The Sound of Gold with guest Ellen Vargas

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0:51 Hi, welcome to the Sound of Gold. I'm glad you're here with us today, And if you've been with us before, you know, if you're new to us, My show is basically focused on music musicians, music teachers, music schools, and music venues. There is a lot of talent in our communities and I am wanting, I am that voice to kind of spot shine the light on a lot of our community talent and bring them forth and share their talents with you. And I don't know, if you're a musician, you know kind of what it takes, and if you're not a musician, or even if you're a new musician that you're stepping into this world of wanting to perform and meet like minded musicians. It's a discipline, it's a discipline to practice, it's a discipline to advance. It's a discipline to.

1:57 Just make it a continual part of your life, and it's a good thing. It becomes a lifestyle, and again that is a good thing. I think anything we believe in, anything. We commit to and we grow with, just improves our daily lives and our daily attitudes and just a greater appreciation for our existence as human beings. There's so much that we can do. And if you are a musician or stepping into that world, you are sharing your sound with us through an instrument or through your voice. Today, I have a special guest with me and she is not only a friend, she is also in our local music community. She is a piano player, she is a singer, and she's I've seen her play out in bands. I've seen her play at open mic and Ellen Vargas. I would love to share the stage with you. How are you today, I'm good and great.

2:55 Thank you very much. Thank you for having me today. Yes, and thank you for making the time. I know you juggle a busy schedule and there's so much I haven't seen you in a while. I know you've been out of town. I know you've been recording. I know You've been doing lots of different things, and gosh, where to start? I guess you know what I would love to know, and I know the audience would love to know, Like, what has brought you to where you are? Let's just focus on the music part. What has inspired you? Where did you start your journey when it came to playing piano and singing? Well, I started playing piano when I was very young, and usually when you're around five or six, that's when you start piano lessons.

3:41 So I started out with classical music. And that's really my roots, reading the music note for note, knowing all the technical stuff about piano and about music, and what kia song is in, not just the note it starts in, but the note it resolves in. What were the flats, the sharps, that kind of thing. So I played classical music and studied it for many years, and then I became a teenager, and that's when I rebelled and I found out I could be playing music. I actually, like, I'm going to show you my first music book. Okay, it's been duct taped together so many times, got.

4:31 A paper clip, Yes, he just have fallen out. But I found out I could actually play music I enjoy, and because I know I how to read music, I would read the music and learn it note for note and imagine, oh my gosh, I'm Billy Joel up here, even though I'm just in my living room. And I also discovered Elton John. That was also my one of my first books. You can see that's that's in tatters. So I got the next one of Elton John, which is a much more comprehensive book, but it also is losing a few pages as well.

5:15 So that's the way I started out. And then I went to college and just for the fun of it, I took a jazz piano class. Fun and it was we were. In a room with a Grammy Award winning jazz pianist, and everyone came in with their instruments, not just piano, but guitar, bass, guitar, trumpet, and the instructor would write the chords up on the chalkboard and then we'd all just start to play and we take turn soloing, and I thought, oh my god. This is so fun. I feel like I'm really playing and I'm not actually even reading music. Freed me a lot to be able to just play spontaneously.

6:05 After that, and. Now I do blues and jam banding and rock and roll and Christian music, Jewish music, anything people want me to play. I feel like I can pretty much play it all now. So how is your transition like from reading music to being like in a group accompanying other musicians. How was it like your brain like turned off? Or was it did you use your ear just to play along? How is that? Is that something you can describe? Well, it's kind of a combination of all of it. A lot of the bands that I've played with here in town, they.

6:50 Don't tend to use sheet music. They tend to use like ultimate guitar, which only shows you the chords. So you look the chords, then you listen to the song, and then for more detail and clarification, then maybe I'll pull up the sheet music if they want me to do a solo or bring in the intro or the outro or whichever part, and I want to play it note for note because like songs, like piano, man has to be perfect, so that has to be note for notes. So I will then blend all of those different parts of playing into learning a song.

7:37 So when you play no, are you with a new band now? Or are you still playing with THEA. I'm no longer playing with THEA. I am playing occasionally out with her husband RAF, although I am also doing like some solo gigs, especially during the Christmas holiday. I tend to get even busier little private events as a soloist. And I don't mind being a sit in pianist for any band that doesn't currently have a piano player. I can probably sit in and learn their repertoire pretty quickly.

