Arts and Craft
A new chat show that dives into the lives of musicians, filmmakers, performers, and artists from all walks of life, revealing the untold stories and hidden secrets that drive their creativity. Hosted by Nancy Magarill and Peter Michael Marino.
Arts and Craft
Celia Chavez - singer, songwriter and coach
Celia Chavez is a singer, songwriter, session vocalist, educator, and coach. She’s played global arenas and intimate music clubs - duetting and harmonizing with Pink, Enrique Iglesias, Julia Fordham, and many more. On this tuneful episode, Celia shares the secrets of how to blend, harmonize, and adapt to different voices and concert styles, and how to stay fit while on an arena tour. We also get an introduction to her musical alter ego, Babilonia.
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Celia Chavez enjoys a multifaceted career as performing songwriter, touring singer, session vocalist, educator and coach. With her wistful lyricism balanced with a unique clarity of vocal delivery, Celia creates an ongoing love letter to the world as comfort in times of uncertainty, compassion in times of division, and catharsis for a world under pressure. Her songs express different ways to hang on to love and faith despite seemingly hopeless odds. Her music displays a gracefully tenacious, yet playful sensibility — so beautifully reflected in the story arc of Celia's life.
Spreading her wings to step outside the gilded cage of her life as a globetrotting backup singer, she assumed a new moniker, Babilonia, to release her new EP, If I Ever Think To Double Back. Braiding together strands of music she's lived and loved -- from her parents’ jazz/soul records in her hometown of Seattle, to New York City’s vibrant Lower East Side and Brooklyn, to the songcraft capital of LA's Laurel Canyon -- Chavez takes her place at the front of her own formidable studio band as a compelling singer-songwriter. Click here for more.
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Produced and Edited by Arts and Craft.
Theme Music: Sound Gallery by Dmitry Taras.
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<v Celia Chavez>If you're a singer, we have a reputation for being neurotically focused on what goes in our bodies and what we do with our voices, and don't laugh if you're Celine Dion and all that stuff.
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<v Celia Chavez>But it's for real, we don't have anything between us and our instrument.
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<v Nancy Magarill>She is a songwriter, singer, session vocalist, educator and coach.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>She's played intimate music clubs, global arenas and duetted and harmonized with acts like Enrique Iglesias and Julia Fordham.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Celia Chavez tunes in on today's episode.
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<v Nancy Magarill>My name is Nancy Magarill.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I'm a singer, songwriter, composer, performer, graphic and web designer.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm Peter Michael Marino and I'm a writer, producer, creator, performer and educator.
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<v Nancy Magarill>We are New York based artists you may or may not have heard of.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>We are here to introduce you to other artists you may or may not have heard of.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Celia, hello, and welcome to Arts and Craft.
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<v Nancy Magarill>It's so good to have you on finally after us talking about it for so long.
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<v Celia Chavez>I know, thanks for having me.
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<v Celia Chavez>It's great to be on with you guys.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>All the way from Los Angeles?
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<v Nancy Magarill>Whoop, whoop.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Now, how long have you lived in LA, actually?
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<v Celia Chavez>Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've lived here, it will be 18 years this August.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Wow.
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<v Celia Chavez>Which is crazy.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>So you like it?
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<v Celia Chavez>I do now.
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<v Celia Chavez>Now it feels like home.
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<v Celia Chavez>It took me fully, I can't remember exactly, between six and eight years before, I felt like when I was landing at LAX, I felt like I was coming home.
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<v Celia Chavez>It took that long.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow.
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<v Celia Chavez>Not at all like New York, which just, I don't know how to explain it.
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<v Celia Chavez>New York, I just like landed and it was the place.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>From Seattle, right?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Seattle was first and then New York.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>And why did you not stay with us here?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>What did you do?
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<v Celia Chavez>It wasn't an easy decision.
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<v Celia Chavez>I was actually in a relationship at the time, and that person was bi-coastal, and then it just seemed like one of my goals was to get on tours as a backup singer.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Which you did brilliantly.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yes, I was very lucky.
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<v Celia Chavez>And that worked out.
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<v Celia Chavez>That did happen.
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<v Celia Chavez>But that was one of my goals.
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<v Celia Chavez>And at that time, it felt like there were more tours getting, you know, auditioning and getting cast and stuff out here in LA.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>What tours did you do?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I want to know.
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<v Celia Chavez>Well, let's see.
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<v Celia Chavez>The very first one I did out of here was with, do you know Julia Fordham?
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<v Celia Chavez>Do you know that artist?
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, of course.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh my gosh.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I quote her almost every day.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You do?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I love that song, Don't Push the River.
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<v Celia Chavez>Oh, I don't know.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, I don't know that song.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Actually, not that one.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Don't push.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I'll try to sing it like her.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Don't push the river.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Let it carry you.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You know what's interesting about-
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<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, no.
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<v Celia Chavez>Okay, I do that one.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I want to say something about her voice, and I think this is an interesting thing to think about, for me at least.
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<v Nancy Magarill>This is a woman with an extremely unique voice.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And one of the things about being an excellent backup singer is that you have to learn how to blend with a voice that is so different than yours.
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<v Nancy Magarill>That was never something I really was able to do because I also have such a weird voice.
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<v Nancy Magarill>But I think that you have an ability, you have your own voice, which is this beautiful voice, but then you also have an ability to blend with someone like that, which is really a gift.
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<v Celia Chavez>Thanks, Nancy.
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<v Celia Chavez>Thanks for recognizing that.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, it is a different way of singing, like as opposed to as a singer-songwriter, like you are and like I am as well.
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<v Celia Chavez>It's a different voice because you have to somehow enhance what they're doing and support what they're doing without grabbing center, without your voice taking center or distracting.
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<v Celia Chavez>It's tricky and the only way I know how to explain it is to like kind of demonstrate it.
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<v Celia Chavez>I mean, it's a way of opening your tone up.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
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<v Celia Chavez>So that there's room for them to like just lay in it like a hammock.
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<v Celia Chavez>Do you know what I mean?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
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<v Nancy Magarill>That's interesting.
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<v Celia Chavez>Does that make sense?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>It's interesting to do that when I did my bad or maybe good impersonation of Julia Fordham's song.
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<v Celia Chavez>That was a good impression.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Your response was, and I was like, oh, she's got that low range.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Because I think that's the thing about Julia, right?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>She's got like this weird, I mean, it's not quite.
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<v Celia Chavez>She has an amazing range.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Right.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>And if she really gets low, like a male bass, it's astounding.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And she's a very unique tamper in her voice.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yes.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yes.
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<v Celia Chavez>That's very true.
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<v Nancy Magarill>It's really unique.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Because you treat my skin like porcelain.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Just like that.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I love it.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You know what's something I'm noticing?
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<v Nancy Magarill>You instinctively took one ear off your headphones, which singers do in the studio.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I don't do that while I'm doing this because I want to make sure there's no bleed, because sometimes it can affect certain things.
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<v Celia Chavez>Well, see, I've got this lovely insulation here.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>That's your hair.
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<v Celia Chavez>My hair.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>That's my hat.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm wearing a hat.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>That's my insulation.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Nancy's got big headphones on.
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<v Nancy Magarill>But there's something really weird that happens that people don't always understand.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You have to teach young singers about this, that you have to take one ear off, because if you listen to yourself in the cans, you're going to go off key.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And Joy Ask you taught me that.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yes.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And I didn't believe her, because I remember she was like, you're going off pitch, because I had both cans on.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And I'm like, what do you mean?
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<v Nancy Magarill>And she taught me that one of my first recording sessions that I did with her.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And I had no idea that that happens.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And I think it's so interesting, right?
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<v Nancy Magarill>Because people think they can hear themselves and stay in tune.
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<v Celia Chavez>They're different spaces, though, aren't they?
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<v Celia Chavez>They're different spaces.
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<v Celia Chavez>This small space around your ear and then the room.
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<v Celia Chavez>And I find that I over talk for some reason if I'm only in cans.
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<v Celia Chavez>Like if I'm doing an interview like this, where we're all wearing headphones to manage the speaker sound.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, for some reason, I over talk.
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<v Celia Chavez>So this way, I feel like I speak more normally.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I can't hear myself in my cans when I'm recording on these.
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<v Nancy Magarill>So it might be a different thing when you can hear yourself.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You know, I don't know, though maybe I still over talk anyway.
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<v Celia Chavez>Maybe we need to look at your monitor output.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, I don't care.
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<v Nancy Magarill>It doesn't bother me.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Did you not listen to our last episode, Nancy, where we talked to a sound mixer?
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<v Nancy Magarill>She's not a mixer.
