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  Our Father, Vindicate - Finished!

  michael 1:08 am on 28 June 2009 | 25 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: APU (25), choir (8), composition (7), creativity (4), endurance, Music (42), our father (8), Protools (8), recording (21), session, whiskey (3)

  On May 28th, 2008, I jotted down the first few notes of Our Father, Vindicate. I stared with the melodic theme (E – D#, F# – D#), and the sound of that flat 6 suspension in bar 26. One year and one month ago today.

  A few minutes ago, I just finished the final mix of the recording. It’s such a huge feeling of accomplishment to see this thing come together, and to have something solid in hand, something people can hear and respond to. I’ve loved writing this piece, I’ve hated it at times, I’ve put more hours into it than anything I’ve ever done, and I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a musician because of doing it. I’m glad it’s behind me, but I’m very glad to have done it.

  So, here it is.

  Our Father, Vindicate
  By Michael A. Lee

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  Downlod the chart: Our Father, Vindicate.

  The vocalists are, in order of part from top to bottom:
  Anthony Maglione
  Brent Froelich
  David Loucks
  Jessie Bullock
  Kyle Campbell
  David Kress
  Lucas Short
  Phil Nash

  Additional vocals by Michael Lee, and Harold Clousing.

   

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  Our Father Session Clips

  michael 11:51 am on 29 April 2009 | 24 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Choral Music (5), our father (8), recording (21), session, singing (7)

  Not yet mixed, not even really edited, but here are the long-demanded rough clips from the recording session on Friday. And by long-demanded, I mean I casually mentioned that I would post them, and nobody has really said “No no, please don’t.” I take that to be a consensus for demand.

  Here are 3 clips from the song. When the final mix is completed, I’ll post the whole thing in sequence, including videos of my laughably bad conducting. Joy!

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  Our Father, Vindicate This!

  michael 11:53 pm on 22 April 2009 | 15 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Frequent Flyer Productions (3), Lord's Prayer (2), our father (8), recording (21), session, video (18), Zack (2)

  Well, it’s finally happening.

  About a year ago, I started working on a choral piece based on the text of The Lord’s Prayer. I posted some early examples here and here. In November, I thought it was finished. Then, I did a composer workshop where actual people sang through it, and ended up throwing out the entire ending, rewriting it from middle section on out.

  In January, with the help of Aly and Phil, I wrote a grant proposal to do a demo of the piece, and to use that same recording session to record a tutorial video on how to record this particular kind of composer demo. It got pushed back, and further back, but finally, at last, the day has come.

  On Friday, I get to go into a huge studio with a world-class group of singers, the kind who can sight-sing awkard and atonal lines with the same fluidity and accuracy that you’d expect of a real musician (instrumentalists), and we get to record the demo for this thing.

  I am more than a little nervous. The singers on the session are guys from the LA Master Chorale, LA Opera, heavy hitters. I am not a conductor, not in anyone’s imagination, but there it is, I’m the only one there to do it.

  In large part my anxiety stems from the fact that I care about this piece so much. I’ve invested a year into it, countless hours writing and re-writing, more time than I’ve spent on any piece of music. I think it’s the best work I’ve done as a musician, and for me it represents a way forward from being a gigging keyboard guy to being a legit composer, with commissions and everything. I am deeply invested in the piece, personally and professionally.

  The night before the session, I have a 3 hour rehearsal until the wee hours of the morning for yet another LA singer songwriter doing yet another hollywood scenester gig, and the sheer exhausting will probably prevent me from being anywhere close to competent for the actual session. The irony is not lost on me.

  For those of you who are into such things, here is the final version of the score.

  Our Father, Vindicate