Fall always inspires me to be introspective, and I've had a lot to reflect on as of late. It's been just over four years since I moved to Colorado and began a new life. In ways, it feel like it's just been a few months since I was teaching high school English. In other ways, it seems like ages ago - or even a dream without a memory. I'm still so grateful for the opportunities I've had along this winding path and the people I've met along the way. I've built various musical projects and seen the hard work it takes to build them up one piece at a time, the endurance it takes to keep going when it feels fruitless, and the vigor of a success, some huge, but most are small, but still they were victories that sometimes came in just in time to keep from succumbing to giving up. Some of those projects have crumbled completely, others rebuilt differently - but stronger. In some ways I feel I've been on this path forever - but it also feels like I'm just beginning. I've stopped perceiving life in chapters. Everything seems to be running together, layers fading in and out like plot lines or characters.
I'm grateful to be working with Dave Jensen & Dylan Good in The Catcalls, and I'm really excited about the music we're making. The new EP got some amazing press from Bandwagon, and our release parties were such a blast to throw. Our Catcalls coffee at Bean Cycle, the Catcalls coffee cocktail at The Regional, the coloring pages I made of each band member, the ukulele jam session, the Catcalls Zine, and everything we've been working on seem to be coming together. It was also a blast to share the stage with Augustus and the Sasha Stone Band, and our drummer's grandfather was visiting from Illinois, and he stayed the whole night!
I'm also excited to be accepted on a pretty significant scholarship for the Music District's mentoring program called The Workout this fall. It's an honor to be in a cohort with other working musicians in the community to share ideas, get to know each other better, and learn some new things. We've been granted two free hours per week at the Music District, and I've been using mine writing an arrangement of my tune "Come Back to the Mountain" as a beginner orchestra piece I'm hoping to publish, which I'm really excited about sharing! I'm hoping as I get more efficient & experienced with Finale that I can write more compositions for various ensembles.
I feel like all of these opportunities & projects are a continuation of what I've been doing, but they're expanding in ways that look different than where I've been, and I'm excited to see what's next!
~ Riley
I'm grateful to be working with Dave Jensen & Dylan Good in The Catcalls, and I'm really excited about the music we're making. The new EP got some amazing press from Bandwagon, and our release parties were such a blast to throw. Our Catcalls coffee at Bean Cycle, the Catcalls coffee cocktail at The Regional, the coloring pages I made of each band member, the ukulele jam session, the Catcalls Zine, and everything we've been working on seem to be coming together. It was also a blast to share the stage with Augustus and the Sasha Stone Band, and our drummer's grandfather was visiting from Illinois, and he stayed the whole night!
I'm also excited to be accepted on a pretty significant scholarship for the Music District's mentoring program called The Workout this fall. It's an honor to be in a cohort with other working musicians in the community to share ideas, get to know each other better, and learn some new things. We've been granted two free hours per week at the Music District, and I've been using mine writing an arrangement of my tune "Come Back to the Mountain" as a beginner orchestra piece I'm hoping to publish, which I'm really excited about sharing! I'm hoping as I get more efficient & experienced with Finale that I can write more compositions for various ensembles.
I feel like all of these opportunities & projects are a continuation of what I've been doing, but they're expanding in ways that look different than where I've been, and I'm excited to see what's next!
~ Riley
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