Recent Chesterton High School graduate Ally Christian has kickstarted her music career and released her first EP, “In My Mind.” Christian began her career in music when she was only 10 years old playing the violin for her school orchestra.
“After about a year of playing the violin, my dad started playing guitar because he always wanted to play guitar, and my sister actually did too. I didn't want to be the only one left out, so I started playing guitar and progressed from there,” Christian said.
Christian began playing music with her grandfather and her father in her grandparent’s basement. This experience led her to begin singing, and after that, everything else fell into place.
“Performing and writing original music was never really a plan. It just kind of happened. The first song that I wrote kind of happened through something that I wanted to get out onto paper and turn into a song. ‘Gone’ was actually the first song, and I wrote that on piano,” Christian said.
Despite not planning on being a songwriter, Christian loves to write music. Being able to receive positive feedback from returning and new audience members regarding her music as well as songs she covers make performing worthwhile.
“Writing music is really a way to get out something that I don't know how to say because it can be written in whatever code I want to use. It’s therapeutic to be able to do that and perform it,” Christian said. “It's fun to see people and then get feedback like, ‘Hey, this is one of my favorite songs, I'm so happy that you've covered it,’ and having people request stuff that they've seen me play before is always super cool.”
Christian is 18, so she is not able to play at bars or at events that are for people who are 21 and over. She does not let this set her back, and she plays local restaurants and family events.
“I'd say the biggest problem with being young is, locally, there's not a bunch of places to play that aren't bars. I can only play places that have family seating or else I'm not old enough to get in. That's really the biggest problem that I run into.”
COVID-19 put everything on hold, and live musicians like Christian were directly affected by the shutdowns. Christian still found ways to perform virtually and she was able to return to the stage as soon as it was safe.
“I love performing live,” Christian said. “It was a hard change when COVID hit, and I was doing Facebook live streams in my living room and the driveway. So, once that kind of settled down and I was able to go play in public again, I realized how much I missed it.”
Christian is beginning her freshman year of college at IUPUI this fall. She will be focusing most of her energy on her studies for the first year, but she plans on continuing her music career in Indianapolis when the time comes.
“In the fall, I'm going to be studying art at the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI. I am going to be studying drawing and illustration, and I will be minoring in graphic design. I'll probably end up taking a little break from performing, but in my second year there, I definitely plan to try and play at a couple of restaurants and other small things in Indy,” Christian said.
If you would like to listen or learn more about Christian, you can find her music on all streaming platforms and find out where she is performing next on Facebook.
“I'm on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. At this point, everything has gone through, so anywhere that you could possibly be looking for music, it will be there. I'm on Facebook and Instagram, and Facebook always has all of the events that I have up and coming and past performances.”
Connect with Christian by visiting her Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/allychristianmusic.