Pam Asberry Interview With The Final On Vinyl

Today was an interesting experience speaking with Pam Asberry about her recent release and many other things about her career in music.

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

Hello everybody, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast And tonight we are speaking to Pam Asberry. And I just recently covered her release from April of this year called The Unraveling. How are you doing, Pam?

Speaker 0:30

Hey, I'm doing great, Keith. It's great to be here.

Speaker 1 0:35

Thanks for coming. I appreciate it. So, what kind of reception have you got to your release?

Speaker 0:43

Um, you know, it's been overwhelmingly wonderful. Um I was a little bit apprehensive about releasing an album with sort of a negative subject matter, maybe, um, because this the album is about my experience um living through the COVID pandemic. And I released the album at a time when I think everybody was kind of tired of thinking about COVID. Uh, but the reception has actually been been really wonderful.

Speaker 1 1:19

That's good. Well, you know, uh the the one thing that I felt was important to mention towards the end of my review was that even though it was sad and dark and and there were uplifting parts of the story, it all fit together very well. And for me anyway, it looked you know, by the time I got done listening to the music, because I enjoyed it so much, it's like the clouds went away and the sun was shining. So it's kind of the way I explained it. And uh that's how it made me feel, really.

Speaker 1:52

Fantastic. That that was my intention, really.

Speaker 1 1:56

Yeah, I'm sure it was. I mean, if if you wanted to be dark and and negative, you'd be a punk rocker or death metal or something.

Speaker 2:07

That's right.

Speaker 1 2:09

So how long has it been now since you've been making music?

Speaker 2:13

Uh well I've been playing the piano about as long as I can remember, but I didn't start composing until 2017. So I'm a relative newbie uh to the solo piano new age genre as a composer.

Speaker 1 2:32

Wow. So before that, you must have done a lot of different things, and uh what led you to that point to make that decision? That's a big decision.

Speaker 2:43

Um honestly, I think it was many years of of listening to all the great artists in the genre, going all the way back to George Winston in the 80s and David Long, and um just through a sort of series of serendipitous circumstances, um, I met David Nevew of Whispering Solo Piano and through him met many whispering artists when they would come into town and play concerts in Atlanta, and um one thing just kind of led to another, and uh people would ask me if if if I wrote music, you know, these artists would assume that since I played the piano I wrote music too, and I said that I I didn't do that, I wasn't creative, uh I I'm a I'm a really good sight reader, it was just fun for me to play other people's music, and um and that was really true until uh one day I stopped telling myself that story and I uh I was out walking one day and I came up with a little melody that I sang into my iPhone and a couple weeks later I came back to it and and I added some chords and a couple weeks later I came back to it, and on my youngest son's 21st birthday, I finished my first piece, and I decided to tell myself that I was a composer and and um and i I've released eight albums since then, and uh I have one more in the in the bank um to release during the holidays, so I I guess I'll I found my calling.

Speaker 1 4:37

Well I think it's interesting um how you explain that. You know, we don't necessarily believe everybody else's stories and the stories you see on the news, but we sure believe our own stories, don't we?

Speaker 4:48

Oh, that's that's for sure. And uh, you know, sometimes I I have regrets. I w I think of all those years that I um well, I don't want to say wasted because I did I did I did other things during those years. I've I've been a teacher and uh raised a family. But um I I w you know I wish that I had had felt that I was able to compose um before then because that that's a lot of time, that's a lot of music that that didn't get written, but I guess I wasn't ready and um but now the the proverbial floodgates are open and um I really love writing more than anything else right now.

Speaker 1 5:40

That's great. Well, you know, um it takes what it takes for us to get to where we end up, you know. So whatever it is you did prior to 2017, that's what you need to do to get to that point, you know? And that's what I look at, you know. I'm I'm where I'm at right now because everything I did prior to that.

Speaker 6:05

I think you're right.

Speaker 1 6:09

So you've always played the piano, like when you grew up, do you remember what kind of music you listened to and what what inspired you the most?

