On Music, Creativity and Writing: Part 6 – That’s a Wrap, with Cait

Good friends, good books…  this is the ideal life.  ~Mark Twain

 

As I was preparing this last “installment” of my interview with Cait, I found so many luscious quotes about reading, writing and music that I just have to sprinkle them throughout – like colorful-confetti-accents dusted atop little cakes – as we share the closing tea and conversation from Cait, with a C…

ON CREATING BEAUTY AND JOY WITH THE MUSIC IN HER LIFE:

                                              There is nothing in the world so   much like prayer as music is.  ~William P. Merrill

I love to watch and listen to you play piano and saxophone, Cait. I can see and feel your joy as the music inspires  you.  Do you have a favorite instrument?   I don’t really have a favorite; each instrument has something that makes it its own.  What I like most about music is making it your own. There’s such freedom in music!

Do you ever feel nervous playing in front of a lot of people, or is it just fun?   I’ve really been working on expressive playing.  I usually don’t get nervous – if I’m in a group – but this past April when I was going to be in a solo competition, I was just a tad anxious about that!

                                                                    Music is what feelings sound like.  ~Author Unknown

If you had a day when you could make or create anything you wanted what do you think you would choose?   If I had a whole day, I would probably put together a play with my friends.  It’s something we’ve always wanted to do, but never really had time for.  Of course, it would involve dancing and music, too!                                                                      

                                                                               Music is the poetry of the air.    ~Richter

 

ON THE LOVE OF CREATIVITY…

Is there something creative you haven’t tried yet that you would like to learn?  Maggie and I have a paper fashions kit that we use all the time, and I’ve made dozens of outfits. I’m always wishing I could brings some of those ideas to life, so I’d like to get into sewing.

I know you enjoy creating delicious and pretty things with food too.  What type of baking or cooking is your favorite?  I prefer baking over cooking.  I love to make cookies, scones, cakes etc. I really enjoy decorating desserts too.

On my thirteenth birthday a couple of months ago, we had a cake-decorating contest.  My team and I made a 3-D bird cage with a little bird – not a real one! – inside it. We used sugar flowers, fondant, frosting, glitter and so on.  It was a great time!

You and your sister Maggie have been designing your own greeting cards for awhile now too, so pretty and unique with beautiful 3-D images. I’m saving the ones you gave me!  It was so fun to see them on consignment at a local store, too.  Do you enjoy making cards with the purpose to sell, or do you prefer to make them for family and friends?  

I enjoy both! I love that my family appreciates our cards so much, but it’s also fun to earn a reward for our hard work!

ON LEARNING…

You’ve already told us how you love being home-schooled because you get one-on-one time with your mom (you can read that fun story in part two with Cait).  What else do you enjoy about being home-schooled? 

There’s just so much flexibility, too (with homeschooling).  For example, I finished my seventh grade math book early, so a couple months ago I started the eighth grade book.  That’s not really something you could do at school.  We also get all our work done during the day, so there’s no homework at night!!

                                                          A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.  ~Chinese Proverb

 What are you looking forward to in high school?  One thing I look forward to is the opportunity to make (new) friends, and the experience with tests and homework, so I’ll be ready for college!

 

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, ON WRITING …

Your mom tells me she thinks of you as the writer in the family.  What do you enjoy most about writing?  Do you think of yourself as a writer?                    Hmm… It’s kind of hard to tell if I think of myself as a writer – it depends on if I like what I’ve written.  I can at least say that I enjoy writing, and it’s so encouraging when it turns out well.  I hope that someday I could write a book.

                                             

                                                                 If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.  ~Toni Morrison

What is your favorite school subject?   Probably creative writing.  It’s kind of ironic, though, because I love it so much, but I’m kind of shy when sharing it with others, though.  My mom loves to read my stories and speeches, etc.

What type of writing do you enjoy most?  Fiction stories?  Poems?  Something else?   And, what do you enjoy about that particular kind of writing?   I definitely prefer writing stories as opposed to poems.  There’s more “scope for the imagination,” as Anne Shirley would say.  I also love descriptive writing.  It’s so much easier to imagine a character or mood when the author gives a captivating image to go along with it.  I have been known, though, to compose a few pieces of “dramatic literature” – as I call them – which might be closer to poetry than stories (these compositions are shared only with my closest friends).

Thanks for all your “apples of gold,” Cait!   (And thanks to you who have enjoyed following along!)

As I post this, Cait is on her way to one of the historic areas of our country, where she’ll play in a marching band specially chosen to celebrate the 4th!  Have fun, hon! Thanks for sharing some of your thoughts and dreams with me here… Someday I’d love to read some of your creative writing, and if you agreed, maybe even to “publish” a bit on here   I know what you mean about being a bit reluctant to let others see it. I’ve felt that way too, and sometimes still do… Yet, I think music and writing are intertwined as they paint beauty on our world…and you have a lot to shine to others in one or both. 

Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.  ~Alphonse de Lamartine

 

If you had a day when you could make or create anything you wanted what would YOU choose?

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