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Song 3:Dug!

Year in New Zealand: 12 Months 12 Songs is an audio journal of an album, that is being written song by song, month by month. Each month a new track is posted at https://petervansiclen.bandcamp.com This is the third in a series of posts breaking down the story of each song

On the walk to and from school we sometimes pass the Darfield Jail. This afternoon instead of pushing the pram past it, we decide to get a closer look. It is a small one-room building, with a plaque to tell the story, and a pillory, so you can pretend to be locked up.

I roll the push-chair up the ramp, and notice that there is a marker for a time capsule, placed right in front of the Jail. I explain to her that they dug a hole in the ground, buried some important things, and now they aren’t allowed to dig it up for fifty years.

I am fascinated, imagining just what they’ll find on the the day they dig it up, but she is more interested in rolling her toy library swing car back down the ramp.

The next week I walk past an excavator digging up a new gas station to get to the Darfield Public Library. In addition to books, the library is home to many other things: a garden-seed sharing station, an ongoing communal jigsaw puzzle, a spider information kiosk with a digital microscope, a 3D printer, some real fish, a life-sized stuffed tiger and a Monday morning ukulele group. The Darfield Ukulele Group, or D.U.G., has traveled to ukulele festivals and performed in the community at Annie‘s daycare and the local nursing home. Their repertoire includes Kiwi classics and pop hits from every era, including a mash up of “Country Roads” by John Denver and “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X, which we performed wearing cowboy hats.

Before ukulele rehearsal I sift through the stacks of books to find a poem suitable to set to music. I am hoping to find something that could become a hymn. Once it is 11 am I make my way to a meeting room. Around the conference table sit about 12 Kiwis, many of whom are able to rehearse on a Monday morning because they are retired. After spending so much time at home with a baby, it is a welcome change of pace!

I find my seat, tune up, and nervously throw the question out there: “how would you all feel about working with me to record an original song?” Karen, one of Annie’s teachers, has written and recorded music, but many of the others have never been a part of something like this. I, on the other hand, have never recorded a group of 12 people before the composition is finished. I show them the chords and have them sing “ooh” and “shananana.” Before you know it we are recording the live performance that becomes the seed of the whole song.

At our local toy library they have a music section. Since I can’t check out toys for myself, Cora checked out the drum. She loves using it to stand herself up, and Annie has joined her in some drum circle jams. But everyone knows it’s actually Daddy’s drum. It worked nicely on the track.

The unexpected MVP is Annie’s Duplos. They made for some nice fills and beefy snare sounds, plus I love picturing kids searching for the perfect LEGO when you hear them spill at the end…

Hear the full song at: https://petervansiclen.bandcamp.com/track/dug

Here is the original blog post on “Year in New Zealand” with extra pictures: https://yearinnewzealand.wordpress.com/2019/10/28/song-3-dug/

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Song 2: Broken Pig

Year in New Zealand: 12 Months 12 Songs is an audio journal of an album, that is being written song by song, month by month. Each month a new track is posted at https://petervansiclen.bandcamp.com

This is the second in a series of posts breaking down the story of each song

HANMER TIME!

It’s dark. We’ve just listened to 2 hours of the Frozen soundtrack and the girls are finally asleep in the backseat. The gravel crunches under the tires of our Honda Fit as we roll up to the vacation house. The lights are on and inside I can hear the dulcet tones of a xylophone playing. We each pick up a sleeping child and bring them into our home for the weekend. Cory and Michaela greet us, and their 2-year-old son Hamish drops the mallets and runs over to meet our girls. Groggily they take in our surroundings, including the marimba-like African instrument at the center of the living room. Hamish runs back over to demonstrate. He isn’t as sleepy as our kids, since he’s coming from his home in Australia, and hasn’t adjusted to the time difference yet. Before we even have a chance to get Annie and Cora tucked away in bed Hamish is quick to show us the Broken Pig. Yes, this vacation house comes complete with a Broken Pig! In this modern and lovingly cared for home, right next to the wood stove, is an abstract sculpture of a pig. The stone pig’s back has a concave section, which is currently occupied by kindling. Hamish runs over, lifts one finger, and proclaims “Broken Pig! Oh no! Broken Pig!”

We spend the weekend in Hanmer’s famous hot springs “relaxing” with two toddlers and an infant. We hike past giant sculptures of rock-climbing possums and floating heads.

The kids take turns playing the marimba, and I am happy to get my hands on a real guitar and djembe. I begin recording samples of Hamish on the marimba and the various instruments, anticipating that they could be used in what will become a very silly song.

Over the course of the next week our guests get the full Darfield experience, complete with swim lessons at the Selwyn Aquatic Center and the Very Scary Moa Ride at the the top of the Christchurch Gondola.  Cory and I find time to relive our college a cappella days by sneaking off to the garage while everyone is asleep. We set up a mobile recording studio on the dashboard of the car. In the sound booth that is the Honda Fit, we belt out lyrics about deer farms and chocolate fish. We even include our hidden talents of beatboxing and tuvan throat singing.

