@caysonrenshaw outdid himself on (Hurting Takes) Some Time To Heal. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe what this song became. @chrissorem worked magic on this mix as well. I’m honored to have been a small part of it 🎻

The Dinner Party Strategy: 1. What we love 2. Where we are 3. What we want For the friend I mentioned, the confluence of those 3 things is throwing dinner parties. He loves cooking, lives in LA, and wants to grow his network. But for me, I don’t live anywhere near a music hub. Maybe I’ll throw dinner parties (that sounds like a ton of fun actually) but it’s not my strategy to grow. I know that you’re looking for a way to get your music noticed by the right people. What do you love doing, that you can do where those people are? That’s your dinner party strategy. If you’re still trying to figure out what your dinner party strategy might be, binge my content and see if something sparks an idea 🎻

How it Started vs. How it's Going (Swipe for live video) I make a lot of reels, but it's not every day that it leads to us being in the same room! I did this guerilla string arrangement on a @wyldest video nearly a year ago. From there we ended up in Zoom talking about a project she needed cello on. We realized we were born on the same day, 1 song turned into 4, and now we've even played a show together. Instagram, you've really outdone yourself. I love recording cello on people's music, but getting to be in the same room playing with someone as cool and skillful as Zoe was such a joy. It's been years since I've had the opportunity to do something like this. Thank you to Zoe for getting me back up to Seattle and for being so much fun to hang and play tunes with. Thank you @veraproject for being such a wonderful space! Already looking forward to next time 🎻

What’s the key to Consistency? Make the thing that matters ENJOYABLE and REPEATABLE. That’s it. For me, it was a huge challenge to get to that point. But now, I love creating these Instagram posts. It’s Enjoyable and Repeatable. I love getting to record string arrangements for my clients. It’s Enjoyable and Repeatable. What is going to move you forward? Need to record more songs? Make the process Enjoyable and Repeatable. Need to get on more playlists? Build those connections in a way that is Enjoyable and Repeatable. Want to get signed by a label? Find a way to consistently get in front of them in a way that’s Enjoyable and Repeatable. If you enjoy something, doing it over and over won’t feel like a chore. If you do it over and over again, you’ll get where you want to go.

This song by @kevatwater broke me. Could you get through this without crying? I couldn’t… 😭

If you’re looking for someone to take a part you’ve written and play it, there’s a lot of folks that can do that MUCH better than I can. That’s not my thing. If you’re looking for someone to take the emotion in your song and bring it to life with strings, THAT is my thing. And actually, If I’m being honest, these days I’m actually more comfortable sight reading Melodyne blobs than sheet music… don’t tell anyone though 😬

Pop Songs on Cello with Weird Plugins… part 2? Is this becoming a series now? ⁠ ⁠ I’m not mad about it. ⁠ ⁠ I wanted to see what would happen running my cello through the @autotune Harmony Engine plugin, and I have to say it was so dang fun. It sounds more natural on my cello than I expected…

Why does cello grab your attention?⁠ ⁠ Because it sounds like a human voice. We’re programmed to listen to what someone has to say.⁠ ⁠ You can say a lot with a cello without a single word.⁠ ⁠ Want to get a listener’s ear to perk up, but not have an element that distracts from the message? ⁠ ⁠ Need to emphasize an emotion without changing the lyrics?⁠ ⁠ Want to create the feel of a background vocal stack or choir but not have it stand out too much?⁠ ⁠ Cello can be the perfect tool in many situations where your song needs that extra 1% to put it over the edge.

I received this track as a piano ballad, I tracked cellos, and it ended up being a pop banger. @johanglidden is incredible. This song was insanely fun to work on.

And because I feel like some of you might be surprised it’s a top 40 song, I’ll explain: I love staying in touch with what top 40 is doing, and this song in particular struck me. The dynamics in the chorus, the songwriting, her singing, the vocal production, it just comes together perfectly for me. I find it inspiring listening to the work that is getting heard. It reminds me of the level that I’m striving to get to. 🎻