New Song: (KP1-8.5) SACRED MUSIC (LONELY NIGHTS), composed and arranged by Kevan Paul

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This song came from a combination of several ideas. The first element was a riff that I kept hearing on the guitar and wanted to incorporate. The second element was the flute and drums as the basis of sacred music for native cultures, especially natives of North America. The third element was finding a process for gathering the melody and chord structure together. The first and second elements were easy because I already had some melodic content in my head that I wanted to develop -- especially the flute and violin trading melodic lines.

The title was changed from "Lonely Nights" to "Sacred Music" during the course of the week that I worked on this piece. The intent for the first title was a reflection of the idea that for someone to produce something on a creative level, there needs to be often lonely and quiet moments in time that allow the mind to assemble and "get-in-tune" with the ideas that are getting the "creative-attention". Then yesterday I heard the quote that "music is love, looking for expression", and I wanted to change the title to reflect that music can be a sacred experience, and can have great healing strength. This is in keeping with the theme of this album of songs. If there needed to be a sub-title, it would be "Lonely Nights", as I think back to all of the time that I've spent in my life practicing music, reading, thinking by myself at night. This is a necessary sacrifice, as I do not have the luxury of being able to go to work everyday as a musician --- my music must be attended to at nights and on weekends. For me, "sacred music" and "lonely nights" go hand-in-hand.


The third element of composition process was the hard one. I have tried several software tools in the course of the last week working on this song, but so far I'm not coming up with a process that works for me. When a composer starts with a melody, the chord structure can be a stumbling block to getting the musical ideas written or recorded. When learning someone's song, it is easier to dissect the chord arrangement as a first step; composing seems to be a bit different than that for me, but I want to follow correct musical principles of arranging the chord progressions, etc. I will continue my investigation into finding the right mix of tools and processes to help me build the original songs and compositions that I want to produce.