my name is Elsa and I’m a music artist
and a songwriter I’m a
multi-instrumentalist I play the piano
the guitar I sing and I play the harp
but three years ago I was just a
hypocrite every day I would teach young
musicians and songwriters about the
importance of nurturing their creativity
about challenging themselves and
supporting whatever creative visions
that they had but it was all just a big
fast because while I was doing that for
others I was challenging them and
encouraging them and and and getting
them to live their dreams I was doing
none of it for myself I found it quite
easy to justify why I was no longer
being creative if I just told myself
that I was in the creative slump it’s
alright it’s good you know you just lost
your spark
you’ll be right it’ll come back don’t
worry about it but that was just an easy
fix that was just me putting a band-aid
on top of the ugly truth which was the
fact that I hadn’t lost my creativity I
gave up on it I gave up on the one thing
that defined me for such a huge portion
of my life and that was my creativity I
grew up on the stage performing a little
four-year-old dancing and singing and
went on to have piano lessons and theory
lessons and then I was drawn to the harp
and I started playing the harp and
busking at local markets here on the
Gold Coast and went on to have my own
music business when I was 13 performing
at weddings and by the time I was 18 I
had played it over a thousand weddings I
studied music at the Conservatorium of
music
here on the coast and moved into stayed
and went overseas and went to music
workshops over-seasoned songwriting
workshops and you know leaving my dream
but three years ago I found myself stuck
I was in my safety nets I was sitting in
a job that was never part of my plan I
was a high school music teacher which is
an honorable and a respectful profession
but I just kind of fell into teaching
when I thought I should probably get a
real job so I taught on and off for five
years in between having two beautiful
kids but what I found during that time
was that my creativity was being
consumed by my profession I was everyday
pouring my creativity into other
creative minds and feeding them and at
the end of the day there was none of it
left for myself I was writing assessment
tasks and I was designing course modules
and I was facilitating feedback and at
times I just felt like I had become this
information provider and my creativity
as I’d once knowing it just it didn’t
exist anymore it packed up its bags and
and it moved out and before I’d known it
twelve months had passed and I hadn’t
played a single one of my instruments
and then a few more years passed and I
realized hey it’s been five years and
you haven’t written a song my creativity
as I had once known it didn’t exist
anymore and to be completely honest with
you I was heartbroken I honestly felt
like I had failed myself but then one
day I was at a girlfriend’s house and we
cracked open a bottle of wine and there
were no kids around and she decided to
pull out some tarot cards and I thought
sure I’ll flick some cards over and I’ll
see what my future is gonna take me so I
had to
a card for my past and one for my
present and one for my future lay down I
couldn’t see what they were I turned
over the card for my past and I honestly
don’t remember what it said but when I
turned over the one for my present at
that time in my life there were two
words on that card and those two words
will make music but it wasn’t the words
that shocked me the most it was a
picture that was on that card the
beautiful artwork young maiden with long
flowing golden hair sitting at an
instrument playing it you want to take a
guess what instrument was on the cards
right I nearly spilled my wine and that
would have been a tragedy I couldn’t
believe it
I took this as like a sign from the
universe like screaming at me – wake up
wake up do you really want to find
yourself ten years down the track
sitting in this job that few is
uncreated unfulfilled and comfortable
safe do you want to sit here in this
because if you do I can guarantee that
you will wake up one day and you’re a
this was my first little flicker of fire
that I needed again and it was actually
a really big blessing in disguise
because realizing that I was unhappy in
my job forced me to look inwards and
really look at what I wasn’t getting
from my job and what I felt I needed in
order to feel fulfilled and I found that
there are a few things that I needed the
first one of those was ambition I needed
something to give me the get-up-and-go
that I craved I wanted to wake up in the
morning and feel excited about what I
was gonna do
I needed some pep in my step I need a
growth I wanted to be doing something
that was going to challenge me something
that could open up a world of different
opportunities that I never thought could
possibly happen and explore different
pathways
I really wanted independence I wanted to
be my own boss I wanted to craft my day
however I saw fit and plan my days
however I wanted because it was my life
and I was like I’m in control of my life
I want to be the one designing this and
I needed connection I really wanted to
make passionate connections with people
through shared experiences and through
collaborating but I knew that I could
have all these amazing things but there
was still one thing that was missing and
