gotcha

One song fragment was a little slower to run than the rest. Or perhaps, more persistent. I got the first inklings of it yesterday morning and started typing, cutting, pasting, editing. A full song took shape and was printed off.

To the piano I went, to start finding chords and seeing if the melody that had flitted through my mind with the words worked. Some words were scratched out to suit the beat of the song. More chords added, arrows drawn to move sections around. A bridge riff jotted in. A tempo determined, changed, fixed upon.

Played it in fits and starts through the day until the feel was right. Played it at band rehearsal last night and have some guitar pieces to add to it now.

And 'Knock' will make its debut on Sunday morning.

fragments

My mind seems to erupt lately with bursts of ideas for songs. I get fragments of lyric, of melody, but when I try to catch them and pin them down they laugh tantalizingly, wriggle out of my grasp, and slip away. I'm left holding the memory of something that sounded pretty cool.

But I've typed them down, in hopes that the muse will revisit (after all, she may just have been passing through on her way to another destination and will stop in on her way home) and the fragments will become something bigger.

Meanwhile life on the farm continues to give me perspective. I spent hours yesterday spring-cleaning the chicken coop, removing manure and old shavings, putting fresh shavings in, putting away the heaters that we needed over the winter. One hen who'd been fading did indeed have her last moments yesterday, despite the girls' hopes of nursing her back to health.

And this morning I wrote what looks like a complete song in one sitting. Wow! Been a while since that happened. We'll see if it works into a song or was just me being delusional.

you know that

stingy feeling in your eyes? When they're saying "please please we want a nap and it won't take long and we promise we'll stop stinging if you just have a nap and see? We'll just close for a bit here, now doesn't that feel nice? Mmm ... WAIT! why are you opening us again? We had a deal here. Nap, just a nap... please please"

I've only been up 3 hours and they're at it already.

le sigh.

today and every day

"I pray you stay foolish enough to think

you can change the world."

- Seren

schedule

You can't schedule creativity. At least, I can't. I can plan times when I want to put things together, make myself sit at the piano and figure out good chord progressions and melodies; I can stare at the page and try different phrases. Sometimes that works, and it is a good exercise in writing and composing. I find, though, that for me it often comes of its own volition and then not when I've expected it.

Last night after I dropped the kids off at choir and I was driving home, I got smacked with a new song idea. And I liked it. I kept repeating it, getting more excited about it as I came down the driveway. I muttered line possibilities to myself while I closed up the chickens for the night as they rolled their eyes and clucked "there she goes again...". This morning, I added a few more lines, changed some. I revisited the idea to make sure I still liked it, and I did.

And it's a secret. For now.