Freaky Friday! A ghost story from Nancy Hooowwwl-and Walker

I met Nancy the first day of freshman year, and we've stayed friends ever since, even becoming roommates for a few years when we were both living in the Boston area. After a stint at WFXT, Fox-Boston, and a stretch with ImprovBoston, Nancy moved out to Chicago, where she developed Musical! The Musical and led her own improv group: Chicago Improv Associates. I edited her first book, INSTANT SONGWRITING, released in 2012.

These days, she and her husband Marshall spend most of their time seeing the world, teaching improv and leading workshops on cruise ships! What a cool life!

Nancy first shared her spooky tale on this blog back in 2009, at the time my first book was being published ~ UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS is a paranormal romance from Ellora's Cave with a psychic heroine (available now on Amazon for 99 cents!) Here's Nancy's tale for Freaky Friday:

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As I was growing up, my family spent the summers in a very old house (around 200 years old) in Nantucket. Because of the age, its design was odd by today's standards. I slept on the second floor at the top of the stairs; my parents' bedroom was kitty-corner from mine, and my little brother's room was in between the two. Because you could only get to his room through mine or my parents room, my brother moved to another available bedroom as soon as he could swing it.

I remember one time being woken from a deep sleep by someone rushing through my room to get into that middle room. It wasn't the footsteps which woke me up, but a huge bustling noise, as if a great deal of fabric was involved. I knew none of my brothers could make that sort of noise, but I sat up and looked into the dark middle room (I usually kept that door open for some reason) and called out. No one answered - the entire household was still asleep.

Another night as I was just about falling asleep, I sensed someone standing over me. I was lying on my back with my eyes shut, and I knew the person was right next to my head.

Whoever - whatever - was exuding an intensely malevolent energy. I was terrified and couldn't move, much less open my eyes. I could only repeat to myself, "Just pretend to be asleep, just pretend to be asleep!"

Without looking, I knew the person was bending closer to me - his or her face was right next to mine.

Then... I felt a finger touching my face, slightly under my mouth at my jawbone. I knew it wasn't the fleshy part of the finger, but felt like a cold, sharp fingernail. Slowly - very slowly - it moved up my face along my jawbone to up near my eye, and stayed there for a few more moments.

I was so scared.

Suddenly, the pressure from the finger was gone, as was the malevolent feeling. I opened my eyes and the room was dark. The house was silent.
 

Boo!

Nancy's book can be found on Amazon ~ although there aren't any ghost stories included, just an excellent primer on writing music and songs on the fly, improv style. It's a great resource for budding songwriters and comedians alike.

About the Book (from Amazon):

Instant Songwriting is the ultimate how-to book for musical improvisers and an excellent resource for songwriters. With over two decades of musical improv experience, Nancy Howland Walker guides you with clear, logical and fun step-by-step exercises, from the very basics of putting a song together, to highly advanced song techniques. Whether you are new to the art form or experienced, your songs are improvised or written, or you do this for fun or profit, Instant Songwriting helps you take your song skills to the next level. Musical tracks are included for each exercise – to accompany you as you practice and master each step along the way. Now go and become the Songwriting Diva you were meant to be!

INSTANT SONGWRITING by Nancy Walker

Were any of your New Year's Resolutions about learning something new?

Well then... have I got the book for you!

INSTANT SONGWRITING is a book about the ins and outs of Musical Improv Comedy, so yeah, if you're a comedian or an improvisor of any kind you really need to buy a copy of this book. Especially if no one was thoughtful enough to gift you one for the holidays.

But what about the rest of us?

This book is good for you and me, too. Because it's fun. And who doesn't need a little more fun?

The book's online description reads:

Instant Songwriting is the ultimate how-to book for musical improvisers and an excellent resource for songwriters. With over two decades of musical improv experience, Nancy Howland Walker guides you with clear, logical and fun step-by-step exercises, from the very basics of putting a song together, to highly advanced song techniques.

Whether you are new to the art form or experienced, your songs are improvised or written, or you do this for fun or profit, Instant Songwriting helps you take your song skills to the next level. Musical tracks are included for each exercise – to accompany you as you practice and master each step along the way. Now go and become the Songwriting Diva you were meant to be!

See? And wasn't that really your New Year's Resolution anyway? To become the Diva you were meant to be? No? Not so much? Hmmm. Maybe I have you confused with someone else.

Anyway, I already have my copy. You can get yours at Amazon.

You can also find INSTANT SONGWRITING on Facebook and Twitter, and on the web at http://instantsongwriting.com/

Banned Books: Forever

Today, my blog is being taken over by my friend, author and comedienne Nancy Howland Walker. Actually, she's currently working on a cruise somewhere off the coast of South America, where her biggest dilemma is needing a new pair of sandals 'cuz she's worn out two pairs with all the fun she's having....

...but she managed to take time out of her busy schedule to weigh in on the subject and celebrate Banned Book Week with us. Take it away, Nancy!

