Author: Benjamin
Encouraging Feedback (Thank you!)
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Call for Composers / “Feast of Persia” Demo
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Melody transposition to middle-eastern scale and Footprints on the Sand
1. Didn’t do much writing today but managed to transpose the ending part of Fast for Me (starting from “Now my people…”) from the original scale to a middle-eastern scale; seeing whether it fits the “find another queen better than she [Queen Vashti]” part or not, in order to foreshadow Esther’s entrance. Am just concerned whether introducing this tune with the middle-eastern scale variation will throw off the original version, but experimented with it anyways. 2. Really got into the song Footprints on the Sand from The Prince of Egypt Musical and had to do a live cover on the beach (had to! haha) in order to help let it out. ???? 3. Am going to record the harmonies for the opening number Feast of Persia when I wake up… so wish me all the best! After recording it, I’m going to post it on some music composer groups on Facebook in order to gauge how much it would cost to finish composing countermelodies and other instrument parts, because I’d rather focus on composing the main melody and musical concepts and on writing the lyrics.
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“Royal Stance / Regal Glance” (Writing Esther 1:19 into a musical)
Today’s songwriting session was really fun and eventful! Was carrying on yesterday’s work and writing a new melody for new lyrics based on Esther 1:19, the part foreshadowing Esther’s entrance, about the sages’ suggestion to give Queen Vashti’s royal position to someone better than she. But alas, ended up re-using some melodies from our opening number “Feast of Persia“. I guess, since Les Miserables is one of my inspirations, then I better start re-using melodies this early and continuously do it throughout! Hehe! Credits to @sophie_bowns for the “Royal Stance / Regal Glance” idea. Would have come up with something else if not for her! Be sure to check out her Fiverr account for poetry services… I’ll certainly be ordering one of her gigs as soon as I’m ready! But need your vote now: A or B? A or B? Help me out! Other suggestions welcome! Credits to Sophie Bowns for the royal glance / regal glance idea! ##musical ##lyrics ##poetry ##rhyme So do away with “queen” Vashti OR (B) And let another seek your regal glance
and find a better wife than she!
(A) And let another take her royal stance
and ever prosper in your regal glance
May you bestow on her the royal stance
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“Sage Advice” song update (Esther 1:12-19)
The song is coming together! Thinking of what to title it… so we have the first song called “Feast of Persia“, so should this second one be titled “Sage Advice”? Let me know your title suggestions! Here’s what it is, with my commentary in italics. So King Xerxes a.k.a. Ahaseurus a.k.a. Khashayar demanded his queen, Vashti, to show off her beauty on the last day of the public 7-day banquet, but she refused, and therefore the king was enraged and went to consult his wise men. KING: What does the law say about her deed? The above has a proper melody structure but whatever in purple has a prose talk-sing-songy kind of flow… sort of like the actual megillah reading during Purim! It provides a nice break to the repeating melody. My most important men It seems that Memucan is the dominant wise man as he’s the only one whose words were recorded. MEMUCAN: Women are going to say, “Oh my And every noblewoman in Shushan Nevertheless I got the other 6 wise men to repeat what Memucan is saying! Sort of an element of Persian music, for the ensemble to repeat after the soloist. Good idea? ALL SEVEN SAGES: Women are going to say, “Oh my I actually didn’t intend to make the prose rhyme but it ended up rhyming… haha! The so-called Queen Vashti KARSHNA, SHETAR, ADMATA, TARSHISH, MERES, MARSNA: The above is meant to be funny… haha. What do you think? Does it work? MEMUCAN: Vashti to no longer be our queen [INSERT MORE PROSE HERE LATER…] Yes that’s it for now! Will continue the writing process tomorrow! Anyway it seems like the repeating melody is repeated 8 times so far… the same number of times as the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun melody repeats itself… so that reassures me that I didn’t repeat the melody too many times, just like how Into the Woods’ Opening Number is 14 minutes long, which reassures me that our opening number Feast of Persia‘s 10-minute length is okay! ???? On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Bizzetha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that ministered in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by the chamberlains; therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times—for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat the first in the kingdom: ‘What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, forasmuch as she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?’ And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: ‘Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the peoples, that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen will come abroad unto all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when it will be said: The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. And this day will the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the deed of the queen say the like unto all the king’s princes. So will there arise enough contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and that the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.
Why do I feel such a pain inside?
Feel like a part of my soul just died!
My anger rages!
My clever sages…
Should things be done or shall I concede?
She dares oppose me!
