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I am a self produced song writer, composer, pianist and piano teacher for over thirty five years. My creative journey started with learning classical piano since early childhood. My passion led me to study music over many years. I would light-heartedly refer to myself as being the eternal student in the family. I earned a Master degree in Piano Performance and a Doctorate in Music Composition and Theory. After completing my Ph.D. I got married In Seattle, Washington and switched from my maiden name of Lily Barmor, to Lily Rose. It was as if having not one, but two flowers in my name, was meant to be. Early on in our life together, we decided that my husband who was a lawyer at the time, would join the US Air Force as a JAG (a military lawyer). We had a beautiful son who is on the autism spectrum and two years later, a boy and a girl - twins. My husband and I started out as novices in this new chapter in our lives and became passionate about autism outreach and support. Having a special needs older brother, the twins took on a mature outlook early on. It was as if they were the older siblings, watching out for their younger brother. Our family had endured multiple military relocations and deployments. This lifestyle presented an on-going challenge for me to maintain a “regular” music career, and along with it, a sense of much needed stability. I managed to find new piano students, some university gigs along the way and start my piano studio from scratch with each relocation - a “studio on the go.” By day, I would compose music and teach piano lessons into the evenings part time, while Alex worked on base. In the evenings we were soccer parents for the twins, who were on different teams, with different schedules. Our mindset was “divide and conquer, ” as we frequently passed one another driving to and from practices. We grabbed sit down home dinners when it was possible. We juggled this as well as various therapies for autism, speech and occupational therapy for our older son. Years later, I wrote the songs for my album, See You Again, and released it in September, 2021 . I wrote and reflected on my life experiences and things that I was passionate about. Going through the creative process helped me cope with depression that became onset through our continuous relocations and the challenges that all the moving around presented. I found working on my new music to be incredibly energizing and therapeutic, altogether. Since music is known as the best medicine, I suppose that I had been at the right place, at the right time. That notion of feeling that I am where I am supposed to be, provided an underlying comfort for me and kept me going. Not only did this album serve as a creative outlet, it also became a bridge, stretching out to others who may have been struggling too, especially during the on-going pandemic at that time. In this collection of songs in See You Again, you will find themes about passion and creativity, mental health, military deployments and family life, autism, finding yourself and your own voice, and lastly, gratitude. The music production that I taught myself along the way, allowed me to capture the artistic vision for this project. I had worked on and lived with these songs over a period of three years, in Mt. Vernon, Virginia and then culminating in Dayton, Ohio. It was made with all my heart and soul. In 2022 our family moved to San Antonio, Texas for three years and then, right back to Dayton Ohio via the US Air Force. We rolled with it, as we always had done many times before. I learned to plant roots wherever we moved, so that way, things wouldn't feel so temporary. And so, wherever the five of us were, that's where home was and is. Through it all, creating music, playing piano and teaching piano lessons has always been my constant companion. No matter where we live, the music will continue - Can’t let those creative juices go to waste!
Here's what two music industry professionals shared about my See You Again song:
RadioBuzzD, an internet radio station playing alternative indie rock wrote about the song, See You Again: "Clean romantic track with an elegant and mature vocal talent. I enjoy the tracks dynamics and production quality. Classical guitar melodies are great, overall great song."
Wolfrage Recordings Worldwide wrote: This is nice, it has everything a good song needs. It should be well received by music enthusiasts of your genre. The instrumentals and vocals are of decent quality, and they bring an atmosphere some listeners are looking for."
All video clips, lyrics, vocals, piano, guitar, and MIDI generated tracks, are mixed and produced by Lily Rose.
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“ To the world, you may be one person; but to one person you may the world.” - Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
1. Waves of Creation - In this song I express my needs for creativity, inspiration, solitude while simultaneously needing others and a sense of community - this rings even more true during the difficult days of the on-going pandemic. The songs: Waves Of Creation, Another Color and Face the Music encompass my musical journey over many years. I had changed my musical focus a couple of times from growing up playing classical piano to music composition and theory. I had always composed on the side, and in my late twenties, I immersed myself in the most creative aspect of music. Composing shaped my personal journey not only by giving me a creative outlet, but also by helping me cope with depression and anxiety.
2. The Sweeter Things - I reflect here on my own childhood. I was born in Haifa, Israel and lived there for a few years before moving to the United States. Our family moved every few years for my father's work, and I got used to being the new kid. It was always an adjustment but lots of good came from it as well. It taught me to become resilient in new situations. Whenever I fell, slipped and hurt myself, as kids often do, my mother would say "it will pass by the wedding," in Hebrew. That saying would instantly put a smile on my face, as it seemed silly to me at the time. These kind of little sayings gave me a feeling gratitude for sweet memories of simple things. In my twenties and early thirties I continued moving around for college. I lived all along the west coast. During my late thirties the moving around continued - this time for my husband's job. The experiences I had relocating, meeting new people, seeing different places and perspectives, shaped my own perspective and contributed to me feeling grateful for finding my own path. Now it's my turn to pass along these little treasures to my own kids.
