@LyricalVenus Just listened… One of the best songs of the round. You really MUST fully produce this. The *Its time* is PERFECT at the end
SpinTunes Round 3 Shadow Song Bio
So when I was eliminated from round 2, I fully wanted to continue participating in SpinTunes as a shadower, especially because the challenge this time was theme driven rather than technical, but I just wasn’t sure if I would have time because I have so much going on right now. (The actual bio starts after this list of stuff, if that’s what you are most interested in. :-))
1. My best friend from childhood is getting married the first weekend in August, and directly on the heels of that is my 3rd annual trip to the Rocky Mountain Song School. Both events are in Colorado within about 20 miles of each other, so I totally lucked out with the “one road trip, two vacations” thing, but I also have to pack for two totally different events (fancy bridesmaid stuff, camping gear & musical instruments), and prepare to be gone for nearly two weeks.
2. One of my part time jobs is being a caretaker for a very high-functioning woman in recovery from a brain injury. So I need to help get HER life in order and line up the ducks to make sure she is taken care of for the time I am gone. That means taking into account quite a few different factors!
3. I also work at a cafe, so I had to find someone to fill in for me, and I’m still going to need to follow up there to make sure no balls get dropped. I should make them a new batch of caramel so they don’t run out while I’m gone.
4. In theory I would only miss one of my radio shows, but I want to have two all ready to go so I don’t have to stress about getting home by a certain time and be recovered enough to do a proper interview. That means pre-recording and editing and pre-blogging, etc.
5. I’m taking an online songwriting class that involves daily homework assignments, which don’t take too long really, but if I fall behind it’s tricky to catch back up, and I know I’ll miss a bunch while I’m gone, so I want to be fully up to speed before leaving.
6. Being a bridesmaid means I need to find a dress (done! thank goodness), shoes (now that I have the dress I can start looking!) and get my hairs did (my hairdresser hasn’t gotten back to me, wah!)
7. I’m trying to start fitting in regular exercise to my routine again, and I want to start getting to bed earlier this week so I’m rested for these big events.
8. My mom recommended me to several of her friends for help with their computers, so I’ve been scheduling and spending time helping them. More $ FTW! Less time for other stuffs, eek…
9. Sometimes a road trip seems easier because I don’t have to be as careful about packing, no airplane size restrictions on my bags, etc. But we’re taking the Prius so the gas cost will be lower, but there’s also less space and we’re taking a fellow Song Schooler out with us. So trying to strategize packing all the gear, instruments, nice clothes, & 3 grown people in a tiny car, etc. I also need to test out a few of the camping things to make sure they still work and I don’t end up SOL when I get dropped off and no longer have quick access to getting replacements.
10. Plus all the normal day-to-day stuff like laundry, dishes, my ongoing decluttering project, etc.
I’m sure I’m forgetting things. Ugh.
In any case, I kept telling myself I should just focus on getting stuff done and not work on a song. But the ideas kept tickling at my brain, distracting me.
The challenge this round: Happy To Sad In 4 Seconds - Write a sad song about birth, a moment that is normally a happy moment, and make it a real tear jerker. You can’t use the words “Happy” or “Birthday”. (2 minute minimum) (They had 9 days)
I really wanted to try for an angle that didn’t involve the mother or baby dying.
One night I was in a chat at Artifiction where people were guessing what Edric’s theme was for this round. @amazzzink said she thought it might be the Luke & Leia story, how they were separated at birth. That really got me thinking, and yet I still kept pushing the song away, trying to focus on all the stuff I had to do, but procrastinating in other ways.
I was of course following the tweets of the other contestants, and occasionally scribbling down a few lyrics. Finally the night everyone was supposed to submit their songs, amid the frenetic last minute excitement and nerves, I couldn’t take it anymore. I opened up my page of notes and started shaping the lyric in earnest.
While I could have easily looked for a story already in existence to rework, I decided to go with more of the archetype or myth that has been used over and over - an insecure and probably cruel or unfair king hears a prophesy of how he will be overthrown by a younger person at a certain time in his near future, and he orders the death of all newborn sons who could grow up to usurp him.
