30 Days of Songtaneous
I completed my first “song a day” project back in November of 2010 right here on this very blog.
I came up with the idea because I was taking a year-long vocal improv class and wanted to practice my solo singing/inventing. As I said at the time, I wanted to interact with my blog readers as a singer, document and observe my art at the midpoint of the class and to “learn something.” *smile*
I repeated the project (but didn’t share it on my blog) in February of 2017 as I was working on my album. A couple of the ideas were seeds for songs on the album (see “Awake” and “Maybe“)
Then I traveled to Wisconsin last month for a week-long self-supervised music retreat. I worked a lot with my loop station and improvised 3-minute solos most of the nights I was there. (The acoustics on the porch were delicious.) I began thinking about recording and sharing another 30 day project.
At the same time, a guitar player friend of mine posted an improvisation and suggested that he might keep doing them for a while.
(I, of course, suggested 30 days. *smile*)
…
As usual, I had trouble getting started.
I worried about if and how to introduce the project, how much to plan the project, and the best way(s) to share the project.
Then I remembered one of the things I know from improvising … start moving.
(In fact, in most of the “songs” below I start singing moments after I press the record button. I open my mouth and start making sound, shaping and finding direction as I go.)
I decided to take the same approach to these 30 days.
On Monday, I pulled the trigger and posted my first three minute song to Instagram with a short intro:
My November project. The goal? 3 minutes, 2 takes, 1 daily, 0 edits.
Working with the format I developed in November 2010, each day I record a 3-minute improvised song. I can record as many as I like (reminding myself of this 😉), but I only get 2 takes of any given idea. Finally, I post (at least) one of the videos every day this month.
The video above is a peak at the first week.
You can watch each song in its entirety on my Facebook music page (you don’t need a FB account to access) or on IGTV and follow me at one of those places to watch the project unfold.
