Feet of Clay-A playlist

If you've read Midnight's Sonata, I'm also a musician. I play both the cello and the piano and compose. I've recently decided to teach myself the guitar, but first need to acquire one. I've been listening to a lot of music lately and thought about what "Feet of Clay" would be if told through music. I make a lot of mixed CD's for my car because not only is driving the perfect time to sing at the top of my lungs, most people I listen to are not generally played on the radio. So I decided to describe "Feet of Clay" just with music. I'm linking to YouTube videos so you can listen to them.

The setting is in a very small town and I would have to describe it with Tom Waits "A Little Drop of Poison I like my town, with a little drop of poison. Nobody knows they're lining up to go insane.

I would have to describe my main character, Taylor, with Tracy Chapman's "First Try"

Can't run fast enough

Can't hide, I can't fly.

I'm struggling with the limits of this ordinary life.

Can't say what I mean

Can't love from the heart

 Can't trust in the mercy and the goodness in the world

. Can't learn to accept that it's alright

,  To struggle with the limits of this ordinary life.

Later on in the book, when we get to know her and her problems, I think she would tell the lyrics to Tracy Chapman's Unsung Psalm to my other main character, Max. No, she doesn't die!

But I'm feeling hot and bothered under the collar
I feel the sweat breaking out on my brow
I feel the heat and I know it's the passion
The love I can't disavow

If this is a dream wake me up now
If this is a movie let's edit these scenes out
It would be a PG instead of an X-rated life
If I'd lived right

Some would call me a cheat call me a liar
Say that I've been defeated by the basest desired
Yes I have strayed and succumbed to my vices
But I tried to live right

But I have no regrets no guilt in my heart
I only feel sadness for any pain that I've caused
I guess I wouldn't bother to worry at all
If I'd lived right

Do you live by the book do you play by the rules?
Do you care what is thought by others about you?
If this day is all that is promised to you
Do you life for the future the present the past?

If there is one thing I know I know I will die
If anyone cares some stranger my critique my life
I may be revered or defamed and decried
But I tried to live right

When we first meet Max, he's definitely more like Tom Waits "Temptation"  

I know that she is made of smoke
but I've lost my way
she knows that I am broke
so that I must play
temptation, temptation, temptation
oh, whoa, temptation, temptation, I can't resist
Dutch pink and Italian blue
she is waiting there for you
my will has disappeared
now my confusions oh so clear
temptation, temptation, temptation

I can't resist

After he commits an unforgivable sin, we have Leonard Cohen's "I Can't Forget"

 

I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle
I smoked a cigarette
And I tightened up my gut
I said this can't be me
Must be my double
And I can't forget, I can't forget

My two characters have been dancing around each other, the truth has been revealed, demons have been faced, and I am almost finished. I am now at a point where decisions must be made. Max is thinking along the lines of Tom Waits "The Part You Throw Away"

Will you loose the flowers
Hold on to the vase
Will you wipe all those teardrops
Away from your fase
I can't help thinking
As I close the door
I have done all of this
Many times before

The bone must go
The wish can stay
The kiss don't know
What the lips will say

Forget I've hurt you
Put stones in your bed
And remember to never
Mind instead

I will be writing an ending soon, but this is the soundtrack so far

Canon in D and cello players

My novel, Midnight's Sonata has a piano player and a cello player. It's kind of a tradition on my dad's side for everyone to take piano lessons. My father and all of his siblings play. I was the only grandchild interested in taking lessons, so I'm the only grandchild who plays. I grew up taking lessons and loved every minute of it. I practiced till my parents made me stop because it was time to go to bed.

When I went to high school, I went to a school with a strong arts program. I was taking piano lessons at the local university and I was also able to take lessons at my high school. I auditioned and wound up being the youngest person in my class. Everyone else had started in level one and progressed together.

My sophomore year, we got a new piano teacher. To grade us, there would be juries in front of the entire class. Sophomore year, our juries were to play something from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic time periods as well as a contemporary piece. I chose things I was working on with my lessons at LSU because I got entered into a lot of competitions.

The rest of my class all chose the same pieces. I had to sit through Canon in D, Fur Elise, and John Lennon's Imagine about twelve times. I pretty much never wanted to hear those songs ever again.

I've always loved the cello and when I started composing, I wrote for it a lot. When I got the change to work with a live cellist, I realized I did not know a lot about ranges and what is possible on the cello. And I've always wanted to play it. So I signed up for cello lessons.

I started out in group lessons for a year. We were taught Suzuki method, which confused me because I've been able to read music since I was nine. We were only getting piece in C major, D major, G major, and a minor because they are all in first position and there are no extensions. When I compose, I frequently use keys like c# minor or b flat minor. I wanted to expand and learn other keys on the cello, so I switched to private lessons.

The cello is a beautiful, frustrating instrument. I bought things like bow hold buddies (It's a cute little elephant thing that sits at the end of your bow that is supposed to help your grip), I bought stress balls to squeeze at work to strengthen my hands. I practiced and attempted not to bang my head against the wall because it didn't come as easy to me as the piano.

When I was in high school and sitting through Canon in D so many times, I looked at the piano music everyone was playing. The left hand is essentially eight quarter notes, repeated over and over, either singularly or as an octave. Little did I know, when I finally started playing stringed instruments, that a composer would really do that to a professional musician.

The cello part in Canon is D is eight quarter notes, repeated over and over while the first violins, second violins, and viola's all get to have fun. I still, to this day, as someone who has taken cello lessons and as someone who has frustrated my cello teacher asking her to play my cello compositions, do not know why someone would do that to a musician.

Being a musician takes YEARS of practice. You essentially learn another language. There are symbols you have to learn and the rest of the notation is in Italian. There's math involved with learned the duration of the notes and rests. You have to fit your day and social activities around your practice schedule. If you're a kid, you frustrate your family trying to learn a new piece.

There will always be parts in full orchestral pieces where certain instruments don't have a lot to do or you're resting for long periods of time. But a good  composer will at least give you one good part. There is no good cello part in Canon in D.

If you ever ask a cello player to play Canon in D for something, at least tip extra or feed them