16 Sep 2014
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Downloads, Music, Recording
Tags: Australia, Australian music, Australian original music, debut recording, Malcolm Battersby, Straddlepuss, Tasmanian music, The Belfry Studio, Women musicians
Hey everyone,
I realised today I haven’t posted anything here for such a long time! My life is incredibly busy with study, teaching and creating, but today I really want to stop and share a moment to take a whole heap of pleasure – and a lot of pride – in Straddlepuss‘ latest achievement.
Sara (Drums) Kirsty (Guitar/Vocals) & me (Bass)
Today we lauched our three-track demo on SoundCloud and so far, people seem to like it 😀 We recorded it down at The Belfry Studio, with the amazing Malcolm Battersby and we’re so pleased with the results.
On a personal note, I have to share how proud I am of my fellow band members, Sara Stevens on drums and Kirsty Leaf on guitar and lead vocals. About a year ago, Kirsty came to me for some singing lessons and she was just about to give up. I don’t know if I’ve ever had anyone come to me who was so unsure of themselves. Then she played me this incredible song that she’d written and I was completely sold on her, her voice and above all, her songwriting. She is an truly unique talent in the making and I feel incredibly privileged to be on this mad ride with her and Sara ❤
Have a listen and see what you think, I’d love to hear your feedback!
Meanwhile, it’s back to study for me, stay well everyone!
Debra ❤
14 Jul 2014
by Debra Manskey
in Business, Inspiration, Inspiration, Inspiration, Merchandise, Music, Singing, Writing
Tags: Australian music, crowd-funding, Inspiration, Pozible, professional musician, Rachel Taylor, Tasmanian muscians, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, The Green Album
Hi everyone,
It’s been way too long since I posted anything, but life habitually gets in the way of blogging!
Meanwhile, a quick post to hopefully make you all think about supporting something really worthwhile…….
A musician friend and fellow singing teacher, Rachel Taylor has put up a Pozible crowd funing campaign for her project, The Green Album
The incredibly talented Rachel Taylor
In itself, this is a pretty big deal, as Rachel is a performer and writer I’ve known and admired for many years and this is her first solo recording. But I think the really big deal here is that she wants to make a sustainable album. I’ve known Rachel since she was a young girl, I actually met her through her parents. Her father Alan is also a fabulous musician and gifted poet – in fact her whole family are pretty wonderful!
Rachel performing with her father Alan
Wherever you are on the planet have a look at her proposal and if you like the idea as much as I do, please get behind it. There’s a Facebook event page ‘Make “The Green” Album Pozible‘ with news and updates. Also, I highly recommend having a listen to her previous work on SoundCloud. She is a very talented performer worthy of notice – Tasmania has so many – and I’m so pleased she’s doing this!
Meanwhile, take care and I’ll be back soon!!
🙂
27 Dec 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Business, Composition, Downloads, Inspiration, Lyrics, Music, Recording, Singing, Teaching, Writing
Tags: Australian music, Australian original music, downloads, Inspiration, Jax, mentoring, music teaching, original music, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, triple J Unearthed, Writing
The Gorgeous Jax
To begin with, irrespective of what you believe (or don’t believe) I wish you all a peaceful, relaxed holiday season. I’ve been having a great time, taking some time off with family and friends. But I’ve been pretty lax with keeping up with my blog – sorry!
Probably one of the best presents I’ve ever had was dumped in my lap recently. As a mentor and music teacher, you always wish the best for your charges but this is just outstanding 🙂
I’m very proud and pleased that JAX has made it to Number 6 on the Triple J Unearthed Pop charts.
For those of you outside of Australia, this is something to truly celebrate, I really can’t begin to describe how proud I am of this up and coming artist! The song she’s uploaded “Swallow” is a really excellent pop song with quite a mature, dark lyric. This young woman is an inspiration to us all, to stick at it and follow your dreams!
I encourage you all to go to the site and have a listen – “Swallow” is available for free download.
Meanwhile, play nicely, stay safe and have a great end to 2013!
