Welcome! I've created this blog to share my music and the thoughts, feelings, and intentions behind the music. It's my first attempt at a music website, but if you can direct me technically in setting up an actual website or giving some technical expertise (I'm not the most knowledgeable in the world in that area), I would sure appreciate it. And if you know of anyone willing to record in the South Davis/Salt Lake/Ogden areas for cheap, let me know (or someone willing to teach me hands-on how to edit MIDI files and add sound enhancements). And if you or someone you know likes to put together videoes/slide presentations as a labor of love, let me know also. I explain all of these later on here, and ask again, so if I seem to be repeating, I am. And if there are resources you know of to help me achieve the goals I've talked about before, please feel free to share. You can send me an email message at davchrismonson@msn.com).
First of all, to explain what's here--I've got an intro on 7/2/09, words and commentaries for new compositions on 7/2/09 & 7/3/09, a thumbnail sketch of the hymn arrangements beginning on 7/3/09; each piece is listed under the title of the audio link. I will add commentaries on hymn arrangements and other things as time permits, as well as musings, sheet music that I feel is in OK-enough form to share, and the like. And of course there's links to vocal accomp. versions of each of these. If there's anything you'd like to share here, let me know and we'll see what we can do.
I know I've been given talents to create and communicate through music and love to do so, especially when the Spirit is strong, as music is definitely a spiritual medium. Many of these pieces are hymn arrangements, and I have worked to tell the story as exactly as I can through music and depict the emotions as fully as possible. I really try to get to the heart--to the spirit--of what the words convey, in musical form. Piano is my first love, of course--I could play (and do) in my sleep, and I always have music going through my head. More than anything, I love to improvise, especially with something which already has a framework that I can work with, build on, and take to a different level, exploring different aspects through sound and expression (that's why I enjoy arranging so much--I enjoy composing, and could improvise-compose all day, but actually having it go somewhere musically satisfying is totally different--that's why I don't have a lot of compositions--and why 2 of the 3 I have finalized take somewhat of a pop bent). I also enjoy accompanying a good, highly expressive, communicative singer, spiritually and musically (if you would like to sing any of these with me and consider yourself in that category, I'd love to talk--maybe we could collaborate and come up with a new hymn arrangement--I have ideas for a lot of them). I have somewhat of a decent voice, but not necessarily a recordable solo one, although I do hope to include some of my singing here, as sometimes having the immediate association of the words increases the impact greatly, and maybe I'll get some of my favorite singers to record them (heck, if you know anyone that might be interested in recording them, I'm all for it). I will post links here (and maybe some sheet music as well) to either clips or entire arrangements--if posting an entire arrangement hurts my chances of doing something more commercially later, oh well--I'm just grateful to have been able to share it now. With the world of iPods and the like, the music industry is going to continue to change anyway, so who knows what the music business will look like in the future. Maybe I'll just be a Sally Deford or something, not caring if someone pays me (I really DON'T want to get paid) for what I do--at least I don't have to market myself and I have ultimate control over what I do. You may notice that some (actually most of what I've got here now) of the clips may still have mistakes or not be in their final form, such as those which are missing the melody because I have recorded them as vocal accompaniment tracks--hopefully soon I can go back and fix the boo-boos and record the piano solo version, as well as add some voice to them (if I'm that brave).
My ultimate goal for my music is to 1) be able to perform with a spoken presentation and/or slides/videoes accompanying it for either distribution over the Internet or fireside-type meetings (****if anyone is or knows someone who likes to put together videoes/slide presentations and would do it as a labor of love and for the spiritual/missionary opportunity, let me know****; 2) let others use it to do the same and possibly orchestrate them--there's something more powerful about an orchestral sound as opposed to a piano sound, even though I improvise pretty orchestrally on the piano; I'm just not into the tedium or orchestrating now, so if anyone feels so inclined...); 3) possibly publish (probably self-publish) some of it--more of an on-demand publishing (to make it customized and playable by interested people or by creating a specific choral format or by composing something someone wants for a specific purpose--we'll see if I have to charge for some of that stuff--writing it down can be tedious for me!); 4) downloading is great, but it's nice to sometimes have something tangible and all in one place, and there really are still many who don't do the downloading thing, so I definitely want to finish a "rudimentary" CD that I can share with interested parties, including friends and family (possibly free--possibly at cost--we'll see-I don't know as much as I want about the process of making a CD en masse, so I couldn't tell you what it will involve); and lastly 5) make a more professional-quality CD/recording that I can possibly market and profit from commercially. And of course, I can't forget--just keep on playing, arranging, singing, and sharing. I would really appreciate it if, after listening, downloading, reading (especially downloading) you would LEAVE A COMMENT or two so that I can track things somewhat--call that your payment for listening! And again, if anyone knows of resources or can offer me technical advice and practical application, I would wholeheartedly welcome whatever you can direct me toward!
As you listen, I hope that you don't just enjoy, nor be just uplifted--I hope you can be inspired, feel closer to and strengthen your relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and increase your testimony of the restored Gospel.
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