Editor’s Note: Smith Music has provided us with the recording of Miss Lincez’s song. You can download it here.
By Stephen Dafoe
Morinville – With her hair in a ponytail, dangly earrings in her ears, and dressed in a glittery t-shirt that says SMILE, nine-year-old Alyssa Lincez looks just like any other fourth grader you might meet. But the Georges P. Vanier student has done something few students her age have, written and recorded a song.
After taking drum lessons at Smith Music for some time, Miss Lincez decided she might like to try her hand at singing. As part of that series of lessons she was tasked with writing a song of her own. After penning a couple bits of silly lyrics with her teacher Christan Maslyk, the song writer turned to her own personal experience, the original song Alone in the Darkness, Alone in the Night was the result.
“I actually had a bad day that day,” Miss Lincez said of the experience that formed the inspiration for her song. “Me and my friend had a fight. When we had the fight I was walking around at recess all alone and I didn’t have anything to do.”
Although Miss Lincez and her friend have since made up, the song remains as a reminder of that rough time in her life. But for her father, Kevin, the song is a reminder that in times of trouble and sadness family is always there to support you.
Mr. Lincez said he was not around for the song writing process as he was overseas; however, the opportunity to hear his daughter’s work so far away just reinforced what the song is about. “It felt pretty good to hear that my nine-year-old daughter wrote a song and that she was going to get it recorded,” he said. “She wrote it when I was overseas. It was a bit of a hard tour. We lost a couple of guys. To me that’s what it means – family’s always there. No matter what happens, you’ve always got family there. That’s what I felt.”
The student song writer said it took about three lessons to write the song from start to finish. Although the lyrics to the song were created purely by Miss Lincez, she had some help on the musical accompaniment from Maslyk, who provided the rhythm portions to accompany the melody line she created.
The singer has had the opportunity to perform the song in public on at least three occasions: first at the Smith Music year end concert last summer, then at the Youth Rally held in Morinville when motivational speaker Ian Hill came to town. That public performance lead to her being asked to sing the song in front of her classmates at Vanier, an experience she found rewarding. “Everyone said they liked it,” Miss Lincez said.
In the studio
With some performances under her belt, Smith Music owner Paul Smith decided it was good enough to be recorded in his studio. “Out of the 120 students in the year end concert we get maybe six original songs,” Smith said, adding Miss Lincez’ song was a particularly good song. “Not all songs record well. This one had all the elements that make it be just what it needs to be. It wasn’t something really obscure – it was something that fits the pop situation.”
What really impressed Smith was the song’s level of maturity. “It’s from a nine-year-old’s perspective but very mature,” he said. “An adult cannot write it like that, and if an adult does it’s different and it’s cheesy. Coming from a child it’s pure and perfect.”
But Smith was not alone in his admiration for what his school’s student had created. Her music teacher took a lot away from the experience as well. “Working with Alyssa was inspiring for me,” Maslyk said. “I was really surprised at her performance in the studio and didn’t understand how a nine-year-old could sing with the emotion that she did. I was pretty moved by the performance.”
Maslyk said at the time of recording Miss Lincez’ song he had been doing a lot of recording of his own material. After witnessing the fledgling performer’s efforts in the studio, he was better prepared for his own work. “I think I did better after seeing Alyssa just come in and not knowing anything, having not really sung before, and then just nailing it and singing with all the emotion that kind of went into writing the song that I don’t understand where it came from.”
For the song writer herself, the recording experience was an enjoyable one. “It was really fun because we got to hang out. We had cookies so that made it better,” she said. “It was really cool. I’m the only one in my class who has ever recorded anything.”
But while there was much enjoyment in recording the song, the performer was her own worst critic. “Sometimes we had to redo it if I really didn’t think it was good,” she said. “If I didn’t like it, I said no, I want to do it again. If I messed up a little bit or I was off key I’d say, ‘Can we redo it,””
Miss Lincez said she is hoping to redo it all again down the road with another original song. The student is continuing to take both singing lessons and drum lessons at the local school.
Editor’s Note: Smith Music has provided us with the recording of Miss Lincez’s song. You can download it here.
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