A sudden spark of creativity ignited in me this morning. For the past couple of weeks I have been really struggling to pin down a story for my video until this morning…

My Aunt is still holding on, she is strong and she is fighting. This is what I discovered from my phone call with my gran last night. This morning I woke up still thinking about the conversation which took place between my gran and I which led me to thinking about the stories which my gran has told me about her my aunts childhood. In that moment in time I knew exactly what my concept for the video will be.

My Gran and Aunt were just children during the early years of World War II. They lived with their family in Glasgow at this time but with the threat of war imminent the British Government made preparations for the evacuation of children from the city to the countryside. The two young sisters were then separated from their family and moved out to a house in the country, the blessing was that they weren’t separated like so many other siblings were. Eventually then did return to their family in Glasgow after years of being separated from their Mother.

It’s such an incredible story and an extremely thought- provoking chapter of my relatives lives- this is the story that I should be drawing my inspiration from.

I’ve spent the past few weeks researching other peoples war stories when I should have been looking closer to home. I know understand why I have been struggling to connect to my original ideas. This story is so personal to myself and my family and its a story which deserves to be shared.

Filled with adrenaline from my realisation I called my Gran straight away. She was at the hospital with my Papa visiting with my Great Aunt. We all know in our hearts that although the doctor said that she will not be able to understand or hear us, she can. This comment was made when she wasn’t responsive a week ago, but we knew we must be right and in the past few days she has been attempting to speak and will squeeze my grans hand when she talks. I briefly spoke to my Great Aunt and she replies as best she can. I proceed to tell my Gran about my idea for this project. I am glad that she is happy with my decision to share their story and tells me that she will look out all her old photographs.

I have so many questions and I am excited to hear more about their time spent together and the precious memories shared.

I have already started scribbling down some questions, I’m so intrigued and I know that I will still have so many more questions to ask… but this is what I have to begin with:

In all honestly I haven’t been focusing too much on my Creative Project because life has gotten in the way. Between having assignments due for other classes, my part-time job, my singing commitments and my social life, this project has taken a bit of a back seat.

A lot has also been happening in my personal life, the very exciting news is that I recently got engaged to my partner of 7 years! So in between all of my other commitments some extra time has been made to celebrate this once in a lifetime event for my fiancé and I. While there has been exciting news in the past week or so since I lasted posted a blog update there has also been some sad news. On Friday of last week my close family and I received the call that my Great Aunt, my Mums Aunt and My Grans Sister became critically ill. We were invited to visit her at the hospital to say our last goodbyes.

I’ve only really gotten to know my Great Aunt over the past few years. She lived in South Africa for many years with her husband, my Great Uncle. We have shared many happy memories over the past few years. She is a remarkable woman, always so glamourous and flamboyant, the life and soul of any event. I love hearing my gran and my aunt recalling their stories of their life growing up together and all the memories that they share. It was a sad occasion to be saying goodbye to a loved one. It is even more heart breaking to think of someone saying goodbye to a sibling and I really felt for my grandparents in that moment of time.

So today I received feedback for my Formal abstract. Most of the feedback was very positive but there are some area which I will need to have a look at. It is noted that although the abstract is strong in outlining what I intend to do in a practical sense but less strong in terms of concept.

For example, one of your main creative contributions will be to direct a video but we don’t really get a sense of what the approach will be or your specific idea for the video itself.

It has also been highlighted that I should try to develop this more ahead of the presentation to give the strongest possible sense of myself as the creative driving force. Part of this will also be making a stronger connection between the idea and the underpinning.

I completely agree with this feedback as at the moment I really don’t have a strong sense of what approach I am going to take towards the video and the story that it will convey. At the moment I am still figuring out what the story will be. While I have the idea of setting it in war time and what I am doing in terms of the track recording, I am struggling to pin down a direction for the video.

While I still haven’t came up with a story for the video I hoped that by recording the song It would give me that push to come up with something really special. I feel like when I sing a song I can really connect to the lyrics, I am hoping when I feel that connection that the story will just fall into place.

Built on this idea of creating a new song based on a classical piece of music Sandi Thom came up with beautiful lyrics based around the theme of long lost love. The idea of doing this music crossover is something that is really intriguing for Sandi so she invited me down to her studio in Liverpool where we could spend a few days bouncing about ideas and collaborating before spending the final day recording the vocals.

I am really pleased with how the vocals along with Sandi’s piano backing has turned out. It gives me a really good starting point for the song. I was also really great to get some time to really focus on the music and the vocals.

I love the idea of adding a section at the intro which sound like it is being played on an old scratchy record player before building up to the crisp clear sound of a modern day recording. This could be also be added into the video rather than the track itself.

Vinyl Scratching Sound:

I’m a huge fan of a Mind Map so this is the exact way in which I have started my development process:

At this point I also refer back to some notes I made earlier:

My plan is to create a story which revolves around this idea of long lost love. I have spent some time with men and woman who have served for our country and heard many stories based around the same theme of ‘Separated by War’ and thought this would be a great baseline for a story within the video. The story can be based around the idea that they are being separated by war but that they ‘will meet again somewhere in time'(taken from the lyrics of the song).

