4. Kyle deTarnowsky
Creator's Cafe Episode 4. Kyle deTarnowsky: The Validity Comes from Yourself with host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs
In this episode, Kyle deTarnowsky and I talk about how music is like baking and how important it is to find joy of expression without getting stuck on how "good" you are, though he's secretly quite good.
Show Notes:
Quotes:
"If you express yourself in any way through music; you're a musician."
Creator's Challenge: Music Meets Movement
Connect with something deeper than yourself. Take a phrase of music that you connect with emotionally and physically connect to it. Sing it. Play it on the piano. Dance it.
Stay in touch:
@kyledetmusic
@piano_barre
Kyle on IMDB
Mentioned:
"Murder She Wrote" project with collaborators
Erin Fagundes and Courtney Potter
inspired by original Music by John Addison
Bio:
Musician: composer, arranger, orchestrator, music director, instrumentalist (piano, woodwinds)
My guest, Kyle deTarnowsky, is a musician of all kinds. He's a composer, arranger, orchestrator, music director and instrumentalist. Kyle has worked on music that has been featured on TV shows such as Lost Nashville, the Academy Awards, and such delightful titles as Cats and Dogs, The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Go West Happy Cow. Also the Academy Awards.
If you missed that part. He's a music director and plays for cabarets and music theater shows all around Los Angeles. He's a talented composer who works regularly in short films, and I was lucky enough to have him compose the Creator's Cafe theme music when he's not in rehearsal or teaching at one of the two colleges he teaches at.
Kyle can be found composing his original musical on "Murder, She Wrote" based on the Angela Lansbury TV series. He is as delightful as his projects make him sound.
Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs
Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe.
Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne.
Offering digital courses, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com
Jessica's Featured Course:
If you or someone you know is on the job search, check out her digital course "Level Up Your Video Interviews."
More info and resources at | www.kikalabs.com
Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist
Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs
Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs
Transcripts and YouTube Links at | www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes
Theme Music
Our theme music is composed and performed by todays guest! Kyle deTarnowsky.
Transcript:
Jessica
Welcome to Creators Cafe. I'm your host, Jessica Payne. I'm a performer performance coach and Multihyphenate creator. I'm going to be bringing you conversations with some of my favorite creators where we talk about the sublime and the specifics of the creative journey. So grab a drink, get cozy. Let's go.
My guest, Kyle deTarnowski is a musician of all kinds.
He's a composer, arranger, orchestrator, music director and instrumentalist. Kyle has worked on music that has been featured on TV shows such as Lost Nashville, the Academy Awards, and such delightful titles as Cats and Dogs, The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Go West Happy Cow. Oh. Also, the Academy Awards. If you missed that part. He's a music director and plays for cabarets and music theater shows all around Los Angeles.
He's a talented composer who works regularly in short films, and I was lucky enough to have him compose the Creator's Cafe theme music when he's not in rehearsal or teaching at one of the two colleges he teaches at. Kyle can be found composing his original musical murder, she wrote based on the Angela Lansbury TV series. He is as delightful as his projects make him sound.
My dear friend Kyle deTarnowsky .Welcome.
Kyle
Thank you.
Jessica
Kyle deTarnowsky
Kyle
To Creators Cafe. Cheers.
Kyle
Cheers.
Kyle
Oh.
Jessica
What are you drinking today?
Kyle
Thank you for having me. I am having a delightful chai latte thing that you got from Tartine. Yeah.
Jessica
It's so good. They're very sweet there. And the bread and pastries and coffee.
Kyle
I mean.
Kyle
What's not to.
Kyle
Like? So good.
Kyle
Not so good.
Kyle
Okay.
Jessica
So, my friend. Yes? How do you think of yourself as a creator? Like all of the just, like, kind of what order of your multihyphenate do you put it in?
Kyle
Well, so first and foremost, I guess I'll just say that I'm a musician, so all of it, everything that I do, I think, boils down to just music. And music is part of my essence. It's in my being, my soul, if you will. And I could wax poetic about music, and.
Kyle
I actually want you to get back.
Kyle
To what I was going to say.
Kyle
I want you to. That's fantastic for.
