Christmastime Is Here????

March 8th, 2012

I just returned home from a choral recording session for three new Christmas arrangements for Hal Leonard Music. By now, I should be accustomed to that strange disconnect of working on seasonal music far removed from the season the music celebrates. But even after 30 years, it still feels a little strange to record Christmas music on a rainy day in March.

The truly cool thing about these three particular arrangements is they each have a unique jazz flavor to them. One is a lush treatment of the “Charlie Brown” classic ballad, “Christmastime Is Here.” Another is a salsa-flavored rendition of “We Need a Little Christmas.” And the last is a jazz waltz treatment of “Sing We Now of Christmas.” The accompaniment for these charts is a swinging rhythm section, smoking horns, and silky strings.

We tracked the charts a couple weeks ago, and the band knocked them out of the park. Today the vocal group did so, as well. I’m really looking forward to the final mixes. And I’m hoping these charts will be well-received by high school and college show choirs, as well as by adventurous churches that tackle secular material at Christmas.

Many thanks to Keith Christopher and Hal Leonard Music for allowing me to write these arrangements. I love it when a company chooses to do something a little outside the expected norms. How else will choirs know they want something different if no one ever offers it to them, right?

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Getting Back on the Bike

February 3rd, 2012

“It’s like riding a bike.”

This week, one of my best friends and earliest collaborators came to Nashville to “write.” I put “write” in quotes because the real purpose of the visit was to hang out, catch up, unwind, unload, laugh, cry, eat too much, and hopefully write something. Over the past three decades, he and I had written about thirty songs together. He wrote lots more without me. And a big bunch of those songs made a real impact on the Church over the years.

But now, he was wondering if he would ever write again.

You see, some time back, my friend took what he thought would be a brief detour from his songwriting in order to work in a church music ministry. Only, the brief detour turned into several years. Not so suddenly, he found himself completely removed from writing. Now he wanted to write again, but didn’t know if he could. His confidence and enthusiasm were gone, replaced by doubt and uncertainty.

“What if I fail?,” you say to yourself. ”I might take a header over the handlebars, and rip my britches in front of God and everybody. How embarrassing would that be? Maybe I’m better off not trying.”

I looked over some of his unfinished writing lyrics. He took heart that I didn’t laugh out loud at what he’d written, and he was pumped (not offended) when I pulled one aside and said, “You know, this isn’t horrible.” (I told you, his confidence was down.)

Then, over the next day or so, we hammered his lyric into a finished song. A good song, in my humble opinion. (That’s always a plus.) Yes, he might’ve been a bit wobbly at first. But he quickly regained the old muscle memory. By the time we finished the song, he seemed like the collaborator I knew so well from years past.

There’s that familiar breeze in your face. “I’ve been here before,” you tell yourself. ”I’m not gonna fall down and crash. I can do this.”

A lot of good came from my friend’s visit. We laughed. We bragged about our kids. We agreed that it’s easier to be a grandfather than to be a father. We closed the gap on a lot years. But most important, my friend drove back home knowing he is still a writer.

He got back on the bike.

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Working With Dead Composers

November 26th, 2011

If you follow this blog (both of you), you know that in recent months I have collaborated with some pretty impressive folks – like say, Edward Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Erik Satie. The fact they are all long dead has not deterred me at all. As collaborators, dead people rarely disagree with my creative choices. I like that.

So anyway, I’ve been at it again. I recently adapted Claude Debussy’s “Claire de Lune” as a sacred choral piece. Jubilate Music, a division of Word, will be releasing it in the spring.

The idea to do this piece emerged from Word. Originally, I was asked to meld “Claire de Lune” with the hymn “Be Still My Soul.” Though an interesting concept, I could not make the two tunes work with one another. Like a couple of independent toddlers, you can put them in the same room but there’s no guarantee they will play together.

Still, I really like “Claire de Lune,” and so I begged Word’s indulgence to see if I could adapt the primary music themes and write new words for them.

Keep in mind, “CDL” is a piano piece. An impressionistic piano piece. Debussy had no concern about the range of the human voice, the need to breathe, or the niceties of a repeated lyric hook. And since “Claire de Lune” refers to “moonlight,” I’m pretty certain he wasn’t concerned with any sort of sacred or spiritual message, either.

