Other Original Songs

• I Love You
  A little piano piece that was written for my wife -- back before we were married. It's one of our favorites. We even used it at our wedding. (While we were lighting the "Unity Candle".) It's the first song I ever wrote and the first midi I ever made as well. There are currently three versions of the midi floating around. They are:

  The Original -- which somehow some of the notes got chopped and the rhythm was messed up a little (Maybe it's the fact that I saved it as a Type 0 instead of a Type 1. Either way, when I brought it up again in my new midi software, it looked pretty jumbled.)

  The Remake of the Original (midi, wav) -- Correcting all of the problems from the first one, and switching the instrument from an Electric Piano to a Grand Piano.

  The Short Version -- This was the version actually played at our wedding. There's only one "verse", and the "chorus" isn't repeated at the end.

• Ad-Lib
  My first midi in several years (The first one after the original "I Love You" and "Up On the Roof".) Basically, I started with some chords, added a drum, bass guitar, and a little (and I mean little!) synth part. Then each of the instruments takes a few bars where they improvise a solo part. (Hence the name, "Ad-Lib".) Then it puts it all back together again. We did something like this in "All State Band" when I was in it, way back in the day. There are two versions of this song as well:

  The Original (See the above description.)
  A "Rock" Version in which I changed the instrumentation and the tempo, but I didn't do much with the song itself.

• Break Free / Splinters of the Mind
  This song was originally written to go along with a magic trick I'm working on. (Yes, I'm a part-time magician). It's got some crazy guitars and an incessant drum line. There are lyrics to it, sort of. The lyrics seem rather dark for such an "upbeat" tune. I may post them one day anyway. Still, there are several versions of this song as well:

  The Original Version, including the "lyric" line.
  The "Guitar Vocals" Version, with a guitar replacing the synth. voice part
  The Minor (Altered) Version. I tried putting it in a minor key and changing a few other things, and -- good or bad -- this is the result.

• Calypso (Short Version, Longer Version)
  It's a nifty little steel drum and bongo sort of thing. Don't ask me why. Ok, so I'll tell you anway. Basically, I was playing around with bongo drums for my version of "One More Chance" (on My Covers Page) and I was inspired by a little piece my brother did (check out his midi site and look for "Pan Jam") and this just sort of came out. The original is too short, I think. Of course, if you hate it, you might think it's too long. I don't know. The longer version repeats the melody while changing around parts of it a little.

• Let the Children Play
  You know the "Meet The Band" part of most concerts? They'll introduce somebody and let them play a bit on their instrument -- "And over here on the Bass Guitar, 'Sugah Bear'!!" [and then he jams for a minute] Well, that's what I was going for here. I have 4 instruments doing solos, complete with the audience cheering and everything. Of course, I don't have the voices in there announcing the next instrument, so you'll have to pretend. And the solos stink, except for maybe the drum solo.
  The solo order goes: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, and Drums. And there's a two measure "intro" (when the lead vocalist is supposedly speaking/yelling/calling out the name of the next person) before each solo.

• Canon in E-flat Major
  This is my first attempt at a Canon. Start with a theme in one voice and repeat it in another voice. This one could also be called a "round" (which is a particular type of canon.) This song features a "Basso continuo" (continuous bass line) part and three different parts playing the melody.
  You may think it sounds a bit like Pachelbel's "Canon in D", and you'd probably be right. That song was the main inspiration behind this piece. But hopefully it's different enough for you to think it's an original and not just a bad imitation of Pachelbel. Expect a longer version in the future.

Page last updated Tuesday, April 10, 2001.