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<v Nancy Magarill>She was a mastering engineer.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Mastering engineer, you're right.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Correct.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>So wait, I have to go back.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I know, other tours.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, I want to know more tours, but generally when you're auditioning for these tours, does it start right away that you're singing with the singer?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Is that, or does you get to that point?
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<v Celia Chavez>Well, let's see.
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<v Celia Chavez>With Julia, that was a referral.
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<v Celia Chavez>And so I did go straight to rehearsal.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Nice.
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<v Celia Chavez>I think there wasn't really an audition.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>And you have to make sure you get along with the other two people who are singing back up?
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<v Nancy Magarill>Well, however many.
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<v Celia Chavez>It depends.
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<v Celia Chavez>I mean, with the band.
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<v Celia Chavez>I mean, you definitely want a good fit in a touring band.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You don't want to be on the road with people you don't get along with.
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<v Celia Chavez>Well, no, because you're basically stuck on a rolling house with everybody for weeks at a time or months at a time.
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<v Celia Chavez>And I think that you get the simulated family experience.
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<v Celia Chavez>It's like the traveling circus, you know, when you're on tour.
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<v Celia Chavez>Have both of you been on tour before?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I was on tour with Stomp, and that's a very different beast to be on tour with.
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<v Celia Chavez>Ah, were you on with Everett Bradley when he was on tour?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, okay, cool, very cool.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Everett actually taught me the show in New York.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>He did a couple of spots when we were on tour, but Everett's one of my besties, and we had him on the podcast.
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<v Nancy Magarill>We actually talked about it on the podcast.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Do you sing with Everett?
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<v Celia Chavez>I was one of the original funk angels in Hollowed Alley.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, yeah, I saw that!
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow, yeah, I saw the very first show, wow.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, cool, you were in it for years.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I actually missed you when I went to see it this year.
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<v Celia Chavez>I was like, oh, I missed that show so much.
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<v Nancy Magarill>What a fun show that is, yeah.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow, so who else did you tour with?
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<v Celia Chavez>I toured, okay, so after that, I did a promotional tour with Pink.
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<v Celia Chavez>So that was the first promo tour of that, you know, that was that, like lots of TV and that sort of thing.
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<v Celia Chavez>We did the-
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Did you have to fly?
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<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, yes.
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<v Celia Chavez>You did?
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<v Celia Chavez>We flew, yeah, it was-
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<v Nancy Magarill>Did you have to?
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<v Celia Chavez>Do we have to?
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<v Nancy Magarill>We got to fly.
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<v Celia Chavez>Well, you know, and the thing is, I learned about, I'd never flown business class before, and that was really nice.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm sorry, I was talking about flying on stage because she's always flying.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, well, fly.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I was like, wow, they put all the backup singers on cables and hoisted them into the air.
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<v Celia Chavez>I think just her, I haven't actually, maybe her dancers, but no, we just-
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<v Nancy Magarill>I'm sorry, I don't know how she does that and sings, and that's crazy.
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<v Celia Chavez>She's an incredible performer.
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<v Celia Chavez>She trains really hard.
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<v Celia Chavez>She sings, her warm up is like way harder than I would normally sing.
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<v Celia Chavez>Stronger, I don't mean harder like in an incorrect way.
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<v Celia Chavez>She's a very athletic performer for sure.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
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<v Nancy Magarill>But she's also a really great singer.
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<v Nancy Magarill>She's a phenomenal singer.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Was Michael Paris also on that tour?
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<v Celia Chavez>No.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>No.
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<v Celia Chavez>All right.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Just drop in names, folks, I'm just dropping names.
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<v Celia Chavez>So yeah, I did Pink promo tour and then I did, well, the big one that I was on for seven years is Enrique Iglesias.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>You are!
00:10:06.353 --> 00:10:08.493
<v Peter Michael Marino>What's your phone number?
00:10:08.493 --> 00:10:10.533
<v Celia Chavez>I can't give you that to you.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And she wasn't just a backup singer.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You also were featured.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
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<v Celia Chavez>Yes.
00:10:15.873 --> 00:10:22.073
<v Celia Chavez>It was funny because I thought of Joy asking when I was on that tour and how she got to, you know, when she was, I think, on Peter Gabriel's tour.
00:10:22.113 --> 00:10:23.833
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, Peter Gabriel.
00:10:23.833 --> 00:10:25.393
<v Nancy Magarill>Did she do that with Elvis Costello?
00:10:25.393 --> 00:10:26.333
<v Nancy Magarill>Did she do that with Joe Jackson?
00:10:26.333 --> 00:10:27.333
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, Joe Jackson, right.
00:10:27.333 --> 00:10:28.133
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:10:28.133 --> 00:10:32.933
<v Celia Chavez>So, and it's very rare, I think, that backup singers in the band get to step out like that.
00:10:32.933 --> 00:10:37.733
<v Celia Chavez>I was a featured duet performer with him and they were romantic duets.
00:10:37.733 --> 00:10:40.173
<v Celia Chavez>So it was very visible.
00:10:40.173 --> 00:10:46.813
<v Celia Chavez>It was the first time that I had myself projected on a huge IMAX size screen in an arena.
00:10:46.813 --> 00:10:47.113
<v Celia Chavez>Wow.
00:10:47.113 --> 00:10:49.793
<v Celia Chavez>Nothing makes you worry about your skin more than having your face.
00:10:49.793 --> 00:10:51.573
<v Peter Michael Marino>I mean, God.
00:10:51.573 --> 00:10:53.113
<v Celia Chavez>How many stories tall?
00:10:53.113 --> 00:10:58.273
<v Celia Chavez>And yeah, so that was the last tour that I did before.
00:10:59.333 --> 00:11:00.273
<v Nancy Magarill>Well, COVID hit, right?
00:11:00.273 --> 00:11:01.533
<v Celia Chavez>COVID, yeah.
00:11:01.533 --> 00:11:02.613
<v Peter Michael Marino>That was really recently.
00:11:02.613 --> 00:11:02.953
<v Celia Chavez>Wow.
00:11:02.953 --> 00:11:03.753
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:11:03.753 --> 00:11:11.093
<v Peter Michael Marino>Do you, I mean, maybe, I guess referring to like the Julia, I mean, the Enrique tour, did you have like a persona?
00:11:11.093 --> 00:11:19.993
<v Peter Michael Marino>Was there sort of like a different, was there something different about who this lady was that we saw on stage than we might have seen in one of the other tours?
00:11:19.993 --> 00:11:29.653
<v Celia Chavez>I mean, well, I think in general, when I'm a backup singer, I suit the artist's vision of what they want on stage, much as like as you would in the theatrical show, I think.
00:11:29.653 --> 00:11:30.913
<v Nancy Magarill>You're playing a role.
00:11:30.913 --> 00:11:31.893
<v Celia Chavez>I'm playing a role.
00:11:31.893 --> 00:11:41.893
<v Celia Chavez>And I'm, and again, I'm supporting the music with Julia, you know, we dress very elegantly like for club, you know, or theater or something like that.
00:11:41.893 --> 00:11:42.733
<v Celia Chavez>And you've heard her music.
00:11:42.793 --> 00:11:48.013
<v Celia Chavez>It's very elegant, sophisticated and mature themes, you know.
00:11:48.013 --> 00:11:50.273
<v Celia Chavez>And Pink is very rock and roll.
00:11:50.273 --> 00:11:56.133
<v Celia Chavez>So I wore black rock and roll, black high heeled leather boots and, you know, shorts.
00:11:56.133 --> 00:11:59.373
<v Celia Chavez>Same thing on Enrique's, you know, he wanted us to look like a rock band.
00:11:59.373 --> 00:12:01.033
<v Celia Chavez>So that's what I wore.
00:12:01.033 --> 00:12:03.333
<v Celia Chavez>I wore short shorts and high heels.
00:12:03.753 --> 00:12:06.773
<v Nancy Magarill>And were you guys highly choreographed?
00:12:06.773 --> 00:12:07.553
<v Celia Chavez>Some.
00:12:07.553 --> 00:12:14.273
<v Celia Chavez>And then the rest of it, we just kind of got to use the stage and interact with the arena crowd and stuff.
00:12:14.273 --> 00:12:15.553
<v Nancy Magarill>It was really fun.
00:12:15.553 --> 00:12:16.773
<v Peter Michael Marino>What is it like?
00:12:16.773 --> 00:12:17.873
<v Peter Michael Marino>What is it like?
00:12:17.873 --> 00:12:18.933
<v Celia Chavez>It's amazing.
00:12:18.933 --> 00:12:23.493
<v Peter Michael Marino>I went to see Kylie Minogue this weekend at Madison Square Garden.
00:12:23.493 --> 00:12:25.553
<v Nancy Magarill>And so did every other gay man in Manhattan.
00:12:25.553 --> 00:12:26.033
<v Nancy Magarill>Yes, correct.