Kyle
What I started out playing piano. That was the first thing that I did with any sort of quote unquote, seriousness. But what I do now is, is I'm a composer, a pianist, a music director, an educator, and I've also done work in arranging, orchestrating, conducting in the area of music preparation. So a lot of fields within. Within music.
Kyle
Yeah. Okay. You told me.
Jessica
Some stories about going to music lessons on the back of your Dad's motorcycle.
Kyle
That happened once. Yeah.
Kyle
I just love that image.
Jessica
That's so fun. To me, it was.
Kyle
It was great. Yeah, I was in high school at that point, studying Piano pretty seriously. And my mom usually came and picked me up. She works. Her office was close to where my teacher was, and this is before I had a license for my car. Well, a car that my parents in very generously gave me was not my car.
Kyle
But Dad came to pick me up at one point, and I think he had probably newly gotten his motorcycle and he was ecstatic about it. And he showed up with a helmet for me and the teacher. Teacher she always picture head out the behind the curtain to see, you know, who was there. And she saw his bike and she was like.
Kyle
Be careful.
Kyle
And I thought I was like, I thought I was being so chill and calm about the whole thing, holding on to him by going on a highway and, you know, whatever. And then we got home and he was like, You were holding on so tight. And I said, Oh, I thought I was just like being cool and casual.
Kyle
And he was like, No, you weren't. Oh, crap. Sorry. But so it was it was great. It was a good time.
Jessica
What was the thing that pulled you into piano specifically? First? Was it just you had.
Kyle
One at the.
Jessica
House or was there something?
Kyle
I think.
Kyle
So, yeah. We had a we had an upright piano when I was a kid that my parents had had for, I believe, some time. And my mom was a pianist. And actually she went to college to be a pianist. And that lasted, I think one semester. She took some theory and she was like, This is not for me.
Kyle
I just want to play piano. So anyway, she taught me for a year when I was seven and I was interested in continuing. So I went on with somebody else and that was it. But I would always I think because the piano was there, I would always play around with it and try to figure out things I had heard either from movies or songs on the radio or whatever.
Kyle
So there was always that tool of of expression.
Jessica
I love that because I actually went to undergrad for music first. Yeah, as an oboist and a singer. And I found that sometimes the kind of.
Kyle
Rigor, but also.
Jessica
A kind of traditional structure of classical music kept me out of that kind of true expression. And so, like, I like your mom, I always like just getting stuck in, you know, high level theory classes and and learning about things that I respected but just didn't.
Kyle
Speak to me artistically and didn't.
Jessica
Feel like a true expression for me that's felt like I spent so much of my time in that arena that I wound up swinging to other directions that I love, that I'm very happy with. But it's always interesting to me to hear how somebody that is so talented classically like you are, also has a true connection through that self-expression in modern music as well.
Jessica
That's always something that's fascinated me is because so many training programs are so classically oriented. How do you, as a modern musician who loves pop music and classic music and, you know, movie composition and things like that, how are you going to navigate a system that's built on canonical classics, right, when you also have these other loves?
Kyle
Well, I think for me it was one step in the process of my education as a musician and I mean education in the most broad sense of the term. It was it wasn't exclusive. It wasn't mutually exclusive with anything else that I was pursuing or interested in musically. I was interested in composers like CZAJKOWSKI and Debussy and Chopin and others.
Kyle
But I also simultaneously had interest in, you know, all these things that you just mentioned. So it I didn't feel constricted or stifled in any way by it. It was I learned about this and I could apply some of this to that or some of that to this. And there were it was one piece of many in the in the steps that continued to stay.
Jessica
Excellent. So it all just kind of fed into each other really well.
Kyle
And I was I was I will say that I was lucky in my college experience, my undergraduate experience, that I for the most part, and certainly with my primary composition professor, I'm happy to say there was no issue with the music that I was interested in writing or there was no where you have to write, quote unquote classical music.
Kyle
You have to write music that is in this time with this fan or with this technique or etc.. It was yeah, there were no issues there. So it was and I could pursue other things while I was there as well. I did musical theater work and I studied film scores all day when I was on in classes that I, you know, jazz and all the rest of it with friends.
