Free! -An Original Composition
Hello and welcome to another week of blogs! For those of you who are new here, every second full week of the month from Monday to Friday is when I post blogs on my site. Some blogs are about the backstories that got me writing a new song. Others are the behind the scenes of making my YouTube music videos. And then sometimes I like to write a story from when I was in college studying music. Today's blog is going to be about the backstory of my original song called, "Free". It was my August YouTube video, and I have a pdf of the sheet music on this website that you can buy right here.
As I have mentioned previously in some of my blogs including my first blog, Let's Start at the Very Beginning, I am religious and I went on a full time Mission in New Zealand for my church. I had written songs while in High School, but it wasn't until I was a Missionary that I started truly having a passion for it. During the few moments that I had free time, I would write music to express my spiritual beliefs. Sometimes, just as my companion and I would finish a lesson with someone, one of those songs would pop into my head and I would realize that it fit perfectly with what we were teaching that day. When it was my turn to speak once again, I would ask if I could sing a song for them and they'd say yes.
Halfway through my mission (which was only 9 months), I was in an area where there were quite a few church members who knew that I was a songwriter. One of these members was in charge of an event that was to celebrate the highschool graduates in the small town I was in, and she asked me if I could sing one of my songs at this event. I agreed and asked her what the theme was so I knew what song would be good to share with them. Since I had already had the experience of written songs that were perfect to share with people months later, I expected that one of the songs that I had already written would also work for the event. But it was only a moment after finding out what the theme of the night was (the theme was "This Adventure") that my companion said, "Yeah, she could write a new one."
I was shocked and a little annoyed that she made that statement so matter-of-factly as if it came as natural to me as snapping my fingers. Looking back, I realize that neither my companion or this member knew of all of my songs, and it's possible that I could have gotten away with just sharing one of the songs I had already written that they hadn't heard yet. But the moment that she suggested that I write a new one, I thought that I had to do it. What can I say? I have way too much integrity for my own good! 😂
Since we were busy missionaries teaching a lot of people, I didn't have much time to think of the song or about the theme. But one afternoon I had a break through during my few minutes of free time. I was sitting at my study desk and just staring at the empty page of my song notebook. What could I write that involves an adventure? I kept thinking. Then I stopped and thought of a different question- Where would I be right now if I wasn't on a mission? I turned to the window of our sliding door and saw all the big, beautiful trees and thought, I would be on vacation right now! I realized that this was my adventure! Why not express my feelings towards my own exciting adventure? I then started writing on my paper, "What if…I could be anywhere in the world right now, where would I be?" That was how I felt before my mission as I waited to find out where I would go.
I reminded myself of all the excitement I had as I got ready and started my mission. It really did feel like I was going on an adventure! Then as I reached the second verse, I was reminded of how even though I enjoyed my first few months and even though I was happy to be in this town, I had a bumpy ride and had experienced a lot of disappointments. Sometimes this awesome adventure of mine wasn't that awesome, but I now was enjoying the experience once again. Just as I had written in the song, "I will remember why I'm here", I was remembering the reason why I decided to go on a mission. I wanted to serve people and teach them what I believe. And I wanted to enjoy my time in this beautiful place surrounded by so many wonderful people!
The final verse had some mixed emotions written within it. As I mentioned earlier, I was halfway through my mission already. I knew that another 9 months wasn't that far away. Soon I would have to end this adventure and go back home. Even though it was hard sometimes, the thought made me sad. But I decided to change my focus from the sorrow for myself to the excitement for the teenagers I would be singing to. It was only a year ago that I had been in their shoes excitedly looking forward to my adventure. I wanted to pump them up with that same excitement to go find their own adventures and be FREE!
It didn't take too long to write the melody and lyrics of this song. But since I didn't have too much free time as a missionary and at the time couldn't read treble clef, I sang my song acapella. That's what I had been doing for each of my songs already. Either way, the people who came and listened to it had enjoyed it!
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog! Please feel free to watch my YouTube videos, buy my sheet music, and/or donate to my website! Any bit of money contributed will be appreciated! Have you ever been on a grand adventure before? Comment below on what your favorite part of it was! Thanks for reading all the way to the end.
