Pass Words

Lauren Passarelli Live on Stageit.com

2011-06-02T15:39:00.004-04:00

Come one come all! There's this new way of enjoying live music from the comfort of your own home with guaranteed front row seats! Stageit.com is a new website where I will be performing every 2 weeks. Share the link with friends & come by.

It Gets Better All The Time

2011-04-28T16:10:00.004-04:00

April 28th, 2011
For Fab Four fan, it gets better all the time
Thursday, April 28, 2011
LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY APRIL 28, 2011, 11:18 AM
BY BRYAN WASSEL
TOWN NEWS
STAFF WRITER
A former Paramus resident has accomplished a series of firsts at Berklee College in Boston: becoming the first woman to graduate the guitar performance program in 1982, the first female faculty member of the guitar department in 1984 and the first female to be promoted to full professor in the department in 2009.
Lauren Passarelli, who was born in Teaneck and grew up in Paramus, developed her interest in guitar at an early age, citing the Beatles as one of her biggest influences. She had a plastic guitar when she was 2, and was truly inspired by music when she saw the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show when she was 4.
“You know, the Beatles never said they were the best musicians or the best writers or anything, but they enjoyed it so much and they just said, ‘If we can do it, anyone can do it,’” Passarelli said. “So I thought, ‘Then I’ll do it too.’”
Nicknamed “George,” after Beatle George Harrison, by her students, Passarelli is not only a professor but the department’s resident expert on the Fab Four. In addition to her standard lessons, she created the Beatles’ Guitar Lab and Beatle’s Ensemble at the college.
Her formal education in guitar began in 1969, when she began taking lessons from Paramus guitar teacher Lou Sabini, who still gives lessons in the borough to this day.
“He’s a great, great guitar teacher and he got me off to an incredible foundation, a great start,” Passarelli said. “I studied with him for five years, from 9 years old to 14, and he got me using the guitar books that Berklee College of Music published, so that’s how I heard about the college.”
Passarelli’s musical talent goes beyond just the guitar, and while attending Paramus High School she played flute in the school’s marching and concert bands, as well as guitar for the stage band. She also sings, plays piano, bass and drums, engineers and mixes her own music, and has been writing and recording her own songs since 1970.
“I love it all,” Passarelli said. “Certainly writing the songs is a giant thrill, because I like sitting there with a blank piece of paper and a blank recording and knowing nothing is there, maybe not even a scratch of an idea, but within an hour there’s a finished song. It’s just the most amazing thing, it’s like playing with magic.”
After graduating from Berklee, Passarelli was immediately invited to join the faculty, but had to wait two years for an opening. She has taught at the college, sharing her love of music with students using a lighthearted approach, ever since.
In addition to teaching, Passarelli has recorded multiple albums, and played with other renowned musicians, including Melissa Etheridge, Leni Stern and Pat Metheny. She also performs live concerts online and has guitar lessons and labs on all aspects of the instrument available online.
“There’s ways for people to reach out, and the Internet brings everybody together these days,” Passarelli said.
E-mail: Wassel@northjersey.com

99 Ways To Play Better (And Sound Better) Right Now, Guitar Player Staff

2011-03-18T11:52:00.000-04:00

99 Ways To Play Better (And Sound Better) Right Now, Guitar Player

Blackbird & Bellabye

2011-03-02T22:45:00.004-05:00

Blackbird & Bellabye

I’ve always gotten a kick out of learning songs & guitar parts deeply to sound like the recordings that I loved. That was my measure of how well I knew the music & how much attention I paid to the detail that was there.

I have offered to play what’s on the recording, to play the exact guitar parts. It has been this skill that has gotten the attention of many band leaders wanting me to play on their record or join their tour. (All Together Now, Sarah Burrill, Pat Metheny) This helps if the artist is used to it, or loves those guitar parts or they have become part of the composition in a significant way.

This kind of practice has evolved for me over the years so that I have spent time with quite a diverse batch of playing styles, repertoire & accompaniment grooves & have gotten into the nitty gritty of what makes a player sound the way they do.

Far beyond the notes they choose or the rhythms they play are the deeper emotional content of touch, feel, tone, attitude, nuance, how they bend a note, slide, hammer, pull off, the dynamics, the articulation, phrasing, distinguishing effects, anything you can notice to sound like what’s there. This has given me vast options in my own playing & made my art huge. It’s also taught me how to arrange my own guitar parts for my songs & other artist’s original songs.

Often there’s a new to me, sounding riff, guitar effect, or groove or way to finger pick or new voicings that impress me or different string sets involved with the voicings & then I’m inspired to nick a few ideas & write my own song with the goods.

In 2005 Paul McCartney released a song called, Jenny Wren & deliberately revisited his own accompaniment style of playing voicings in tenths as he did on his 1968 song, Blackbird. I thought this was cool & wanted to write my own song with similar voicings. I played with the Blackbird & Jenny Wren voicing shapes & came up with a progression that I liked, added lyrics about my new niece & wrote a lullaby in 2005 adding her nickname, Bella in the title.

I love that it became it’s own song yet has remnants & colors of the inspired ideas from Blackbird & Jenny Wren. I also love that just like playing with words when meaning takes care of itself, so also playing with chord forms, harmony takes care of itself. If you listen to cool progressions & play with them you will write cool progressions if you listen to cool lyrics & melodies & arrangements & productions & horn parts, bass parts, etc. you will naturally, by osmosis by noticing & digesting great stuff in an organic way, create great music. For me it’s about eternal curiosity & allowing myself to explore.