Kyle
And so there was opportunity for all of it. And yeah, it never felt constricting.
Jessica
I love that. Yeah. Okay. What do you.
Kyle
Do? Answer your question.
Kyle
Yeah, totally. That is. Yeah.
Jessica
Because I think I, I, I wasn't able to navigate that successfully and that's something I think I still am always trying to do. And so, and like when I am working with people who are interested in a subject, I try to kind of blend that like, here's some important classics. But also here is, you know, here's some traditional things, but also what are you interested in?
Jessica
So you get a blend of both. So I just I think that it's also.
Kyle
You know, yeah, I.
Jessica
Think that area is interesting to me, especially as we kind of relook at what are classics, who is celebrated and try to bring a new voices. I think the music world is is ripe for that. And so, yeah, just anything you think about that.
Kyle
Well, I was going to say a moment ago, the only other thing is that I also just because I have such a variety of interests, it did it never occurred to me to to exclude anything else or to to to shy away from from other countries or musical interest that I have at in that classical choirs, that conservatory setting.
Kyle
So, yeah, that's great.
Jessica
You just don't limit yourself and you just brought it all in.
Kyle
I use all of it, Yeah. Um, then it also again, it speaks to the professors that I had and my parents and friends and other people just support in general for, for any and all. To your lecture, your question about, uh, the classics versus more contemporary stuff, music world. Yeah, to use your word, absolutely is ripe, ripe for all of it.
Kyle
Um, certainly in contemporary music of all kinds, whether it's, it's pop or rock or jazz or hip hop or orchestral, acoustic synthesized, all of it. There's there's a lot of variety and there's a lot of overlap, I think more now. And there will continue to be, I'm sure, in the future, which is always great. But I know of a lot of composers and conductors to her around my age, maybe a little older, who also have a lot of interests and are writing works and are programing works and conducting works that are, uh, pieces and, songs and all the rest of it that are influenced and all of it with everything.
Kyle
So it's, it's, it's great to see and watch and experience.
Kyle
One of.
Jessica
Your most incredible skills to.
Kyle
Me.
Jessica
Because of this probably is you can sit down at your beautiful piano and take a song. So like at Christmas you'll do this and you'll take a song, but then do it in ten different styles of composers or time periods or.
Kyle
Moods or.
Jessica
It's just incredible to me. What what do you do when you do that? Do you just, like, take some, like, basic rules? Do you think of a song that you're mimicking? Do you, um.
Kyle
Play more with the kind of accent?
Jessica
What? What do you lean into the most whenever you're switching between modes like that so quickly?
Kyle
It's a great question. Um, my experience is such and my interest is such that I, there's a lot that I sort of take in consciously or not, and it's happened over the last, well, basically 38 years. Um, so the point being a lot of it, it's not terribly a conscious.
Jessica
Thing, great things. You just lean on the unconscious rules that you've built over the years. So it's just like.
Kyle
Things that I have planned and I yeah, it's nice. There's a split second of thought to switch gears into whatever style or genre or what have you. But and I don't mean that with any sort of arrogance at all, it's, it's just.
Jessica
Oh, no, no, no. I just wondered if it was more conscious or more subconscious, which is cool. So it's more that you have Sure. You have those modes built into your head. You know what they are. You just have to kind of.
Kyle
I just put.
Jessica
The clutch down and shift.
Kyle
Into the different gear. Yeah.
Jessica
That's I love it. And I think that's one of the things that makes you so rich as a musician is you are.
Kyle
So easily.
Jessica
Able, like you have this really, really strong technical base, but you're so easily able to swim in the varied waters so, so quickly.
Kyle
Thanks.
Kyle
I have fun and I, I mean, of course, if I thought about it more in the moment, I, it would things would be be better crafted. But it's I mean, those kind of things, like you said at Christmas and it's just fun party things to do and you know, I just have a good time so people to enjoy it.
Kyle
Oh yeah.
Kyle
You know. Yeah. So it's great.
Kyle
So I think one, one cool way that you use those skills.
Jessica
Is you are really great when you're composing for film. You're really great.
Kyle
At.