8:18 And what would be the best way to reach you for listeners that might want to connect with you? Well, I mean I have a Gmail address. If you want me to give that right now, sure, it would be my name, Ellen Vargas DMD at gmail dot com. And I have a little promo sheet that I do that I give out and that I have posted at like different music stores and places like that. Okay, so what I styles of music I like to do. And I also have a YouTube channel, so as you know, I go out and do open mics and I try to gather recordings almost every time I go out, so I have something to put into the YouTube channel, just examples of this is what I play, this is how it's done. If you like that that would be great, so they can contact me and and and uh, I think Gmail is the best way.

9:25 And then YouTube it's just Ellen Vargas. Yes, yes, I don't know if they need the other part of the. Address where it says at Ellen Vargas dash G three X. That might be just how I get in to you know, alter My and ad. But yes, that would be it. So so let me ask you. So, okay, you you're a classic. You're classically trained, all right. So for musicians that are maybe are just starting out right or there's you know, stepping into this world of wanting to accompany other musicians and maybe they've been classically trained or maybe they've been self taught, how do you go about let's say, playing with RAF's bands. Right, I've heard you play, you sound wonderful and when you when you play, how do you distinguish from reading a chord chart? How do you distinguish from that from reading like Billy Joel's melody and playing it right? So I can read music, right, I can, I can play and I understand the court chart, but how do you incorporate it so that it's your accompanying other musicians and not like on your own. Does that make sense?

10:46 Oh, it absolutely does, because for most of my life I played piano by myself and had to play the melody, the bass and maybe even sing and do it all by myself. And when I started playing with others, I had to learn how to play with others and behave and actually hold back and do more of the left hand chord playing in the bass and then just keep the right hand really simple unless they want me to pull out a solo and then yeah, then I'm going to go crazy and go do.

11:28 My soloing thing. But when there's a singer, I don't like to overlap and do what they're doing with their voice. They say, it's that's not the way it's done. When there's a singer, they're gonna do that melody. And that. Song, while I just kind of have to stay in the back and be an acognomist. And it takes a lot of willpower because I'm someone who wants to take off and solo and jazz it up and go to all nuts on the piano, but when you play with a group, you need to behave and know. Your place and hold back. So yeah, it's taken a lot of willpower and reteaching of myself. I did not start playing with others until just recently when I started with THEA. One day, her husband and my husband they were like, Oh, my wife plays piano. Oh, your wife plays guitar. Oh, they should meet each other. I walked in her house and from note one I knew we were going to have a good time. She first of all, she has this gorgeous steinway.

12:42 Yes she does. And I sit at the piano. She had the same book on her piano that I had on my book on my piano at that same moment, the Carol King Tapestry. Album, and I said, oh my god. And a week later we had a gig and it never stopped from then on. So from then, at that moment, I had to learn how to play with other people and hadn't done it ever and over fifty years, always just playing by myself. Right, So that's wonderful. And I yes, the sign way she has is beautiful because I've played on it too.

13:24 I know you we're friends, right, But that's much more. What I love about you, Ellen is that there is so much depth to you, like you just like you're just not like your regular piano player, like you have so much like you're so intelligent, and you well and you I know some you know, work with your husband a little bit and help him, and you know you have kids and then you you have a life that you know that you keep going and. You know. We're human, right, So yeah, to share with the audience, like being a performer, it's not like you're like born into it. It takes. It takes a practice, it takes a work, it takes a focus, it takes a discipline.

14:08 And last week my guest was Tia not THEA and we see that off this and I know you listen to the show, Yes I did, and it's so important to express again to my to the audience as well that you know, it's not the struggle, it's a juggle, but it's knowing how to be disciplined and knowing how to juggle all the parts without losing losing pieces of it or losing the ball here and there, or maybe they don't fit. But but tell me a little bit or tell us a little bit about like how that works for you, How do you get in practice time, how do you make it work? Like with everything else you have going on in your life, Well.

14:52 You have to prioritize certain things. You have to get your work done, and then it's then you can have your fun time, which is actually work playing piano and learning songs. But for me, that's also my fun time, and sometimes the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning, when everyone's left for school and work, and I have about a half an hour alone where no one is telling me put on your headphones or go in another room or stop or whatever. That's when I'll get out some practice, really good practicing, where I'll work on a few solos and our patios.

15:34 Have been wanting to get just right. And then I will also fun time, usually in the afternoon or the evening, and it's not a lot of time every day, but at least to touch the piano a little bit here and there. And then as I get closer to a show, it's like, okay, y'all, y'all need to give me my space because I've got to be able to pull this stuff off. So I need to actually really practice this. But yes, I need to also do things with my family. My son he does cross country and boy Scouts, and my husband I work with him now in his practice, and I'm also in a running club. I'm in Fun Runners and I enjoy that as well, and it's just all part of my therapy, the piano, the running.

