I have been playing the crap out of this song lately. The other day I found out about the Steve Green cover of this song (which is fairly true to the original, and also it's apparently fairly well-known -- you know how sometimes the cover eclipses the original even if the original is better? This looks like one of those times), and I've been playing the original (which I already owned) ever since.
I really want to do a ballet solo to this. The orchestration is perfect for it. Now that I think about it, this song -- the album closer -- was really a departure from the album that preceded it. This was probably David Meece's most rocking album (which is still pretty mellow), and then at the very end comes this lovely quiet tender piano piece with a string orchestra and a very heartfelt (rather than energetic) vocal performance. David Meece is one of those performers who bleeds into his songs -- they're not just his way of making money (theoretically), these songs are a part of him. They come from his very soul and he means every word he sings. And it's not just the lyrics that are heartfelt -- the fact that he was practically born playing piano means he has that elusive ability to speak through the piano. The piano is an extension of his thoughts. This kind of intimacy with an instrument or tool only comes with long practice so it's quite rare (though less so among classical musicians, which David is), but it's so incredible to hear. There's a person at our church who plays cello and she's the same way -- she's so intimately acquainted with her instrument that the bow is an extension of her arm and she knows exactly how to make it say what she wants. (I hope to be able to dance like that one day -- that I will be able to know exactly how to shade what I do to speak without words. The sad thing is most dancers age out before they attain that level of thoroughness in their experience.) Photographers can do this too -- the camera is so much a part of them it's like the pen with which they write. They know the camera and the camera knows them. Taking a picture is a conversation between the photographer and her camera. But I digress...
This is a Don Francisco-style lyric (for his take on the same Biblical account, check out his song The Traveler/Joy), but David's voice is not quite as harsh as Don's and so blends better with the fragile flowing violins he chooses for his arrangement. I was first introduced to this song on vinyl (courtesy my dad), and that's a special treat. The warmer sound of vinyl adds just a little bit extra to the experience (although if your record has a lot of surface noise -- like ours does -- it's much harder to hear the actual song because the song is so quiet to begin with). If you get the chance to listen on vinyl, take it. But even listening in a digital format can be a moving experience.
Title: I Can See
Artist: David Meece
Album: 7
Year: 1985
Label: Myrrh Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.
All at once he walked beside me
Like he'd been there all along
Not a stranger -- but a father
Who can sense when something's wrong...
Showing posts with label Don Francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Don Francisco. Show all posts
28 October 2016
10 May 2014
Unofficial Choreography Month - Day 10
Unofficial Choreography Month this year kind of snuck up on me. During finals at college (the second and third weeks of April) it was right at the front of my brain: Study for the next final, and then work on the choreography setlist. But then when I came back to Alberta, I forget about Unofficial Choreography Month completely. Until 11.30pm on 29 April when I suddenly realised I had no setlist and uttered a hearty and resounding "Oh crap!" Since the 30th was already booked almost solid, I didn't actually come up with a setlist until I made a rather rushed one in my head on the way to work on the morning of 1 May.
That setlist was as follows:
The Twist (live Daniel Amos version from 2011)
Come Away Reprise (Don Francisco)
Crushing Hand (Lost Dogs)
However, there was a bit of a wrinkle already. Usually, in the lead-in to a choreography month, I finish off any outstanding projects so I have a clean slate for the first of the month. But since I had completely forgotten about it, I was smack dab in the middle of a classical ballet for eleven and there was no way it was going to be done before May.
I'll tell you a little about it because I'm quite happy with how it turned out. See, the day after Loyd Boldman passed away, I was listening to Prodigal, partly in his honour/memory, and partly just because I wanted to. Specifically, I was listening to the song Neon.
