Author: susannahmars

I started a class with Stephanie Schneiderman in September. It’s title: You Are the Song. It’s a seven-week course that has led me and several other humans in a step-by-step process of lyric writing and melody composition to create, record and perform an original song. Yikes, right!? Not at all. Stephanie so tenderly and thoughtfully … Read More

Good morning, America, how are you?Say don’t you know me, I’m your native sonI’m the train they call The City of New OrleansI’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done I rode Amtrak last week, taking the route “The Empire Builder,” to Whitefish, Montana. The Portland station is a step back in time. … Read More

It’s you I like, Mr. Rogers I added It’s You I Like to my iPad this past couple of weeks because David Saffert and I — and if you haven’t purchased his new CD yet, there’s still time — are working on a series of songs by Fred Rogers. YES, that Fred Rogers, also known … Read More

Oh, it’s time to start livin’ I’m back to uploading music to forScore, and All Good Gifts is the first song in the “A” notebook to add. This song leads me to Stephen Schwartz — who composed that song for “Godspell.” That leads me to another show written by Mr. Schwartz, “Pippin.” Back in the … Read More

I missed May entirely. It’s audition season, and between learning complex cuts of Sondheim, Schwartz, and various other composers, I’m walking my artistic path prepping for a concert on Father’s Day, meeting with collaborators and dreaming up ideas that “light me up.” Because, you know what? I’m sixty-two years old, and if I knew thirty … Read More

April showers bring My sweet dad’s heavenly birthday was on April 4th. He would have been ninety years old. Oh, my goodness, how I would have loved to have had him in this world longer. Aging looked good on him, in both heart and mind. A prayer for peace This month I’m researching a show … Read More

I’ll be Seeing You was written by Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain and published in 1938. Billie Holiday’s 1944 recording was the final transmission sent by NASA to the Opportunity Rover on Mars when its mission ended in 2019. Cathedral bells were tollingAnd our hearts sang on;Was it the thrill of Paris, or the April … Read More

I’ll be Seeing You was written by Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain and published in 1938. Billie Holiday’s 1944 recording was the final transmission sent by NASA to the Opportunity Rover on Mars when its mission ended in 2019. Cathedral bells were tollingAnd our hearts sang on;Was it the thrill of Paris, or the April … Read More

You’d think that people would’ve had enough of silly love songs It is February, after all, and NO, strangely, I DON’T have this adorable Paul McCartney song in my music trove. What I’m looking at this month are songs in French. Why, might you ask? On February 22nd, I have the great pleasure to sing … Read More

This is the first year that I haven’t felt like I need to change my life completely on New Year’s Day, despite the fact that the internet keeps telling me I need to. I’ve learned to accept my belly fat; my daily meditation practice is working and I have a few other ways to take … Read More