It’s a Wonderful Day! -That Jazzy Accompaniment! Or is it The Blues..?

Hello once again to my blog where I share stories of what lead me to write original songs, how I've made YouTube videos, and fun memories I've had in college. Yesterday I shared the story of what lead me to write my song, It's a Wonderful Day! Today I continue that story by sharing with you how I put together the video for the song. Make sure you check out yesterday's blog, the video of this song, and please consider buying the sheet music for the song if you'd like to play or sing a new catchy tune.

So at the end of yesterday's blog I mentioned that I had completed the lyrics of my song. While I wrote those lyrics, I came up with some chords to go with them. I knew that this energetic song needed more than just simple piano chords. But I couldn't think of anything to add to the accompaniment other than the chords. That is, until one day in my Music Theory 4 class of the same semester I was writing the lyrics. 

We were learning about polyrhythms where there's more than one type of rhythm going on in the song. The bass or lower instruments keep the steady beat, the higher instruments or singers play or sing the melody, and then there are instruments in-between them which play a tune with a rhythm completely contrasting the beat and melody. I thought that adding polyrhythm would be great for this song. The chords I came up with could be the steady beat in the left hand of the piano, the right hand would have abstract rhythms, and I, of course, would sing the original melody above the piano accompaniment. 

However, counting isn't my strength in music… Later that year during the summer break, I asked a friend who plays piano and likes to compose to help me out with writing this song. Unfortunately, he moved before he ever got around to helping me out. 

Fast forward a year and it's the summer semester of 2021- this year! For my last semester of college, I finally got the chance to take my school's composition class. Each week I would show my teacher how I had improved with the songs I wrote and he'd give me tips on how to make them even better. I saw this as an opportunity to get some help with writing the accompaniment for this song. I completed it a week or so before the end of June. It was perfect timing for getting my June video recorded and uploaded! I'll share the backstory of making the video tomorrow.

When I shared the link of my video to my friends, many of them told me that this song has a "Blues" feel to it or that it sounded jazzy. But I was just trying to apply what I knew about polyrhythm! If you haven't already, listen to the song and then comment down below on what music genre you think it fits under! Is it Jazz? Blues? Or just the sound of multiple rhythms being played at the same time? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I hope you enjoyed this blog! Please feel free to watch my YouTube videos, consider buying the sheet music of my original compositions, and/or donate to my website! 

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!