A Collaboration

When a singer truly feels and experiences what the music is all about, the words will automatically ring true.
~ Monserrat Caballé

Jon is leaving for the Holy Land on Monday. Since he will be without a piano for two weeks (that is brutal!) he came over to play mine the same night the American Inklings were over. So, although I had nothing to contribute to the group at large, Jon and I ended up collaborating on a new song ~ he wrote the music, I wrote the lyrics.

This is now only the third time I have collaborated on a song with someone. There is no set “way” of composing. Sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes the music, sometimes both at the same time. This time around, I had mentioned to Jon the idea of collaborating and then he mentioned it again Saturday. So I said, well, let’s do it then ~ play something and I’ll see what I feel the music is saying.

His music painted a picture of rain, city streets and a broken relationship with a twist: the singer has recovered from the break up ~ she just can’t forget her lover’s eyes. I am still tinkering with the verses, tightening up the imagery (something I need work on in my other writing as well) and making sure it flows and helps define the story that the music tells.

Not bad for a Saturday evening! ;-) One of these days I will figure out how to add music files to this blog so you can actually hear what I am talking about!

Oremus pro invicem,
Mikaela