"my love"

Scratched out the melody for "my love" (see lyrics below). I might play with the meter and how I notate the rhythms once I get it all set. It's a fluid, sultry jazz song not a band march...it's frustrating to force it into the rigid confines of musical notation. That's why it's work, my friends. At least I have the melody for each verse blocked sufficiently for now.

The piano accompaniment will be pretty fun. I woke up with the idea to use some chords from Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor, but by the time I woke up, showered, and photocopied the music from the music library, I couldn't remember exactly what my brilliant idea had been. Maybe it will come back to me.

One of the verses (my love will draw you...) isn't sitting very well with me. It sounds all right when I sing it, but hopefully I can find a better way to get across the point of that verse.

Ta ta. I'm beat. Time for bed.
megs

Quotes - a rare indulgence

If you read my blog prior to this new incarnation, you would notice that most of the posts are quotes. I adore quotes. That being said, I don't want my indiscriminate quote posting to overtake the new purpose of this blog. However, these quotes have found me through the wonderful chain of friends and love at just the right time.
I hope you enjoy them.
megs

Journeys By Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power
by Rita Nakashima Brock

"[. . .] those who have experienced oppression know how to touch hearts
broken in similar fashion. The exorcisms are not described as being
conducted by someone empowered by ruling authorities. The image of Jesus
as exorcist is someone who has experienced his own demons.
Thereupon the Spirit sent him away into the wilderness, and there he
remained for forty days tempted by Satan. He was among the wild beasts;
and the angels waited on him. {New English Bible, Mark 1:12-13}
The temptation stories point to the image of a wounded healer, to an image
of one who by his own experience understands vulnerability and
internalized oppression. In having recovered their own hearts, healers
have some understanding of the suffering of others. [. . .] helping
another sufferer name demons is a reenactment of our own search for heart.
We journey with another on a familiar road that leads into the
territories of erotic power. [. . .] To heal is to be capable of
relationships of erotic power because we have faced our own pain and
despair. We are empowered not to be fainthearted in the face of pain
because we remember brokenheartedness. [. . .] Remembering opens resources
for erotic power through our ability to see through brokenheartedness."

NOTE: Brock defines "brokenheartedness" as a metaphor for both political
oppression/sickness and the damage to the self from complex forms of
destruction in our culture.
"Erotic power" is part of the radical mutuality that is the foundation of
human existence. It is affirmed, created, and recreated in human
existence by heart. It is the source of energy for human selves that
compels us to search for the whole of life.


--
Fall down seven times,
Stand up eight.
--Japanese Proverb

Punch Drunk

Since it's technically after midnight, I can post for the following day already (I know, any rules about frequency of posting are entirely arbitrary except at least one per day, hence the daily status report nature of this blog. Whatever, i'm being neurotic).

These are the lyrics to the third song I've worked on today. Both of the first two (including the one in the aforementioned post) feel a bit like cleaning out the creative plumbing. There might be hope for the first one still, but that's not where my head is tonight.

My frustration is mounting about my inability to record anything (especially since apparently all I want to write now are rock ballads and jazzy heartbreakers). But for now, my darlings, here are the lyrics. They are much better sung, I must say. Imagine low, jazzy, slightly menacing voice. Jazz piano for color and pulse.

Toodle-loo.
megs

my love would crush your very soul
my love would break you bone by bone
my love would leave you naked and cold
my love would crush your very soul

my love would rake you through the coals
my love would make you wail and moan
my love would leave you all alone
my love would crush your very soul

my love would draw you from your home
my love would lure you smooth and slow
but you'll get burned, this you know
my love would crush your very soul

verse of la, la, scat/vocalising

my love will crush your very soul
my love will break you bone by bone
my love, you want. - and that alone.
my love will crush your very soul.

Driving lyrics resurface

I decided to start on the solo with piano as my first project. (Tim Hausmann, if for some reason you're reading this, stop now!!).

