Sidewalk Conversations
"Let the one who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall..." (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Standing strong and remaining true to your calling is no easy task. No one sets out to crash and burn. In fact, it's actually the opposite, most people want to stand strong, remain effective, and be true to their values all the way through to the end. But, it is really hard to do.
In these interviews, Piet Van Waarde (a 40 year veteran of pastoral ministry) has heart-to-heart conversations with ordinary people about what it takes to stay faithful and effective in the things that matter most.
Sidewalk Conversations
Practicing Creativity: Faith, Music, and the Art of Songwriting with Amy Hooper
Today, we are exploring the connection between God's creativity and our own artistic expressions, focusing on how songwriters and musicians reflect the divine creative nature while also calling it forth in others.
• Creativity as our spiritual inheritance, beginning with God's revelation as Creator in Genesis 1:1
• Amy Hooper's journey from classical flutist to professional songwriter and worship leader
• Balancing ego and ministry when performing on stage or platform
• The discipline of songwriting as a daily practice versus waiting for inspiration
• Co-writing as a method to overcome creative blocks and broaden song perspectives
• Different approaches to Christian music: songs about God, worship songs to God, and songs about life with faith elements
• Practical advice for aspiring creatives: don't squelch what God's put on your heart
• The importance of humility and willingness to learn in developing creative gifts
Find Amy Hooper's music on all major streaming platforms including Apple Music and Spotify.
Welcome to another episode of Sidewalk Conversations. I'm so glad that you are here and I'm very excited about our topic today. We are going to be talking a little bit about creativity, and the way I want to get into that is talking a little bit about our initial revelation of God in Scripture. So if you go to the beginning of the Bible, genesis 1-1, we read these words In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth, and so our initial revelation of God is related to his creative capacity, that he showed himself as the ultimate, supreme creator of it all. Now, later, in that same chapter of Genesis, we are told that we are created in his image, and part of what that means to us, I think, is that we have some of those same creative juices flowing through us that are meant to be expressed. Now, one of the things I enjoy about being around artists is that they seem to have that like at the forefront of their lives. Everything they touch, whether as musicians or whatever medium they use, they are allowing the creativity of God that has been placed in them to be expressed through their life. Whether through a song or through a brush, they are able to capture the essence of who God is and reveal, maybe even to us, a little bit more about the nature of God. In fact, one of the things I think are important to say is that they are not just imitating the world by capturing something in music or capturing something on canvas. They are actually creating a fresh, new perspective on that world. So they take the raw materials of color and sound and emotion and they put that together in a creative way to express something about the nature of the world, whether it's relationships, whether it's the beauty of landscape or just something deep within the soul that needs to find expression. And one of the things that I love about being around these artists is they not only reflect God's creativity to me, but, in a kind of unique way, they call it forth from me, and that's why I'm very excited about our guest today. She's one of these artists that not only reflects the nature of God but calls forth creativity from those who she's around, and so I'm excited about introducing her to you here in just a minute.
Piet Van Waarde:I want to begin, however, by sharing a thank you to our sponsor of today's episode, tenfold Counseling. They are located in Kansas City, missouri, and they are a 10-person counseling center with specialties in things like addiction, depression. They work with troubled youth and they work through grief processes with people or whatever the emotional challenge is that people are dealing with. They seem to have a person on staff that can has a specialty in that area of concern, and one of the things I love about the work they do is that they are also people who can meet with folks from around the country, so even if you're outside the Kansas City Metroplex, they are people that you can call and set an appointment with.
Piet Van Waarde:I have known the director of the Counseling Center for many years, crystal Rodenbaugh, and I love how she approaches the counseling work, and I think we could all admit that mental health is a supreme need in our day and attending to it is absolutely important. So if you have one of those needs, please give Tenfold Counseling a call. We'll note the details here in the description below, but now I get a chance to introduce our guest. Please welcome, amy Huber.
Amy Hooper:Hi, thank you so much, pete. You are cheering. I'm here with Pete. Finally, hi, thank you so much, pete, you are cheering Woo, I'm here with.
