Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmeline Miles.
Emmeline, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My father is a tax attorney, and my mother is a CPA, but I’ve been playing music since I came out of the womb. I was raised in the classical music circuit in Dallas; I participated in events held by the Dallas Music Teachers Association, played flute in my high school band, and sang in the honors choir. I also succumbed to peer pressure and joined the advanced math track. (This meant that, while other, more popular kids were doing football or soccer competitively, my friends and I were doing math. We were, needless to say, extraordinarily cool.)
I’m fairly certain my parents were hoping that I would eventually fall in love with the environment created by my fellow mathletes and see “sense,” but I ultimately left Dallas to study music and literature at Scripps College in Claremont, CA. I spent my semesters neck-deep in the prose of contemporary women writers and the compositions of everyone from Schubert to Schoenberg. I spent my summers spreading the musical love to DFW youth through the Jeff Carlisi’s Camp Jam. The juxtaposition created a really beautiful sweet spot for me–I was learning constantly, both from professors and from budding musicians–about the healing power of music and its incredible capacity to illuminate the soul. Studying music in an academic setting was intimidating, but my campers reminded me every summer of the importance of self-expression and the beautiful fearlessness required to make really good music.
By the time I graduated, I had composed an entire concert of jazz/pop songs. My advising professor–a fan of atonal music–didn’t believe that “pop” compositions should count toward my senior project in composition because they were too “contemporary,” so I reserved the recital hall under a different professor’s name, recruited some friends, and played the whole collection to a full audience of friends.
I’ve never looked back.
I returned to Dallas because I’d been offered the opportunity to work in promotions at Radio Disney, but I quickly began playing out at venues like Opening Bell Coffee and Poor David’s Pub. The Dallas music scene is a beautifully warm, tight-knit community, and I felt very lucky to find so many kindred spirits so quickly. As I began building a career as a performer, I also began taking on private music students. Over time, I’ve been blessed to record three studio EPs and one live record. This year, I’ll be able to release my first full-length, full-band album: RISE. Just like that audacious Scripps senior, I’ve managed to make the music I want to make and bring it to people in a way that feels organic, authentic, and that–most importantly–inspires connection. To me, the essence of music is the way it brings people together, even when so many other worldly forces are tearing us apart. That moment at a concert when everyone is singing the same words with the same strong voices…I strive to create that with every single show. Music should create a place where people feel they can really, truly belong.
I’ve also been blessed to amass a full studio of private students. Creating a safe space in art isn’t just a performer’s job; it’s a teacher’s job as well. I love watching my guitar, piano, and voice students get to know themselves better by performing the works of art that have inspired them. While I think music theory is important, I choose to impart knowledge of sharps, flats, and note values through songs that students choose to learn. I LOVE music. Sharing that love with students–and watching them cultivate their own passion for their art–is one of my favorite things.
Over my time at Disney, I was lucky enough to begin writing and voicing commercials–and, ultimately, the station’s original series, My Dream. When Radio Disney closed its Dallas office, I used the extra time to pursue a Master’s degree at TCU and a certificate of advanced graduate study at SMU. Ultimately, I entered the Simmons School at SMU as a Doctor of Liberal Studies candidate. My aim is to use my studies in the intersection of art, sociology, and psychology to build an after-school arts education program that provides students everywhere with the skills, the tools, and the opportunity to use artistic expression as a positive outlet for their feelings. I’m even searching for a way to align this with animal therapy.
Shortly after I moved back to Dallas, I was drawn to the Dallas Animal Shelter by a collage of pictures of dogs who were about to be euthanized. I came home with a beautiful black lab mix named Chloe. Chloe is a champion high-fiver, an incredible running partner, and an infallible food detector, but she’s also a recent graduate of What A Great Dog’s Manners Program and a therapy dog in training. I’m looking for ways to combine her skills as a therapy dog with my skills as a musician so we can heal the world, one fur-covered song at a time. (Chloe would like me to mention, at this point in the story, that she is ALWAYS available for petting and snacks.)
Music has been a truly transformative force in my life; it enabled this small, shy little girl to find a voice, a purpose, and a reason to get up in the morning. I’ve watched it transform my students. I’m eager to find a way for everyone to have the opportunity to find a passion and be transformed, to take those negative, insecure feelings and make something beautiful out of them.
I strive to make music that gives people permission to feel–happy, sad, angry, scared, heartbroken, desolate, lonely, ambitious, determined, peaceful. I want kids to benefit from that same permission and be able to create that same space for themselves.
