Traci Kurtz Music

Much thanks to this fellow for putting this “pretty sound” into words, and explaining the math behind the music. I play piano primarily by ear, that’s how I learned, but just as someone can’t pronounce a word correctly bc they’ve only read it, doesn’t mean they don’t know the definition of the word. It’s so cool seeing little patterns and structures of music theory being explained that has always made sense to me in my head, but since I was self taught, I lacked the correct “musical verbiage” to explain it to anyone. This style of song- where the “major” key note plays while other chords are played, was very popular with praise and worship music years ago when I was the piano girl on my church worship team. It’s fascinating how music can be numbers and letters. My mind processes stuff weird. I’m like the kid from August Rush 🤷‍♀️ ゚viralシ

“Artificial Nocturne” Metric cover by ME 🎹

“Terrible Love”
Felt like playing today.

I know it sounds cheesy, but piano has always been more than just a “hobby” for me. Exhibit A: I heard this song and played it by ear sans sheet music after weeks of musical neglect despite never having attempted to learn it before.
I was taken out of public school in 8th grade and home schooled for 2 years- where I had no friends, no social life, just books, inadvertent isolation, and a self deprecating darkness within me that would later become bipolar disorder.
My brother gave me a keyboard with notes written on the keys in black sharpie, and I practiced songs that lit up with the keys until I learned and understood and deciphered the music in my own personal, weird, neurodivergent way.
I became very good, and could easily play any song that I heard once I recognized the key or “found it” on the piano before I really learned how music theory worked. I took piano lessons against my will and hated it bc I was already accustomed to my own hand placements and my creative 8 octave range compared to the confined simplicity and general discomfort of “playing by the rules” - aka the beginner songs I had to sight read in sheet music I eventually forced myself to “calculate” and I call this method “musical math,” bc it’s literally combining the left and right sides of your brain; like learning a new language or something.
My brother also taught me chord progression and how they can flow together just like sheet music, and how to listen to any song and get away with playing it majestically by “cheating” using my trained ear, memory, and “a sheer god-given spiritual gift” as Curtis Smith (the first ever person to believe in me) told me over and over and over until I finally believed it myself.
For years I was lead pianist on my little church worship team and eventually sang and harmonized as well, and then went on to attend Sarah Kelly Music School where I was able to work with experienced musicians who helped me strengthen my talent, turn my words into lyrics I played, sang and recorded, and from there I performed in coffee shops and local venues here and there around the greater Houston area until I got pregnant, became very ill and disappeared. Just a girl and her piano against the world. That was 10 years ago and it feels like another lifetime; as I have grown and evolved so much as not only a musician but as a human, a woman, a mother, a daughter, and a sister.
Despite my respite from performing due to chronic illness, I never lost faith in my piano’s ability to breathe life into me during the unexpected hardships- sickness, divorce, death, sickness, sadness, poverty- It gave me a piece of hope to hold onto until things got better- bc no matter how crappy life can be, it always gets better. Even if only temporarily. I learned to hold onto the hope and therapeutic euphoria that creating music gives me and to NEVER die with my music still inside of me.
Anyway…yeah. That.
So thank you for reading this far and I appreciate your support 💜

So I was stuck in traffic on the way home from picking Emmett up from school, and I felt stuff, and decided to write a song for the first time since my best friends’ death last year. I have a presumption of what it will be about, but no title or lyrics yet, just this little intro that was fluttering around in my little musical brain, and when I sat down to play it, the chords came with it. Apparently it’s in the key of F, and I kind of dig it so far. Thoughts? 💭

“Help I’m Alive” - Metric one of my favorite songs. Not my usual style but I tried to make it my own.

People help the people, and if you’re homesick, give me your hand and I’ll hold it.

“Lighthouses”I wrote this song about depression. So far I’m trying to get the chorus just right before I add more to it.Lyrics-I follow lighthousesTo bring me back from the deadWhen I’m lost in deep oceansAnd I can’t get out of bedThe lanterns burn so brightThrough the storms that rage all nightI follow lighthouses To bring me back from the dead