Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Jones.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started learning music when I was about eight years old when my parents signed me up for piano lessons. I have always been musical and interested in learning about music, so when I went to college, I decided to study music. Even though I had started with piano, my main interest was in singing, so I chose voice as my focus. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in music education from the University of Montevallo in Alabama. Then I applied to grad school, which is what brought me to California. I studied voice at UC San Diego and finished my Master’s in 2018. These two years in grad school really inspired my creative journey as an artist. I started writing more and imagining my own original creative works. I collaborated with friends who were visual artists, dancers, composers, and other musicians at UCSD.
During grad school, I was performing a lot; I sang in opera and multiple chamber works, performed with the La Jolla Symphony, and produced an original theater piece, Pocket Music, with my friends Joey and Mari in the music department. These were the highlights of my musical journey this far – I had never imagined that I would be able to do all of these really cool things before going to grad school… When I graduated, I felt a huge loss of creativity and struggled to make music/art without having access to the facilities and collaborators at UCSD. However, when I got a job at the New Children’s Museum, I was inspired to create more. I love working with kids, and so this was a great environment to feel inspired. I made a good friend there, Astrid, and we led a musical weekly Toddler Time program. During this year, after graduating, I also focused more on songwriting and making my own music. I worked on three albums – one under my solo project, Noble, another with my band, Silica Gel, and the third with my friend Astrid, Angsty Chicas.
In other work, I was also teaching private piano and voice lessons as well as playing piano at a local church. I was working my butt off but was determined to make money in a creative field. After leaving the museum, I taught elementary music at two San Diego schools. It was my first year teaching in a school, and it was extremely challenging. However, my favorite part of the job was leading the spring musical. When the pandemic happened, we started teaching online and I created my own YouTube series called Lauren’s Music Class. I am still continuing to work on this and hope to grow an audience for children who are learning from home. Currently, I am focusing on building my YouTube series and writing/recording more music.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I would say relatively, and I have been extremely fortunate to have so many amazing opportunities in my life. Compared to many, my road has been smooth. Although, making decisions that drastically impacted my life was difficult. My decision to move to California was so exciting, yet terrifying and difficult. I moved 2,000 miles away from my home in Alabama, not knowing a single person in San Diego and building a new life/community. Grad school challenged me academically; I was learning some of the hardest vocal music I had ever seen in my life, yet my growth as a musician was immense. It was also challenging personally, figuring out a work/life balance, dealing with a lot of anxiety, and just caring too much about what other people thought of me. I think if I did it again, I would be a much better musician because I would let go of some of the judgment I had placed on myself.
When I graduated, trying to ‘make it in the real world’ was confusing and frustrating. I felt kind of like a lost baby bird and that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. One of my biggest challenges now is making time to promote myself as a musician and artist and work on art outside of my job. I know that I want to make music and create for the rest of my life, but I am often struck with crippling self doubt and the inability to take action to work toward my goals. I strive to be a full time artist and forge my own path to have a career in music. I believe that I am continuing to grow and figuring it out slowly but surely.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a vocalist/songwriter, music teacher, and newly found video producer. My artistic work focuses on exploring various aspects of the voice. I aim to create music that is experimental and innovative while personal and inviting. I have a love for all types of music, from opera to free improvisation to theater and chamber music. Since graduating, though, I have tried to focus on music that is more accessible to me – music I can make from home by myself. Even though that sounds a little depressing, it has also meant more to me to write and create things that I relate to more deeply. The past year, I released three albums – one under my solo project, Noble, another with my band, Silica Gel, and third with my friend Astrid, Angsty Chicas. I am very proud of these accomplishments. I am also a big kid at heart, and right now I am really enjoying making educational videos for children via my YouTube channel. I released my debut Noble album, Yellow Blood, in March 2020. This music is the dearest to me; I write vocal-centric songs that tell about my life and personal growth. I am working on a new album now that involves electronic music aspects and vocal effects. I am interested in exploring and experimenting more with the voice for my next album. Silica Gel is my band comprised of Alabama native artists Laura Thomas, Joel Nelson, Jasper Lee, and myself. We take early Medieval music and re-interpret it in a modern context, using synths, electronic manipulation of the voice, and a homemade instrument called a Pyraharp, constructed by Jasper Lee.
Our debut album, May Day, adapts a series of art songs from the 12th – 14th centuries, including the satirical text Roman de Fauvel, which tells the story of a vain horse who rises to prominence in the French royal court. We are working toward acknowledging the injustices of our current society and, through our music, building a political allegory for our time. Angsty Chicas is a fun DIY femme-punk project with my friend Astrid Alvarado Leon. We write music that expresses the voice of women in relatable scenarios of navigating a male-dominated, anxiety-inducing, kind of weird world. A lot of our music is comedic and satirical. In writing/recording, we like to have fun (and do whatever we want). I love this project because it is so relatable and we both approach it without having any “rules,” and I feel like it brings out the angst that we are all feeling right now. We released one album, Very Much Hell To You, and are working on more music now. We also started an Angsty Chicas podcast, which you can listen to on my website! The music teacher side of me is the part that I’m exploring creatively right now as well. I love working with kids, but being in a classroom is quite overwhelming, to say the least. I have recently found a love for video creation and started a YouTube channel called Lauren’s Music Class. Here, I teach musical concepts, while the main focus of the videos is really entertainment and creative exploration. I can tap into my childlike side and my love for silliness and curiosity. The online platform allows me to create content for kids and to be a big kid myself. I hope that this reaches kids that are studying at home right now, and maybe they will have just as much fun watching my videos as I have making them.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
This is something I struggle with a lot, actually – I want to be “successful,” but most of the time I don’t know what I actually mean by that. I really think success has to be within the self. You have to be happy with what you’re doing. I think for me, personally, I feel successful when I can just make time to focus on my art. Success doesn’t necessarily come from my job. It comes from creating art/music that is personal and meaningful to me. Of course, I’d love for someone to give me a cool job producing educational videos for kids. But I have to allow myself to be happy where I am right now and feel successful in my accomplishments. So, I would have to say success for me is being able to focus on what drives, motivates, and inspires me and creating art daily.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.laurenbjones.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noble.tunes/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvi08J71hpsgPPdqyB12I2w
- Bandcamp: https://noble8.bandcamp.com/releases | https://sweetwreath.bandcamp.com/album/may-day
- Other: https://angstychicas.bandcamp.com/releases
Image Credits:
Jasper Lee, Hannah Barrett, Andrea Really, and Astrid Alvarado Leon