16:32 But yeah, you've got to grab those moments. If it's like at the end of the day and everyone has gone to bed again, that's a good time where I can practice at my private piano. I have a separate room where. I'm set up with headphones and I can play quietly and no one has to hear me. I'm not bothering anyone. I'm not taking anything away from anyone. I am working at something out and I'm getting it done. Awesome. Yeah, so when you're. When you're raps, then I haven't seen in a while. We have different schedules, so sometimes THEO is always texted me, but we can't always get out to listen to you guys when you have practice time, like do you do you wait up and let's say closer to a show date, or do you guys get together and practice every week.

17:26 We usually get together about once a week and we go over potential songs that we work through and if they sound really good, it's like, okay, this is going to be on the set. When we get something scheduled, and we just try to keep up the practice and the working on those songs that we want to perform together. And so usually it's a weekly practice session. And actually tomorrow night we don't have we don't really have a practice session planned for this week because we're so busy this week. But tomorrow night, our. Running club is having a party and they asked me to bring the piano.

18:09 And I told Rock to bring his guitar. So I said, look, this might be as much of a practice session as we get this week, so let's just try to entertain the runners and we'll all be sweaty and having fun and hopefully enjoying some music. Yeah, now, you recently, when we were texting last week or recently, you had said you recently recorded over at Echo Studios. Yes. Yes, I have a friend, a lovely friend who has a beautiful voice, and she's a Christian songwriter and she sings and writes music singer songwriter, and all of her music is very religious, but at the same time it's also really enjoyable to listen into. But she had a song that she wrote about a year ago because Hanika which is my holiday, and Christmas, which was her holiday fell on the same day, and she wanted to include a Jewish voice with her on her recording, So I'm not even playing piano.

19:21 I am just singing. We're both singing together about the. Unity and the fact that our holidays could come together like that and we can all celebrate at once. And that song was just finished and finalized about a week ago at Echo Studios and it will be released at right before the holiday season, I think, on November twentieth on all music platforms. And it's just a fun song about Christmas and Hanukkah and fact that all the characters of the Prophets being Jewish and then the Christian faith and all of them coming together. So it'll be something people can listen to and enjoy this holiday season.

20:15 Oh wonderful. I can't wait to listen to. It will be available on YouTube as well, or are you going to post it on Facebook? It'll be on Spotify. I think it'll be on Apple Radio. I know at least the major venues, so I should find out more details on that, but I know at least Apple Radio and Spotify. And my friend, her name is Leslie Reid, and she has album upon albums. She's been recording for over twenty years at Echo and has lots lots of music. Any relation to Dave read you know Dave and. Pam Oh, I don't think so. But that's interesting, Yeah, but that would be neat if they were. But no, I don't think so.

21:05 Okay, I don't know. So answer for me. When you. As a band, are you is it up to you to find the venues or does Raft to say, hey, we have a gig at let's say rest your hook and you show up, or are you apo venues? Well, you're connecting to venues. I do leave it more to others when it comes to those kind of venues because I know, like in Raff's case, because I've been working with him a little more, he just seems to know people at these venues more. Than I do.

21:45 And I'm more into getting private parties because I'm in the community here as someone who tends to meet people, just family members and people that I. Run into that say hey, I'm having a party. I'd really like to have some piano music or a small duo or a trio or quartet. So I've been more involved in that, but. I I'm working currently with Raf. But as I say, I know there are bands out there. That don't have piano, but I know your repertoire and they may know who that I know their repertoire too, So I can play more than I'm playing out now currently.

22:37 So I take a Billy Joe. You're a big fan of Billy Joe. I am also John. Do you have Is there other artists or are there other artists that you tend to gravitate towards over others? Well, I've been working a little more on Steely Dan, which again for me is right up my alley with all the jazz seven they put in their songs, and I like to again play it note for note and get all those little fun little piano parts put in that I think make it a song. And I also like.

23:18 Stevie Wonder and his music is really complicated because he always likes to put a key change in almost every song and that's what makes his music so dynamic and exciting. So I enjoy that too. So when you're not at home playing or not at a show on your own and you're playing chord charts, and you said, it is kind of difficult because you have to remove yourself from playing the melody and I understand, I completely understand, but how how do you or maybe maybe it's not I'm not asking it the right way. Are you playing chord chart and kind of disconnecting from the melody to allow the vocalist to like pick up where you're not, you know, because when you play or when there's when I bring it down to my students, it's about phonics right by the words or how the words or are fonically spelled. But as as an accompany, as you're not playing that melody, you're giving it to the vocalist. And maybe you already answered this earlier, but again not only for me, but for our audience. When you're being an accompany us, you have to kind of hold back your own like everything and just yeah, like I guess, I guess you did, kind of answer it.