I decided to do some research online for some more inspiration and found countless stories to the same effect. One story which inspired me in particular was the story between Bernie Bluett and Bob Humphries. The couple fell in love during World War Two but were both separated when the couples parents disapproved of the relationship. Even when Bob joined the Army and was sent out to the barracks they did their best to keep in contact, but their parents would intercept their letters. Eventually they were forced to live apart, the years went by and they moved on and lived separate lives with new families but the both of them never forgot about their first love. So seven decades after falling in the love the couple reunite and marry at the age of 89 and 87. Its both heart-breaking and heart-warming in nature. You can read the full story here- http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/415656/It-was-first-love-the-kind-you-never-forget-say-the-couple-reunited-after-70-years

I haven’t thought of my own story yet, but this story along with other stories I have heard will give me something to really think about and hopefully inspire me further. I will take some time while I am waiting on my Formal Abstract feedback to have a good think. I will write down any thoughts I have and then eventually create a story board with my ideas.

There are various texts which I will use to underpin the folio development work:

• ‘Creative Blogging: Your first steps to a successful blog’- I am using this book as it gives advice on what a blog is and how to use it to express creativity while documenting the development process.
• ‘Music and Copyright’- A book about copyright laws and why the laws are important. This relates to how important it is for me to have the permission of the songwriter to use their original musical work and lyrics.
• ‘Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Application’- A book which is based on music’s ability to express and arouse emotions. It features perspectives on musical emotions from philosophy, musicology and the relationship between music and emotions. All of which directly relates to the theoretical underpinning of this project.
• ‘Make Your Music Video and Put It Online’- A book which is intended for amateur musicians, This will be a useful to guide me through the process of making the video, the post production editing and what programmes to use to upload the video.
• ‘Get More Fans: The DIY Guide to The New Music Business’- This is a book which will benefit me in terms of the final release of the song and the video. It gives advice on producing records and sharing them online.

As mentioned in my previous post I have used ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ (Con Te Partiro) as an inspiration for evoking emotion through music. It is also a perfect example of a powerful classical piece of music.

I also came across a song called ‘Dreaming Of The Days’ featuring the vocals of Classical Artist Katherine Jenkins. The song is a great example and inspiration for storytelling within a music video. It is also an example of taking a classical instrumental piece and adding modern lyrics.

The song is based on the Classical piece ‘I Giorni’:

I would like to create something which evokes an emotional connection with the listeners when they hear the music. When I hear or perform certain pieces of music It brings out various types of emotions within myself and from the listener. For example, when I sing the Classical piece ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ it tends to ‘move’ the listener or give them ‘goose bumps’ because the instrumental arrangement and the message conveyed is so powerful. They may also relate the song to the loss of a loved one, as it is commonly knows as a funeral song. Translated the song portrays a journey, its about looking back on a past love with affection, a love which you will take with you on new horizons but accepting that you have to move on.

Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman ‘Con Te Partiro’ (Time to Say Goodbye):

The most common motive for listening to music is to influence emotions- listeners use music to change emotions, to release emotions, to match their current emotion, to enjoy or to comfort themselves, or to relieve stress. (Juslin and Sloboda, 2010:1)

When recently working with a singer-songwriter we both discussed the idea of taking a classical piece of music and putting it together with some new lyrics to give it a contemporary feel. The individual that I worked with, Sandi Thom, then wrote the song lyrics based on this idea then we arranged the song to suit. I was then given the copyright permission to use the original song and adapt it to my own vocal style.

‘Somewhere in Time’ is a song which is based on the classical instrumental piece ‘Clair De Lune’. I plan to record the song with my own vocals at an Ayrshire based recording studio and then create a music video. This project will represent a significant broadening of my artistic scope. As a classical singer I am used to performing a song directly as it is written. Classical singing is an art form which is highly disciplined in nature. This in turn means that I usually tend to be managed and directed my a musical director. In this case I will have the opportunity to be fully in charge of the creative process from building the musicality of the song to recording and then experimenting with creating and filming a music video.

This project will mainly be performance based, although there will be a crossover in terms of the production aspect, which will include the technical recording of both the track and the video. I plan for the final outcome of the project  to come in the form of a physical and digital single release accompanied by a visual music video which will be available to view online.

I have chosen to do this project as I really feel like it is something which I want to do for myself. This project gives me the opportunity to be creative and experiment freely without any restrictions and hopefully to discover something about myself outside of my comfort zone.

‘Somewhere In Time’, is the title of my Creative Music Project. This blog will be dedicated to my project and will document my process every step of the way.

I started out my Commercial Music BA Honours years with the intention of doing an entirely different project all together, something which would steer me in the direction of my desired career. But in the end I decided that since I’m directing every other module this year towards a career in the educational sector, I would do something for myself. This could be the last time for a while that I can really focus on something personal relating to my passion for music. I have a real passion for performing classical music and next year will mark my 10 year anniversary of when I started performing professionally and I would like to commemorate that with something really special.

And so begins my project ‘Somewhere In Time’…