After Cory leaves I sift through the sounds I recorded and incorporate samples of Annie talking and Hamish on the Marimba. Annie helps me write the lyrics for my verse, and I make sure to include important words like “princess,” “purple,” “mermaid,” and “lunchbox.” Annie is very proud of her contributions, and she asks to hear “Broken Pig” in the car. Again. And again. And again.

I talk with Cory about the final mix, and about including a bridge about the joys of nocturnal parenting. He informs me that Hamish also has been asking to hear “Broken Pig” on repeat. If nothing else, we have a hit with the 2 and 3 year old crowd…

https://petervansiclen.bandcamp.com/track/broken-pig

Original article with more pictures can be found in the “Year in New Zealand” blog: https://yearinnewzealand.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/song-2-broken-pig/

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Duck Hunt

Song 1: Winter in July

Year in New Zealand: 12 Months 12 Songs is an audio journal of an album, that is being written song by song, month by month. Each month a new track is posted at https://petervansiclen.bandcamp.com

This is the first in a series of posts breaking down the story of each song

DUCK HUNT!

It’s 8:30 am on a weekday morning, the jogging push-chair we picked up from TradeMe is loaded with Cora & lunchboxes, and Annie has her rainbow gumboots on. This can mean only one thing; it’s time for a duck hunt!

Yes, we are all walking to school, but deep down Annie and I are hoping to see the lady duck and two gentleman ducks that often cross our path. We have adjusted our route to be slightly longer, for optimal duck spotting time. We now follow the stream an extra block, to the bridge where Annie once lost a shoe into the water.

In the United States this small babbling brook would likely be totally covered as an underground drainage route, but here it’s a beautiful suburban accent, constantly dipping beneath driveways and running away from the mountains in the distance. The ducks used to take one look at Annie and fly to safer ground; now we walk up to them and they waddle into the water and pretend she’s not there. Progress!

After turning the corner away from the foot bridge we walk a straight path that is lined with lawn gardens. Although it is a cold July day, there are some flowers blooming. There is fog in the air and the dew brings the many hidden spiderwebs into focus.

Annie encourages me to smell the rosemary and is proud to identify flowers that I am unable to confirm nor deny the identity of. She runs through the grass, stops to lie down, and has even been known to take off her jacket to hug a tree from time to time.

We walk past the Dairy/takeaway shop, and prepare to dodge cars (real crosswalks are rare, but they provide islands of safety, so you can play Frogger with oncoming traffic).

After dropping the kids off at school, I push my empty pram to a corner supermarket that will soon be demolished to make way for a bigger, better one. I am all too aware that the moment I open my mouth it will be clear that I am not a Kiwi. My credit card doesn’t have paywave and I don’t know how to work the EFTPOS at the checkout. I always have to sign the receipt and sometimes have to show my drivers license or even my passport.

I meet up with the head of the local music school at the cafe. Afterwards, the local vicar shows me how to work the church’s pipe organ. I ask when I can come to practice and she says the church is open for anyone to visit every weekday. “No one ever broke in an open door,” she says. “The only time anyone ever took anything from the church was when it was locked.”

The working title for this song was “Open Door.” If only it didn’t remind me of a certain Frozen song…

Here’s the link to the song: Winter in July

For this story with photos, visit YearinNewZealand

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This odd groove was inspired by our uneven political system... and The Meters!

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After attending a Bernie Sanders rally when it was becoming increasingly clear that he would not win the primary, I wrote this song. The verse rhythm was based on a middle eastern song a Wesleyan a cappella group sang to open the rally. I chose a heavy swamp rock feel, similar to “When the Levee Breaks,” so that it would fit the nautical theme, and the desperation. This song was too depressing to record when I wrote it, but I’ve found it cathartic after seeing the final results of the election. I hope that it helps cheer people up to hear the election turned into music, and even if that ship was sinking, at least we’re in it together! = /

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My inspiration for starting this blog was Charlie McCarron, host of composer quest. Here is audio commentary for the “Hurdles” event in his “Composer Quest Olympics”

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Peter VS Notes

This is a blog about music composition: exploring where inspiration comes from and sharing the process of creativity.

Being creative is not sitting around and waiting for inspiration to strike; it is rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty, ideally every day.

Through joyful practice and dedication to the art, anyone can be creative, and I hope to demystify this process for my students, while also keeping myself honest to my creative goals by posting them for the world to see.

Another goal in creating this blog is sharing the people and places that have been meaningful to me, and show how they have inspired my music.

I have found that in recent years I have moved from more abstract subject matter, to writing about specific places that inspire me, ranging from neighborhoods Washington D.C., the Pemaquid Peninsula in Maine. I have also challenged myself to write lyrics about my parents, wife, daughter, as well as an upcoming album about the pioneers of funk.

It isn't enough to create this music; I need to tell the world, or at least anyone who wants to listen, why they are important to me!

Maybe through this process I'll meet some other composers and open up a dialogue about writing. Maybe my online “liner notes” will help friends & family members connect with what I'm trying to express, but at the very least I know I'll be pushing myself to be creative every day and make new challenges fun. Hope you enjoy it!