Jessica
Matching the art where it is and writing music that really serves the art. It's not. I've never looked at your body of work and thought, Oh, everything sounds like you. I think you serve the project so humbly that it still sounds like you and it has your flair, but it really, really, truly serves whatever the creator's vision is, which is incredible.
Jessica
What are some projects that you've loved working on and you've enjoyed? It might just be like the style of composition.
Kyle
Or, how you.
Jessica
Got to work, or who you got to work with. What's what's something that you've enjoyed working on from the composition side.
Kyle
Um, uh, I mean, I've enjoyed everything that I've, I've had the good fortune to work on, and I mean that genuinely. But if I were to pick something or specific things, well, there's a project that I'm working on right now. It's a short film. And to your point about different styles and things like that, this particular film has elements of of fantasy and more kind of contemporary sci fi or science fiction and a few others.
Kyle
So that's just all in one package, a great way for me and a fun way for me to transition and morph. So that's nice. I did a few. I did I think it was two episodes of a web series that a friend of mine created and starred in and produced. Uh, yeah, I think there were only two that were made, and that was fun because it was.
Kyle
I got to write a whole piece for that. And the nice thing with the second episode was that I got to take parts of the first episode and add more to it. So it became this kind of, uh, in the traditional vein of, of assigning musical identification to characters and locations and stuff that was fun to kind of recall themes that we use in the first episode for this character or that idea or whatever, and add new things that would hopefully wed well to the earlier material.
Kyle
So that was, that was a nice, fun experience. Yeah.
Kyle
So cool. Do you.
Jessica
Mostly find yourself.
Kyle
Getting.
Jessica
Composition projects through friends and network, or is that something that you go to a job sites for? I don't actually know how one gets composed or jobs position jobs.
Kyle
I mean, I think like most things and like a lot of things certainly in the film and television business, it's a lot of it's word of mouth And, you know, I can count on, I think one hand the projects that I've gotten through seeking them out or that sort of thing, advertising my work in that way. Everything else has been random, seemingly random connections and things like that.
Kyle
Yeah, there was one project I worked on where it was someone who I had worked with a colleague of mine in a completely in music, but in a separate company seven or eight outside of Hollywood. And we hadn't spoken think for a number of years. And she called me and said, Hey, you still want to write music, you want to do a thing?
Kyle
And I said, Absolutely. So things like that, It's, you know, you never it's that goes you never know who you're going to meet and all that stuff. But yeah, just networking and yeah, I think it's all about who you know and yeah, I'm grateful for the people who recommend me.
Jessica
Yeah. And you're also I think you're a great example of I've never felt like I was networking with you, like you're just genuine and you're not ever trying to.
Kyle
I mean, if you.
Jessica
Are trying to manipulate us all, then you are a master and, you.
Kyle
Know, and you. And you. But you're just that good. That's true. The one. The one way you did manipulate me. Oh, yes.
Kyle
Oh, no.
Kyle
The reason. The reason were follow.
Kyle
That would have to do with music at all.
Kyle
I know, I know. But I.
Jessica
Love it. It's like you're friends.
Kyle
Because you're an.
Jessica
Excellent baker to big.
Kyle
Yes.
Kyle
It's that's very true.
Jessica
And so you were the one that would always bring in cupcakes and muffins. And they were delicious. And I actually remember saying, who made this?
Kyle
I'm going to be friends with this person. And I tracked you down and the rest is history. It's the best. So you never know.
Kyle
It's very true.
Jessica
Do you find any correlations between baking and music?
Kyle
Yeah, there are certainly similarities. Absolutely. Baking is creative, probably in a similar way. It's it's interesting with baking, because baking as opposed to cooking is a bit more of a scientific process with limiting agents and gluten and yeast and all the rest of it butter, sugar, flour, cream, everything. So it's a, it's a, there's a craft to it.
Kyle
Um, and you're assembling ingredients and assembling pieces of it like you might arranger or composer, orchestrating. And those are all three different things. But the basic idea, you know, you have a cake, okay, you're going to fill it with something great. What are you going to fill it with? What filling goes with this cake layer and what frosting or icing or glaze or what have you.
