ELSAS WORDS MUSIC.
Love poems and songs, breakup songs,
anger poems, deep sad poems, country jazz rock folk pop.
WHITE CHOCOLATE AND HOT FUDGE SAUCE.
TABOO. TANK. ECHO OF THE ECHO.
WELCOME.

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ELSA'S WORD PIECES, or ...
ELSA, MOMENT BY MOMENT

About a dozen years ago, I began to wake up with
"word pieces" - words music - in my head.

Some of the word pieces I called songs. They came with melodies, a chorus, lots of repeated lines. But even they rarely fit the conventional "song" format - verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus - over and out. Something like that.

A new thought might come in where none was supposed to come.
The rhythm might change, where it was not supposed to.

At the beginning, I thought - oh, I will just let them come as they want to come, and then "fix" them later. "Fix" - turn them into conventional songs.

But they did not want to be fixed. They cried and screamed when I wanted to cut into them. They fell apart, became stiff and twisted, instead of feeling (to me, anyway) like something that was supposed to be what it was.

I gave up on "fixing" them. It felt like "fixing" a woman to make her fit the traditional mold. Better to break the mold, or let others conform to the mold if it suited them - but to go my own way with my own pieces, my words music. If some of the word pieces had a standard structure, fine. But if most didn't, that was fine too.

But what was I to do with them? I put ads in the local entertainment papers, did bits of things with a number of musicians, got together a group of women for a few others, but somehow there was no longterm fit and nothing quite came together completely.

Things were started but not completed. Grants were sought after but, over and over, went to others. People had their own lives and desires, and directions.

And, as often has happened in my life, it was hard for me to go on searching for the right fit. I got tired, kept on writing the pieces, but I did less and less, over the years, about trying to get them out into the world.

Also, life kind of took over - other directions, other issues.

AND NOW I AM BACK. THIS PROJECT IS MY CENTER -
MY OWN, MY CHOSEN HOME.

Another thought. Children have names. Likewise each of the pieces has its own name. But is there some convenient category they can be placed in? I like the term indie. And then there's alternative music. Or put it together and you have indie alternative music. Even indie alternative rock, indie alternative folk rock, words music, and so on.

But the pieces have a life of their own. They don't care about categories. Maybe someone else can find the right categories - words music, whatever - but like people, they're individual.

One by one, the pieces will come onto the site, and I will figure out how to make things work, so they can take their place, these unconventional children of mine, children I am proud of, pleased with, hopeful for.

signed,

Elsa
June 6, 2006

WITH MORE THOUGHTS BELOW ...
on capturing moments and how that relates
to the Buddhist understanding of self-knowledge ...
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MOMENTS -
and BUDDHIST vs WESTERN UNDERSTANDING
of SELF-KNOWLEDGE

There is a side thought I have had - it has to do with the Western understanding of "self-knowledge" versus the Buddhist understanding. In the Western way, one gains an ever more complete understanding of oneself as a person continuing over time, undergoing developments, with a continuity of being. So getting more and more self-knowledge tends to mean connecting with parts of oneself one has been cut off from, whether due to childhood trauma, an inadequate society, peer pressure, etc.

In the Buddhist way (as I have read about it, rather briefly), one is to gain, through meditation, glimpses of oneself, fragments of disconnected being. One is just to experience these glimpses into oneself, not connect them into a whole.

Why bring this up? Because when I read about the Buddhist understanding of self-experience, I thought of my word pieces - each of which tends to express a moment of being.

I have done the "Western" thing with these moments - put these fragments of being together into stories. They have quite naturally, for me, flowed from one into the next.

However, I have not wanted to tell the story. She said... They did... He went... Next what happened was... Then they went to a crowded restaurant ...

I wanted to let the moments stand as they are - and yet have not wanted them totally disconnected from one another.

One could say that I have found my own way of telling a story - moment by moment. And as well I have come to my own way of expressing my moments - through these word pieces.

As always, welcome into my world.

signed,

Elsa
June 6, 2006

AND STILL MORE THOUGHTS BELOW ...
on what best to call these unusual things
that began to appear in my mind -
word pieces,words music, certainly -
but wasn't there something better ...
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WORD PIECES?
  SPOKEN WORD?
SPOKEN WORD POETRY?
WORDS MUSIC PIECES?

I have tried, over and over, to call my word pieces, "spoken word pieces," because that's what pieces like these are commonly called. Okay, I say, they are spoken word pieces - but the term feels clumsy and clunky in my mouth, I think of shoes that don't fit right. The name for the pieces that feels natural to me is "word pieces" - for they are definitely pieces made of words.

