Author: aishakasmir
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Aisha Reads Anything – A Poem by a Friend
Gigi Guizado and I starred (yes, starred!) in “Dance Nation” together. We were adult women portraying adolescent dancers a la Dance Moms. As most castmates do, we friended and followed each other on the socials and I discovered her deeply personal poetry and photography in my daily feed. As I’m trying my hand at voice…
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Aisha Reads Anything: A Short Story by a Friend
I’ve known Romana Guillotte for yeaaaaaaars…since college when we met during an odd Valentine’s Day party at a mutual friend’s apartment. I think we sat around a circle reading excerpts from salacious romance novels? Long after that night, Romana got an MFA in Screenwriting and has had her short stories published all over the web.…
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The Raven!
Most readings of the famous poem are by men, and they’re just straight-up narration. Not much acting, at all. My take was to act it out as if it were a monologue.
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My first ever release, “Lovin’ You”
On August 4th, I stealthily released my first single “Lovin’ You” on all the digital platforms. Yes, that means you can stream it, download it, and use it in your YouTube videos and Facebook and Instagram stories. It’s all over the place! Get it all here! Although “Lovin’ You” is a cover song, it still…
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How to Listen to and Map a Musical Arrangement
Beginner composers and musicians are often told to just “listen to music.” But how do we do that? In this post, I’ll explain my method for how to listen to and map out a musical arrangement that will help you better understand form and orchestration.
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Elegy for Erik Satie on his Death Day
Sad tidings all on Erik Satie’s Death Day. On this day 95 years ago, Erik Satie took off from this Earth leaving behind…a mess, apparently! Though his compositions were simplicity itself, making you feel complex feels with just two notes per measures, his home was in shambles. He thought he’d left a composition on the…
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“Deeper and Deeper” Lyrical Analysis
There’s a cliché in writing classes about clichés – never use clichés! While it may be well and good to avoid what feels like cheating, and to come up with your own metaphors and similes, in songwriting, messing about with clichés can make a song more memorable, singable, and relatable. You have to know what…
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Get In Her Ears Reviews
If you’d like to support more women artists, please subscribe to any of Get In Her Ears’ channels. They are dedicated to uplifting the music of women artists where they are often forgotten and left out in most review websites. I started writing for them in March and I’ll be linking to my reviews from…
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Why I’m Learning Musical Arrangement
In almost all things in life, I’m extra. I could just plunk out some chords on the piano and spend 80% of my time finessing the vocals, but that wouldn’t do. The songs needs drums, bass, atmospheric synths. All the things that make an Annie Lennox or Kate Bush joint burn like a smoldering fireplace.…