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This is my story in my words from my point of view, but you don't have to read it all. If you want to skip down to the guitar part of my life go to where you see the first symbol like this ****. If you want to know how I describe my music go to the second symbol that looks like this *****. I have written bits and pieces of why I think my music sounds the way it does, and other thoughts, throughout this page. Those will be in parenthesis, I hope you can follow along. When I was five years old my mom put me in Suzuki violin lessons, and somewhere around that time my brother and sister began piano lessons. In Suzuki they train you to use your ear to play music. I was in these lessons for two years but it gave me the ability to hear, mimic and sing songs on key. At about eight years old I was imitating the piano songs that my brother and sister were practicing. (This didn’t go over well.) Sad to say they quit, but gladly I was placed in piano lessons. I was in piano for about six years. Throughout those six years I learned the songs my teacher assigned mostly by ear and memorized my music quickly. On top of that I sang every possible song I could get my hands on, using my karaoke machine. These included mostly Disney and Broadway songs, sung at the top of my lungs. (I love the passion that is in Broadway music; I think that is why I put so much passion/energy in the songs that I write.) I also recorded myself singing, and re-record harmonies on top of that. (This explains why I put a lot of harmony in my songs.) I loved the way the harmonies sounded in my ears. This was all good but I found myself to be a little frustrated. I wanted to be able to sing while I played, but had to learn how to play the songs I wanted to sing. This took too long for my patience. So I wrote my own songs. This way they were always in the perfect range for my voice, and could be sung with all the power possible from my vocal chords. (I love the power and passion that comes from belting a portion of a song.) At age thirteen I started voice lessons and sang in all the choirs throughout Jr. High and High School. ****You have finally made it to the point where guitar entered my life. My senior year I got into a beginning group guitar class, that lasted for one semester, and I LOVED it!!! I kept sailing with guitar on my own after the class ended. I loved how fast I could learn to play and sing a song. I started my first semester at BYU-Idaho and that is when I started writing all my songs for guitar. I went crazy writing songs. They would just come to me and I would get the whole song roughly finished within one hour or less. (Take note, I said roughly finished, it takes me a while to complete and polish a song, so tack on a couple more hours for that.) At this time I was listening to Dave Matthews Band, Sarah McLaughlin, Ben Folds Five, some Garth Brooks, U2, Phish, Paul Simon, Tori Amos and Dido. I am sure there was a lot more but I can’t seem to think of them at the moment. (I must tell you how much I love the way that Sarah McLaughlin cracks her voice (if you will) in some of her songs. I have put this in some of mine because of her and other artists who do the same such as, Live, Coldplay, Tori Amos, DMB, etc.) I joined a band my second year at BYU-Idaho called Gunther Yazoo. I didn’t play the guitar very much but sang back up vocals and did a dang good job shaking a fruit shaker. (Yes it is okay to laugh at me.) I loved hanging out with the band and playing guitar with all my guitar friends. They would teach me things and it motivated me to keep learning and playing. (It’s all about impressing the guys right?) Because of their influence I continued to be motivated and inspired to write my music. The band gave me a bug for performing and I found a love for being on stage in front of an audience. At the end of that year I played in an acoustic concert, held in a small cd shop. This was my first real guitar performance, and it instilled the performing bug in me even more. After recieving my Associates Degree I found my way to Logan’s Utah State University, home of a great guitar program. I obtained a Bachelors Degree in Music/Guitar Performance and studied with Michael Christiansen. I didn’t ever believe that I would like majoring in music, but ended up loving it. During my three years at Utah State I really tried to incorporate the fundamentals I was learning into my music. I feel I have become a better composer, but the time between writing songs has lengthened. In Logan I played in a number of Café’s and bookstores. I play my songs but mostly cover songs. Cover songs are very fun to play! The artists that I am currently listening to are: KT Tunstall, Coldplay, Sarah McLaughlin, Guster, U2, Tori Amos, and the list goes on. In reality, the “list†is constantly changing, but for now these will do. (I like music that starts small and builds itself up to a very strong climax. I love to hear the passion in people’s voices. This doesn’t always mean LOUD. Passion can be intense whispering, or switching from a strong chest voice to a light pushed out kind of head voice. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it! Okay I will be finished with this small tangent.) One concert I look forward to every year is a benefit concert that I am privileged to be in with that old guitar teacher from High School. (His name is Mike Murphy) The concert supports Multiple Sclerosis and a good-sized audience supports us. *****If I were to describe my music I would say that it has an acoustic/folk/rock flavor. But I believe that there is an edge (which some have noticed) to most of my songs, which is why I add the rock with the folk. I like putting passion, and power into my music. My songs really mean something to me and I sing them that way. I don’t like to sing about dark subjects, but a lot of my songs start out with me being in a somber mood. I don’t like the idea of my music being the depressed kind, but I love those minor chords, and minor sounds. So, I take the best of both worlds. I will write about something that has made me feel sad or depressed, but no matter what I always come out positive. I really am an optimist! (Most of the time.) I think I am going to end there, hope you enjoyed my life story. Thanks for reading, Kathryn Tingey Track List: 1. Lost 2. Raining Autumn 3. Wannabe Hollywood 4. I See 5. Never Change 6. Diamonds 7. Never Mind 8. Letting Go 9. Reminiscence 10. Listen 11. Madison Jane 12. Isabelle's Lullaby Other Genres:
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