Monday, February 07, 2005
AT LAST!!! I've finished Gerald's (Si Ying's friend, by the way) "commission"!
What did I gain from this experience?
Number 1: writing pop music is damn hard. Honest. You need a good, catchy, memorable tune that will probably please most people. I don't think I have that flair. I'm only used to creating short motifs and then working upon them in any way that I like. Now: no way. I have to spin out a thread of notes that will become the verse, chorus, (or bridge: optional) of the song. Also, I'm always trying to include that little "something" which will make my score unique. I'm not content with any Tom, Dick and Harry progression of fifths, like what everybody uses - the most prominent example being "I Will Survive" as performed by Gloria Gaynor. The progression keeps repeating itself throughout the ENTIRE song - from the verse to the chorus - it's literally a chaconne on its own. Bach would have gone mad with pleasure or sickness . . .
Number 2: I'm stuck with Shania Twain's "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" in my head. Not that I have some favouritism towards the song, but it's my preparatory work. You see, Gerald wanted to use the song, but he couldn't obtain the copyright, so he had to use an original composition. At first I slave my way trying to make my own work SOUND LIKE that one. But it failed. Of course it will fail: I cannot replicate that style 100%, or even 60%, to be very truthful. I'm sorry that I have my own styles and I can't get out of them either. So we must adapt; we must make a compromise. Somewhere, somehow. When there's a will there's a way.
Anyway eventually I look at the script, and then at the specifics which I've derived from my discussion: (1) something upbeat; (2) it's for scenes where the guy and the girl are slowly falling in love with one another.
Okay, think of those happy-go-lucky, happily-ever-after kind of music. That should be it.
I think about writing lyrics: it'll give the song some shape. But what lyrics to write? Hmm . . .
"You were the girl with the dorky specs . . ." - adapted, or rather, quoted, straight from the script.
No . . . the words cannot be obtrusive . . . it should be a "generalisation".
Next, "I didn't know I could have such a feeling."
Fuck it. I don't have the feeling to continue writing.
Next, "You had something there that others couldn't see / You had something there that's just for me to see . . . (see what see!?) / You didn't have to change yourself . . ." - fucking hell, that's revealing the film's plot in one go!
For the first time I actually volunteer to do housework . . . I thought of vacuuming the house while pondering over what to write . . . but Father says that this chore only needs to be done tomorrow.
"Any other things I can do?"
"No, it's okay, go and do your work."
SHIT! I'm brain dead!
I start listening to some CDs. I put in the Original London Cast Album CD of "They're Playing Our Song." Sorry Meg, forgot to return the CD . . .
Anyway, the overture is arresting. Those thumping piano chords . . . Thumping Quavers! I've got it! I've always loved that kind of accompaniment, particularly for pop and rock music. ABBA's works have lots of such stuff in them.
Straight to the piano to hammer out stuff - I'm just playing whatever I feel like playing. When I get potential ideas, I scribble them into my trusty manuscript book.
And like an idiot: I should have seen the title of the film.
Fourteen Days.
FOURTEEN DAYS.
At last, a sense of direction!
I work from the chorus - chords, melody, lyrics. I begin orchestrating, using the thumping chords in the Electric Piano . . .
And it is those thumping chords that really get me going.
The chorus ends on an F. Thump-thump- thump- thump-
So the verse will start in F.
Again the necessity to be unique overwhelms me. After four bars of an F-pedal, I go into an A for one bar, then B7 on A, A and a lead-on to the chorus.
Everything works perfectly.
I begin to write the lyrics. Damn, I've never written this fast before. And I really mean it's damn fast. I never once stop to consider things.
FOURTEEN DAYS
Words and Music by AUGUST LUM
I have been given
An opportunity
I'd better grab it
Before it can flee
It looks so easy
But can it be done?
Heck, I will do it
I will be the one
CHORUS
Fourteen days are all I need to fall in love
Fourteen days are all I need to unlock his trove
It can be done; I'll prove that
It can be done
To fall in love in fourteen days
*The last time: repeat the chorus and then jump to the CODA.
I meet my sweetheart
I give him gifts
I'm like a worm
Baiting the fish
Oh what's his reaction?
I'll wait patiently
But can't wait too long
I've no time to see!
To CHORUS
My days are numbered
Do I have progress?
Failure's not the option
It will be my regret
It looks so easy
But can it be done?
Heck, I will do it
I will be the one
To CHORUS
I'm getting closer
Closer and closer
I'm will jump
Hurdle after hurdle
Can I make it through?
I'll wait patiently
But can't wait too long
I've no time to see!
CODA
It looks so easy
But can it be done?
Heck, I will do it
I will be the one!
In fifteen minutes, I am done. Now, to fit in the melody, and then orchestrate . . . the rest is standard.
I message Gerald. He's shocked and surprised that I finish the score so damn quickly. Ha-ha, not surprising. I have to, because of the subsequent rewrites and revisions up to the deadline.
So I've emailed him the score. It's half-finished, as in, there are no dynamics or articulations or performance directions. I'd rather he approve it before I continue further editing.
Interesting experience, though. Wenfu is right. To survive as a musician in Singapore, one has to be versatile. Even if you have to write the most condemnable pop song, you'll just have to hitch your skirt - or underwear, in Jay Chou's case - no offence there - and write it, no matter how you think it will humiliate your artistry. The good thing is, you have the copyright to the song, so you can make fun of it in some serious work you happily write later.
Through all the "commissions" I've received, nearly zero are in the field of serious music. Okay, "Temasek Symphonica" is somewhere in-between, but it has to lean more heavily towards pop and rock in order to appeal to the crowd of TJC. I feel you have to see what your audience is before you decide how you want to craft your piece.
