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!

New Soundcloud uploads!

Nearly two months since I last posted here. I’ve been busy – moving, getting to know my new job, then getting sick for nearly 4 weeks and now picking up the guitar again. My skills have become a bit rusty.

I noted that I hadn’t uploaded all of my FAWM stuff to Soundcloud, so I have started to catch up on that. Here you can find all the stuff from this year’s FAWM. I’m already looking forward to 59/90!

Most of my work is Creative Commons licensed, which means: you can use it for your own videos, podcasts etc., and remix my music, but you have to name me as the creator and link/mention where you can find the original.

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: What a start!

In the previous FAWMs I had a hard time getting songs out at the beginning. This year, that’s a bit different. I feel spurred by some friends who are also quite productive. One constant seems to be that I dash off in directions altogether unplanned and unexpected. For example, all of a sudden writing orchestral soundtrack-y things like this one:

There’s more in that vein in my head!