The finished piece took me five full days to complete. Six, if you count the basic editing. Crazy, I know. I can do the typical pop choral arrangement with full orchestra in a day or two. This piece is for SATB with piano only. But it took two days to absorb the original composition and distill it to a workable song form. Another day was spent crafting a lyric for the new tune. And two more days were devoted to crafting the SATB choral parts and a piano accompaniment that evokes (and occasionally quotes) Debussy, but still accompanies the choir effectively.

There will be purists, no doubt, that blanch at the idea of altering Debussy’s work. In my defense, every musician borrows from those that came before. And for the record, Mr. Debussy never once offered a single criticism of our collaborative effort. There’s a lot of Claude in the piece. And there’s some of me, too. Interestingly enough, the lyric that evolved for it is very much in the mood and message of “Be Still My Soul.” In fact, the new piece is titled “My Soul, Be Still.”

I don’t know if this latest piece, following on the heels of the Satie and Sibelius pieces, constitutes a trend for me. Maybe it’s simply a season. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed the process each time. I think the results are interesting. And being the lesser musician in each of these collaborations, I have definitely benefitted from the greatness of my collaborators.

I just hope they don’t mind the company.

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Thanks to FBC West Memphis

October 24th, 2011

Last week was a busy week – with my visit to Lone oak (Paducah) Ky, followed quickly by a weekend event at First Baptist Church West Memphis, Arkansas.

I spent Saturday morning (This is a dedicated bunch of choir singers) in rehearsal with the FBCWM choir. We worked on five anthems I arranged, all selected by the director to suit the church. We then sang all five in Sunday morning’s service.

The choir did an admirable job. It’s no easy thing to be suddenly thrown under the direction of a new conductor (the writer, no less!). But they had been well-prepped and did themselves proud on Sunday morning.

They also treated me to a barbecue party and a round of golf on Saturday, making the trip all the more fun for me.

The choir is under the dedicated direction of Chris Dale. This is my second such event with Chris. I did a similar event five years ago at his previous church in Virginia.

So – my thanks go out to Chris, Donna, and all involved at FBC West Memphis. I had a good time. And I hope the church benefitted from my participation.

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Thanks to Lone Oak UMC Choir

October 20th, 2011

"There Is a Rose" choir rehearsal: UMC Lone Oak, KY

Yesterday, I made a quick run up to Paducah, to meet the choir at Lone Oak UMC and hear them rehearse my Christmas cantata, “There Is A Rose.” The choir, under the able direction of Beth Palmer, numbered about 25 last night. That’s small by some standards, big by others. More important, they sounded very good. (And they are are just entering the heart of the Christmas rehearsal season.)

I had a good time chatting with the folks. And it was great to hear the notes on the page come to life. Most of the time, I hear my music on recordings. That’s not a bad thing. But choral music is created to be sung live. And it’s nice to know the notes “work.”

So, thanks again to Beth and her choir at Lone Oak UMC – for choosing my work and bringing it to life this Christmas season in your community.

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New Appreciation for America

October 18th, 2011

Ronnie Brookshire (eng), Adriam Lobaina & Robert

Last month, I had the privilege of working with a talented singer named Adriam Lobaina. Adriam is a Cuban-born American. He escaped the atrocities of Castro’s Cuba as a young man, came to America with nothing, built a life and became an American citizen.

Adriam is making a record, and I arranged and orchestrated two of the cuts – a big medley of his favorite hymns, and an even bigger medley of patriotic songs. (“America the Beautiful,” “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It doesn’t get much bigger than that.)

I’ve always though of myself as a patriotic American. I know there is no place on earth that comes remotely close to being as great a place to live as the US. But speaking with Adriam gave me a newfound appreciation for the amazing gift I was given when I was born in this country. Seeing America through a grateful immigrant’s eyes sheds a whole new light on this wonderful country.

These are divisive times in America. I can’t help but think they might be less divisive if more of us appreciated this country the way Adriam does.

