Songs for each child

Granted, I only have one, but Claire and I have decided that each of our children should have their own song. Claire came up with the words and for the time being, I notated and fiddled with a known camp song. I'll get something written today, for now, you get this

This is the song Thorvald hears when we love him and when we are cross. Claire loved how catchy it is. If you come up with words that fit your particular bent or view of the world, let me know.

A private concert, an improvisation

This last weekend, I attended a family reunion in Alberta. As usual, and because I'm the only professional musician attending, I was asked to perform at the talent show. Now, family reunion talent shows are notorious for getting silly but this one was pretty great. Our family's talent skews heavily toward storytelling but accepts all comers.

I had about 8 minutes of time to fill up and to tell you the truth, I've been having a very relaxing summer, filled with playing with my son, traveling around, writing a textbook (or thinking about writing a textbook), and generally enjoying a Seattle summer. I therefore was pretty rusty. What to do....

I wrote a Hawkins Family Song last summer and threw that in, then I made a rather straight interpretation of O'Canada wherein all the Canadians stood up, then I finished with a Hendrix/Haimovitz inspired version of The Star Spangled Banner.

The younger people thought it daft. The older people, who perhaps have not seen "Woodstock" nor been involved in popular culture since 1968, were a little flummoxed. I was just glad to get an impressive performance together with time to go hiking with the cousins.

More to come. Watch for the textbook even!