Paul McCartney & George Harrison used to start playing Bach’s Bouree & having never learned the whole thing would stop or go off & play their own bits & that’s how Paul came to write Blackbird with those voicings. He liked the sound of those open chords.

So anything you’re attracted to in the sound of someone’s playing is a great starting point & gives you instant gratification to get something new happening in your playing or writing. I do this with engineering & production as well.

In fact if you listen to the recorded vs. of Bellabye in the headphones you’ll hear this cool spaced pair miking technique.

I used 2 M-Audio Sputniks in the cardioid position one slightly pointing on an angle to the 12^th fret, the other by my ear pointing down to the body of the acoustic guitar while I sang into a Neumann U87. Technically all 3 mics were picking up guitar & vocal but the air, the space that was recorded between the 3 mics was delicious! It’s so cool in the headphones.

3 acoustic guitar miking techniques with audio examples

http://www.humbuckermusic.com/acguitrectec.html

Blackbird, Paul McCartney, The Beatles, The White Album http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ERnT1X9HPw

Jenny Wren, Paul McCartney, Chaos & Creation in the Backyard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36dtjxUMWdM

Bellabye, Lauren Passarelli, Playing With the Pieces

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eyShqBIbP4

Live Show ~ 2nd Friday Coffeehouse

2010-08-30T11:49:00.013-04:00

Friday September 17th, 2010 at 7:30 pm

(Actually the 3rd friday this month)

The First Church in Belmont - Unitarian Universalist

404 Concord Ave, Belmont MA

(Across from the Belmont PO- From Harvard Sq take bus #74)

Admission $10 Students & Seniors $5- Coffee & Refreshments

For more information call 617-484-1054

Carter Creek Revival

Carter Creek Revival celebrates the heritage of Southern Appalachian gospel songs that remind of us who we are as Americans. The communal warmth of spirit expressed in these songs make this group’s performances a special treat. Chris Hersch (banjo), Jordan Voelker (fiddle), and Scott Sandvik (guitar) join their voices in harmony in their interpretations of songs learned from recordings from the ‘20’s to the ‘50’s. Their repertoire has a special focus on the gospel songs of the famous Carter Family, the “first family of country music.”

http://www.myspace.com/cartercreekrevival

Lauren Passarelli

Lauren Passarelli is a guitar wiz and singer/song writer. A Professor of Guitar at Berkley College of Music and Beatles expert, her music has been influenced by a diverse array of performers
Lauren shares her passionate view of the Creative process: “Creating music & playing with sound is amazing for me. I can talk about the creative process forever.”

http://www.laurenpassarelli.com

Happy 70th Ringo!

2010-07-07T11:27:00.002-04:00

Steve Gorman (Black Crowes drummer) wrote this a while back in response to a fan letter:

Quote:

Ringo Starr’s drumming is infallible, untouchable, and he is quite simply the greatest drummer in the history of rock 'n' roll music.

So, there’s that.

With this in mind, it would stand to reason that you might struggle to learn his parts, even on so rudimentary a level as Rock Band provides. I will resist the urge to write an endless screed about why Ringo’s drumming is beyond reproach and instead offer a quick “Q and A” to examine your specific points.

Q) Was Ringo actually “different as a drummer”?

A) Was Magic Johnson “different as a point guard“? Was Frank Lloyd Wright “different as an architect”? You bet your ass. As much as people try to disparage Ringo’s playing, no one ever seems to have a suggestion as to what drummer would have made those recordings better. And that’s because there was not, is not, and never will be, a drummer more perfectly suited for the Beatles.

Q) Was his playing “pretty simple and connected to the songs”?

A) If by “pretty simple”, you mean “pretty perfect” and if by “connected to the songs”, you mean, “integral to the execution of these rock n’ roll masterpieces”, then the answer is a resounding YES.

Q) Was Ringo “less intuitive” than a lot of subsequent rock drummers?

A) Absolutely not. Few if any drummers in rock history have been more intuitive. Ringo understood exactly what every song needed to have, and bear in mind he was working with not one, but three songwriters.

Q) Any thoughts?

A) Yes. Don’t argue with me about this. I know what I know.

I love John Bonham, Charlie Watts, Phil Rudd, and the nutjob from Wilco (and about a million other drummers) as much as anyone could. They are all perfect for their bands. They are all irreplaceable. But Ringo was in THE BEATLES.

Check the scoreboard.

Ringo wins.

Why Create Anything?

2010-05-30T13:56:00.002-04:00

You must read Kate Chadbourne's post, Emily & Eternity, Journal May 30, 2010

Come Alive

2010-04-03T16:07:00.002-04:00

Don't ask yourself what the world needs,

Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and

then go do it. Because what the world needs

is people who have come alive.

~ Harold Thurman Whitman

More On Creativity

2010-03-21T18:05:00.011-04:00

Ever since I met Kate Chadbourne we've been talking about the creative process & recently on the phone she said three things that I couldn't wait to share with all of you.

We're all constantly saying many of the same things repeatedly but there are times when someone can turn the idea just a hair, to give you a glimpse of yet another facet of the idea you've known all along, or a new metaphor & all becomes clearer & even more possible, even more tangible & doable & it sparks my desire to jump in & create from this new perspective.

Reach up & grab something from that overhead compartment above you

I have often felt ideas come to me, as gifts, that they may not even be my ideas, but ideas coming from a cool place, that giant creative pool of infinite possibilities & I heard it first. I've never thought of it as an overhead compartment that I could simply reach into & pull out a great idea. That's cool & fun & closer than this giant sky, VAST overwhelming place that we may sometimes think the ideas come from.

