A Songwriter’s Blog

 

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…but what about a melody?  I composed this short piano/orchestral motif earlier this week to convey a particular emotion.  But since music is more of an art than a science, I’ll refrain from dissection and, instead, allow you the liberty of deciding for yourself what it is perhaps meant to convey.

 

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Tonight I made the ultimate discovery: I can write music at Spill the Beans (my favorite ice cream shop, indisputably).  This is thanks to my wonderful new MacBook, standard-equipped with GarageBand and an ergonomically friendly keypad that doubles amazingly well as a piano keyboard.

I literally spent about 10 minutes from start to finish on this song clip, including opening the application, playing in the parts, and exporting the mp3.  And yes, it sounds admittedly cheesy.  But once I find time to port some of my more legit-sounding symphonic instruments into GarageBand, I’ll be in business.  And probably 15 pounds heavier if I’m not careful.

 

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Happy Valentines Day! It’s true, I do love my listeners. Unfortunately, though, I have no chocolate for you, nor do I have flowers. But I *do* have this song to share! It’s called “Breathe Again”. It is, in fact, a love-related song, and thus appropriate for today. I hope you enjoy.

 

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Some of you northerners have been playing in snow for the past couple of days.  I’m jealous!  I’ve only seen snow a handful of times.  One of those times was a few weeks ago.  Sadly, the ground was barely covered for 24 hours.  But before the blanket of white melted away, it managed to inspire this little motif. 

 

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Ha, don’t get too excited!  But I am pleased to present to you for the very first time: Jordan accompanied by keys.  This is my first attempt at a piano/vocals recording–a song called “Moonlight Fades.”  It’s a song about missed opportunity.  Don’t miss your opportunity; listen now!  (wow, there’s my Advertising background unabashedly screaming through)

 

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But not as much as you, you see.

But I still love technology,

Always and forever.

(I also like techno music.  Here’s my very first attempt at it.)

 

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I’m a little behind on my posting this week because I’ve been slightly distracted with…my brand new MACBOOK!  I’m loving it so far.  Let me introduce you. 

And yes, this is the first post made on my beloved Mac, though the song was not composed on it.  That will hopefully be next time.This little song clip would be a great intro for a movie.  Want to use it in yours?  Let me know! 

 

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I’m generally not a storyteller in my songs.  Maybe it’s because I’m not a verbal processor (haha…it seems like I’ve discussed this point lately with many of you who are probably reading this).  Maybe it’s because I don’t pay enough attention to lyrics as a listener.  In any case, I don’t tell stories.  And for this, I express my thanks to all of you who have faithfully listened to my music in spite of the fact that the words have potentially bored you out of your minds.
However, this song is an anomaly for me.  I explain the background of the song in the audio, so I won’t ramble on too much here.  But, in short, it’s based on a story a good friend of mine told me about one of her pals who lives in the Middle East.  It’s meant to convey the distress the girl felt as a result of gender relations in her culture.

 

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I can’t multitask, and neither can my computer.

I decided to spend some of my “Dream Weekend” recording a piano/vocals song. Tonight I wrapped up a first stab at the vocals.

As I was waiting for the computer to finish loading the vocals track, I decided to play a few bars on my keyboard. Well, little did I know, I had confused my poor computer.

Suddenly I started hearing faint, eerie echoes emanating from my computer speakers. As they began to increase in volume and quantity, I became increasingly weirded out.

Finally I realized that somehow the computer had confused the two inputs it was trying to process (the audio track, and my doodling on the keyboard) and combined the two into this creepy chorus. I was able to duplicate the chaos and record it for your listening pleasure.

If you listen carefully to the whole thing, you’ll start to make out a phrase from the song. It’s especially clear at the very end. Kind of freaky that the computer managed to self-select that lyric!

 

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Hello there…here’s a little smidgen of piano we shall call “Hopes & Hesitations.” Bon appetit.