For SounDevotion Competition Round 63
Not intended as a religious statement as much as using a familiar melody. Debuts my present to myself (a toy stratocaster clone.)
Adeste Fideles
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Holiday
Snowflakes
Image by CaptPiper via Flickr
Download courtesy of loopproject.com
For SounDevotion Competition Round 54
Falling from silver clouds
Carried down by the wind
Tossed around, up again
To the warm ground, descend
Gently, snowflakes will land
To the ground, receives them
The theme was winter or holidays. In the past, when we’ve done this theme I made a rearrangement of a public domain Christmas hymn, so while I made this to be an original composition, I knew that I wasn’t going to have a lot of time to work on it. Despite that, I am happy with the result; it was difficult to get the vocal and guitar sounds.
Away In a Manger
Download courtesy of loopproject.com
According to Wikipedia, this song has origins in American hymnals from the late 1800′s. Though those hymnals tried to attribute the song to Martin Luther, it appears to be a lyric composed by an American and set to a Scottish melody. I know of at least three melodies for this song, so in my piece I have attempted to include them all. Notice how they all have waltz time, and all sound like they could easily be played as bagpipe marches; perhaps one could argue that this is a medley of unknown Scottish folk songs.
Darkest Night of the Year
Download courtesy of loopproject.com
In a global culture that gradually moves itself toward 24-hour days that are, on a vast majority, spent indoors, the aspect that maintains our agricultural sense of the harvest is the collection of holidays celebrated around the world between October and January. It is no coincidence that Christmas is four days after Winter Solstice, and that we celebrate the beginnings of hope for a better life and a better world on the darkest night of the year.
An interpretation of Stille Nacht by Josef Moht and Franz Xaver Gruber.
I made this for SounDevotion’s holiday-themed round 34 last year. There’ll be another for this year too.