Get words on the page

Many of my students fear writing down anything until they think the idea is good enough. Pat Pattison calls it free association, Kate calls it blathering & getting words on the page, I've called it blurbs, Natalie Goldberg calls it, keeping your pen moving, they're all great. The idea is to participate & get words on the page that you can play with, rearrange & jump into new ideas from. I've said it a bunch, but if you play with words you will find lyrics, stories, poems, prose, whatever you're desiring to write with words. Playing with them is the key, not worrying about rules, or formulas or another book to buy on how or another class to take. Go to the source themselves, the words, the feelings, the hot topics the desires in your heart. Scribble them down, move them around, cut & paste them, put them in different orders within the sentence, go after the spark that happens next & what you want to say appears. In the book Poem Crazy, Susan G. Wooldridge says, "Play with words as if they are blocks, meaning will take care of itself." I love the freedom of that. And, I am amazed to always find that it is absolutely true for me.

Be engaged, instead of waiting

I like the prize, I like winning. I like seeing & hearing a finished song or CD physically in my hands, the tangible representation of many hours of detailed work & thousands of decisions completed. I was recently waiting for the artwork for my CD, Playing With the Pieces. Even though I designed it & took most of the photos I needed help with following the manufactures templates & that's we're I'm at. Waiting for my friend to tidy up my ideas so they make sense to the printing people. I had hoped to get that CD in my hot little hands & feel the completed satisfaction of that batch of songs by my birthday February 1st & then merrily jump into my next CD, Blast of Love, finish arranging & tracking & begin mixing. I've been waiting since last May '09 when we started the visuals. So what's a frustrated Beatle to do? Get cracking on something else anyway! So I've been happily working on the new CD & writing new songs & recording them as well. I get so caught up in my own plans that it takes me a little while to remember to be flexible when I'm working with other people. Our deadlines are our own thankfully & there are many things for me to be creatively engaged with. But truthfully as with all advancement, necessity is the mother of invention. That is one of the reasons, I've learned how to play drums, trust my own bass lines, get into triggering all kinds of instruments with a midi guitar, start learning piano & now, learn some basic graphic design; BECAUSE I HATE SITTING AROUND WAITING. I love collaborating with my creative friends, but I can't wait for them forever. So you decide your comfort zone & instead of complaining, do something.

I wish for you all, joy, flow & great fulfillment with your creating. Don't wait, jump in now & have some fun.

Go To Your Studio & Make Stuff

2010-02-28T11:03:00.014-05:00

There's every reason on earth to enjoy the creative things you enjoy as often as you choose to. We see ourselves in definitive ways & at various times or ages in our lives we allow ourselves to have & be those creative things. At other times we wait for outside validation or an invitation or just don't allow ourselves to have that fun anymore. Sometimes a new creative fun comes up but we hold ourselves from it thinking only they can do that art form, I've never been good at that & so I'm not allowed to have it.

Not true. Not even nice. Who's side are you on anyway? Who's voice is that in your head? You are the only one who can validate you. You give to yourself or you hold your self back. You dive in & have the fun or you keep yourself from it.

Enjoy your time. Your life is here & now. It's your energy, your fire.

Explore. Investigate. Wander. Listen. Devour the things you enjoy doing. They're here for you. You are here for them. You belong together. They equal fun & fulfillment. There's so much information in books & on the internet on everything you're interested in. Go for it. Vy vait?

I had a mighty time giving a song writing & creativity clinic with the multi talented, Kate Chadbourne on Feb 23rd, 2010. The juicy sparks & laughs were flying. We could have gone on for hours. The presentation is on youtube. Jump in, get wet. Make a splash. Go to your studio & make stuff.

Brenda Ueland on Creative Work

2010-02-18T22:51:00.001-05:00

I think there is something necessary & life giving about creative work. A state of excitement. And it is like a faucet: nothing comes unless you turn it on and the more you turn it on, the more comes. But this joyful, imaginative, impassioned energy dies out of us very young. Why? Because we do not see that it is great and important. Because we let dry obligation take it’s place. Because we don’t respect it in ourselves & keep it alive by using it. And because we don’t keep it alive in others by listening to them. You must practise with all your intelligence and love. A great musician once told me one should never play a note without hearing it, feeling that it is true, thinking it beautiful. Writing, the creative effort, the use of the imagination, should come first of some part of everyday of your life. It is a wonderful blessing if you will use it. You will become happier, more enlightened, alive, impassioned, light hearted & generous to everybody else. Even your health will improve. Colds will disappeear & all other ailments of discouragement & boredom. - Brenda Ueland

Keeping On

2010-01-21T21:53:00.003-05:00

It’s so much fun to have a new project or song or idea in my head. My brain desires to be captivated & chewing on something delicious as often as possible. As an Artist it’s important for me to have something in the works, always stirring & devising, arranging & producing, to be playing with sounds & words & textures just thrills me.

I like to do it as often as possible because it’s as necessary & satisfying as eating & sleeping & breathing. I also feel that it is as easy to jump into the creative flow, as it is to plug an AC cord into the wall outlet to get power.

There’s a need for a decision, then an action of doing & some patience & allowing & then there’s the muse hanging with me while I play with words or instruments or plans as to what to do with all those words & music ideas. The inspiration always shows up when I do. We’re connected. So are you.

It’s trust, it’s intuition, and it’s fun & repetition. It’s habit & then confidence and there is always another part of it all to work on, to enjoy, and to spend time with.