Neon is more of a spoken word track than a song. Loyd's spoken vocals in the verses are a near whisper, layered lightly over a few simple keyboard measures that are repeated throughout the entire five-minute song. Then it soars up into a soft, almost ethereal chorus, a cry of the heart, genuine and yearning, with a fuzzed-out keyboard to keep things grounded. There are the sounds of urban traffic in the back of the mix, somewhere behind the vocal but weaving over and under the keyboards. And then at the end, it goes into this terrific drumming sequence -- one minute and forty five seconds' worth of hard strong steady drumming, enough time to let the listener really ponder what they've just heard.
Due to the sparse instrumentation, the spoken vocal, the subject matter, and the drumming bit at the end, this dance has 'modern ballet' written all over it. Which would be perfect, except that I pretty much loathe modern ballet -- as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to say you're doing ballet, do actual ballet, not just contemporary in pointe shoes. It looks awful and gives real ballet a terrible name. I have always wanted to choreograph Neon because the lyrics were so poetic and let's face it, the drumming section is the bomb, but I outright refuse to choreograph anything that could be taken as 'modern ballet.' If I'm choreographing ballet, I'm choreographing ballet, dang it, real ballet, that requires skill and heart and soul and sweat and strength and practice and is not just a contest to see how fast we can turn in/turn out one leg or the other.
So anyway, I'm listening to Neon and in my mind's eye I saw ballonnés. Hm... good. Anything else? Posé pirouettes. Well, that looks nice... then what? A rounde de jambe/coru section for the chorus... some corps-work for a group of nine in the second verse... and a wonderful moment of suspension just before the drumming kicks in. Within half an hour or so, possibly forty-five minutes, I had most of the dance figured out in my mind's eye. So I sketched it out on notepaper lest I forget the ideas and began notating. This is what I was still notating at the beginning of May. I spent the first full weekend finishing the notation of Neon, then I proceeded to choreograph the entire dance to Crushing Hand in basically twenty-four hours. Mind you, it was only a ballet for two, and the song itself is only two minutes long. But no matter -- it still counts as a dance done and for that I'm very grateful. It gives me quite a bit of time to work on Come Away (a ballet solo) and The Twist (ballet for two), and if I've got the time, I'd like to choreograph a fourth this month or maybe even bump it up to five.
Right now I have a few notes on Come Away, but I'm actively working on The Twist. It's over half-done. I have nearly the entire thing figured out in my head, it's just actually writing it and notating it that still need to be done. It's quite a task trying to get a bead on the characterisation for it though. What's the first dancer's mood? What are they trying to communicate? When does the tone change into a challenge? Is there still love mingled in with the implied challenge? What's the second dancer's reaction? How do I convey it? When does the mood change, and how abruptly? How can I convey it without relying too heavily on the lyric and without resorting to modern-dance-hyper-exaggerated-mime? What is the second character's mood here anyway? (The song is ambiguous in that it's never stated what the listener's reaction is, and I sort of want to keep it that way -- it makes people think if you don't spell out all the answers for them.)
I hope to get notating The Twist sometime tomorrow, maybe even finish it tomorrow or Monday. Then hopefully I can complete Come Away this week and then have some time left to write two or three more dances before the end of May.
That setlist was as follows:
The Twist (live Daniel Amos version from 2011)
Come Away Reprise (Don Francisco)
Crushing Hand (Lost Dogs)
However, there was a bit of a wrinkle already. Usually, in the lead-in to a choreography month, I finish off any outstanding projects so I have a clean slate for the first of the month. But since I had completely forgotten about it, I was smack dab in the middle of a classical ballet for eleven and there was no way it was going to be done before May.
I'll tell you a little about it because I'm quite happy with how it turned out. See, the day after Loyd Boldman passed away, I was listening to Prodigal, partly in his honour/memory, and partly just because I wanted to. Specifically, I was listening to the song Neon.
Neon is more of a spoken word track than a song. Loyd's spoken vocals in the verses are a near whisper, layered lightly over a few simple keyboard measures that are repeated throughout the entire five-minute song. Then it soars up into a soft, almost ethereal chorus, a cry of the heart, genuine and yearning, with a fuzzed-out keyboard to keep things grounded. There are the sounds of urban traffic in the back of the mix, somewhere behind the vocal but weaving over and under the keyboards. And then at the end, it goes into this terrific drumming sequence -- one minute and forty five seconds' worth of hard strong steady drumming, enough time to let the listener really ponder what they've just heard.
