Hi Little Mouse!

Singer/Songwriter/Producer

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It is easy to lose yourself and forget what is important. Music has always been a part of me.

I won my first local singing contest in middle school and went on to a state competition where I was terrified but calmed winning a 2nd place ribbon. I was the highest soprano and getting A’s in Art and Music but had no clue that I could do something with it?! I didn’t find my voice until I started writing songs. Whatever your age, find your passion, dig down to something you enjoyed as a child and start doing it again.

I've been plunking around on the piano since I was little. With two years of classical training and all my easy-play books I became reliant on sheet music. I had no idea I could create music until a friend prompted me to just try, “I bet you have songs in you!”

My “Find Your Way” album was started with writing my first song “Surrender/Sun Rays” (Track 7) on notation paper. A series of the wrong notes and then the right notes plotted on paper with a treble and bass clef, slowly moved into a recording and edited.

All vocals, piano or any other sounds you hear were captured in my home studio mostly created on my digital upright Roland keyboard piano, captured on my iMac or with my Playstation Logitech microphone. (Imogen Heap style.)
The beauty of releasing the CD is that I did it… countless hours of reading, research, shopping, practicing, playing, retakes, creating, life, sadness and happiness culminate into this self-produced debut CD.

I write about love, loss, and “Finding Your Way” (Track 4). Delicate piano-driven songs, somewhat tortured-artist-therapy-style (“sad girl music”) like Fiona Apple and Tori Amos with an overall message of love and hope. I am told my songs are sad with great depth and they make some cry or be encouraged all at the same time.

Two songs are about death, one “For Sam” (Track 9 instrumental) our Jack Russell of fifteen years and the other about my father who died “when I was six” (Track 8), he was in the military away on tours of duty so I have little memory of him but fortunately he wrote poems and sent his voice on cassettes from oversees.

Most of my songs are about love…love found in “Ever Since I Found You” (Track 5) and “Sun Rays” (Track 7), love out of our control or slipping away “Rock n River” (Track 2), love withheld, forgotten, or lost “Locust Wings” (Track 3). An overall peace resides if we trust enough to let go and know that all is held safely within a master plan.

“Many Are The Plans” (Track 1) was written in about an hour, inspired from Proverbs 19:21. A turning point in my life was reading “Purpose Driven Life”, the first line says “It’s not all about you”. We all have a grand purpose but it’s easy to busy our lives and it keeps us from what we should be doing.

My eyes were closed but I was unaware, my heart was very hurt and becoming angry, confident yet filled with self-doubt, fooling myself I thought I was “spiritual” and “just fine” but much in need of therapy, church, friends, reading, guidance, prayer “Your Power” (Track 6), and continued sorting it all out. All in the name of seeking purpose or true happiness.
I will tell you in the midst of your darkest days, the longest trials, and the deepest love or hurt… this is when we learn the most and we are not alone. God uses it all for his good.

Along the way, I found, “It Is Well With My Soul” (Track 10), the one song I did not write.  You can release songs that are considered ‘public domain’, that means no one owns them at the moment or they are old songs. A friend asked me to include this hymn, it is from a true tragic story. Inspired, I found chord charts, rearranged, learned the song and added it at the last minute. I had heard this lovely song when I had just begun writing music, it moved me then, and seemed important to add to the album. The song speaks to eternal hope that all believers have, no matter what pain and grief befall them on earth.

What I’ve been told… much of this was from the myspace days, anyone remember it, pre-facebook days. When I created my music it was a fun way to share it initially.

• "You sound like an angel."

• "You sound like Sia's song Breathe Me."

• "I could hear the Fiona influence."

• "...Like Nelly Furtado's song In God's Hands."

• "Find Your Way reminds me of Sufjan Stevens." (I layer in flute)

• "Not unlike Tori! ...good company to keep! I really like your stuff...that's pretty amazing, the sound you've been able to get with such humble equipment. There's a "clean purity" to your music that I really like, and the nice "delicate" vocals...very very nice."

• "I listened to your stuff. It's very tranquil. It's actually nice to listen to something without getting agitated every once in a while! We'd be glad to consider your CD for distribution if you're interested."

• "I saw you were a friend of Imogen Heap so I thought a would check out your music, I am very impressed, you have a great voice and lovely music."

• "So very happy that I found you, please approve my request. I can't wait to hear all that you have given us. Cheers from Denver! Are you coming here anytime soon?"

• "Once again your words are powerful, very powerful. I listened like 7 times in a row!! Keep doing your thing."

• "Your music is really good. It's a little off center, which is totally refreshing. I am always seeking out music that is different. Please keep doing it."

• "The content of your songs express 'love", that's a great & powerful concept! Not to leave out the fact that your voice is very sensual! Don't let anything hold you back!"

• "You are an amazing singer. You have a great voice. I like “when i was 6”.

• "My daughter wanders around the house singing "...listen to your heart..." If she isn't doing it, I find myself singing it while I do little things like emptying the dishwasher! She'll say, "Mommy, we have that song stuck in our heads!" I'm serious! And your newest song is beautiful...Keep doing what you are doing...It's wonderful!!!"

• "You have a beautiful voice and I'd love to talk to you about collaborating if your interested... Well you are definitely talented and I know God has anointed you with that talent!"

Thanks for listening and hope you had fun.

To God Be the Glory,
Little Mouse (Tanya)

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed...Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

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My influences…

• God, family, friends, and you!

• Playing "Heart and Soul" and "Color My World" with family around age 5

• My artistic Grandparents, and Mom, and Dad (who died at 43, he was a Navy Pilot)

• 4th grade morning "Recorder Playing Club"... it takes music to get me up early... and I had to walk a mile!

• My classical piano teacher of two years and all my easy play books

• Music of the 70's & 80's, step families, Solid Gold, Casey Kasem, and MTV

• Married life and reality TV

• Singing harmonies w/ the church band

• Reading, movies, soundtracks, art, watching other artists perform

• Everything...Top 40, Pop, Rock, Folk, Rap, R&B, Christian, Country, New Age, Classical and every song or artist I've ever heard.

Artists who inspire me most…

• Fiona Apple, Madonna, Avril Lavigne, Imogen Heap, Plumb, Rachael Yamagata, Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette, Evanescence, Anna Nalick, Jim Brickman, Tom Barabas, Beethovan, Sufjan Stevens, Alicia Keys, Alison Krauss, Michelle Branch, Norah Jones, Jem, Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, Vanessa Carlton, Nickel Creek, Hoobastank, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, The Judds, Ace of Base, The Corrs, Hayley Westenra, Joni Mitchell, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Barlow Girls

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Memories ...

I’ve been playing piano since I was little. Earliest memories around age 5 playing "Joy to the World...all the boys and girls...", "Color My World", and "The Entertainer"... from my "Big Note-Grade Level One" book. My oldest sister taught me how to play. My mom taught me too, yelling from the kitchen when I hit a wrong note, she was also an Art teacher. My father wrote poetry and painted however he was away landing jets on aircraft carriers. My grandmother was a piano teacher but she always lived several states away with my grandfather also a piano teacher and principal. He wrote several operettas and played a perfect rendition of "Moonlight Sonata" which was amazing.