When Joni Mitchell couldn’t find a music or lyric idea she’d paint. When the painting felt uncertain she’d go back to music. I bounce around to different instruments, new song ideas, older unfinished ideas & whatever feels interesting to me.

Sometimes Artists are afraid of too much freedom & too many choices. But I find it fascinating how we can start off with a blank page & blank recording & out of the infinite choose pieces, begin a puzzle, realize a form & direction & theme & finish a lyric or melody or progression. I love making those choices, taking my ear by surprise & pleasing myself & by getting tickled by the joy of it all. You have to show up & start, narrow it down, decide & add to it till it’s done.

I usually finish a new song in an hr or less. The whole thing: chords, melody & lyrics. I started writing songs at 10 yrs old & have written over the years in every order, from many different starting points. I love finding new ways to jump into the creative playground & have a go at it. When I hear another writer’s habits & process I like visiting their approach to get into the creative place in a new way. So if one attempt isn’t as effortless I can try another.

Since July of ’09 I’ve written a whole cd’s worth of new songs that I’m very excited about. Most were brand new ideas. Rescuing & finally getting to use a stranded verse or chorus or riff from the past became 3 finished songs. To my own amazement the new finished bits fit so well they sounded like they belonged together all along and two were ideas that I had had hanging around a long time. One was 7 years old. One was 12 years old & now these bits are finished whole songs. Lyrically 2 songs needed more life experience to unfold before I knew what to say. Another song got over it’s “I don’t know what I’m going to be” by co-writing with a friend.

I had been releasing digital singles through 2007 & 2008. I would write, record & release it to itunes, boom, done. I was getting a kick out of making the picture sleeves for them, getting to use my photographs for each. I’d also been asking everyone, “Do you prefer to buy digital downloads or cds these days”? Everyone was about 50/50 on this and so I have just worked on a cd visual layout for all those singles plus 2 unreleased songs and the full length CD will be called, Playing With The Pieces.

I have been recording the basic tracks to all the new songs as I wrote them since last July & that cd will come out this year as well. I want to call it Blast of Love. It was a fun phrase & when I heard it, I instantly thought it would make a cool title for my next cd & it would also be a great title song. So I sat down & wrote a song called Blast of Love.

It’s play. It’s easy. It’s just picking up instruments & letting yourself fly. It’s playing with all those pieces & choices & picking the bits & parts you love best & putting them all together. It’s giving it time & space to get a new perspective & point of view & seeing if you still like what you hear and if not, asking what does this need? Even asking the song itself. “Song, what do you want? Tell me your bass line. What do you want me to say here? How should I end it?”

One time I just deliberately sat down with 3 new songs & said, ok endings, find them, because these aren’t going to fade out. They want definite endings & boom the ideas just came. You have to decide what you need & what’s missing so you can find the solution. You have to let yourself begin and continue & then finish. If you’re happy with it, it’s good.

If you’re hungry you find things that are edible to eat. If you have a destination desire you get in your car & get there. It’s the same with writing. If you want to write words, play with words, visit with them & see which ones describe what you desire to say. If you want to write harmony & melody you have to play with chords & melodies & get to know the emotional side of the frequencies you’re choosing. If you are moved by your choices someone else will genuinely be moved & they are your true listeners & fans. They get goose bumps when you do. If they don’t they may never be converted. Doesn’t matter. People who dig what you do are out there. Some prefer strawberry; some prefer chocolate it’s about natural connection & being heard on a cellular level. But you have to dig it first. Your own connection to your art is what matters most & allowing your self to have that connection every day keeps you sane, engaged & fulfilled.

Writers say to me they don’t have time & they haven’t been playing or writing or jumping into their art at all. Why not? You sleep & eat everyday. Why not let yourself have what you love? Even if you sketched, played, wrote for 15 min everyday you’d have more ideas to play with than piling up years of nothing & disappointment.

It takes 28 days to break a habit & 28 days to start a habit. Waiting around for bolts of lightning, “when inspiration strikes”, isn’t consistent enough for me. I don’t want to be so numbed to creative kindling that I have to be struck out of my regular life routine to catch a creative idea. I love being in it all the time. Staying warmed up & expecting keeps me receptive & eager & open & bolts of lightning happen every day & many times a day. There’s healthy respect that we need to have for the muse & when ideas do come I catch them on paper, recordings, videos & have a source to go back to if I’m in the middle of something else. Then when I am free to experiment & play with the pieces I have a starting place. The overwhelming infinite possibilities have been narrowed down; I have a new idea to run with.

I have videos on you tube about the creative process too. I can talk about it forever. It’s one of my favorite subjects. I believe it’s the life force I’m admiring so we all have it or we wouldn’t be breathing. Flow with it. Let it in to your every day experience instead of complaining. Show up. Invite the muse for tea & visit together. Stop being at odds with yourself. Splash, just make one. Nike, just do it, weave some wonder.

You feel terrible when you’re out of sync with yourself & a huge part of it for many creative people is they call themselves writers or players & never write or play. Deep down this bothers them big time. So change that. You’re the only one who can. Worse, they stop calling themselves writers & players & accept the tortured existence of being a creative human that has no outlet or art form. John Lennon said, “I can’t wake up you. You wake up you”.

Words from a student

2009-11-30T08:47:00.004-05:00

Wavicles

By Greg Arney11. November 2009 18:04

My first guitar teacher at college, Lauren Passarelli, taught me a number of things that I am still learning years after the fact.

