Since that first time Lisa had recorded her own violin music on her mobile and had been so surprised by the result, she had decided to use that App by default. Somehow she longed for her music, and especially their music together, to start touching other people. She just didn't know how yet. She now knew how to transfer the recordings from her mobile to the computer, but other than that...
Sjaak didn't know either, but had the same desire as Lisa. Since he was quite busy himself, he asked her, if she would go to Huib to consult with him. Maybe he had an idea. He copied a few files they had collected onto a USB stick, with which Lisa went in search of Huib.
She found him at home, where Margreet was just feeding Gloria.
"I came for you, Huib, but I need to check on your daughter," Lisa said as she walked to the rocking chair.
"Just a few more weeks, then I'll be sitting like this too," she sighed. "I wanted it to be that time. Actually, I want to skip childbirth, I'm really dreading it."
"We'll come to you as soon as you give us a signal. And I'll come as close as you want me to. It will be fine Lisa, but I understand that your thoughts are telling you quite different," Margreet said.
"Yes, I know, all those thoughts that sometimes crash through my head against each other. Complete arguments! Though I must say, those confrontations in my mind are getting a bit milder. That's a good sign, isn't it? Yes, I feel it's moving in the right direction, but it's not over yet. I like having you guys around during labour."
Lisa wanted to stroke Gloria's head for a moment, but decided not to, so she could continue drinking quietly. She walked over to Huib, who was busy behind the computer. He immediately looked up, smiled at her and said, "Tell Lisa, this work can wait."
"Well, here's the thing... Sjaak and I have been recording our music lately, and Sjaak has put some of those recordings on this USB. We would love it so much if other people could enjoy it too, but we don't know how. I know it could be via YouTube, but I don't know how that works. Making a CD, I'm not ready for that yet, and I doubt that would be the intention. I just don't know, but we feel, it has to go out into the world. Do you know how we can do something like that?"
Huib slowly shook his head: "No, I know there are programmes for something like that, but I don't know which ones. I've never done that before. But I do know someone who can definitely manage that. Ilse is a real digital techie, ask her."
"Really? Ilse? Our Ilse?"
"Yep, our Ilse, from The Shelter. We just had a meeting last night with six artists, and Ilse there, because she's going to manage the website for us. She is someone who does it with enormous passion, she enjoys it! She'll probably be busy with that website, but just ask her, I'm sure she's willing to do it for you in between."
"Okay, I'm going to ask her right away! Thanks for the tip! Youngsters, have a nice day and see you later!" she shouted cheerfully as she walked away.
She walked towards Ilse's house, saw her sitting at the computer and tried to get her attention by waving.
Ilse saw it in the corner of her eye, looked up briefly irritated, but immediately became genuinely happy when she saw Lisa. Apart from experiencing Lisa as her saviour in distress, she had a click with her. She quickly saved what she had been doing and walked to the front door.
"Ha Lisa, come in! Want some coffee? I just made fresh. Or prefer tea?"
"I like coffee, but am I not disturbing you?"
"Yep, you certainly do, but you are a very pleasant disturber, so I don't mind! Did you come just for fun or do you have another reason?"
"The reason is another reason, but at the same time I like being with you. I heard from Huib that you are going to manage their website?"
"Yes, I was just working on that, or actually at the moment with a set-up for communication and financial administration, because I'm going to add those too. I want to set up in such a way that I can keep track of everything with great ease in the future. That means working on a tough puzzle now, but that's what I like about it. It just takes quite a bit of time, but then I will have a solid foundation soon!"
Ilse put a mug of coffee by Lisa, who had plopped down on the sofa, and sat down in the easy chair with her legs pulled up.
"Tell me, what's on your mind!"
Lisa held up her USB. "We have been recording our music lately and Sjaak has put some of it on this USB. Our desire is for our music to go around the world. But how? Neither of us have a click with a CD, but then how? Through YouTube? Or Spotify? And how do you get that done? According to Huib, you are the best person to ask how to do such a thing."
Ilse chuckled: "Yep, Huib has found his computer expert! I think via YouTube is easy anyway, and convenient because it's a global programme. I don't really have any experience with Spotify myself. I browsed around there once, but didn't click with it then. What I think hey, if you were to do it like the website people, the digital gallery as Simon calls it. They put their photos on the website, and promote them on Facebook and Twitter. So, if you create a channel on YouTube, and take an account with those social media outlets, then every time you put up something on your YouTube channel again, you report it. How you do all that, we'll get to that in a moment, I want to first try to make it clear to you what I see in front of me. Suppose you have all three of those accounts already set up. You start making music, record it, are satisfied with the recording, get it ready to put on YouTube, preferably with a nice movie recording along with it. You post it on YouTube and also on both social media. On social media, you write something like, "for more of our music... go to:..." and then the link of your YouTube channel. Do you have experience with any of those? Do you have Twitter or Facebook?"
