1. Do you have Sheet Music available?

I get this question asked a lot. To answer, yes. But not all of it is downloadable quite yet. All of the music from The Lullaby Album is available, and 5 songs from Key of Sea are available (more to come soon).

As for the music from my first album, Key of Sea, I'm posting those as I get them finished. To explain my process, when I write music I handwrite most everything onto manuscript paper. Right now, I am manually entering all of my music into a notation program called Finale. It is time consuming because sometimes I abbreviate my notation when I am composing, or don't finish but ad-lib during the recording process, or don't write it down at all. So I have to go back and listen to my pieces by ear (from the recording) and write it down...which is a lengthy process.

I am also a wife and mom, and projects like notation sometimes take a back seat.

Right now you can find "A Beautiful Storm", "The Red Aspens", "Will's Song", "Pure", and "Suite Dreams" for sale on my Sheet Music page. The next ones I'm transcribing are "Somewhere", "You By My Side", and "Release" so look for those soon.

Please visit my the Sheet Music page for more info.

2. Can you send me an autographed picture?

In the past, I did this. And for free. However, it really started to add up by the time you take the photo printing, packaging, and mailing into consideration. I'm just an independent artist and do not have the big financial support of a record label. So to answer, no I do not do this anymore. However, if you absolutely must have one, email me and I can send you an address of where to send a personal check to cover my costs to send an autographed photo.

3. What inspires you to write music? Or, what is your composition process?

I am a pretty slow composer. There have only been a rare few instances when a song came to me like a flood and I just couldn't write it down fast enough. But usually, it is a lengthy process.

Inspiration comes to me in a few different ways. One way, is that I'm a very visual person. When I dream or brainstorm, I often think in colors or images. For example, if I think of a beach I will think of what color the sky is, what color the water is, is it day or night? Are there people on the beach, what is the mood, what are the sounds that I hear? Those types of visual/mental images get me to a place where I start to hear the "sountrack" for that image.

Another form of inspiration for me is simply listening to music. I always get ideas when I listen to Classical radio, or go to a concert, or what not. My song "Romance Theme" came to me after seeing a youtube video of a short film where the music was recorded backwards. I thought it was a genius idea and the beginning of that piece I recorded a few measures and then reversed it.

Lastly, feelings. I am greatly inspired by the little moments I experience as a wife and a mother. A warm embrace from my husband, or watching my baby boy learn new things or view the world. Or watching him sleep. These are all great sources of musical inspiration.

4. Who are some of your favorite composers or artists?

My favorite Classical artist is concert violinist Hilary Hahn. Out of all the fabulous violinists out there, I really prefer her style the most. And I like her personality - she is very down to earth. I love reading her journal from her website.

I also love the music of Paul Schwartz, Josh Groban, and Hailey Westenra. I really love so many different types of music it is hard to only say a few. But the ones I have mentioned are who I prefer to listen to when I want to sit down and listen to music.

I love film music, so composers like Hans Zimmer, John Williams, etc. catch my ear. And of course the Classics like Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Satie, etc. will always have a place in my heart.

5. What is your goal with your music?

To be perfectly honest, I don't care about becoming famous. I've never sought to be signed to a record label, or to be a household name. All that I truly want is for my music to be found talented. There are plenty of talent-LESS artists out there who are household names. I would prefer to be considered talented and remain a normal human being. I just want to create music to my greatest capacity and for others to think "Gee that really is great music" too.

6. Are you ever going to put out a Christmas Album?

I put this question on here (as of 1/01/10) because this past winter I was asked this question almost daily. As of right now, I have no immediate plans to put out a Christmas album. My next project is a solo album (Portraits) and perhaps after I finish that, I will try my hand at a Christmas album. After having just finished a themed album (The Lullaby Album) I want to kind of steer clear of any confined areas when it comes to my creativity right now. I don't want to be just limited to Christmas songs or anything else. I am very much in the mood to branch out and explore what I have inside as far as my own original music is concerned right now. As much as I dearly love Christmas music and lullabies, I do need a project in between that allows me to create the passionate and dynamic music that my heart yearns to create. After I get some of that out of my system, then I will consider doing a Christmas album.

I do, however, have a few different arrangements of Christmas songs that I have written over the past year or so that I am going to try to get into sheet music form and make available. They are "Carol of the Bells", "O Holy Night", and then a mix of "Carol of the Bells and What Child is This?".

7. Where can I listen to you live in concert?

I perform around the Seattle area several times a year, and before my son was born in June of 08 I was doing several solo concerts in WA, ID, and UT. I have had many requests to do more solo concerts again, and I may be doing some of these in 2010. I also have a project in the works for Christmas of 2010 that I can't really say anything about yet, but will be huge and a lot of fun.

To be honest, after my son was born I was so busy being a new mom that I really did not have a lot of time in my life to concentrate on performing for a long while. When you are not consistently performing, you lose a lot of your ability to put on a great concert. I was heavily involved in composing and recording The Lullaby Album, and any type of performing publicy was not in my schedule, due to the amount of practice time it would take to prepare. Preparing to do these solo concerts are a huge undertaking.

I just recently performed one of my songs (A Beautiful Storm) for a concert here in Seattle on New Years Eve 2009. It was the first time in 18 months that I had performed one of my original pieces from my debut album live in concert. It gave me a bit of a taste of what it would be like to prepare to do that again. If you could get a glimpse into my daily life and see how whenever I practice the piano I have a little 18 month old who climbs up onto the piano bench and pounds the piano keys with me (usually hogging all of the essential notes I need to play), you would probably giggle and wonder how on earth I manage to get anything done at all. :) I suppose it serves as reminder that there is always a time and season for everything. Even if right now is not my time to be concertizing, there will come a day when it will be once again. I really do love to perform.

Do you have a question? Email Jennifer at jennifer@jenniferthomasmusic.com