if I didn’t have this one thing that I
knew I wouldn’t feel fulfilled and that
thing was my creativity and specifically
for me my creativity in music and that’s
really cool when you figured out that
points in your life you’re gone I know
what I want to do like this is it but
then it’s like the hardest bit is well
how do I get back to that how do I pick
myself up off the floor and get back to
this thing that I once did that I love
so much how do I get back to doing that
that’s the question right how do I make
money more importantly because we need
money and how am I going to do this
because I’m about to walk away from this
job that’s safe and it’s secure and it
provides stability and security for my
family which is extremely important how
am I going to leave this and go and
create this life that I want to live how
am I going to craft my creative dream
and turn it into a creative reality I
nitpicked over a few ideas over a number
of months cuz I still didn’t know what I
was gonna do yet and I sought some
advice from a creative business coach
and she was really simple and what she
said to me but I knew what it was gonna
be but sometimes we need to hear it from
someone else sometimes we need someone
else to tell us what we already know
deep down inside of us we need that
validation and she said to me else go
just do you be you play the harp from a
business perspective
it has an extremely unique selling
points but then I told her how I didn’t
want to go back to playing the harp how
I did it 10 years ago when I play at
weddings cuz to me that was easy
it was uncreate –iv I’d already done it
and it provided me with no challenge so
as any good teacher does she gave me
some homework and my homework was to
figure out how I was going to rebrand
myself as a musician what are the things
that I am going to be able to do to get
this personal fulfillment that I’m
looking for but also at the same time
create a commercially viable business so
that I can ultimately be fulfilled and
making money she gave me some tips and
said that I needed to go away and I
needed to write down some things the
first of them being whom were my dream
clients and the dream venues or
festivals or events they wish they play
could play in one day write them down
she made me write down any big-ticket
goals and she said dream big like do not
limit yourself just go as huge as you
can possibly go but also important was
to write down what my daily life looked
like on a day-to-day basis where did I
get my coffee from in the mornings what
time did I wake up and so I did these
things I wrote down my dream which was
of being a full-time professional music
artist and songwriter writing my own
music performing recording and sharing
the world with my family by my side and
when I wrote this down and I looked at
it and I looked really hard at it
it was extremely confronting and before
I had even started I started to place
boundaries on myself
I said to myself Elsa you’re a woman and
you’re over 30 and that is considered
too old in the pop music world do you
really want to be starting a career now
and did you forget about the fact that
you’re a mother because parents can’t be
pop stars but then a really cheesy quote
popped into my head
and it said to me don’t worry about it
you don’t have to see the whole
staircase you’ve just got to take the
first step I knew that I couldn’t fear
the risks
I couldn’t fear mr. making mistakes I
couldn’t fear failing I my once they had
to be greater than all of my fears put
together the biggest fear of all was
that I should fear not taking the chance
on my creativity so then I had to put my
business hat on and I had to think about
how am I going to cut through the noise
of this pop music world I want to live
in with this half because to me it
wasn’t enough to just have a unique
instrument so I looked to my competitors
in the marketplace in music not
specifically harpists because they’re
few and far between
especially in pop music but I looked at
any musicians who resided in the world
of music that I wanted to live in what
are they doing and I found some
inspiration on YouTube and I became
fascinated by musicians that would use
loop pedals one solid artists like I was
one woman bands and they use this
amazing technological device which is a
loop pedal which allowed them to layer
sounds and record music and some of them
were using their instrument as a drum
and some of them were beatboxing and I
was like this is so cool
can I take all of this and wash it
together
with a hop can I do that turns out you
can I found that I had a unique
instrument and now how I played with the
harp it was to me was going to be unique
and so that I felt like I had a bit of a
niche there that I could push forward
with reinventing the way that I played
with my harp has allowed me the creative
fulfilment that I have long desired for
because now I’m not just performing when
I play I’m crafting the music live in
front of an audience and it creates this
beautiful shared experience between the
audience and myself because you get to
see how the music is being made to get
to hear it but you also get to see how
the musics being made and it might
change depending upon how I’m feeling
that night and how my creative flow is
feeling I love to challenge people’s
perceptions and bust stereotypes about
heart it’s not this little instrument
