Editorial Review Product Description Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: January 18, 1982 ) in Nevada City, California Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American harpist, pianist, and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California. Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California. She was exposed to music from a young age. Her father plays guitar, and her mother is a classically trained pianist who also plays hammered dulcimer, autoharp, and conga drums. She attended a Waldorf school, where she studied theater and learned to memorize and recite long poems, a skill that she has said helps her to remember lyrics to her long songs while on tour. Newsom had known since age two or three that she wanted to play the harp. Her parents eventually agreed to sign her up for harp lessons, but the local harp teacher did not want to take on such a young student and suggested that she learn to play the piano first. After four years of piano lessons (starting when she was four), she began playing the harp, which she "loved from the first lesson onward." Her harp teacher taught her about composition and improvisation. Newsom learned to play on progressively larger Celtic harps, until her parents bought her a full-size pedal harp in the seventh grade. Newsom studied composition and creative writing at Mills College, Oakland, California. While at Mills, she played keyboards in The Pleased. In 2002 and 2003, respectively, Newsom recorded two EPs, Walnut Whales and Yarn and Glue. These homemade recordings were intended to serve as a document of her songs, which she had previously been recording on a Fisher-Price tape recorder. These EPs were not originally intended for public distribution, but at the suggestion of Noah Georgeson (who had helped her record the songs, and who was her boyfriend at the time), she burn... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=936694 ... Read more |