Jessica Jenks talks about her music journey

Today, Jessica is a solo-performer, singer-songwriter and composer of alternative/indie electronic and eclectic EDM for film/tv. Jessica is also co-founder of the band “owls in orbit” and enjoys international popularity playing collaborations and mixes of songs written by each member of the duo with her bandmate, Marc Clayton (SESAC).

We are sharing our recent interview with her.

Twist Online: First of all please introduce yourself to our readers?
Jessica Jenks : My name is Jessica Jenks and I am a composer, recording artist, performing artist, producer and engineer from New York which is in the US.

Twist Online: Who or what inspired you to get into music industry?
Jessica Jenks : As far back as I can remember I always loved music whether it was played on the radio, sung around a campfire, or the soundtrack of a movie. Sometimes my favorite part of going to the movies is to be the last one in the theater listening to the credit track and to see who the composers were from the soundtrack credits.

Twist Online: Tell us about your recent release?
Jessica Jenks :Honestly, I have many recent releases but most of them are top secret and have been released to a production company out of Los Angeles, California to be shopped around to music editors who work on some pretty popular shows on MTV! As far as my electronic composition “TaLLk” you may wonder why I spelled “talk” that way or if it was a typo, but I can assure you it is not a typo. It was a composition to express the experience of dealing with “talkers”…people who tell fantastical stories but they end up being “tall tales” or “all talk and no action” and it is somewhat an expression of broken trust in relationships and failed expectations with someone you love who made promises that they ultimately broke. I suppose 99% of music deals with things of this nature and music has been a huge way for me to express deeply personal things I am working through…even instrumental pieces. Sometimes just a title is your own little secret with yourself that you know what’s up and what the music is all about but try to leave as much space for the listener to interpret it in their own way as possible.

Twist Online: What kind of response have you received from the release?
Jessica Jenks : “TaLLk” has received 5,344 plays and many likes and reposts on my Soundcloud page and you will soon be able to purchase on iTunes to support the music community while getting a unique, auditorily interesting and mentally stimulating piece of music in return that will make you dance in your seat the whole way to work!

Twist Online: You have been teaching music as well, tell us more about that?
Jessica Jenks :Well…you know what they say…”don’t quit your day job.” It has been a huge blessing to have my business, happy keys piano school, for the past 17 years and being that I was raised by parents who were both entrepreneurs it makes sense that my life’s income is produced independently from “the man.” I instruct any age in a private weekly lesson setting and drive to most of my students and also maintain a home studio offering piano, voice, beginning guitar, percussion, drum kit, composition and musical production lessons.

I take great pride and joy in the outcomes of my instruction while knowing equally that it is my students who really do all the work during the week. I’m kind of like a trail guide, leading aspiring musicians down a path or on a journey and each students path has a core of instruction from a curriculum yet each path has little paths that branch off from the main path eventually. Whether those branching paths turn out to be a focus on classical, jazz, rock n’ roll, composition, pop, covering their favorite songs at open mic, theory based focus, or songwriting and music production, I try to be the teacher or trail guide they need to get where they want to go! I am definitely the opposite of the strict ruler bearing school master drill sergeant piano teacher many people of older generations still have nightmares about. I want my students to stick to their focus and grow within that focus and for it to be something that becomes a real part of who they are and “what they do.” One of my old students was accepted into a very exclusive and competitive composition program at SUNY Purchase being 1 of 28 accepted from what I heard through the grapevine. I mentored another student to compose, notate and compete against other kids from around the world for the chance to have university students orchestrate a piece around the students composition and then perform it with the student playing, like the concert pianist at an orchestra concert and he won first place! Ironically, those two students were brothers.

Twist Online: Performing on stage or working in studio, what do you enjoy the most?
Jessica Jenks : I love both equally, kind of like how a parent feels about their children…each has different and wonderful aspects to it. There’s nothing like a live performance where lots of things can happen at any given moment musically and you get to share the gift with others and hopefully transform their reality even for a moment of time in a positive way but then the convenience of being able to produce music virtually anywhere these days is also amazing. I can record new songs on my bed in the comfort of my own home or on break in a parking lot in my car. Plus the mix sounds awesome in the car too!

Twist Online: What are your future plans?
Jessica Jenks : My future plans are to continue plugging away with composition, creating online presence and get my music out there. I really would love to get more gigs writing for tv/film and to tap into the video gaming music world as well because my music would fit perfectly in that industry.

Twist Online: Are you working on any new project?
Jessica Jenks : I am always working on new projects. I recently joined a Facebook group called 52cues and the idea is to write one cue a week and give each other feedback and learn scoring techniques from other producers of film/tv music which is kind of a cool concept!

For further information and to stay update about her you can follow her on twitter @jessicajenks9