Heather Kropf's MySpace Blog |

I am always amazed at the journey of creating something. I used to make watercolor paintings. Now I write songs and try to record them. As with any medium, it begins to talk the second you manifest your first thought. Your job as artist is to listen to what the materials are saying and be willing to have a conversation. Different papers respond differently to paint; different rooms and mics respond differently to sound. Some days I think my vocal chords can do anything. On others I am faced with great limitations. Throughout every journey, I re-learn that I must let go of the destination in order to create something alive in the present.

After making "What Else is Love" I've embarked on a journey to make a 'small' album, rerecording some old songs as a solo artist instead of with the band, and recording a few new songs that I'm kind of in love with right now...songs like "Our Lady of Constant Motion" "Joy Comes Like the Morning" and "Devolving", and maybe honor 1-2 older songs like "Red Sky" and "The Letter Song" by giving them a permanent home. We'll see.

The crazy part about performing solo is that the space becomes loud. I mean, air gets really powerful. At the same time as I've been working on this project I've also been de-cluttering my home. I have noticed an interesting parallel conversation with space, a conversation with letting go. I'm learning to love the emptiness even though I truly like things around me -- musicians, books, memorabilia -- so this has been an unexpected conversation.

I know there is something profound about what I'm doing but I also suspect such a large transition could take years and possibly the rest of my life. It's also possible that this much space is deeply at odds with who I am and how I am.

In the past few weeks I've decided to make a compromise of sorts. I've decided that some songs can live quite easily in the space of one piano and one voice, while other songs live better with a few friends. I'm trying to trust my intuition on this one, and right now I'm feeling like I hit it dead-on. Life and art are not either/or, they are both/and.

I don't go to music just for one thing. Music is many things -- the salve, the salt, and the sweetness. People are the same and to force a destination sacrifices being alive right now.

I'm finding it surprisingly easy to let this project become an expression of what's here, right now. My songs don't need to be anything other than what they are and neither do I. I generally perform as a solo artist, but I am so much happier as a duo or trio. That's the joy in performing music. I write solo, but I like to perform with others. It's a big "DUHHHH". So later this month I will be going back to Heid Studios to record about 7 songs just as they are, with friends -- piano, voices, guitar, and pedal steel.

I could be wrong about it, but I suspect the music will respond in good ways.

In whatever journey you are on, don't forget to listen and let go of the destination. Let yourself be shaped even as you shape your world.