"Listen Up!" - Haley's first album

[My Alter Ego]

I was doing some in depth searching last night and I happnened on this tweet about an interview this guy had with Haley on June 12.

Clayton Perry ‏@crperry84

…jus' wrapped an AMAZING interview with the LOVELY @HaleyReinhart! Check out the music video for "Free" --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ed3b …

I looked around and found his site, but no interview. So I posted on IDF if anyone recalls seeing his interview.....and lo and behold, this morning, here it is

Clayton Perry's Interview Exclusives

One nugget, remember Haley says she records her musical ideas on her phone? Apparently she broke it and a bunch of those ideas are now lost

Haley Reinhart: I grew up in school doing a lot of poetry – mostly slam poetry – and anything that would let me get my feelings out. I started writing songs in middle school, but when I give myself the time to sit down, and reflect, and feel, and let things come out, I find that it’s very easy for me to do. I just have to give myself the chance to do so. I have always been a real busybody. Even when I was back home in Chicago, I would make so much time for my friends and I was just all over the place. When I sat down and just took a moment of solitude, it came really easy – especially melodies. Those would just come in my head constantly, and I would try to get a voice memo down or something immediately. I had hundreds and hundreds of them on my phone until the phone broke.

Haley Reinhart: Yeah, it was a sad thing – breaking my phone and losing a lot of potential material...."

Clayton Perry: Do you feel that you took a risk with the musical direction of this particular album? Although a student of jazz and a lover of rock, your album makes use of a different aesthetic – incorporating blues and the sounds of Motown.

Haley Reinhart: You know, the sound just ended up coming out like this. I went in knowing my roots and what kind of music I love. I came from a house of rock and classic rock, as well as old soul, blues and jazz. Incorporating all these things made this sound happen. That’s not to say that I don’t think the next album could go in a more “rocky” direction. As I grow, my music will continue to evolve, and there are so many things that I would love to touch on. But the fact that this came out a little bit more on the funky side, I’m really happy about it

We had a discussion in another thread where we talked a bit about my sister having the talent of learning music 'by ear'. Apparently, so does Haley

Haley Reinhart: I went to school and I was surrounded by all these amazing musicians; and even in high school, I was with a wonderful jazz director. I was able to go to Switzerland and Italy my senior year, performing jazz in the Montreux and Umbria Jazz Fests with this band as their first singer. That was a huge eye-opener for me. And going into college, they never really had any singers. I was the first one to broaden that spectrum when they took me in as a singer. Mostly it was jazz vocal performance. I was in three combos – and I was in a big band – so I have so much respect for music theory. I know the basics, but to be honest, I kind of cheated my way through that because I went by ear. [b]I grew up with a musical ear, so I would hear things, memorize it and repeat it back.[/b] If I’m going to admit to it, I will, but I do appreciate everybody that goes through it, because it’s a lot of work.

Hi Tusk, your sister sitting down at an organ (is that right?) playing by ear isn't quite the same thing as the "learning by ear" that Haley's doing. Most vocalists learn their music "by ear" simply because few of them actually read music. (They look at music for the words, not those dots with lines pointing up or down.) It's one thing to hear a note and be able to reproduce it vocally (which is very easy, frankly), and quite another thing to hear a note and sit down at an instrument with many keys to choose from and pick out the right one.

Haley may read music, but my guess is that if she does, it's pretty rudimentary, unfortunately. Ironically, in the past few weeks I've been wondering why, given the family that she grew up in, that she didn't seem to take some interest in learning to play piano (since I've never heard it mentioned, I think that assumption's correct). If she'd done that, she might be able to more of her "song writing."

Don't get me wrong. It sounds as though she provided the lyrics for the bulk of her album (there may have been some tweaking by those who are a bit more experienced) as well as a foundation of a melody that she had in mind to go with those lyrics, but it's not the same thing as being able to pen the entire thing on one's own. Perhaps, in time she'll discover that she wants to be able to do that, and will pursue it (I'm a firm believer in life-long education!).