Making "Unsung" Sing

"Marie's Theme' - music by Frederick Delius, words and vocal by Me.

I just recorded one of my songs (and me singing/playing it) -- at the library.

YES, THE LIBRARY.

Ok, it’s not just a library. It’s a médiathèque. Médiathèque Albert Camus.

France has an incredible system of these médiathèques. They offer concerts, painting lessons – and at the one in Antibes, even a music studio. You can practice piano, hold a band rehearsal.

In my case, record a demo.

In Antibes, it's a full music studio. A stellar microphone for vocals, Logic Pro, whatever you need.

Even better - they have people to teach you.

FOR FREE.

(Many thanks to Rudy for giving me my first lesson.)

I was in a hurry to get this done in time to promote “Unsung,” my show for the Château de la Napoule. We have three more dates – July 31 and August 21 in French, August 7 in English.

For the songs, I wrote new lyrics to existing tunes. This melody is from a piece by classical composer Frederick Delius, a pal of Henry Clews. The two other songs are from World War I, since that's the period: "Pack Up Your Troubles" and “Over There.”

This is Marie’s Theme. Lillian Palmer sings it in the English version. And much better!

But I’ll be singing in the French version. It’s a lot for a non-American to sing in English to unfamiliar tunes with such little rehearsal – it’s a “First Look.”

In addition to music demo skills, I'm learning a lot about video-making. Thanks to Tami Lynn Ross for giving me tips on how to turn my audio into a little video on iMovie.