They are not poems, as poems are usually taken to be now - pieces meant to be slowly enjoyed, the meanings delved into and gradually uncovered, and the deeper meanings elucidated only later still. No, my pieces are not that. At their best, they capture moments.

Nor do my pieces fit a traditional song format - though many have melodies and some are meant to be sung. But "songs"? I wouldn't mind calling many of them songs, but I've been told, over and over, about all the rules songs need to follow. Also, they are meant to work just as they are - no music - and songs usually don't.

That brings me back to word pieces. The term just feels right. A stubborn little voice inside me holds on to the term.

But there is something else that matters. If I put them on the web as word pieces, chances are no one will find them, no matter how much people might like the pieces if only they knew they were there. No one is looking for word pieces. It's like, for clothing, no one is looking for fabric pieces - they want jeans and t-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts.

What are people looking for? Many don't just want more of the traditional. So they put words into the search engines - words music, music words, alternative music artist, alternative artist, indie music, spoken word poetry, rap poetry, new. They don't know just what will come up - just like I don't know what to call these pieces, so people will come take a look.

Its not like jeans and t-shirts. It's something that doesn't quite fit anywhere, so far at least.

So I now have two words for the pieces - word pieces, and words music pieces. Words music pieces is actually better - for the pieces are made up of more than words. Words and music. Words music.

I also come back to categories. Indie. Alternative artist. Alternative music artist. But in many ways, from my viewpoint, very much at home in many categories - from blues to folk to country to rock to pop. I suppose that wandering everywhere, not considering the boundaries, makes this very much indie and alternative - and yet accessible. And what I want is for others to come, to access, to listen.

And with that, welcome to my world of word pieces/words music pieces.

signed,

Elsa
June 15, 2006

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For one of Elsa's words music pieces,
White Chocolate and Hot Fudge Sauce, click here.

For one of Elsa's love poems and songs,
another words music piece,
Heart Breaking Open Wide, click here.

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A dozen years ago,
I began to wake up
with word pieces -
words music, spoken word, songs -
in my head.
Escape velocity.
Echo of the echo.
Tank almost empty.
Can't cross the gap.
Welcome into my world.

WORDS MUSIC WORDS

Every time I'm going
into the words not knowing
what kind of thing I'm doing
what is this thing I'm making
what are these words creating

Words music, music words,
rhythm beat,
spoken word, song,
words music, words beat,
rap poetry, indie alternative music,
trip hip unhip unzipped
whispered, shouted, sung.

What is this?
spoken word poetry?
indie alternative music words?
indie alternative words music?
performance art?
rap tap rhythm song?

Where do these words belong?
They don't follow song rules
so they can't be songs
Are some rap
with a rap beat?
Are some spoken word?
Some are to be sung -
country, trip hop, pop, folk, blues,
indie alternative music,
country folk, rock and roll, rap,
world beat, jazz, folk pop,
rhythm and blues.

music words
music worlds
whirling
rhythm beat strong
words to be spoken
words to be sung
words to be lived
moments

rhythm beat

What's cooking?
Whatever comes -
words alive
words strong
words music
rhythm beat
strong
movement
words moving
words shaping
words taking
words trying
     to catch life
     to catch moments
        moments like fireflies
          one moment bright
          next moment gone
words
words and rhythm
words to be spoken
words to be sung
words, sounds, music


words going on and on
like the beat of a drum
word pieces
piecing together
moments


stronger
fainter
closer

and then
can't hear
they're gone

like moments

but
in word pieces
a shadow lives on

listen

word pieces - moods, moments
spoken word, song

spoken word poetry,
rap words,
spoken word pieces,
love songs,
country music,
break up songs,
breakup poems,
spoken word poems,
love poems and songs,
spoken rap poetry,
playful words,
rapping words,
romantic love song,
song cry,
song lyrics country music,
poetry rap songs,
pop, rock, hard rock,
jazz, blues,
moments in words,
moments in words and music

moments

Elsa
July 15, 2006
 © copyright - Elsa Schieder - 2006, 2008, all rights reserved

A note for those of you who, like me, care that I sometimes
write "Elsas" and sometimes "Elsa's." I prefer to use "Elsa's" -
this is the grammatically correct spelling. But there are rules
of the web. One rule: there are places where one can't use
apostrophes. Another rule: one is supposed, at specific times,
to use the spelling identical to the place where one
can't use apostrophes.

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