I'm writing this for my dear friend Tim Hausmann as a Christmas present. The lyrics I set today first happened while I was driving home for Thanksgiving Break. I started with a word map to give myself a direction and some of the lyrics came back to me (I didn't have the scrap of paper from the car with the original lyrics). The song right now looks like the scene of departure, where the hero leaves his family to pursue his destiny. I think I will have to re-write it in a lower key, but I'm currently writing it as it is coming out.

Today I scratched out the melody for about 15 measures, and I stumbled on a pretty cool piano riff. Much to my frustration, I don't have a setup where I can record what I play on the keyboard in real-time. I got the main gist of it down, but I lost a lot of the improvisational momentum in the notation process.

On another note, my first collaborative musical endeavor involved Tim Hausmann. For one song, I wrote the lyrics and he made it into an amazing jazzy song. I can only remember part of the song (it was in high school, and I will post the lyrics later). He did this as a surprise, and I was absolutely ecstatic.

On a final note, this blogging of my progress is well...an emotional mixed bag. I think Immi is right though. My focus gets a lot sharper knowing that someone out there could be reading this and seeing if I'm actually doing something...especially since I put the link on my facebook profile for any random person to see!

Feel free to comment. I will see if it's possible to post clips or other media paraphenalia (when I have something to post).

Peace and love,
megs

New purpose of this blog

Hello all!

I have been inspired by the resplendent Imogen Heap to blog my daily composition activities. That's right. You can see my progress as I tumble head first toward this dream of being a professional composer.

Imogen Heap had a pretty concrete goal: write and produce her second album.

I don't have something that nicely packaged, but I do have the following goals to start:

Composition and performance of:
Solo work for voice and piano
Choral piece
Wind ensemble piece (by April, to enter in the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra's competition).


Both Eric Whitacre and Imogen Heap are inspiring me with their classical meets electronica wonders. Currently, I don't have a specific goal or the mad tech jewels (aka Apple G5) to launch into that. I'll have a clearer sense once I get started.

Also, Imogen wanted to be a film composer!!! How frickin' cool! I'm not ready for that right now, but I would LOVE to someday.

Word. Welcome to my world. :)

Meggie

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Paradise Lost tickets on sale November 28th.

Talk to me asap if you want to go! The website said the tickets would be between $2-$30 for events in their hall. I'm guessing $30.


A concert version of the groundbreaking work featuring soloists, orchestra, chorus and electronica. Eric Whitacre will conduct, and will meet the audience in a Q&A session following the performances.Feb. 11 and 12, 2006, 7:30 P.M. In the Pick-Staiger concert hall on the campus of Northwestern University.Tickets available Nov. 28, 2005 at www.pickstaiger.com, or call (847) 467-4000.

anger

Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.
Frederick Buechner

Cathedral of Learning

Brad Feld always has cool things on his blog, and this is one of my favorites. I agree with him - every university should have its own "Cathedral of Learning"!

The Cathedral of Learning is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing at 535 feet (>163 m), the forty-two story tall Cathedral is the second tallest educational building in the world (the tallest is the main building at Moscow State University in Russia). The Cathedral was commissioned in 1921 and finished in 1937, and has 2,529 windows. As an impressive scenic building, the Cathedral of Learning is often used by the University in photographs, postcards, and other advertisements.

The Cathedral is home to 26 nationality rooms (twenty-four working classrooms and two display rooms), on the first and third floors. Each nationality room is designed to celebrate a different culture that had an influence on Pittsburgh's growth. There are currently seven rooms in the process of being approved and funded. Virtual Tours of the existing rooms are available on the Nationality Rooms official site.

Paradise Lost in Chicago!!!!

It's finally here!!!!!

Eric Whitacre will be presenting Paradise Lost: Opera Electronica at Northwestern University on February 11-12. It will be presented concert-style with 10 soloists, a 16 voice chorus, a 21 piece orchestra, and Eric conducting from behind a bank of computers.

Now, since I've waxed exuberant about Eric Whitacre for months, some of you must be intrigued. If anyone is remotely interested in attending, let me know. I'm already looking for cheap plane tickets to Chicago, and I would like to send an email out to anyone who is interested when I find them. It can be a big February party in Chicago for as few or as many people who want to go.


More details soon....