Day 30: The Fire and The End.

The final day.  In some ways, I'm relieved that its over.  It can be really stressful trying to write a song and get it recorded in just one week, especially if you have to organize other musicians to make it happen.  However, that is not to say that the blogrimage is an experience I couldn't wait to have end, or it somehow produced agony within me.  When I look back over the 4 songs I noticed that it became easier and easier each time, as if with each passing week my song writing muscle grew stronger.

If you have a desire to write music, the number one thing I can suggest to you is this: just write!  Even if its not that good, just write and finish something!  That doesn't mean that the song has to stay that way forever, in fact I fully plan on going back and completely changing the melody and lyrics to Red Herring, but every time you finish a song it will get easier the next time.  Your song writing muscles will get stronger and stronger.  It reminds me of Jeff Buckley playing every Monday at Sin-e'.  In the DVD for Live from Sin-e' he talks about how it was incredibly challenging playing a 3 hour set once a week, but it stretched him and it forced him to continually be creative, and continually write more music so he could perform more original songs instead of doing covers.  The fire of Sin-e' is what forged Jeff Buckley into the spirit of music that he was.

The blogrimage experience this year has been a very positive one for me, and I feel it has accomplished the goal it was designed for, to put a fire under me to finish songs!  I'm so thankful for everyone who has taking this journey, this "pilgrimage".  I love the community that has been cultivated through this process, and I'm excited to see where future blogrimages will take us.  Well done Blogrimes, until next time!

hasta la próxima vez  :)

Day 29: Reflections on States and Songs

It warmed my heart greatly to see the comment that Amy Ellison posted on yesterdays blog.  From the time I was 10 till I was about 18 our families would go up to Hubbard Lake and vacation for a week in a group of cabins sitting on the edge of the lake, and those memories are incredibly precious to me.  The goal of the song was to try and capture the experience of growing up in Michigan and the connection that one can feel with the land.  I remember growing up and my parents would call the trees in our backyard my "best friends" because of how much time I spent under their branches and climbing their magnificent trunks.  I'm sure many people have these experience where they grow up, but there is something uniquely romantic about Michigan.

Because of this, I love music that connects with the state.  I remember I fell in love with my wife all over again when we went to Michigan for the first time and were listening to Sufjan Steven's "Michigan" CD on a long drive and she said that she didn't fully understand or appreciate the CD until she listened to it in Michigan.  I also remember listening to that CD when driving up to Hubbard Lake the last year we went and my friend Adam went with Josh and I.  On the way we showed that CD to Adam for his first time and I remember him saying, "Woah...this sounds like Michigan...that's incredible!" 

This sounds like Michigan. Amazing.

Day 28: The Final Song...

This week I did something completely different than my previous songs.  The other songs I tried to make somewhat polished in the short time I had to make them, however this weeks song is very lo fi.  I recorded the entire song on my iPhone's voice memo app, and did it in one take.  Its not perfect, but I think its endearing.  I put the link for purevolume below so you can hear it, let me know what you think!

http://www.purevolume.com/SeldonMusic

Tuebor.

Day 27: What is Seldon Music?

I'm a little surprised that thus far in the blogrimage no one has asked me what Seldon Music is or means.  Well, as for the "what is it" question, its just a name I chose one day when I was selling something on ebay and needed a seller name.  Decided to use it again for the Blogrimage and see what comes of it.



As for the meaning, that is a much more interesting story.  Hari Seldon is a character from Isaac Asimov's masterpiece, Foundation.  Seldon develops a study called psycho-history, which is the science of using mathmatical equations with sociological and historical patterns to predict future events.  In the book, Seldon lives on the fictional planet of Trantor, which is the capital of a galactic empire at the height of  its growth and development.  Trantor is the greatest civilization that man has even known, however Hari Seldon, using psycho history, knows that a collapse is imminent.  His findings show that the empire is headed for a dark ages that will last for 30,000 years, but Seldon believes that if they take the right precautions and prepare adequately, they can lower that time period to 1,000 years.  The Empire rulers are greatly offended by the thought that their mighty empire could ever fall, and Seldon is given the choice between execution, and banishment.  In the banishment, just in case he is right, they allow Seldon to take 100,000 scientists with him , which Seldon uses to preserve science, art, philosophy, and all other forms of learning.  Seldon passes away a short way into the series, which takes place over the course of a couple hundred years, however he appears every couple of decades through time delayed recordings, and either congratulations, encourages, or advises the people of Foundation.

Hari Seldon is a figure that tells the world that all is not right, even though they don't believe it.  When the world is so full of itself that they can't see their imminent demise, Seldon is the voice of reason calling people back to what truly matters.  In many respects I believe this needs to be done within the world of music, and I am trying to fulfill that role in whatever small way I can. 

"The real way of mending a man's taste is not to denigrate his present favorites but to teach him how to enjoy something better"  -C.S. Lewis

Day 23: Reflections on Songwriting

Here are a few thoughts and feelings that I've had since working on song 3, First Draft:

Something that Dominic and I discussed after recording is that we believe that true artists are never satisfied with their work.  Even when I show people these songs and they enjoy them, all that I'm hearing when I listen is the things that could be better.  I've noticed that each time I listen to the songs again, I can let go of more and more of these things, and can enjoy the song more and more, but the knowledge of what could be better is always in front of me.  Dominic noticed that people that show you their music and immediately brag about how great it is typically are terrible artists.  So true!  Convexly, we have Jeff Buckley, one of my primary musical influences, who only recorded one studio album and was never satisfied with it even though Grace is on most critics top 10 CD's of the 90's and is one of Rolling Stones top albums of all time.  Thanks Jeff, that's encouraging. 

Something else I noticed from this songwriting experience is that its getting easier and easier for me to write songs!  I've sat down and tried to write Katelyn a love song numerous times, but never could make it happen.  However because I've been exercising my songwriting muscles, this song was actually really easy to write!  That's a good lesson for you ladies with a man who is a musician.  It can be HARD to write a love song, but just give them time and it will come. :) 

I'm excited for the future, I really feel like each song is stretching me, but also making me a better song writer and musician.  Like recording a guitar solo, never done it before, and it was kind of strange, but I know next time I'll be more comfortable with it.  It wasn't really planned out, we just did about 5 takes and picked the one we liked the best.  Anyway, here's a quote from Dominic Leon that was made after talking about how frustrated we were with our limitations of resources, skill, musicians, and whatever else when it comes to music:


"Let your limitations be your muse." - Dominic Leon

Selah.