Today we’d like to introduce you to Violet Vonder Haar.
Hi Violet, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a small rural mid-Missouri community near the Missouri River. My parents are both very creative and always encouraged self-expression growing up. Because of that, I have always believed that a career and life in music was not only an option, but it was possible. I began performing around age 9, picked up the guitar shortly after, and began writing songs.
I released my first full-length album at the age of 16. In 2006, I went to school at Central Methodist University in Fayette, MO, and received a degree in Music Education with a vocal emphasis. Shortly after I graduated from college, I began making music with Phylshawn Johnson. I hired her to play drums on a couple of recording projects and shortly after we started playing together we fell in love and started the band, Violet and the Undercurrents. We toured extensively for nearly 10 years with the band, released 3 full-length albums and one EP.
When we weren’t gigging, we were teaching, and still are. We both teach private music lessons to students of all ages. We have since put a pause on our touring since Covid began and have fully directed our attention to a new project we announced in October of 2021, The Compass Music Center. CMC is a community music center, located in downtown Columbia, MO. At the Compass Music Center, members of our community will have access to music education, showcasing opportunities, recording services, rehearsal space, and a music library.
Through a scholarship program, participants of low-income status would receive music education with zero cost to them. We are in the middle of construction and fundraising now, with hopes to open in late spring or early summer of 2022.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I have often chosen the path less taken, which one could say comes with its obstacles. When we started the band, I made the decision that we would only have female-identifying members.
It’s hard to know exactly what kind of opportunities we weren’t invited to be a part of because of our identity, but comparing our journey to our male peers, we would often see how opportunities were made more available to them than us. I try not to dwell too much on the obstacles, however, as I know they make me stronger and define who I am today.
I’m a firm believer in the magic of setting intentions. When you set a goal or intention and decide that that is truly what you want, you will find ways through the challenges with ease and not dwell within the hard stuff so much.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My first gigs as a young performer were at community events and protests. Early on, I knew and understood the power of music to help heal and build community. I believe what sets me aside from other musicians is my ability to build community through music.
In 2017, I founded the Jane Doe Revue, which is perhaps the largest and most fulfilling project I’ve ever had the pleasure to create and participate in. JDR is an all-female rock orchestra that consists of 30-50 women that, pre-pandemic days, came together to cover notable women in music history and raise money for various organizations such as Planned Parenthood, our local chapter of NOW, Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking, Veronica’s Voice, and Midwest Music Foundation.
I think what made this project stand aside from anything else I have ever done was the fact that we were all volunteering our time and talents for a cause bigger than ourselves. The project changed lives and helped to cultivate a community of women that support each other.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
I think being a self-employed musician is a risk in itself. Especially in these times, when the industry is so rapidly changing and evolving. It can be overwhelming. However, music has always sustained me, in more ways than I can count. There’s a level of trust that I have in music and in the universe.
As long as I stay true to the music, it stays true to me and it has always been that way. Perhaps the biggest risk I have taken is signing a lease on a 4000 sq ft building in October of 2021 for the Compass Music Center before we knew whether or not the funding would be there for us to pay for construction and to get the project off the ground.
Fast forward to now, we have raised nearly $43,000 in community donations and received a $222,700 grant from the Veterans United Foundation to help pay for construction. If everything is aligned and your heart and intentions are in the right place, I believe the universe provides and will support you in your risk-taking.
Contact Info:
- Email: booking@violetvonderhaar.com
- Website: www.violetvonderhaar.com & www.compasscolumbia.org
- Instagram: @violetandtheundercurrents, @helpthemusicgrow, and @violet__sings
- Facebook: @violetandtheundercurrents, @helpthemusicgrow, and @violetvonderhaar
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VioletandtheUndercurrents, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxBmFbwUZ_NIcV4AOZNeYHw,
- Other: www.patreon.com/violetvh
Image Credits
Emma Winter, Violet, Tara Vonder Haar, Jane Doe Revue, Phylshawn, Amber Nichole Thiessen, and Jeff Side