that sits up the back of an orchestra
that plays one notes here and there and
the best story I have of that was
recently when I performed in a
restaurant and this cute little old
couple came in and sat down at their
table and she noticed the speakers and
she got a bit concerned about the fact
that there was gonna be like cloud music
near their table but they didn’t want to
shift tables because they were hungry
and they wanted to eat and then she
turned and she saw the heart and she was
like oh it’s okay it’s just a harp it’s
alright she’s in for a little bit of
surprise that night we all have
creativity inside of us it’s not just
for professional artists we all have it
and we all have access to it it’s
anything that brings you joy that
relaxes you that excites you that
provides a moment of Zen whatever it
might be creativity is the permission
that we give ourselves to do what we
love what would it be like if you
accessed your Creator
what would it be like if you allowed
yourself for a moment just to play and
forget any boundaries that you put upon
yourself and bust some of your own
stereotypes and what would it be like if
you just said yes so this is a song that
comes in a time in your life when you
feel single for a really long time and
maybe you’ve been trying to find the one
again you’re putting yourself out there
you maybe you’re going on a string of
bad / average dates hopefully no one’s
and then BAM out of nowhere right you
meet somebody maybe it’s in a peculiar
place maybe it’s in a peculiar way maybe
here tonight at TEDx you never know and
that’s what this song is about this song
is about two people meeting in a
peculiar way and a unique love story
that unfolds
and it just so happens that today this
song was released to the world this is
my debut single what a coincidence
literally a coincidence this song’s
called boy
met him in the most peculiar way I met
him when I hope it turns him grey
plucked up the courage and I logged on
to find my perfect man uh-huh
he was just a click away click puss guys
with dirty smoked stained teeth ooh they
[Music]
he was just a click away and I said he
what tuxedo t-shirt on our very first
dates smart casual and his own unique
white he brought white wine with them
knowing in there I would only ever drink
red but I drank it anyway
and I said hey boy you look sweet you
want to go slow with me he said hey girl
don’t you worry
I’m not in any hurry now handsome boy
yes please none on the cheek Nanjiani
and Sonny and Cher Carla dolly they made
it their anchor and moldy and Jackie and
John announcer James Smith in this song
[Music]
and we made history
oh boy boy oh boy oh boy oh boy
[Music]
boy boy boy
[Music] [Applause]
and a songwriter I’m a
multi-instrumentalist I play the piano
the guitar I sing and I play the harp
but three years ago I was just a
hypocrite every day I would teach young
musicians and songwriters about the
importance of nurturing their creativity
about challenging themselves and
supporting whatever creative visions
that they had but it was all just a big
fast because while I was doing that for
others I was challenging them and
encouraging them and and and getting
them to live their dreams I was doing
none of it for myself I found it quite
easy to justify why I was no longer
being creative if I just told myself
that I was in the creative slump it’s
alright it’s good you know you just lost
your spark
you’ll be right it’ll come back don’t
worry about it but that was just an easy
fix that was just me putting a band-aid
on top of the ugly truth which was the
fact that I hadn’t lost my creativity I
gave up on it I gave up on the one thing
that defined me for such a huge portion
of my life and that was my creativity I
grew up on the stage performing a little
four-year-old dancing and singing and
went on to have piano lessons and theory
lessons and then I was drawn to the harp
and I started playing the harp and
busking at local markets here on the
Gold Coast and went on to have my own
music business when I was 13 performing
at weddings and by the time I was 18 I
had played it over a thousand weddings I
studied music at the Conservatorium of
music
here on the coast and moved into stayed
and went overseas and went to music
workshops over-seasoned songwriting
workshops and you know leaving my dream
but three years ago I found myself stuck
I was in my safety nets I was sitting in
a job that was never part of my plan I
was a high school music teacher which is
an honorable and a respectful profession
but I just kind of fell into teaching
when I thought I should probably get a
real job so I taught on and off for five
years in between having two beautiful
kids but what I found during that time
was that my creativity was being
consumed by my profession I was everyday
pouring my creativity into other
creative minds and feeding them and at
the end of the day there was none of it
left for myself I was writing assessment
tasks and I was designing course modules
and I was facilitating feedback and at
times I just felt like I had become this
information provider and my creativity
as I’d once knowing it just it didn’t
exist anymore it packed up its bags and
and it moved out and before I’d known it
twelve months had passed and I hadn’t
played a single one of my instruments
and then a few more years passed and I
realized hey it’s been five years and
you haven’t written a song my creativity