Due to the sparse instrumentation, the spoken vocal, the subject matter, and the drumming bit at the end, this dance has 'modern ballet' written all over it. Which would be perfect, except that I pretty much loathe modern ballet -- as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to say you're doing ballet, do actual ballet, not just contemporary in pointe shoes. It looks awful and gives real ballet a terrible name. I have always wanted to choreograph Neon because the lyrics were so poetic and let's face it, the drumming section is the bomb, but I outright refuse to choreograph anything that could be taken as 'modern ballet.' If I'm choreographing ballet, I'm choreographing ballet, dang it, real ballet, that requires skill and heart and soul and sweat and strength and practice and is not just a contest to see how fast we can turn in/turn out one leg or the other.
So anyway, I'm listening to Neon and in my mind's eye I saw ballonnés. Hm... good. Anything else? Posé pirouettes. Well, that looks nice... then what? A rounde de jambe/coru section for the chorus... some corps-work for a group of nine in the second verse... and a wonderful moment of suspension just before the drumming kicks in. Within half an hour or so, possibly forty-five minutes, I had most of the dance figured out in my mind's eye. So I sketched it out on notepaper lest I forget the ideas and began notating. This is what I was still notating at the beginning of May. I spent the first full weekend finishing the notation of Neon, then I proceeded to choreograph the entire dance to Crushing Hand in basically twenty-four hours. Mind you, it was only a ballet for two, and the song itself is only two minutes long. But no matter -- it still counts as a dance done and for that I'm very grateful. It gives me quite a bit of time to work on Come Away (a ballet solo) and The Twist (ballet for two), and if I've got the time, I'd like to choreograph a fourth this month or maybe even bump it up to five.
Right now I have a few notes on Come Away, but I'm actively working on The Twist. It's over half-done. I have nearly the entire thing figured out in my head, it's just actually writing it and notating it that still need to be done. It's quite a task trying to get a bead on the characterisation for it though. What's the first dancer's mood? What are they trying to communicate? When does the tone change into a challenge? Is there still love mingled in with the implied challenge? What's the second dancer's reaction? How do I convey it? When does the mood change, and how abruptly? How can I convey it without relying too heavily on the lyric and without resorting to modern-dance-hyper-exaggerated-mime? What is the second character's mood here anyway? (The song is ambiguous in that it's never stated what the listener's reaction is, and I sort of want to keep it that way -- it makes people think if you don't spell out all the answers for them.)
I hope to get notating The Twist sometime tomorrow, maybe even finish it tomorrow or Monday. Then hopefully I can complete Come Away this week and then have some time left to write two or three more dances before the end of May.
20 April 2014
Music Day, Part II - The Traveler/Joy
It must be Easter -- I'm listening to Don Francisco. I don't know why... Don Francisco at Easter just feels 'right.' This is the influence of my father on my life. (Don Francisco is also one of the very few artists who appears to remember that Jesus was actually raised from the freaking dead. I have no trouble finding songs for Good Friday -- everyone has a song about the crucifixion. But precious few songs exist that attempt to capture the joy of the knowledge of the resurrection.)
Just imagine this song playing on vinyl, as it was originally heard. As is Don's method (especially on these earlier albums) he starts with a story (from the Bible: Luke chapter 24) put into song form, but then he segues the narrative song into an exuberant praise song. The second part of the song, the celebration, is the continuation of the story Don retells in the first part, but it's also very clearly coming from Don himself. You get the sense that he physically can't express more joy than he already is, but more joy most definitely exists, boiling fiercely just beneath the surface -- just listen to him cry out We have been redeemed!
Title: The Traveler/Joy
Artist: Don Francisco
Album: The Traveler
Year: 1981
Label: NewPax
iTunes here; YouTube here.
