REVIEW
Grand Rapids Press
, June 1, 2005
by Rachael Recker
'Music was always calling me'
Laura Welland, who traded engineering for jazz, performs Sunday.
The left and right hemispheres of Laura Welland's brain have been competing for a while now. A pianist, trumpeter, bassist and jazz vocalist, Welland is a mechanical engineer as well boasting numerous inventions, patents and awards.
Inundated with her father's jazz LPs as a child, Welland began life early with classical piano lessons, paving the way for a musical future. However, when a home economics sewing machine broke down in her junior high class, Welland took charge, dismantling the machine and restoring it to working order—an accomplishment for which she got into trouble.
It was this home economics scandal illuminating her love for math, as well as a tumultuous family divorce, halting all things music, that prompted Welland to seek a degree in mechanical engineering.
Yet, the goal of musicianship never died, despite almost a decade of successes as senior project engineer with Schaper Mfg. and Tonka toys, creating Mechanring Department and Documentation Control Center for SeamMED Corporation, and founding her company Ashe Design, Inc.—a company she sold to pursue jazz.
"When I thought about what I wanted to spend my life doing music appealed to me more," Welland said in a phone interview from her Seattle Wash., home. "Music was always calling me. I had a relatively long-term plan ... in terms of working at engineering to save up enough money (to attend music school)."
Welland says her mathematical proclivities helped in her musical endeavors. "Music can be approached in a very logical and mathematical fashion. There is a way to look at the scales and the chord construction in a way that lends itself to math", she said. However, Welland realizes the caveat: Music shouldn't become a technical thing.
"The ideal thing is a balance of those approaches ... the artistic oral approach of how you want the music to sound ... plus you have to have a certain level of technical skill." Welland hopes she comes off as genuine and comfortable, intent upon being herself. Entering the musical world professionally at an older age, Welland still battles insecurities. "I'm still working on it. I have always felt that I'm trying to catch up with my peers ... most of whom have 20 more years experience than I do."
"I strive to be as natural as possible. It sounds like an oxy-moron ... I'm going to try really hard to relax. It's hard to find that subtle line between being yourself and applying all those technical musical things you've learned."
"Welland recently finished recording her second album in New York titled, "Dissertations On The State Of Bless," to be released in the fall. The album, featuring Welland's trademark renditions of old standards from the '30s, '40s, and '50s, will carry a 'phases' of love storyline. Showcasing her clear—un-gilded and unsweetened—gentle and transfixing sound, Welland will perform Sunday at Café Mezze. Local pianist Tad Weed and drummer Tim Froncek will accompany the live performance, recorded for later broadcast by WBLU-fM88.9.
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