Piet Van Waarde:Pete finally, yeah, we actually had you on the schedule last season and then I had a little trip I needed to make to Mayo, and so we have you early in on season four.
Amy Hooper:so thank you for being here. Thank you so much. I've been looking forward to it Well, thank you.
Piet Van Waarde:So I just want to begin by saying that when I first encountered you, we were talking a little bit about this before we went on air.
Piet Van Waarde:I saw you on the platform at Shoreline Church our church and you know, sometimes you just get a sense about people Like I really appreciate right off the bat your skill both as a pianist and a vocalist, but you also had this disposition that I thought was so reflective of what I think Christian music needs to be about, where there's something spiritual about how you present yourself and it's totally like you pick it up subconsciously. It's not something like you weren't flashy or whatever, it was just something I had a sense of. And then I met you at the prayer barn and it's just been further confirmed every time I've had a chance to spend some time with you. So that's why I was very excited about having you here. So, just like, let's back up the truck a little bit and talk about, like, how you got into the music scene, what were some of the things that kind of had those initial promptings to move in this direction?
Amy Hooper:Oh my goodness. Well, it goes way back. I mean, we grew up with music in the house. My dad loved music, and my brother's actually a professional musician too. He's an orchestrator, a composer, a conductor. He lives in Nashville, and so he and I were always very into music of all kinds, and we grew up with classical music in the house, and so it was just. I wasn't good at sports, I liked music, writing languages, and so that's just what we were into, and it really was. In high school, as I was exploring lots of different musical paths, I really felt like this is kind of the only thing I can see myself doing with my life, and a lot of prayer into that. And the Lord provided a way for me to go to Baylor University, and so I was actually a flute performance major at.
Amy Hooper:Baylor University. So my initial musical trajectory was classical performance.
Piet Van Waarde:And then, how did you get into the worship scene?
Amy Hooper:Well, my dad and I always loved being part of the choir at church. We went to a Baptist church in Oklahoma City and, yeah, that was something that he and I did together and so I just I mean, I loved Jesus and I loved I really didn't sing that well at the time when I trained, but I loved singing and being part of the music that was happening in the church and so it just seemed like the most natural place for me to express my love for the Lord and to use that in that way, and it was something my dad and I did together.
Piet Van Waarde:That makes you all special.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, I loved that. Those were really special years.
Piet Van Waarde:So, outside of your dad and family, what? What were some of your early influences Like? Who inspired you? Who did you listen to? Who kind of helped shape your music?
Amy Hooper:Well, I mean lots of classical music because you know that's what I was choosing to study. But outside of that, like growing up I I loved. You know it was the 80s, so Amy Grant, michael W Smith, all of that. But then also I loved my mom's Beach Boys records from when she was a kid, those Beach Boys harmonies Like I mean, come on you know.
Amy Hooper:So I loved that. And then I really wasn't that satisfied with the popular music that was happening at the time that I was in high school and so I actually started getting into listening to classic rock, which is funny, but like that I really dug deep into like Southern rock and classic rock and that was what I was really into leading up into college. And so there was always this, this love of popular song. You know I'm not talking about about the difference between secular and sacred, but non-classical music. I always had a love of songs and things that had words attached to them of all different kinds of genres, and just always really loved that from the start, even long before I ever started pursuing songwriting.
Piet Van Waarde:You talk about classic rock. I always tease my kids because of course we played a lot of music in our house growing up. And next thing I know and this was like right at the outset of iPods and all that, and so then I would kind of catch my kids listening to classic rock and they're like what are you doing, stealing our music? It's just good music. It's just good music.
Amy Hooper:Well, and this was like older, you know, than I was, like you know, I was born in the 70s but I wasn't listening to that music in the 70s when it was happening. But I just loved all the different layers and textures, different layers and textures and yeah, I just I found it more organic and real than when synthy type things started to happen. I always loved that, just the rawness of it. It's not overproduced, it's kind of like what we're doing here, like we're not going to edit these things out, like what happens now is what we got, you know, and I loved that. And that's kind of how classical music is too. You know, that's long before recordings.