Today, honestly, I think I have the best job in the world…even if I never do another math problem, competitively or otherwise.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
1. I had absolutely crippling anxiety as a teenager. Kids today put so much pressure on themselves to succeed, and I felt the weight of that pressure like a lead ball on my shoulders. Listening to records would ease that burden, though. Artists like Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Ethridge, and Matchbox Twenty gave names to feelings I couldn’t articulate and made me feel less alone. I started writing songs with their voices in mind, and my aim as a songwriter is always to recreate that feeling of kinship for some other scared, lonely kid.
2. When I first began playing my own music in front of real people, I took literally any gig that was offered to me, just because I was so excited to play. I’ve played literally all over DFW–including a storage space in Fort Worth where I accidentally opened for a band that aired some pretty questionable viewing material during their set. (In my defense, they’d never played a live show before, and I had no idea what they were going to do!) Once, the venue where I was scheduled to play closed without telling me. People were nice enough to show up, but we couldn’t get into the space! I ended up plugging my keyboard into a converter in my car and playing my entire show in the parking lot.
3. I’m pretty severely asthmatic, which makes me very susceptible to respiratory illnesses. There have been multiple times where my lungs just decide that they don’t feel like being lungs–but I play anyway, because I love what I do, and I believe it’s important. I’ve stepped onstage with all kinds of crazy ailments. Every time, though, I make a new, amazing connection that reminds me why it’s so important to show up. You never know whom you’re going to affect, or when, or how.
4. The music industry is kind of like an unregulated alleyway in which a lot of hungry children are roaming around with wild eyes, and a lot of shady-looking strangers are offering what appears to be candy, but is actually napalm wrapped in really bright, colorful wrapping paper. I’ve been burned multiple times by “promoters,” “talent development companies,” “up-and-coming artist managers,” and the like. This most recent record had a lot of stops and starts in its creative process. I thought I’d found the right person to help me record it, but that person ended up pocketing a significant amount of money without delivering any of the tracks we’d created. Then, when I finally found someone to record it with me, the mastering engineer never responded. When I found a different person to master the record, he had a completely different vision for some of the songs. It was a wonderful lesson in patience, though, and a really important experience in valuing the RIGHT over the RIGHT NOW. So many times, we sacrifice quality for convenience, or we sell ourselves short because we’re impatient. I got to really take my time with this record, and I’m so proud of the friends I’ve made and the music we’ve made together as a result.
5. For a long time, someone very close to me was struggling with drug addiction. Figuring out how to be there for them, how to be supportive without enabling, how to find happiness even if they were unhappy–those things were difficult. Trying to keep a loved one and a career alive is a juggling act that leaves a lot to be desired. It reinforced for me in SO many ways that songwriting can be a healing force, though. Playing those songs is painful. Watching people we love struggle is painful. Hearing other people’s stories about their own struggles after playing those songs, though, made me realize over and over why it is so important for us to give voice to the things about which we’re most afraid to speak. This humanity thing? It’s not easy for anyone. Knowing that we’re together in the trenches makes it easier, though.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Emmeline – what should we know?
Lots of musicians are all about the importance of their art, their mission, and their climb to the top.
I’m all about the connection.
I think part of it comes from being that little girl who was always a little too left of her parents’ carefully calculated center, but I value the part of the show where I look up and see that we’re all in it together. We’re bobbing our heads to the same beat, humming the same tune, and feeling the same feels. The community created by music is sacred to me, and I strive to make every show an inclusive experience. If I’m doing my job, my songs aren’t about me, they’re about you. I think a show should feel that way, too.
As a teacher, I value connective teaching. I love music; I really can’t say it enough. Today, I led four songwriting sessions at an elementary school’s Fine Arts Day, taught two private lessons, and led a performance-infused discussion of Beethoven’s influence on musical trends in the Romantic period. I enjoyed every single second of my day because, every time I looked up, I got to see that tiny spark of passion in someone else’s eyes. As a teacher, I strive to find that thing about which my student is passionate and make the connection between that thing and music. That way, their passion carries over and, ultimately, bubbles over in the best way.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The desire to bring people together, and keeping that in the forefront of my mind at all times.
Pricing:
- $10 CDs
- $15 t-shirts
- music lessons for $45 per half-hour or $75 per hour
- house concerts for groups available upon request
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.emmelinemusic.com
- Email: emmelinemilesmusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/emmemusic
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/emmelinemusic
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/emmemusic
- Other: http://www.reverbnation.com/emmeline
Image Credit:
Courtney Joy Photography, John Allen Grant, Martin Baird, Mandy Caulkins, Elizabeth Goodwin
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
