PORTFOLIO

 A compilation of creations.

Colorado

Colorado is a singer/songwriter, folk/pop style song that draws inspiration from John Denver’s Annie’s Song and Rocky Mountain High, and elements from Ruston Kelly’s Son Of A Highway Daughter among others. My grandfather passed his love for John Denver and the beautiful state of Colorado down to me from an early age, and it’s quite a soulful release to write a song that honors this.

Maybe We

George Collins (Child #85)

The "George Collins" original lyrics are beautiful written, capturing the full spectrum of loss and the process of grief. They tell the story of George dying, and his lover finding out and going through said process of grief. The lovers mother tries to console her, but to little avail as the lonesomeness and pain is the reality of that part of her process.

Because the original "George Collins" version of the lyrics were so well written and really carried the weight of this story so well, I chose to preserve as much as possible in my arrangement. I changed the gender perspective, the organizational song form structure, the melody, and some of the lyrics, but I was careful to preserve the integrity of the story it was telling to the best of my ability.

Georgia dies while driving home on presumably slippery icy winter roads. I find out through a phone call, and enter in to said process of grief... There is a full spectrum that ensues - following her to her grave portrays a sense of denial and refusal to move forward or let go; sitting down portrays finally slowing down long enough to process the present moment; weeping, mourning and praying is really when acceptance of reality has been embraced; and the chorus is symbolic of a final goodbye, embodying a conscious, unrequited action of love.

Closing In On Fate (Light Tension)

I can almost feel the suspense rising again as I begin to write this brief summary… The thought of doing something completely outside of ones comfort, potentially facing inadequacy or some kind of self imposed failure before anything has even begun. I’m sure many, if not all, can relate to the stories I’ve no doubt countlessly told myself - something along of the lines of “I could never do that” or “Yeah, that’s just not me”. I guess such is the unknown… I digress.

Such is the story of this composition here - Closing In On Fate.

My heart longs to tell the story, the song, a poem if you will. Although I am familiar with the idea of conveying emotion, the conveyance of suspense, or tension has never been, should I say, in my wheelhouse… To such an extant that one may begin to even say, “I could never do that”. I never planned on writing a light tension piece, and though it may not be where the weight of my heart typically leads, it was as tense to lean into this unknown as I believe the music conveys… and for that, I am gratified.

And although I am pleased with the music itself, I am also pleased at the encapsulation of a moment in time - the glimpses of progress in this track that quite possibly I may be the only one that sees. The hints of improvement, or first-time applied concepts from a technical or theoretical perspective, and the overall project as a whole that will lead me with new experience into whatever story my heart desires to share next.

From Here (Song Idea)

This piece, called “From Here”, began with the piano. It is a songwriter style ballad, filled with tension, about the pursuit of something loved, yet never fully attained. It is primarily an expressive piece, with lyrical elements - perhaps just the beginning of a full song someday. As I have recently started playing piano, this piece was influenced by some of my favorite piano songwriter ballads, one being Everglow by Coldplay.

This musical piece is at 90bpm, 6/8 meter in the key of A major. I wanted to challenge myself to write outside of the traditional 4/4 meter I, IV, V, vi chord structure. The rhythm and drum choice is pretty straightforward 6/8 style drums emphasizing the 1 and the 4 beats, using a primarily acoustic drum kit. I knew I wanted acoustic instrumentation for the foundation of this song, so my bass follows this choice. The Bass melody follows the kick pretty tight, with an occasional walk up or walk down to give it its own personality and maintain a groove. 

The chords of this song were written on the piano, which again was to challenge myself to write away from the guitar which is where I am most comfortable. I was intentional about incorporating more complex elements and chord structures, in order to give the piece a deeper flavor as well as to push myself in my songwriting approach.

CHORDS: 

D - Dadd9 - F#m7 - E // D- Dmaj7 - F#m7 - F#7sus2 - E  // 

A - Aaug - F#m - E - A - C#m - D // A - Aaug - F#m - Esus4 - E

In addition to the piano, there are string elements, synth elements, pads, and effects in the instrumentation of this song. Strings are one of my favorite musical components. I love the combination of one acoustic guitar and a violin or cello, and I wanted to incorporate that love into this track with the piano. The strings add dynamic, and help carry the listener through the song. The synth pads give a nice warm floor beneath, as well as airy highs to uplift throughout the track. The effects are primarily used to swell into another section of the song, much like a deep breath, and dynamically bridge the gaps. 

The EXS24 sampler, although used sparingly in this particular track, really opened an awareness of future possibilities. I chose to sample elements of the recorded vocal track, and after several different versions, ended using only one of the samples - It is almost like a vocal delay, pitched up a fifth from the root. I chose to use the ESP synths as well, for their simplicity in this case - while maintaining an acoustic based sound, the ESP really worked well to enhance those sounds. I used an ESP to create a Kick Sub that really warms the acoustic kick and fills out the overall sound. I also used another one on the Effect_Chime track to give a bright, yet smooth plucked attack to the same melody as the vocal line.

The recorded audio is a vocal, lyrical component, yet I love how music can tell a story with or without words. I wanted the melody to follow the chords that I had written on piano, and it  brought out a unique melody that I may not have written otherwise, especially following the A augmented chord as it walks up into the F#m chord in the second 16 bars of the song. I recorded this track with a BluBird mic, into an Apollo interface, going through a UA610b preamp. I chose this chain because of the slight tube distortion and warmth from the 610b. I used a high pass filter, and minimal EQ, and a 3.1-1 compression ratio with the platinum digital logic compressor to smooth some of the transients. I experimented with an expander to fill out the vocal. 

Finally I routed almost all of the tracks into at least one of four different effect aux tracks. I used two different reverbs, and two different delays. I had a room reverb and hall reverb, a short delay and a long delay - and both delay times were synced to the track. I used these effects for overall space of the instruments as well as to enhance the effects.

In conclusion, this is an unfinished piece, but it is a piece of which I am proud. In my limited understanding, I am learning that in some ways music is always unfinished, and yet always complete at the same time. This track is an encapsulation of the many elements that I am currently learning, it was a joy to create, and it’s a privilege to share.