Charlotte Bolton inspires with her new song, Strong
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Music has always been part of Charlotte Bolton's life.
One look at her living room Wednesday afternoon confirms it. There's a piano Charlotte and her sister Madelyn use... one of her dad's guitars... her ukelele... her recently acquired electric guitar (new to her)... a smaller portable piano... and a borrowed portable piano she would be using later that night at the Summer Daze Acoustic Concert Series in Memorial Park.
"I have too many guitars in the first place, and now that the kids are collecting..." said her dad, Scot Bolton.
"What do you have, four?" Charlotte asked.
"Four-ish," said Scot, who has been playing in the band Free Beer for about 10 years. "I have five, one I need to get rid of."
"That black electric," Charlotte nods.
You can never have enough guitars though. Or pianos.
"Four (pianos)," said Charlotte. "One in the basement."
Eleven-year-old Charlotte, who turns 12 on June 27, has been taking music and singing lessons for the past four years from Darrin and Alison Schott, who live south of Tillsonburg between Glen Meyer and Frogmore (www.theschotts.com).
"But I've always sang," she said, recalling with a laugh something she told her grandmother when she 'young', maybe five or six years old. "I've got music in my bones!"
Using those skills, she recently wrote and composed her own song, Strong, sitting down at the living room piano on May 27. She finished it in about an hour.
"I just decided I was going to write a song. It just kind of came to me that afternoon – it took about a half an hour to come up with the lyrics."
People think that I'm not tall enough, people think I can't be fast enough. People say that I'm too small to run. But I know in my mind that I'm just as strong as them.
Charlotte, who has dwarfism, wrote Strong for "people who don't believe they can do stuff, because maybe people have told them so before... I guess I just kind of thought what people have said to me, sometimes. What I've seen them 'whisper.' It's kind of funny sometimes."
I'm not big, I'm not tall, but I know I'm strong enough. I can sing, I can dance, just as good as them.
"I actually did the music first, and then did the song, and then tweaked it so that the rhythm, the sound and the notes matched."
"Alison was the one who got all excited about the song," said Scot, recalling the day Charlotte presented it to him and Charlotte's mother, Bridget.
"Charlotte came home and said, 'Oh, I have a song for you – I wrote a song today.' And I thought, 'oh yeah, well, how good could it be, right? She's just eleven, and then you're like 'Wow, that's kind of good.' Touching... it brought a tear to my eye.
"I was thinking this is pretty good, but I'm her dad. We have biases... you can't say this is brilliant, but I was thinking 'this is really good Charlotte.'
"Then we played it for Alison and she got all excited and put it up on YouTube (June 9) and Facebook. Bridgette and I have both made Facebook posts, but I think Alison is the one who's really pushed this. I think there's over 5,500 (YouTube) views, it's taken off."
"That's 5,500 individuals," said Charlotte.
Summer Daze – Acoustic Concert Series
Sponsored by the Tillsonburg Cultural Improvement Alliance (TCIA), the Summer Daze series of concerts started June 3 at Memorial Park with Madison Durie and Megan Colley. On Wednesday, June 17, it was Tyra Wiebe, Brooklyn Penelton, and Charlotte Bolton.
The series continues every other week, 7-9 p.m., through the summer (July 7 – Ben Andress, Delbert Schott and Crossley Hunter; July 22 – Sara and Jordan Decker, Amanda Underhill; August 5 – Jaclyn VanHappen; August 19: Kasey McDonald and Lights of the Night).
Charlotte was the final performer Wednesday night, singing three songs with her dad, then two solo numbers. And then her big solo finale, Strong. Students from Danscene, showing their support for Charlotte, performed a lyrical number they had choreographed earlier in the day.
"Madelyn said some of the Danscene kids were going to be here, but I didn't know they were going to be dancing," said Charlotte, who was able to watch the dance while singing and playing the piano.
"It was awesome," she said, her eyes lighting up. "It was kind of cool because they all made that right after school."
Although Charlotte does not consider herself a dancer, she was quick to add, "But I could."
It's wasn't her first live performance, however. Charlotte performed at last year's Turtlefest on opening night with Scot, and they might be on stage at this year's Turtlefest (Saturday).
They are also scheduled to play at the Tillsonburg Ribfest this year in July.
"I think we should get free ribs," she laughed.
Strong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4r8kDu5U1w
In her YouTube video, Charlotte introduces herself and her song: "Hi, I'm Charlotte Bolton. I am 11 years old and I have dwarfism. I wrote this song about some of the things I have gone through and I hope it helps someone else who is going through the same thing."
People think that I'm not tall enough
People think I can't be fast enough
People say that I'm too small to run
But I know in my mind that
I'm just as strong as them
CHORUS
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I can sing, I can dance
Just as good as 'em
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I can fly through the sky
with my invisible wings of strength
And you can't catch me
Oh, oh, oh, oh
CHORUS
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I can sing, I can dance
Just as good as 'em
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
People point, people laugh behind my back
People whisper, people tell behind my back
but I don't listen to them
Cause I know I'm just as strong as them
CHORUS
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough
I can sing, I can dance
Just as good as 'em
I'm not big, I'm not tall
but I know I'm strong enough