CD available at the artist's website here.
He is risen!
Just imagine this song playing on vinyl, as it was originally heard. As is Don's method (especially on these earlier albums) he starts with a story (from the Bible: Luke chapter 24) put into song form, but then he segues the narrative song into an exuberant praise song. The second part of the song, the celebration, is the continuation of the story Don retells in the first part, but it's also very clearly coming from Don himself. You get the sense that he physically can't express more joy than he already is, but more joy most definitely exists, boiling fiercely just beneath the surface -- just listen to him cry out We have been redeemed!
Title: The Traveler/Joy
Artist: Don Francisco
Album: The Traveler
Year: 1981
Label: NewPax
iTunes here; YouTube here.
CD available at the artist's website here.
He is risen!
17 February 2012
Music Day
It's Friday already?
...Friday's almost over already?
Crap. I guess I need to find a song. (*starts scrolling through iTunes frantically*)
So, um... how have you all been? What's been going on in your world?
Me, well lately I've been (ooh, maybe Sheila Walsh? Oh wait, the iTunes Store doesn't carry her stuff yet) working on choreography, like I think I've probably mentioned lately.
It's been going pretty well. I picked a song I've had an intro to for like months and have determined that I will not work on any other choreography until that piece is done. At least in rough draft form. Also I decided I'd work on it every single day until it's done. Even if that work just means transcribing my hastily-scrawled English-language notes about it into Benesh notation without actually coming up with new steps. Because making sure it's understandable six months from now still counts, if you ask me.
And believe it or not, I've already choreographed the entire seventeen-second intro, the first verse and the first chorus. I've transcribed about halfway through the verse.
Also, speaking of choreography, my dance friend and I have decided that we're going to do a NaNoWriMo-esque choreography month in May. There is already a similar challenge in January, but it was the last week of January before we found out about it and anyway, they don't have a minimum accomplishment threshold like NaNoWriMo does. And without a definite goal to push toward, neither of us gets anything accomplished (well, I don't anyway).
We're still trying to figure out what kind of goal to set (a certain number of minutes' worth in a month? a certain number of pages in a month?), but we've already set aside the first of June to get together and share May's output with each other.
So I've found a song!
This is another one from my childhood, from my father's collection. This is one of his favourite artists -- he has this song on vinyl (probably twice) and at least twice on CD. This is probably my favourite song from this artist... there's this moment, about four and a half minutes into it, after the lyric Not to speak a word... there's a pause and then a tremble of excitement in his voice in the next line that gets into the depths of your mind and sends itself down your spine because you know the celebration is coming and the excitement begins to build and it makes your hands flutter in anticipation.
And then with triumph the celebration starts! and it makes your heart beat faster and it makes you get up out of your chair and jump around, reaching higher with every leap, and it makes you sing along at the top of your lungs and by the time the song ends you're completely spent from the previous two minutes but you're totally exhilarated.
It feels dramatic, but it's also so real. And to top it all, this features some of his best lyric crafting (in my opinion).
Title: Gotta Tell Somebody
Artist: Don Francisco
Album: Got To Tell Somebody
Year: 1979
Label: Newpax Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.
(Based on the miracle documented in Mark chapter 5 verses 21-24 and 35-43. It's also covered in Luke chapter 8 verses 41, 42, and 49 through 56.)
And doesn't the analogue mixing/mastering just make that celebration? This song wouldn't be nearly as big a part of my memory as it is now if it weren't for the sound of the celebration pushing the volume limits of late-1970s recording equipment.
But with authority I'd never heard from the lips of any man
He spoke and every sound rolled out with the thunder of command...
He gave me life when all hope was dead
Where there was grief He brought joy instead...
...Friday's almost over already?
Crap. I guess I need to find a song. (*starts scrolling through iTunes frantically*)
So, um... how have you all been? What's been going on in your world?
