For Fab Four fan, it gets better all the time
Thursday, April 28, 2011
LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY APRIL 28, 2011, 11:18 AM
BY BRYAN WASSEL
TOWN NEWS
STAFF WRITER
A former Paramus resident has accomplished a series of firsts at Berklee College in Boston: becoming the first woman to graduate the guitar performance program in 1982, the first female faculty member of the guitar department in 1984 and the first female to be promoted to full professor in the department in 2009.

Lauren Passarelli, who was born in Teaneck and grew up in Paramus, developed her interest in guitar at an early age, citing the Beatles as one of her biggest influences. She had a plastic guitar when she was 2, and was truly inspired by music when she saw the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show when she was 4.

“You know, the Beatles never said they were the best musicians or the best writers or anything, but they enjoyed it so much and they just said, ‘If we can do it, anyone can do it,’” Passarelli said. “So I thought, ‘Then I’ll do it too.’”

Nicknamed “George,” after Beatle George Harrison, by her students, Passarelli is not only a professor but the department’s resident expert on the Fab Four. In addition to her standard lessons, she created the Beatles’ Guitar Lab and Beatle’s Ensemble at the college.

Her formal education in guitar began in 1969, when she began taking lessons from Paramus guitar teacher Lou Sabini, who still gives lessons in the borough to this day.

“He’s a great, great guitar teacher and he got me off to an incredible foundation, a great start,” Passarelli said. “I studied with him for five years, from 9 years old to 14, and he got me using the guitar books that Berklee College of Music published, so that’s how I heard about the college.”

Passarelli’s musical talent goes beyond just the guitar, and while attending Paramus High School she played flute in the school’s marching and concert bands, as well as guitar for the stage band. She also sings, plays piano, bass and drums, engineers and mixes her own music, and has been writing and recording her own songs since 1970.

“I love it all,” Passarelli said. “Certainly writing the songs is a giant thrill, because I like sitting there with a blank piece of paper and a blank recording and knowing nothing is there, maybe not even a scratch of an idea, but within an hour there’s a finished song. It’s just the most amazing thing, it’s like playing with magic.”

After graduating from Berklee, Passarelli was immediately invited to join the faculty, but had to wait two years for an opening. She has taught at the college, sharing her love of music with students using a lighthearted approach, ever since.

In addition to teaching, Passarelli has recorded multiple albums, and played with other renowned musicians, including Melissa Etheridge, Leni Stern and Pat Metheny. She also performs live concerts online and has guitar lessons and labs on all aspects of the instrument available online.

“There’s ways for people to reach out, and the Internet brings everybody together these days,” Passarelli said.

E-mail: Wassel@northjersey.com

Quote:
Ringo Starr’s drumming is infallible, untouchable, and he is quite simply the greatest drummer in the history of rock ‘n’ roll music.

So, there’s that.

With this in mind, it would stand to reason that you might struggle to learn his parts, even on so rudimentary a level as Rock Band provides. I will resist the urge to write an endless screed about why Ringo’s drumming is beyond reproach and instead offer a quick “Q and A” to examine your specific points.

Q) Was Ringo actually “different as a drummer”?

A) Was Magic Johnson “different as a point guard“? Was Frank Lloyd Wright “different as an architect”? You bet your ass. As much as people try to disparage Ringo’s playing, no one ever seems to have a suggestion as to what drummer would have made those recordings better. And that’s because there was not, is not, and never will be, a drummer more perfectly suited for the Beatles.

Q) Was his playing “pretty simple and connected to the songs”?

A) If by “pretty simple”, you mean “pretty perfect” and if by “connected to the songs”, you mean, “integral to the execution of these rock n’ roll masterpieces”, then the answer is a resounding YES.

Q) Was Ringo “less intuitive” than a lot of subsequent rock drummers?

A) Absolutely not. Few if any drummers in rock history have been more intuitive. Ringo understood exactly what every song needed to have, and bear in mind he was working with not one, but three songwriters.

Q) Any thoughts?

A) Yes. Don’t argue with me about this. I know what I know.

I love John Bonham, Charlie Watts, Phil Rudd, and the nutjob from Wilco (and about a million other drummers) as much as anyone could. They are all perfect for their bands. They are all irreplaceable. But Ringo was in THE BEATLES.

Check the scoreboard.

Ringo wins.

Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and

then go do it, Because what the world needs

is people who have come alive.

