California, Here I Come!

Hi guys,

Nine days and counting till I head to Los Angeles for the grand opening of the West Hills Radiation Therapy Center! As I mentioned in my last post, I am extremely honored that my piano music is being featured in the center's "Healing Art Gallery" along with the gorgeous photography of Dr. Bernard Lewinsky. Our two art forms will be combined in a slide show/movie that will be used to soothe patients receiving radiation for the treatment of cancer. I will be playing piano at the Open House from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday evening, May 2nd. If anyone is in the area and wants to come by, please drop me an e-mail! I'm thrilled that my family will be joining me, and we are looking forward to connecting with lots of friends and relatives while there.

In other news, I'm eagerly awaiting the phone call from American Idol notifying me that my song "Right Here" is in the Top 20 of the songwriting contest. :) My friends and family are doing Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson impersonations in the meantime, and I jump whenever the phone rings. Believe me, you'll be able to hear me squeal with glee no matter how far you live from Florida! The amazing thing is I wrote the song one day before the deadline (the melody came to me in my sleep at 4:30 a.m. on Monday and I immediately got up and went to the keyboard to start working on it...the lyrics soon followed and it was recorded the next day just in time for the cutoff!) My amazingly gifted friend/partner/singer extraordinaire Jenna sang it on the demo we sent to AI, and her voice really makes it incredible. So.....keep your fingers and toes crossed for us, and then remember to vote for the song when the time comes. Believe me, I'll remind you! ;)

Along with practicing my program for Los Angeles and writing new songs, I am having a ball with Adam and Ethan. Our "little boy"---who turns 5 in two months!---will be starting Kindergarten in the fall, and is looking forward to having a "Transformer" birthday party. He keeps us on our toes with his "science experiments" (usually involving water, some sort of vividly-staining dye, and a gluey substance--or another fave: sand!) and his boundless energy which usually finds an outlet either at the piano, on the keyboard, or with a soccer ball. Adam is busy working on new cases and still finds time to step on my toes (just joking, sweetie) in ballroom dance classes. Tonight we learned the cha-cha! :) :) :)

On that note, I'm off to bed...thanks again for always listening to my music and for all your love and support. xo, JP

Feeling Blessed (AGAIN!)

Hello all----

Yes, it's been eons since I've written to you and there is much to tell. In my first blog (oh-so-many-moons-ago) I wrote about the evolution of my compositions and my deep desire to sing. Well, that was two years ago and I'm very happy to report that I have finished writing 68 new songs with lyrics, and I've started recording them. The first is called "My Love" and I wrote it with my precious husband Adam in mind, after he lost his father quickly and unexpectedly to lung cancer. Stay tuned, as there is much more to come. I am very excitedly working on the next 12-15 songs which will join "My Love" on a CD with yours truly singing!

Other big news: I am now working with an INCREDIBLY God-gifted singer who has a voice unlike anything I've ever heard in my life. We met in the wonderfully crazy, serendipitous way only truly fated events happen, and I feel blessed every day that we have made such a special connection. Thanks, J.O.! ;) I cannot divulge her name yet, but we are working here at my home studio, busily arranging my songs for her amazing voice. Stay tuned! We are thrilled by what promises to be a majorly fulfilling project for us both. I humbly hope and pray to be like Burt Bacharach to her Dionne Warwick! A major dream of mine has always been to be like Dianne Warren---the woman writes major hits, probably in her pajamas! Sounds like heaven to me (as long as I can sip some green tea while writing, and have my cat on the piano bench with me). I am still planning on recording my songs with my own voice as well, but with 68 songs (and growing) to draw from, there's enough for both of us! Thank you, God...because believe me, I know where these songs come from. I'm just a happy vehicle, passing the music along that I hear each day in my head.

