#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!