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A Real Pro

September 22nd, 2011

Several weeks ago, I was asked by the good folks at Jubilate Music (a division of Word) whether I thought I could take a particular piece of piano music and develop it into a choral anthem. The piece was Erik Satie’s lovely, impressionistic Gymnopaedie #3. Let me go on record: This was an innovative idea on behalf of Jubilate.

Satie was an impressionistic painter in the late 1800s, who also dabbled with music. The Gymnopaedie is his best known piece. Because of its relative simplicity, lots of beginner piano students are familiar with it. It has also been covered by various recording artists. My own introduction to it came from a Blood Sweat & Tears record in 1970!

Adapting the piece for choir was a challenge. And the first serious hurdle to jump was to write a lyric/text for it. There are times I might have tackled that job myself. But this time I wisely asked John Parker to give it a go.

The first thing John and I did was agree on a structure. The original piano piece was unwieldy because of its range and form. Together (over the phone – John lives in Baton Rouge), John and I plotted out a structure that felt more like a song-form. Then, I left John to do all the hard work on his own, while I read movie magazines and ate chocolate candy.

And that leads to the point of this post. (Not the part about the movie mags and chocolate.) John is a real pro.

As is typical in the print music world, we needed a relatively quick turn-around. No time for navel-gazing and flights of creative fancy. John delivered.

The first draft he submitted was good. Very good, in fact. It captured the distinctive mood of Satie’s tune very well. BUT – John knew it was a first draft. I saw the opportunity to strengthen the ‘hook” of the piece by repeating one of John’s prominent lyric lines. John instantly “got it.” He went through a couple of re-writes, nudging and tweaking the words. He fielded my questions and took all my suggestions seriously, with no bruised egos. (I didn’t ‘win’ all the arguments, btw. The re-write process is sometimes a matter of questioning, only to realize what is already written is good and works.)

John did all this with good cheer and an open mind. His craftwork is excellent. And he always approaches the writing as a collaborative effort. What’s best for the song is what is most important.

Plus – John understands this is a business. He wastes no time once the process is underway. He delivers work that is well-suited for the publisher involved. He is a team player.

It is no wonder that so many composers and publishers seek out this particular “pro” when searching for creative lyricists.

If you’re interested, keep an eye out for “My Soul Rests.” It will be released later this year. You can examine John’s work up close and see for yourself what I’m writing about here.

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Dedication to My Art

August 28th, 2011

I just drove 1400 miles in order to be a part of the demo recordings of my newest anthems to be released by Shawnee Press/Hal Leonard. That, my friends, is dedication to one’s art, is it not?

The 1400 miles was round trip. (Almost exactly 700 miles from my driveway to the Embassy Suites in Orlando.) Two full days of driving. $250 in gas. $450 in hotel bills. Toll fees, meals, and a sore backside from 22 hours behind the wheel. Real dedication, yessir.

And before you ask, I drove rather than flew because flying has become such a completely wearisome, tedious and dehumanizing activity that I would rather drive eleven hours than put up with two hours in the air, plus all the attendant ignominies the TSA throws at you these days. I try to avoid politics on this website, but if anybody wants a preview of what our healthcare system will be like once the government completes its takeover, look no further than the airport experience with the TSA. It won’t be pretty.

Rant over. Back to my dedication to my art…

So, why go to Orlando for three days to hear five pieces of music recorded? Because there is simply no substitute for hearing real people sing your music to know whether or not you got all the notes and words right on the page. It enabled me to make a couple of small but significant changes to the pieces, as well as catch a handful of tiny errors in the music. Expensive? Definitely. But, worth it, I believe.

The “value added” part of my trip (besides the fun of wondering whether Hurricane Irene was gonna hit Florida or pass us by) was that I had time to catch up with Joe and Sue Martin, Heather Sorenson, and James Barnard. (James is the editor/operations man at Shawnee.) I also had the pleasure of getting to know the “Shawnee Singers,” a group of talented folks who hail from the world of Disney and the Voices of Liberty. They did a wonderful job with my music.

So, kids, take it from me: If you wanna show true dedication to your art – you gotta be willing to drive across the country into the face of an oncoming hurricane. Or – put up with a TSA pat-down.

