“We all have our crosses to bare!”
“God
never gives you more than you can handle.”
“Don’t
sweat the small stuff, its all small stuff.”
We’ve
all heard these trite sayings, perhaps even said them. It’s the quick answer,
the simple water cooler discussion solution to life’s problems. But what about
when those problems are big, or at least a lot bigger than the normal day-to-day
stuff we complain about incessantly?
For
people in the sick line of life there is a lot of pressure to hop to it, to not
complain, to never give up. Rarely are we allowed to be, to feel as we want.
And god forbid we accept where we are. We must always fight.
This
pressure and the need to check ourselves is a fine balance. Its something I try
to do. To weigh the two whenever it gets too heavy. It’s just that some of us
have much bigger crosses. Sometimes those crosses are so big that even small
things can trip you up and leave you flat on your back unable to move.
Cold
Waters Press lives in these areas of life and likes to explore them. As you may
know, on the twenty first of September, we will honoring national Myositis day.
To celebrate we are continuing our series on people with this disease who have been
successful in creating something beautiful in the midst of all this chaos all
by themselves. This week we feature Lisa Sniderman, aka Aoede. She is a singer songwriter who hales from the Bay Area. A few ears back
Lisa was faced with a life decision most never have to encounter. She was
diagnosed with the form of this rare muscle disease called Dermato Myositis.
With this challenge at hand, she not only confronted her disease, she changed
careers. Trained as environmental scientist she took her background interest,
brought it to the forefront and became an award-winning musician. Her eclectic
style is punctuated with joyful twangs of a ukulele, a captivating voice and a
theme that younger adults will truly enjoy and parents won’t be horrified by. To
find out more about Lisa and how she does what she does, Cold Waters Press
asked her a few questions.
To find out more about Lisa and her music go to these two
websites.
To find out more about Myositis go to this website.
CWP: You suffer from a mysterious
disease that few know about, yet you maintain a busy active life. Can you tell us
a little bit about some of your daily struggles, how you overcome them or know
when not to?
Great question! I focus daily on what brings me joy. That
for me is music and a lot of connecting with friends, family and fans online
through social networks. My struggle is with energy and stamina and muscle
weakness, which I deal with primarily when I lack the energy and stamina. Since
I am at home daily (I was forced to leave work as Environmental Scientist for
the State of CA Coastal Commission in July 2009 due to DM), I can pace myself
as I write, record, have computer time, play music or make dinner. I take naps
daily when I get tired. It is when I am out that I can easily overdo it by
taking on too many activities in one day. I tend to use energy if I have it-and
when it is gone, I can be left tired and weak. If out, I try to pace myself too,
but sometimes I just want to keep going and figure I’ll pay for it later!
CWP: Since there are no known cures,
what sort of things are you doing to help heal?
I focus on art as healing! I
channel my energy into creating and all forms of art. For example, writing
music, recording music, performing when able, creating music and other videos,
writing blogs, connecting with others online, and over the past few years, writing
scripts and musical stories for young adults. I’ve
come to believe that everything I do is art, whether I am making a music video
or writing a script for a children’s album. It isn’t so much the medium but the
expression and desire to connect with new audiences that drives me. When
singing for example, my spirit is lifted. When taking a walk outside, my muse
can flow and I can focus energy on being creative instead of on being sick. I
also started warm water pool therapy! That also does a lot for the body and
spirit. I also have started going to film festivals, and it is a whole new
artistic world for me to explore and focus on! Each new challenge helps me grow
and pushes the envelope for me artistically and personally.
CWP: One of the words we keep
hearing about the future is adaptability. Before you got sick you were a
scientist and now you are a singer, musician, something you had never done
before. How did you make such a leap?
I actually was a singer-songwriter while I was an
Environmental Scientist! I had been active in drama and musicals, performing,
singing, etc. since I was a kid and through high school. It wasn’t until about
2002 when I went through a life transition that I turned back to music to
“find” myself and discovered my muse at the same time. I was a lead singer in a
cover band and started writing my own songs, playing guitar and never looked
back. I started Aoede in late 2005. I worked for 10 years (1999-2009) for the
State of California. So I basically was Aoede the singer-songwriter while I
wasn’t working full time! As Aoede, I released an EP in 2006, an album in 2008.
Then I developed DM and had to rethink my singer-songwriter dreams, especially
those that involved live performance… I was unable to perform for several
years. Even now I take gigs selectively. Since that time, I released an EP in
2011 and nearing 3 albums. I did try to
combine the two (music and my passion water) once I got sick by writing a song
in 2009 that was environmentally focused called Blue Gold calling awareness to
plastic debris and the ocean. But my calling was somewhere else-as a muse as I
would learn later.
CWP: Your upcoming album has a very
unique story theme to it, that is to say it is not just straight up music, it
has a narrative to it as well characters to create a whole story similar to an
opera. This is a fascinating idea/concept. Can you tell us a little about
your creative process, does a concept like this come to you first or the
music?
