Have you ever noticed how one thing leads to another, to another, to another, until suddenly you find yourself doing something you never thought you could?
I have always loved music. I played the recorder, the clarinet, and the harp. I tried to learn the piano. I sang in various choirs, and I wrote simple songs without accompaniment. I was always looking for someone else to write the accompaniment because I didn’t play anything well enough to play what I wrote! I took music theory in college and was told I had a gift for melody, but oh well, without piano or guitar I couldn’t do much. (Harp came later.)
So about those songs that needed accompaniment—finally someone told me I should write them myself. Hah! By now there were music composition programs where you could notate what you wanted, and the computer would play it back! At last, I could hear what I wrote for accompaniment.
I began with Garageband. Here is one of my early pieces. It’s called Wishing.
Then I discovered Noteflight, an online program where you can notate the music and the computer reproduces what you write. It wasn’t the best sound quality, but it was a start for writing and not just using loops. A sample of an early piece is below. It’s called Chosen.
I experimented with longer pieces using an ostinato underneath a melody. This one is called Love’s Reply. The first part I like, not the second so much. I had more to learn.
Then came the next huge step: a new program called Finale with greater sound quality and notation capabilities. And here was the immense challenge. I had a poem that I thought should be a choral symphony. No one wanted to write it. Then someone said, “You should write it.”
No way! I knew nothing about orchestration or how to write long complex pieces with structure. Where should I start?
Just start! So I did. I battled my way through learning the software, and started with melody…after melody…after melody. Then I began adding harmonies with different instruments. I would bring the results over to the Noteflight community for their feedback. I learned as I went. This went on for years! Finally, I received LogicPro as a gift, and I had to transfer everything into that program.
The piece is called Lux Dei. When I listen to it now I hear its shortcomings. But I am proud of how far I have come. This is entirely computer-generated by a novice user. Believe me, I still have a long way to go. But please, enjoy!
There must be a Christian music organization that you could send your music to for their opinion of it. I enjoy it, but I am not a pro. Love you.
I don't know of one. Any professional musician I have shown that last one to has never responded. My style is just very different.