Lately, I've been inundated with weddings and, when you are a musician, that means several weekend gigs over the course of a few months. I decided to do a quick little post about some of the music I have done at weddings so far. I actually don't think I have any more weddings to sing at (although I'm standing up in two more), so this makes a good time to recap what I've done in weddings.
Song #1 - Everlong by The Foo Fighters
Before I write anything, listen and watch this video of the original, pre-Bryan version.
My first thoughts, the strumming seems a little too percussive and the vocals are a little to raw/edgy for a traditional wedding. The bride and groom requested to keep all the lyrics as written and asked for it to be "slower", which I found out meant less percussive. Apparently, my computer or myself is unable to post video of the final outcome (turns out "young people" can be technologically deficient). I'll try to explain what I did. After I reworked the song, I played traditional chords instead of the power chords, but kept the same chords themselves (Dmaj7, B9, G9) and played the guitar line that goes with the pre-chorus an octave higher, enabling me to stay closer to the headstock of the guitar. The strumming was almost a campfire strum, with some syncopated accents to bring in the original strumming patterns. I would love to show you (whoever happens to read this), but, as I stated earlier, YouTube does not like me or my computer.
Song #2 - Come Thou Fount
This song is a fairly familiar hymn, so I didn't have to change very much. The girl who sang it with me is a friend of mine, which was fun. She sings in a very pretty mezzo-soprano voice and I have a tenor voice. That meant that if we both wanted to sing the melody the whole time, it could be a wee bit trebly, which isn't always enjoyable. Because she is a soprano, I decided she could have the melody for the whole song (which just fits into the stereotype, doesn't it?). I wanted to change up the song to keep it interesting for the friends and family who drove from all over Iowa (and beyond) to come to the wedding. I split it up as such:
Verse 1- finger picking guitar; voices in unison
Verse 2- finger picking guitar; voices singing harmonies
Verse 3- whole notes plucked with fingers on guitar for first half of verse, then finger picking; voices singing different harmonies
I thought it went pretty well, but I'm not aware of any recording that happened to post a video or sound clip of the whole song.
Song #3 - Song of Ruth, arr. by Eilers
This was in the same wedding as Come Thou Fount (which I also ushered in). It is a really pretty SATB arrangement of (you guessed it), the Song of Ruth found in (right again) the book of Ruth in the Bible. Essentially, in the Bible story, Ruth is saying she will follow Naomi, her mother-in-law, after her son (Ruth's husband) dies. Noami urges Ruth to go back to "her own people", but Ruth pledges her loyalty to her mother-in-law through this song. Basically, it says, where ever you go, I'll go. This song was a great choice the by couple, as the groom has been teaching in Tanzania and the bride had to give up her job and life here in the United States to teach for a few years with him in Africa. The song is written in a "churchy" style, which I hadn't sung in for a year or two. Because it was already written, I didn't have to arrange anything this time and just had to focus on getting the notes and intonation down with the other singers. We didn't practice more than 2 or 3 times total, including the day of, so I was a little nervous, but it seemed to go well. It challenged me to sing out, something I'm notoriously bad at, and listen more to the other people singing, something I don't have to worry about most of the time for work.
Overall, I'd say that I'm very happy with the music for this year's wedding season. Each song challenged me in some way and I felt that the musical product was pretty good in each of them. I can only hope that they couples I helped enjoyed it at much as I enjoyed learning from the songs.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Music is my therapy too
I think that, occasionally, it's work stating that music is really cool. This statement may make you think "Duh! If it wasn't, you wouldn't be a music therapist!" Before you change pages, however, hear me out. As music therapists, or any other professional who makes a living doing something they love, I think it may be easy to let your love of music (art, recreation, etc) become a bit of a burden. I've talked with a few music therapists who, like me, play music for hours a day, but once they get home, music is not part of their lives. I guess I've only heard it a few times, but it always disturbs me a little bit. If a music therapist loses sight of music as an amazing recreational activity, the therapeutic use of music therapy may become a just a job. Maybe this is the Millennial in me talking, but I want my job to be more than a pay check. I want it to be a calling, a mission, and a sense of fulfillment.