00:12:26.553 --> 00:12:29.393
<v Peter Michael Marino>They were all there and they are all cute.
00:12:30.413 --> 00:12:31.813
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's actually kind of cool.
00:12:31.813 --> 00:12:38.133
<v Peter Michael Marino>She has like a very wide age range of people at her shows, which I was impressed with.
00:12:38.833 --> 00:12:48.713
<v Peter Michael Marino>And her opening act, Romy, is a British singer who has like a very sort of, I don't know, almost like a folk voice, but her music is electronic.
00:12:48.713 --> 00:12:50.213
<v Peter Michael Marino>So it was a really nice.
00:12:51.373 --> 00:12:53.213
<v Celia Chavez>And at some point, Oh, I know Romy, yeah, okay.
00:12:53.213 --> 00:12:57.953
<v Peter Michael Marino>At some point she just said like, I just can't believe in my wildest dreams.
00:12:57.953 --> 00:13:03.933
<v Peter Michael Marino>I never pictured myself jumping up and down at Madison Square Garden, you know?
00:13:03.933 --> 00:13:17.013
<v Peter Michael Marino>And then Kylie, like three times had these emotional, I'm doing air quotes because I know some of it is performative, but these very emotional moments of like, I am at, I am in New York City at Madison Square Garden.
00:13:17.013 --> 00:13:27.253
<v Peter Michael Marino>And then I thought, wow, if it's amazing for me in the 200 shitty seats, watching this massive thing happen, what is it like to be on stage?
00:13:27.253 --> 00:13:36.273
<v Peter Michael Marino>And just feeling that energy and seeing thousands of people lip-syncing along with what everyone's singing on stage.
00:13:36.273 --> 00:13:37.773
<v Peter Michael Marino>I can't even imagine.
00:13:37.773 --> 00:13:40.153
<v Celia Chavez>Well, it's quite crazy.
00:13:40.153 --> 00:13:41.613
<v Celia Chavez>It's surreal.
00:13:42.133 --> 00:13:46.333
<v Celia Chavez>It's almost out of body except that it's so powerful.
00:13:46.333 --> 00:13:52.273
<v Celia Chavez>Like when you do hear the crowd, it's really loud and you can feel the energy.
00:13:52.273 --> 00:13:55.413
<v Celia Chavez>Well, you can feel it as an audience member, the energy in an arena.
00:13:55.413 --> 00:13:58.613
<v Celia Chavez>When you're on stage, it's all in front of you.
00:13:58.613 --> 00:14:05.213
<v Celia Chavez>We would actually have a long thrust with a stage out behind the sound man, the front of house.
00:14:05.213 --> 00:14:07.033
<v Celia Chavez>We would go out into the crowd.
00:14:07.033 --> 00:14:08.013
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, that's great.
00:14:08.013 --> 00:14:12.713
<v Celia Chavez>Looking up at them and they were all around us, which is also unique.
00:14:12.713 --> 00:14:21.813
<v Celia Chavez>But the thing, you mentioned Madison Square Garden, and I swear you guys, I lived in New York for several years and I could never afford a ticket to go see anything.
00:14:23.093 --> 00:14:29.713
<v Celia Chavez>I don't mean to sound like I was poor, but I could not justify paying the prices on tickets there.
00:14:29.713 --> 00:14:32.813
<v Celia Chavez>And they weren't even that much, but that's how poor I felt at least.
00:14:32.813 --> 00:14:37.233
<v Celia Chavez>And I used to work at a non-profit on 10th and 34th.
00:14:37.233 --> 00:14:42.613
<v Celia Chavez>And so when I, the first time, the first, it wasn't the first time, the first time we were kind of in and out.
00:14:42.613 --> 00:14:44.233
<v Celia Chavez>So I didn't really have too much time during the day.
00:14:44.233 --> 00:14:58.833
<v Celia Chavez>But the second time we did Madison Square Garden, I walked to my old office down 34th Street and looked at it and I dreamed, I had been dreaming that one day I would, and then I walked back down the street and I went to work.
00:14:58.833 --> 00:15:00.693
<v Celia Chavez>I went in the back of the room.
00:15:00.693 --> 00:15:03.793
<v Peter Michael Marino>We had to sob at some point in there because I'm feeling like sobbing right now.
00:15:03.793 --> 00:15:05.293
<v Peter Michael Marino>I just love this.
00:15:05.773 --> 00:15:08.933
<v Celia Chavez>It was really powerful when you play a venue like that.
00:15:08.933 --> 00:15:14.493
<v Celia Chavez>When I played, I got to sing at Wembley Arena and there were 100,000 people there.
00:15:16.933 --> 00:15:25.213
<v Celia Chavez>When you're playing the clubs and you're singing covers at a wedding or something, you don't have a reference point for this.
00:15:25.213 --> 00:15:30.573
<v Celia Chavez>So it's challenging in some ways, but it is so exhilarating to do that.
00:15:30.573 --> 00:15:36.853
<v Nancy Magarill>How does it feel taking that energy into your gigs when you're doing your music?
00:15:37.753 --> 00:15:42.793
<v Nancy Magarill>Do you still feel that you're that person when you're doing your music?
00:15:42.993 --> 00:15:44.013
<v Nancy Magarill>That's interesting.
00:15:44.493 --> 00:15:45.933
<v Nancy Magarill>Can you do that at all?
00:15:46.513 --> 00:15:46.993
<v Celia Chavez>You know what?
00:15:47.533 --> 00:15:51.533
<v Celia Chavez>I've started to after so many years.
00:15:51.953 --> 00:15:57.313
<v Celia Chavez>Actually, if you listen to my live record that I did at the Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2, there is that energy.
00:15:57.313 --> 00:16:01.193
<v Celia Chavez>One, the guys in the band are my band, are in my band.
00:16:01.313 --> 00:16:07.333
<v Celia Chavez>So I had spent months traveling with them, felt so safe with them, and so free with them backing me up.
00:16:07.533 --> 00:16:09.513
<v Celia Chavez>I didn't have to direct them.
00:16:09.513 --> 00:16:14.913
<v Celia Chavez>Our communication was really easy, and so the music was really free and super fun.
00:16:14.913 --> 00:16:20.633
<v Celia Chavez>I remember that being like something just took over, something else just took over and sang my songs for me, and played the guitar for me.
00:16:22.313 --> 00:16:23.493
<v Celia Chavez>That was an experience.
00:16:23.493 --> 00:16:38.273
<v Celia Chavez>When I am playing my own music, I think because it's my own words, and I'm the one responsible for the message and the vision, it does feel like more pressure, and I'd overthink it because I'm also producing the experience.
00:16:38.273 --> 00:16:47.133
<v Celia Chavez>It's more difficult than just like someone says, you do this, this is what you sing, you look like this, you have all the pieces, and you just have to show up and perform.
00:16:47.133 --> 00:16:52.433
<v Celia Chavez>And you're not responsible for what the audience experience is supposed to be.
00:16:52.433 --> 00:16:52.853
<v Celia Chavez>Does that make sense?
00:16:52.853 --> 00:17:01.493
<v Nancy Magarill>Although I think there's something to be said for taking that performative energy into live shows doing your own pieces.
00:17:01.553 --> 00:17:11.313
<v Nancy Magarill>Like I understand what you're saying because I've experienced that too, and I have also experienced the total freedom of letting go of everything.
00:17:11.313 --> 00:17:17.653
<v Nancy Magarill>And just being a performer, not the person who wrote the songs, not the player and the guitar, not any of that.
00:17:17.653 --> 00:17:26.373
<v Nancy Magarill>And just letting loose and being a, I don't want to say star, but being that messenger, that person performing in the moment.
00:17:26.373 --> 00:17:35.013
<v Nancy Magarill>And I actually sometimes try to approach it that way, especially because I've spent some times where I get really nervous before a performance.
00:17:35.013 --> 00:17:38.113
<v Nancy Magarill>And so I like to go, okay, turn that on.
00:17:38.113 --> 00:17:45.733
<v Nancy Magarill>Like turn on the actor, that performer role to take me out of that self-conscious stuff that's going on.
00:17:45.733 --> 00:17:48.833
<v Peter Michael Marino>That's gotta happen when you're on tour for a while as well.
00:17:49.213 --> 00:17:58.193
<v Peter Michael Marino>That you are, I mean, you know, I say this to a lot of solo, I direct a lot of solo show people and they are doing long runs, like the Edinburgh Festival.
00:17:58.193 --> 00:18:00.733
<v Peter Michael Marino>They're doing the show every day, same time for a whole month.
00:18:00.733 --> 00:18:06.173
<v Peter Michael Marino>Sometimes you just got a really bad review that day, or sometimes you're hungover or whatever it is.
