What nurtures you? All my original “Notes to Nurture” music was created from nurturing memories of my childhood and growing up years alongside ‘important to me’ things that nurture my present.

Every year, just before January 1st, I reflect on what has worked for me and what I could try on that didn’t fit me the previous year. I give myself permission to release what I thought was a great idea, but I need to let go of. Somewhere inside myself (and this is hard to measure) I start to feel excited about the coming year - but I don’t exactly know why. It’s the feeling I get when I see a piano sitting by itself in an inviting corner of an obscure room that is wooing me to play it. My brain sends a tingle down my arms and into my fingers as I tentatively scribble out ideas that come to me for the coming year.

Then, once the calendar clicks over to the new year, I sit down at my piano and play. Not anything I’m currently practicing or any melody that is known to me necessarily. I just play. I feel out the keys and let my mind wander. It wanders to fleeting images, random thoughts, ideas about possibilities and the seeds of ‘dreams’ that will have a chance to sprout if I will put in the work to let them.

The year I created my “Notes to Nurture” music, I was at the piano early January and the longer I stayed at the piano, the more ideas came to mind. Tentatively, I began to remember things that were special to me. Things that I valued so much growing up were brought back to me by dwelling on snippets of memories and asking questions about why these were important, special or valuable, and how these things had shaped me. Each memory had its own melody and I wanted to do this personal project to reflect on what had come to me through this round of dreaming.

“Notes to Nurture” became an extension of what was up until this point the name of my blog. It grew to be a studio album of 13 instrumental pieces with strings, piano, harp, and my voice. More than this, I wanted to share my music with a live audience and so I created the “Notes to Nurture - Live at Pilgrim” experience at Pilgrim UCC in Redding, CA. I paired my music with live artists from Northern California - contemporary artist Amy Donaldson, choreographer Lisa Broere (Commune Dance Company) and writer Leslie Wyatt who spun yarn on an Alden Amos spinning wheel. (Evidently this is a huge deal in the spinning world according to the Mt Lassen Fibre Guild who loaned me the wheel for the live experience.) I wanted a spinning wheel to represent memories I had of my Auntie spinning yarn using wool from our sheep. I recorded the live event for audio release and the video for YouTube.

The full live album released early in 2025 and all the videos from this live experience will finish coming out over the next few months on YouTube. This live release was something I wanted to give life to, but it wasn’t easy. Gathering proficient musicians in Northern California is always a challenge on a budget and I’m grateful to players and colleagues from North State Symphony for contributing.

The night before the live recording, I had only had 3 hours sleep because I was having nightmarish dreams about the fire marshall stopping the concert due to Amy’s massive canvas covering the fire exit and the caretaker of the piano interrupting because of our ‘misuse’ of her piano. My heart mildly skipped a beat when I saw her at the concert! Another live ‘eventful’ event as always behind the scenes.

Amy, Lisa and I chose special parts from the music’s story to highlight dance, art or spinning wheel to weave together different artistic expressions. To see more about our collaboration, see our ‘Behind the Album’ video on YouTube.

Here is the background to my 15 “Notes to Nurture - Live at Pilgrim” pieces:

Prelude: Love Comes Gently is improvised and is about love blossoming in my marriage.
Velvet is about the long velvet curtain hanging between rooms in my grandparents house, which I loved.
Prism is about the memory of glass hanging from a string and refracting rainbow light.
Kaleidoscope is about patterns of sunlight filtering through trees and Autumn leaves falling at our favorite family camping spot in Comptche, California.
Crowning Light is the memory of the sun warming the back of my head as I sat on my favorite South Australian beach growing up.
Warmth is the memory of being wrapped in a woolen blanket.
Haven is about my love for the ocean, coves and hidey holes.
Note to Self [Journal] is about my respect for my journalling process. Read Blog
Woven is the memory of each grandchild receiving a hand crocheted blanket knitted by my grandmother.
Hush is the memory of a baby sleeping inside a string bag made by its mother and hanging from a tree behind where she selling wares at a market in Uganda. The middle section is improvised.
Violet is about the 3 generations of women in my family on my mother’s side. Me, my Mum, and my grandma whose name was Violet. Read Blog
Poème was an improvised moment on stage that I loved and crafted into an instrumental piece choosing each note for its beauty, rhythm and rhyme - much like a poet would choose words.
Muse [Kimono] is the memory of my time as an exchange student in Japan (at 15) and wearing a pastel pink Kimono and trying to squeeze my feet into tiny traditional shoes. The violin part in this live arrangement is improvised.
Sun and Clouds is the memory of me laying on my stomach looking at the sun trying to set over a lake in Minnesota while the clouds were teasing the sun.
Postlude: Pearl is improvised and the memory of my Nanna Margaret Hope. Margaret means Pearl.

I want to thank Christian McKean and Jony Duran for their time, care and expertise in helping me capture the live sound and video for my “Notes to Nurture - Live at Pilgrim” experience.

Sheet Music Available

"NOTES TO NURTURE - LIVE AT PILGRIM" BACKSTORY