solo piano pieces because I still like the same things - beautiful melodies and harmonies and capturing the audience with an intimate atmosphere. So be prepared to hear both from me in the future. :-)

That’s it from me today. Enjoy your day!