I chose the drive. Now – if the sessions ever move to Los Angeles, I may have to re-think my whole stand on flying.

Joe & Heather in the control room.

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Music in the Mountains and Other Fascinating Bits

August 7th, 2011

Well, I’ve done it again. Slipped back into old habits. Taking a full month to post something new. If I’m not careful, they’re gonna give me back my old title – World’s Laziest Blogger.

If I have a defense, it’s simply this: I’ve been busy.

Since we last chatted, the big thing at the Sterling household has been my wife’s knee replacement surgery. For those of you not in the know about such things – knee replacement surgery is among the more painful surgeries out there to choose from. Essentially, the procedure involves stopping just short of cutting off your leg, then putting it all back together with titanium parts. The recovery is long and slow. And the primary care-giver (in this case – me) is pretty much on duty 24/7 for about four weeks.

We are now in week six (post-surgery). Cindy is doing well. She is allowed to drive herself to PT now – and that frees me up a lot. But God bless her – for about a month, she had me taking care of her. And my spiritual gifts do NOT include patience and kindly charm. (I graduated from the Nurse Ratched School of Bedside Manners.)

While C was in the hospital (almost a week!) I did manage to do another pitch for the Veggie Tales folks. Their response was a bad news/good news thing: The bad news – they went with a competing pitch. The good news: They liked my idea well enough to ask me to spin it another direction for a different pitch. So – we’ll see if they like the new pitch. I gotta say, my degree in music education did not prepare me for writing for talking vegetables.

Somehow in the midst of the nursing duties and the Veggie-pitches, I’ve managed to do some choral writing. (My music ed degree doesn’t really help me a lot in this area, either, for what it’s worth.) I’ve got a handful of new things in the hopper at Shawnee Press and Word/Jubilate. Details to come.

And most recently – I’ve just returned from a few days in the Pocono Mountains, being a part of another Music in the Mountains week, sponsored by Shawnee Press & Hal Leonard Music. Attendance was strong. Everyone had a good time. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I led a couple reading sessions, did a little teaching, and met some new friends. We capped off our time together at MITM with a hymn-sing on Thursday night, accompanied by a small but talented orchestra. I got to hear my brand-new orchestration for “Jesus Paid It All” for the very first time. (More about that at another time.)

My thanks to Joe Martin and the folks at Shawnee for having me back. It was great to get to visit with my fellow arranger/clinicians, and to have a some time to chat with music ministers and choir leaders out there who sing my music.

And now – back to the grindstone. I’ll try not to wait so long before my next entry.

(Yeah – I know – that’s a pretty low standard I’ve set for myself.)

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Writerly Wisdom from Our 30th President

July 11th, 2011

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” (Calvin Coolidge)

In my book, in seminars, and in private teaching sessions, I offer time and again that writing is its own best teacher. (I also say lots of silly, nonsensical things – but we won’t go into that now.) I tell students that hard work is every bit as important in writing as is raw talent. So, when I recently ran across the above quote from Calvin Coolidge (Silent Cal, to his friends), I got charged up.

From what I read about Coolidge, he was my kind of guy – a true “less is more” sort of fellow. And I just love what he said about the myth of unrewarded genius and the reality of people who are talented but unsuccessful. (I’ve encountered loads of talented musicians who never amounted to much because they didn’t want to work very hard at the business of music.) Hard work, persistence as Coolidge calls it, is the real key to success.

Dickey Lee, writer of “She Thinks I Still Care” along with dozens of other major country hits, told me once, “It’s amazing how hard ‘lucky people’ work in the music business.” (I need to ask Dickey if he’s a fan of Calvin Coolidge, too.)

Persistence is the key to successful writing. The song won’t finish itself. You have to do it. And don’t tell me that “God gave it to you,” because God didn’t finish the song for you. (God may have blessed you with a great idea, and inspired the song – but that doesn’t mean you don’t have work left to do.)

So, do have any unfinished songs sitting in your files? Pull one out and get to work. You don’t have an “songs in progress” file? Then it’s time to start your next song.

Happy writing.

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