I had songs that I had released as part of an album in April
2012 called “Skeletons of the Muse.” Upon looking at these as a whole I
realized there was a definite theme there-mainly relationships and love. The
success of the release party for Skeletons,
which included a multi-media performance and the debut of the video for “Fairy Tale
Love,” ultimately inspired me to create a children’s CD. After the performance, adults and kids
alike kept expressing how they loved my childlike stories and music, and it
provoked my producer to encourage me to make a children’s album. The idea was
to create a compelling fairy tale story for tweens, an age group not often
targeted by artists, and I wrote the entire script and created a whole world
for Aoede.
Is Love A Fairy Tale?
is fashioned like a musical audiobook weaving spoken narrative around songs
from Skeletons and several new
compositions and geared towards a young adult audience. It tells the story of
Aoede the Muse who goes searching for love in a magical kingdom called
Wonderhaven and meets colorful characters along the way—each of whom tells her
something about love. www.isloveafairytale.com
I was so taken with this process and musical stories for
tweens that I just created a new one called What
Are Dreams Made Of? where Aoede has a bad dream and has to explore overland
and underworld and meet fairies, goblins, and dream gods to figure out what it
means. Whataredreamsmadeof.com Sep 24, 2013.
CWP: David Bowie once said he had
always wanted to do opera, but rock was the popular music form. Who are some of
your influences and how do you decide what kind of music to perform your ideas
in?
Lately influences have been more compelling women singer-songwriters
such as Ingrid Michaelson, Feist, Regina Spektor, Adele, but my influences over
the years range from 80s music-like The Church, Chameleons, Nick Cave to blues,
Billie Holiday-SOO many amazing musicians over the years! I write what is true
for me-I strive to be real, honest, inspired and compelling-no matter whether
I’m addressing a light or a dark topic… my influences are there somewhere but I
listen to my muse to decide what to write and play J My main instruments I
compose on are ukulele, guitar and piano-all can bring different ideas!
CWP: In a relatively short period of
time you have won or been nominated for numerous awards. Has your early success
surprised you and how did you start building that success, what were some of
your first steps?
Thank you! Yes-completely, especially because when I
received some of the early accolades I was dealing with so many health issues
and complications from long term DM (eg started Rituxan treatment the day after
coming back from Artist in Music Awards) It was all I could do to keep
reminding myself it was about the music and being a muse inspiring others-not
whether I was too weak to perform for example.
I have written
before that receiving these accolades has been such an honor and privilege,
especially considering the journey I have taken to get here. First steps
were and always are make music that I want to put out there and that is true
for me-and find people to help me realize my vision, in my case a great
producer and team! There is a really eye-opening moment related to awards-if
you want to read about it, see this blog-it helped me realize what all the
awards were about under the surface..
http://aoedemuse.com/muse/dermatowhat-on-living-with-dm-pt-19/
CWP: One of the hardest things about
having a chronic illness is also having someone tell you about people who have
success while also being sick. Both illness and music are fulltime careers, are
there special tips or secrets you have to maintaining a healthy balance?
Focus on what brings you joy each day! Be kind to yourself
and allow yourself to have good and bad days. Realize you can’t be everything
to everyone, and you can’t go this alone!
See my blog for 10 Confessions and Secrets of A
Singer-Songwriter Who Became A Muse
http://aoedemuse.com/muse/dermatowhat-on-living-with-dm-pt-10/
and nowadays, I’m also ok with pacing myself and allowing
myself to rest or nap if needed-especially when I am out in the world, or at an
award show for example!
CWP: Writers have writing groups,
other artists have peer review type groups, how did you first start to learn
about the musical process, what kind of lessons, groups… did you utilize? What
or who do you use for feedback now?
I took voice lessons then started songwriting classes in
2003 or 2004? Then studied songwriting craft privately for about a year up
until I got sick I believe. In 2006, I also co-founded WomenROCK, women artists
and musicians in the SF Bay Area who met and played benefits and supported each
other to raise awareness and funds for causes. For a few years (through 2009) I
co-hosted an acoustic showcase in SF. Now I mainly rely on my husband Dave who
also plays bass with me and helps engineer my music vocally, and my producer!
CWP: While devastating, illness can
often teach us things. What are some of the lessons you have learned since
getting sick?
CWP:
Any last words of advice for people who want to do what you do?
I wouldn’t frame it that way-I would just say anyone can
include art as a healing path. Even if someone is too sick to get out of bed,
expressing yourself artistically can be healing. When I was too sick to leave
the house, I wrote songs, recorded vocals, made a music video, developed a
website started connecting online, etc. All from home. I think sometimes it
just helps to know that anything you do can be art, and anyone can express her/himself
artistically! The traditional ways of course, like painting or taking pictures,
or creating videos or poetry or writing blogs, but other ways too. I know of
one brave warrior, as I like to consider him, who is fighting a debilitating
muscle disease. My song Perfect Day was inspired by his story. Though bed-ridden and constantly in
need of breathing support, this fan finds empowerment, motivation and great joy
through web mastering a site for an orchestra, is passionate about his hobby of
ship-spotting from his bed and discovering and supporting new recording artists
on the internet. Wow! Talk about inspiring!
Lastly,
give back when you can-in my case I’m donating the proceeds from Perfect Day to
CureJM for the remainder of the year. I’m also partnering with CureJM to
involve CureJM kids in a music video for Perfect Day (see: http://www.curejm.org/songs/index.php)
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