The time is soon coming where I will begin releasing my new work.
In light of such an event (as small as it may be)... I think it's time I wrote a short biography on how and why I write my music, so that you may better appreciate and understand what I write.
Let me take you back.
As a child my first encounter with the piano was at the tender age of 5. My Grandmother had a nice little upright that was never played but always kept in tune. I began to tinker... it was wonderful. Though to others it sounded much like the ailings of a wounded animal... it was music... the beginning of beautiful music.
I wanted to learn it... but we had no money for piano lessons back then. So I contented myself with tinkering... day in... day out.
The first song I ever learned to play , was the "Adagio Moonlight Sonata". Your probably familiar with it, and wonder how at the age of 6 I could learn such a song. Well my auntie showed me the notes and left the rest up to me (I don't think she ever expected me to remember). But every chance I could I learned more, until I knew it all by heart. It was then that I decided I never wanted lessons... I wanted to learn it all by myself.
Over the years I fine tuned my skills... never passing up an opportunity to play. I knew I was getting good when my Grandmother went from telling me to "Stop Banging" to... "Play me something, please won't you Daniel". It always brought me so much joy to sit at a piano bench.
When 2000 rolled around I was in elementary and the whole school learned a song in tribute to the millenium. I took it upon myself to learn the song on the piano and when I had fine tuned it... I played it for my music teacher. He was taken back and insisted I played it for the millenium ceremony.
That was big... it meant the world to me. The whole school... every child, teacher and peer looking to me on the piano as they sang. From then on... I was inspired, nothing could hold me back.
It wasn't until about 3 years ago that I began composing my own work. Well thats a lie... everything I played was practically my own composure since I never had sheet music to work with and even well known songs carried a different style when I played them. The transition to writing new material wasn't hard... it was naturally the next step.
Somewhere in this time... the piano became something totally different to me. It was who I was... it was engrained in my soul. To play it... was simply a passion. If I was having a rough day... I NEEDED it to cope.
And so here I am... writing my music for newgrounds, reaching a larger audience than I could ever possibly reach on my own. I have been well recieved and for that I thank you. I have shared my emotions with you... my life. Every song embodies a moment in my life... and with it, an emotion.
Let me give you some insight into how I write my music.
First of all... I never write anything down... EVER! It is in my head and that is where it will always stay until I forget it. There is absolutley no way I could write down my music the way it's meant to be played in any language, you cannot convey emotion in little black blobs on lines.
Every note is played by ear... every note is actually played.
When I write a song, I play each instrument on my midi keyboard... one at a time. I continue to add each instrument until the song is complete. If I screw up a note... I simply erase what I've done and start over from the beginning of the song. I do not digitally edit my work to fix my mistakes. That being said, you'll probubly notice in almost every song a flaw or two. This is simply because after the 50th time replaying the song I count my losses and let the flaw stay.
It is also interesting to note... that even though I own a very expensive microphone... I cannot sing. Now I've joined every chior I could possibly join... but somewhere along the line my voice changed and I simply can't get it to sound good enough to compare with the music. Otherwise you would hear alot of lyrical pieces... alot of them. Anyone know any good voice editing programs or voice lesson programs?
To sum it up... my music will never be famous or perfect. But I like it that way. It's my passion, not my job and I am only too happy to share it with you guys.
Just remember... if someone tells you, that you need lessons to learn something... remember that someone had to learn it themselves first at some point... and you can too.
Sincerely,
MMD