Kyle
And that's I mean, for me, that's what's fun. It's just play around with it and experiment with experiment with new flavors and combinations and see what happens and just make a mess in the kitchen and clean up after I.
Jessica
I've always thought you, as a baker, have lived in a similar space to you as a musician. You have this really excellent technical base, but then you're greeted with bringing in your creative flair on top of that.
Kyle
Thanks. Yeah. I mean, it's all and essentially, you know, it's all self-taught. I mean, it's a lot of people with my parents when I was a kid, but I mean, after a certain point, I think if you make enough cupcakes on a basic level, you sort of figure out what works and what doesn't work, it then becomes a question of, okay, cool, how are you going to flavor?
Kyle
How are you going to tweak it? Do you want to make it more dense or more fluffy or whatever? And there's, yeah, experiment.
Jessica
And do you feel that way with music too, of like at a basic level, like I'm going to be able to play a song well and so now I can play around with it.
Kyle
Or do you think of it differently? I don't, yeah. I mean, in the moment when I am baking or when I'm working in music, I don't really think of it in those terms. I see that kind of as reflecting on an outside of the moment, but I mean, I think for both baking and music, it's, it's why I sit down or think I'm in the kitchen to do it, and then I just kind of dive in and see what and I don't really I don't worry about it.
Kyle
I don't really get in my head about it.
Jessica
I'm going to pause you there. I admire that. And do not share that most of the time.
Kyle
I'm sure how I know that it's rare. I have a lot of artist friends who are like, What?
Jessica
Yeah. Yeah. Do you think it's because you just kind of put the hours in and you trust it and you move on and you're present? Or is that just like part of how you're built or what? Or do you make it as a conscious choice? Do you think.
Kyle
It's not a conscious choice? There is.
Jessica
So you don't think overthink about overthinking.
Unknown
How dare you guess?
Kyle
You know, if you were to dissect it there, there might be some correlation between the amount of hours and the lack of consciousness. I'm not sure, but I. I do know that I'm fortunately for myself, that I'm wired in a way that is that makes me relaxed and and fairly easygoing and not easily stressed. So I don't allow things to easily stress me out.
Kyle
Yeah.
Jessica
That's great. And I think that serves you in so many ways. And it also makes you eliminate an agent as an artist in the room. As a collaborator, you're very calming influence, which I think brings out the best in a lot of people.
Kyle
I think. So it's certainly helpful. And I'm also the kind of person who, if I if there is sort of tension, I will gauge it in the moment. And and either we try to help or kind of step back and let it disappear, you know, whatever I feel that that might need in that moment. So but yeah, I think I also yeah, I do I do think I collaborate well because of my personality, which I guess just makes it less likely that there will be.
Kyle
Yeah. Tension and stress and you know, whatever else.
Kyle
So you.
Jessica
A lot of collaborations, you do a.
Kyle
Lot of.
Jessica
Leadership and you do a lot of education and then you also do kind of like individual. So like you might be a musician in a pit, you might be the conductor of that pit, you might be composing and kind of collaborating a creative team.
Kyle
Well.
Jessica
You do so many things. Do you have a favorite or do you like moving between them the most? Um.
Kyle
Composing is probably is probably my favorite. Um, there's something about, um, the, the expression and the connection and the energy. I suppose you might say that that is unique. I think too, that, um, that area for me personally, for others, is not. But they're all, you know, that's what I get out of composing and when I give out of composing is different than what I give and get as a, as a music director or a conductor, you know, whatever.
Kyle
And it's all different. The nice thing is that it's a variety and there's a thousand different ways to connect and, share and work with people. Um, but composing, it's, it's, there's something, I think just because it's innate and it's from somewhere deep in a way, again, for me that is unique to that, that is not but does not occur often elsewhere.
Kyle
Yeah, no.
Jessica
If I gave you a magic wand and you could have any project, would it be composing or what would it be?
Kyle
What would the project be?
Kyle
Uh, yeah, I think it would. It would be composing, It would be, um, I mean, there's a few kind of dream projects in music that I would love to do. Uh, composing would probably be the top of the list. Yeah. To, to write a large score and conduct it and all of that.