Amy Hooper:That's how people experience their music was they would get in the room with their musician. And that moment that you share when the music is being shared, that's it. That's the moment.
Piet Van Waarde:Yeah, I love that. That's a great way to describe it. Okay, so you get on stage and now you started with choir. But now you're on stage at a large church and one of the things I've and I'm comparing this to some of the things I've experienced in life where you're on a platform, the lights are on you, everybody's applauding, oh, you're so good, and there's something very ego-feeding about all that, and one of the things I've watched is that sometimes people can get into this space where they start believing it's all about them and they're the star of the show. Quote unquote. I've had to wrestle with that at various seasons of my own life. Show quote unquote. I've had to wrestle with that at various seasons of my own life, and so I'm curious if you have A, have you found yourself trying to navigate some of that yourself? Because you don't just perform in church, you also perform in the community, at various venues. Have you had to wrestle with that and, if so, how do you kind of keep yourself in check?
Amy Hooper:That's a great question. Yes, wrestled with it for decades. So one of the interesting things, I think, coming from classical music, is that, because of what it is, perfectionism is like such a huge part of the culture.
Amy Hooper:I mean such a huge part of the culture. I mean when it's you might have 1000 people audition for one open spot in a symphony, so you have to be perfect at the craft and it's all about being able to perform at that perfect, perfect level in the moment. So when you couple that along with the attention of the stage, it's really, really easy to make it about you. Oh for sure. But that's the opposite of what God's calling us to as worship leaders. And so that dichotomy forced me to really get with the Lord and examine what are my motives for doing this.
Amy Hooper:I think it actually really really helped that I was when I started singing in the church environment, that I was not a professional singer, and it actually really helped to be imperfect and have to learn the skill of being not that great at it, and yet the point of being there was to worship the Lord and to help. You know, take the others by the hand metaphorically and say come with me and let's worship the Lord together. Right, and so the Lord was just all through my 20s and 30s, simultaneously killing off that perfection in me, that perfectionism, I guess I should say because I was never going to achieve perfection, Right, that perfectionism, I guess I should say, because I was never going to achieve perfection, right, but that perfectionism that I had learned as a habit in my profession. He was killing that off in my ministry.
Amy Hooper:So, it was very humbling, it was very hard and it's still something that I just have to constantly check. Um, just have to do a motive check all the time.
Piet Van Waarde:Yeah.
Amy Hooper:Like why are you doing this? Um, I think one of the best ways to to really have that heart check is to have people in your life like good accountability, um, people who know you that well that they can tell by. They are watching you on that stage and they know where your heart is because they know you that well, and they'll come to you afterward and say, uh-uh yeah.
Piet Van Waarde:What was that about? What was that about?
Amy Hooper:Yep. So I really guard those relationships very, very closely. They're a gift from God to me to help me serve him effectively.
Piet Van Waarde:So does that answer your question? Yeah, it does, and it prompts another question that we didn't really talk about. But I'm curious if you can answer, and that is like I think it's really like I have some people in my life that kind of look to me for that type of accountability as well, and one of the things I find so difficult is to like be able to say to somebody hey, something felt off. And so I'm curious, from the experiences that you've had with people who are in that lane in your life, what are some of the things that they've done that helped make it something you could receive? Because you know our reaction is like wait, what are you talking about?
Amy Hooper:My heart's you know, yeah, yeah, well, I think just the long-term relationships. Actually, I'm thinking. The first thing that came to mind was a conversation with my friend, Amanda, who we have been very close ever since college, and it was kind of the flip side of what we're talking about here. And we're talking about what happens when you get a big head because you're leading on the stage, right. Well, the opposite can happen. It can also. The attention can make you so self-conscious that you don't obey the Lord and step out in your gifting.
Amy Hooper:And that's still pride. And I remember a season where I was struggling with being bold enough to obey and Amanda literally sat me down at dinner one day and was like who do you think you are that?
