So far so good on the resolutions! Five days into 2012 and this is my third post, I’ve eaten breakfast two of the last three mornings, and I’ve scheduled my piano lessons for Tuesday evenings. I’m really excited about taking piano so I can finally learn some technique.
Anyway, I have a few projects that I’m hoping to start on here pretty soon.
The first is one I referenced in a previous post. A little under a year ago, I started recording AVP’s a cappella rendition of Cake’s The Distance, which was my first solo arrangement for the group. I took this one after working with Mark Williams on an arrangement of Jesusland by Ben Folds (which oddly enough we literally only performed once). I have all of the background parts recorded minus the whistle in the chorus, although I need to redo the bass because it sounds pretty crappy. All I’ll need to do after that is add percussion and solo and finish the mix. For some reason lately when I try to use Ableton, my computer goes crazy and the usage spikes up and the playback is either really choppy or it won’t play at all. I think I need to go through my computer and delete a whole bunch of stuff to clear up memory and make it work better. I also might just upgrade the RAM or something. In any case, here’s a video of us performing this song two years ago (the quality isn’t that great).
I was pointed in the direction of this video the other day by my friend Jenny and I think it’s pretty cool. Someone wrote a fugue using a couple themes from Lady Gaga songs and it sounds awesome. I have a bit of experience writing fugues, so I think this would be a fun idea to mess with!
My sister Mindy called me yesterday and asked if I would write an arrangement of a song for violin and piano so her and my niece could play it in church. My nine year old niece started playing violin last year and has been coming along nicely, which I’m really excited about! She told me that it would have to be fairly simple so that she could play it, and that she’d need it by February 1st. I instantly agreed because it was an exciting project for me to take on! Also, the fact that I have a deadline will get me going on it. The song is from the LDS Children’s Songbook and is called “I Am a Child of God.”
There are a few other things on my mind too. Now to just find some time to do them!