Banned Book Week

by Nancy Howland Walker

Banning books? I’m all for it! 

No, not because I’m some rabid Christian Coalition right-winger who wants to protect our youth from morally corrupt influences, and not because I’m an Authoritarian nut job who sees “Muslims” and “Socialists” in every shadow and  wants to protect our fragile American society from subversive concepts. But for the simple and universal truth – You want what you can’t have!

 

If you (or anybody!) are told that you absolutely can’t have something, chances are that you will wish for, fantasize and dream about that thing and chase it with fevered abandon. And if you actually DO come to possess the prized object, it will become your “Precious.” You will lovingly examine it and jealously guard it, clenching onto it like a dog does his favorite toy.

I was a Russian major in college, and learned all about the cultural underground of the Soviet Union. Because the State kept a tight, controlling grip on speech, Soviet citizens could not take books for granted. Literature was valued highly, studied and discussed, and an intellectually vibrant arts culture formed. (Hey! I actually retained something from college?!)

My own experience with banned books goes like this: In sixth grade, I became aware of Judy Blume’s best seller, FOREVER. I didn’t know anything about this book, except that it had “sex parts” in it, and everyone’s Mom had forbidden everyone to read it. Hence, EVERYONE was trying to find a copy and read it! This of course meant that I also developed a burning desire to hold the book in my hot little hands and find out what was deemed so inappropriate for us. When I got home from school, I rushed to my mother and told her about this controversial book and asked her if I could read it. From what my friends said about their mothers’ reactions, I fully expected MY Mom to fly off the handle and forbid even saying the title or looking at its cover!  But she said yes, like it was no big deal, and that I could read it. That all-consuming, obsessive, burning desire I had had only a moment before fizzled right there and then into nothingness.

So as an author, I say, “Ban my book!” Please. Make a big deal over it, telling people of all ages that they cannot and should not read about how to create songs on the spot. That instant songwriting is morally and culturally subversive!  Indeed, that songwriting of ANY kind will stop the universe and lead to the destruction of all creatures great and small, and therefore my book is forbidden! Then I will SURELY be number one in my category on Amazon!

Oh, and by the way, I have yet to read FOREVER.

 * * *

In addition to being a fabulous friend and a certified ne'er-do-well who flits around the globe (and gets paid for it), Nancy is a comedienne, actress, and author of INSTANT SONGWRITING.

Instant Songwriting is the ultimate how-to book for musical improvisers and an excellent resource for songwriters. With over two decades of musical improv experience, Nancy Howland Walker guides you with clear, logical and fun step-by-step exercises, from the very basics of putting a song together, to highly advanced song techniques. Whether you are new to the art form or experienced, your songs are improvised or written, or you do this for fun or profit, Instant Songwriting helps you take your song skills to the next level. Musical tracks are included for each exercise – to accompany you as you practice and master each step along the way. Now go and become the Songwriting Diva you were meant to be!

It's available on Amazon - and it might be banned any day now, so go buy your copy as soon as possible!

What are you reading to celebrate Banned Book Week?

Instant Songwriting For Everyone!

Have you ever seen Musical Improv on stage and wondered how in the world they do that? How do they come up with songs on the spot?

Here's the book to show you how!

In INSTANT SONGWRITING, Nancy Walker takes you on a fun, journey-at-your-own-pace trip through learning the basics of melody and music, and how to make up a song on the spot so that it sounds "real." Her breezy style is easy and fun to read, and makes you want to try out the exercises and sing right along.

Nancy has been performing improv comedy since the late 1980's when she took her first improv class with ImprovBoston and then later joined the troupe. She's traveled the world through comedy, teaching and performing in cities around the globe as well as on various cruise ships roaming the high seas! She's in Chicago now, as the director of Chicago Improv Associates.

After successfully creating the first completely improvised Broadway-style musical (to rave reviews, no less!), she started to teach others her methods. Now she's put her knowledge down on paper, in this book.

The book is a wonderful tool for those who perform improv comedy on stage, but also a good basic musical tool for anyone involved with musical theatre in any form. It's also a useful book for anyone interested in songwriting in general, as Nancy lays out the steps to creating a good song and the basic knowledge necessary to go from blah to beautiful.

Each section of the book gets progressively harder and more complex in the exercises and content of the lessons. Part I, or "Dunce Level," assumes you know nothing yet and just have the will to learn. By the last Part, or "Diva Level," Nancy explores and explains the phenomenom of Sondheim-style songs with her now-oh-so-advanced readers.

INSTANT SONGWRITING is appropriate for anyone, teen on up, who wants to learn more about creating their own songs, adn would even be great for those high school theatre programs or Destination Imagination teams who need new improv games to play to get their creative juices flowing.

Buy it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Songwriting-Musical-Improv-Dunce/dp/0985465247/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344856795&sr=1-1&keywords=instant+songwriting

And start singing!