After carefully eyeing my picking hand, she faulted it for being inflexible. She prescribed several pieces which made use of the floating, string-skipping picking hand that is necessary for versatility and large leaps. A natural skeptic, I wondered if the effort of changing my technique was worth it, or if the "setback" would somehow slow me down. Many musicians, particularly those who have achieved some level of comfort with a playing style, are reluctant to try new techniques, fearing that it will render their current technique worthless. Months later, I discovered the problem on my own - and returned to her prescription. Now, years later, I am happy to say I have conquered this difficulty. However, I do face many more. I have a bad habit of practicing within my "comfort zone", even though I am fully aware that two hours of discomfort is probably more effective than 8 hours of comfort.

My current goal is to lay out all of the techniques and concepts that I really don't want to work on, things that make me feel uncomfortable or weak, and practice them relentlessly, going so far as to forbid any familiar activity for the duration of four weeks. If my playing is significantly changed in that time, I will know I have found another keystone on my path to mastery.

Lauren taught me another important lesson. My usual attitude as a student was that I must push as hard as I can against the wall. Occasionally, I would express my patient frustration to teachers and mentors. Having a need to organize the Universe, I told Lauren that I knew I would get X good if I practiced X amount of hours. For those of us who train ourselves to have high expectations and work hard to achieve them, we tend to want others to validate this view, even going so far as to expect that anyone we respect or admire will share this method. However, Lauren's response shocked me. She said that it wasn't the amount of time spent practicing or even how badly I wanted mastery. She told me that if I focus and have the right mindset, these things will find me, instead. The conversation took a turn into quantum physics, and we talked about ever-fascinating concept that light can be constrained as both a wave and a particle, and the view among many physicists that the expectations of the observer can affect the outcome of the observed. She called this a "wavicle", and when we parted for that lesson (which was one of our last), she left me with this: "Control the wavicles!"

7 Thoughts on Teaching and Learning Guitar

2009-11-02T23:22:00.001-05:00

7 Thoughts on Teaching and Learning Guitar

Great Quote

2009-10-19T11:21:00.000-04:00

To charm, to strengthen & to teach. These are the 3 great chords of might.

written on the outside of Harvard University's Music building.

Remember This

2009-09-27T11:35:00.006-04:00

YOU CAN

The purpose of work

2009-09-20T09:15:00.001-04:00

We have been taught that we need to work for a living. And that we keep the things we love to do as our hobbies.

Has it ever struck you that this is distorted and weird? Have you ever wondered whether you can do what you love and attract abundance while doing it?

The purpose of work is not to work at all – it is to express the Joy that you are through the activities of your mind and your body and your soul – to give you a means of expression of who you are and who you choose to be. It is not to create a dead-end life, a life of drudgery and sadness and disappointment – it is to create a direct experience of who you really are through the outflowing through you of the creativity and the talent that you are.

You will always attract abundance doing what you love – because doing what you love keeps you in a place of happiness, of gratitude, of waking up in the mornings looking forward to doing what you adore doing.

We have been taught that we earn money through work – let’s look at this – we do unhappy things, create unhappy lives, and then we expect that to bring us abundance – and not the salaries which we are paid, but real abundance. But – when you vibrate at a place of unhappiness, you attract unhappy things, events, occurrences, and you attract unhappy people who agree with your unhappiness and so it feels as if this is really what life is all about.

When you are happy you attract abundance.

When you are happy you make money.

When you are happy you bring to you what you need.

Always.

And so if you are working at a job that makes you unhappy, it defeats the whole purpose of what you call work.

You CAN do what you love and create your life. You CAN wake up in the mornings and expect what you need for that day to come to you magically, because you are magic, you are your dreams come true, you are what you want, what you have dreamed of.

You don’t have to spend your lives in drudgery. You can find out who you are, what you have to give, who you want to touch, and how to do it. You can find clarity on this.

The purpose of all this is for you to decide who you are – and your work expresses you.

Abraham- Hicks

10 STUPID THINGS ARTISTS DO TO MESS UP THEIR LIVES

2009-08-23T13:25:00.002-04:00

Carla De Santis Article

2009-08-23T13:02:00.004-04:00

You go forth from time to time, place to place, open & eager for all you can feast upon, dancing with words to have the resources to peal through for things to sing, songs to write, thoughts to share.

It's always a surprise & delight to see what happens, how it happens, what gets chosen, what gets said & then what it all means; and they mean more & more as the years go by, speaking in code to my warm gentle self. Feeding me at every age on every page with every bit of light & hope & reassurance to lead me forward to enjoy more & more. Explore. Drink in, listen hard, feel well, ease stress. Complain less.

It is mighty to have a life, be in these bodies. A blessing to be alive, a miracle to be breathing & writing & playing all that I do.

Changing Your Perspective

2009-08-20T07:24:00.003-04:00

We're asking you to trust in the Well-being. In optimism there is magic. In pessimism there is nothing. In positive expectation there is thrill and success. In pessimism or awareness of what is not wanted, there is nothing. What you're wanting to do is redefine your relationship with the Stream. We do not ask you to look at something that is black and call it white. We do not ask you to see something that is not as you want it to be and pretend that it is. What we ask you to do is practice moving your gaze. Practice changing your perspective. Practice talking to different people. Practice going to new places. Practice sifting through the data for the things that feel like you want to feel and using those things to cause you to feel a familiar place. In other words, we want you to feel familiar in your joy. Familiar in your positive expectation, familiar in your knowing that all is well, because this Universe will knock itself out giving you evidence of that Well-being once you find that place.

