#SeeTheOne

See The One
(C) 2013 - Greig Hess, Jenna Hess


A new song with a great and special story!!

I was super pumped and honored when my sister, Fiona, asked me to sing at her wedding.  It had been a joy to watch her and David's journey and we were all excited to celebrate their marriage.  As the wedding approached we began to work on what song(s) would be sung.  I began sorting through lots of great option and my wife, Jenna was helping too.  Even though there were many great options for songs I felt like there was a new song that was to be written for David and Fiona & their special day.

I asked Jenna if she'd be game for co writing and seeing what we could come up with.  It felt like Ephesians 5 was to be the starting point for our song.  Ephesians 5 is where God outlines how wives should treat husbands, how husbands should treat wives and how Christ's love for the church is an example of this love.  So we both went off to our separate corners, spent some time in that passage and then came back together to try and put our different pieces together.

After a few hours we had the meat of a song, even if there was still a lot more work to do!  So I approached David and Fiona, and told them that we had a new song for them.  We asked them if we could give them the gift of this song at their wedding without them ever hearing it!  (People getting married often like to have as many unknowns as possible be a part of their wedding ;)  )  However they were both very gracious and allowed us to give them their gift at the wedding.

The wedding was a great day of celebration and we were excited to join with them as they started their new life together!

The writing of the song was a great collaborative effort.  We were able to pull in the elements of the Ephesians 5 passage, David & Fiona's relationship and our own understanding of marriage.  Jenna added the he/she component (a great part of this song).  A lot of our conversations revolved around the need to give sacrificially to each other without expecting anything in return (something that is modeled well in Ephesians 5!). The rest of it is formed out of pages filled with lines, notes & thoughts and a desire to tell a story and give a gift.

Download the Chart

Download the mp3

Writing in Overflow

I have not posted on here for a little bit but lots has been going on in my songwriting world!

I felt like I got off to a good start with my writing goals for 2013 and by the beginning of March I had 3 completed songs (though yet to be recorded and posted here).  Then Easter hit, I got busy and I quickly fell out of my rhythm and habit.

Suddenly it was May and I was still no further ahead with any writing.  Then last week I had the opportunity to write a song (with Jenna) as a gift for someone from a deep place in my heart (more on that when I post that song).    The song came easily and it was great to be writing again.  However one of the best fruits was how this experience inspired other songs that were in the hopper to keep being developed.

Now I am ahead of my writing goals for the years and believe I am writing in a great overflow of grace as I continue to take on my challenge and task of writing in 2013.  I am so pumped to dive back in! Keep watching for the fruit!

I was also able to add a new guitar this past week to my arsenal of writing tools!  Another exciting part of this week.

#Abide

Abide
(C) 2013 - Greig Hess, Jenna Hess


Here is the first completed song of my 2013 song writing endeavor.

The first song that I chose to work on this year actually started last summer.  Jenna felt like she had a song on her heart.  She had lyrics and melody and wanted to work on pulling those out of her and forming it into a song.  We were on a family camping trip in Rifle CO and we thought that would be a great time to sit down and see what developed.  So on a couple of the nights we sat together with a notebook and guitar, and started putting things together - melodies, lyrics and chords.  It's not as cool as you are picturing it right now  -  there was fire ban across most of Colorado so as it got dark we gathered around the lanterns and flashlights along with the bugs and made music!

 

I sat down at the beginning of this year and took all the things we had worked on last summer and helped move the song to something that was more complete.  I'm pretty pumped that this was the first fruits of latest endeavor and that Jenna's hand was a part of it too!

The inspirations for the song along with God's amazing abiding nature was the hymn, 'Abide With Me'  (a favorite of Jenna's) and Psalm 123.  We've found this song to take on even deeper meaning as we have journeyed through life very much aware of how much we need God to abide and be with us.  Sometimes we even need our own words (even from a previous moment) to serve as a strengthening reminder.  It's good to remember that even as we move away from Him, he's still there.

We hope this song is a blessing and brings peace as HE abides with you!

Download the chart here

Our notes

Writing on an airplane

Two weeks ago I was traveling to Austin TX and I took the opportunity to do some writing whilst travelling.

So on the plane I broke out my notebook and started messing with some different ideas that I had jotted down in there.  I spent most of the time working very hard and intentionally on lyrics for an idea that had fallen out of the sky that previous weekend.  It's been interesting to watch this little song take shape as it's beginning came so casually and informally, yet its development has had so much more depth in its development even at 30,000 feet!

For the people around me, I am sure they were intrigued/slightly annoyed at my continual tapping, humming and writing.  It was great to be focused on the task with few distractions including musical instruments!

The song I speak of is called 'You are Good' and should make a full appearance here at some point!

#Miriam's Song

Miriam's Song

(C) 2009 Greig Hess
 
Miriam is my daughter.  Miriam is special and unique in many ways and has a deep and rich personality.  Miriam is also unique and special in name.  I do not know anyone else names Miriam expect for Miriam in the Bible, Moses' sister.

