Emilyn Nelson has the vocal instrumentation of an angel. I met her for the first time today after having heard her name for over a year. Ms. Nelson appeared literally at the doorstep, even though it wasn
46;t mine, just at the time when all other possibilities for an interview seemed so apparently expired. And until this evening, I thought she was a stranger. But then she opened her mouth to sing, and what came out was strikingly familiar. I realized that
I had heard Emilyn singing through the walls about a month ago while doing one of the midnight Moog experiments. I vividly recall being in the company of a dear friend of mine, also a musician, and stopping suddenly, falling completely silent, to hear th
e angelically soothing tones seeping through every breathing crack of that door that we could not see into. I did not realize this until the end of the interview, when she gave a private performance of her compositional skills.
Emilyn has been “musical” for most of her life (I quoted musical because I believe all people are musical for all of their lives in some way or another). She began taking piano lessons at the request of her mot
her in preschool. She decided to quit taking lessons in the sixth grade in order to fulfill more personal interests, which included composing music. Emilyn recalls composing songs as a five or six-year-old, but it wasn’t until high school that her pe
rsonal talent began to emerge. In eleventh grade she wrote her first song, about her father who had left this world when she was sixteen. She says that her parents weren’t very musical: her mother dappled with the piano and her father was primarily a
music listener. He exposed her at an early age to the music of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, and she still enjoys them for this reason. Beyond the Bobs, though, Emilyn says that she doesn’t really listen to male-produced and performed music. It is not t
hat she has a problem with it, but she is much more inspired by music by women.
Emilyn’s musical influences include
Tori Amos, Sinead O’ Connor, Liz Phair, Joni Mitchell, Lauren Hill and Ani Difranco, although she claims that “a lot of the music I listen to has nothing to do with what I play”. She has performed at various open mics and other casual venu
es in Minneapolis, where she spent her childhood and teenage-dome, but she is interested in finding more comfortable venues to present herself here in the Bay Area, since she moved from Minnesota only a year ago. She prefers to play by herself but she has
n’t ruled out the option of jamming with other instrumentalists and singers, such as myself (we are working on making a date between our busy-ness). She said that she has experience harmonizing voices, but she doesn't quite know how well she would do
with other instrumentalists. I responded to this statement with, "Well, would you be open to the idea of playing in a group collaboration?" and she said, "Yeah, I guess so." So this was the point in the interview where my brainstormin
g began. I started to think that the reason I met up with this woman was to urge her to open her musical horizons as I have since attending Mills. Any musicians with wandering possibilities should note this opportunity to create a bass line, harmony, or c
ounter-melody with such a talented young musician.
"I don't write happy songs", she said to me. I gave her
a look of amazement. I had asked how she was inspired. Emilyn continued with a more personal explanation that her first songs were about the sadder side of life, and that she is not inspired until her emotions are. I know of some writers who will not wri
te unless they are emotionally upset. I think these arts are analogous. Sometimes it takes a lot of feeling to arouse a spurt of creativity.
In summary, Emilyn Nelson is an extremely talented woman. Perhaps she would not make such a claim about herself, but I am very interested to see how this talent grows and unfolds in the years to come. And if you ever pass by a clo
sed door with an angel singing inside, it's probably her. It's time for
that door to be opened.
Kim Baker ||
India Cooke ||
Cindy A. Cox ||
Jacqueline Butler
Hairston
Emilyn Nelson ||
Michele Senitzer ||
Latetia Sonami ||
Nadine Whitfield
Women in Creative Music Homepage
Created by the Women in Creative Music Class Fall 99
Fall 99 Web site designed and authored by Juliet Sheperd
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Last revised on 12/3/99 by A. Garcia
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