Day 2 - A Night Under the StArs
After a day of travel, the party, beside the campfire and under the stars, recalls adventures past.
‘Stargazer’
When was the last time you put everything down, went to a place free of modernity, and looked deeply into the night sky? What did you see? What did you hear? How did it feel?
After the excitement of the start of the trek fades and the party is resting by the campfire, we take turns reflecting on the past and pondering the future, recalling heroes from lore and their noble deeds.
My father passed away when I was a teenager. He was an outdoors enthusiast, and we spent a lot of time together with a telescope, looking at the heavens. This song and the constellation Orion often remind me of him. Stars have a way of connecting us to our ancestors, after all, every generation since the dawn of humanity has looked in wonder at the same celestial structures.
I wrote this song by creating an eight-note scale and harmonizing it in 6th chords. I’ll try not to get too in the weeds here, but it is sufficient to say that it leads to non-traditional results (for all the music theory nerds out there: it’s just like the Barry Harris ‘Diminished 6th Scale’, but with more notes).
Many people have asked me to see this chart and have been baffled by its simplicity when I showed them. The song actually contains only two chords Bbm7 and E6 but feels like there is so much more. Perhaps this is caused by the aural illusion created by shifting bass notes, or perhaps it’s just my dad stopping by to say hi.
Carrying my bass into the woods was not easy…
Bonus Material!
Jazz and…rock-climbing…?
That’s right. This is a mini-documentary that a few friends of mine made about my writing process and how it parallels rock-climbing. I get asked a lot about how I write music and this short piece describes it better than I can write in words.
Spending time in nature is the best way I know of to recharge, refocus, and renew. What are your favorite outdoor activities?
BTW…The music featured is from another album of mine called ‘Voice = Power’, where I wrote several songs for vocalist V. Shayne Frederick.