Jessica
Do you think it would be for film or TV?
Kyle
There's something about film that is really it's appealing. And I think because it's it's a larger story purely and just numerically in terms of the time, you know, it's hour and a half, 2 hours, two and a half, maybe more story. And there's a lot of waste develop within that and tell a whole singular story musically, a narrative, and all the great ways that music and film interact that you don't get in the same way with episodic television.
Jessica
Okay, So right now one of the things you're composing is a musical project based on the old TV show Murder, she wrote. Yeah. Tell me everything.
Kyle
Have.
Kyle
So that project started, um, I think it was ten years ago this year. I think it was 2013. So my friend Aaron and I got together one night, one evening, and we decided to we somehow came up with this idea of writing a musical based on murder, she wrote. And it was a thing that we did and we stayed up until I think it was like 3 a.m. coming up with this ridiculous story.
Kyle
I mean, we wrote a goofy little outline that had references to a thousand other musical theater productions and songs and everything, and other Angela Lansbury references and things like that, and I think the next day I sort of sat down and wrote this kind of overture based on nothing that I had written because we hadn't written anything but the overture based on the the theme from the TV show written by John Adams.
Kyle
And I just sort of wrote this silly thing and sent it off. And I said, Hey, you wrote an overture. And Aaron said, Oh, we're doing this. And I said, Are we? And so we basically just said, okay, let's do a thing. So over the ten years, very slowly we, we ended up writing, I don't know, ten or maybe ten or 12, maybe 15 songs.
Kyle
And at some point we got together with our friend Courtney and said, Hey, you're you're a writer of actual things that neither of which Aaron and I are, you know, Do you have any interest in writing the book for our show? You know, And she agreed. And the thing with Courtney is that she has fantastic knowledge of eighties and nineties, all things just television across across the decades, but particularly, I think kind of older television.
Kyle
It's an interest. I think her as an it just in general things that are a bit more theatrical and campy in a good way. And um, Aaron loves all things theater and I'm, I'm a huge fan of a lot of composers works and all of that. So together it's, it's been a fun trip. We did a, we finished a first draft of the whole thing in, I think early 2020.
Kyle
And then when everything happened with COVID, we did a reading of it over Zoom with a few actors. We got a few actor friends together to read parts and a couple other friends to give notes and feedback, all that stuff. So that was what we did with it. And we sort of, I think, left it alone for a minute, not particularly by choice.
Kyle
I think we just got busy with our own lives and then we decided to get back into it. So it's been a few months now, I think, of meetings and feedback from other friends and watching a lot of episodes of the TV show, and it's been a lot of adjusting of the structure and the format and just the story itself of of our story.
Kyle
Yeah. So our lyricist is, is Aaron for Goodness and our book writer is Courtney Potter. And so yeah, it's been a fun transition into the second draft, if you will, of it. Um, it's getting better I think, on all fronts. Certainly for me musically, it's the initial concept was that every song was going to basically be an homage to another song.
Kyle
Um, much in the way that, that Book of Mormon did with a bunch of things, a little bit with Avenue Q as well, and certainly with things like Schmigadoon and other other projects. And it's now sort of morphed into something that's a bit more original, which is fun to do in a different way. And it's yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
Kyle
So we're hoping to have a finished version, the second draft by next spring, and we're going to look into the Hollywood Foreign film Fringe Festival.
Jessica
So you would do like a.
Kyle
Mount, not a.
Jessica
Reading, but like a live.
Kyle
I mean, theoretically ideal.
Kyle
Initial production.
Kyle
Well, I was going to say theoretically just a simple reading of it, but depending on where we're at and what we want and are able to do. Sure. Yeah. Cool.
Kyle
Yeah, that's exciting.
Kyle
And it's it's great because it's a it's a fun project to do on the site and in our free time. And and and I have been fairly diligent about getting together almost once a week to work on things which is it's good having that that regularity and that discipline is helpful to finish it.
Jessica
Because it's hard to sustain something that big that is self driven over years at this point.
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
Jessica
So has anything else helped other than regular meetings to help keep you on track and keep things moving?
