ACOUSTIC CORNER
Leila Milki (Photo – leilamilki.com).
This is a story of Leila Milki, a shining star, and her music adventure.
By Jean Sudbury
Leila Milki was born in Palo Alto, CA, a suburban bubble near San Francisco. Leila studied classical piano as a child. She found it to be an easy part of her daily routine to sit at the piano and practice. She learned to read and interpret music while she was very young, and quite often in her practicing, her mind drifted off into improvisation. While she was in middle school, she realized she had perfect pitch. That understanding gave her the confidence to further explore improvisation. Extensive study of music theory helped Leila along in this musical adventure.
As she pursued her practical and theoretical piano studies with Diane Smith, Leila earned the ARCT Diploma in Piano Performance from The Royal Conservatory of Music. Her adventures in music studies led her to USC, where she earned degrees in Songwriting and the Music Industry, alongside her BA in Communication. She decided to stay in Hollywood to further develop her life and career. Currently, Leila teaches piano, voice, music theory privately in Los Angeles, and gives music lessons at Grayson’s Tune Town in Montrose, CA. She performs her music at private and public events across the vast Southern California area, the San Francisco Bay Area, and most recently in New York. She recently created a CD of her compositions and arrangements title “Promises”.
Promises
Leila feels her CD, Promises, to be a snapshot of her college period, a surge of creativity. She chose to make the CD a collection of her top-quality material from her USC experience and writing assignments. The eight songs on the record were written between 2013 and 2016. The most recently written song is inspired by Arabic Traditional music.
Her music on the CD is influenced by Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Sara Bareilles, intertwined with rhythms and melodies of the Middle East. The focus on instruments is strong, as she placed layers of her piano, acoustic guitar and her voice on the mix. Drums, bass and electric guitar were added by band members.
Fairuz, the Lebanese Diva, is a strong influence in Leila’s Milki’s performing and writing style. She wanted to use one of this Diva’s tunes on her CD, but found the copyright laws to be too restrictive. Nonetheless, the music of Fairuz influenced her to write one song on the CD, Leil Ya Leil, Night Oh Night. It is an Arabic-English fusion song, a tribute to the culture of Lebanon, the land of her family heritage. The verses are timeless, and touch upon memories of home. Leil Ya Leil is the last song she wrote for the CD.
The adventure continues
Leila Milki, the adventure continues (Photo – leilamilki.com).
The message of the CD, Promises, by Leila Milki, is ‘’Here I am, this is what I have to offer!’’ The adventure continues. Leila is thankful for support from family and friends in her creativity and her career. This support enables her to shape a career which focuses on her creativity and unique skills. Some people believe this type of life is just based on good luck and magic. While those factors are of importance, there is so much more to the challenge of creating an artistic life for oneself. The beauty of a life like this is the ability to share, communicate and learn more as an artist every day.
Leila Milki is truly creating an artist’s life for herself.
> Learn more about Leila Milki at her official website.
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