Julia Pinckney Jones Music

In my very first blog post , (which was actually written long before the version of it posted on this blog) I talked about the differences between "Capital A" Artists and Performers, and how I am, at heart, a performer. Back then, I was still doing a bit of theatre work, singing with a couple of cover bands, and starting to turn my "side hustle" (teaching) into my main money earning job. Cut to 2018. I haven't had a non-music job in almost 2 years... which is awesome! I have discovered a love for teaching that I hadn't really known was there, and I feel immeasurably lucky that I get to make music almost every day. I work a couple of days a week at a "strip mall music school" and the remainder of the week I teach from home, under the name Desert Home Music . I started this company with my husband/bassist/arranger/all around awesome dude, Adam Jones. We learned a lot having piloted this business model when we lived in Portland, and were able to tak...

There is a pervasive prejudice in the greater musical community that I feel the need to address. It's not a racial thing or a sexist thing (although those definitely exist in the music community as everywhere, and they do tend to amplify the problem) but since we, as musicians, are a comparatively small group in the larger scheme of things, it doesn't get much publicity. But I've seen it continue unchecked throughout my entire career, and no one seems to be calling it out, so I will. I've heard it in no uncertain terms from many musicians who I (up until they said it) respected. I've seen (and been hurt by) the effects of it, in situations where I didn't get a job or a performance opportunity that I was uniquely qualified for, or in musical activities where I was actively or passively discouraged from participating. As with many prejudiced beliefs, this one tends to blame the "victim" and claim that "if "they" would only do (whatever)...

At the end of June this year, I was exhausted.  Not incredibly uncommon, I know - after all, I'm a music teacher and performer, and May and June are full of performance opportunities for my students (and for me)! The school year is winding down and students are more easily distracted, so it's a bit harder work to teach them than usual. And of course it didn't help that we were in the beginning stages of planning an out-of-state move and a ton of travel over the summer. But to be honest, while all of those things exacerbated the problem, the main reason I was so exhausted was that I hadn't really had a full, planned-for day off since January. There was the occasional day when all my students on a given day would cancel and I'd suddenly have no teaching work to do, but there was always a webpage to update, a blog post to write, social media content to post, schedules and accounts to update, etc etc etc. So I would usually take some of that unexpected "fre...

Today is my mom's birthday.  I should warn you, before you read any further, that this post is likely to get a bit maudlin... since this is the second birthday that she hasn't been around for. But it's still her day, in my mind, and it's one of the hardest days for me in terms of my own personal "grief journey."  Now, I don't imagine that my experience is all that unusual or special, or that it's any "harder" for me than for anyone else who has lost a loved one. Everyone's experience is unique, and we can never really understand what someone else is going through. So all I really know is what I'm going through. And what I'm going through today is hard. I miss Mom every day, and a huge percentage of my time is spent doing things that directly remind me of her, every day. I can't avoid the "triggers" because my career is a trigger.  Today, as with most days, I spent a good portion of my day teaching musi...

I'm pretty lucky. I get to make my living doing the thing that I'm most passionate about: making music. I can finally say that again, and it feels really good. So please don't take what's about to come as any indication that I don't like my job(s), because I do. About 80% of the time, I would even say I love it (and that's a pretty great place to be)! I do have a bit of a pet peeve, however, and it's this quote: Because it's a load of hooey and those of us who work in the entertainment industry know it. Yes, we do what we love. Yes, we are aware that this fact makes us extremely lucky. Doing a job one loves, for a living, is the fantasy of many, many people, who don't get to spend every day working on their passion. But the key word here is, in fact, still working . We work (and work hard!) every day. I, for one, average 50-60 hours a week. I love performing, and I love teaching. But both of those things require a great deal of prep w...

This writing project was always my favourite part about going back to school. Honestly, I was kind of a nerd and the whole "going back to school" thing was super-exciting for me. Even now, I get all excited about shopping for paper and pens and pencils, reorganizing my desk and starting "fresh" for the new school year.  But the annual written retrospective on the summer that just passed was extra special. We always pretty much did the same stuff, year after year, but getting to think about it and remember it, fix the best memories in my mind while everything was still fresh - I've always loved it.  I had a pretty awesome summer, really - not as exciting as 2013, when I got married, or as adventurous as 2014, when we roadtripped across two countries (and back again) and certainly not as dramatic as 2015, which started with a wedding, included an international move, and ended with a funeral. No, this summer was just a collection of all the things that I...

JPJQ's CD Release Party in Vancouver BC was a big success and a fantastic time! We spent a week in Vancouver, catching up with old friends, rehearsing, recording, (and even taught a few lessons!) and finally playing this amazing show before heading back home to Portland... it was wonderful. The Fox Cabaret were such welcoming hosts, and I couldn't have asked for a better lineup of bands. JPJQ Team Vancouver (+2) was up first, playing selections from the I Want Love album - not enough time to do it all, on a 3 band bill - and it went really well! It was such a joy to be back playing with the people who made the album possible in the first place, and to see so many of our friends out enjoying the show (and on a "school night," even!)  The guys sounded great and the horns were hotter than the stage lights - Thank you all so much! Following JPJQ was the wonderful Jen Lewin Band (of which I was a member, many moons ago - Jen even had me sing along on one...