Kyle
Um, I think that's it. You know, every time we get together, we schedule the next meeting. Mm hmm. And I think we're both pretty. Pretty interested in finishing this version. Yeah. And the nice thing about the process with the three of us, with our accordion me, is that we'll we each all of us have plenty of things to do on our own.
Kyle
Um, you know, we sort of know what what Courtney needs and wants to do and Aaron and I have. We do. And three of us will also get together and chat. And every so often, either in person or over Zoom. So it's, it's been a good, uh, smooth process, Um, so far. So yeah, it's, it's, it's great.
Jessica
I look forward to hearing the next version of.
Kyle
Me, too.
Kyle
Right. Okay.
Jessica
So you're working on composing that musical. You're working on a short film, the SCI fantasy that we talked about, you're always working on projects for friends. I'm roped you into short films and.
Kyle
A hip hop rap. The Nineties music video.
Kyle
One of the most random calls I've ever gotten. I have. I'm so happy I did.
Kyle
It was it was great.
Kyle
That was.
Kyle
Tastic.
Jessica
We've worked on cabarets together.
Kyle
And.
Jessica
You're making music for a podcast. And then during the days you're also in charge of a department at USC, you are playing piano, you're teaching music lessons, your music directing places. So you have so many applications of this talent craft of music. I want to come back to what's that? We use a cool essence that you have in you, and how does that come out in your day to day life?
Jessica
And also how does that pull you through the years to stay creative and stay artistic?
Kyle
For me, there isn't a distinction between the day to day and the yearly barometer. It is. It's a it's a constant way of being. I think as a musician, for me, it's it's there's no beginning and there is no end. It's just it's a constant stream, if you will. For me, it's it's music because I'm a musician. Music is a way for me to connect and also just own my own personality.
Kyle
Music is a way for me to connect with people and to share and to express things on a deeper level than I would normally be able to do with something else. Yeah, and it manifests in different ways. Again, like you said, whether I'm teaching or I'm writing or music directing or what have you. So it's yeah, that's what it is.
Kyle
That's what brought us together. Despite my love of baked goods and despite your enjoyment of cupcakes the reason I was in that room was because of music. Right? There's that's and that's the the intangible of the that Yeah. That's what's in my I don't have blood in my veins. I have family and friends back east and say I've got music in my veins and I think it's a lovely sentiment and I think frankly it's probably true.
Kyle
Oh absolutely. Yeah. So that's it's music is a powerful tool. Amazing gift to our humanity. And the love thing, that lovely thing about it is that there are a thousand different genres and styles and ways of connecting and communicating with music, with ourselves, with other people, with other cultures and the world and beyond. It's so, yeah, it's, it is who I am.
Kyle
I love that. So I like.
Jessica
To ask all of my guests to give my audience a creative challenge. So this is something where they could go from 0 to 1, create something from nothing, or do something that kind of gets them out of their comfort zone creatively in the realm of your expertise. So if someone considers himself a musician or if they love music but they don't yet identify as a musician, first of all, I know you are passionate about this, so what would you say to them?
Jessica
Identity wise as a musician? And also, yeah, well, what is your challenge? What do you challenge.
Kyle
Them to do?
Kyle
So yeah, to your point about identity, if you express yourself in any way through music, you're a musician. I think.
Jessica
I. Love that. If you express yourself in any way through music, that's a great musician.
Kyle
To.
Jessica
Worry about. If you've been paid for.
Kyle
Dope about your training.
Kyle
Correct?
Jessica
Don't worry about what anybody else says, right? If you express yourself through music, that's a.
Kyle
Force that regardless of any of those things.
Kyle
That's.
Kyle
A challenge. I would use that word challenge people to to connect to to connect with something deep within themselves, whether they can put a name to it or express it or explain it or not in some way. Pick your favorite song, Every piece of music. Take a small little section of it and learn how to play on the piano, sing it, dance it.
Kyle
The thing with each of those things is if you're learning how to play on the piano, there's no filter. It's you and your fingers and the keys. That's it. If you're singing it, get together with a friend. Have them play it on the piano for you or accompany you on the guitar or get it back backing track online somewhere.