Alas, oh woe is me…
Need you to show me the way…
Karshna, Shetar, Admata,
Tarshish, Meres, Marsna,
Memucan, what’d you say?
This is a deed not to be dismissed!
Now every wife will fight and resist
Destroying order
Within your borders!
If the queen did that, then so can I!
Nobody owns me!
I can dethrone thee.”
will think they can demand from every man
and will say this night and day
and not heed anything your officials say
chaos will brood throughout the land
discord as heavy as the sand
This is a deed not to be dismissed!
Now every wife will fight and resist
We must have order
Within your borders!
If the queen did that, then so can I!
Nobody owns me!
I can dethrone thee.”
has disgraced Your Majesty
but also all the nobles of Shushan
and all the peoples in all the 127 lands…
[interupting each other] including… the army, the ministers, the servants, the officials, the eunuchs, and all your friends
ENOUGH!…
If my king pleases, then let’s proceed
Writing a new law to be decreed
An ultimatum
To warn all madams
Banished for life from the royal scene
She shall not enter
Left, right or center!
Source material (Esther Chapter 1):
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Memucan’s Advice to the King (Writing Esther 1:12-18 into a musical + other updates)
Since writing the last blog post, I did my first two songwriting sessions: One live on Instagram and the other live on Facebook. Before I started, I didn’t know how it was going to turn out. It turned out fantastic! My friends Elizabeth, Hope, and Janet actually contributed a fair bit to the lyrics! Below is a rough draft of what it sounds like. This is of Esther 1:12-18, after King Xerxes / Achashverosh / Ahasuerus / Khashayar (depending on which name you prefer) ended up in a fury due to his Queen Vashti’s refusal to turn up and show off her beauty to his banquet guests. So the king asks his wise men for advice, and Memucan responds, making it seem like Queen Vashti’s rebellion was a big deal in order to convince the king to get rid of her! So I am thinking of whether to make this scene comedic or not. Alternate lyrics for Memucan’s 3rd and 4th lines: This could change it all But I forsook it in favor of being consistent with the feminine rhyme structure: “disorder” / “borders”. Thanks again to Elizabeth for her idea to repeat the first stanza’s melody for Memucan’s part and her lyrics suggestions “Wives in the land could now resist”, “You don’t own me”, and “I can dethrone thee” which made up a fair part of the songwriting! Suggestions always welcome! We’re using this Middle Eastern scale for the song: Update you again tomorrow! And don’t forget to subscribe to updates by going to the homepage and entering your name and email!
The structure could fall
Other updates
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First post – Rick Barker “5 Must Haves” Webinar Review – Livestreaming Songwriting Sessions
Yay, first post! I’m gonna update this blog on a daily basis, even if it may be just a short one. Even though I have been doing digital marketing from 2016 until present, with even a few times selling out comedy shows, I had to relearn a lot of things (still am!) as (1) music is very different due to most of it being mostly free and (2) Facebook changed a lot in 2021 with the rise of iOS 14’s pixel-killing sledgehammer which took away some of the Facebook Ads’ accurate targeting and reporting. Nevertheless, Facebook targeted me correctly because Indie Bible advertised their Spotify playlist directory to me . And because Rick Barker was featured in it, I started following him as well. By the way, I came out of the self-help-business-coaching seminar-webinar industry (2017-2020), so I am very familiar with speakers & gurus, some of whom unfortunately were scammmy. Also, most of their prices ended in a “7”. ???? Nevertheless I attended Rick Barker’s “5 Must Haves” webinar and his honesty and genuineness won me over. Each of the 5 points made total sense and reminded me of a guide I wrote last year on “7 Elements of Copywriting” or something like that, so I understood the importance of the checklist. He offered something at the end of his “5 Must Haves” webinar. And I liked how he warned everyone about the offer in the beginning ????. Even though his offer price ended in a “7”, I really wanted to grab it to find out how to get music registered properly and learn other things to reach more people. But alas, first I need to raise funds for a REAPER license ($60) and a Finale license ($600) [click on the links to help me raise funds], so what I did was I grabbed his more affordable Social Media for Music Course even though its landing page was built on Clickfunnels ???? (inside joke). So far I’m about 30% into the course. His material on Instagram marketing is amazing! So I am looking forward to implementing what I’ve learned. As someone who came out of the “knowledge industry”, I’d say Rick is one of the few genuine ones! I’m also going to begin livestreaming songwriting sessions (Instagram live for the first few) as a way for you to be able to help contribute. It’s also a good way to document the process. If there are fun moments in between, it’d make for a nice compilation too, so stay tuned for them!Livestreaming Songwriting Sessions
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