Welcome to My Tapestry! My name is Sonja Miliacca and I am a singer/songwriter who has been playing guitar and singing since I was thirteen years old. I played the clarinet in high school marching band but this was a very looong four years! It just wasn't for me! However, from the first time I strummed a six string I was hooked. I took lessons for several years and spent long hours in my room learning to sing and play, a feat I found very challenging in the beginning. I listened to Joni Mitchell with awe, sang along with Judy Collins and longed to express the kind of emotion they captured so beautifully in words and music.
I was strongly influenced by folk singers and songwriters, troubadours with guitars who could fill a room with music in a moment's notice. Arlo Guthrie, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Eagles and early Beatles also all had an impact on me musically.
I recorded a CD called "In The Master's Hand" in 1999. Bob Allen with The Bob Allen Trio did the recording in his home studio. Bob is a local jazz performer here in Columbus Ohio, he plays piano along with Roger Hines on bass and Joe Ong on drums at The Hyde Park Grille on Old Henderson road every Saturday night 8 p.m. to 11-30 p.m. My first recording experience was a postive one and I am grateful to Bob for his generosity, patience and time. You can visit Bob's website at http://www.boballentrio.com/.
I led the women's worship at a vineyard church in Michigan and we performed "Daddy's Girl" one of the songs from "In The Master's Hand". Since that experience I have wanted to play with a group/band again. You can hear samples of the songs on this websight. These were written many years ago and my style has changed somewhat since then. I think this is good because it means my music has changed and evolved to better reflect the person I am today.
My current musical influences would be Michelle Tumes with her hauntingly beautiful CD Listen. There isn't one song on that CD that I don't like! Allison Kraus can sing anything and I am transported. Paula Cole, Sarah Mclaughlin, Maire Brennan, Enya. Okay, these are ALL women but....that is because I am woman and a musician and so I identify with them. This doesn't mean that I have excluded men. Alex Bugnon - Love Season, Michael Bolton - anything. Michael Franks - anything. There are more but I would/could exhaust myself trying to list them all. The long and short of it is that I LOVE MUSIC! Hearing it, playing it and creating it!
I am for creativity, freedom and all things that support the positive flow of self-expression. I am against negative criticism, a judmental attitute and all things that would cause a person to feel self-concious and inhibited. I have never understood how beautiful music can be made in an atmosphere of fear or intimidation! I taught guitar in Michigan for many years and eventually formed a guitar workshop with my students. I wanted very much to nurture an environment of acceptance and safety while challenging and stimulating everyone at the same time; a balance between discipline and freedom allowed everyone to be their best.
I will write more in my next blog about my other passion - writing! After all, I think that music is poetry set to music for the most part. The inspiration for music often comes from the desire to express emotion and what can capture emotion better than poetry?
Thanks for visiting my websight and I hope you'll come back soon!

God Bless,
Sonja