--- Abraham-Hicks

Staying Well

2009-06-28T13:29:00.000-04:00

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease." - Thomas Edison

Spring Off Reality

2009-06-24T16:01:00.001-04:00

Have you ever seen the acrobats on the big trampolines, or the people in the circus on the big bounding nets? And they hit that net and they spring forth into flight. Well, the moment that they hit the net, that's like the platform of your life. But it is the flying through the air that is the main event.

We want you to think of your "now reality" as nothing more than the net that is springing you -- but it is the flight through the air that is your life.

So many of you, you hit that net and then you lay on your stomach, and then you wrap your fingers and toes into it, and you put your face tight into it, and you say, "I've got to face reality." And we say, you didn't come forth to face reality. You came forth to spring off of reality. You came forth to let the reality be the basis from which you take flight.

Abraham-Hicks Philadelphia, PA -- 11/7/1999

Insatiable Love Affair

2009-06-22T12:49:00.011-04:00

(Here's an essay I was asked to write about Gretsch Guitars)

Insatiable Love Affair

The plastic guitar at age two wasn't enough, and when i saw the Beatles on the tele at age 4, I fell deeply in love with guitar.

A couple of acoustic guitars came, one fake that had nails for two of
the tuning pegs, and one real that actually stayed in tune. And finally
lessons. But I needed an electric guitar. An american guitar. I wanted
to bend strings & play the solos I'd been learning on an electric. I
was playing chord solos too, learning how to play legato & hold notes
while others note moved & I wanted to hear more sustain.

Because of George Harrison I wanted a Gretsch guitar! And at 12, in
1972 my parents bought me a 1961 Gretsch Anniversary model. Whoa! The passion went deep. It was wildly known the best guitars were American made. George had wanted an American guitar since he was a kid. His Gretsch Duo Jet was his prized possession. It was his first American guitar & he kept it his whole life.

George & I were both influenced by super guitar players. Masters.
Players who had a feel & tone that personified the notes they chose.
Serious guitar players that were so clever & articulate the music
flowed & looked effortless to create. That's the mark of an expert. It
looks so easy when they play and it sounds brilliant. It's all about
the touch & feel; the magic happens with your hands, at your fingertips & you need an instrument that can respond to your whispers & moans.

A Gretsch neck has always felt perfect in my small hand. I love the
round shape & made-for-each-other fit. Gretsch guitars have a good
weight to them. The workmanship is smooth, every line & crease, every curve is finished. No rough spots, nothing feels dinky. I still have my '61 Anniversary model. I've written many songs with it. This guitar's every shape & form is in my muscle memory. Playing it is like visiting a dear friend. In 2000 I picked up a Country Classic Jr., similar to the Country Gentleman George bought in 1963. This body size couldn't be more comfortable. It was love at first touch. I feel like George when I'm playing this guitar. There's a magical essence, chemical reaction, blend of wood & soul when I play Beatle songs on this guitar.

I get verklempt when I think of Gretsch guitars. They've loomed so
large in my legendary Beatle life's frame work. George, Gretsch,
George, Gretsch, George, Gretsch. They're in the blueprint of my
childhood, the groundwork of my musicianship, the discovery of music & life itself.

George Harrison Talks Fender

Lauren Passarelli ~ Talks George Harrison & Fender

Lauren Passarelli ~ This Day Came

2009-06-21T19:27:00.002-04:00

For what it's worth it's never too late or too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit; start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There's no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it & I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you find the strength to start all over again.

How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?

2009-06-18T13:02:00.005-04:00

Well the punch line of the old joke is PRACTICE!

Right?

Well this story isn't about Carnegie Hall. It's a true story about Symphony Hall in Boston, MA.

I was attending a private function inside Symphony Hall where a friend of mine was performing & I happened to be dressed all in black. After her performance we got to see the The Boston Pops perform as well. They were both wonderful concerts.

When the night was over I was standing outside Symphony Hall watching my friend's equipment as she went to fetch her car. The audience was pouring out into the street & as many passed me they said enthusiastically, "YOU WERE FABULOUS TONIGHT!" or "GREAT CONCERT!" & "OH YOU WERE ALL FANTASTIC!" & "THANK YOU SO MUCH, LOVELY SHOW!"

Inside my head, stunned with, "wait, what? me?, oh no, I'm just, well sure, but you see I'm..." because they thought they were thanking a symphony player or 'praps even my friend. Yet there was no time to explain & I didn't want to offend or appear rude. So standing tall (as tall as I could) dressed in black, waiting with equipment, instantly impersonating a Boston Pops member, I smiled graciously & thanked them warmly for attending. At least their thoughtful accolades for the Pops should be received & reciprocated, I thought nervously.

How do you get to Symphony Hall?

~ Stand on the sidewalk dressed in black with music equipment at your feet.

DACHSHUNDS ARE LOVE BUGS

2009-06-16T12:54:00.023-04:00

they have the least doggie odor
they don't shed
they love being with you
they have a tremendous sense of humor & memory. when they do something that makes you laugh. they'll do it again & again.
they're extremely loyal, protective & friendly.
I love their adorable expressive faces & their extremely cute feet!

Guitar Players & Nail Care

2009-06-14T14:49:00.012-04:00

I love playing with a pick. I love playing with pick & fingers & I love finger picking. They give me different sounds & feels & ability to create the guitar parts I want to play. Whether it's steel string or nylon eventually with much playing comes much wearing down of the nails. Here's what I've been experimenting with over the years & a great guitarist's nail article that gets into it all.