The View from the Schoening's Back Yard To be honest, it isn't quite a year... we headed south on June 29, 2015. But it's been an eventful year, nonetheless, and the last few days of extremely hot, summery weather has made me think about the year in review, and how I feel about our first year in Portland. I don't know what I expected from moving this time... I knew Portland would be less expensive than Vancouver BC (because really, almost nowhere is more expensive than Vancouver BC), and I'd heard that although it is getting tougher to be a working musician in Portland than it once was, it was still a pretty good place to develop a career. And Portland hasn't disappointed on that front. Within a year, Adam and I have: Released an album Had a successful album release party Started our own music school, which is picking up steam Found so much teaching work that we're already at the point of being able to pick and choose which jobs to take (and be...

From left: Timothy Van Cleave, Adam Jones, Julia Pinckney Jones, Kevin Karrick, Katie Presley, Stan Bock A Fantastic Night At Vie De Boheme! JPJQ's album "I Want Love" launched in high style at Vie de Boheme Wine Bar in Portland on May 4th... the room is lovely and the band sounded great! I was so thrilled that we had such a warm, receptive audience and everyone had a lovely time. Special thanks to all who attended - after paying the band and the wonderful photographer, we even made a little money! We hope to return to this beautiful venue soon, and introduce it (and ourselves) to even more people! What's Next for JPJQ? As of yesterday, all the copies of the CD destined for our Indiegogo supporters have been packaged, and we just have to get them in the mail! Stay tuned, intrepid fans! On the 23rd of June, JPJQ (Team Vancouver) will be celebrating the Canadian launch of "I Want Love" (as well as promoting two of our dear friends' ongoin...

Click the photo to see JPJQ's Facebook Event Page The Big Day is Coming! I'm so excited to be getting ready for JPJQ's big Album Release Party in less than 2 weeks (Holy Kamoley)! We had a fantastic rehearsal this past Monday with Team Portland of the JPJQ, along with our amazing special guests Katie Presley (trumpet) and Stan Bock (trombone). The band is going to sound so hot! Adam has added some extra horn parts (in addition to the ones on the album) and, unsurprisingly, they sound great... and we even have a few surprises in store for our supporters and friends in the audience! We've also booked a photographer to come and document our big debut, but if you're coming, we encourage you to take photos and video and share them with us - it takes a village (or a city) to promote an album, apparently! If you haven't already made plans for Wednesday, May 4th , please come down to Vie de Boheme  to help us launch our album! Admission is only $7, and yo...

I can't believe what a big deal it feels like to me that I Want Love  is now available on iTunes and CD Baby ! It shouldn't, I suppose, but it does. And I know Mom would be so incredibly thrilled to see her music up there, too! The CDs are on their way, and will (oh gosh, I sure hope they will) be ready and down in Portland in time for our CD Release Party on May 4th at the gorgeous Vie De Boheme Wine Bar and Restaurant! After so much waiting and planning, it's awesome that I finally have news to share and enough developments every week that it's easy to figure out what to say on "Website Updating Day" (formerly known as Friday)! So next week there'll be a bunch more information about this, but for now, just the teaser....

I'm so happy to announce that "I Want Love" is finally on its way to our Earlybird Downloaders! It's been a long haul and we were a tiny bit late, but it's worth it! Everything is finally in place, and if you are one of the people who got a download as part of your Indiegogo perk, you should be able to get the album now on a "hidden page" on JPJQ's website! Unfortunately, since apparently Wix music doesn't yet offer a download code system, we can only offer the downloads to people who've prepurchased the album at this time. But not to worry!   I Want Love  will be available for purchase on the website within the next couple of weeks, and if you really can't wait, just go to our (still technically operating) Indiegogo page and buy the download. As soon as you do, I'll send you a link to the download page! The CD will be available soon, too- just finalizing a few things before sending it into production - still hoping to actua...

The Big Day is almost here!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! The layouts are almost done for our CDs, the mastering is finished, and even though we're going to be a few days late on our "Earlybird Digital Release" we're soooooooo close to releasing this album!  We've already booked our Portland CD Release party for May 3rd at the gorgeous Vie De Boheme (1530 SE 7th Avenue) and we have plans in the works for a fantastic show in Vancouver in June (with some other amazing musicians) - stay tuned for more information! I'm really proud of this album - it means a lot that we got to record it with our dear friends, and that so many of our loved ones supported our efforts to make it! Thank you all again for your contributions - I hope you're as happy with the final product as we are! Lots of love, and we'll talk soon! Julia

Happy New Year! A lot has happened since my last entry - it turns out that running an Indiegogo campaign is kind of a full-time job! It was great, though - and not just because we made our goal... It put me back in touch with friends I hadn't talked to in over 20 years, and reminded me again of the power of music to move people.  I feel so incredibly lucky to have the people in my life that I have. My band is made up of some of the most generous, talented, supportive human beings a person could imagine. My friends and family have done so much for me in a pretty difficult time, and have stepped up in every possible way to help. My employers are gracious and helpful - even though I haven't been working for them for very long - and my students are by turns adorable, challenging, and inspirational. The album is going to be great. We have all the tracks in the can and now we're just polishing. (Well, and mixing, mastering, manufacturing, distributing, negotiating...

