Kelsey Lee Cate: 0:01

I have, for a long time now, said that music is a bridge and that it allows me to connect with people I wouldn't normally have the opportunity to meet, and I find that often when I'm sharing music, the stories that come from people's experience with the music come to their heart and they start sharing, and so strangers become friends in just a very short amount of time.

Joe Miller: 0:31

Welcome, Kelsey. How you doing.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 0:33

Hi. Oh, I am wonderful. How are you Joe?

Joe Miller: 0:36

I'm great, I was going to introduce you to Kelsey Lee Kate.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 0:40

Yes, and that would be correct. But I inherited the last name Kate when I got married and or I should say, I changed my last name. So when I was looking up at Kelsey Kate, there's actually a musician in Tennessee and she releases more country style music. She's got red hair and so before I got married I was Kelsey Lee music and I figured someday I'd get married. So I just kept the Lee because it's a nice distinguisher.

Joe Miller: 1:12

Yeah, well, thanks for filling in that gap. But, listen, I'm really happy to have you on and we can talk about how we got to know one another, but I think one of the things that I really appreciate about your work and you as a pianist, a composer and your YouTube work is that the fact that you're really a connector, and what I wanted to do to start out the episode is to dive into your why statement. Can you share that why statement with us and tell us where it came from?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 1:51

Oh, I'd love to.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 1:52

I have for a long time now said that music is a bridge and that it allows me to connect with people I wouldn't normally have the opportunity to meet, and I find that often when I'm sharing music, the stories that come from people's experience with the music come to their heart and they start sharing, and so strangers become friends in just a very short amount of time. And this has happened over and over, not only now in person, but also online during live streams and even sometimes in the comments of social media posts or videos I make. And that's, that's a, but. There's a lot of neat detail and color that continues to come, but the music is a really unique way. In fact, when I was probably 14 or 15, we had a group from Zimbabwe come and stay at our house and this one lady was talking to me. Her name is Pastor Howe and she said I see you walking on music notes to other places and to other hearts, and I've never forgotten that and I think that's a very, a very astute way to describe how I feel.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 3:10

I think someone called it perfect to go into places too, yeah.

Joe Miller: 3:14

I think someone called that prophetic indeed Indeed yeah. But I also I I saw you online several times. You're into live streaming big time. Oh yeah, it's the name of your, your YouTube channel.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 3:31

So my main YouTube channel is Kelsey Lee, kate, kate with a C, and that is my. That's the host YouTube channel. And then my live stream that I started in June 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic is called Thursday Night Live and it's kind of sister name. I tried out for a while was peaceful piano live, but I think I've moved back to Thursday Night Live and it's usually around seven o'clock Pacific and it's fun to look back and see all of the different iterations since I first began. We moved houses, we've we've created the studio twice now and it's been a really special experience.

Joe Miller: 4:12

So there's been a lot of changes in transitions, one of them obviously being from coming from the pandemic, as you just said, but also me started out doing a lot of live performance in malls and other venues, right.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 4:28

Yes, well, I don't know how far back you want me to go, but all the way, if you want.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 4:33

Well, growing up there's a there's always music in the house, the piano in the home, and my siblings and I play. We, we would play in church together and then also in our house there's a violin and a cello, and then guitars, and I have a hammer dulcimer. We've got different woodwinds, so we just love to try different textures and playing together. So that was my start and I actually learned how to improvise sitting next to our worship leader after church and everybody was packing stuff up and I was probably 10. And I remember she's.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 5:10

She came and sat on the left side of the piano and she said Kels, her name's Andrea Baker. Love you, andrea. And she said I'm going to play something in the bass and then I want you to just to just play whatever you want. And so she did a little chord progression and I started playing along and I remember feeling so excited and also amazed that I could make my own music. And so that was. I was making music from when I was really little. We listened to a ton of music all the time growing up, and then I was. I was in classical piano lessons all the way from five till middle of high school and all the while doing? Being involved with worship teams, so learning how to play with other musicians, listening for the sweet spot of where where does the piano belong in the midst of all of the other instruments?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 6:02

And then also incorporating the, the, the sound of the whole band. As a pianist, trying to have that be a puzzle of how do I try to incorporate those elements when I'm a solo pianist. And then I started playing for in restaurants, and particularly one of my favorites was playing at the Sky City restaurant up at the Space Needle, and that I did for a good long time before the restaurant closed for renovation and yeah, so there's. There's other parts of the story, but what I'm currently doing is still one of my favorite gigs at Bellevue Square Mall in downtown Bellevue.

