featuring Kalya, Ari, and Gene

If you appreciate my music, you should know that it wouldn't be possible without musicians like Ben, Dan, and Charlie putting their work out there as a solid foundation, and inviting me to add flourishes and texture to it. This year, each of them co-produced a different kind of creative project: their first tiny humans!

The civilized world missed them each for about a month, and then they were back on the horse, doing music with gusto. This spotlight post is still about musicians making music, so, dear Reader, hang in there:

Kalya's arrival lit a fire under someone's butt:

A few months before Kalya's birth, Ben Kramarz started producing a monthly music event called Singjam, and I joined the project thinking I'd just do "the usual" violin schtuff that I do on singalongs like Musicluck and the Community Music Hangout and in my aunt's living room. However, leading this event is slowly encouraging me to lean into less perfect things (cello, vocals, fadeouts, oh my!)

Just before his paternity leave, Ben gifted me a book that he wrote on Song Leading[^2], and he also set up an operations playbook so that we could own the Singjam event and run it without him. In the playbook, there was one prominent reminder to "exude positivity!" – a reminder I'm using today in many applications.

Ariadne Ruth evokes minotaurs and candy bars:

I was already in a mythology mood because of Ariadne's name (labyrinth! thread! minotaur!)... I found myself digging an eerie song of Dan's called "Would You Like to Know" which also depicts a mythical trek into the woods. Recently, during a show with our NEW TRIO^[3], my wild imagination had a moment where I thought of everything, everywhere, all in the span of 4 seconds (during a grand walk-down on the word "everything" at the end of a chorus). I thought of Pan's Labyrinth. I thought of Lothlorien. I even thought of that Sleeping Beauty remake, Maleficent – of baby Ari's gray eyes beholding a terrible, winged, horned beast who invites curiosity. That's a long trip for the mind to take during four instrumental bars.

Gene reminds me of a maj7 chord:

because the name evokes the Willy Wonka movie (feat. the inimitable Gene Wilder). Charlie was the one who taught me the song Pure Imagination from the movie soundtrack. At the tender age of 19, when we were in a band together, Charlie taught me the many wonderful applications of a maj7 chord. In fact, each cool violin technique that has stayed with me from that decade, I owe to my time with Charlie in our original project.

Charlie is chugging away at his full-length classical guitar album while raising Eugene. A few of the tracks feature me, and the album will drop in the fall[^4].

So?

You little stinkers are certainly keeping your parents busy and sleep-deprived this year. The plus side is that your arrivals have spurred your dads to share new musical experiences with a wider audience. I appreciate watching their music evolve.

To the readers who love to hear my violin: please send your big congrats to Ben+Noa, Dan+Rikki, and Charlie+Alex on their projects and their babies. (Oh, and they've all lured me into their projects – stay tuned.)

[^1]: Ben, Dan, and Charlie, are the real features of this post. But the title got you to click, didn't it. And no, I'm still not inspired to make a tiny human of my own, thank you for asking though.

[^2]: Get Ben's book on your Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Songleading-Communal-Singing-ebook/dp/B08FD9YPGB

^[3]: Greener Things: jazz-flavored pop and freewheeling folk, is my newest project with Alie Halla and Dan Dectis https://ninaviolina.com/featuring-alie-and-dan/

[^4]: Preview one of my Brazilian tracks from Charlie's album https://youtube.com/watch?v=z1KugCKkC04

YouTube