3. Miriam - I wrote Miriam as a special tribute for my daughter. Her eyes, smile, heart, insights into other people’s hearts, her maturity and life outlook, inspired me in a very natural way. I always wanted to have a girl so that I could have a similar special relationship with her like the one that I had with my mother. The name Miriam in itself is special to me as well, because it was my paternal grandmother's name. I had a very close relationship with her. Writing this song in a way, also continues that thread from the past.
4. See you again - I wrote this song about the time period that my husband Alex, deployed in 2015 to Qatar. During that time we faced multiple challenges back home in Satellite Beach, on the east coast of Florida. The kids and I were in a several-week stay at temporary housing, due to mold that needed to be cleaned out of the air ducts in our off-base military beach-side home. Our household belongings went into storage and then I had to put everything back into place on my own. This felt like another relocation to which I referred to this hectic time as "the move within a move." My son Max, back then was six years old, and broke his arm one day in the school playground. Facing these challenges on my own, on top of dealing with a six month long (actually 7, if counting the training month) deployment made me feel like I was nearing my breaking point. I questioned why God put me through all of these hardships and I felt alone, angry at my circumstances and emotionally drained. This amped up my depression and anxiety. I remember the sea salt in the humid summer breeze, as if it was suggesting that this too shall pass - even though I don't understand it right now. This song is probably the most visual one for me. Going through this period of personal growth was a major inspiration throughout the whole album.
5. Shaded Images - This song is slower and expressive in a jazz vocal vibe. I was inspired here by Ella Fitzgerald's songs and vocal style. In this song I express the instability and insecurity longing and loneliness can create. These were emotions that I had felt at various points in my life; most memorably, during my doctoral studies and through our family's two military deployments. Shaded Images and Temporarily were songs that I initially wrote during my doctoral studies. At the time I was switching from piano performance into composition. I composed music for a recital that was going to determine if there was enough substance in my music in order to make that shift. Years later, I revisited the songs in a newer context of my current life experiences. I put them into a more traditional song form of Verse-chorus-verse with added MIDI generated drum and synth tracks.
6. Maximillian - Maximillian is also jazzy but more upbeat, lighthearted, and playful - just like my son, Max. He brings joy and humor to everyone’s life, and I had to capture my adoring admiration of him in a song. I was influenced here by music from the 20's and 30's and the sound of the vintage phonograph record players. Not only is Max gregarious and bubbly, he is truly his "brother's keeper." He is so wonderfully intuitive and loving with Jake and adores him beyond words.
7. Running In Slow Motion - In this song I express coping with heartache. The idea of running in slow motion captures the feeling of not being able to emotionally move backwards or forwards. By the time that I had met my husband to be I was already in my early thirties. I had gone through my fair share of relationships and heartache, and within two weeks, I knew that he was a keeper. This song is not so much about one particular relationship, but more of a collective recollection of stages that people go through in romantic relationships. I like the idea of music having a visual aspect. Running in slow motion, as if seen in a movie scene, can have a powerful visual impact.
8. Puerto Vallarta - This song is about the great time spent with family for my parents’ 50th anniversary in that city. I wrote the chorus partly in Spanish as well as English because I thought it would be fun and authentic to hear both languages. It’s in a tropical pop style with Latin Flavors and Color. This song went through several arrangement and revision stages before settling into this final version. I had a blast producing this one and in the video clip for this song, I used only footage from our trip.
9. Temporarily - Temporarily, is slow and expressive in a jazz vocal vibe, like Shaded Images. It captures the essence of romance, longing, past love, and accepting that things that are only temporary. This song holds a special place in my heart because so many things in my life, like all of the relocations that I mentioned, could have felt temporary. I had the choice of looking at those times as just that, or as opportunities. I chose the latter. I told myself that wherever my family is, that's my home, and we will plant seeds wherever we are to make if not feel temporary.
10. Face the Music - This song is about finding yourself at different times in your life, being true to yourself, finding ways to keep motivated, losing your way while juggling family life and career, and the struggle of finding it again. It is also about how "facing the music" is like a mantra for facing our fears and facing change. The idea that music appeals to our senses is meaningful to the listener, so facing our fears, although may be lonely and hard, can also be quite beautiful.
11. Another Color - I convey how paths that we choose to take in our lives are not necessarily better than other paths. They are more like colors - each possess its’ own essence and individual beauty. I reflect on how our hopes and dreams for our kids can change when we are faced with special needs. When our oldest son, Jake was two and a half years old, he was diagnosed with autism and global developmental delays. This took us on a collective family journey, where we experienced our hopes and dreams becoming less specific, and more about wanting our child to be independent and most of all, just happy. The diagnoses came a few weeks after the twins were born, and we were going through many firsts. This was also right after Alex's first Air Force deployment to Iraq in 2008. During that time period we lived in San Antonio, Texas. I was teaching music at a local private university. I was pregnant with our twins and on my own with little Jake. This was only our second year of Air Force life. The two deployments that we endured were probably the hardest times in my life.
