All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost

I Still Exist, I Swear

Friends! Epic Heroes! I’ve been silent for too long, and so I must fill you in on the strives that I have been making in regards to my quest. Last Friday we wrote a song for a friend’sbirthday. It was awesome. We didn’t know what to do for him, being that we are all new to each other (relatively). Finally someone said “why not write him a song?” Brilliant! Said person sat at a computer and asked us list all the things we knew and loved about our friend. From this list, said same person wrote us a page length of lyrics. Unbelievable. Then another picked up his guitar and sat with the lyrics for a few minutes (no more than five) and gave us a chord progression and simple melody. I grabbed my keyboard and the rest was history. We ended up with two verses, two bridges, and two full-step key changes. A song of our friendship for a nineteenth birthday was born. We rehearsed all weekend and Sunday night had one person invite the honoree downstairs, unawares. We invited anyone from the building that we could find and performed our new work in the middle of the lounge. It went swimmingly, we even got people to sing along with the chorus who had just been there out of curiosity. Also, super catchy. Just can’t stop singing it. What I loved about it, other than that it was a real way to tell our friend how we feel, was that it was a truly collaborative effort.

After our major rehearsal session we all sat around and just played and sand with one another. We started with other artists music then started writing our own. It felt so organic and fresh. I don’t know how I could write music any other way. Must schedule more jam sessions.

Voice lessons are going well. Truly love working with my coach and his accompanist. The accompanist is one of the most lovely people I’ve ever met, and so knowledgeable. We had a great conversation last week. He is both a music and a theater person, making him extra special and extra easy to talk to. Apparently, he used to teach at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (an institute I’ve been interested in for some time). I told him about the workshops we did at RADA and at the RSC and we discussed the differences between British and American theater training. The ultimate decision was as I expected, study theater in Britain, its the only way. Where that leaves me, I’ve know idea, but it was fun to talk about, nonetheless.

Most of the pieces we’ve focused on have been short Italian art pieces. Mostly a way to train my voice and (apparently) not pieces that I would ever bring to an audition or recital. Last week we started something new, though. A Shubert piece, in German, called Du Bist Die Ruh (I’ve not a clue what it means, but I’ll learn…) I think it’s gorgeous, but I was having trouble practicing because I’ve never spoken German and I didn’t know how it should sound. So, as I would do, I took to the internet to find a recording of the song to help me practice. And just look at (or rather listen to) what I found.

The video is irrelevant, but what a voice. New inspiration as my lessons continue is the incomparable Renee Fleming. Yes, yes, I’m setting the bar just a wee bit high, but why not. Reach for the stars, as they say.

-Samson

Also! Remember how my favorite instrument is the upright bass? Well, the sitar is giving it a run for its money. In a serious way.

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