Cerulean Jade Update: October 30, 2013

My brother and I, aka Cerulean Jade, is on Spotify!  We've been on there a year with our single Dream Maze, thanks to digital distribution through cdbaby.  But even knowing we paid for the distribution we didn't know our song was on this popular streaming site.  How did we find out?  After months and months we logged into the cdbaby website to see how things were going.  There we saw we'd made about $1.30 in streaming . . . $0.03 from Spotify.  Spotify!!?

When Steven told me, I rushed to the screen to see for myself.  Yes, $0.03 isn't a lot of money, but it's something!  And it means someone other then us found the song and listened to it.  That's really cool.

I just want to personally thank those who have downloaded Dream Maze and Sing We Now of Christmas.  It really means so much.

Right now one of the main things Steven and I are focusing on is getting a piano version together for Done With Gravity.  It's been so hard!  We've struggled at the piano trying to get the song to work.  The transitions have been the hardest, specifically between the verse and chorus, but recently we had a breakthrough and a solid direction of where to take the piece.  The whole mood has changed, and I'm liking the progress and feel of it so far.  Personally I'm aching to get it online!  And then we'll upload the original version, piano version, and instrumental track on Band Camp.  We're holding off putting it on cdbaby and digital distrabution for now, waiting to get together a full album, which is a ways away.  Band Camp is a fantatic place to sale our music until the album comes out. 

I can't wait to get this song up and the video recorded, and then after that we'll start uploading more original songs :0) 

Imagination and the World Wide Web

(By Joel Robinson)

About a couple months ago this image was making it's rounds around the Internet.  In short it went viral.  I found it on my brother Steven's Facebook page, who shared it from George Takei's fan page.

I connected to it immediately.  This image represents my life; the inner worlds I live within.  Each World is rich and vibrant, with fun, interesting characters.  My family has learned that when I start laughing to let me laugh and not ask what I find funny.  My Dad learned this the hard way over ten years ago.  He begged me to tell him why I was laughing.  "Trust me, you don't want to know!" "What is it?"  I merely shook my head, "You'll regret it."  "No I won't."  Sure enough, about 10 minutes into my explanation, he exclaimed "Stop!  Stop!  Sorry I asked!"  He's also learned not to ask me about the Circle of 5ths.   

I'm a pretty hardcore introvert, textbook introvert, and I wonder sometimes if extraverts live such interesting inner lives.  Back in High School I learned I was the only one in my group of friends who thought in images, they all thought only in words, and that got me thinking about how different we all are in our procressing, thinking, and daydreaming.  

Anyway, I digress.  

This image was created by Joel Robinson.  I found his blog, a great website where he provides free photography tutorials, where he addresses this creation of his.  The title of the post is "The 'Borrowed' Photographer."  The post is actually really sad, where he addresses the Internet's problem of stolen images where credit is not given.  In some instances images are taken and resold.  It's a huge problem.  He's been mocked and made fun of for the image, and it's come to the point where he's learned to be indifferent to his dragon image.

It's a post worth reading, and it's funny that the image I found was one of the altered photo's with Joel's name removed.  

When Steven and I first started putting music online as Cerulean Jade, he said he wanted to put full audio tracks on Youtube.  His claim was that it would end up on there anyway, and it gives people a chance to listen to the full version.  Still, I understand the reasoning, and as artist it helps people find us and get us out there, but Youtube is notorious for songs getting taken and re-posted, with no need to purchase.  Most of the songs we're doing are cover songs, in which we wont be selling, but even with Dream Maze and my two Christmas Songs, only a couple downloads have been purchased.  It honestly encourages me to work harder, to write songs that people will want to buy, because even though I love Dream Maze, and it will sound awesome in Japanese (Steven's working on a translation; we've decided that all our original songs will have a Japanese version that's we'll sing), it's not the sort of style everyone will like.  It's interesting and artistic.  

It is a risk to put things online for free, but at the same time the Internet is an amazing tool.  As a kid I would never have imagined that such a platform and world stage would exist, and I grew up on Star Trek.  Anyone, from all over the world, can find and listen to our music, and that's amazing.