Amy Hooper:you can tell God no about this, like you were meant to do this and if you chicken out then you're disobeying God. And she was like I am going to come for you if you do not step forward in this. And I will never forget that because it was kind of the kick in the pants I needed to get over my self-consciousness on something and to step out. And a lot of really good things happened because I did it. But I needed her pushing me. But we're talking about that in the context of a relationship over years and I knew she loved me and I knew she wasn't just being pushy or like come on, you're so good it wasn't empty praise, it was a challenge, and so I really think it's the context of a relationship that makes those conversations possible.
Piet Van Waarde:Awesome, so well said. Okay, so you're also a songwriter, so you're not only a performer, but you also write music, and that's always fascinating to me.
Piet Van Waarde:I love hearing people's story about how that happens. So when you are in the songwriting mode, tell me a little bit about that process. Like, is it something where you mode? Tell me a little bit about that process. Like, is it something where you sit down and say I want to write some music? Or are you like in an environment and something hits you and you find yourself saying, oh, I got to write a song about that. How does that work?
Amy Hooper:for you.
Amy Hooper:Yes, both when it started it was more of a I have feelings that I need to get out, but now I'm just so happy that I'm finally at this point in my life where I can say like I'm a professional songwriter.
Amy Hooper:It's something I dreamed about for a long time and worked really hard to be at this point, and so now, as a full-time songwriter, I got to go to work every day, and so that means you got to go and you got to write every day, whether you feel like it or not, whether you have an idea or not. And ideas kind of you know they come at you randomly and so you have to find ways to catch them so that when it's time to sit down and write, then you go and pull an idea from your random note on your phone or wherever you like to keep them. But having those systems in place to catch the randomness, but then having the discipline in place to sit down and actually work on it and build something every day, and so I write every day in some way, and you know, sometimes that results in a full song and sometimes it's just something that needs to be deleted.
Amy Hooper:But, yeah, so songwriting now looks a lot different than it did when I was first starting, because it's a craft that I've learned the skills and the methods of, and I approach it like a job now instead of a hobby or just a little side project.
Piet Van Waarde:How'd that transition happen? Because I think for some people, how did that transition happen? Because I think for some people, you know, it remained like, in my sense is like when I think I can compare it to like sermon writing, Like when you have an assignment, you got to get a teaching ready.
Piet Van Waarde:You have to sit down and do it, whether you feel like it or not. But I get the impression maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong on this but I get the impression that sometimes with art it's a little different. It's like at least the impression I've gotten is that people say, well, I have to wait for the inspiration or I have to wait for something to hit me. But you're suggesting that it's actually the opposite. Yeah, that comes, but for a lot of songwriters it really is. You got to just sit down and start with the blank piece of paper or the keyboard and just start hitting the keys.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, I think the most prolific long-term songwriters in the industry are the ones that show up and write every single day, and so I think that's really when I made the switch to thinking do I want to do this as a profession? Then I had to start thinking and behaving like a professional songwriter would. But it is a lot like sermon writing, in the sense that you might have an idea that you want desperately to communicate and you might be able to sit down with a friend and communicate that really quickly and have a great conversation. But if you're going to present it in a way that then is going to be, you know, videoed, cut up into soundbites, you know, put into a series with a whole bunch of other similar topics and themes, then you've got to think it through and you've got to craft it in a way that it's going to have shape and plot in a way and just make an impact. It just requires a lot more form and thought and intent, and so deadlines can help you get that done right.
Piet Van Waarde:Some days come around with amazing writing.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, so deadlines can be really really helpful in actually finishing things right, but I do think it's a lot like sermon writing, or I would think that for novelists it's it's a lot of the same thing you know they get plot ideas, but you can't just write an idea down and call it a book. You know you've got to flesh it out and and develop everything and write the dialogue and all that, so, um. So I think there's similarities there.
Piet Van Waarde:Can you walk us through, like uh, a song maybe that you've done recently and kind of how that process worked for you?
