Between Raindrops C minor

The most popular word used in song titles is almost certainly "love." Second or third is probably "rain." There is something about rain that evokes emotion. This is recorded on a Casio PX150 digital piano set on half bright, half classic. I pipe it to the computer then use Audacity to boost the volume level of the recording. Here is the link to the MP3.

I submitted this to the Piano World Adult Beginners November recital. Here is more about that link2.  I am on the second page of submissions. Even though, it says Beginners, many are accomplished pianos with five, 10 or more years of experience.

Pixie Dust

Here is my latest original, Pixie Dust, in B minor. There links to the MP3, to a rough PDF, and to a rendered Youtube version. Someone else did the rendering so they may take the Youtube down at some point. Enjoy

I uploaded Pixie Dust for the virtual recital (link1) at Piano World on the Adult Beginners Forum and for the composition competition on the Composers forum (link2). I performed an earlier version live at a local music group, Songmakers.

Pancakes: Coursera on Songwriting

I took a Coursera on songwriting earlier in 2014 (link1 to main Coursera site). I spent some time working on a song called Pancakes. Briefly, the process taught involves starting with a story board with three boxes. Filling out a rhyme worksheet by identifying some key words and finding suitable rhymes. The rhymes include perfect rhymes, family rhymes, consonant rhymes. Then comes the writing of the lyrics. There are more steps identifying the stressed syllables, and the accents in the melody line. Maybe 10% of the course is about writing the music.

The boxes for the storyboard:
Box1: mom remembering her childhood, dad makes pancakes

Box2: mom remembering her fiance making pancakes

Bridge: teenage daughter comes late at night, in tears

Box3: mom makes pancakes for daughter, reassures the child

Here is the link to the music for Pancakes (link2). 

Lyrics follow:

Pancakes

I remember Sunday mornings

a kid without a care

scent of melting butter

sizzling in the air

Bedtime stories, pillow fights

tender kisses, warm goodnights

Daddy's making pancakes for me

shows me that he cares

fluffy golden pancakes for me

my happy dance on air

Through my sad times

through my bad times

dad was always there

I remember Sunday mornings

love is every where

scent of melted candles

our passion heats the air

Syrup dripping, sheets are rippling,

two hearts beat as one

My fiancee makes pancakes for me

shows me that he cares

lovely, lumpy pancakes for me

I love him without fear

Through my sad times

through my bad times

he was always there

Bridge:

I can tell you that you've been crying

You're not very good at lying

Tell me what is going on

tell me what went wrong

I can listen, hold my tongue

I remember being young

It is almost Sunday morning

pancakes are almost here

Mommy's making pancakes for you

to show you that she cares

- end -

Songwriting Coursera: Looking to Alaska

I recently completed a Coursera (link) on songwriting. The instructor is Pat Pattison of Berklee College of Music. It is a phenomenal course focusing on lyrics. Pattison is one of the biggest names in songwriting, so I strongly suggest anyone with an interest in writing songs with lyrics take the course. It will be offered again in October 2014 (and likely every six months after that).

My final project is a song called Looking to Alaska (link2)

The piano track is at (link3):

Mr. Pattison teaches a songwriting process that includes story development, rhymes, and lyrics. With lyrics, the length of lines, number of lines, parts of the song, emphasis, phrasing, are all subtopics. There are no prerequisites. For non-musicians, there are music loops. The assignments involve writing lyrics, and then recording vocals set to music (either your own music or the one of the loops).

I tend to be a process oriented person, so I liked the style of teaching. I'd guess that about half of the 25,000 participants are true beginners. Some other songwriting workshops focus on writing more songs, often to a theme or topic. I found some of the topics to be quite a challenge, and still struggle with some. The course gives a songwriter more tools, whether a person decides to use them is another question.

Lyrics follow:

Looking to Alaska

Verse1

There's this old photo

grandfather Amar

standing so tall,

Inuit proud

Verse2

Get's me to thinking

'bout my life here

too many people,

too many cars

Chorus1:

Looking to Alaska,

Land of soaring eagles

natural cathedrals

and my native home

Verse3:

So many worries

how 'bout the money?

how will I live there?

how 'bout the cold?

Chorus2:

Looking to Alaska

ocean breeching whales

wise old ancient tales

and my native home

Bridge:

I have to go there, I have to try

I'm gonna make it, I'll feel alive

Chorus3/4

Looking to Alaska

searching for salvation

find my revelation

and my native home

Looking to Alaska,

Land of soaring eagles

natural cathedrals

and my native home...

notes on music: the verses and bridge are all white piano keys. The choruses all black keys. The five black keys form a natural pentatonic scale, which gives a primitive feel to the music. I'm not sure about Inuit music, but there is a lot of Native American music uses a five note scale. The music is relatively simple, but I like the mood and tempo changes from verse to bridge to chorus.

notes on lyrics: The title is derived from the book title Looking for Alaska. The story came to me after going through the process, and there is this photo of the Inuit grandfather. I moved that to box1 because it is what sets the song in motion. I choose not to rhyme the words in the title, because the rhyming words feel clumsy. The name Amar is short for Amaruk, which is a popular Inuit name that translates to wolf. The focus of the song turns to the animals. I have some rhyming in the verses, but delete them to keep the verses unstable and also for matching verse lengths.

Tracks in the Snow, dedicated to dad

Tracks in the Snow was the piece I was working on when my father passed away. 



My dad was born in the month of December, and passed in November of 2013. While the music has 
no direct connection to him or his life story, the title is also a metaphor for the trail each of us 
leaves behind as we live our lives. 


The MP3 is the one to listen to (link1). Musicians might be interested in the MIDI (link2), or the PDF (link3) of the sheet music. It is D major with a few G-sharps.

Peace be with you.