00:18:06.173 --> 00:18:07.813
<v Celia Chavez>Or you didn't sleep or something.
00:18:07.813 --> 00:18:09.173
<v Peter Michael Marino>Or you didn't sleep, right?
00:18:09.173 --> 00:18:16.453
<v Peter Michael Marino>And that you have to become the character, like I have to become the character of Peter Michael Marino.
00:18:16.453 --> 00:18:19.473
<v Peter Michael Marino>I can't just rely on me rolling out of bed.
00:18:19.473 --> 00:18:24.613
<v Peter Michael Marino>I've got to really put on that suit of, this is the entity that I represent.
00:18:24.613 --> 00:18:34.373
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I would imagine even the excitement of playing stadiums and big venues on a regular basis, you sometimes have to find like, what's gonna get me through this one?
00:18:34.373 --> 00:18:34.913
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:18:34.913 --> 00:18:36.013
<v Nancy Magarill>Did you ever feel that way?
00:18:36.013 --> 00:18:39.693
<v Nancy Magarill>Did you ever go in one day and go, oh, I just don't have it in me today?
00:18:39.693 --> 00:18:41.413
<v Nancy Magarill>But then you made yourself do it?
00:18:41.413 --> 00:18:55.793
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, I mean, there are rituals that, yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely there were times that I just wanted, there are some long stretches that can happen in travel if routing doesn't always get done with the best interest of the performers.
00:18:56.293 --> 00:18:57.453
<v Nancy Magarill>It never does.
00:18:57.453 --> 00:18:58.753
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
00:18:58.753 --> 00:19:01.533
<v Celia Chavez>So, you know, there was one December.
00:19:01.613 --> 00:19:02.813
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, exactly.
00:19:02.813 --> 00:19:12.613
<v Celia Chavez>There was one December where I swear to God we did, we did Mexico, Portugal, Texas, Tel Aviv, Sri Lanka, Spain.
00:19:12.613 --> 00:19:16.793
<v Celia Chavez>I mean, it was just like, how many time zones can you jump in one tour?
00:19:17.073 --> 00:19:22.293
<v Celia Chavez>And everybody like, I don't think that the crew even slept horizontally for two weeks.
00:19:22.373 --> 00:19:22.953
<v Celia Chavez>Wow.
00:19:22.953 --> 00:19:24.593
<v Celia Chavez>And we were all just like hanging on.
00:19:24.593 --> 00:19:36.273
<v Celia Chavez>I actually ended up getting laryngitis, but there are rituals that I started getting really, well, I was guided to just try meditate, instead of trying to take a nap.
00:19:36.273 --> 00:19:37.913
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, I was going to ask you about meditation.
00:19:37.913 --> 00:19:40.173
<v Celia Chavez>Trying to just go down for meditation.
00:19:40.173 --> 00:19:45.513
<v Celia Chavez>I got really, really good at like a 20-minute power rest meditation.
00:19:45.513 --> 00:19:57.973
<v Celia Chavez>The afternoon before show, working out a few hours before the show, just to get blood in my tissues, and get my heart rate up, and wake me up, and then have enough time before the show that I wasn't just like winded.
00:19:57.973 --> 00:19:58.633
<v Celia Chavez>You know what I mean?
00:19:58.633 --> 00:19:59.453
<v Celia Chavez>Like not doing it right.
00:19:59.453 --> 00:20:04.693
<v Celia Chavez>But I will say that backstage, kind of pretty much everybody gets hyped up.
00:20:04.933 --> 00:20:11.793
<v Celia Chavez>I do lunges, I move my body, I move my upper body, just power moves to put power.
00:20:11.793 --> 00:20:17.373
<v Celia Chavez>Now that I've done a tiny bit of Tai Chi recently, and it's kind of like that scooping up the power from the earth.
00:20:17.373 --> 00:20:27.673
<v Celia Chavez>I used to have this crazy, I can't remember what I, I can't, because it was early on in the tour, when I was getting used to the big audiences, and I would try to sit backstage and just receive the energy of the audience.
00:20:27.673 --> 00:20:29.793
<v Celia Chavez>You can tell I've been in California a while, because it sounds right.
00:20:30.133 --> 00:20:32.053
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, it's very woo woo.
00:20:32.053 --> 00:20:32.673
<v Celia Chavez>But you know what I mean.
00:20:32.673 --> 00:20:33.413
<v Peter Michael Marino>Very woo woo, yeah.
00:20:33.413 --> 00:20:35.373
<v Celia Chavez>I was absorbing the energy.
00:20:36.493 --> 00:20:38.533
<v Celia Chavez>But you know what I mean.
00:20:38.533 --> 00:20:45.153
<v Celia Chavez>Just, you gotta be in acceptance of where you are, for sure, as a performer, and just work with what you have that day.
00:20:45.153 --> 00:20:47.073
<v Nancy Magarill>What happens when you get sick on tour?
00:20:47.393 --> 00:20:55.093
<v Nancy Magarill>If you're, let's say there are three backup singers, it's not like a Broadway show where there are understudies that can go on.
00:20:55.093 --> 00:20:56.273
<v Nancy Magarill>So what happens?
00:20:56.273 --> 00:21:01.873
<v Celia Chavez>Well, you know, well also, well on Enrique's tour, there were two backup singers, and we both had features.
00:21:01.873 --> 00:21:05.773
<v Celia Chavez>So like I could not hide in my feature.
00:21:05.773 --> 00:21:14.653
<v Celia Chavez>So I just really got hip to an anti-inflammatory diet, and really paying attention to my food.
00:21:14.653 --> 00:21:21.313
<v Celia Chavez>I have a lot of food sensitivities anyway, so which is kind of become a blessing because then I avoid a lot of inflammatory stuff.
00:21:21.313 --> 00:21:22.853
<v Nancy Magarill>What does that diet consist of?
00:21:22.953 --> 00:21:24.233
<v Nancy Magarill>I'm curious.
00:21:24.233 --> 00:21:28.593
<v Celia Chavez>No sugar, well, which is, this is ideal you guys.
00:21:28.593 --> 00:21:30.573
<v Celia Chavez>I'm not saying I'm perfect at it.
00:21:30.573 --> 00:21:34.533
<v Celia Chavez>But like, I can't, you know, well, the gluten-free thing is real for me.
00:21:34.793 --> 00:21:37.693
<v Celia Chavez>I'm not celiac, but it causes inflammation in me.
00:21:37.693 --> 00:21:38.813
<v Nancy Magarill>You're celiac.
00:21:38.813 --> 00:21:39.833
<v Celia Chavez>I'm celiac.
00:21:39.833 --> 00:21:43.013
<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, Nancy.
00:21:43.013 --> 00:21:45.853
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I'm actually celiac, so we had a nice little moment.
00:21:45.933 --> 00:21:48.733
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, since I was 30, it was a very long time ago.
00:21:48.733 --> 00:21:49.393
<v Celia Chavez>Oh, yeah.
00:21:49.393 --> 00:21:49.773
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:21:49.773 --> 00:21:50.373
<v Celia Chavez>Well, yeah.
00:21:50.493 --> 00:22:00.933
<v Celia Chavez>And I found this out right before the Pink tour, and it was really, it got really challenging, you know, but it's like, I know what happens, what the reaction is if I, you know, no dairy for sure.
00:22:00.933 --> 00:22:01.413
<v Celia Chavez>What else?
00:22:01.413 --> 00:22:04.353
<v Celia Chavez>I don't eat red meat on tour if I can help it.
00:22:04.353 --> 00:22:07.553
<v Celia Chavez>And again, like once a week or if you're out to dinner or something.
00:22:07.553 --> 00:22:09.793
<v Nancy Magarill>And does that cause inflammation, red meat?
00:22:09.793 --> 00:22:13.993
<v Celia Chavez>I mean, for me, you know, I've come to the conclusion it's different for everybody.
00:22:13.993 --> 00:22:15.393
<v Celia Chavez>For me, yeah, it's not great.
00:22:15.613 --> 00:22:22.673
<v Celia Chavez>It's not if I'm trying to be like at performance every night level where I know I can count on my body, then I will avoid it.
00:22:22.673 --> 00:22:27.173
<v Peter Michael Marino>You can do like you can like do a swab and send it to a company.
00:22:27.173 --> 00:22:27.533
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, yeah.
00:22:27.533 --> 00:22:31.213
<v Peter Michael Marino>And they will tell you like all the things that you should avoid.
00:22:31.213 --> 00:22:31.553
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:22:31.553 --> 00:22:33.293
<v Peter Michael Marino>Like red, green, yellow.
00:22:33.293 --> 00:22:34.353
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, I actually did that.
00:22:34.353 --> 00:22:35.053
<v Nancy Magarill>And I had.