~ Harold Thurman Whitman

I have often felt ideas come to me, as gifts, that they may not even be my ideas, but ideas coming from a cool place, that giant creative pool of infinite possibilities & I heard it first. I’ve never thought of it as an overhead compartment that I could simply reach into & pull out a great idea. That’s cool & fun & closer than this giant sky, VAST overwhelming place that we may sometimes think the ideas come from.
Get words on the page

Many of my students fear writing down anything until they think the idea s good enough. Pat Pattison calls it free association, Kate calls it blathering & getting words on the page, I’ve called it blurbs, Natalie Goldberg calls it, keeping your pen moving, they’re all great. The idea is to participate & get words on the page that you can play with, rearrange & jump into new ideas from. I’ve said it a bunch, but if you play with words you will find lyrics, stories, poems, prose, whatever you’re desiring to write with words. Playing with them is the key, not worrying about rules, or formulas or another book to buy on how or another class to take. Go to the source themselves, the words, the feelings, the hot topics the desires in your heart. Scribble them down, move them around, cut & paste them, put them in different orders within the sentence, go after the spark that happens next & what you want to say appears. In the book Poem Crazy, Susan G. Wooldridge says, “Play with words as if they are blocks, meaning will take care of itself.” I love the freedom of that. And, I am amazed to always find that it is absolutely true for me.
Be engaged, instead of waiting

I like the prize, I like winning. I like seeing & hearing a finished song or CD physically in my hands, the tangible representation of many hours of detailed work & thousands of decisions completed. I was recently waiting for the artwork for my CD, Playing With the Pieces. Even though I designed it & took most of the photos I needed help with following the manufactures templates & that’s we’re I’m at. Waiting for my friend to tidy up my ideas so they make sense to the printing people. I had hoped to get that CD in my hot little hands & feel the completed satisfaction of that batch of songs by my birthday February 1st & then merrily jump into my next CD, Blast of Love, finish arranging & tracking & begin mixing. I’ve been waiting since last May ’09 when we started the visuals. So what’s a frustrated Beatle to do? Get cracking on something else anyway! So I’ve been happily working on the new CD & writing new songs & recording them as well. I get so caught up in my own plans that it takes me a little while to remember to be flexible when I’m working with other people. Our deadlines are our own thankfully & there are many things for me to be creatively engaged with. But truthfully as with all advancement, necessity is the mother of invention. That is one of the reasons, I’ve learned how to play drums, trust my own bass lines, get into triggering all kinds of instruments with a midi guitar, start learning piano & now, learn some basic graphic design; BECAUSE I HATE SITTING AROUND WAITING. I love collaborating with my creative friends, but I can’t wait for them forever. So you decide your comfort zone & instead of complaining, do something.
I wish for you all, joy, flow & great fulfillment with your creating. Don’t wait, jump in now & have some fun.

It’s so much fun to have a new project or song or idea in my head. My brain desires to be captivated & chewing on something delicious as often as possible. As an Artist it’s important for me to have something in the works, always stirring & devising, arranging & producing, to be playing with sounds & words & textures just thrills me.

I like to do it as often as possible because it’s as necessary & satisfying as eating & sleeping & breathing. I also feel that it is as easy to jump into the creative flow, as it is to plug an AC cord into the wall outlet to get power.

There’s a need for a decision, then an action of doing & some patience & allowing & then there’s the muse hanging with me while I play with words or instruments or plans as to what to do with all those words & music ideas. The inspiration always shows up when I do. We’re connected. So are you.

It’s trust, it’s intuition, and it’s fun & repetition. It’s habit & then confidence and there is always another part of it all to work on, to enjoy, and to spend time with.

When Joni Mitchell couldn’t find a music or lyric idea she’d paint. When the painting felt uncertain she’d go back to music. I bounce around to different instruments, new song ideas, older unfinished ideas & whatever feels interesting to me.

Sometimes Artists are afraid of too much freedom & too many choices. But I find it fascinating how we can start off with a blank page & blank recording & out of the infinite choose pieces, begin a puzzle, realize a form & direction & theme & finish a lyric or melody or progression. I love making those choices, taking my ear by surprise & pleasing myself & by getting tickled by the joy of it all. You have to show up & start, narrow it down, decide & add to it till it’s done.

I usually finish a new song in an hr or less. The whole thing: chords, melody & lyrics. I started writing songs at 10 yrs old & have written over the years in every order, from many different starting points. I love finding new ways to jump into the creative playground & have a go at it. When I hear another writer’s habits & process I like visiting their approach to get into the creative place in a new way. So if one attempt isn’t as effortless I can try another.