Joe Miller: 6:44

Yeah, so so again you're, you're outside of Seattle and that's where you're connecting from. Yes and in there, you grew up there, yeah more or less.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 6:56

We grew up in the country Carnation and then moved to Baffle, so Baffle Everett is where we are.

Joe Miller: 7:04

So classically trained and I think it's really interesting you're talking about learning to improvise, because lots, lots of classical musicians never go there, or they don't go there as much as one might think. It's a different kind of a thing.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 7:22

It is.

Joe Miller: 7:23

And having the grounding and being able to read and understand the structure and the harmonics, harmonic nature of music is important to be able to improvise, not mandatory, but it sure helps. But I'm know, you know, like you know my wife Barb as well, and she was classically trained on piano and was with her major instrument in college and it's something she hasn't done that much of. But she can read well, you know. But it's a different, it's sort of a different kind of gifting, I think.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 7:57

Oh, yeah, yeah, yes, it's a. It's an interesting box to fall in, where that would actually be my default. Sometimes when I was practicing, I would get lost playing a scale and there would be some sort of interval that just touched my heart and then I started playing with it. Or I would be playing with a, an arpeggio sequence or something like that, and all of a sudden I was just following the creative butterfly and then I'd hear Kelsey, that's not practicing, come back, come back.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 8:32

Yep, but I love that, yeah, but what I noticed was that, through also being able to understand meter and different patterns and such that are very present in classical music and structure and telling a story through the music, that really helped me when I was working on my own compositions too. So I do love to just flow, I love a chord chart. And just a fun little tip, in case any of your listeners or viewers are interested in learning jazz, check out the app IReelPro, and it is an awesome fake book that's amazingly customizable and it's a great tool for anybody that wants to get into standards. And there's a whole lot more as well, but that's something I've learned a lot.

Joe Miller: 9:25

We'll put that in the show notes. Thanks for sharing that For sure. So let's spin back to this again, this connecting with others using music as a bridge. So I'm just curious. I mean, that's such a interesting turn of words, Music as a bridge. I think we kind of know intuitively what that means. But how did that come to you? Do you remember? Was it all at once or did it just sort of over time?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 9:53

I've noticed, playing in public allows me to also watch and I see a lot from the piano and I have the opportunity, especially where I play, they don't want you to have music in front of you, so it's a nice clean aesthetic.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 10:10

So I'm playing by heart and often and I'm the most common setting I'm picturing for this is Bellevue Square Mall, but sometimes also in the lounge of Candlest Restaurant down in Queen Anne, and there are opportunities that I've had to connect via eye contact from a far distance and or across the room at a private event and there's an exchange that happens where they can tell I see them and it's pretty special.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 10:46

There's a moment where at least my hope is, they feel seen, that they feel known, noticed, and what I love is that being open and being approachable as much as I can be it encourages folks to come up and to actually connect and there's been a lot of really special stories that have happened from that. In fact, some people from the mall, for example, will walk up and they'll share their thank you for playing that song. Dream a Little Dream of Me reminds me of my grandma and they'll share a story that just brought up that emotion and sometimes there's tears and it's just beautiful to pause everything and to hear that and hear their heart and to connect and really music takes a back seat often in those moments and in the best way it is, it is a um the road.

Joe Miller: 11:42

Yeah, so I would use the word a catalyst, because I have a scientific background as a chemist. Some term catalyst means something and I think music is a catalyst in that case of connection, because how many of us can remember, as you just talked about that woman who came up? When you hear a tune, it's like it's a different pathway to a memory and it provides a rich connection to that memory. I find this happens probably to many people at Christmas time, you know, when I hear certain Christmas music play constantly in my home Andy Williams Christmas album.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 12:30

I can't go and wore that out.