00:22:35.053 --> 00:22:36.953
<v Celia Chavez>Did I send you to my guy, Nancy?
00:22:36.953 --> 00:22:37.853
<v Nancy Magarill>No.
00:22:37.853 --> 00:22:38.373
<v Celia Chavez>Arthur.
00:22:38.373 --> 00:22:38.553
<v Celia Chavez>No.
00:22:38.553 --> 00:22:38.833
<v Celia Chavez>OK.
00:22:38.833 --> 00:22:39.673
<v Nancy Magarill>No.
00:22:39.673 --> 00:22:40.413
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, you know what?
00:22:40.413 --> 00:22:41.973
<v Nancy Magarill>You did a long time ago.
00:22:41.973 --> 00:22:42.833
<v Nancy Magarill>You did.
00:22:42.833 --> 00:22:44.693
<v Nancy Magarill>So I forgot I worked with Arthur.
00:22:45.013 --> 00:22:48.873
<v Nancy Magarill>And then I worked with someone else after my shoulder surgery.
00:22:48.873 --> 00:22:51.413
<v Nancy Magarill>And when I had lost my voice, I had vocal dysphonia.
00:22:51.413 --> 00:22:54.513
<v Nancy Magarill>And I did a whole bunch of testing to find out what I can eat.
00:22:54.513 --> 00:22:56.053
<v Nancy Magarill>Plus, I'm allergic to nuts.
00:22:56.053 --> 00:22:58.933
<v Nancy Magarill>So I had a whole pile of stuff about what they were like.
00:22:58.933 --> 00:23:02.413
<v Nancy Magarill>You have to eat meat, because I was also that was the other thing.
00:23:02.413 --> 00:23:05.073
<v Nancy Magarill>I was eating vegetarian for a long time.
00:23:05.073 --> 00:23:09.493
<v Nancy Magarill>And all of my levels went crazy because I wasn't getting enough protein.
00:23:09.493 --> 00:23:12.353
<v Nancy Magarill>I wasn't getting enough iron because I can't eat soy.
00:23:12.353 --> 00:23:12.973
<v Nancy Magarill>I can't eat.
00:23:12.973 --> 00:23:14.193
<v Nancy Magarill>There's a lot of stuff I can't eat.
00:23:14.313 --> 00:23:19.213
<v Nancy Magarill>So this actual person was like, you have to eat meat, which is rare, right?
00:23:19.213 --> 00:23:21.773
<v Nancy Magarill>But anyway, you know, that's what it is, right?
00:23:21.773 --> 00:23:22.313
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:23:22.313 --> 00:23:32.113
<v Celia Chavez>And I mean, I guess that's kind of the thing is like, if you're a singer, we have a reputation for being neurotically focused on what goes in our bodies and what we do with our voices.
00:23:32.113 --> 00:23:35.613
<v Celia Chavez>And don't laugh if you're Celine Dion and all that stuff.
00:23:35.773 --> 00:23:36.593
<v Celia Chavez>But it's for real.
00:23:36.593 --> 00:23:40.253
<v Celia Chavez>We don't have anything between us and our instrument, you know?
00:23:40.393 --> 00:23:44.353
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, I think a lot of people in the public doesn't know that.
00:23:44.353 --> 00:23:47.953
<v Peter Michael Marino>They don't know that like performers are athletes.
00:23:47.953 --> 00:23:50.053
<v Nancy Magarill>I mean, really, they don't care either.
00:23:50.053 --> 00:23:55.133
<v Celia Chavez>Well, and also those two little folds, I mean, they're so delicate.
00:23:55.133 --> 00:24:02.593
<v Celia Chavez>And I was talking in a, you know, in a show in an underground parking garage two days ago, and I can still feel it.
00:24:02.593 --> 00:24:05.473
<v Celia Chavez>I can still feel that I did that.
00:24:05.473 --> 00:24:09.893
<v Nancy Magarill>I can feel it if someone's smoking around me, goes right in my nose, dries up my nose.
00:24:11.073 --> 00:24:20.393
<v Nancy Magarill>I actually had a thing with an audience member at CB's Gallery years ago, where they were, it was when, before when you could smoke in a place, and they were smoking right in front of me.
00:24:20.393 --> 00:24:27.193
<v Nancy Magarill>They were sitting in the front row smoking, and I finally had to get off the stage at one point and say, I'm sorry, can you please put your cigarette out?
00:24:27.193 --> 00:24:29.473
<v Nancy Magarill>And after the show, they were so mad at me.
00:24:29.473 --> 00:24:32.393
<v Nancy Magarill>They were like, we were loving you until you said that.
00:24:32.393 --> 00:24:34.673
<v Nancy Magarill>And I'm like, well, I can't breathe.
00:24:34.673 --> 00:24:37.493
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, they were loving you because your instrument was working.
00:24:37.533 --> 00:24:38.233
<v Peter Michael Marino>This is great.
00:24:38.233 --> 00:24:38.653
<v Peter Michael Marino>People.
00:24:38.653 --> 00:24:38.813
<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow.
00:25:13.952 --> 00:25:15.632
<v Peter Michael Marino>Celia, you're also a coach.
00:25:15.632 --> 00:25:17.332
<v Peter Michael Marino>You coach people.
00:25:17.332 --> 00:25:20.012
<v Peter Michael Marino>I was gonna say young people, but perhaps that's not true.
00:25:20.012 --> 00:25:21.052
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's all people.
00:25:21.052 --> 00:25:22.732
<v Celia Chavez>It's different ages, yeah.
00:25:22.732 --> 00:25:31.792
<v Celia Chavez>I mean, I have a really great student who is, she's, her goal is to be a working artist, yeah.
00:25:31.792 --> 00:25:37.092
<v Celia Chavez>And she is so dedicated and inspires me with her work ethic.
00:25:37.092 --> 00:25:38.432
<v Nancy Magarill>How old is Shay?
00:25:38.432 --> 00:25:41.232
<v Celia Chavez>She's eight, oh, she might be 19 now.
00:25:41.232 --> 00:25:41.672
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh boy.
00:25:42.212 --> 00:25:46.672
<v Celia Chavez>But I've been coaching her for like three years now since she was 16.
00:25:46.672 --> 00:25:51.572
<v Celia Chavez>And she's always like, she practices in between lessons, you guys.
00:25:51.572 --> 00:25:52.772
<v Celia Chavez>Practices in between lessons.
00:25:52.872 --> 00:25:54.372
<v Nancy Magarill>You're like, that's a rarity.
00:25:54.372 --> 00:25:55.492
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, she writes all the time.
00:25:55.492 --> 00:25:57.772
<v Celia Chavez>So, I mean, it's such a joy.
00:25:57.772 --> 00:26:12.692
<v Celia Chavez>I also work with, you know, some of my favorite clients are just people with regular nine to fives who just want, well, you know, there's a couple that I've coached both of them and they just, they get together with their friends and play guitars and sing songs that they love.
00:26:12.692 --> 00:26:16.292
<v Celia Chavez>And they just want to be more confident when they're singing with their friends.
00:26:16.292 --> 00:26:22.552
<v Celia Chavez>And then when they get into the technique, they get their, like, curiouser and curiouser, you know, so it's great.
00:26:22.552 --> 00:26:24.452
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's interesting that you use the word confident.
00:26:25.132 --> 00:26:27.292
<v Peter Michael Marino>Is that one of the major keys?
00:26:27.292 --> 00:26:29.512
<v Peter Michael Marino>No pun intended.
00:26:29.512 --> 00:26:30.612
<v Peter Michael Marino>What's happening today?
00:26:30.632 --> 00:26:31.332
<v Peter Michael Marino>What is happening?
00:26:31.332 --> 00:26:32.772
<v Nancy Magarill>I don't know, but it's a little weird.
00:26:33.072 --> 00:26:39.332
<v Peter Michael Marino>Is that one of the keys to help someone, quote unquote, find their voice?
00:26:39.552 --> 00:26:41.172
<v Peter Michael Marino>Is it about confidence?
00:26:41.172 --> 00:26:50.172
<v Celia Chavez>You know what, that's an interesting question because I have had a challenge with that as an artist, on my artist side, and I believe that it is.
00:26:50.172 --> 00:26:51.152
<v Celia Chavez>Well, let's see.
00:26:51.152 --> 00:26:55.692
<v Celia Chavez>Some people are confident without being, I don't know how to say this.
00:26:55.692 --> 00:26:58.292
<v Nancy Magarill>Without having anything to be confident for?
00:26:58.292 --> 00:27:00.692
<v Nancy Magarill>Or they're overconfident.
00:27:00.692 --> 00:27:01.312
<v Celia Chavez>Pre-confident.