"I created an account with both once, but never really enjoyed it. That was also just before I got into that abusive marriage. Actually, I would like to create a new account at both, one for Sjaak and me together."
Ilse was nodding vigorously: "Super good idea! It should be something that expresses your creativity. I even think, but I'll leave that up to you of course, that nothing else personal should go on it. No private photos or announcements, just your music with a film background. And then I immediately get to the first thing you would have to learn for that, which is how to put that music on it and how to put a nice matching film clip or series of photos behind it."
"Oh Ilse, that flies in my face, I'm not at all handy with computers and neither is Sjaak very much. I know you're busy with that website now, but would you be willing to teach us when you have a quieter time?"
"Of course, I'd love to! Can I hear a bit of your recording for a moment?"
Lisa handed her the USB, which Ilse plugged into her computer. She opened and started the first file and lowered herself back into her chair.
Lisa listened with her eyes closed, letting herself be completely carried away by the melody. As a result, she did not see that in Ilse's case, tears began to stream down her cheeks.
.
Ilse, not used to crying, especially not in front of others, did not notice the tears running down her cheeks while she was listening. The moment the music ended, she felt what had happened and quickly wiped away her tears.
Lisa sighed deeply, opened her eyes and did not notice anything at first. It was only when Ilse started blowing her nose noisily that she sensed what was going on. She decided not to say anything about it. If Ilse wanted to talk about it, she would eventually do it herself, she thought.
"It's beautiful, Lisa," Ilse sniffed, "this should indeed go out into the world, touch people. It touched me too. I didn't even realise it, but tears started streaming down my face. I hate crying, but the way it was going now, it happened naturally, very quietly. I didn't notice it until the music had ended. Yes, this really needs to go out into the world! I'm going to help you, just as long as it takes! And after that, we'll see. If it works well in combination with those videos, it should actually get a place on the website, I mean Huib's website and all. Shall I consult with him?"
Lisa hesitated, bothered that her music had received so much praise. The old feeling of being too minor fought against that a bit.
"Let's get some stuff ready and put it on YouTube first. Then I'll talk to Sjaak about it, see together if we would want it on that website. It falters with me, it doesn't feel like our music is good enough for such a website, like that's too high."
Ilse grinned: "Lisa, have you ever heard of emotional woundedness?"
Lisa chuckled: "Yes, once, and there seems to be a cure for it too, some process. Pfff, do you really think it's good enough?"
"That anyway! I'm reminded of Bianca, during the meeting. She had shown her first doll dress, everyone had brought something to show. Bianca called it a product. I told her, it's art, and that I understand art to be an expression of what arises in your soul. Well, your music obviously comes from your soul, it bubbles and squirts up from there and comes out through your violin. Art! That is art! So personally, I think it definitely belongs on that website, but I can think so, those artists over there as well as Sjaak and you all have to decide whether we are actually going to add it. That will come later, I will first continue with the work for the website and everything that comes with it, which I think will take a few days, and then I will come to you to work together with your films, your recordings. And when we have a few ready, we'll have a chat with Huib, if you want. Then we'll see how it goes. Lisa, as much as I like it, I'm going to rush you home now, because I have to go on! The sooner I can join you!"
Lisa burst out laughing and pretended to be scared for a moment: "Don't rush me, I'm already going! Good luck with your work and see you later!"
At home, she consulted with Sjaak, told him what Ilse had come up with. Sjaak was all excited: "We can use photos of the estate, at least to start with. I am reminded of that photo series of Koos and Olivia, that series that runs regularly in the guesthouse. Photos like that, and maybe others from the internet. I mean, if you have one of those music recordings where you feel like you're standing by a fountain. Then we could use some pictures from the internet. I totally see it, even though I don't know how we can pull it off. I'm glad Ilse feels like helping us, really nice!"
"Yes, she loves such work. Let's get started with YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, shall we?"
Sjaak thought it was a good idea. They consulted with each other what they would call their channel and accounts. They decided to call it 'Music from our soul' and added their first names where appropriate. On social media, they explored the possibilities, looked up acquaintances and followed them on Twitter and sent friend requests on Facebook. With a cute picture of their musical instruments, they made an announcement that they pinned so that it stayed at the top of their page. In the text, they also referred to their YouTube channel, on which videos would soon be posted.
"Empty lot hey, I'm getting more and more excited to get started with Ilse. Do you have any photos of the estate on the computer yet?"
"A lot! WE, you and I together, have a large collection of photos of the garden, photos in all seasons, plenty of choice."
Lisa laughed: "Nice, nice that WE have that!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, as best she could sitting up with her heavily pregnant belly, and kissed him. "We, you and I..."
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