“I had stored these dreams of the future me in labelled plastic tubs: wools, silks, cottons, linens, rayons, shirting, crepes, velvets, voiles. They contained the lives I would have lived, places I would have visited, friends I would have made.”
Read MoreI can't quite believe it, but I have made it to the end of six months. I should write a proper update about how I'm feeling, but for now here's a song. My starting theme was slow, and branches of a mind map led me to the lyrics. The melody is mostly improvised save for a little hook, and a few questionable notes snuck their way in and will need to be plucked out when I finally get time to revisit all these songs and do something exciting with them. What that something might be, I have no idea yet.
Read MoreHands was my starting point for this piece, and I found it quite meditative to both compose and perform. This is only the second piece I have performed on electric mandolin. The other attempt was interrupted by flooding, which was about the time this project really started to challenge me. I haven't even thought about what to do when it all ends, but I suppose I should watch everything back through from start to finish. Although each piece of music is not exactly a journal entry, they will certainly reflect my mind and life in that particular moment. If I can bear to sit through twelve months worth of videos I am curious to see how the music I have made has been shaped by the life I have lived alongside it.
Read MoreWhere do I start? It has only been three weeks since I posted my last song, but it feels like months. I have been putting this update off, and like any good procrastination the longer you keep it up it the harder it becomes to start again...
Read MoreThis one came out easily, unlike most of my recent attempts. My starting prompt was venetian blinds.
Read MoreOne of the difficulties with this project is that each day's work is brand new. Starting from a seed, a new piece of music must be realised in whatever time I have available that day. This means that more complicated ideas that need some time to workshop are not really compatible with the way I'm working right now. There is the possibility of writing a song in sections, adding or revising sections with each new day's work, and this would be within the rules I've set myself. So far, however, I haven't worked like this, as I'm finding myself excited by the possibility of doing something new each day. I'm only 16% of my way through the project, so perhaps that will change as I find myself running out of ideas that can be executed in a day.
Read MoreThis is Sunday's, and another very quick improvised piece. I followed on from the previous day by taking the fingers theme, and rather than improvising everything I did do a quick writing exercise, inspired by the sounds outside my lounge room window.
Read MoreMy first song of March. I'm writing this post from the library in air-conditioned comfort, taking a break from my hot and stuffy apartment. It might be autumn here in Melbourne now, but summer is still holding on. I uploaded this video from the library too, and was prepared with my songwriting notebook, water bottle and knitting to keep me occupied while I waited for it to upload. Except it took less than a minute to complete, so I lugged all that stuff down here for nothing. It seems slightly ridiculous, as a video of this length takes approximately two hours to upload on my home internet connection. I definitely think I'll be spending a lot more time in the library this year.
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