Last week, we launched our Indiegogo Campaign, and we couldn't be happier with the response we've seen so far. Lots of people have been coming out of the woodwork to help us make this record a reality. I'm thrilled! In our first week "live" we've managed to raise more than half of our stated funding goal. It's pretty encouraging, but now the hard part begins. Our parents and closest friends have already contributed, so what do we do now? How do you keep up that kind of momentum? I'm seriously asking. I don't know. I have limited control over who actually even sees my Facebook updates - which is the "social media" format I'm most familiar with - and I resist the idea of spending my own cash (or worse, the cash of our early investors) to "boost" posts. Should I run a contest? There's apparently a way on Indiegogo to track who refers people to your page, and if they wind up investing, the referrer gets "credit...

Visit our Indiegogo Campaign Page! So I've got the blog. I've got multiple webpages. I've got Facebook pages for me, my band, and our music school. I'm on LinkedIn and G+ and Twitter (and I'm trying to keep everything updated, with varying levels of success). Then we decided to do a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for our new album. Setting up the actual Indiegogo campaign was pretty easy, actually. They have lots of online research and resources to set you up for success. I read (and watched) almost all of them. Their interface is pretty intuitive, and although you have limited control of the layout, it does create an attractive page. The video component gave me a bit more pause. Indiegogo campaigns do not  require  a video, but they make it pretty clear that without one, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot. So I set out to make a pitch video. Now, I've always been a bit creeped out watching myself on video, so I haven't really s...

This is my mom, Joyce (Reatherford) Pinckney. She was what I always used to call a "Professional tough act to follow." I'll get the sad news out of the way first. She passed away last month, and I miss her like crazy. But now for the good news. She remains a touchstone for everything I want to accomplish in the world. She exemplified the love of music that I want to inspire in my students and my audiences, and her celebration of life "party" was evidence of all the lives she touched; all the people who loved her, whether they'd known her for only a few months, or since they were 5 years old. I remember the students coming and going from our house, always thrilled with the new songs that Mom assigned for them to learn - especially when she started writing teaching music for them (and ultimately, publishing it)! One of her former students, now grown, even went home during the party, only to come back with a stack of her music that he played to entertain ...

So here we are, 2 weeks after arriving in Portland. I've been busy unpacking and organizing, setting up my office (otherwise known as the back half of the bedroom!) and setting myself random errands to run with the intention of starting to figure out how to get around this new city, in which I've hardly driven at all. (Adam knew his way around, so I mainly just "passengered.")  The list is extremely long of all the things we need to to - moving to another country is not for the faint of heart, people! Car stuff, drivers' licence stuff (which are 2 separate tasks), healthcare stuff, taxation stuff, cell phones and mailing lists and subscriptions, the list goes on... Not to mention the entirely different (but just as long) list of all the professional things we have to do: we have a record tracked and waiting for editing and production, websites, update contact information on, well, everything, get a job, (and probably another job), make a plan for private less...

... I can't carry a tune in a bucket. ... my voice just sounds so terrible. ... I have to be really drunk, first. It makes me sad, frankly, to think that so many people will never know the sheer, unadulterated joy of singing out as loudly as they want to, for whomever may be in the vicinity, unselfconsciously and just because it feels good. And baby, it feels GOOD. So what makes us believe we can't sing, and what can we do about it? I believe music - making it as well as simply enjoying it - is as vital as physical activity to keep us sane and healthy. Imagine if we thought of exercise the same way we think about singing. I, for example, am pretty clumsy and have no hand/eye coordination, short legs and no gift at any sport I've ever tried. I'm not fast, I'm not terribly strong, and while I'm pretty competitive, that part of my nature is more directed at board games than field games.  But I know that being physically active is good for me, that s...

I'm sure all musicians get this question, and those of us who perform mainly cover songs probably get it more than most! Fact is, that's one of the reasons I gravitated to cover bands in the first place. There's so much great material out there that I hate to choose! When I was a kid, my favourite singer, the one I wanted to emulate, was Linda Ronstadt. She wasn't the absolute best at anything, but it seemed like she sounded "right," whether she was singing country or jazz or pop, or even operetta. And that's what transfixed me. I wanted to be able to do a creditable job of every single vocal style I tried. I think I've done a pretty good job at that. In the last week, I've sung jazz standards, alt-country, disco, washy/sexy background vocals,  motown and rock & roll with various bands (who keep calling me to come back!) and I love every minute of it. What do I  like best, though? I still don't have a good answer. I love singing dis...