The music that enters my head sometimes takes over my life. Today it’s the Shaker tune, Simple Gifts, perfect for Thanksgiving each November. The way to get rid of the ear worm is to write it down. Put it in Sibelius notation. Export as PDF. Upload it. Give it away.
The music in my head interrupts my plans to finish packing and get a decent night’s sleep for my morning flight to Hawaii. Eleven years ago, I left California on Thanksgiving Day for Honolulu and then Kahului. Maybe that’s why “Simple Gifts” is churning in my head.
Is music a gift or a curse? Why should it enslave me so?
Music is a simple gift. Communicating it is far from easy.
What is this Shaker tune that squirms inside my head like an ear worm?
Aaron Copland had famously used the tune in Appalachian Spring. The two-chord song “Lord of the Dance” follows the same melody.
For my ukulele students and fellow enthusiasts, I arranged the tune as a lead sheet for both high G and low G . It’s possible to make chord melody arrangements and employ the left hand techniques of hammer-ons, slides, bends, and pull-offs to change the articulation.
For my beginning piano students, I arranged it for both hands to play the melody, the way I introduced “A Groovy Kind of Love” today, in our sixth class in Zoom.
Next, I’d arrange it for the “Fun with Ukulele” book series. Will it be in Volume II “Growing Up” or Volume V “Classical Music” or none of the above?