Since July of ’09 I’ve written a whole cd’s worth of new songs that I’m very excited about. Most were brand new ideas. Rescuing & finally getting to use a stranded verse or chorus or riff from the past became 3 finished songs. To my own amazement the new finished bits fit so well they sounded like they belonged together all along and two were ideas that I had had hanging around a long time. One was 7 years old. One was 12 years old & now these bits are finished whole songs. Lyrically 2 songs needed more life experience to unfold before I knew what to say. Another song got over it’s “I don’t know what I’m going to be” by co-writing with a friend.

I had been releasing digital singles through 2007 & 2008. I would write, record & release it to itunes, boom, done. I was getting a kick out of making the picture sleeves for them, getting to use my photographs for each. I’d also been asking everyone, “Do you prefer to buy digital downloads or cds these days”? Everyone was about 50/50 on this and so I have just worked on a cd visual layout for all those singles plus 2 unreleased songs and the full length CD will be called, Playing With The Pieces.

I have been recording the basic tracks to all the new songs as I wrote them since last July & that cd will come out this year as well. I want to call it Blast of Love. It was a fun phrase & when I heard it, I instantly thought it would make a cool title for my next cd & it would also be a great title song. So I sat down & wrote a song called Blast of Love.

It’s play. It’s easy. It’s just picking up instruments & letting yourself fly. It’s playing with all those pieces & choices & picking the bits & parts you love best & putting them all together. It’s giving it time & space to get a new perspective & point of view & seeing if you still like what you hear and if not, asking what does this need? Even asking the song itself. “Song, what do you want? Tell me your bass line. What do you want me to say here? How should I end it?”

One time I just deliberately sat down with 3 new songs & said, ok endings, find them, because these aren’t going to fade out. They want definite endings & boom the ideas just came. You have to decide what you need & what’s missing so you can find the solution. You have to let yourself begin and continue & then finish. If you’re happy with it, it’s good.

If you’re hungry you find things that are edible to eat. If you have a destination desire you get in your car & get there. It’s the same with writing. If you want to write words, play with words, visit with them & see which ones describe what you desire to say. If you want to write harmony & melody you have to play with chords & melodies & get to know the emotional side of the frequencies you’re choosing. If you are moved by your choices someone else will genuinely be moved & they are your true listeners & fans. They get goose bumps when you do. If they don’t they may never be converted. Doesn’t matter. People who dig what you do are out there. Some prefer strawberry; some prefer chocolate it’s about natural connection & being heard on a cellular level. But you have to dig it first. Your own connection to your art is what matters most & allowing your self to have that connection every day keeps you sane, engaged & fulfilled.

Writers say to me they don’t have time & they haven’t been playing or writing or jumping into their art at all. Why not? You sleep & eat everyday. Why not let yourself have what you love? Even if you sketched, played, wrote for 15 min everyday you’d have more ideas to play with than piling up years of nothing & disappointment.

It takes 28 days to break a habit & 28 days to start a habit. Waiting around for bolts of lightning, “when inspiration strikes”, isn’t consistent enough for me. I don’t want to be so numbed to creative kindling that I have to be struck out of my regular life routine to catch a creative idea. I love being in it all the time. Staying warmed up & expecting keeps me receptive & eager & open & bolts of lightning happen every day & many times a day. There’s healthy respect that we need to have for the muse & when ideas do come I catch them on paper, recordings, videos & have a source to go back to if I’m in the middle of something else. Then when I am free to experiment & play with the pieces I have a starting place. The overwhelming infinite possibilities have been narrowed down; I have a new idea to run with.

I have videos on you tube about the creative process too. I can talk about it forever. It’s one of my favorite subjects. I believe it’s the life force I’m admiring so we all have it or we wouldn’t be breathing. Flow with it. Let it in to your every day experience instead of complaining. Show up. Invite the muse for tea & visit together. Stop being at odds with yourself. Splash, just make one. Nike, just do it, weave some wonder.

You feel terrible when you’re out of sync with yourself & a huge part of it for many creative people is they call themselves writers or players & never write or play. Deep down this bothers them big time. So change that. You’re the only one who can. Worse, they stop calling themselves writers & players & accept the tortured existence of being a creative human that has no outlet or art form. John Lennon said, “I can’t wake up you. You wake up you”.