She found a small pad of paper and wrote page after page of lyrics. “I have to write a song about this,” she told her friends. After they’d spent hours delving into the topic, Chayala was inspired. A friend’s father agreed to help the girls prepare for the theme of “Shabbos” and set them up with stacks of seforim on the topic. When Chayala was in high school - as a student, not pianist, this time - she was on the shabbaton committee. “It was the first time I realized, ‘Oh my, people are listening to my songs.’” It was an inkling of what would one day become her career. “I barely reached the keyboard,” Chayala remembers. They invited the sixth-grader to play it live at the high school assembly. When Chayala was 11, a local school heard one of her songs and decided to use it for an upcoming program. More than 180 women around the world have graduated and are now engineering music of their own. It’s an easy way for everyone who has the creative instinct to learn the processes and structures that are vital to polished creations - composition, technicalities, client management, and more. That’s why Chayala codified everything she learned over the years into digestible courses for frum women. Then, when they’re older, creatives can supplement the structure and processes. When you do, you give kids the chance to figure out, ‘Hey, I’m good at this,’ and ‘I’m probably not great at that.’ It builds confidence.” “I always tell them to give their kids as many opportunities as possible. He and my mother gave us all kinds of opportunities as kids - things like music and gymnastics - and that’s something I pass on to parents who show up at my door, asking what to do with their children’s creativity. “My father exposed us to such rich, diverse Jewish music. Steadily, steadily, steadily, I learned to appreciate a process and structure.”Ĭhayala credits her parents with a lot of the foundational skills she now uses daily. They had the piano teacher come every week even if I hadn’t practiced at all. In retrospect, though, Chayala admits that, “My parents were smart. “I wanted to just fly and create until I found something new and realized, ‘Hey, that melody is a keeper.’” Instead, she liked to play around with the keys - making mistakes and making things up - until she stumbled upon that perfect combination of notes. “I played by ear, so, focusing on classical technique wasn’t second nature,” she says. She hated piano practice because of that. To Chayala, the songs in her head were filled with color - while sheet music was black and white. “You need to let yourself just go and go without shutting anything down.” Black and White When adults ask Chayala for advice in nurturing their own creativity, she tells them to recreate the innocent childhood dynamic. If I didn’t have that stage, I don’t think I could have developed skills the same way.” But I’m so grateful I had time to let the music exist before my inner critic started chiming in with opinions. “I wrote a lot of songs from when I was 11 until my twenties. Most creatives start as children who are creative and inquisitive - and hopefully, also confident and uninhibited, Chayala believes. It boosted her confidence so that she felt comfortable exploring. “My family took me seriously long before they had to,” Chayala shared. “I started formal training when I was five and when I got a tape recorder, that’s when it really took off for me.” The young musician spent hours tinkering at the piano as the small machine flashed "record." She kept going until she liked what she heard - and her very first songs began to emerge. “I can’t separate where I end and where music begins.” Her siblings have memories of her as a baby, crawling to the piano and humming along with the melodies they played. Sometimes I have to quiet the violins in my head,” says Chayala Neuhaus. Reach out about new sponsorship opportunities for your brand & organizations out more Jewish Podcasts on our network.Chayala Neuhaus - the composer behind some of today’s most iconic songs, such as “A Yid” and “Miracles” - shares the story behind her songs Being part of her audience is getting swept up into the magic and beauty that is Bracha Jaffe and Zahav. Bracha is renown for connecting all Jewish sisters through her uplifting music. Bracha recently sold out performances in London, New Jersey, Miami and Jerusalem where audiences were enraptured by her passionate singing accompanied by the all-female, exclusive all star Zahav band. Kol Isha and Orthodox Women Performers: A Panel Discussion on Orthodox Conundrum: īracha Jaffe has attracted massive audiences across the world, bringing high end, professional Kosher entertainment to multitudes of Jewish women. Throwback Episode with Devorah Schwartz:
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