¶ 2/07/2005 10:39:00 pm What did I gain from this experience?
Number 1: writing pop music is damn hard. Honest. You need a good, catchy, memorable tune that will probably please most people. I don't think I have that flair. I'm only used to creating short motifs and then working upon them in any way that I like. Now: no way. I have to spin out a thread of notes that will become the verse, chorus, (or bridge: optional) of the song. Also, I'm always trying to include that little "something" which will make my score unique. I'm not content with any Tom, Dick and Harry progression of fifths, like what everybody uses - the most prominent example being "I Will Survive" as performed by Gloria Gaynor. The progression keeps repeating itself throughout the ENTIRE song - from the verse to the chorus - it's literally a chaconne on its own. Bach would have gone mad with pleasure or sickness . . .
Number 2: I'm stuck with Shania Twain's "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" in my head. Not that I have some favouritism towards the song, but it's my preparatory work. You see, Gerald wanted to use the song, but he couldn't obtain the copyright, so he had to use an original composition. At first I slave my way trying to make my own work SOUND LIKE that one. But it failed. Of course it will fail: I cannot replicate that style 100%, or even 60%, to be very truthful. I'm sorry that I have my own styles and I can't get out of them either. So we must adapt; we must make a compromise. Somewhere, somehow. When there's a will there's a way.
Anyway eventually I look at the script, and then at the specifics which I've derived from my discussion: (1) something upbeat; (2) it's for scenes where the guy and the girl are slowly falling in love with one another.
Okay, think of those happy-go-lucky, happily-ever-after kind of music. That should be it.
I think about writing lyrics: it'll give the song some shape. But what lyrics to write? Hmm . . .
"You were the girl with the dorky specs . . ." - adapted, or rather, quoted, straight from the script.
No . . . the words cannot be obtrusive . . . it should be a "generalisation".
Next, "I didn't know I could have such a feeling."
Fuck it. I don't have the feeling to continue writing.
Next, "You had something there that others couldn't see / You had something there that's just for me to see . . . (see what see!?) / You didn't have to change yourself . . ." - fucking hell, that's revealing the film's plot in one go!
For the first time I actually volunteer to do housework . . . I thought of vacuuming the house while pondering over what to write . . . but Father says that this chore only needs to be done tomorrow.
"Any other things I can do?"
"No, it's okay, go and do your work."
SHIT! I'm brain dead!
I start listening to some CDs. I put in the Original London Cast Album CD of "They're Playing Our Song." Sorry Meg, forgot to return the CD . . .
Anyway, the overture is arresting. Those thumping piano chords . . . Thumping Quavers! I've got it! I've always loved that kind of accompaniment, particularly for pop and rock music. ABBA's works have lots of such stuff in them.
Straight to the piano to hammer out stuff - I'm just playing whatever I feel like playing. When I get potential ideas, I scribble them into my trusty manuscript book.
And like an idiot: I should have seen the title of the film.
Fourteen Days.
FOURTEEN DAYS.
At last, a sense of direction!
I work from the chorus - chords, melody, lyrics. I begin orchestrating, using the thumping chords in the Electric Piano . . .
And it is those thumping chords that really get me going.
The chorus ends on an F. Thump-thump- thump- thump-
So the verse will start in F.
Again the necessity to be unique overwhelms me. After four bars of an F-pedal, I go into an A for one bar, then B7 on A, A and a lead-on to the chorus.
Everything works perfectly.
I begin to write the lyrics. Damn, I've never written this fast before. And I really mean it's damn fast. I never once stop to consider things.
FOURTEEN DAYS
Words and Music by AUGUST LUM
I have been given
An opportunity
I'd better grab it
Before it can flee
It looks so easy
But can it be done?
Heck, I will do it
I will be the one
CHORUS
Fourteen days are all I need to fall in love
Fourteen days are all I need to unlock his trove
It can be done; I'll prove that
It can be done
To fall in love in fourteen days
*The last time: repeat the chorus and then jump to the CODA.
I meet my sweetheart
I give him gifts
I'm like a worm
Baiting the fish
Oh what's his reaction?
I'll wait patiently
But can't wait too long
I've no time to see!
To CHORUS
My days are numbered
Do I have progress?
Failure's not the option
It will be my regret
It looks so easy
But can it be done?
Heck, I will do it
I will be the one
To CHORUS
I'm getting closer
Closer and closer
I'm will jump
Hurdle after hurdle
Can I make it through?
I'll wait patiently
But can't wait too long
I've no time to see!
CODA
It looks so easy
But can it be done?
Heck, I will do it
I will be the one!
In fifteen minutes, I am done. Now, to fit in the melody, and then orchestrate . . . the rest is standard.
I message Gerald. He's shocked and surprised that I finish the score so damn quickly. Ha-ha, not surprising. I have to, because of the subsequent rewrites and revisions up to the deadline.
So I've emailed him the score. It's half-finished, as in, there are no dynamics or articulations or performance directions. I'd rather he approve it before I continue further editing.
Interesting experience, though. Wenfu is right. To survive as a musician in Singapore, one has to be versatile. Even if you have to write the most condemnable pop song, you'll just have to hitch your skirt - or underwear, in Jay Chou's case - no offence there - and write it, no matter how you think it will humiliate your artistry. The good thing is, you have the copyright to the song, so you can make fun of it in some serious work you happily write later.
Through all the "commissions" I've received, nearly zero are in the field of serious music. Okay, "Temasek Symphonica" is somewhere in-between, but it has to lean more heavily towards pop and rock in order to appeal to the crowd of TJC. I feel you have to see what your audience is before you decide how you want to craft your piece.