Speaker 6:19

Well, my first teacher was a classical teacher, so um my my maternal grandmother bought me my first piano when uh when I was seven and I started taking piano lessons, and I think my grandma really wanted me to be a gospel a gospel pianist and save the church, but then I had a classical teacher who taught me how to read music and really nothing about uh improvising or playing by ear, um, which is I think one of the reasons that I didn't really believe myself to be a creative person, but I became an excellent sight reader and it was actually at the end of my very first piano lesson that I told my mom and dad that I was gonna be a piano teacher when I grew up. And I really meant it, and and that's exactly what happened. Um but as a listener I had very eclectic taste. I um in high school, you know, I listened to uh everything from Dan Fogelberg to Yes to Genesis um and the classics and Big Band and New Age and you know, just kind of anything I could get my hands on, I would I would devour it.

Speaker 1 7:47

Wow.

Speaker 7:49

And I think I I I think all of that feeds into the music that I make now too. You know, um I uh sometimes people um I don't want to say criticize, but um they suggest that I veer too far from the the new age genre in my composition. And um, you know, the truth is I don't want to sound like somebody else. Uh and I and I I want to I want to be authentic to myself. I wanna I want to make make the music that I feel compelled to create. So um it it it's kind of cool the way everything works together.

Speaker 1 8:35

Well I call it contemporary instrumental music, and for me, um that's just the sub-genre of New Age today. And there's other subgenres where they mix in jazz, as you know, or it comes strongly from classical. Um you know, if you look at my site over the years, you see all different kinds, but that's what I decided a long time ago that you know if if I'm hearing a certain thing, yeah, it it it falls into this one slot, but it also branches off, and you can call it a lot of things, but as far as I'm concerned, if it's instrumental piano music and it's meditative, it's relaxing, it falls under that new age category. But that's my opinion, you know.

Speaker 9:25

Yeah, I mean I agree, I agree. Um I like that, I like that description.

Speaker 1 9:34

So this was your eighth album. Wow, and I you know when I look back, I went, oh my god, it's been that long since I I covered this lady, since 2017. That was your first release.

Speaker 9:47

Yes.

Speaker 1 9:48

Wow.

Speaker 9:50

And uh everything hasn't been original music. Um I I've released a holiday album and an album of hymn arrangements and um an album of lower by arrangements, and uh I find that I actually enjoy arranging um as much as I enjoy composing. It's kind of fun to take a melody that already exists and try to do something unique with it, and I always feel very complimented when someone refers to one of my arrangements of something that's been done many, many times as being fresh and uh you know unique. Um that's fun. I love playing with harmonies. Um but then of course I like creating my own my own pieces too. So I like it all.

Speaker 1 10:44

Well, that's a good nice compliment, I would think, to you. That if you're taking a well-known piece and adding your your little nuances and improvisations along the way to make it your own, that's not an easy thing to do, I would think. You really have to uh it's a thought process, I'm sure, as you're going along, as you're playing, right?

Speaker 11:06

It is, it is. And when I as I'm working, you know, if I land on something that's predictable, then I sort of challenge myself to surprise myself. And uh that that's kind of my technique.

Speaker 1 11:26

So how long does it typically take you to make an album? Like what's the last one? For instance, you released it April 15th. Was it just about ready around Christmas prior to that or in January? I mean, how long did it take you?

Speaker 11:40

No, so uh my process is really not like anybody else's. Um I when I recorded Unraveling, I uh I recorded that last, I can't remember if it was July or August, um, along with two other albums. Oh wow. Uh so I teach and I am a church pianist. So during the academic year, I don't have a lot of time for composition and arranging. Um and so I do most of my writing over the summer months, June and July, when when my students are on vacation. Um and so I have uh uh just you know a handful of of pieces, new pieces ready at this point, but I have a recording session booked for October and I'm planning to record three more albums. So um I I just it's I traveled to Sedona, Arizona to do that. It's it's an expensive trip, and I just try to make the time count and I get this music in the bank. Um and you know, um I work with Joe Bongiorno, who's just a wizard of a recorder recording artist, uh, recording engineer and mastering engineer. And um he he'll master them for me when I'm when I get close to the date that I plan to release. So um on average I'm releasing an a new album uh every six months right now.