Joe Miller: 12:32

Even as an adult. I can smell pies cooking, I can smell turkey, I can smell all the things around the holiday season, Right and um, how many of us have listened to certain pieces of music and been brought to tears, you know over it, and so it's extremely powerful, but I would say it's not often that musicians really lean into that space. Sometimes you can go and take it in a show and there's definitely performance going on, but how much of their is their connection? And I think that that's something that comes through on your live streams. To be honest, just watching the chats come up and the people responding to you and you turning and responding that improvisational gift you have you can turn your attention to them and make that connection.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 13:35

Thank you. Thank you, one of my favorite little elements of that. That happened. This was July and August of 2020.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 13:46

Yes, camelus decided to do provide a live stream alongside their suppers that they were selling. They were so ingenuitive, everything that they did during the pandemic, and they're a wonderful upper echelon restaurant here in the Seattle area. Come visit, it's such a beautiful area. Joe, you and Barb would love to have you. And I remember during one of the li ve streams there was the sweetest comment from a Frank Guanko who said my little girl, meryl, is here in the chat and she loves your shoes. And that is how a sweet little story, little friendship, happened, began really. And years later, just a couple months ago, they brought their whole family Frank and his wife, and then Meryl and her brother Holmes came, and so Frank and Sarah are watching their kids standing by the piano at the mall and Meryl is much taller now, a couple years later.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 14:49

And what I love about moments like that is being able to give other young musicians an opportunity that I had growing up, and I remember Joe going to Nordstrom and there's a pianist there her name's Lurie Z and I was probably nine and I was holding a new bill to bear. I just made under my arm and I stopped and listened and my mom and I were alone. It was a mom daughter date and I remember how special I felt that Lurie took the time to talk to me and she looked me straight in the eyes and I don't remember what we talked about. But then mom asked to have a CD and she did so we went to the counter and we bought it and she signed it for me and I remember I mean I listened to that CD a lot on my little CD player on the bus.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 15:43

I thought it was so cool, joe with my earphones listening to solo piano as a fifth grader, but that moment of giving, being able to be that inspiration for so many precious young ones, and I loved how that story started on the live stream and then they came to connect in person.

Joe Miller: 16:04

And.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 16:05

I've stayed connected with their family and thanks to their father Frank and being able to stay present. I love to tell people that come especially from a place in public where them all is just. You walk by and you're surprised by music and I say I also live stream and so if you want, you can say hi. Let me know your kiddo's name in the chat and I'll say hi on camera.

Joe Miller: 16:30

Oh yeah, yeah, that's connection.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 16:33

Yeah, oh, yeah, I love it.

Joe Miller: 16:36

That's great, of course. I know that there's a story similar to this and it kind of is how we got connected and that's through Michael Gettel. Your participation in his last album playing on the piece Rose at Rise did you play with him on. Yeah, Do you want to take it just a couple of minutes? Because this is you as the little girl. Little girl, smaller girl.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 17:01

Oh yeah, I'd love to.

Joe Miller: 17:03

Young one.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 17:04

Yeah well, my folks bought a CD of his on one of their early anniversaries. And I mean, joe, we grow up always listening to his music as a family and it was part of our dinner routine. Often would be his CDs or road trips, when I think of driving in Eastern Washington at night with the stars, some of his music from Return, his return album, or dinner cozy San Juan suite Friends, you got to check him out. Last name, g-e-t-t-e-l Michael Gettle, and I remember I had a click wheel to remember the iPods that had the wheel and if you yeah.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 17:45

So I would for one of his songs and saying one sweet, for example, the first one, suica Bay. I wanted to learn how to play that and so I would. I would constantly carefully rewind and then I'd hit it a little too hard so I'd go back to the beginning. So I got really good at the beginning for a long time and then I started learning how to emulate more of the chord structure and the patterns, and so a lot of his music Is crazy.

Joe Miller: 18:12

Was it left hand ostinato patterns?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 18:15

or left and right, for sure.