Sarah       

The Dream Maze Music Video that Didn't Happen

Life is about taking chances, making mistakes, and learning a little something along the way.  This experience was one for the lesson books.  We were planning on releasing a Music Video along with the song Dream Maze online, but we bit off more then we could chew.

The original plan was to have, intermingled with shots of me singing, animation sequences.  We filmed the video last March, with the help of our friend Josh and his equipment.  Then during the Summer Steven started on the art, but with him being in school and senior project responsibilities, doing animation sequences was asking a bit much.  The sequences started out grand, until they got simpler and simpler, and then at the last minute we decided to scrap the project for a lyric video, because we wanted to release something that was clean and refined. 

Here's a sampling of the style we were going to use in the video.  I think she's absolutely gorgeous.  She  needs to be used in another project; She's worth saving.

Right now it's only Steven and I, and in the future we're going to be realistic in regards to what we can accomplish, and learn from what we did here.  It's not a huge loss by any means.  And we have many projects, video projects, that we're going to get into when Steven graduates in April.  We're both counting down the days.

Always,
Sarah

Dream Maze Lyrics

Dream Maze

There’s no way out

Walls continue on forever, all around

There’s no doorway

Don’t know where to go

Aimlessly, moving along

I am trapped in silence

Not a voice to lead me to my home

There’s no one to fallow

Which direction?

No instructions.

Walking through this world all alone

Do I dream?

Is this real or just imagined? I can’t tell.

Ghostly shadows

Dancing through the night

Whispering, sights unseen.

Slowing slipping under

Giving in to all this Fantasy

Where this leads, I wonder

Going Foreword

I’ll go upward

Searching this Dream Maze on my own

Can I fly above this tapestry?

  This dream maze?

  I'll go high so I can truly see

  The walls that bind me

so I can finally be free

Be free

Now I see

All the walls that still surround me has no end

Painted faces

Pointing endlessly

Tempting me, I will not go

Storm clouds quickly gather

Circling winds cut through the white washed leaves

Masking all perception

Want to crumble

Cannot stumble

Open a doorway to the light.

Can I fly above this tapestry

  This dream maze

  I'll go high and I can truly see

  The walls that bound me, 

and now I'll  finally be free

Be free

Dream Maze is on Youtube!

I'm so thrilled to show you guys the song my brother Steven and I have been working months on!  And I'm thrilled to announce the Talea website is up and going again.  My brother is amazing!

Also, sometime yesterday Dream Maze got uploaded to iTunes.  It's really cool being on that store.  I'm so glad cdBaby, who we're distributing our music through, makes it easy for independent artist to get music on the web.  They provide a great service.  Another awesome service cdbaby provides is adding a music store to facebook pages.  It looks really snazzy.  you can check out our link here: www.facebook.com/pages/Cerulean-Jade/288513324513244

I hope you guys enjoy the song!  We're working on more originals that I hope will be out in the next few months, and a couple of cover songs for fun.

Always,
Sarah

Launching Dream Maze and Cerulean Jade

 

 (Day 2 of the 365 day photo challenge)

My brother Steven and I are launching a new musical duo called Cerulean Jade.  For the last several months we've been working on our new song, Dream Maze, to go online.  It's been quite a process.  Many ups and downs and learning curves, trying to figure out what works and trying not to bite off more then we can chew, which we have from time to time.  

Yesterday we took our song on the road to hear how the final master sounds in my Dad's car.  It was an important test, because when we tried to master my two Christmas songs back in 2010, the arrangement completely disappeared on his system, and we could not figure out how to fix the problem.  But this time the master worked!  And the arrangement was easy to hear.

(Day 3 of the 365 day photo challenge)

Today was the next step:  Getting it entered on CD Baby.  The song is still being proccesed on their site, and it's going to take a few more days, likely the middle of next week or so, for the song to appear on iTunes.  It's a huge step, because we've decided to mass distribute the song, and we have no idea how people are going to like it.  We're being true to ourselves musically, and as an artist that's very important.  Hoping for the best!  And I can't wait to get started on the next song.  It's fun and upbeat, and I get to sing with sass.

Always,

Sarah