Speaker 1 13:26

Wow. But the record three in a row. Wow. Yeah, most most recording artists don't do it that way, right?

Speaker 13:36

No, no, they don't. But um, like I said, I I I'm a woman with a mission, you know, I'm trying to make up for lost time in a way, and um unlike a lot of artists, my music is not um really improvised, it's very much crafted. I I I write the notes down on pen and paper and and put it um into you know a software program and and make it look pretty. And when I go into the studio, I have my my sheet music in front of me. I know I'm I've I'm I'm practiced, I'm prepared, I know exactly what I'm gonna play, and um I just go in there and get it done.

Speaker 1 14:22

What do you think of people that don't know how to read music but they can play it phenomenally? That that just baffles me that somebody could actually do that.

Speaker 14:32

I I have the utmost admiration for those people. Um I I don't know how these artists who don't read music and you know have a dozen albums out in the world can remember how to play any of them, uh because that's just not how I work. Um I I do play concerts from memory, but again, I've I have to work very hard to commit my music to memory. Um it's kind of the curse of being a good reader, but um you know, and I also envy other artists their ability to um to just sit down and improvise a beautiful piece on the spot because I I can't I can't do that. At least I can't do that yet. So um I guess I guess we each have our gifts, you know, we each have our unique things that we bring to the table and um and we we all manage to find our audience if we if we don't give up.

Speaker 1 15:42

I think everybody's process and and the way their mind works is different. And one of the things um I was always fascinated with, which is kind of off subject here, uh I type, I don't look at the keyboard, and I type really fast, and I'll make mistakes, but if I look down at the keyboard, I can't type fast and I make even more mistakes. So interesting enough, I I look that up and come to find out that's muscle memory in action. So I'm wondering if that's what that is with these people that can just sit down and play like that without reading music.

Speaker 16:21

But I'm sure that's a part of it, and I I think too they they have incredible ears. Um so if they remember what it sounds like, then they can they can recreate the sound um using their oral skills, uh, which I'm still still working to to develop mine. But the flip side to that is, you know, I can I can play just about about anything, um and uh I I still I still work on classical music to improve my technique and um and I I perform with a couple of local groups and I have a duo piano partner that I play concerts with and so sometimes it's hard to find the balance you know, time to compose and time to practice, but um but for me it's it's important and I wouldn't want to give any of that up.

Speaker 1 17:24

Do you think classical music is more of a discipline than playing a blues number or jazz or new age or whatever?

Speaker 17:36

Um, gosh. For me it definitely is. Um because I think with classical music there's there's a standard, there's an there's an expectation of what a Vach prelude and fugue or a Beethoven is supposed to sound like. Um and so uh when when I'm practicing, I'm trying to be true to the composer's intentions, I'm trying to be true to the style period. Um you can't you know, you ha you have to stay within the bounds of what's considered tasteful for whatever era you're playing. And so um I I think that might have been one of the things that that held me back from composing too. Um there's a freedom in in playing contemporary music and and being uh able to take more chances, I think. Um so for me, yes, practicing classical music is is more of a discipline and playing contemporary music in in many genres, whether it's jazz or blues or um uh creating new music, it's it's there's more of a freedom there. Um not so much pressure to necessarily get it right, you know.

Speaker 1 19:02

Yeah, yeah. Well I I was just basing that question on what the way you were responding and you know how you were talking about your process, and it it sounded to me that way that was you know, classical music is the as far as I'm concerned, the foundation to everything that you hear today, because that's what started it all really. And um if you have a solid foundation, you can grow from that and and build. And if you don't have that, where do you go? I mean, you have to have something to build on, right?

Speaker 19:35

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And you know, some of my pieces may sound more um more classical, um romantic. Others may s have more of a touch of impressionism, and you know, then I love playing with jazz chords, so for sure I'm I'm pulling from everything that I've ever experienced musically when I'm creating music.

Speaker 1 20:02

Um I think it works to your advantage to have instrumental as well. And I have to have that complication of the words and and how somebody's singing and how it works with your music and and all that going on. You just have that one focus. I think it makes a difference, you know? Don't you think it makes a difference?