Joe Miller: 18:18

And right. Yeah, it's true.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 18:20

Yeah, and so I remember some of the chord progressions as well that I mean I learned so much from him listening as a kid and I remember laying on my tummy getting my ears close to the speakers I could with his, his music that had animal sounds, that had whale calls, and it was so mysterious and it added to that musical experience and I actually just talked to Michael about this recently that it was a very tailored track. That particular whale song to sing with with his music was just amazing to to now talk to the artist, and so I remember growing up there, the whole culture of interacting with the pianist is very different. You know, you have the label, the art that was released, and maybe you got to meet the pianist and they signed it, like with Lori Z and me eight year old me. But I found Michael on Facebook and I was probably 23. And I just fangirled, really. I send, sent him a message and just said hey, michael, I want you to know how much our family has really appreciated your music and I shared how he's helped me to learn how to play by ear and so that was just.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 19:32

That was the beginning of connecting and then, years later, I, in a bold moment, started sharing some of his music on my live streams and saying I love, I love this song and I started interpreting it in my own way, and then I think this most of it. In 2020, michael started dropping in the live stream and so I saw his name popping in and I was like, oh my gosh, she's here. And so it was so fun, and my parents were in the chat, my grandma was in the chat, and it was such a special moment to to watch this connection happen, and my parents got to also thank Michael personally, and so then I asked him when I released my first album which is around the same time, beginning of 2020, if he would be willing to review it, and so he did, and what was the?

Joe Miller: 20:26

what was the name of the album?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 20:27

So this album is called Poema Stories.

Joe Miller: 20:30

From the Piano. What does that mean? You said you shared this with me.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 20:33

Yes, poema means work of art and my I'd love to share my heart for the album too, if we have time, and the message with it, but it was just. It was a surreal experience for Michael to to take time listening to my work, and also there's a part of me where I was like, oh, I hope I haven't taken any of his music I don't think I have, luckily, no but it was really special and I have his endorsement on my website. So then we stayed connected and he invited me to collaborate with him on Rise and this. That song is part of an album that is the first that he's released in about 20 years and it's called the View From here, and it's just wonderful, so wonderful.

Joe Miller: 21:21

Yes, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael before that because Michael Michael and I met on a worship team at a church in Colorado and I remember him sitting down as a young man playing crazy stuff before the service and surprise. Where is this coming from? Wow, and yeah. So I'd like to think that he was well in his way, moving towards that album project, but I'd like to think our conversation helped a little bit. Michael have to let us know.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 21:57

Yes.

Joe Miller: 21:59

But listen, you uncovered something I wanted to dig into. So, in terms of connecting with your audience, I think there's several different ways you no-transcript or maybe several different types of people and types of connection you make. I was thinking about this and I think obviously there's people who just enjoy listening to you play on your live streams or in public, in the mall or wherever that may be restaurant. They just enjoy it. They're not musicians, but they're in the music appreciation crowd and I see that on your live stream. I see the comments. I think there's another category of people who are maybe aspiring musicians. And then the final category that I'd like to sort of tick through these, have your thoughts on these categories, is the people you've done collaborations with, and we just talked about one of those and that's Michael, but you've done so many others. So can we start and just kind of unpack those different groups and what's it like for you to connect with them?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 23:04

Sure. So the interesting thing about live streaming is I have no idea who's gonna be coming in, and when I started multicasting, that took away the ability for me to see the names of people coming in, like when I first started on Facebook Live. So that has its benefits and drawbacks. It was definitely a benefit when I saw ooh Michael's in the chat right At the very beginning, but what's interesting about not being able to see is I have a large network on Facebook, for example, where there are many professionals in the area that can pop in and out, and I've had over time professionals saying they appreciate what I'm doing, they appreciated this and that, and they recall things and I had no idea they were even there or listening. I can't, I don't know, unless you're in the chat. So, but I would say that has really allowed me to just dig more into that main goal of connecting. And so and one of my favorite groups to play for actually are those who are the music appreciators, and I didn't I don't know if I've mentioned this to you yet, but I was originally a music therapy intended student at Seattle Pacific University before changing and I decided, instead of doing more of a clinical route, using music as it to achieve non-musical goals. I wanted to use music to achieve non-musical goals in more of a butterfly fashion, so more free, and I could connect with the appreciators and have those one-on-one conversations in a more relaxed, free flow manner.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 24:44

So the music appreciators, whether they're in the chat or sometimes at Bellevue Square, they'll pop into the live stream when I'm live till five, cause sometimes I turn on my phone, I put it to the left of me at the piano and I give folks a window in to the shopping center, into this beautiful nine foot Steinway Grand Piano, and it is such a fun window to open. In fact, once I think I had five countries with me during the live stream. And so the amateur pianists and those who are aspiring are really fun too, because they ask questions, they make the chat more lively, they are interacting or they say, oh, I wanna try that chord progression. Thanks for giving me the detail and so it's really nice to be able to be a resource for folks that have questions, hearing that creative process and really my heart and I would say for my messages, often with Poema, this desire to just simply celebrate the innate creativity that we each have, and so my hope with that work and my message, my life messages, is that we would each be inspired to create and free it up to create the way that we are uniquely designed.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 25:58