Me, well lately I've been (ooh, maybe Sheila Walsh? Oh wait, the iTunes Store doesn't carry her stuff yet) working on choreography, like I think I've probably mentioned lately.
It's been going pretty well. I picked a song I've had an intro to for like months and have determined that I will not work on any other choreography until that piece is done. At least in rough draft form. Also I decided I'd work on it every single day until it's done. Even if that work just means transcribing my hastily-scrawled English-language notes about it into Benesh notation without actually coming up with new steps. Because making sure it's understandable six months from now still counts, if you ask me.
And believe it or not, I've already choreographed the entire seventeen-second intro, the first verse and the first chorus. I've transcribed about halfway through the verse.
Also, speaking of choreography, my dance friend and I have decided that we're going to do a NaNoWriMo-esque choreography month in May. There is already a similar challenge in January, but it was the last week of January before we found out about it and anyway, they don't have a minimum accomplishment threshold like NaNoWriMo does. And without a definite goal to push toward, neither of us gets anything accomplished (well, I don't anyway).
We're still trying to figure out what kind of goal to set (a certain number of minutes' worth in a month? a certain number of pages in a month?), but we've already set aside the first of June to get together and share May's output with each other.
So I've found a song!
This is another one from my childhood, from my father's collection. This is one of his favourite artists -- he has this song on vinyl (probably twice) and at least twice on CD. This is probably my favourite song from this artist... there's this moment, about four and a half minutes into it, after the lyric Not to speak a word... there's a pause and then a tremble of excitement in his voice in the next line that gets into the depths of your mind and sends itself down your spine because you know the celebration is coming and the excitement begins to build and it makes your hands flutter in anticipation.
And then with triumph the celebration starts! and it makes your heart beat faster and it makes you get up out of your chair and jump around, reaching higher with every leap, and it makes you sing along at the top of your lungs and by the time the song ends you're completely spent from the previous two minutes but you're totally exhilarated.
It feels dramatic, but it's also so real. And to top it all, this features some of his best lyric crafting (in my opinion).
Title: Gotta Tell Somebody
Artist: Don Francisco
Album: Got To Tell Somebody
Year: 1979
Label: Newpax Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.
(Based on the miracle documented in Mark chapter 5 verses 21-24 and 35-43. It's also covered in Luke chapter 8 verses 41, 42, and 49 through 56.)
And doesn't the analogue mixing/mastering just make that celebration? This song wouldn't be nearly as big a part of my memory as it is now if it weren't for the sound of the celebration pushing the volume limits of late-1970s recording equipment.
But with authority I'd never heard from the lips of any man
He spoke and every sound rolled out with the thunder of command...
He gave me life when all hope was dead
Where there was grief He brought joy instead...
24 April 2011
Music Day, Part Two
It isn't rock. But it's intense. It's dramatic. And it's extrapolated from something that really happened (that is to say, based on a true story).
Title: He's Alive
Artist: Don Francisco
Album: Forgiven (and compilations, lots of compilations -- this was a huge song in the Christian music world)
Year: 1977
To get the full account of what happened, find a Bible (personally I recommend a New King James Version -- it's pretty easy to follow), find a quiet place, and carefully read the following:
Genesis, chapters one through three.
Matthew, chapter one, verses 18-25.
Luke, chapter one, verses 26-38.
Mark, chapter one, verses nine through eleven.
Matthew again, chapters twenty-six through twenty-eight.
Luke, chapters twenty-two through twenty-four.
And John, chapters seventeen through twenty-one.
For clarity, I recommend that you read at least all of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but the references listed above will give you the basic idea of what happened.
Genesis, chapters one through three.
Matthew, chapter one, verses 18-25.
Luke, chapter one, verses 26-38.
Mark, chapter one, verses nine through eleven.
Matthew again, chapters twenty-six through twenty-eight.
Luke, chapters twenty-two through twenty-four.
And John, chapters seventeen through twenty-one.
For clarity, I recommend that you read at least all of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but the references listed above will give you the basic idea of what happened.
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