6/6/2018 0 Comments May UpdateThis month, writing music was a drag. But I’m proud to say that I learned something from it, and I think I know how to approach composer’s block in the future. If you’re curious to know how I did it, read until the end to find out! The Last SundayThis is a pretty melancholic, somewhat hopeful, yet hardly inspired piece that I wrote for a horn quartet. It is the only piece, in fact, that I have ever written for a brass choir. I knew I wanted to experiment with brass, since I had tried working with winds in “Reminders of Paris.” Nothing seemed to work until I pulled up the trombone sound on my electric keyboard! What you hear is basically a transcription of something I improvised. And it worked! I decided to dedicate it to my friend, Aaron, who has fears of going to college without the support of his choir family. My message to him here is that it may be hard to let go, but your experience is what you make of it. WordThis is a song that I wrote the lyrics to in April, but only put them to music in May. The song has to do with the fact that so often, I take information into my brain in draughts, but it’s often not coming from the right place. The most valuable way to spend my time taking in information is by reading the Word of God. I'm sorry for no recording. I hate recording my songs. One day, I'll get them all recorded and gathered together for you. :) The Missing WaltzThis was the piece I pushed myself to write, no matter how hard it would be. I didn’t think I would like it, but I finally learned to love it, and actually had a bit of fun making it just how I liked while writing it! Those days are hardest, when you don’t even have the energy to make it sound right. And even if it does sound “right,” you’re not very motivated to make anything more. But this is what came of it, and I’m proud to say that I worked through it despite my block! Cast-Your-Cares-Away BayThe inspiration for this is actually pretty old, maybe even a bit stale – but not yet overused. So I went ahead with it. The very beginning riff for the marimba was all I had for this piece when I began. I decided to use instruments similar to what I used in Vibraphone Keys in the Breeze, and I enjoyed creating another fun groove! It’s been a while since I did one! I can’t say I was particularly interested in organizing what I had here, though people complimented my organization on Vibraphone Keys. I simply did my best to add variety throughout, then finished off with the main melodies from the beginning. What I learnedThis month was a huge block. I don’t think I woke up at the right time ANY Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. I’ve stopped keeping track, and have decided to live day by day since counting my successes and failures would just drag me down even more.
The first thing I learned is that I need to exercise my other talents. My friend, Kit, hasn’t had a big writer’s block in ages, and she once mentioned that it may be because she never stopped drawing, even when writing became a priority for her. Perhaps I need to draw and write more often, alongside composing. In farming, you can’t use all the fields all the time. After a while, the field’s nutrients are completely sapped by the vegetables and plants growing in it. Farmers have to give it a chance to regain its nutrients so that it’s ready for the next planting. My inspiration and creativity in my music field seem to have been sapped. I’ve focused so much on music the past few months that art and writing have gone by the wayside. Increasingly, it’s become harder to compose something that was easy to write all the way through. Perhaps nothing is easy like that, but I certainly ran into a lot more hitches in the process. So I’ve begun investing more time in my drawing and writing fields. If you’re interested in my art, go to lilycalico17.weebly.com. My novel is still in the planning stages, but I enjoy talking about it, and you’ll probably see some hints of it on DeviantArt as well. 😊 Thanks for reading! Lily
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Lily Calicois an aspiring composer, writer, artist and musician. Archives
March 2018
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