Amy Hooper:Okay, yeah, let's see, all right. Well, so here's a song that I actually released last month I think it was called Short Story Long, and I wrote this with my good friend, chris Biel, and he and I write together a lot and, honestly, I wouldn't be a working songwriter right now if it weren't for Chris Beal believing in me. He was sent by God to help me. So we had an appointment to write a song together that day, and you know, normally when you go into a co-writing session, you want to bring several ideas. You want to have an idea of what you want to write, for you need some things to chase some you know, some, some points to chase.
Amy Hooper:But he and I've been writing together a lot and he's he really he tells great stories and things like that. And so I usually what I can do is just kind of get him talking and he'll drop some like amazing nugget of wisdom or or a cool phrase or something that we can build a song around. And so that's exactly what happened that day. He came over, he was telling me a story and he said to make a short story long. And I was like that's it, we're going to write that. And so then we sat down and we said, okay, if that's our hook for the song, than it should have. And somebody was, you know, a little too loyal and they needed to figure out when to say no. So then we kind of wrote verses that were like plot of that. And then you know, short story long is kind of the tagline or the hook. It's also the title of the song. That's usually a smart idea.
Amy Hooper:And then we kind of wrote a follow-up verse that sort of said okay, now that this person's moved on, what does life look like? And then we thought, okay, short story long, that kind of sounds like it could be a cool driving song, something you want to roll the window down, and so we were talking about the vibe that we wanted for the song. And then we listened to some other songs that we kind of liked the feel of and thought this is sort of the same feeling or vibe that we would want. You know, if we could put this, our new song, in a playlist, we'd want these other songs around it, and so those were all things that we used to help us craft the song, and so then we wrote the lyrics, we wrote the music, and then you know, do you have like a preference, like the lyrics first or the melody first?
Amy Hooper:I'm a words person. So, I usually end up with lyrics first, and I often get called into co-writes to be the lyricist or to edit someone else's lyrics into song-ish form. The challenge for me, then, is sometimes to approach it differently and to start with a melodic idea or start with a baseline instead and try to get out of a creative rut that way.
Piet Van Waarde:But usually for me it's words. And talking about ruts, do you ever find yourself in a rut?
Amy Hooper:Yeah, and what helps kick you out of it. Doing a different approach like that is really good. Co-writing is fabulous. I don't know if you feel like this whenever you write sermons. If you get stuck, does it help for you to go and sit down and talk to somebody about it and just kind of pick?
Piet Van Waarde:their brain a little bit. Yeah, so when I was regularly preaching, I actually had a team of people that helped me write the message. So I would start off with like here's the I would call it my synopsis. So it was like a paragraph on what I felt like I wanted to say, and here was a scripture that I wanted to build the message off of. And then just like, exactly what you just talked about, what's the plot? How are you going to get into that idea? What are the barriers that people are going to have to that subject? And then what's the application? As you live it, live out the principles, and so to have other people kind of challenge me on that or give me like, have a younger person an older person male, female, of different ethnicities I mean, having a creative team that helps put it together was such a gift to me.
Piet Van Waarde:I had that gift for 20 years at a church that I served back in Missouri. That's awesome. It was just amazing. I love that.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, really, I think co-writing is that for me, just to have if I get stuck on something. Actually, just yesterday I had written a song fragment it was.
Amy Hooper:I felt like it was really strong, but I couldn't get the rest of the song and I'd been holding onto it for about two months and so yesterday I sat down with Kyle O'Neill from Shoreline that you know, and our friend MJ Ross and we sat down and wrote the rest of the song together and it, like that that takes care of the block is because then they can listen to it and they're like, oh, this is good, or oh, you know what, all of a sudden, if we take this off and we can add this other thing, and like they inherently knew what to do where I was stuck. And so that's the beauty of co-writing, do musicians.
Piet Van Waarde:One of the things I noticed with other pastors when it came to sermon writing and their resistance to a team was that they felt like it wouldn't be as authentic if it was like other people's input, and so they always felt like the best place to write a sermon was in the study, alone with God and your Bible, and not really inviting other input. And I'm curious does that happen with musicians as well, where they are kind of resistant to like I don't want anybody to mess with my Totally?