I chose to tell the story from the angle of the mother, trying to process what is really happening to her. Something that should have been such a celebration and now she has to make some tough choices. What will be best for the baby? What will be best for her? She decides to trust the midwife to try and save the baby, but what sort of life will he have, growing up abandoned? How can she let him know that he was so wanted and loved? She’s telling him the story the best she can, while in labor (or almost), because she knows as soon as he is born he will be whisked away and she won’t have the chance then.
As far as the music, I busted out my partial capo for this one. I can’t remember if it creates a DADGAD or drop-D tuning or what at the moment, but I know it makes some neato sounding chords without having to do much work. :-) I told myself I could record just a guitar and vocal track to submit, because I knew that once I started trying to mess with other instruments my time would immediately get eaten up.
I sketched out the melody and chords on the night everyone turned in their entries, and did a quick webcam grab of myself playing it so I wouldn’t forget, especially since I didn’t know what the heck chords I was playing for the most part. I didn’t have time to record till a few days later though. Unfortunately, when I plugged in my guitar, the battery in my pickup went dead in just a couple of minutes! I decided to record it through the vocal mic and just be ok with the string squeaks and the creaking of my guitar strap, etc. After all, a woman going into labor doesn’t really have time to hook up Garage Band properly either! haha.
So, that’s the hurried bio of the hurried song I did for round 3. Once again, I’m grateful to have found such a talented and supportive group of people that encourage such creativity. Even though I don’t really think any of my songs are “finished” for one reason or another, I think I have some pretty good source material and I’ve learned a lot each round!
You really ought to check out all the songs in the round, but grab a box of tissues first! And have some happy songs or a silly TV show or YouTube clip lined up for whenever you need a break, because it’s definitely a concentrated dose of sadness:
The transitions are just a little too abrupt here. The time signatures don’t help or hinder the song as a whole. But it’s not bad. Performance-wise, it’s top-heavy… needs bass. I think I’d like to hear it with acoustic guitar in place of the electrics. Embrace the country. It’s also a little short. The song’s aching to tell a story, girl-meets-boy, but it’s never allowed to really do that. Well, it does, but it seems under-developed. 4:30 would be about the right length for this song, which would get you at least another verse and a bridge in there.
Heather Miller: Okay, everybody. Fun game. Sing the lyrics of Daydream Believer over the verses. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the vocals have no delivery. The verse ends, the chorus comes and the punch is just the same. Maybe a minor fluctuation. There’s no passion here. No feeling. It’s just going through the motions. And then couple it with the subject matter, a pool table love affair. I really do appreciate the fact that it’s a love song with a different angle but it makes for some chinsy lines like “Right on target, right on cue” while leaving you to talk about some things that really don’t have anything to do with the love story. This just did not come together. And what happened at around 2:20? Was that on purpose?
HEATHER MILLER - BULLSEYE
The chorus and the verses feel like two completely separate entities. The verse appears to just stop, allow the chorus to occur, and then the verse comes back. It doesn’t have the flow of one, identifiable song. It’s not unbearable, or anything, but it is reminiscent of grinding gears. The action, not the sound.
Heather Miller - Bullseye
An odd one this.
The instruments sounded very strange.
The transitions FROM verse to chorus were okay.
But back again were just. STOP! .. START!
Is the bandcamp upload messed up at 2:20?
Or is that deliberate?
Going with the *Would I listen to this again?” for my final mark.
5.5/10
6 - Heather Miller - Bullseye
The transitions are very sudden. Also, the song just seems to end when it shouldn’t. I feel like there should be more but instead we get nothing. It left me a bit disappointed because of this. I like that the lyrics say what they need to say without embellishment. You give the bones of the story and allow the listener to add their own flavours and colours. I think it is a very good attempt but it just didn’t completely work for me. Though, as I said, the bones are there. It would be interesting to see if you can build on them later down the road.
Heather Miller – “Bullseye”
You’re another unique voice in this competition. Your subject for the song was so different from everyone else, so points for that! I also, liked you’re small harmony parts for the ‘bullseye.’ I was wearily convinced by the time change going into chorus, however, going back into the verse was awkward and had to stop and wait for that guitar strum to really get the groove of it again. Also, there was a weird stumble between repeating choruses at the end that threw me off. Very original. Good job, Heather.
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