James Taylor told me about his use of nail wraps so that's what I used for years. It's a great warm sound that I love & it sounds like his guitar sound. In fact he's taping a DVD where he'll teach how he plays nine of his songs & he asked me for my opinion. I asked him to include a special feature section where he'll show us his nail care & how he applies & takes care of his nail wraps. He puts on a layer of glue & then a nail wrap & after it dries & he trims it he does it twice again so that he has 3 layers. There are 3 kinds of wraps: silk, fiber glass & nylon.

Classical players use ping balls & glue a piece of the ball under their remaining nail. I haven't tried this yet.

I love the sound I get with guitar player nails. They send you pieces of flat, plastic material & you cut & shape & trim & file & glue. And the thickness of the nail is set. With the wraps & the gel you create that thickness for each nail yourself.

There are Gel Nails, nothing harder, super tough & resilient. I bought this kit from Germany called, Power Nails. I love the sound of these as well & I liked not using nail or crazy glue. Turns out this nail product is Pat Metheny's favorite. I know JT was sent this Power Nail kit but I don't know if he ever tried the gel nails & if he liked them. You can buy some gel products on line & there are videos on you tube that better show how to extend the gel & be a nail when yours is to short. But I found that glue & gel seriously weaken your nail underneath. They get so soft & breakable.

There's also Rico Nails where you use non toxic adhesives & surgical tape for extra support and when you're done playing you can easily remove them without hurting your nails. You can just put them on to play & take them off when you're done. They are a thinner material consequently a thinner, brighter guitar sound for me.

I use thin strings & prefer thicker guitar picks about 1.5mm but not necessarily super thick finger nails. I may try adhesive with the guitar player nails next!

Many players don't bother with their nails at all. They just use their finger tips. I have been trying to prefer this for about a month now. Just for the ease of it & nothing toxic. But I don't like how the strings feel or respond to me & I don't prefer the sound.

What's a guitarist to do?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12/22/09 added new discovery

in a few months your nails do recover from the softening breaking effects of nail glue, crazy glue & nail gel...

Master guitarist, Lou Arnold bought me a bottle of

Onymyrrhe Natural Nail Growth Accelerator & that's an amazing healthy product for nails.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12/16/10

this just in: James Taylor's own nail lesson on taking care of his built in picks! Yea!

Making the Most of a Spark (excerpt)

2009-06-14T12:33:00.003-04:00

"Essentially, I want good company in my creative life, and I want to provide that to my fellow creators. I want to help other people love their work so that they keep going and give it the very best attention and skill they have, and I want that fostering in return. I want to make the most of my spark and enjoy the warmth and light of my friends making the most of theirs, too." ~ Kate Chadbourne

What a fabulous way to say it! ~ L Pass

Life Story

2009-06-12T12:53:00.003-04:00

"And now it is your Life Story and it is you who play the leading roll. The stage is set, the time is now, and the place wherever you are. Each passing second a new link in the endless chain of Time. The drama of Life is a continuous story - ever new, ever changing, and ever wondrous to behold."

~ Virginia Lee Burton

Power of A Beatle

2009-06-11T16:59:00.003-04:00

“The verdict from Paul McCartney's show at his Coachella debut on Friday? Never underestimate the power of a Beatle... The night belonged to Paul.” -- LOS ANGELES TIMES

Why Music Matters

2009-06-11T11:31:00.009-04:00

L Pass ~ my favorite bits from

Why Music Matters
Karl Paulnack, Director, Music Division
The Boston Conservatory

Given what we have since learned about life in the Nazi camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture — why would anyone bother with music? And yet even from the concentration camps we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.”

Music is not part of “arts and entertainment” as the newspaper section would have us believe. It’s not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pastime. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can’t with our minds.

(Music) has the ability to crack your heart open like a walnut; it can make you cry over sadness you didn’t know you had. Music can slip beneath our conscious reality to get at what’s really going on inside us the way a good therapist does.

Music allows us to move around those big invisible pieces of ourselves and rearrange our insides so that we can express what we feel even when we can’t talk about it. Music is the understanding of the relationship between invisible internal objects.

Someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.

You’re not here to become an entertainer, and you don’t have to sell yourself. The truth is you don’t have anything to sell; being a musician isn’t about dispensing a product, like selling used cars. I’m not an entertainer; I’m a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You’re here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.

I expect you not only to master music, I expect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don’t expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do. The artists are the ones who might be able to help us with our internal, invisible lives.

Your Life Depends On It

2009-06-11T11:27:00.001-04:00

"Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it." ~ Paul Hawken

Studios

2009-06-10T14:25:00.005-04:00

If you're in LA or Miami & need some great ears for your next project check out my recording engineer friends, Rob Harkness/Barn Productions & Pablo Reynoso/Technicolor Lounge .

More Amazing Music

2009-06-10T14:03:00.004-04:00

Check out my friends & their music. They're quite the song masters.

Peak

2009-06-09T12:14:00.008-04:00

Let's time eat more

When Rise moon sing

Laugh you dance me

Smile possess

Start wanna clap some doggie's fun doin'

Mention yours mention ours

Heaps jollys

Now expect, hearts connect, cheeky doing

Peak!

Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do

2009-06-09T00:21:00.001-04:00

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. -Rumi

Creative Friends

2009-06-07T14:50:00.033-04:00

I worked with a fabulously creative friend & lyricist, Stefanie Mis from 1981-1994. Among our 31 songs, we have a song called "Sad Cafe" that has the line, " I want to be a part of something, somewhere, now". As solitary as my own art is & enjoyable to have that quiet time to create, I have often craved collaboration & more company within the aspects of writing, arranging, performing & recording my music.

