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Tallulah Kidd plays improvisational violin and will perform her first solo show on February 20 at Viento Y Agua. Photos courtesy of Tallulah Kidd’s Facebook.

For Norma Shea, everything about playing the violin comes naturally.

From the time she picked up the instrument at 10 years old because her grandmother told her it was her favorite, to the now 29-year-old performing completely improvised songs, violins have just kind of been Shea’s thing.

Her talent has not only given her something to do, but it has also given her a sense of release from everyday struggles, she said in an interview with the Long Beach Post.

“I was bullied a lot as a child growing up, and I was seeking an escape of some sort,” she recalled. “I used to lose myself in books, but I needed an outlet. I grew up watching Italian Operas with my Nonni [grandmother] and on those nights when I’d rather cry myself to sleep over the dread of attending school the next day, my mom would lay with me and play ‘Pachelbel Canon’ and other beautiful classical music. She would tell me to listen to how the violins were talking with each other, and it would bring me so much comfort. At the age of 10, I asked my Nonni what her favorite instrument was, and she replied, ‘Violin.’ So it began.”

Since picking up the instrument that fateful day, Shea, a Long Beach native, brought her skills to the Lakewood High School music program, and was involved in marching band, orchestra and a variety of other groups.

Now, as an adult, Shea is known as the dead violinist at the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor and frequently plays on stage while supporting various local artists under her stage name, Tallulah Kidd. She is preparing to go onto a new venture, one that she said makes her a bit nervous: performing a show all on her own.

“I am a bit nervous because I want to impress my mom,” she said. “She’s inviting other family, too. For some reason I feel more nervous about playing for my family, who was there listening to me at the age of 10 squeaking away on my strings, yet still supporting me, than I do about playing for complete strangers.”

Shea’s playing, under Tallulah Kidd, has garnered her local attention from Long Beach residents and its music community.

“My show at Viento is my first performance that is my own, with my own one hour slot,” she said. “Normally I am jumping on DJs sets or a part of a lineup, but this show is all my own. It is also very special to me, because it is my mother’s birthday, and she is visiting from out of town. My mom has not seen me perform since my recitals in high school. She has always been my best friend and biggest support. I do 100% improvised music. I use an electric violin with Boss Looping pedals and FX. I am able to record sounds and music on the spot, and then layer over them to create a song from scratch. My music tends to have an ethereal, ambient sound, but with intensity and drama. My music has been defined as ‘Psychedelic Gypsy.’ I never have any idea what I am going to play until I touch my bow to the strings. It makes each performance a little more nerve-wracking, but it also makes it genuine, unique, and one of a kind, which is my gift to the audience—a performance created just for them, based on what I feel at that moment and what I feel from them. The audience then becomes participants in my perspective; they are a significant factor in how my music is created.”

And yet, she said, this way of connecting with the audience is nowhere near what she experiences at Dark Harbor, when she can get even more intimate with the people she plays for.

tallulahdead“I have been a dead violinist at Dark Harbor for two years now,” Shea said. “My first year, I did it completely for free. I just wanted to be involved with something during Halloween, so I emailed Dark Harbor asking them if I could wander around the event and creep people out with my violin. They loved the idea, but had already finished hiring, so I volunteered to do it for free. The next year, they hired me on officially. I always said that the best compliment I could ever get is a tear from someone’s eye. My favorite aspect of Dark Harbor is how up close and personal I am able to get to people. Not only can I go right up to their face and play my violin, but I can stare at them in their eyes – at length – while I play. If I did that in real life people would think I was crazy and creepy, but in this setting, with this persona and mask, I could do it. I could go up to people I never would talk to in ‘real life,’ for a variety of reasons. Perhaps I felt they were too beautiful, and would judge me. Or I’d come across someone who would intimidate me in the real world. Yet, as I would play and stare in to their eyes, I would see their face soften, and we would connect for a brief moment, then I would feel such surprise and delight. These are human beings just like me. I began to realize that I was judging people, and that my fears of them judging me, were silly and irrelevant.”

Shea said she believes Long Beach provides a great creative outlet, and she is looking to share her unique music at her show.

“I give a significant amount of credit to this amazing community for my success,” she said. “I am so proud of this town, and the amount of support I have received. From open mics, to drum circles on the pier, to art walks . I have always been able to find a welcoming and open-minded outlet for my creativity. Since my music is so different and experimental, it really means a lot to me that I have a space to explore my passion and share it with others.

Tallulah Kidd will play at Viento Y Agua, located at 4007 East Fourth Street, on February 20 from 9:00PM to 10:00PM.

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