An interview with Kirsten Long, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, bandleader, and music teacher.
What projects are you currently involved in?
I currently have 2 singles out, 'Be Yourself' and the latest one, 'Topsy-turvy'. My team and I are also working on the music for a few singles to be released in the next couple of months. Fingers crossed!
How do you juggle between work and music?
The beauty of it all is that my work revolves around music. I've been teaching music for the past 10 years. Primarily classical, contemporary, and jazz piano, music theory, vocals, and the ukulele. What truly drives me to do more of my own stuff is my students. In order to provide better education for them, I believe in going all out to fully experience what it means to do music, exploring all the possible career prospects of it and discover why this form of art is so essential to life, whether or not one chooses this as a career. Despite it being pretty tricky to have a good balance between both worlds, they have both come hand-in-hand, supporting each other. For every gig performed, every piece of music composed and learnt, every genre analysed, every show watched, these have all been applied in both my personal music growth and in my teaching. Yes, it pretty much takes up all of my time, frequently leaving me with hardly any rest days. But it's worth every second of it.
What's the inspiration behind your music?
Life. I'm a big fan of music that is very story-driven. Stories of how people perceive and go through the different stages of life, with different delivery methods. I'm absolutely fascinated by how we are capable of being so emotionally drawn to certain types of music, be it in concerts, musical theatre shows, stage shows, movies, or even advertisements. Long story short, I see music-making as a lifelong psychological, sociological, behavioural experiment of myself and of the people of the world.
It starts with sitting my backside down at the piano or keyboard with the guitar and the ukulele by my side. I usually start off with randomly playing a set of chords, or trying to transcribe certain sections of music that I enjoy. I am very inclined to hear riffs and licks first in my music-writing process, instead of melody lines.
When it comes to lyric-writing, that's a different session where I jot down words and phrases that resonate with me at that moment in time. I often co-write with Ian Steven Ong, who has a knack for coming up with pretty catchy tunes that summarises my whole being as a person. *laughs* Oh, and I scat a lot! A lot! That's how I go about figuring out the melody lines.
Any plans for an EP or album?
Yes! Hopefully by 2021! That's why the scheduling of the backside-on-piano-bench is of utmost importance!
What are your main musical influences?
I'm quite the mishmash of different genres. I was classically trained on the piano. Dad played a lot of classic hard rock stuff, with a nice mix of folk, and a lot of Brazilian jazz tunes from the 40s-60s. Pat Benatar, Tracy Chapman, Steely Dan, Metallica, Bad Company, ACDC, The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Hall and Oates, Michael Jackson, Bishop Briggs, Jack Garratt, Tom Jobim, Elis Regina, Beth Hart, Billie Eilish. Just to name a few.
I like the challenge of doing both. Performing solo leaves me feeling very vulnerable. Having to think about what to do with the arrangement for either the ukulele or piano poses it's own set of interesting issues. But I'm all about keeping things simple. Simplicity is truly the key: leaving space and simultaneously highlighting the melody and the words of the song.
At the same time, there is nothing like playing music with people. Learning to communicate, share, and execute ideas with people that you love is truly an amazing experience. That too has taught me the importance of communication and leadership skills.
What was the first song that you learnt on the keyboard/uke?
The very first tune that my classically-trained uncle taught me on the piano was 'The Heart Asks Pleasure First' from the soundtrack of the movie, 'The Piano'. On the ukulele, if I'm not mistaken, it was 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz, in the key of C Major.
How old were you when you first started singing?
My earliest memory of singing is when I was 3 years old. I sang 'I'm a Little Teapot' with full-fledged choreography. *laughs*
What are your weapons of choice?
I'm currently using a Korg Krome 61 keys, an L.Luthier Tenor ukulele, and a Zoom AC-2 Acoustic Creator. Looking at putting together some effect pedals to experiment with my voice, the ukulele, and maybe some guitar work too in the near future.
PAT BENATAR!!! I would have so many questions to ask both her and her husband, Neil Giraldo. Did you know that she was classically trained in operatic vocals as a coloratura? And to apply all that training into singing rock music, absolutely mind-blowing!
What are the challenges in getting your music out?
It has been primarily financially tricky. Understanding the recording process, to the publishing, distribution and marketing has also been very eye-opening. And yes, money does play a big role in the progress and development of these areas. For now, I'm trying to stay consistent with creating content and documenting every step of the process.
What's your message to young aspiring musicians, singers, songwriters?
Just do it. If you feel strongly about it, do it. Resources are very much readily available at your fingertips if you only take the trouble to reach out and do your research. Go out, talk to people, take lessons, attend workshops, put up your work, collaborate with others and in turn show support to others in the scene too.
There is so much beauty in this form of art, so much to give ourselves as well as to give back to others. Music will never die. Music is what keeps a lot of us alive. So yes, there are a lot of prospects in this field despite its challenges. So bring it on. Much love to all you young ones out there! You're not alone.
Follow Kirsten on Instagram @kirstenlongsy, YouTube, and Spotify. Also, check out her music on Apple Music and Soundcloud.
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