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Archive of "Music" Category
Happy Birthday, Michael Head
In celebration of this very fine composer, pianist and singer, Michael Head, I made a little video of his song “A Piper” which was part of a recital that included two more of his ” Songs from the Countryside.”
Music for Waiting by John Burroughs
First version of John Burroughs‘ famous poem
“Waiting”.
There are so many things I’ve tried doing with this song and I finally decided to leave it bare bones simple.One guitar, three voices and some bass at the end.
My hope is that the music fits the poem and that I’ve done well enough for now with this first version. It’s been a long time coming!
La Belle Dame Sans Merci (John Keats)
I was pleased and surprised to find several musical settings for this great poem. There are classical versions and folk versions. There are choral versions and solo with orchestra and even instrumentals of various kinds. Here’s one I wrote for tenor and guitar, quasi folk/classical. How would you classify it?
La Belle Dame Sans Merci Keats
Last verse:
“And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.”Songs Appearing on Show for International Day of Peace
Two Songs, “Circle of Love” and “Love Only Comes” from SINGular mOMent CD and MOrning Sun CD will be part of a great show on onlinewithandrea on Blog Talk Radio on a special 3 hour show, Monday, September 21st. The show is in celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onlinewithandrea/2009/09/22/One-Love-for-Music-with-Lee-Waterworth
Check out the time for your time zone and register with Blog Talk Radio so you can join everyone in the chat room. If you can’t make it for the live show you can listen to the archive any time.
It is a great honor for me to have my music included on this wonderful show!
Hope to see you there!
Rumors from an Aeolian Harp (Thoreau)
Rumours from an Aeolian Harp Thoreau
Here’s something I hope you’ll enjoy while I work on Waiting(Burroughs) and Song of Wandering Aengus(Yeats)
I especially like the harmonizing at the end!
Rumors form an Aeolian Harp
Henry David ThoreauThere is a vale which none hath seen,
Where foot of man has never been,
Such as here lives with toil and strife,
An anxious and a sinful life.There every virtue has its birth,
Ere it descends upon the earth,
And thither every deed returns,
Which in the generous bosom burns.There love is warm, and youth is young,
And poetry is yet unsung.
For Virtue still adventures there,
And freely breathes her native air.And ever, if you hearken well,
You still may hear its vesper bell,
And tread of high-souled men go by,
Their thoughts conversing with the sky“Waiting” by John Burroughs
John Burroughs
I’m still working on the final version of John Burroughs poem “Waiting.” So far there is guitar and three voices a la Crosby, Stills and Nash or so I’ve been told! Yet I thought that was a great compliment!
This poem interested me in that I feel Burroughs has connected with an eternal truth which is in essence: what is mine shall come to me. In it he seems to say accept who you are and from that acceptance your life will unfold as it should and all that is required will come in it’s perfect time. He points toward the natural synchronicity of nature and life and the co-ordination of the inner and outer expressions of life.
Burroughs was a nature enthusiast and writer along the lines of Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman.
In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs’s special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of “a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world.” (from Wikipedia)
It is a great honor and joy to conect with these great writers through music. I hope I serve the ideas they brought to light in a way that enhances and enlivens the written words.
Here’s the poem. Waiting by John Burroughs
Songs of mine that are related to these ideas: From the Morning Sun CD: Morning Sun, Love’s Song from the Forest, Love Only Comes. From the SINGular mOMent CD: Butterfly
The lulu edition of MOrning Sun has an axtra bonus track: “Rumors from an Aeolian Harp” by Henry David Thoreau. Check it out!
It’s May! May’s birthstone: emerald, birth flower: Lily of the Valley!
Shaman’s Hand for May 3rd: 44th Episode!
May 3rd: Pete Seeger’s 90th Borthday!
Tucson Folk Festival May2 and 3
Songs I’m working on:
Tiger!Tiger! William Blake
The Song of the Wandering Aengus W. B. Yeats
Shaman’s Hand CD release party for SINGular mOMent
April 5 we’ll be celebrating the release of SINGular mOMent, the newest CD from Michael Emmanuel. This CD has a great collection of songs and shows Michael versatility as a writer of music for his own poetry and that of John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, William Wordsworth, Daff
odils and Phantom of Delight, and a verse from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Sir Galahad, Star-like Mingles with the Stars.Other songs are Buttefly, At the Door, Lifting of the Veil, Circle of Love and Sigular Moment. The song Little Angels Dust Your Wings was inspired by a poem of the same name by Canadian Rieki Master Alex Chornyj who will also be on the show.
Join us for some beautiful music and an inspirational joyfilled time or catch the archive at your convenience.
In the studio again
Michael recording "Little Angels, Dust Your Wings".
Here I am in the studio recreating a recording session. Hey, it’s a bedroom studio without all the nice stuff that “real” recording studio has. I’m working on Little Angels Dust Your Wings. It’s…tada….finished!
Earlier in the day I was looking for some CDs to record on and I found a long lost song called At the Door. Also on the hard drive is the full version of La Belle Dame sans Merci poetry written by John Keats.
So it’s been a full day. I came home from work with 50 CD-Rs! Hooray!
SO aside from a few machine malfunctions (my DAT headphone jack is useless) and I broke a tape in it this evening.
While working on this post I’ve been listening to Parazona and onlinewithandrea on Blog Talk Radio. Tomorrow I’m Andrea’s guest.
Hooray!
All’s well that ends well.
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Welcome to Michael Emmanuel.com
My thanks to Buck Bannister for creating this new site for me and my music. I’m taking a break from recording as I write his entry. I’m working on a new song called “Little Angels Dust Your Wings.” It is inspired by the poetry of Alex Chornyj, a Reiki Master from Canada whom I met on Shaman’s Hand Blog Talk Radio. Out of the blue he called in one night and shared his poetry with us. Then I asked him to be a guest which he did twice since that first call. One
of the shows he guested is the most listened to show so far!He shared his poem about his daughters one night and I promised to write some music to it. With a little revision to make it more rhythmic I hope I have something that he will like. So far Buck likes it and says it is his favorite after Morning Sun. (wow!)
Recording songs is a fun process. I start with guitar, usually, then add bass, (not always),next lead vocals, then strings and other instruments and in this case possibly harmony vocals…we’ll see. I’ve added a piano track which I don’t usually use, but it sounds pretty good if I do say so myself.
Hoping this will fit on the new CD coming out soon called “SINGular mOMent.” I have plenty of stuff for it now but I want this to get “out there” so that Alex can use it if he wants.
Join us on Shaman’s Hand. We’re on every Sunday night 8pm MST. I never know who I might meet up with on the air. So far, some pretty nice people!
Here’s a little clip of one of the musical messages that we receive from Captain and Maestro Stuart Pidman and the first ever inter-galactic orchestral explorers, “The Cosmic Eye” via my mystical glowing pine cone at Shaman’s Hand:
About Michael
Michael Emmanuel has been making music most of his life. His blend of folk and classical music creates a unique sound that is engaging, intelligent and compelling.
Relying on original lyrics as well as some of the great Romantic poems of the past, his songs evoke a sense of connection to our fellow man, the world and the universe.
Beyond being a singer/songwriter and guitarist. Michael is an accomplished classical tenor and pianist.