as I had once known it didn’t exist
anymore and to be completely honest with
you I was heartbroken I honestly felt
like I had failed myself but then one
day I was at a girlfriend’s house and we
cracked open a bottle of wine and there
were no kids around and she decided to
pull out some tarot cards and I thought
sure I’ll flick some cards over and I’ll
see what my future is gonna take me so I
had to
a card for my past and one for my
present and one for my future lay down I
couldn’t see what they were I turned
over the card for my past and I honestly
don’t remember what it said but when I
turned over the one for my present at
that time in my life there were two
words on that card and those two words
will make music but it wasn’t the words
that shocked me the most it was a
picture that was on that card the
beautiful artwork young maiden with long
flowing golden hair sitting at an
instrument playing it you want to take a
guess what instrument was on the cards
right I nearly spilled my wine and that
would have been a tragedy I couldn’t
believe it
I took this as like a sign from the
universe like screaming at me – wake up
wake up do you really want to find
yourself ten years down the track
sitting in this job that few is
uncreated unfulfilled and comfortable
safe do you want to sit here in this
because if you do I can guarantee that
you will wake up one day and you’re a
this was my first little flicker of fire
that I needed again and it was actually
a really big blessing in disguise
because realizing that I was unhappy in
my job forced me to look inwards and
really look at what I wasn’t getting
from my job and what I felt I needed in
order to feel fulfilled and I found that
there are a few things that I needed the
first one of those was ambition I needed
something to give me the get-up-and-go
that I craved I wanted to wake up in the
morning and feel excited about what I
was gonna do
I needed some pep in my step I need a
growth I wanted to be doing something
that was going to challenge me something
that could open up a world of different
opportunities that I never thought could
possibly happen and explore different
pathways
I really wanted independence I wanted to
be my own boss I wanted to craft my day
however I saw fit and plan my days
however I wanted because it was my life
and I was like I’m in control of my life
I want to be the one designing this and
I needed connection I really wanted to
make passionate connections with people
through shared experiences and through
collaborating but I knew that I could
have all these amazing things but there
was still one thing that was missing and
if I didn’t have this one thing that I
knew I wouldn’t feel fulfilled and that
thing was my creativity and specifically
for me my creativity in music and that’s
really cool when you figured out that
points in your life you’re gone I know
what I want to do like this is it but
then it’s like the hardest bit is well
how do I get back to that how do I pick
myself up off the floor and get back to
this thing that I once did that I love
so much how do I get back to doing that
that’s the question right how do I make
money more importantly because we need
money and how am I going to do this
because I’m about to walk away from this
job that’s safe and it’s secure and it
provides stability and security for my
family which is extremely important how
am I going to leave this and go and
create this life that I want to live how
am I going to craft my creative dream
and turn it into a creative reality I
nitpicked over a few ideas over a number
of months cuz I still didn’t know what I
was gonna do yet and I sought some
advice from a creative business coach
and she was really simple and what she
said to me but I knew what it was gonna
be but sometimes we need to hear it from
someone else sometimes we need someone
else to tell us what we already know
deep down inside of us we need that
validation and she said to me else go
just do you be you play the harp from a
business perspective
it has an extremely unique selling
points but then I told her how I didn’t
want to go back to playing the harp how
I did it 10 years ago when I play at
weddings cuz to me that was easy
it was uncreate –iv I’d already done it
and it provided me with no challenge so
as any good teacher does she gave me
some homework and my homework was to
figure out how I was going to rebrand
myself as a musician what are the things
that I am going to be able to do to get
this personal fulfillment that I’m
looking for but also at the same time
create a commercially viable business so
that I can ultimately be fulfilled and
making money she gave me some tips and
said that I needed to go away and I
needed to write down some things the
first of them being whom were my dream
clients and the dream venues or
festivals or events they wish they play
could play in one day write them down
she made me write down any big-ticket
goals and she said dream big like do not
limit yourself just go as huge as you
can possibly go but also important was
to write down what my daily life looked
like on a day-to-day basis where did I
get my coffee from in the mornings what
time did I wake up and so I did these
things I wrote down my dream which was
of being a full-time professional music
artist and songwriter writing my own
music performing recording and sharing
