newer entries
(July - December, 2011)
june 24, 2011
This week's song is a lighthearted little ditty about [barely] tolerating stupid people.
Those who talk during quiet concerts,
or drive really slow in the passing lane,
or support Sarah Palin: this one's for you! Kinda.
You can listen to my take on tolerance here.
june 17, 2011
This week's song is called I Wished For You.
You can listen to it here!
june 10, 2011
Technically, I did not write this song this week.
Is that cheating? Isn't the point here to make a song every seven days?
well, yes. but no.
The reason I've been doing this project (since January 2010) is to improve my skills.
And I have been thinking about trying my hand at making some arrangements for an ensemble: maybe an SATB choir, or a small ensemble.
I have never really done that before.
So I took a song that I had laying around - I wrote it a long time ago, but have never recorded it or performed it - and I arranged it for multiple voices.
Unfortunately I had to sing all the parts myself, which is lame. But someday, who knows? Maybe I'll try it on a choir and see if they spit.
It's called Take Away Stars.
And you can listen to it here.
june 3, 2011
Today's song comes from poem by Rainer Maria Rilke called Liebes-Lied. The text is:
everything which touches us, you and me,
takes us together like a single bow,
drawing out from two strings but one voice.
On which instrument are we strung?
And which violinist holds us in his hand?
O sweetest of songs.
Pietro Tatar, violinmaker, Cremona
I decided to put these words to music in honor of two weddings that are coming up this month: Klaus & Malona, and Carin & Jeff.
You can listen
here.
may 27, 2011
Aloha! I am on vacation this week in beautiful Hawaii, swimming, snorkeling, sipping mai tais, and not making songs!!
However, the birds in Volcano National Park never stop making songs. So I am offering you some of theirs instead, captured on video! I haven't figured out how to install a video player properly, so it just starts playing when you click here.
may 20, 2011
Cats and the end of the world: Is there a connection?
Find out here.
may 13, 2011
I almost didn't have time to make a song this week, because I've been busy getting ready for this!
But behold, and lo, I made one today.
Extra sappy - at no extra charge.
You can listen to it here.
may 5, 2011
"even after April
by God there is no excuse for May"
from "Voices To Voices, Lip To Lip" by E. E. Cummings.
Queen Guinevere's Maying
by John Collier, 1900
This week's song is inspired by May, and you can listen to it here.
april 29, 2011
hello! This week's song sounds extra crappy because it was recorded without a microphone!
I was house-sitting and had only my laptop with me. So I used the internal mic on my computer for my voice and GarageBand for everything else. As a result, the sound quality is crap - but wait! there's more! You can also enjoy the background sounds of a cat eating very crunchy kibble!
No extra charge for that.
not an actual microphone
Despite the poor technical quality, I hope you will enjoy this week's humble and heartfelt song by clicking here.
april 22, 2011
Here is a little ditty that I made with Adam Shulman.
We took turns adding tracks to a melody that Adam started on his mbira [which is sometimes called a thumb piano].
Can you hear the toothbrush track?
april 15, 2011
From one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters, Jane Siberry:
"To do things with care is the closest thing to love I know."
I used this quote to make a song this week.
You can listen to it here.
april 8, 2011
Here is the updated version of the piece I posted on january 14. It's part of a set of pieces I'm working on for the premiere of Kat Worthington's new dance company, Copious Dance Theatre.
This is not a great recording, but at least the piece is getting closer to being "finished". My deadline is two weeks away...
For more info on the May performances with Copious, click here.
You can listen a preview of Section III here.
april 1, 2011
Spring came!
More about that here.
march 25, 2011
Alex Moggridge makes odes!
http://alexodes.wordpress.com/
from Ode On The Death Of A Favourite Cat, Drowned In A Tub Of Gold Fishes by Thomas Gray, illustrated by William Blake, 1747
And I made music for two of them.
You can hear my odes to Alex's odes here.
march 18, 2011
by natalie dee. she is awesome and makes a comic every day at nataliedee.com
This weeks' song is called To Finish What I Started and you can listen to it here.
march 11, 2011
Have you recently been dumped? Are you having trouble letting go?
Try this week's song!
It's called "Just Don't! (Free Advice For Future Exes".
I went a little crazy with the GarageBand sound effects. You can hear the results here.
march 5, 2011
ink and watercolour on paper, by marc johns. 2008
This week's song is called "You're Trouble" and you can listen to it here.
february 25, 2011
This week's song is called "Too Small Oh No!"
you can make these tiny sweaters!
here's the pattern
It owes a lot to Zap Mama. If you don't know them, check them out!
Meanwhile, listen here.
february 18, 2011
This week instead of a complete song, I once again present you with a completed homework assignment!
(I guess the dog will have to go hungry.)
Here is a fragment of a piece I'm working on for a May performance with a dance company. It's not complete and it will probably change somewhat before it's finished.
It's modelled after an existing piece of classical music, and because the dancers are rehearsing with that existing piece, I have to make my song exactly the same length and with the same phrase markers. It's kind of like making a drawing on tracing paper, over an existing drawing.
This recording is two minutes long - about half as long as the completed piece will be. It is one section of seven.
The words were inspired by input from the choreographer.
You can listen to the sketch here.
february 11, 2011
The lyrics to this week's song were written entirely by google.
I searched for "Valentine's Day is", and then used every single result that google came up with, in order, without changing any words.
You can listen to my google co-write here.
february 4, 2011
If you are ever having a boring time at a party where everyone is talking about the financial crisis, the stock market and crap like that, there is now a song that addresses the situation.
It has nothing to do with monkeys, but everything to do with drinking.
You can listen to it here.
january 28, 2011
This week's song is inspired by a real person who is currently deployed in Afghanistan.
Although it's called Mathew's Song, his real name is not Mathew. You can listen to his song here.
january 21, 2011
I don't usually like to use a lot of GarageBand loops when I make a song, but this week, a song popped into my head that seemed to require a little extra decoration.
You can hear the sonic frosting here.
january 14, 2011
This week I didn't really have time to make a song for every7days, because I have homework!
from toothpastefordinner.com
I have an actual gig writing music for an actual real performance coming up in spring (more info on that later).
It will be several different pieces strung together, written for solo piano and voice/piano.
So this week I made a sketch for section three of the performance, and you can listen to it here.
january 7, 2011
happy new year!!
I wasn't neccesarily planning to continue doing every7days past 2010. My original intention was to commit to doing it for one year.
But another song seemed to bounce into my head this morning, so here you go.
The text is a poem by Edward Estlin Cummings.
These illustrations are by illustrator Kate Wilson.
You can listen to "may my heart always be open to little" and read the text here.
december 31, 2010
I couldn't decide between two titles for this week's song, so I'm going with both:
"If You Faked Your Own Death; or You May Be Old, My Friend, But You're Awesome."
You can listen to it here.
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(September through December, 2010)