I had a little songwriting energy back, so I took the original Scuffle text and used that as the starting point for this piece. I kept the spirit of the previous video's randomness by improvising the melody and piano part. And by improvising on piano I mean randomly hitting white keys without much consideration for what I was playing. Perhaps I shouldn't have admitted that...
Read MoreFrom scuff to scuffle, to looking out my window and noticing the leaves blowing down the street.
Read MoreIt's school holidays and my teaching load has lightened up, so I spent a leisurely amount of time on this song. I have found through this project that I often run out of steam half way through a composition, particularly when it comes to writing second verses of lyrics. All my best ideas from writing exercises usually end up in the first verse or section of lyrics, and then there is pressure for the second part to equal the first in quality, and also move the song along somehow. I find a more traditional pop song structure much harder to write in a day, but these less traditionally structured songs come much easier. I treated this one a little like a painting, with both verses adding new layers to the picture.
Read MoreI spent yesterday afternoon trying to sort out a pedal/instrument setup for my gig this Thursday night with Joyce Prescher and Kerryn Fields. While everything was plugged in I recorded this short little vocal piece, continuing with the autumnal theme of the previous piece. I love to cook, and I love the change in produce each new season brings. Autumn is probably my favourite time of year, and as the song says, I have been waiting for walnuts and chestnuts.
Read MoreHere's last night's piece, just a little acapella improvisation. My starting prompt for this one was gumboots and the text is the result of a 90 second writing exercise. As an aside, it's finally jumper weather in Melbourne, which makes me really happy. I love this time of year.
Read MoreThe calendar says autumn but the weather says summer, summer, summer. Indeed. It was over 30 degrees and humid yesterday in Melbourne, so I wrote about that. I feel like a broken record complaining about the weather, but I've never really had to really push through creative work in uncomfortable environments before. In the past I would have just taken a break for the day and gone to find somewhere cool to hang out, but there are songs to be written, so I might as well mine the discomfort for ideas.
Read MoreYesterday I was going through my videos of the past few weeks, putting them onto a USB to give to my partner's parents, and it forced me to sit back and evaluate just how productive I've been. There are a few songs I've written that have stuck in my consciousness for days or weeks after I'm done recording them, however most get forgotten as I turn my mind to the next day's work. Going back through them made me proud of not only the sheer quantity of my output, but also the quality of many of the ideas. It is not helpful to dwell on either the successes or failures of this project, however a look back through my work has given me a boost of confidence that will hopefully help me push through the dark and difficult patches that are becoming more and more frequent.
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