The lights at The Cap dim as a spotlight shines on Sarah Desmond, a fourth-year journalism student at St. Thomas University. With her voice and original songwriting, she takes the audience on an emotional journey through personal stories every other Saturday.
Being born into a musical family, one of Desmond’s uncles taught her how to play the guitar and would invite her to play with friends.
Her songwriting journey started when she found the guitar case of her late uncle who passed away when she was 13 years old.
“There’s one time that I’d forgotten my guitar or another relative wanted to use my guitar so I ended up using my uncle’s old guitar … when I opened the case there was a song in there that he’d never finished,” she said.
Desmond said songwriting helps her navigate through her emotions and sometimes it takes her about an hour to transform her feelings into writing.
“I write a lot of songs for my friends and stuff they’ve been through to kind of help them process things,” she said.
She recalls her first time playing in front of a crowd at her cousin’s wedding and afterwards feeling the rush of being on a stage.
“She wanted me to play a song for her while they were signing the [marriage certificate] … she had me learn this really hard song and I was so nervous.”
Even though Desmond doesn’t perform as often as she’d like, she said she loves the idea of becoming more involved in the campus music scene and overcoming some of her stage fright.
She said she still feels the jitters when going on stage at The Cap but then rejoices in the feeling when the set is done. Desmond recalled her favourite moment performing live.
“I played Piano Man by Billy Joel and there’s a harmonica in the song and someone in the crowd had a harmonica and he played the harmonica to it. It was just the best feeling in the world.”
Desmond has done theatre in her middle and high school years but has been reserved about her theatrical expertise.
She said that with every performance she’s gained more confidence to share her music and considers posting more of her work on her social media.
“I’m kind of like, ’You know what? Who cares what people think? I like singing and I like showing it to people.’”
With 18 cousins on one side of her family who play at least two instruments and are vocally trained, Desmond hopes to gain the experience that the rest of her family has. She is also happy that her favourite hobby has become her passion and has broken her out of her shell a bit more.
“I’m definitely trying to make [more shows] at The Cap and considering going online, so you might see me there soon,” she said.
After writing songs for her friends and their “crazy” experiences, Desmond said it was time to write one for herself.
“I kind of wanted a love song for myself,” she said. “I tried to write a song about someone who doesn’t love themselves. It was supposed to be from the perspective of someone who loves someone so much and hates that they can’t see that in themselves.”
The song is called Enough for Me.
Desmond aspires to make music a larger part of her life and work as a journalist at the same time.
She said that five years from now, she envisions herself doing more music, sharing it online and playing more gigs.
“I’d really like [music] to become one of the main focus points in my life … I feel so fulfilled doing it.”