Amy Hooper:And I certainly have my songs that I'm like this one's too personal. Nobody gets to touch this one, but that's usually how you know that song's either not ever going to get released. It's really not for that, it's just for you.
Piet Van Waarde:And that's okay, that's.
Amy Hooper:You know, songs are great therapy, but also sometimes it's just that I know that this one it might be a better song if I submitted it to a co-writer, but something about it I'm not willing to submit and so I just have to set that one aside. And so I just I just have to set that one aside, and sometimes they'll make it to being released and sometimes they won't. Um, but that's okay.
Amy Hooper:You know not every song is meant for. You know the radio, so um, but I do think in general, the ones that are meant for the radio benefit from multiple voices because, multiple people are going to listen to it, and so it's going to hit more hearts if you have more people involved in making it, because it hits everyone a little bit differently.
Piet Van Waarde:Yeah, and I think too, it's just like it feels very wise to me that if you're going to try and say something or sing something, if it's just you, it's going to be very narrow in terms of perspective. It's going to be like your life and your things that you value, but when you bring other voices into it, it just broadens. I have had so many experiences where somebody will say, well, have you considered this? And it's like no but that's, exactly.
Piet Van Waarde:Or even, like you were saying, phrasing like the long story short. Just that phrase can open up a whole new way of thinking about it and gives you like, oh, I like that angle. I want to use that.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, yeah, it really really can. So, yeah, that's one of the best things about it. And then like back to the creative rut thing. The other thing I was going to say is that take a walk.
Piet Van Waarde:That's the other thing If you're in a creative rut take a walk. Yeah, get away from it for a bit yeah.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, I see that. I don't know. It just really seems to help.
Piet Van Waarde:So you've been doing it for a while. How long have you been doing?
Amy Hooper:this, um, I've been writing for over 20 years but I haven't been pursuing it in the like the public space or like um, really getting to share songs until about a decade ago, coming up on 10 years from that first thing and that was, you know, that was a huge step in that direction.
Amy Hooper:So, and now I have the privilege of writing with other artists and seeing them release things that we've co-written together, and that's really my joy. It's just, you know, helping them take their stories and make it succeed for them, like I really love that.
Piet Van Waarde:That's very exciting. Now, are you more of a like I like the creative process of getting the song written or do you like the performance side? Do you have a preference?
Amy Hooper:um, I think I enjoy the writing part the most, which is good because that's how I'm going to spend the bulk of my time. I actually really love recording and performing. I have not done a lot of it, I just get to kind of do it piecemeal.
Amy Hooper:But I'm only recently an empty nester and so suddenly my life is very different schedule wise, and I also was on staff at Shoreline until January and so suddenly, not, you know, I just felt like it was time for that season to end and so, like I have a lot more time, so I'm asking the Lord what the next step is. But I really do love. My favorite type of performing as a singer, songwriter is like at a house show or something, with about like 30, 40 people 30, 40 people and just having that like we talked about earlier, that moment where you share a song and a story and everyone experiences it together and it just kind of lives in that space. You know, it doesn't have to be on the radio, it doesn't have to be, you know, on YouTube or anything like that, but there's something sacred about that relationship with the listener that I really, really love, and so that's my favorite way to communicate songs of all kinds, ones I've written, you know, covers or whatever.
Piet Van Waarde:Okay, now when you? Again, this is not something I thought about asking until now, but like I thought about asking until now. But in the Christian genre there seems to be songs that tend to be in the portfolio of songs about God and then more on the worship side of songs to God. Do you find yourself leaning one way or another when you write, and maybe not even about God, just about life.
Amy Hooper:Yeah, I really write songs. I think that the easiest ones for me to write would be songs about life that are somewhat that have faith as an element or have scripture somehow woven in, so like a little sneaky scripture, Jehovah. Sneaky is what Candy would say our friend.