Where we were expecting Miriam and had decided on her name, I spent some time in the scripture exploring who that Miriam was.  Bible Miriam is most famous for leading the Israelites in a song of praise (commonly referred to as Miriam's Song) after the crossing of the Red Sea incident.  That passage speaks of God's faithfulness and greatness and then the declaration of these things as a response to a Great Act.  This was the heart that I wanted this song to capture.

As we waited for our Miriam, I wanted to remember His faithfulness and greatness as we prepared to receive our Great Act.

Download the chart here.

My original notebook scratches

Our Miriam!!!

Songwriter's Club

In the interest of continued expansion of my songwriting experience, I went to the Colorado Christian Songwriter's Group today.  The group is hosted by friend, Pete Buchwald.  Pete and I went to CU Denver together and have kept in touch through some random projects and connections.

Todays group was made up of about 5 or people.  Generally there is some kind of presentation/teaching and then people have the opportunity to share songs.  After sharing songs there is a time for feedback, suggestions and commentary.  Reminded me of sharing assignments in song writing class.

I shared a song called, Abide, that I have recently written with Jenna.  It is really close to being complete and hope to post it hear soon.  There was some good feedback and I appreciated what the group had to say.  One lyric was called into question but I am unsure whether I will leave it or not.

The other people shared some songs too.  It was great to see and diversity of writing styles and then listen to the process that the other writers had gone through in order to find and discover their song.

I liked the group and found is super helpful inspiring to have an activity that keeps my latest hobby/endeavor as an active part of my weekend.  Looking forward to more Songwriter's Club

Some Inspiration From CJ

Sunday afternoons and evenings in our house mark a magical point in the week.  For me, everything I've been working towards all week has come and gone with that Sunday morning's worship experience.   As the cycle gets ready to reset and the new week begin there are a number of things that often take place on Sundays.  Eating, resting, relaxing & checking in are some of our staples.

Part of the checking in part involves revisiting what we experienced in church that morning, what God did and how it applies to past and upcoming week.  We regularly engage the kids in what their stories were about and what they experienced at church and in worship that morning.

Several weeks ago, in the midst of Sunday normalness and our traditions, CJ was recanting her lesson and experience from the morning.  One of the bottom lines of her experience was 1 John 4:19 - We love because He (God) first loved us.  As we drove in the car that day she started singing over and over again, 'We love because He first loved us'

As CJ was singing filled with Joy she gave me some inspiration, I jotted down what she had been singing & since then I've spent time hanging out in 1 John 4.

I've sat down several times with this song and believe that something good is in the works.  It all started with a little song from CJ.  I am excited to share more as it develops!

CJ's lesson sheet for that day

The CJ!!!

Time After Time

Dabbling and experimenting in song writing is not something new to my life.  However it has always been a bit of a chore.  Things have rarely fallen from the sky and landed in my lap, instead they have been a labor.  Despite the laboring there have still been successes with songs that I am proud of, and ones that have the ability to touch and connect with people.  I believe what has been missing from the my past experiences is how time and song writing collide.

In the past I often would set aside an afternoon, evening or a few hours of time to do some songwriting.  In that afternoon, evening or few hours I would hope for a song to be written and created.  You can likely imagine the frustration when after the allotted amount of time there was no song speak of, only half witted, lame ideas on a very blank page.

After watching how creativity has blossomed in other areas and other avenues of my life, I think the following steps/changes are in order specifically in my approach to time.

Ongoing Time  -  There needs to be writing and lots of it over an extended period of time.  Once every now and then doesn't cut it.  It needs to be project and after project, song after song.  In that I think I can hone the craft a little better and spit out songs good or bad.  Say for every 10 songs there is one good one, then the fast I can get out 10 songs the sooner I have a good song!  Long term the goal would be so to see that ratio decrease and see more successes.

Shorter Time - In these first weeks and steps of 2013, I've already noticed the benefit of taking shorter bursts of time.  45 mins - 1 hr has yielded some good ideas and some development of ideas that have come at random moments through out the day.  There is still value in longer concentrated amounts of time however life often doesn't facilitate that so this has been working well.

Approaching Time - I've already been experimenting with my approach to time.  Not simply approaching the writing experience with an instrument, pen and paper.  So far I've tried sitting down with just the pen and paper which was really different and fruitful.  Also tried some time with just piano or guitar, no paper.  Different books, inspirations, locations, mediums and other sources will continue to be a part of my songwriting time!

Songwriting is a creative process and it takes time!  I am so pumped to keep investing time in this process and to slowly watch things grow, blossom and produce fruit!

This Is My Song Blog

This is my song blog.
Nothing magical here.
Just telling my story
Of successes and fear.

This is my song blog.
As I write in 2013.
Putting words and melodies
to mysteries that are unseen.

That's it!  I've committed to/challenged myself/decided to/ and want to write more in 2013.  I've dabbled in songwriting through out the years but have never given it the time or energy that I believe it deserves.  I have been slowly learning that success in other areas with creative process has come from time invested and many projects filled with successes and failures.

So I am going to take some time (like a whole year) to explore what might be inside of me and see how it might manifest itself in melody and lyrics.  Many of the things I try I will expand on here mostly to keep a record and make a marker for myself as I take on this adventure!

This is my song blog.