In exploring the many folks, organizations & clubs around you to find friends to crunch these things with don't despair if what you find isn't an exact fit. You can always start something of your own design. I am most excited, challenged & alive when talking about the creative process & how we do what we do. So I volunteered to run a Song Writer's Workshop at the Harvest Cafe' in Hudson, MA. It's scheduled for the 3rd Saturday of every month; we've been meeting since the fall of 2007. Each month brings new faces & allows me to continue the enormus conversation of writing & producing original music & to meet more writers.

I have within the last year met some fabulous song writers through my workshops that are new fast friends. Some even live in my home town virtually blocks away! What a find & how exciting! Who knew? Then more writers came through them. "If you build it they will come" the movie promised & so they did. I'm psyched!

Keep asking, keep yer eyes open. Surprises lurk at every turn to delight you.

Check out Louise Hetzler & Kate Chadbourne.

Speak To Me

2009-06-04T21:35:00.006-04:00

One of my just keep your pen moving blurbs that could almost be a poem

Sept. 9, 2002

If I rearrange the letters I can sculpt new words & how delicious it would be
to take power over my own blue will.
I could create a gorgeous vision, chant chocolate in the only moment that is a cool boil.
And with a tiny stare see past my crushing ache, trudge out of the sad sky & dream no rust.

See I am in the forest wind where the air moans true. See I am on the sand where the ocean lathers often to the sun & it did. I can hear love & fill my needy mind. I can breathe hope & answer the winter scream in the only moment as puppies do.

You who are there in the wind moaning true.
You who are there on the sand breathing hope, words chasing rain, eating fog, whispering candidly ~ speak to me.

Elizabeth Gilbert ~ Swallow The Sun

2009-06-04T13:48:00.013-04:00

Elizabeth Gilbert is a superb author who's voice & spirit I deeply enjoy. She has the intelligence, humor & playfulness combination that seriously tickles me. Here she talks about all of us & the creativity we use & the courage it takes to show up everyday & do the work that we were put on this earth to do. Her novel, Eat Pray Love is being made into a movie with Julia Roberts.
Elizabeth Gilbert - On Genius

Natalie Goldberg on Writing

2009-06-04T13:22:00.011-04:00

1 Natalie Goldberg
2 Old Friend From Far Away

3 How To Write

Wild Geese

2009-06-02T16:35:00.003-04:00

I love the sound of Geese, like clarinets in the sky. i have recorded them as they flew over head & put them in my song, All The Words.

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

creative life

2009-05-28T16:25:00.001-04:00

Once you get a feel for being submerged in music & in your self created life nothing compares. It's always getting better & hard to go back.

A few great books and films

2009-05-28T16:17:00.000-04:00

A Few Great Books

Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
The Well Of Creativity – Julia Cameron, Natalie Goldberg & others
The Artists’ Way – Julia Cameron
The Courage To Create – Rollo May
If You Want to Write – Brenda Ueland
Zen Guitar – Philip Toshio Sudo
Poem Crazy (freeing your life with words) – Susan G. Wooldridge
Flow – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Zing!- Sam Harrison
How to Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything- Albert Ellis, phd
My Stroke of Insight – Jill Bolte Taylor

Any books by Deepak Choppra, Suze Orman & Tony Robbins

A Few Great Films

The Secret (version with Esther Hicks)
What the Bleep Do We Know
Les Paul Chasing Sound
Tom Dowd This Language of Music
Music Within
Music & Lyrics
Music of the Heart

Writing Quotes

2009-05-28T13:04:00.001-04:00

i think there is something necessary & life giving about creative work. A state of excitement. And it is like a faucet: nothing comes unless you turn it on and the more you turn it on, the more comes. - Brenda Ueland

But this joyful, imaginative, impassioned energy dies out of us very young. Why? Because we do not see that it is great and important. Because we let dry obligation take it’s place. Because we don’t respect it in ourselves & keep it alive by using it. And because we don’t keep it alive in others by listening to them. - Brenda Ueland

You must practise with all your intelligence and love. A great musician once told me one should never play a note without hearing it, feeling that it is true, thinking it beautiful. - Brenda Ueland

Writing, the creative effort, the use of the imagination, should come first of some part of everyday of your life. It is a wonderful blessing if you will use it. You will become happier, more enlightened, alive, impassioned, light hearted & generous to everybody else. Even your health will improve. Colds will disappeear & all other ailments of discouragement & boredom. - Brenda Ueland

sneak preview

2009-05-18T00:06:00.006-04:00

Lauren Passarelli NEWS!

A new CD is in the works featuring all my new digital singles plus two brand new songs for those who prefer an actual CD instead of downloading from itunes.

Song List: Low Tide, Sweetest Thing, Bellabye, Time To Groove, Mainly Distance, Great Day To Land/Happy Birthday, The Secret Quantum Song Enjoy, The Secret Quantum Song Thank You, Playing With The Pieces, Two Years Deep, All The Words.

The CD will be called, PLAYING WITH THE PIECES. Cindy & I were designing the cover this past week. You can get previews of the songs on itunes, youtube, cdbaby & my myspace page. We'll keep ya posted.

Live Gig Photos 5/15/09 taken by Cindy Brown

2009-05-16T22:18:00.014-04:00

Gig tonight!

2009-05-15T14:49:00.004-04:00

Gig tonight at Jumpin' Juice n' Java in Leominster - 6-7:30pm. It's going to be a great time!

843 Central St

Leominster MA

It's my first show sharing the bill with my good friend Elizabeth Lorrey. Join us!