Amy Hooper:So those are the easiest for me to write. Those are kind of my natural bent. But I also love writing devotional songs and then, like corporate worship, songs I find really challenging to write, and so I'm in a season right now where I am challenging myself to write more of those. I find them harder to write because they have to be singable for the average non-musician. But also it's like we got to find a way to tell the old old story in a new, new way, you know. Way to, you know, tell the old old story in a new, new way, you know.
Amy Hooper:And so trying not to overuse all the same phrases and things but also make it, you know, highly scriptural, highly biblical, you know, completely actual worship to the Lord, you know, focused on Him. And so those are some pretty narrow parameters for a song, and so finding a new way to do that is really a big challenge, so, but so the easy ones are the, you know, this is just sort of my life experience and what's on my heart. Here it is, you know, but that's kind of low hanging fruit, you know.
Piet Van Waarde:Okay. So what would you say to like a person who is where you were 20 years ago, first kind of flirting with the idea of doing music or art in some way, but having all the hesitations?
Amy Hooper:about it.
Piet Van Waarde:What advice would you give to them?
Amy Hooper:I would say several things. Number one if God's put it on your heart, don't try to squelch it.
Piet Van Waarde:Just pray and ask him to show you what to do?
Amy Hooper:I tried to get that songwriting thing to go away for a long time and it wouldn't. And, um, things started really happening when I finally said okay, lord, if you want me to do this, then I'm going to need some help. Show me what to do. And he sent me friends that mentored me and I know it was him. The other thing is Can I camp out?
Piet Van Waarde:on that point for a minute. Yeah, go ahead. Because I think there's such a valuable principle in what you just described and that is the gift of humility To be able to say I want to do this, but I want to be teachable too. Like I want to put myself in a position where I can hear from others. I don't want to just like isolate myself and not, you know, say I don't need that, you know, just to be a place of submission, say, hey, this is a gift that I think I may have, and could you teach me or show me some things. So I think, yeah, I just want to put a check mark by that exclamation point.
Amy Hooper:Oh yeah, and absolutely. And I think as a musician I hear, oh, you're so talented, and I know that that's well meant, but I honestly, I might have a little bit of talent, but I don't think that's my asset as a musician. That's not my greatest asset.
Amy Hooper:My greatest asset is my willingness to learn and that I love learning, and that's really the second point that I would say is that you need to become a student of the thing that you want to learn how to do student of the thing that you want to learn how to do. It's really tempting to think of the arts as just feelings based. You know, paint what you feel, write what you feel. Well, that's the starting point, but there's a craft involved and people who seriously do it as a profession treat it like a living and they work at it like a living.
Amy Hooper:And so learn how to do that well, but it does have to start with that humility, the willingness to learn and to be a beginner. You know, before you can get good at something, you got to be bad at something, right. So, but I think that's that's really where I was when, when this all started, and that's the advice I was receiving from my friends, like, hey, if you want to do this, then you need to, like, apply yourself, you know, read some books, practice writing every day, you know. And then, in the point when I finally got to go play a song for somebody who was, you know, being kind and willing to help me, then I sat down with him and played him a song and he's like, oh, you already know how to write songs. You've been really working at this, haven't you? And and he was surprised, but then I was just like so glad that I had already put all that work in before I had that opportunity, you know.
Piet Van Waarde:So where can people find your stuff?
Amy Hooper:Anywhere you stream or listen to music, then you know most of the time people are using like Apple Music or Spotify, and so it's really easy. It's Amy Hooper, like a hula hoop or a basketball hoop, but I don't do those things, I'm not a big video person. So I have a little bit of stuff on YouTube, but mostly streaming. But also you know I write for other bands as well, and so you know I write for other bands as well, and so you know listen to your local Americana playlist and you might hear something.
Piet Van Waarde:Well, this has been so good. Thank you so much for making time to be with me today and loved hearing the story and loved hearing how you do your do.
Amy Hooper:Thank you.
Piet Van Waarde:And I want to thank you all for joining us. It's been a great having you with us as well, and so join us again next week for another Sidewalk Conversation.
