A Lament for President Kennedy..

I doubt this tribute needs much explanation..?

I was a mere fourteen years old when President Kennedy died, our neighbours called round to tell my sans TV family the news. Whilst we have subsequently experienced other defining historical moments the shock factor and instant recall of the time and place does not fade.

Since Friday I have pondered appropriate phrases to break my blog silence to mark this particular anniversary. The words of Christ on the cross seemed to resonate along with a prayer for forgiveness. I also noticed Bishop Nick Baines blog made the same connection. So knowing these liturgical phrases would have been very familiar to the Kennedy family when inspiration came I recorded it there and then, last night 23rd November...

Father forgive them, for they know not what they've done
Father, in your mercy, hear their prayer, hear our prayer
Rest in my peace, you who have loved, you who have served
Today you're with me, in Paradise, in Paradise...

And then the official reading for today? Luke 23:33-43

P

Motif Matters

Here is an example of a musical element that now resides in my composer's toolbox. This is by no means a finished product, just a better quality version of an idea on real piano that I recorded onto my iPhone to capture the inspiration. On the iPhone I tend to use Voice Memos or, if I can lay my hands on it at the time, the Blue Microphones Blue Mikey 2.0 iPhone/iPod Recorder. Then the next stage was to re-record using the Avid / Digidesign ProTools LE (version 7.4.2), two tracks of Nord Stage in real time. Having create an instrumental mix I then 'heard' this soprano vocal part in my head during playback, so promptly added that and re-mixed as above...

Sometimes these 'sketches' are absorbed into complete pieces, such as those included in the collection entitled Sotto Voce on Bandcamp.

P