Random Musings

I thought I’d reflect a bit on my year in songwriting.

Considering this is only the second year which I’m seriously writing songs (I only really started last year), I am still very much learning as I go along, and in the process hoping to hone my songcraft.

Overall I am very satisfied with my output this year. There were a few songs which I was really pleased with…and there were many others which were just so-so or below average.

Church

This year marks the first time which I actually committed myself to writing some songs for our church’s children’s choir, and by the grace of God, I’m really glad that we managed to come up with quite a number of songs which we enjoyed teaching, and which the children enjoyed singing and performing.

My philosophy is that children at this age need to enjoy learning and performing music. It has to be something which really resonates with them and gets them really excited about. Hence, songs for children at this age need to be fun, challenging and exciting…and hopefully they will carry this passion and enthusiasm for music with them as they grow into teens and young adults. 

There were a few reasons why I tried to write some songs for the children’s choir. Mainly, it’s that it can be quite hard sometimes to find specific songs which suit a children’s choir perfectly, especially if you want to find one which conveys a very specific message (e.g. Good Friday). Sometimes the tune might fit what you have in mind, but the lyrics don’t. And vice versa. Sometimes it’s a wonderful song, but just not very appropriate for children to sing. Sometimes the vocal range is just too wide for the children to handle. Sometimes the lyrics are too complex for the children to mouth off, much less comprehend. Sometimes you love the song, but just can’t find the score to it.

I reckon it’s easier to find suitable songs for an adult choir than for a children’s choir, because adults can handle SATB, and any level of difficulty of lyrics are fair game. 

Hence, I would occassionally contribute some original songs for the children to sing. And it’s quite fun too, cos with originals you can take a bit more liberty with the arrangements and stuff (without feeling any guilt, haha!). 

I wrote about six songs for the children this year, including one for Good Friday, one for Easter and one for Christmas.

The process of every single song was thoroughly enjoyable, from the conception of the song at the piano, to the fleshing out of the harmony and the lyrics, to deciding on the structure with the conductor (my sister), to the unveiling of the song to the children, to the practising of the song for weeks…and finally to the actual song presentation on stage.

I dare say that every single aspect of the song process has been thoroughly enjoyable for me, especially at the teaching stage, where we are constantly amazed at how quickly the children can learn a song!

Anyway, I’m really looking to contributing more songs to the children’s choir in 2009. I’ve even completed two songs for next year already, one for March and one for Good Friday.

Personal

On the personal aspect, I would say this year’s output was so-so. I wouldn’t say there were many songs which I wrote this year which I thought were truly “special”.

When I say “special”, I mean that these songs give you a huge sense of satisfaction after listening to them over and over again. As in, every single aspect of the song pleases you and there are no perceived weaknesses to the song. And when you revisit them even after a few months, you think “Wow, I can’t believe I wrote that song.”

Special song melodies usually come to a songwriter once in a blue moon. I guess anyone who’s written songs before would know what I mean about “special songs”. 

Last year, the songs which I really liked were “It’s In The Morning” and maybe “Christmastime”. This year, I guess the only songs which I could consider special to me are “My Singapore” and “Not Coming Back”.

That’s about it.

Discography

For self-reference purposes only, I shall attempt to list down all the songs I can think of which I wrote this year. This is so that I can refer to it whenever I need to in the future.

Personal Songs 

1. Elliot’s Theme (my first ever instrumental composition)
   
2. That’s When You Know You’re In Love (spent a lot of time on the lyrics, but below average song in the end)
3. Over And Over (presented this song at FCP in April)
4. Not Coming Back (performed this at the year end mini-concert ‘08…I consider this a “special” song to me)
5. Once Again (performed this at the year end mini-concert ‘08, even though I initially said I hated the song)
6. Julie The Impossible Queen (inspiration came from Germany, somehow)
7. Hallelujah! 
8. My Singapore (7,400 hits on YouTube and counting…I consider this song “special” to me too)
9. Friends, Bicycle, Runway (wrote the melody only, the lyrics were first written by another Songcrafter)
10. The Lord Is My Shepherd (spent months completing this piece for full choir, but it never saw the light of day…tough)
11. Home To You Again (I consider this a decent effort, although it still doesn’t quite hit the mark)

Church Children’s Choir

1. On The Very Night (Good Friday song, featuring a flute part as well)
2. This Is The Day (Easter Sunday song)
3. Alleluia (a short prelude)
4. We Thank You Today (a Parents’ Day song)
5. I Am The Way (based on the verses John 14:6 and Romans 3:23)
6. For Behold, I Bring Good Tidings (Christmas song to be presented this Wednesday evening)
7. God’s Beautiful Perfect Earth (for next year)
8. Crucified (for Good Friday next year)