Debra xx
25 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Composition, Festivals, Inspiration, Inspiration, Lyrics, Music, Performance, Recording, Singing, Teaching, Writing
Tags: Australian music, Griffith University, Inspiration, live music, Malcolm Battersby, mature age study, mentoring, NaBloPoMo, online learning, original music, performance, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, The Fringe Dwellers, Writing
Well, today is momentous. I am now officially back at University! I’m a little scared still but very excited about getting back into scan reading mountains of papers and books for references, making coherent arguments in essays and referencing it all correctly – oh dear, what have I done??!!! No, seriously – it’ll be fun once I get back into the swing 😉
Thanks to my beautiful friends Lauren and Patsi, I’ve been able to log on and join in the discussion board and download extra material that Griffith University didn’t post to me. Yes, I still don’t have a dedicated internet connection at home and sadly, I haven’t been able to keep up with my NaBloPoMo committments, but I’m doing my best.
Over the weekend, I also had some great times with other beautiful friends, namely Jax and Malcolm Battersby. Mal and I played a really nice gig at the Richmond Festival. It was the inaugural Songwriters Concert at the festival and we got to work with some great local artists and the organiser – champion of original music, Roger Joseph.
The other truly beautiful thing is I heard a new song Jax’s written (as yet untitled) and it’s just gorgeous. I understand she’s going to debut it live at the ASA December 11th gig and I can’t wait to hear it again! I heard a rough from Belfry Studio but once the mix is finalised, it’ll be up on Jax’s Triple J Unearthed page. It’s so satisfying to see someone with so much raw talent start to blossom into a confident and accomplished writer and recording artist – it’s really inspirational!
All in all, a very satisfying time in my life – despite the lack of home internet.
Take care everyone and have a wonderful day too, wherever you are
Debra 🙂
17 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Chickens, Music, Rabbits, Recording, Singing, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing
Tags: chickens, growing garlic, NaBloPoMo, rabbits, recording, singing, spring, Tasmanian music, urban farming
After a wonderful couple of days recording and mixing at Belfry Studio, I really felt a need to get out in the garden and get my hands dirty today. I wanted to get some space before listening to the CD again.
Hobart turned on a fabulous spring day for me and I had a great time. Lots of playing with the rabbits, who had their hutches cleaned out and then planting sunflower seedlings and climbing beans, mulch courtesy of the rabbits. It was a perfect day for cutting Tarragon for drying too.
All the time I kept thinking about the recording, even sang a few bars to the chooks, who didn’t mind at all – they had silverbeet and kale leaves to peck at.
As I was finishing up for the day, I noticed some garlic at the front of a bed. Now, I have garlic everywhere in my garden, I love it and can never grow enough but it tends to get overlooked as it dies down. I realised these were cloves I forgot to pull last summer. So tonight’s stir fry had fresh garlic – and I have about a dozen or more heads to cure and plait for keeping.
After dinner, I sat back and put the CD on – yes, there’s minor tweaks that I need to make but wow – I’m very pleased and proud.
16 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Merchandise, Music, Recording, Singing, Writing
Tags: Australian music, inspiring places, NaBloPoMo, recording, Tasmanian music, The Lucky Six
It’s a beautiful still morning down at Murdunna on the Tasman Peninsula. I haven’t had any phone reception until now to write but I haven’t minded at all. It finally stopped raining yesterday and I feel like I’m living inside a pearl on Mal’s veranda.
Yesterday, I finished the last track of my latest recording project, The Lucky Six, and did an initial mix of all the songs. It was a long day!
This has been a tremendous learning experience for me, despite my many years as a recording artist, because I’ve reinterpreted six songs by other people that have been part of life. I’ve never done a covers recording – it’s always been original material up till now – and it was surprisingly tricky to find the right arrangements.
The songs I’ve chosen are diverse but meaningful to me and range from well known (Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehain’) to the obscure (Patrik Fitzgerald’s Little Fishes).