Speaker 20:21

Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I'm also exploring other things with piano. Um I I wrote a rhapsody for uh two pianos um for a commission that I received, and that was really fun being able to add all that color and texture to my writing. And um I'm I also am uh very they're very fond of the toy piano, and I'm I'm doing some writing for the toy piano, uh, both as a solo instrument and uh combined with acoustic piano. So um I'm just I'm just having a lot of fun exploring different different things.

Speaker 1 21:10

What do you mean by the toy piano? Can you explain what that that is?

Speaker 21:13

I mean, so I mean literally a toy piano, a little piano that is is made for children. Um but there there's this whole world of toy piano artists and and composers. And um my first experience, I was invited to join a group of two other toy pianists, and we did some ensemble pieces for two two toy pianos or three toy pianos and um a saxophone. Um and that was just so much fun, and uh so since then I've I've been sort of collecting toy pianos and each one has it they're like children, you know, they each have their own personalities and their own unique sounds, different manufacturers. And um so yeah, it's it's a thing. It's really fun.

Speaker 1 22:09

Wow, I never knew that. I'm learning a lot in this conversation.

Speaker 22:14

Well, and interestingly, um most manufacturers the width of the piano keys uh on the toys is the same as on a standard piano. They're the keys are shorter, but the width is the same. And so it's not terribly difficult to transition from acoustic piano to toy piano. Which is kind of fun. But it but of course the touch is very different. It's very much a percussive instrument. You know, there's no damper pedal.

Speaker 1 22:47

Interesting. I had a picture in my mind of what a toy piano was when my kids were little. I mean, I wasn't thinking about the width of it being the same as a normal piano you would sit at. I was thinking of a tiny little toy thing. But it's uh Wow, this is really interesting. Never heard any of these things.

Speaker 23:09

My my I my parents had a a picture of me. Um it was probably my second Christmas, and I guess Santa brought me a toy piano, and there's so there's a picture of me. I guess that was my first experience playing the piano, and gosh, I wish I still had that little toy piano, but um anyway, I'm so I'm reliving my childhood now with my little collection of toy pianos.

Speaker 1 23:35

I think that's great. So you say you have a holiday album coming up? Is that going to be covers done your own way or all of your own compositions?

Speaker 23:44

Yes. Um it'll actually be my second holiday album. Um and it's already recorded, um, just waiting to be mastered, and I'll probably release that one in October. Um unless I decide to wait to save that one and release um something else in October. I'll decide after my recording session how I'm gonna proceed.

Speaker 1 24:08

Yeah, that would work, you know, like right after Halloween, just before around Thanksgiving. Um usually if I cover anything for the holidays, I at least wait till like after Thanksgiving to put it out there because that's when people start getting in that mindset of Christmas, you know?

Speaker 24:24

Right, right.

Speaker 1 24:26

But you have so many recordings in the vault. I mean obviously you're not gonna release all of them all at once, so you just time them like you said every six months.

Speaker 24:38

Yeah. That's what I that's what I did with these these last three. Um I I released one um uh my hymn album I released um in October last year. And in I guess it was April, I released an album called Twelve Months, which um there was a song for each month of the year, and I had actually released them as singles over the course of the previous year. Um the collection I released in April.

Speaker 1 25:16

So I like it. I like when you do it that way. That that's cool.

Speaker 25:21

Yeah. Yeah, it was it was fun. So um, like I said, I'm still very much in the process of of uh uh creation right now. Um really just just digging into it. My school year just ended, and um but I'll figure it out, and by the time I get to Sedona in October, my path will be clear and and I'll know exactly what I'm what my plan is.

Speaker 1 25:48

Well great. It's been an absolute joy to speak to you, and I have learned some things that I had no idea about, especially about toy pianos, and really know the meaning of that now when it comes to artists actually playing and creating. So it's been great to talk to you, Pam, and I wish you all the success in the world, and I look forward to getting this interview out there and hope to cover some more music down the road.

Speaker 26:14

Thank you so much. This has been this has been a real blast. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 26:20

It's been my pleasure. Thank you. Take care.

Speaker 26:23

You too.

Speaker 1 26:24

All right, bye.