In addition to that project, I am busily gearing up for a performance in Los Angeles in just 5 weeks! I will be playing for the grand opening of the West Hills Radiation Center/ Vantage Oncology on Wednesday evening, May 2nd, from 5-9 p.m. Dr. Bernie Lewinsky, a wonderfully talented oncologist and nature photographer, has asked me to be part of his amazingly conceived new cancer center. Dr. Lewinsky often uses his beautiful images to help soothe his patients, and since hospices often use my music as therapy, he asked me if I would join forces with him creatively. I am honored beyond belief! Dr. Lewinsky is creating a "mixed media montage" of his photos and my music which will be combined and permanently installed in the center as visual and auditory therapy. I feel very blessed to be part of such a wonderful, original and noble project. Hats off to you, Bernie.

Phew! On top of all that, I am still a very busy, very happy Mommy to my four-year-old son. I enjoy being a "homeroom mom" for his Montessori class, and recently worked on his school's annual fundraiser. My tall, dark and handsome hubby and I have just started ballroom dancing lessons, and are having a ball stepping all over each other's feet! :) Last night we learned the mambo! Wahooooooooooo!

More later, guys....and I promise I'll blog more often. A very humble thanks to all of you who listen to my music, and write to tell me how you (and your kids!) are enjoying it. I hear the "nappers" in my son's preschool are sleeping a little more soundly since they started playing "Wings to Fly" every afternoon. Amen to that! All mommies know that a well-rested toddler is a happy toddler!

Love and peace,
Jill

Feeling Blessed

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first entry in my online journal, where you'll find up-to-the-minute information about my music and my life as a busy composer, pianist, performer and singer. I'll share personal experiences and insights; trials and tribulations; joys and challenges; and all the wonderful things that make life as a musician such a rewarding journey. As I perform in hospices throughout Florida this year, I'll be sharing stories with you about the amazing and inspirational people I meet along the way. I am very grateful to have all of you as interested and supportive enthusiasts of my humble offerings as a musician.

Incidentally, you may have noticed I included "singer" in the above description of myself. That's because singing is my newest passion---but also one of my oldest---and I'm finally starting to give myself "permission" to sing to my heart's desire! My newest CD, which will be released sometime in 2005, will be a double CD featuring one disc of solo piano and another disc of songs with vocals. I'm absolutely thrilled about this new adventure because I've loved singing ever since I was a little girl in Maryland, performing in operatic productions with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. I was always in the "children's chorus," but dreamed of the day when I might have a solo! I used to spend afternoons in my room as a kid with my old record player, singing along to everything I could get my hands on: Barry Manilow, the Bee Gees, and Barbra Streisand. (Hey---it was the 70s!) I would also dig up old Broadway songbooks and sing the words to my own made-up tunes. Later, I was belting Madonna and secretly wanted to be the next Aimee Mann from "til Tuesday." :)

Not many people knew this, though, because at the same time I was also taking piano lessons and composing new melodies. It has always been very easy to pour my heart and soul into the piano, letting it express my emotions with all its deep resonance, melancholy beauty, and sparkling clarity. It's always a rewarding process---giving "birth" to a piano piece---and I have always felt extremely blessed and fulfilled as a musician. And until now, it was always obvious that my compositions didn't require words. But for the past couple of years, each new musical piece has come to me with lyrics, and lots of them----sometimes rhyming, sometimes not; syncopated or flowing; full of emotion, longing and joy. I now feel compelled to sing these words as I play them on the piano. It's exciting, and I can feel myself soaring with the spontaneity of the words and the music and the dizzying experience of it all coming together.

Some of you know what it's like to have a hidden desire like singing---something as vital to you as breathing and as close to you as your own soul---but not everyone knows what it's like to finally breathe life into that desire and watch it take flight. Well, stay tuned. I'm setting my inner singer free! And please, anyone with similar stories, or singer/songwriters with words of encouragement and/or pearls of wisdom, drop me a line through the contact Jill page and let's talk. Thanks.....Blessings to you and yours, Jill