So I've been kind of playing with this brand of create like you as well in the middle of the live streams and encouraging amateur pianists and also creatives at large to think about the ways that they flow, the way that they're creative. And I believe a lot of those are in the musical appreciators camp but they wouldn't necessarily think of themselves as creatives. But I've had some really sweet conversations with folks who have said you've inspired me, I'm gonna try piano or I'm gonna try guitar or painting, and it is so. That is awesome.

Joe Miller: 26:34

Yeah, you know, I just wanted to jump in. As a believer or a person of faith, I believe that we are made in the image of God and God is a creator, yes, and so that's part of who we are. Our identity is all. We're all creators and, as you said, it doesn't necessarily have to be music, but we all have something to bring out of ourselves and sometimes it stays bottled up, and so being part of that user, that inspirational energy or person who helps bring that to the fore, is a beautiful thing, and I do see you also mentioned that during your live stream. Sometimes you talk about what you're doing, so it's not just so people would understand who haven't joined you, it's not just performing the whole time you stop and say, no, I'm doing this, see if you notice this, or I'm gonna try this now, and I think that's very engaging, kelsey. I think it really is.

Joe Miller: 27:36

I'm so glad that's my hope yeah, and so what about the collaborative group?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 27:42

Yeah, so there have been some really neat out of the blue ways that I've connected with these people and actually I even thought of more folks after I sent you my notes, joe and there have been some that I've met on Facebook John Albert Thomas he actually became a business coach of mine and he's also a solo piano artist and Christoph Pagel and I met and he's Christoph's from Germany. This was actually more of a recent collaboration as of last holiday season, and we connected on one of my social media pieces I'm not sure if it was a TikTok or a YouTube video. It might've been YouTube. Actually, it was a special livestream I did I remember that now and I was over at a friend's house and they had a grand piano set up and he had multicam angles that he was doing and it was a really special one and Christoph said something about wishing he could do more, but it was just it was crazy during pandemic and kids at home and all that. So it went from just having a casual artist to artist. You know, chat in DMs to hey, what if we try doing a collaboration? Cause I saw that he had a story and with the create like you message, that is definitely a passion project of mine. I have been also trying my hand at recording my own conversations. Where we have, we have chats, and I have some of these, if you're interested my friends on YouTube on my Kelsey Lee music or Kelsey Lee Kate YouTube channel, and that you can listen to their. The little bucket or playlist is called create like you podcast, and so on.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 29:31

During that show with Christoph, I asked for him to share his story and I actually asked him to record himself playing some excerpts of his music.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 29:41

He had asked me when we first met if he could send me some CDs that were in a factory in the States that were going to get destroyed.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 29:50

So I said, absolutely, I'll take possession of these CDs. And so then I thought well, why don't we do a creative collab where we sell a bundle of my CDs plus a couple of yours, we'll offer a couple of different packages, and then we'll bake in to the podcast interview some clips of you actually playing some of these pieces and then in between listening and watching you play, I want to hear the story behind the music. So that collab, joe, was really fun because I got to really try my hand at at different types of creative editing. And then also I told him, for the folks that purchased, that these folks would be writing the people that they want us to autograph the CD for, and so then I had Christoph hand write his autograph, take a picture of it and send it to me, and then I printed it and added that too, so it was as connected or as personal as possible. So that was a really fun collab.

Joe Miller: 30:54

Yeah, that's great. Of course, we already talked about the Michael Wanners and any others that come them on. You think it'd be interesting to share.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 31:00

Yes, there's a pianist that I met at the Space Needle Jason and Jason Lux L-U-X is his artist name on YouTube and we stayed connected and he was actually the one that invited me to play at Candles a couple years later.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 31:17

And he has a very large YouTube following a big following on Spotify music, and so he loves to do creative collaborations with folks. And so a couple years ago we were just improvising at a piano store in Bellevue, washington classic pianos, and I worked there for many years and we just decided to hang out and record our own take on Edelweiss plus favorite things. So those two together and surprisingly, years later, that video has gotten some it's like over 270,000 views and amazing meaningful comments, a lot of folks asking for the music, and we're just like, well, we didn't plan any of that, we probably should have transcribed it, but so that was really fun and he's he still plays at Candles and we stay connected. In fact, I have some of his lights here and last year he invited me to do a dueling pianist live stream with him from his studio, which was really fun and that was probably a definite creative highlight that I'd never tried before of a live stream with another musician.