Depending on how the mixes sit, I hope to have this little EP available as a download on Soundcloud by the new year.
Meanwhile, it’s time for breakfast. Have a beautiful day wherever you are 🙂
13 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Composition, Inspiration, Inspiration, Music, Recording, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing
Tags: Australian music, Australian National Broadband Network, container gardening, Debra Manskey, growing basil, Inspiration, NaBloPoMo, original music, professional musician, rain, reading, recordings, singer/songwriter, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, urban farming, Writing
My Drowning Plaster Bird
It’s raining – again or still – my brain is suffering from rising damp I think. The chickens are lurking under their shade table or in their coop to dry and keep dry and tempers are short in my little bunny kingdom.
Meanwhile, I still have no solid internet connection but I’ve still managed to keep NaBloPoMo going – haven’t missed a day so far! And I’ve just uploaded my final assignment to a Preparation for University Study course through Open University Australia. I’ve been really surprised and heartened by my results – but the real fun starts later this month when I begin my first proper online unit through Griffith University in Queensland.
I had a phone call yesterday, and the NBN are booked to come to my house tomorrow to wire in our new fibre connection. I cannot to begin to tell you all how happy that makes me! Above all, this will enable me to teach via Skype to anyone who has a solid internet connection. As well, I’ll be able to do my online uni studies without having to resort to leaching net connections from family and friends or docking to my mobile phone connection. (I hate to think what my bill is going to be this month!)
In the greenhouse, I’ve been incredibly pleased with how everything’s still growing despite the ridiculous weather we’re having here in Tasmania. I planted Basil seed some time ago and pricked out seedlings into egg cartons to grow them on quickly and give me a chance to pot them up without any further disturbance of their roots.
Basil from Egg Cartons
It’s a neat method and I find it gives seedlings a better start. As you can see from the picture below, the Lettuce Leaf Basil has certainly taken off well!
How the Basil Grows!
But sadly, the front balcony, which serves as my winter salad garden, is suffering badly from the wet weather. I think the only plants that are thriving are the watercress – funny that! Hopefully, we’ll get some more seasonal warm (and dry!) weather soon, so I’ll be able to collect the seed for next year’s crops.
The Balcony Garden
There will be little or no gardening today. Reading, songwriting (another song about the rain?), more recording preparation and plenty of cups of tea for me I think! Have a great day folks wherever you are 😉
03 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Inspiration, Merchandise, Music, Recording
Tags: Australian music, debut recording, emerging artists, Jax, original music, professional musician, singer/songwriter, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music
Jax “These Things”
A very quick post about a very exciting thing!
My dear friend (and former student) has finally released her first recording. Entitled “These Things”, it’s available for preview and purchase here
I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of this incredibly talented young woman, who’s fought so hard to follow her dream.
Now, go check it out 😉
21 Oct 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Music, Performance
Tags: Australian music, live music, music, original music, performance, professional musician, Tasmania, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music
Very pleased to announce that I’m playing a set this week with exciting new talent, Cassie O’Keefe. This Thursday at Casbah Cafe, Liverpool Street, Hobart, Tasmania, AU.
Also, The Australian Songwriters Association are celebrating their 10th anniversary on Wednesday 11th December (also at Casbah Cafe). As one of the performers from ten years ago, I’m very pleased to be on the bill again, along with some of my students.
Check my Facebook page closer to the date for set times.
Take care all
😀
17 Aug 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Music, Recording, Singing
Tags: Australian music, original music, singing, studio recording, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music
It’s the end of winter in Tasmania but there’s a hint of spring in the air – mostly in the blustery wind yesterday! And I’m at Murdunna, sitting in front of a wood fire, contemplating yesterday’s recording and thinking about the work ahead.
I’ve decided (first time ever!) to record an EP of covers plus some separate draft tracks for my next solo album.
Strangely, I find it harder to record other people’s work than my own. Perhaps it’s the recognition factor? I don’t know.
Nevertheless, it’s great to be recording again with Malcolm Battersby engineering.
It’s a special kind of home ♡
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