(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)
It’s often during in-between moments — the lull of the evening — where I will grab my acoustic guitar and just play for a bit as a way to step aside from the day. A sort of acoustic reprieve. Sometimes, new songs emerge from these burst of playing sessions. Mostly, not. Usually, it’s just a chance to play.
I had this inspiration to maybe try to write another holiday song because I had challenged my teenage son to make a holiday song, as he is an accomplished beat-maker with Logic, and he just laughed me off. I went upstairs to get my guitar … only to suddenly remember that I had left my guitar in my classroom at school. I have been doing some guitar playing with a student who is writing his own holiday song that he wants to perform in front of classmates.
Hmmm.
I still had this melody and idea of bells jangling around in my head, so I queued up an online music production platform I use quite a bit — Soundtrap — and plugged in my small MIDI keyboard, and then began to compose the holiday song. It’s built off the echoes of the main Jingle Bells riff, and I had quite fun laying in sounds. The song structure is pretty simple: melody-break-melody.
After finishing the track, I decided I wanted to make the audio track into a video version, so I searched around for some copyright-free video of snow falling — I wanted the visuals to be simple but moving — and then used iMovie to quickly pull the audio and video together.
So, you know, happy holidays and all that …
Peace (play it forward),
Kevin
I am not especially musical but my youngest son is; he thinks in music, like you do, I often think about songwriting and the patterns in it. Play it forward, yes . . . there are so many layers of sensory creative beauty in this piece, Kevin.
Thank you, Fran, and cheers to your son!
I love how the drive to create can’t be stymied by something as simple as not having your instrument. Art will find a way! What a great example for kids of resourcefulness and innovation–thanks for sharing.
“art will find a way” — that needs to be on t-shirts and bumper stickers …