Finished something, finally :)

Some things take their time.

During FAWM 2016, I wrote a poem in Quenya (the “older” of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elvish languages). I had some fun evenings with a grammar book and a dictionary, interspersed with a curse or two – “this language has HOW MANY cases?” Then, it took me ages to make music for it! Last week, I finally recorded the vocals, and today I completed the mix. (It might sound best with headphones; I forgot again to check the mix with the speakers. Well, my speaker situation is not the most informative anyway.)

Here you go!

The story is Silmarillion-related: What might Galadriel have said the moment she resolved to leave Valinor for Middle-Earth? I imagine it might have been a hugely mixed bag of feelings she might have expressed – mourning for the lost beauty of the Two Trees, knowing she might never see the beautiful city of her childhood again, but also curiosity for Middle Earth, a sense of adventure and new-found freedom.

I’ll publish the lyrics, too, if anyone is interested!

FAWM Over.

Well… here are my stats:

I did quite a lot of things I didn’t expect.

Vocal frustration.

I have some issues with my voice right now. It feels unwieldy, my throat somehow cramped, prone to sudden, seemingly causeless gagging (an issue I have been running to doctors with for some months last year, to no avail, it waxes and wanes seemingly randomly, and inside my throat, everything seemed to be OK physically) and sore … and I haven’t sung much in the last days!

I am a bit frustrated with that, as some of my vocal ideas rely heavily on good vocals. After all, I am a vocalist first of all! I’m trying to get my cramped throat better with Feldenkrais and lots of herbal tea. Running is also a fine medicine. Maybe I should see a doctor about that again. Le Sigh.

My productivity is also very unweildy at the moment. I am a living example of structured procrastination – getting really much done, but not the stuff I’m supposed to do or I had planned to do.

FAWM 2013: I win.

BÄM.

Just reached 14 songs. OK, 3 of these are lyrics-only as of now, but there I am. It’s the 16th and I have reached 14 songs. Now that I have achieved this, I can focus on making music and doing the things that really matter.

And here is your proof screenshot:

I’m quite satisfied with that as I may have to spend two or three days travelling next week. But then, sitting on a train for hours usually yields some time to think, dream and maybe craft some lyrics.

Blocked.

Well, sort of. I did a lot in the last few days and now I feel overwhelmed with too many ideas. Like a donkey between lots of haystacks, I can’t decide which ones to work on and I get all fuzzy and confused. On top, I had been pressurizing myself to write “useful” things, not just impros and sketches I’ll never touch again. And that has been blocking me.

I have tried to take a day off songwriting… tried, because this evening, a lyrics idea jumped out of my head, nearly fully grown – I need to check some facts in the narrative I’m referring to and I need to translate it. But the storyline is there.

And for the rest of the ideas, I bought some cheap index cards today, to help me sort out on which one I want to work right now. Sometimes, cards are better for that than a plain list, and paper can do it better than digital means. I’m also thinking over which ideas could be stuff for collaborations and if so, who I want to do them with.

Off to practice guitar now – I haven’t done a single song with guitar so far, and that’s a shame!