Art by the Bay
Camano Island's Arts Festival
July 19-20, 2008

Click to view details about the festival:
| overview | free concerts | artisans | food | artist profiles | map & directions
| sponsors | prospectus | application | for the press |
 

Selena Tibert
performs at Art by the Bay with The Acoustic Detour
on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 1:00

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Young Talent Shines Onstage as Performer


Selena Tibert, 12, performs original songs onstage last Tuesday evening
at Stanwood’s Blazing Saddles Restaurant and Lounge. The seventh
grader has written more than 30 songs and plays guitar and piano.

By BRIDGET BUDBILL
Staff Reporter

In a darkened venue, the only illuminated face is that of the girl onstage, strumming her guitar and belting out self-written songs in perfect pitch. “I’m a revolution to be born, I’m about to soar,” she sang. Audience members might have found it hard to believe the musician on stage, Selena Tibert of Camano Island, was only 12 years old. Onstage last Tuesday evening at Stanwood’s Blazing Saddles Restaurant and Lounge, Tibert proved that in a world full of idol wannabes and pop-star catastrophes, nothing beats a truly talented, diligently driven musical spirit.

A seventh-grader at Stanwood Middle School, Tibert performed at least six original songs, for which she composed music and lyrics. If her stage presence didn’t convince audience members of her maturity, perhaps her lyrics might. During her original “Who I Am,” she sang, “I need to get off my feet, speak my mind, ‘cause I know who I am.”

“Today it seems like tomorrow is miles away,” she sang, during another composition. She also performed three covers (a performance of a song by a singer, other than the original performer or composer) during her 45- minute set: two solo covers, Taylor Swift’s “Come in With the Rain,” and The Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice,” and one with her mother, The Wrecker’s “Leave the Pieces.” Between songs, though, her shy smile tells the world she is still young at heart and slightly nervous — that is, until her guitar strings reverberate once more.

Tibert has only played the guitar for about two years and the piano for a bit longer, but she has been singing since she was 5 and writing songs since she was 9. “Writing songs has always been a way for me to express my feelings,” she said after her last song was over. Now with more than 30 original compositions written, Tibert is working on recording a CD of her work, titled “Love and Lyrics,” which she is currently recording and with which she will be finished in the coming months.

When she feels a song idea coming on, she gets to writing. It only take her about 30 minutes to an hour to complete a work, which baffles her mother, Cathy, a musician since childhood herself. “I still can’t write songs, so I am always amazed at how she can just turn them out,” said Cathy. Tibert’s father Paul plays bass with wife Cathy, who plays guitar, piano and harmonica, in local band “The Acoustic Detour.”

At the end of the night, one of the restaurant’s owners presented Tibert with a $100 Northwest Music Foundation (a locally based fund to support young musicians) scholarship gift to further her musical endeavors. Tibert already knew what she hoped to use the gift for — a new amp to use while playing piano.

When she isn’t in school or doing homework, Tibert said, she’s playing music, and Cathy agrees. “She’s always singing or playing,” Cathy said. “She’ll come running out of her room and say, ‘Listen to this song I just wrote.’” Tibert said she plays piano or guitar at least three hours nearly every day. Her next step, she said, is to keep learning a broader range of guitar chords so she can diversify her compositions.

Tibert’s first on-stage experiences were with her parents, but she has since played on her own in such venues as Camano’s Art By The Bay, Marysville’s Strawberry Festival, Skagit County’s Got Talent Contest, at The Moore Theatre in Seattle with nationally-known country artist Kasey Chambers, as well as a number of times at Blazing Saddles and at other open microphone events.

Aside from Mom and Dad, Tibert said her other musical influences include Chambers, Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and the band Paramore. “I’m hoping to hear more reviews of how I play so I can keep getting better,” she said. Cathy said she’s always willing to review her daughter’s work, but she also said her parental bias might shine through. “We think everything she does is wonderful, but we’re her parents. We’re very, very proud of her,” said Cathy. “Who knows, maybe she’ll be famous someday.”