00:27:01.312 --> 00:27:05.832
<v Peter Michael Marino>You can be confident as a person, but you might not be confident about your instrument.
00:27:06.292 --> 00:27:07.612
<v Celia Chavez>Right, yeah.
00:27:07.612 --> 00:27:11.072
<v Peter Michael Marino>And so if you're not confident in your instrument, I'm not talking about myself, by the way.
00:27:11.072 --> 00:27:11.452
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:27:11.452 --> 00:27:18.152
<v Peter Michael Marino>If you're not confident in your instrument, you're underpitched a little bit, you're not rising to the moment, all that stuff.
00:27:18.152 --> 00:27:32.772
<v Celia Chavez>Well, the confidence, I guess, as I'm coaching other singers, part of what they need to be confident is just to an acceptance level and a comfort level with their bodies and with what happens when they try and sing.
00:27:32.772 --> 00:27:35.272
<v Celia Chavez>What's working, what's not, what could help.
00:27:35.672 --> 00:27:37.132
<v Nancy Magarill>And what they've been told also.
00:27:37.132 --> 00:27:41.012
<v Nancy Magarill>There are a lot of people who have been told, oh, you can't sing or you shut up or whatever.
00:27:41.012 --> 00:27:43.032
<v Nancy Magarill>There's a lot of psychology.
00:27:43.032 --> 00:27:43.652
<v Celia Chavez>Absolutely.
00:27:43.652 --> 00:27:48.192
<v Peter Michael Marino>You need one person to tell you that you're always under pitch and then you'll either rise above that.
00:27:48.232 --> 00:27:52.752
<v Peter Michael Marino>Again, no one attended or you will stay that way.
00:27:53.512 --> 00:28:01.632
<v Nancy Magarill>There's a lot of things that people say about your voices and about you that the voice is the way people express themselves mostly, right?
00:28:01.632 --> 00:28:14.252
<v Nancy Magarill>Whether it's talking, it's singing, and so how people respond to your voice or respond, or if you've just been told as a kid, shut up or you don't matter or whatever it is.
00:28:14.252 --> 00:28:16.352
<v Nancy Magarill>There's so much psychology behind it, I think.
00:28:16.352 --> 00:28:17.052
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:28:17.052 --> 00:28:28.032
<v Celia Chavez>I think that a lot of what I have to undo is either that or previous coaches telling them stuff that was not appropriate for the way that they want to sing.
00:28:31.072 --> 00:28:40.952
<v Celia Chavez>CCM singer will go to a classical voice teacher and they'll tell them not to do things that they need to do to get the sound that they want, that's contemporary.
00:28:40.952 --> 00:28:42.012
<v Celia Chavez>I'm one of those people.
00:28:42.012 --> 00:28:50.472
<v Celia Chavez>I remember going in college to my voice teacher and I brought her a recording of Blondie and I said, how do I sing like that without hurting myself?
00:28:50.472 --> 00:28:52.212
<v Celia Chavez>She's like, no, you can never sing like that.
00:28:52.212 --> 00:28:54.012
<v Celia Chavez>She's damaging her voice.
00:28:54.012 --> 00:28:59.332
<v Celia Chavez>I'm like, but she goes on tour all year long and she still sounds like she's not damaging her voice.
00:29:01.692 --> 00:29:13.472
<v Celia Chavez>I had a female rock singer that told me that I saw she was squeezing her butt every time she went for a high note and I'm like, what's going on here in this part of your body?
00:29:15.652 --> 00:29:19.732
<v Celia Chavez>She told me that she had it and she just got a degree, you guys, in voice.
00:29:19.732 --> 00:29:20.852
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh my God.
00:29:20.852 --> 00:29:25.252
<v Celia Chavez>She's like, well, I was told to squeeze my butt for the high notes and I'm like, oh my God.
00:29:25.252 --> 00:29:26.472
<v Celia Chavez>That's tension, sweetie.
00:29:26.992 --> 00:29:30.092
<v Nancy Magarill>Not only tension, it's not going to get you a lot of gigs.
00:29:30.092 --> 00:29:31.292
<v Celia Chavez>No.
00:29:31.292 --> 00:29:31.932
<v Nancy Magarill>It's kind of like.
00:29:31.932 --> 00:29:32.952
<v Celia Chavez>Well, maybe some gigs.
00:29:34.772 --> 00:29:35.792
<v Celia Chavez>Wow.
00:29:35.792 --> 00:29:38.952
<v Celia Chavez>But the confidence comes from just comfort, right?
00:29:39.572 --> 00:29:48.572
<v Celia Chavez>And lack of tension and lack of stress and lack of anxiety about the mechanics of singing, the physical part of singing.
00:29:48.572 --> 00:29:52.972
<v Peter Michael Marino>How much of it though is like teaching what music is like?
00:29:54.312 --> 00:29:54.832
<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, right.
00:29:54.832 --> 00:29:55.772
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, yeah.
00:29:55.772 --> 00:30:00.132
<v Celia Chavez>Well, again, it depends on, I mean, I'll tell you my focus lately.
00:30:00.492 --> 00:30:05.832
<v Celia Chavez>I feel like it's important that they just want to experience the joy of singing.
00:30:05.832 --> 00:30:07.612
<v Celia Chavez>I'm not so concerned.
00:30:07.732 --> 00:30:13.412
<v Celia Chavez>And if they're professionally minded, they have to be able to listen and be coachable.
00:30:13.412 --> 00:30:15.592
<v Celia Chavez>And also, destructive habits.
00:30:17.072 --> 00:30:24.712
<v Celia Chavez>If they smoke and go to bars and talk loud, and then come to their lesson, sounding like this, you know, and I'm like, well, what do you want to sing?
00:30:24.712 --> 00:30:28.192
<v Celia Chavez>And they bring me a song that they have to go in their head voice for.
00:30:28.192 --> 00:30:31.472
<v Celia Chavez>Like, we have to talk about vocal hygiene.
00:30:31.472 --> 00:30:34.052
<v Nancy Magarill>Maybe you need to stay out of the bars for a little bit.
00:30:34.052 --> 00:30:39.552
<v Celia Chavez>And some people, the technique gets them into the wrong part of their brain for creative expression.
00:30:39.552 --> 00:30:51.232
<v Celia Chavez>And so if it's not a priority for them to read, then I focus on listening because the mimicry and the listening to, like, what is the distance, what does it feel like in your body when you sing the distance between notes and an interval?
00:30:51.232 --> 00:30:53.632
<v Celia Chavez>You know, what does it sound like when you change registers?
00:30:53.632 --> 00:30:57.312
<v Celia Chavez>And also just, I'm thinking about this because I just went to the tailor.
00:30:57.312 --> 00:31:00.572
<v Celia Chavez>I went to take a couple of dresses to the tailor, some vintage dresses.
00:31:00.572 --> 00:31:04.512
<v Celia Chavez>And woman, and then my husband, by the way, I don't know if you know that, Nancy.
00:31:04.512 --> 00:31:05.992
<v Nancy Magarill>No.
00:31:05.992 --> 00:31:07.032
<v Nancy Magarill>Congratulations.
00:31:07.032 --> 00:31:08.152
<v Peter Michael Marino>Thank you.
00:31:08.192 --> 00:31:12.892
<v Celia Chavez>My husband and I was like, take some shirts and get them so they fit you.
00:31:13.172 --> 00:31:16.592
<v Celia Chavez>And the woman's looking at each shirt and each piece of clothing.
00:31:16.592 --> 00:31:21.572
<v Celia Chavez>And she's like, well, I could do what you want me to do, but it's meant to hang like this.
00:31:21.572 --> 00:31:25.332
<v Celia Chavez>This shirt is supposed to be designed to be baggy and constructed this way.
00:31:25.332 --> 00:31:26.972
<v Celia Chavez>So we could do it that way.
00:31:26.972 --> 00:31:34.892
<v Celia Chavez>Or, you know, and she looked at like what inherently that thing was, and then tailored the adjustments to that.
00:31:34.892 --> 00:31:37.272
<v Celia Chavez>And I feel like this is a great way to approach it.
00:31:37.612 --> 00:31:49.272
<v Celia Chavez>Well, because they're like my student, my teenage student, she is, she has a weird sensibility about music, but it's in that kind of PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple sort of way.
00:31:49.272 --> 00:32:00.992
<v Celia Chavez>And so like I have to listen to her and then understand what her vision is for her performance and her voice, and then decide what she needs to have her, be able to have her voice do it.
00:32:01.372 --> 00:32:06.232
<v Celia Chavez>And not try to, you know, she doesn't need me to teach her about to do scales.
00:32:06.352 --> 00:32:07.352
<v Celia Chavez>You know what I mean?