Joe Miller: 32:32

That's really cool, that's really interesting. So let me ask you this question. You've gone through these transitions. Obviously, you moved through the pandemic, did a lot more online, and that's born a lot of fruit, a lot of connections for collaborations and and you've really shared your gift with so many that way. What are you currently transitioning in in terms of new projects or new endeavors? Are there things that you're leaning into? I'm kind of aware of a few things, but I just want to give you some time to talk about it.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 33:11

Sure. So I would love to lean into that passion project of create, like you, and to to really my. What I love doing there is interviewing and introducing other amazing folks that have inspired me over a coffee chat and actually share that wisdom with my other community members. That would be really wanting to hear that and, of course, there's collaborations that come with that. I would love to do more music videos. I would love to connect with other videographers and I have ideas for creativity.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 33:50

In fact, I have my first official music video Almost ready to release and it's the poem, a title track. I shot it half at a gorgeous home and then half at a coffee shop and with a painter actually, which is very fun. So, and then also something that I've just been and really wanting to do more is actually house concerts, and house concerts essentially are such a beautiful way to connect with folks in a smaller setting, their friends, their family, of the host, and I have the opportunity to really connect more deeply with these folks and and to to share my story, and there's been some really special vulnerable moments as well where they they share some of their heart and their journey. So that is something I would love to figure out how to do more. Actually, david, my husband and I were on a walk the other night, going through these beautiful homes and these neighborhoods, and I thought, man, wouldn't it be fun to just knock on the door of 20 houses and say, hey, do you know somebody that has a beautiful grand piano? Would you like a house concert in your home? So I'm trying to figure out how to how to do that more.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 35:07

And then also, in addition to house concerts, I would really love to start recording custom songs for people, and I've done this a little bit, being able to record music for folks that I'm able to put on my Spotify, all the different channels, but they have a really unique role in helping me to choose what to record. So if any of your listeners are interested to follow along in that, the easiest way really is to add yourselves to my email newsletter, which you can find on my website, and there's going to be more that's coming, and, of course, I'll be posting about this on social. But also not everybody wants to be on social media. Yeah, that's true.

Joe Miller: 35:55

And you do. I think you have had an addition to all of that, which sounds really cool. This house house concert stuff is interesting. There's a lot of people I've been in a lot of homes where there's been beautiful grand pianos and maybe they were purchased originally for one family member who is no longer with them and they're just not getting played and it brings a lot of joy back into the home to have someone come in and do just what you're proposing. But you also have shared some guides and sort of instructional stuff from time to time, have you not?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 36:31

Oh, yes, I have. I've explored with that and I used to. I love to coach adults because it's a different ballgame than coaching students, where you have a particular curriculum that you're using, but instead, working with adults, you kind of work backwards from their goals and help to break up and the steps in the process. And I've done coaching on Zoom. I've done in person in my studio. Folks have come. But more recently I've been doing tips videos and I've tried my hand at doing some of that where people can just watch on YouTube. I did a scale map challenge this spring where I wanted to show the beauty and the fun there is in actually playing with the scale, and so I created a little guide. That was the first time I've actually made something that people can download. And then I, on social media, did five days where there is a little exercise per day and if you scroll down my feed you'd be able to find them. So, yeah, there's probably there might be more challenges of that nature, but that's, that's something new. I'm interested in continuing. It's a lot.

Joe Miller: 37:45

You got a lot going. Yeah, let me ask this question because I think it's a good way to kind of bring together various different things we've talked about, and that is kind of the advice question. What advice would you give to someone who and let's let's target this to people who maybe are aspiring musicians, and what advice would you give them if they're sort of starting their journey, that you have learned some things along the way and wish you had known when you started?