Kyle
And when we're singing, that's the most organic way to express yourself as a musician because there's no filter, there's nothing. It's literally your body, your voice. You're not you're not playing instrument, you're not doing anything else. Dance is probably the next the second best. There's no verbal expression, but there's a purely physical. There's there's nothing that you're going through.
Kyle
You're not you're not working through a pencil on paper or a piano or anything else. Dance it out, sing it out, play it out, you know. And again, it goes back to connecting with something within yourself and expressing something. You don't have to know what that thing is, but as long as you are connecting, you will get something out of it.
Kyle
And it could be it doesn't have to be anything deep or profound or anything prophetic. It is anything and everything. It's whatever you want it to be.
Jessica
And you're practicing that skill of accessing what's going on inside, connecting the music and the physicality.
Kyle
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Kyle
Don't have to put it into words. That's all point, right?
Kyle
That's why music is music and it's not working as it is, right? Yeah, that would be my challenge. And if you get something out of it that you can name, great. If you don't, that's also great. But you're connecting and if you as long as it's compelling, which it will be because of what it is, we're all better for it, right?
Kyle
There's something deeper there. There's an expression there, there's a winner. It's like if you're going to a concert or you're going to a movie in a movie theater, your connection with other people, you're expressing something, you're feeling something. There's there's emotional connectivity and, you know, sparks, all of it that happened. So I love.
Jessica
It. So if you do this, the challenge is to take a phrase of music. Yeah, sing it played on the piano or dance.
Kyle
Or instrument.
Jessica
Or an instrument so that you connect to that physicality with the emotion, with the music, right?
Kyle
There's a physical from within any one of the three options, but love it.
Jessica
And then if you do that, put it on the Facebook.
Kyle
Group or on.
Jessica
Creator's Cafe on Instagram and I'll link those all in the show.
Kyle
It's beautiful.
Jessica
It's actually Instagram @creatorscafebykikalabs. So that's there, right? How can people follow you and connect with you? So I know all of your music is on your website, which I'll connect in the show notes.
Kyle
Yes.
Jessica
Do you have an Instagram? You would suggest?
Kyle
Kyle DET music? That's my Instagram handle. That's where I post and let people tag me and post that have to do with composing or music, directing or teaching or playing or other stuff. There's a couple others of piano, Instagram and TikTok account that I have that's just me playing, making random melodies out of the pop songs and show tunes and all the rest of it, you can see.
Kyle
But Kyle DET music is the, shall we say, main one.
Jessica
Okay, perfect. So do you have any last thoughts or wishes or things for the audience to think about? I think you started to touch on it with that, like connecting and enjoying music.
Kyle
Yeah, that's at the end of the day, it is art. Creativity can be found in anything, whether it's quote unquote traditional avenues like music or dance or acting or painting or drawing or anything else is creativity found in every walk of life. That being said the idea of doing something for fun. And I'll say just for the sake of our conversation with for me as a musician, playing an instrument, learning how to play an instrument, learning how to sing, learning how to do anything and doesn't mean that to take lessons that can mean you can just self-taught, just expressing yourself and having something that you do for fun that is a creative outlet is so
Kyle
fantastic and worthwhile. You don't have to be good at it. Whatever good means with that's a whole nother conversation. But, you know, doing something for fun is that's it. That's all you need to do as long as you enjoy it. And it's and you find joy in it. Green life is too short to to think that you have to be good at something to be able to do it or to do it well, it's not worth doing.
Kyle
Absolutely untrue. You know, you're a musician again. You're a musician because you say a musician, period.
Kyle
Great to make.
Jessica
Art and create and do music because you enjoy it.
Kyle
Right?
Kyle
Absolutely.
Jessica
I love it. Thank you so much, my friend.
Kyle
Thank you. It's actually quite for you. I adore you, too.
Jessica
Thank you for talking with us.
Kyle
Thank you.
Kyle
Tears.
Kyle
Yeah.
Jessica
Join the community and share your creative challenges on Instagram and Facebook at Creators Cafe by Kika Labs. And also check out my website www.kikalabs.com. To sign up for the mailing list. So you always know when a new podcast is released and to check out my coaching and digital courses to help you be a more confident and joyful creator.