00:32:07.372 --> 00:32:11.832
<v Celia Chavez>She doesn't need to learn how to do scales, and she doesn't need to necessarily learn how to read.
00:32:11.832 --> 00:32:12.752
<v Celia Chavez>But she knows about chords.
00:32:12.752 --> 00:32:14.012
<v Celia Chavez>She's a guitar player.
00:32:14.012 --> 00:32:15.112
<v Celia Chavez>This is a very long way to answer.
00:32:15.112 --> 00:32:23.372
<v Celia Chavez>But you know, if someone's an instrumentalist, then they need to be taught how to self-accompany and also sing with proper posture.
00:32:23.372 --> 00:32:26.112
<v Celia Chavez>But they may want to do things with their body that are weird.
00:32:26.112 --> 00:32:31.992
<v Celia Chavez>So then it's about really focusing on that rib expansion maintained through whatever movement they do.
00:32:32.052 --> 00:32:44.852
<v Celia Chavez>Anyway, so I kind of like, I've kind of been getting my teeth into students who are a little bit weird and who can't find a coach that understands that they need their practice that tailored and that they don't need to be told to change their vowels too much.
00:32:44.872 --> 00:32:45.932
<v Nancy Magarill>Right, that's cool.
00:32:45.932 --> 00:32:49.892
<v Peter Michael Marino>This is really, I'm so glad to hear that people like you exist.
00:32:49.892 --> 00:32:54.432
<v Peter Michael Marino>Like you're helping people be their authentic selves.
00:32:54.432 --> 00:32:55.552
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:32:55.552 --> 00:32:57.492
<v Peter Michael Marino>And that's so rare.
00:32:57.552 --> 00:32:58.372
<v Nancy Magarill>Well, and it would be different.
00:32:58.372 --> 00:33:04.932
<v Peter Michael Marino>Especially in an educational system, the, you know, your educators, they've been there forever, generally.
00:33:04.932 --> 00:33:08.972
<v Peter Michael Marino>And they just, they know the track that they think you should be on.
00:33:08.972 --> 00:33:11.692
<v Peter Michael Marino>It doesn't allow you to just be weird.
00:33:11.692 --> 00:33:13.932
<v Nancy Magarill>Right, right.
00:33:13.932 --> 00:33:18.432
<v Nancy Magarill>I think it's really helpful for an artist to have someone like that to help them grow.
00:33:18.432 --> 00:33:23.632
<v Nancy Magarill>So they're learning how to better their skills, but then also be themselves at the same time.
00:33:23.632 --> 00:33:50.072
<v Celia Chavez>Well, and circling back to the confidence thing, you know, if they get reinforcement on like, it's okay to listen to your authentic self and base everything on your development on that, and still be coachable, but also if that's your guiding vision, then you will find your team, your professional team based on that, and not on you should do this and you need to release a record every blah, blah, every period of what, two months or whatever.
00:33:50.072 --> 00:33:53.852
<v Nancy Magarill>Speaking of releasing records, you have a record, Babilonia.
00:33:53.852 --> 00:33:54.152
<v Celia Chavez>Yes.
00:33:54.752 --> 00:33:57.732
<v Nancy Magarill>So I listen to a lot of it on Bandcamp.
00:33:57.732 --> 00:33:59.232
<v Nancy Magarill>It's so beautiful.
00:33:59.232 --> 00:34:07.172
<v Nancy Magarill>It's like a new side of you that I think is really unique and also a bit retro in this beautiful way.
00:34:07.172 --> 00:34:08.352
<v Nancy Magarill>I really love it.
00:34:08.352 --> 00:34:09.312
<v Celia Chavez>Thank you.
00:34:09.312 --> 00:34:10.492
<v Nancy Magarill>Nice to listen to that.
00:34:10.492 --> 00:34:12.332
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
00:34:12.332 --> 00:34:15.712
<v Peter Michael Marino>Explain Babilonia to me.
00:34:15.712 --> 00:34:16.972
<v Nancy Magarill>Where did she come from?
00:34:18.292 --> 00:34:18.792
<v Celia Chavez>Well, you know what?
00:34:18.792 --> 00:34:26.732
<v Celia Chavez>I think that we were talking about, can you bring that arena performance experience into your own thing?
00:34:26.792 --> 00:34:36.392
<v Celia Chavez>I was talking to the records was produced by my friend Jeremy Little, who was also very much a performer as well as a producer, as well as a commercial songwriter and all this.
00:34:36.392 --> 00:34:52.992
<v Celia Chavez>We both have talked about how our heroes like Bowie and Madonna, and there are all these stars who have had personas, and how big they can get within that persona, where they don't feel like Celia Chavez is this, and people have known me as this, and I work for other people, and that's Celia Chavez.
00:34:52.992 --> 00:34:59.212
<v Celia Chavez>Babilonia can be bigger than that, or just expansive and explore different territory, I feel artistically.
00:34:59.212 --> 00:35:05.412
<v Celia Chavez>I named her, Babilonia is my grandmother's maiden name.
00:35:05.412 --> 00:35:07.332
<v Celia Chavez>I'm Filipina, for the listeners.
00:35:07.332 --> 00:35:08.812
<v Peter Michael Marino>100%, I believe, is that correct?
00:35:08.812 --> 00:35:10.292
<v Celia Chavez>Yes, both parents.
00:35:10.292 --> 00:35:11.952
<v Nancy Magarill>Which I didn't know, by the way.
00:35:12.012 --> 00:35:12.432
<v Celia Chavez>Oh, okay.
00:35:12.432 --> 00:35:16.552
<v Celia Chavez>I know, when I was in New York, people would just assume that I was Puerto Rican or something.
00:35:16.552 --> 00:35:18.152
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
00:35:18.152 --> 00:35:29.152
<v Celia Chavez>So, being a member of a diaspora, and there's this whole thing about being in between European and Latin and indigenous.
00:35:30.452 --> 00:35:39.252
<v Celia Chavez>It's this feeling that I've actually recently heard from other acquaintances, and I was just at a literary conversation.
00:35:39.252 --> 00:35:39.712
<v Celia Chavez>I'm sorry.
00:35:40.592 --> 00:35:41.872
<v Celia Chavez>Convention.
00:35:41.872 --> 00:35:43.472
<v Nancy Magarill>This is called getting older.
00:35:43.472 --> 00:35:44.372
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, exactly.
00:35:44.372 --> 00:35:45.952
<v Celia Chavez>That's it.
00:35:45.952 --> 00:35:57.032
<v Celia Chavez>And there was actually a panel, a Filipino writer panel, and they were talking about the diaspora experience and how all people, my generation and younger, are expressing themselves in their art.
00:35:57.032 --> 00:36:00.572
<v Celia Chavez>And it's something that I'm focusing on.
00:36:00.572 --> 00:36:02.972
<v Celia Chavez>So it's a way of reaching back through history.
00:36:02.972 --> 00:36:07.492
<v Celia Chavez>I never got to meet my grandmother because she died before my mother came to America.
00:36:08.572 --> 00:36:19.272
<v Celia Chavez>So it's a way of trying to bring, I guess, reach back and have my ancestors with me in my art and letting her sing, letting my mother sing with me.
00:36:19.272 --> 00:36:20.532
<v Nancy Magarill>Was your mother a singer?
00:36:20.532 --> 00:36:23.712
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah, she had a beautiful voice.
00:36:23.712 --> 00:36:24.272
<v Celia Chavez>She's older now.
00:36:24.272 --> 00:36:28.692
<v Celia Chavez>She's still around, but you get older and your voice isn't quite the same.
00:36:28.792 --> 00:36:30.312
<v Celia Chavez>You don't work on it.
00:36:30.312 --> 00:36:33.612
<v Celia Chavez>So, but yeah, she still loves music.
00:36:33.612 --> 00:36:34.832
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, that's so nice.
00:36:34.832 --> 00:36:36.272
<v Nancy Magarill>So now what is next for you?
00:36:36.692 --> 00:36:43.572
<v Celia Chavez>Well, you know, I have a duo project with my husband, Simon Petty, called Petty Chavez.
00:36:43.572 --> 00:36:46.112
<v Nancy Magarill>It's a great name by the way.
00:36:46.112 --> 00:36:49.092
<v Celia Chavez>People are always writing us, Dear Petty.
00:36:49.092 --> 00:36:50.232
<v Celia Chavez>We get these emails.
00:36:50.232 --> 00:36:52.452
<v Nancy Magarill>And then you feel petty saying that.
00:36:52.452 --> 00:36:55.092
<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh my gosh.
00:36:55.092 --> 00:37:00.732
<v Celia Chavez>And we actually are recording in the studio that you see, you know, that you've been here with me.
00:37:00.732 --> 00:37:07.772
<v Celia Chavez>And we were in the middle of recording a new EP, but it might grow to be an album just because we have built up so many songs.
