When I was 9 years old I decided that I wanted to start drawing faces. I had a regular number 2 pencil and some printer paper. I would look up faces in books and try my best to draw an accurate picture of what I saw. I came from a family of artists, my Grandma was a painter and my Grandpa drew faces. I always saw their art around the house or at my Aunt and Uncles house and I would try to duplicate that as … [Read more...]
Socializing as an Autistic Artist
I didn’t need people to become my best friend, but I wanted to feel a part of things.Jennifer Msumba Let’s face it, we can’t spend our whole lives hiding. I mean, technically maybe we could, but it wouldn’t be much of a life. And if you aspire to be a professional artist- whether that be a musician, filmmaker, writer, designer etc, eventually you are going to have to get out there and meet people. This … [Read more...]
Overcoming Stage Fright as a Musician
It's not just always going to be easy from the first time you do something that you really want, you have to push yourself and it's okay to be afraid. It's okay to be nervous. But if you just get up there and be...know, that you're yourself, and you're expressing yourself, you're on your way.Jennifer Msumba Jennifer: Hi guys, today I wanted to talk to a very special friend of mine. Her name is Jenny … [Read more...]
How a Quirky Song Became an Award Winning Film
“And the winner is…” This was it. I was shaking in my chair, sitting in front of my computer wearing my nicest button shirt. I was in the Zoom waiting room. Whoever won Best Film for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge would be brought on live to get their reaction and say a few words. It wouldn’t be me, would it? I didn’t even know how I had gotten this far. Out of 87 amazing films, I had … [Read more...]
Co-Writing as an Autistic Songwriter
I was shaking as we neared the address where we were all supposed to meet. What if I froze up? What if they overlooked my ideas? Or worst of all, what if I had nothing to contribute? I was heading into my very first team songwriting experience and I had no idea what to expect. How did I get here? Well, back in 2019, before Covid-19 hit, my worship leader was talking about how our church was going to start … [Read more...]
Relative Pitch Vs. Perfect Pitch- The Story of Two Autistic Musicians
Music has had a positive impact on me. I can't really articulate the emotions that I feel about when I'm really into a song. My voice gets louder and I guess my emotions would be like passion. And like if the song has really powerful lyrics, yeah. I can connect with them.Sunny Cefaratti Jennifer: Hi everybody, I would like to introduce you to Sunny, who I met years ago. I remember I was at a conference, an … [Read more...]