I understand, however, that through the sheer amount of time we spend playing music, we get worn out. If I play guitar all day, and then get home and play all night, I don't only have to worry about carpal tunnel (or other physical ailments). If music was only an activity where I play by myself, I could alienate my wife and other people I love. Therefore, this week, I've been thinking about ways that I use music as therapy for myself.
1) Music in the environment - Turn some music on when you get home. This sounds really basic, but I think people don't always think of this as therapeutic. At home, I like to play music while my wife and I go about our afternoon and evening. It always varies and we take turns choosing the music. My wife and I have some different tastes in music, so we end up learning new music. My wife listens to the radio (country and top 40) and I listen to music that doesn't get a lot of radio play (a lot of independent, experiemental music), so I get introduced to popular music and she gets introduced to music that tends to stretch the ears a bit.
2) Learning about music - I've always enjoyed learning. I like learning new music and musical instruments. My wife likes to poke fun at the number of instruments I've acquired (and still want). Whether I'm getting better at instruments I already have a basic understanding of (like the mandolin, cavaquinho, or violin) or learning something completely different (like the clarinet I got for my birthday), I just enjoy the challenge of learning.
3) Composition - Writing music is probably the most active way I use music as therapy for myself. Even if I don't necessarily sit down to write and process my life's events, they usually end up somewhere in my music. Sometimes, I realize it and consciously choose not to include it in my music, but sometimes it really seems to fit with the song and I keep it. There are other times that I sit down to vent my frustrations and anxieties (or joys), and even if I never end up playing those songs, they help me process the events that brought on the music. It's like holding a mirror to my emotional self.
4) Silence - Believe it or not, sometimes not using music can be just as therapeutic to me as listening, playing, or writing music. Our modern, fast-paced world seems to be very noisy and sometimes I forget what it's like to hear the world, instead of cars, television, and music. I recently took my dog for a walk and forgot my iPod. It was a fantastic time outside and I was reminded how the birds sounded. Now, when I go for a walk or run, I don't bring my iPod, because the world can give me enough to listen to.
I guess that's all I'll write about today. Perhaps over the next couple weeks, I'll expand each of these, because I'm pretty sure I could write for quite a while on each of these subjects.
I understand, however, that through the sheer amount of time we spend playing music, we get worn out. If I play guitar all day, and then get home and play all night, I don't only have to worry about carpal tunnel (or other physical ailments). If music was only an activity where I play by myself, I could alienate my wife and other people I love. Therefore, this week, I've been thinking about ways that I use music as therapy for myself.
1) Music in the environment - Turn some music on when you get home. This sounds really basic, but I think people don't always think of this as therapeutic. At home, I like to play music while my wife and I go about our afternoon and evening. It always varies and we take turns choosing the music. My wife and I have some different tastes in music, so we end up learning new music. My wife listens to the radio (country and top 40) and I listen to music that doesn't get a lot of radio play (a lot of independent, experiemental music), so I get introduced to popular music and she gets introduced to music that tends to stretch the ears a bit.
2) Learning about music - I've always enjoyed learning. I like learning new music and musical instruments. My wife likes to poke fun at the number of instruments I've acquired (and still want). Whether I'm getting better at instruments I already have a basic understanding of (like the mandolin, cavaquinho, or violin) or learning something completely different (like the clarinet I got for my birthday), I just enjoy the challenge of learning.
3) Composition - Writing music is probably the most active way I use music as therapy for myself. Even if I don't necessarily sit down to write and process my life's events, they usually end up somewhere in my music. Sometimes, I realize it and consciously choose not to include it in my music, but sometimes it really seems to fit with the song and I keep it. There are other times that I sit down to vent my frustrations and anxieties (or joys), and even if I never end up playing those songs, they help me process the events that brought on the music. It's like holding a mirror to my emotional self.
4) Silence - Believe it or not, sometimes not using music can be just as therapeutic to me as listening, playing, or writing music. Our modern, fast-paced world seems to be very noisy and sometimes I forget what it's like to hear the world, instead of cars, television, and music. I recently took my dog for a walk and forgot my iPod. It was a fantastic time outside and I was reminded how the birds sounded. Now, when I go for a walk or run, I don't bring my iPod, because the world can give me enough to listen to.
I guess that's all I'll write about today. Perhaps over the next couple weeks, I'll expand each of these, because I'm pretty sure I could write for quite a while on each of these subjects.
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