Show Notes Cheat Sheet

If you are listening on a podcast player, CLICK HERE to view the full Show Notes Cheat Sheet and watch Melissa's Live performance of "Holding On". 

Melissa Rios Holding on LIVE Performance

Melissa Rios's Current Creative Situation

* Melissa has recorded and released her debut album "Love and Time" and now she is having fun sharing it with the world and building fans by giging around town and selling her CDs.

* She is in the process of starting to record her new album.

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"Having it done and recorded is very nice because I no longer have to isolate myself to focus making the album. Now I can go out and be social."

Three Word Music Description

"Raw, Acoustic, Soul"

 Into Live Performance- "Love and Time"

This song as well as the whole album is inspired by a relationship Melissa Rios was in.

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"This song is about someone wanting to give a little bit more of themselves as well as wanting more from someone else."

*  Melissa had about 40 songs written before she put together this album and she hand picked all of the songs that were about her relationship.

Melissa's Favorite Element of "Love and Time"

*  The vocal was something Melissa really enjoyed doing on this song because it allowed her to let loose and really process the emotion related to the topic of the song.

* At first Melissa wasn't sure if her vocal technique would transfer well to the performance of the song but after she got her feet wet this became one of her favorite songs.

Melissa's Influences

* As far as an overall musical sound, the blues has really inspired Melissa.

* For the lyrical side of things, Melissa enjoys artists such as:

* Hozier

* Ed Sheeran 

* Jason Mraz

* KT Tunstal

* Adele

* Melissa really enjoys how these lyricists are able to tell you exactly how they feel through song.

* It seems that these artists get to say everything they need to say without leaving out any crucial details of the situation.

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"Whenever I am writing, that is what I am trying to put out in the song."

Melissa's Lifestyle

* Melissa's life is all about music.

* She performs, writes, and teaches music for a living.

How Teaching Music Influences Melissa's Songwriting

*  Melissa's been teaching for about 4 years.

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"The more you teach, the more you realize your strengths and weaknesses."

* Melissa has taught people how to play and write music from ages 6-60.

* Be biggest skill Melissa has developed is discovering the "core" of something.

* This allows Melissa to look under the hood of any topic and be able to identify the key components that make it work.

* Once she has recognized that, the challenge is being able to explain something complex to someone else in a simple way.

*  The same skill can be applied to songwriting. Writing a lyric that explains something complicated in a simple way is not an easy task and it becomes even harder when you have to match the right instrumental to the lyric.

* Since Melissa teaches songwriting, she is in a really cool position because she is often the first person to hear her students' original songs.

* After Melissa listens, they sometimes start working on the song together.