Today began with a great theory class. We did some work on songwriting. Jack has done an arrangement of my song "The Very Best", about the wedding at Canna. I haven't had a chance to hear it yet.
I left that class to go to my private songwriting class. It was great. The lyric is almost done, and my assignment was to write out a tune. We also took a lot of time to talk about how to market a song to different groups and artists. It was really great stuff to learn. I skipped group singing in the afternoon {don't tell anybody!} to work on the song. I locked myself in a rehearsal room and banged at the piano till I had a reasonable tune. Tomorrow, we'll do a rough recording of what I have so far.
I performed again in Allison Durham Speer's class. I'm glad I sang the first day. Her class is so popular that she has a 2-day waiting list for singers. I did "Jacob's Ladder", acapella. I started at the back of the crowd, and walked up through the audience as I sang. {If you were at my and Gerald's concert in Toronto or Botwood last summer, this is how I opened the show.} I tried to follow all the rules she has given us about being a good communicator. I sang 5 verses with 2 key changes, and after, I got the crowd to sing the last verse with me again. I've never done anything like this! Singing in the crowd. Talking directly to individuals. Leading the audience in spontaneous singing. It was great. She had very little feedback for me, but was really pleased in all the changes since last week. There is definitely lots of space for improvement, but it was still a very satisfying experience.
This afternoon, I had another lesson with Harold Lane. When you see him, he looks so old and fragile. But when he starts talking music, his whole person changes. His face lights up and he gets very animated. And he has such a gentle laugh. I feel so honoured to be his pupil. I'm learning so much about harmony and how to write it and figure it out. I'm meeting with him again tomorrow.
Tonight, we had group singing again with Mike Speck. We were the test choir for 2 new songs. They'll be published in a book later on this year, so we didn't even have finished charts. And he would rewrite as we sang. It was really cool.
Our concert tonight was by the family group, the Northams, who also led the church service on Sunday. They were so powerful! We were all in tears at some point.
I have to share a funny story from today. My songwriting teacher was asking about my acting, and I mentioned The Pacifier. Well! That's his family's favourite movie and they saw it twice in the theatre. So he introduced me to his daughter and told her I was in the film. Well, kids talk, and soon they all knew. So today, I had a line-up of children asking for my autograph! They were so sweet! And they all had questions about the movie - Who did I meet? What was it like? How much money did I make?
I'm also spending a bit of time with the kids' class today and tomorrow. They're singing some of my songs. I love it!
I think I'm falling asleep as I write!
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