00:37:07.772 --> 00:37:15.392
<v Celia Chavez>We've had this studio for a while, but we've mainly been teaching in it just because, you know, and things are kind of settling down before summer.
00:37:15.392 --> 00:37:19.832
<v Celia Chavez>And our studio partner, his name is Greg Johnson, and he's a Kiwi artist.
00:37:19.832 --> 00:37:30.272
<v Celia Chavez>He's a New Zealand artist, and he basically makes his records here and then goes down and tours and then comes back after the tour and lives in Santa Monica with his wife and kid.
00:37:30.272 --> 00:37:33.172
<v Celia Chavez>And we share the studio, and so he's producing it.
00:37:33.352 --> 00:37:39.492
<v Celia Chavez>And it's a nice little homegrown feel, and it's going to be really beautiful.
00:37:39.492 --> 00:37:41.152
<v Nancy Magarill>How did you get this studio?
00:37:41.152 --> 00:37:42.092
<v Celia Chavez>Oh my gosh.
00:37:42.092 --> 00:37:44.372
<v Celia Chavez>This was absolute luck.
00:37:44.372 --> 00:37:55.352
<v Celia Chavez>We got the studio three, wait, it's going to, well, we're actually not sure how long we'll have it, but we got, we found it in 2021.
00:37:55.352 --> 00:38:04.432
<v Celia Chavez>So it was during still kind of lockdown, but it was when everybody had left their offices and apparently vacated a bunch of the studios in this building to work at home.
00:38:04.432 --> 00:38:07.612
<v Celia Chavez>And so there was a bunch of vacancy in the building.
00:38:07.612 --> 00:38:13.772
<v Celia Chavez>And it was already built out, like it was all this stuff was already built with these doors.
00:38:14.412 --> 00:38:18.552
<v Celia Chavez>And there's like a little riser stage in the big part of the studio.
00:38:18.552 --> 00:38:25.312
<v Celia Chavez>So if I'm teaching stage, you know, can get students used to being on a stage and with a PA.
00:38:25.312 --> 00:38:28.092
<v Celia Chavez>But we didn't know that this existed.
00:38:28.092 --> 00:38:32.292
<v Celia Chavez>We were looking at another space and Greg said, oh, it's not quite right.
00:38:32.552 --> 00:38:33.192
<v Celia Chavez>It's not quite right.
00:38:33.192 --> 00:38:34.352
<v Celia Chavez>I'm trying to build it out in the studio.
00:38:34.572 --> 00:38:40.172
<v Celia Chavez>And the guy, the building manager said, well, do you want to see the recording studio?
00:38:40.172 --> 00:38:40.692
<v Celia Chavez>It's available.
00:38:40.692 --> 00:38:41.932
<v Celia Chavez>And we're like, yeah.
00:38:41.932 --> 00:38:46.272
<v Celia Chavez>And we got it pretty cheap because they just needed tenants at the time.
00:38:46.272 --> 00:38:49.712
<v Celia Chavez>So between the three of us, it's really, it's an amazing find.
00:38:49.712 --> 00:38:51.372
<v Nancy Magarill>And it's not that far from you, right?
00:38:51.372 --> 00:38:53.392
<v Nancy Magarill>You were able to jump in your car in 10 minutes.
00:38:54.772 --> 00:38:55.372
<v Celia Chavez>I can walk.
00:38:55.472 --> 00:38:58.972
<v Celia Chavez>I mean, we walk back and forth when it's nice.
00:38:59.152 --> 00:39:01.672
<v Celia Chavez>And it's like a 10-minute drive.
00:39:01.672 --> 00:39:02.772
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, that's fantastic.
00:39:02.772 --> 00:39:03.312
<v Celia Chavez>Five minutes.
00:39:03.312 --> 00:39:05.232
<v Nancy Magarill>And you're in Santa Monica?
00:39:05.232 --> 00:39:08.192
<v Celia Chavez>I live in West LA now, but the studio is in Santa Monica.
00:39:08.652 --> 00:39:09.872
<v Celia Chavez>There's like the border.
00:39:09.872 --> 00:39:12.232
<v Celia Chavez>We're just over the border.
00:39:12.232 --> 00:39:15.232
<v Celia Chavez>We have to cross the border to get to our studio.
00:39:15.232 --> 00:39:16.332
<v Nancy Magarill>Don't say that.
00:39:16.332 --> 00:39:18.052
<v Celia Chavez>I know, right?
00:39:18.052 --> 00:39:19.212
<v Peter Michael Marino>You can say borderline.
00:39:19.212 --> 00:39:20.912
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's a Madonna song.
00:39:20.912 --> 00:39:21.632
<v Peter Michael Marino>There we go.
00:39:21.632 --> 00:39:23.232
<v Peter Michael Marino>We brought it back around.
00:39:23.352 --> 00:39:24.492
<v Nancy Magarill>Good job.
00:39:24.492 --> 00:39:25.072
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:39:25.072 --> 00:39:26.632
<v Nancy Magarill>Celia, thank you so much.
00:39:26.692 --> 00:39:27.612
<v Nancy Magarill>I'm sorry.
00:39:27.612 --> 00:39:28.512
<v Celia Chavez>That was fun.
00:39:28.512 --> 00:39:35.152
<v Nancy Magarill>I do want to have a conversation with you at some point about harmony, which is one of the things you talked about that we wanted to talk.
00:39:35.412 --> 00:39:36.972
<v Celia Chavez>I'm writing a book.
00:39:36.972 --> 00:39:37.952
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:39:37.952 --> 00:39:39.832
<v Peter Michael Marino>You're writing a book about harmony?
00:39:39.832 --> 00:39:43.552
<v Celia Chavez>I'm writing a book and I'm working on a self-guided course.
00:39:43.552 --> 00:39:44.172
<v Celia Chavez>What?
00:39:44.172 --> 00:39:45.052
<v Celia Chavez>With input.
00:39:45.672 --> 00:39:46.732
<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow.
00:39:46.732 --> 00:39:47.572
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:39:47.572 --> 00:39:55.552
<v Celia Chavez>So it's something that there's not a lot of resources, I think, around vocal harmony that teach.
00:39:55.752 --> 00:40:01.132
<v Celia Chavez>There's a lot of courses about harmony for musicians, but for vocalists.
00:40:01.132 --> 00:40:01.632
<v Celia Chavez>Yeah.
00:40:01.772 --> 00:40:05.592
<v Celia Chavez>Not sight singing, but harmony, what do they call them?
00:40:05.592 --> 00:40:06.832
<v Celia Chavez>Head charts here.
00:40:06.832 --> 00:40:12.572
<v Celia Chavez>The studio people here call them head charts where you stack them and you make the chart in your head.
00:40:12.572 --> 00:40:13.972
<v Celia Chavez>I didn't hear that until I got to LA.
00:40:14.212 --> 00:40:15.332
<v Nancy Magarill>Learning how to do it.
00:40:15.332 --> 00:40:16.812
<v Nancy Magarill>It's such a skill.
00:40:17.332 --> 00:40:20.372
<v Nancy Magarill>I think people have an innate sense of harmony or they don't, whatever.
00:40:20.532 --> 00:40:24.552
<v Nancy Magarill>I have a certain way that I always harmonize when I'm doing my records and things.
00:40:24.552 --> 00:40:26.692
<v Nancy Magarill>I have what I hear.
00:40:26.692 --> 00:40:32.592
<v Nancy Magarill>But she's really working on something really intricate that I think is going to be very exciting for people.
00:40:33.632 --> 00:40:39.092
<v Nancy Magarill>Also kind of spiritual, which is what we are talking about just at this time of disharmony.
00:40:39.092 --> 00:40:40.952
<v Nancy Magarill>Yes, it's important.
00:40:40.952 --> 00:40:47.712
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, it's such a beautiful thing to be focusing on because it's so important and it makes so much sense.
00:40:49.712 --> 00:40:51.092
<v Peter Michael Marino>Thank you so much.
00:40:51.092 --> 00:40:55.232
<v Peter Michael Marino>I feel enlightened just meeting you for the past hour, so thank you.
00:40:55.232 --> 00:40:56.352
<v Celia Chavez>Thank you, Peter.
00:40:56.352 --> 00:40:57.192
<v Nancy Magarill>Back at you both.
00:41:23.792 --> 00:41:24.832
<v Peter Michael Marino>Hey, thanks for checking us out.
00:41:24.832 --> 00:41:27.632
<v Peter Michael Marino>Links to today's guests can be found in the show notes.
00:41:27.632 --> 00:41:32.612
<v Nancy Magarill>Don't forget to subscribe, like us, rate us, and tell all your friends about Arts and Craft.
