Wednesday, October 17, 2007

More Focused Work . . .



Songwriting is undoubtedly my life's biggest passion, yet I seem to have been stagnant for a while on the music front. This needs to change. Its funny you know; sometimes, the lyrics pour out of me like crazy, and other times, I am stuck with these melodies, and nothing to do with them. Its much like being me in a bar in college--I've got so much to offer, yet no one wants to take the time to work with me; everyone is so stuck on JR. Its an amazing thing when the marriage of lyric and melody fuse to create an original craft of music. I feel myself easing into another songwriting renaissance lately (the last composition I completed, in fact, was the commencement song for the class of 2007 . . .and that was in June!) so I am glad. And its about time; I have a concert coming up on November 30. I am fortunate enough to capture the auditory attention of many of the WHS student population--they have my cd's, they have me on their iPods, and they write my lyrics on their bookcovers. It is kind of surreal. Anyway, I use this to my advantage to play concerts at school to go towards fundraisers for things like the yearbook, the senior class, the Renaissance club, and the baby seal beating club. I am usually able to help raise a lot of money for these organizations, so its all good. Nothing gives me more pleasure than performing live music for people who want to listen, and in this day and age, I feel so blessed that high school students come AFTER SCHOOL when they dont have to, and PAY MONEY just to see a funny looking Irish-Lithuanian share his stories through music. So, I am off to practice now in fact. One of my students, a boy named Joel, recorded a bunch of new stuff for me at the end of last school year. I finally have the CD--there are 5 new songs on it. All in all, I now have 18 of my original compositions recorded onto disc. So if anyone wants one . . . .


I look forward to writing more about my songwriting. I can't, in fact, believe I dont mention in more on our blog; it is such a constant part of my life. . . .

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

you should talk more about your music. you are very talented. your concerts at the school are great and it's so much fun to see how much the students like you and are so much into your music! they sing right along with you and know all the words. they are very enthusiastic about you. some of your songs have so much feeling, they bring me to tears. we're so lucky to have such musical talent in our family. we're proud of you all!

Anonymous said...

I think you should trade in your keyboard for a banjo and play the honky tonk circuit.

Anonymous said...

I'm so freakin cute, you should write a song about me.