As always, this is late. But here comes my annual tradition: a playlist that sums up the tastes and flavors of the year that just ended. These songs loyally rolled me through the amazing adventures of the year that was.
Friends: enjoy the music! 2013: cheers to you, and on to the next!
Sans Soleil – Miike Snow (Second mention in a row, and now the finale at that! Still in love with this song, but this time I share it in the form of a lovely live recording!)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So 2012 is so seventeen days ago. But I cannot, I simply cannot say goodbye to 2012 without dedicating a playlist to the year that was. When I need to remember what 2012 felt like, these are the songs I will fill the space with. This was my 2012 in music. Each song walked (or danced!) me through a space in time.
Welcome to the musical scrapbook of my year. Enjoy! (Click on the song titles to have a listen.)
I’ve surprised myself. I’m working on making music, original music of my own.
I’ve always wanted to be more musical than I actually am. I took up the piano when I was younger, beginning when I was about five or six. I didn’t stay with it for very long and eventually quit. A couple of years later I reconsidered and thought, hmmm, I think I’ll like playing the piano this time. And then I did for a little bit, but just never found myself fully invested in the craft. I was so much happier flitting about the dance studio, than sitting in front of our piano at home, trying to read notes on the f clef. (I’ve always been horribly sluggish when it comes to reading notes.) All in all, I eventually quit the piano four times, I think.
Then I tried the violin for two years. And then the cello for one.
If for some ridiculous reason all the instruments were on the verge of musical extinction and I could only save one and only ONE… I would choose the cello before you could say the wordstaccato!
While waiting for my voice teacher to come to our lesson last Wednesday, I sat at the piano and began to play. The last time I really sat before a piano was on my last day in the US in July, my final afternoon alone at the dance studio of all serendipitous places, at my old college. I didn’t get very far with the piano playing then, and just spent much of the time recalling the single piano piece I remember. Certainly unexciting. Before that occasion, I don’t even remember the last time I tried to play and instrument! Last Wednesday however, after trying to read the notes of a hymn for a bit (the effort of decoding sheet music was bringing me no accomplishment!) I began to simply improvise. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the sounds I was stringing together on the fly weren’t a complete audio assault!
Since then, I’ve spent some time in front of the piano again, this time actually trying to compose a piece. Not only that, I am actually enjoying and wanting the time I spend there. The hours just disappeared last night!
I am liking my new project very much so far. My mom tells me it sounds like drops of water trickling down wooden steps. Here is the second draft to my Still Unfinished, Still Untitled Autumn Song. The end needs some work, and the piece certainly needs some cello; but so far so good. Don’t you think?
speak soon 