MINDY PETERSON, NCTM

July 28, 2020

When presented with some extra time as a result of the pandemic quarantine this spring, this teen completed her first album of original music and published it on Spotify! Grace Lundeen tells us about the genesis of her song-writing; her story of composing and recording an album; and her experience putting these songs out into the world.

Guest

I have with me today my first under-18 guest, Grace Lundeen, who just finished her junior year of high school. Grace has an older sister who has been a long-time piano student of mine, and just graduated from high school and is leaving me to go to college out of state; and Grace has a younger brother, who has been good friends with my son Erik ever since they were in preschool. So I have had the privilege of getting to know two of Grace’s siblings down through the years, but I have not had the chance to get to know Grace very much. So I was really intrigued when Grace’s mother just happened to casually mention that Grace had just published a 13-song album on Spotify this spring! Of course, I wanted details! And Grace’s mother, Julie, told me: “I honestly had nothing to do with it. You’ll have to ask Grace!” So Grace, thank you so much for agreeing to answer my questions and tell us about your experience writing and creating these songs and putting them out into the world.

Notes

• Grace’s Spotify album is titled, “Broken Expectations.”
• Grace tells us about:
  • her musical background prior to writing her album;
  • the instruments she plays;
  • the equipment she uses to record;
  • her experiences auditioning for The Voice; and
  • her grandfather’s contribution to her first recorded song.

Connect/Other Resources

• Grace’s Spotify album: Broken Expectations
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Email
• Grace used TuneCore to host her songs
• For more on the wonders of the ukulele, check out Ep. 5: Why is the Ukulele So Popular? with Ukulele Ambassador to Michigan Ben Hassenger
• We mention the book, “What Music Means to Me,” by Richard Rejino. It’s a wonderful collection of pictures and answers to that question from a wide spectrum of people.
• Grace’s friend Ian Anthony also has an album on Spotify

Coda

Grace tells us about the first song she recorded, “Headlights.”

Closing Words

Thank you so much to Grace for sharing her song and her story with us today. Keep up the great work, Grace – I’m sure you’ve inspired some listeners to either collect their feelings into the structure of lyrics; or to teach themselves to play an instrument; or to take the final step to record their music and put it out into the world! If this topic was inspiring for any of you listeners, you may be interested in checking out Ep. 43 as well. That guest tells his story of becoming a songwriter and also creating an app that you may be interested in if you enjoy songwriting; the app is called We Should Write Sometime. I have some exciting news to share that I stumbled upon this past week – if you follow any of my social media feeds, you may have seen this already: I discovered that Enhance Life with Music is on Chartable’s Top 200 Music Podcasts list for both the USA and Global lists! So a huge “THANK YOU!” goes to you listeners for tuning in and listening and sharing the show with others. I wish I could say I was savvy enough to have been watching these lists; but I was just digging around online, looking for some other stats, and came across Chartable’s dashboard. And it was a huge treat to see the show on the list – it was #117 on the US list; and not as high, but still on the Top 200 for Global; and the show has downloads in over 14 different countries. So thank you, thank you, thank you for listening and joining me on this delightful learning experience! Thank you so much for joining me today. Until next week, may your life be enhanced with music.  Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some of this site’s product links are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, for purchases made through these links.