the world with my family by my side and
when I wrote this down and I looked at
it and I looked really hard at it
it was extremely confronting and before
I had even started I started to place
boundaries on myself
I said to myself Elsa you’re a woman and
you’re over 30 and that is considered
too old in the pop music world do you
really want to be starting a career now
and did you forget about the fact that
you’re a mother because parents can’t be
pop stars but then a really cheesy quote
popped into my head
and it said to me don’t worry about it
you don’t have to see the whole
staircase you’ve just got to take the
first step I knew that I couldn’t fear
the risks
I couldn’t fear mr. making mistakes I
couldn’t fear failing I my once they had
to be greater than all of my fears put
together the biggest fear of all was
that I should fear not taking the chance
on my creativity so then I had to put my
business hat on and I had to think about
how am I going to cut through the noise
of this pop music world I want to live
in with this half because to me it
wasn’t enough to just have a unique
instrument so I looked to my competitors
in the marketplace in music not
specifically harpists because they’re
few and far between
especially in pop music but I looked at
any musicians who resided in the world
of music that I wanted to live in what
are they doing and I found some
inspiration on YouTube and I became
fascinated by musicians that would use
loop pedals one solid artists like I was
one woman bands and they use this
amazing technological device which is a
loop pedal which allowed them to layer
sounds and record music and some of them
were using their instrument as a drum
and some of them were beatboxing and I
was like this is so cool
can I take all of this and wash it
together
with a hop can I do that turns out you
can I found that I had a unique
instrument and now how I played with the
harp it was to me was going to be unique
and so that I felt like I had a bit of a
niche there that I could push forward
with reinventing the way that I played
with my harp has allowed me the creative
fulfilment that I have long desired for
because now I’m not just performing when
I play I’m crafting the music live in
front of an audience and it creates this
beautiful shared experience between the
audience and myself because you get to
see how the music is being made to get
to hear it but you also get to see how
the musics being made and it might
change depending upon how I’m feeling
that night and how my creative flow is
feeling I love to challenge people’s
perceptions and bust stereotypes about
heart it’s not this little instrument
that sits up the back of an orchestra
that plays one notes here and there and
the best story I have of that was
recently when I performed in a
restaurant and this cute little old
couple came in and sat down at their
table and she noticed the speakers and
she got a bit concerned about the fact
that there was gonna be like cloud music
near their table but they didn’t want to
shift tables because they were hungry
and they wanted to eat and then she
turned and she saw the heart and she was
like oh it’s okay it’s just a harp it’s
alright she’s in for a little bit of
surprise that night we all have
creativity inside of us it’s not just
for professional artists we all have it
and we all have access to it it’s
anything that brings you joy that
relaxes you that excites you that
provides a moment of Zen whatever it
might be creativity is the permission
that we give ourselves to do what we
love what would it be like if you
accessed your Creator
what would it be like if you allowed
yourself for a moment just to play and
forget any boundaries that you put upon
yourself and bust some of your own
stereotypes and what would it be like if
you just said yes so this is a song that
comes in a time in your life when you
feel single for a really long time and
maybe you’ve been trying to find the one
again you’re putting yourself out there
you maybe you’re going on a string of
bad / average dates hopefully no one’s
and then BAM out of nowhere right you
meet somebody maybe it’s in a peculiar
place maybe it’s in a peculiar way maybe
here tonight at TEDx you never know and
that’s what this song is about this song
is about two people meeting in a
peculiar way and a unique love story
that unfolds
and it just so happens that today this
song was released to the world this is
my debut single what a coincidence
literally a coincidence this song’s
called boy
met him in the most peculiar way I met
him when I hope it turns him grey
plucked up the courage and I logged on
to find my perfect man uh-huh
he was just a click away click puss guys
with dirty smoked stained teeth ooh they
[Music]
he was just a click away and I said he
what tuxedo t-shirt on our very first
dates smart casual and his own unique
white he brought white wine with them
knowing in there I would only ever drink
red but I drank it anyway
and I said hey boy you look sweet you
want to go slow with me he said hey girl
don’t you worry
I’m not in any hurry now handsome boy
yes please none on the cheek Nanjiani
and Sonny and Cher Carla dolly they made
it their anchor and moldy and Jackie and
John announcer James Smith in this song
[Music]
and we made history
oh boy boy oh boy oh boy oh boy
[Music]
boy boy boy
[Music] [Applause]
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