Meet Heather Thorn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Thorn.

Hi Heather, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I lived in Canada until I was 12 years old. I have been in love with music for as long as I can remember. There are photos of me sitting at my grandparent’s piano at one year old. I started to learn to read music when I was 5, and from then on it was my favorite thing to do when I’d visit my grandparents. They would send me to the front porch where the piano was to learn new music, mostly to get me out from under their feet in the kitchen, I think! When I had something new learned, I’d call for them and the whole family would come to listen. I attribute much of my passion for music to my Grandpa, who would play the harmonica with me, and to my Uncle Barry, who challenged me to learn things like playing the accordion blindfolded and behind my back! When I was nine, I began visiting an elderly neighbor who had moved to the retirement home nearby. I would ride my bike there and one day showed her the songs I’d learned in piano lessons.

When I turned around, the room was full of residents requesting to hear more music. One woman gave me a book of hers to start learning the music they liked. I still play many of these songs today with my band. It was my first introduction to the great American Songbook. I joined the band in the 6th grade. I wanted to play the flute, but my band director had seen me play soccer that weekend and proclaimed I was ‘too ruthless for the flute, so I’m putting you in the percussion section.’ The xylophone was laid out the same as the piano, so I easily made the transition. I knew I wanted to play the xylophone professionally when i heard Bob Becker of the world-famous NEXUS percussion ensemble perform when I was 13. I went to Ithaca College, where I majored in Music Performance with a Minor in Theatre and studied with renowned marimba artist Gordon Stout. I also made frequent trips to Toronto to take lessons with Bob! After I graduated college, I was performing for a symphony benefit in Canada, where I met a jazz trio, and they invited me to do a mini-tour across Ontario with them that summer. This was my first introduction into the jazz world. That fall, I packed everything I owned in my car and drove to FL with no job, no money and no place to live. I just wanted to be in the sunshine! I did several odd jobs while I built my teaching studio in Longwood and worked with theme park musical acts.

A few years later, I started my band and our first gigs were mostly for swing dances, so I started listening to more of the American Songbook and commissioned many arrangements. Soon after we began performing for community and private events as well. In 2016, with some personal obstacles out of the way, I began to pour my heart and soul into my music. We premiered a brand new stage show that I wrote called Nostalgia Radio Hour at the Timucua Arts White House that year. Soon after, we were invited to perform at other local venues, including the Blue Bamboo in Winter Park and for the New Smyrna Beach Jazz Festival. As a result of our vigilance to grow and promote and passion for the music and working together, we were hired as the headline act for I Loved Jazz Festival in Brazil in 2019. The program for this festival inspired our newly released album Heather Thorn and Vivacity: Taking a Chance On Love.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I believe in the law of attraction and that ‘if you build it, they will come’, but that certainly didn’t come easily! Being a female in a male-dominated field has been a double-edged sword. In high school, I was hazed by the boys on the drumline with me, who didn’t react well to a female leader (I was the drum captain). However, there were great lessons in this awful experience and now I am the president of my own very successful company and well-respected by my mostly male band. 🙂 Everyone said I was crazy for majoring in music performance. My own high school band director asked me how I’d ‘put the meat and potatoes on the table’. But my college professor, Gordon, was an incredible supporter, always encouraging me to find my own path even if it meant going against the grain. It’s in large part thanks to him that I found my own voice in music and subsequently the niche I have created for myself in the industry. My Mom has also been a huge supporter- driving me to gigs before I was 16, sewing cases for my instruments, and painting the cover art for my first serious record.

And I’m grateful to my Dad as well for all the music lessons he paid for. 🙂 The financial hardship of being in a fiscally under-valued field, as I’d say most arts are, has also been a struggle. When I first graduated, I think my income would have qualified me for food stamps. At one point, I had four jobs just to stay afloat. I couldn’t have done it without the kind help of a friend older than me who could afford to rent me a room for less than the standard rate for the first year I lived here, and my parents who bailed me out once or twice with unexpected expenses in those early years of adulthood. I am forever grateful for that help. The biggest struggle I’ve had is also a catch-22- I play an instrument that is well-known as a children’s toy but not played by many in a professional capacity. Some people want to hear something unique, and to others it’s difficult to sell the band since it’s such an unusual sound and concept. I have persevered in surmounting that obstacle though, and I’d say it’s going very well now!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I lead my own jazz and swing band, Heather Thorn and Vivacity, featuring me on the xylophone, which is an instrument that was very popular for only about ten years in the 1920s. I am most proud that I have created my own sound and built a company from the ground up featuring a product that is so unique it can hardly be compared to any other in the world. All of our music arrangements were written specifically for me and my musicians. None of our recent success would be possible without the generosity and talent of Dave Mackenzie’s investment in writing for us. I have worked 100 hour work weeks, and often for months on end without a day off to get where I am. I teach my students that what you put in is what you get out, and I firmly believe that. I am so proud of my students; they are bright and passionate young people who give me hope for the world. It is an honour to be a small part of their lives and education.

During the quarantine, I earned my certification as a yoga instructor; I have enjoyed integrating this new skill into my music lessons and classes to help students with their anxiety and the stress of daily life. I also teach them swing dancing, which we all really enjoy. I think what sets me apart from others is my blind faith that if I put my heart and soul into my music and my band, then everything will turn out fine, regardless of the odds. I have always dreamed big, and when people asked me what I would do if i failed at a performing career without having a backup plan, I always answered that if failure is not an option, I guess I have no choice but to succeed. Now I am not only living comfortably as a professional xylophonist/bandleader/teacher, but I’m creating work for other musicians as well, and I’m very proud of that as well.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Please support live music and the arts in general! The arts build compassion, creativity, love, unity, character, integrity and community- all things this world and we humans need more than ever. Attend concerts and/or buy an album- ours is available at www.vivacitymusic.com and the digital download on www.heatherthornandvivacity.bandcamp.com. 🙂 And you can like and follow Vivacity Music on Facebook and Instagram to see where we’ll be performing next! We are also available for private parties, concert series, community events and more.

Pricing:

• CDs- $20
• Digital download- $15 and up

Contact Info:

• Email: vivacitymusic@gmail.com
• Website: www.vivacitymusic.com
• Instagram: @VivacityMusic
• Facebook: @VivacityMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfSQSTMr3uMeHh2Kll4t69Q/videos

Image Credits
Lea Andrew BS Fotografias Beth Lewis