A last-minute decision, a leap of faith and four months of preparation led us to May 7, 2017 — Opening Night of Music & Lyrics with Naomi & Hannah. The journey leading up to our first performance as part of Brisbane’s Anywhere Theatre Festival 2017 was anything but smooth. We both had to jump hurdles, battle our fears, and learn to work together rather than against each other.
Although we only met in October 2016, we quickly found common ground in our love for music and songwriting. Together we started sharing work. Exploring opportunities, and visiting events in Brisbane. Our first collaboration was a song called Run Away (Lyrics by Naomi, Music by Hannah), which made the title for our show Music & Lyrics rather fitting.
We had heard of I Heart Songwriting Club and the timing to join was perfect.
After we registered for the Anywhere Theatre Festival, we were both excited to have the challenge of writing a song a week. Plus to be part of a growing community that allowed for regular feedback. We didn’t expect that more than half of our final setlist was going to be direct results of the club!
We both have been writing music for as long as we can remember. However, we found that the club challenged our skills. It allowed us to explore new ideas in a community that nurtures and supports our creativity. It gave us the opportunity to experiment with our individual sounds and style. This, in turn, raised our confidence one song at a time.
We decided to add a new element to our music during this creative process – the guitar. Primarily being pianists, we upped our game of exploring the next level of songwriting. Not only writing a new song every week but including a new instrument.
This has presented us with incredible improvement in our songwriting.
Being able to share this growth with an audience has been extremely rewarding. The culmination of writing weekly as part of the I Heart Songwriting Club, and our relentless pursuit of putting on an original show resulted in producing two sold-out shows at the festival. Being given a new theme every week with the time constraint of 60 minutes allowed us to think outside the box. We experience the endless nature of our creativity. What an amazing journey!
Click on Our Songs to watch video footage of Naomi and Hannah’s performance at Anywhere Theatre Festival 2017.