24:44 It's just a matter of standing back and letting others step in. Well. I think the key to being a good band member and a teammate is knowing when to hold back that It's like if you're playing on a sports team and you're hogging the ball and you don't let anyone else hold it. You've got to know when to pass it and when to stay to your position and accompany the others and allow their instruments to sound great and shine. And after a while, if. You're soloing and they're soloing and everyone's solowing, it actually.

25:26 Sounds muddy, it sounds horrible. It just isn't good. So sometimes the best accompanist is the one that plays the least and knows when not to play right. So that's where the willpower comes in. So for our listeners that I love that. That's all such great, great, great advice for our listeners. Are new musicians or musicians that are wanting to venture out into like open mics and maybe meet other musicians, what types of words of wisdom or inspiration can you share with us, So that. Because we're big kids, like we're afraid of rejection, we're to stay out or we're to step on stage.

26:09 Well, it's kind of like the first time you you do anything, you don't know, or the first time you you go in a swimming pool. You don't know how. It's gonna feel until you get in, And yes, it is nerve wracking, but the more you do it, the better you feel. And I'm amazed no one's throwing tomatoes sometimes people actually clap. Somebody I don't know who said it, but somebody once said, like, somebody commentsed, oh, they're not throwing tomatoes, and somebody commented, groceries have gotten like the price of groceries have got.

26:57 Well, okay, well then that I understand that. But I mean, the greatest gift is when I'm playing a. Song and all of a sudden, I look over and I hear the whole audience singing with me, and I'm like, oh my god. They really like this. I can't believe it. Wow. So that's my greatest joy. When you never know when it's going to happen. Because sometimes you play a song at like Angelo's, and everyone's singing along, and then you go somewhere else and it's like. You barely hear a peep. You're like, oh, whoa, what happened? I don't like to hear what was that?

27:38 I said, Yeah, where did everybody go? Are they still here? Yeah? Like, you never know how a song is going to hit people, and sometimes it really does. Like I was playing a song by Billy Joel and Surprise, and it was called Captain Jack. Once I started playing it, there was a I sitting there he said, I'm from Philadelphia. I love that song. And I'm like, oh okay, and yeah. Then the host he says to me, no one's ever played that song at an open mic. Oh, so you never know. I don't know.

28:21 Am I funny only to myself? You're okay? Oh okay, you are funny. Oh okay. We have like a minute or two left or a couple of minutes left, are there any Well, We're in a music community, and I've shared this many of times, and you I believe you will stand with me in this. Once you step out into. The music community, especially if you're new at this, Like it isn't to me like you're my extended family. Like all phosicians are like out there to play and express ourselves musically because it's gift we give ourselves is a gift of expression we can share.

29:03 With our audience. And yeah, I think again, focusing on our listeners today or whoever listens on whatever Davis is for our listeners out there, what are your comments on that? Since we have like a minute left, that's stepping into meeting new groups. Of the girls. Well, I mean it is like meeting a whole new family, because I know when I go to open mic nights, everyone is hey, sit with me or giving me a hug or a little smooch on the cheek or you know, just a lot of warmth and affection and friendship, and it just is like a family. Everyone's happy to see people and find out. So what are you going to play?

29:54 Everyone's curious to know, and it really is great and it's part of like just being social and outgoing. I had my mom visiting one time and we went out for an open mic and I performed, and a whole bunch of other people performed, of course, And I said to my mom, what would you be doing on a Monday night if you were not here doing this at home, because she lives somewhere else. She said, I'd probably be on the couch watching TV alone. And you know, it's just that people need to look for social outlets. There's so many different ways to be social and interact with people and get out of their house and make new connections.

30:45 And some of these people you may like, even beyond music. You may invite them to join your running club or join you for lunch or other things that you want to do together. And so you do create friendships and that social aspect is so good, especially as people age. The older people need to have those connections and it keeps them healthy mentally and physically and spiritually all around. Yes, it does well. Ellen. Thank you so much for our listeners out there to get in touch and reach Ellen. Ellen Vargas is on Facebook and Ellen Ellen Vargas is DMD at gmail dot com.

31:32 And yes, Ellen, thank you so much for being with us today. I'm sure we'll see each other soon. Great. Thank you for having me. I enjoyed it absolutely, see you soon. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen for tuning in today. Tune in next week to find out who our guests will be and keep the music a lot with me