I Heart February: Chantilly Songs

I knew this year that I really wanted to add a little variety here on Shades of Monet. Once February rolled around, I saw nothing more fitting than to do a little love inspired theme. Without further ado, Chantilly will be kickstarting it for me here today.

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Hello, friends of Shades of Monet :) I'm Chantilly. Crazy cat lady, lifestyle blogger, and singer-songwriter.

In honor of the Month of Love, Marisa asked me to share the story of my music- which has been a complicated "love story" for me. The more I look back at my life, the more I realize how it's functioned as a way for me to overcome fears and obstacles.

I've had a knack for singing since I was very young, and was always drawn to music. But growing up, someone very close to me was abusing me. That person also happened to be a musician. This obviously had a big impact on my life in many ways, and my budding talents took a hit, as well.

my brother and i feeding pigeons in the park

Being a little kid, your mind twists around and draws all sorts of conclusions to try to make sense of what's happening. So for a long time, I had the feeling that musicians and certain kinds of instruments were bad. Among other reasons, this made me close the door to music for most of my childhood, and caused me to have a "late start."

However, when something wants to grow, it finds a way. I found that I was drawn to singing and writing songs, despite my negative feelings about it. I was overly critical of myself, and had horrible stage fright, of course. But even though I found a thousand and one ways to push myself down, for some reason still I kept going.

I got a digital recorder, and started writing songs on a casio keyboard. I enrolled in the music program at Community College, and started studying music theory and classical voice. Then finally got accepted to Purchase College... where I learned how to play guitar and perform my songs live.

Since then, I've felt myself slowly letting go of my troubled past, becoming more positive, actively pursuing goals, and letting myself experience the things that I'm naturally drawn to.

I've made a lot of things happen that I never would've dreamed of. Most recently, I recorded an EP with my college friend, Saul. I then decided I wanted to help fund it through a Kickstarter campaign (Marisa was a backer!), and my project ended up being successful!

Right now, I'm working on the logistics of putting out this new set of recordings, which I am so proud of. I also started teaching private music lessons, and this is my main source of income right now!

Future goals include playing more shows in and outside of NYC, seeing my songs featured in movies/ TV shows/ commercials, and growing my network of like-minded folk :)

Thank you so much to Marisa for asking me to participate! I didn't intend to share so much of my story... but I hope I've inspired someone out there. If you've ever felt held back for any reason, please know that you can work through your problems and achieve your goals. I know it's not just as simple as me saying so, but I'm living proof :)

xoxo,

chantilly

www.chantillysongs.com

www.twitter.com/chantillysongs

www.youtube.com/chantillysongs

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Thanks so much Chantilly for sharing your heart and love with us today.  It's not hard to see that you truly have music in your soul, and are quite an inspiration especially to a musician like me.   For all you darlings who have not checked out her blog or music yet, I would most definitely encourage you to do so.  You will not be disappointed:)