Kelsey Lee Cate: 38:15

things. That is, this unspoken source of tension, is this expectation to reach a particular unattainable standard for oneself. I could just speak to my own expectation of that, and some of it's founded on the opinions of others, maybe. Maybe I've heard at least for me I heard folks that I really look up to share oh, I don't like this or that, and I'm thinking, well, that's what I do, you know, for example, or or different things that I would hear on on teaching videos or whatever of of of a critical nature, and I would really encourage other people to to nip that in the bud, to to take your own journey seriously and to figure out ways to to connect with the way that you write, the way that you express and then like with, with the importance of having vegetables, good protein, good fat, like your macro nutrients you could think of, of appropriate music theory and learning all of the musculature, of music. That is really good and important, and to that structure add your skin, add your color, add your expression.

Joe Miller: 39:50

So there's many ways to do that. But yeah kind of that idea of finding your own voice. Basically, yeah.

Joe Miller: 40:02

Yeah, so that's that's great, and I think this comes out with almost all the conversations I have around transitions and finding your gifts and putting your gifts into the world. And you know, and it's listening, being careful, what you listen to. In terms of feedback, yeah, those tapes that that we have programmed into our, our heads at a young age and lots, lots of times there could be people who love us and mean, mean well, and I'm trying to look out for us, but they're kind of can be limited. Then we have our own limiting beliefs and the whole topic of the imposter syndrome, right, yeah, being afraid of how what you do is going to land rather than focusing on just your own creative process and getting a little bit off of the outcome, a little bit more in the moment.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 41:07

Yeah, Couldn't agree more.

Joe Miller: 41:09

And I remember whose song this was. But I always think about this fear factor. That song by I can't remember who was, but it's the line is get up and dance. You know, get up and dance. And it's this idea that you've got to step out in life. You know you have to take some risks. If you take no risks, you know, then you're really limiting yourself. And we all fail, and failing is part of the growth process.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 41:46

Absolutely, if we didn't have any any fertilizer, that there would be far fewer nutrients that we could drop from Detroit.

Joe Miller: 41:58

Mushrooms, whichever you prefer.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 42:00

Mushrooms. Yeah yeah, that's very wise, and I think limiting beliefs are are, um. I think maybe the final piece I would add to this whole thing is, um, the. The very necessary part of being a modern musician is developing one's relationship and mindset with regards to tech and social connection. And if there's anything I wish someone told me when I was first starting all of this is to write in big, bold letters on like a piece of, you know, construction paper.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 42:35

Put it up on your wall, it is not too much. You can eat whatever you know. You can eat the elephant one bite at a time and you can do it. And it can if you're just making your goal to be 1% better with every upload. I cringe and laugh at some of the stuff I posted years ago, and that's great. It shows the progression and each piece of content you release is like a journal statement for that time and you can look back on it and you are successful if you are fully invested in that moment where you are and then take your next step and then your next step and you can learn anything with tech. If I can do it, anybody can.

Joe Miller: 43:19

Well, I feel the same way too. But yeah, that's a great message on mastery comes through all these small moves, you know, small incremental moves compounding over time.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 43:30

Atomic habits.

Joe Miller: 43:32

Atomic habits.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 43:34

James Clear right.

Joe Miller: 43:35

James Clear, yeah, yeah, and then you can see the powerful message there. Well, listen, kelsey, where now you've talked about several times. But let's just use, let's give the monikers and I'll drop this in the show notes. But Kelsey Lee Kate at, kelsey Lee Kate, everywhere. Yeah, I would say, the easiest website is Kelsey.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 44:00

Lee music. Kelseylee musiccom would be your best bet. And then you can find all the links there to social. You can find the link to my newsletter and I would love to connect with you. Feel free to send a DM. Join my live stream sometime. I'd love to see you.

Joe Miller: 44:20

And then, for anyone watching this, drop comments in the in the notes below. Let us know. You know right there what questions you may have and we'll be. We'll be looking for for those responses and follow up with you if we can. So thanks again, kelsey, for being on the show. I really appreciate it.

Kelsey Lee Cate: 44:40

Joe, it's such a pleasure bringing your gifts into this world. Thank you. Thank you for the pleasure of being invited to come and speak to your audience here with Titans of Transition, and you really just you do such an amazing job of pulling wisdom from many different sources to your listeners, and I'm really honored to be among them. Thank you.

Joe Miller: 45:02

Thank you.