The exile, the musical

The Exile is a musical in 2 acts, with book by Edward Swardt and music and lyrics by Eric Swardt. The story starts on freedom day celebrations, ten years after the first democratic election in South Africa, when Tyler, a young man who grew up without a father, learns from his mother that his father went into exile and dedicated his life to the liberation of the country. When Tyler observes how his mother's is friend misbehaves, Tyler decides to search for his father and bring him back.

The exile can be performed by 8 actors. The lead roles are

• Tyler, a young man looking for his father
• Melissa, Tyler's friend
• Pamela, Tyler's mother
• Hugo, Tyler's father who went into exile

The supporting roles are

• Anthony, Pamela's friend
• Cathy, Hugo's friend
• Neil, Hugo's friend
• Manual, Hugo's friend

The cast of The exile can further be extended to include extra roles for a young Hugo and a young Pamela. The actors can double roles to perform in the chorus line, or a seperate chorus can include anything from 4 to 10 characters. All roles are for adult actors.

The exile includes a variety of musical styles, with some rock, blues and Broadway influences, as well as love songs. You can listen to the songs recorded for the concept album.

The music can ideally be performed by a 6 piece band with drums, bass, 2 guitars, piano and keyboards, but depending on the available budget, the keyboard parts can be performed by a larger orchestra, including up to 24+ String (Violins, Violas, Celi), 3 winds (Oboe, flute, clarinets) and 4 brass (Trumpets, trombones)

 

What did I ever do wrong (feat. Gabrielle)

 

New song recording!

 

You can download the track here What did I ever do wrong.

Or stream it from my web site at Dog-on-blues, or from Soundcloud.

Every song has a story. This song has a bit of a winded story behind it. It started off when I wrote the songs for my musical in progress, Wake not the dead. This is a horror / love story musical with some twists. The story goes that Walter, a rich baron from some weird place just south of Transilvania revived his childhood lover from the grave. He then sat with the little problem of his newly-revived-from-the-grave-ex-lover-and-now-new-girl-friend was in no mood to share him and his house with his wife. So, Walter had to tell his wife to get out.

Swanhilda, Walter's wife, answered him with this lament.

The story of the song does not end there. Originally it was written as a rather showtunes song. And waited on the rack for further attention. I started writing songs for Annemie since the start of this year and record her songs in my studio. Up,to now, I wrote about ten songs for her. One of the songs she wanted was a sad blues, with a piano triplets track, similar to what can be heard in the Guns and roses song, Since you've been gone.

After about the third attempt of writing lyrics, I dug the lyrics of this song out from the grave and showed it to her. Happy with what she read, but not happy with the music, we decided to change the song to a blues song. She then came up with a beautifull tune from Zaz as a reference.

With these four things in mind I reworked the song. The Zaz song for the beginning, Guns and roses in the background, the blues tune and the lyrics from Wake not the dead all came together in this song.

Not long, and well, Annemie decided to drop this song from her repertoir, leaving me with what I considdered to be a very beautiful tune. Not wantng to let it die on the rack, I sent the song in to Studio Pros to see what I can do and asked Gabrielle to do the vocals.

The results are now ready for your enjoyment!

I want to add lead guitars, but decided that I will have to leave some space for future surprise! What do you think? Does it need a lead guitar?

Those who followed my blog from the start will recognize Gabrielle's lovely voice in the role of Cathy in the musical, The exile, where she is featured on the songs, I have never and Prisoner of your spell.

 

Strength to carry on

When you go through life, you have to find inspiration from many places. Sometimes that inspiration may come from other people. Sometimes that inspiration comes from a song. Sometimes that song may even be your own song,

Sometimes it may be all of the above.

This time, I found my inspiration from a song from my musical, The exile - Strength to carry on. (Listen to the song on the link to Soundcloud)

Thank you for my wonderful family, who are always there. This all would be nothing without you and your strength to help me carry on.

 

Long long time

Track: Long long time

Album: Out takes from the Exile concept album recordings

Remember the exile? Off course you remember the exile! This is a blog started about the exile. The exile is a musical and this blog is about everything musical and theatre.

The recordings of the concept album for the exile had about 16 tracks. Why do I say about. Last count, it was exactly sixteen! Anyway, those sixteen tracks was representative of the songs of the musical, but it was not everything. There are a few other songs as well - some of them were recorded, but did not make it unto the final issued album.

I am glad to present to you one more of those tracks which was recorded, but not included on the release.

Long long time.

After Hugo has been intruduced to his son, which he did not even knew he had until now, he sits down and fills his son, Tyler in on what was going on since he left South Africa and went into exile. At the end of the track he sits down and try to explain to himself why he never returned to his home country, even after he reached the goal of democracy in his homeland.

To listen to the whole album from track one to the end, go to the link at the top of this page or just click on this link.

There was nothing wrong with original vocal recording and to let the work goes to waste would do injustice. The song did not make it because there was something wrong with the songwriting part of it. The verse vs. chorus just did not work. For this remix, I try to solve part of the problems, firstly by not having a chorus. The song form is thus a AABA form pure. I've thrown in a bridge with a brass instrumental not just for variety. The purpose of that interlude is to give the stage actors a moment to do what they do, i.e. Hugo turns away from Tyler, to whom he was addressing the first part. He looks around to the other room where Cathy is talking to Melissa and then starts to sing the last verse, half to himself, but also so that Tyler can hear him.

I wanted to rewrite the song completely with new words - and still rederves the right to do so, but this week a bright idea hit me. Well, I had a day off from work to start with and decided to use the day productively. I decided to give the track a bit more epic sounding orchestration.

Let me know if you like it!

 

We don't know what the future will hold, but we'll give it a chance

Track: Give it a chance

Album: The Exile, the musical - out-takes

Here is a bonus track for the fans. It's an out-take from the Exile concept album recordings. It is the second to last song from the musical, called, Give it a chance.

Click the link above to give it a listen on Soundcloud.

I gave it a bit of a remix and re-orchestration. Hope you like it.

Vocals recorded by Studio Pros.

 

The concept album concept

Ken Davenport made a post on his blog about bringing back the concept of the concept album.

Thanks Ken. He gives Andrew Lloyd Webber as examples of using this concept. i am sure there must be many more. If you know of others, please mention it in the comments below.

I was not even aware that he concept of a concept album needed any bringing back! My ignorance aside, this is a brilliant idea and one of the most basic tools to the disposal of the writer / composer of musicals.

I have gone the concept album route for The exile. I have not done it with the hope of making lots of money from it, but rather as part of the development process. To add to Ken's post, let me list the reasons why you may want to do a concept album.

• Firstly and most importantly, it serves as a basic tool to help you sell your musical to an interested producer. Without the concept album recording, the best you can do to sell your musical is to lie, beg or plea to producers to believe in a script, with empty promises that the music will be brilliant. Maybe you can bring your own piano and sing some of the songs. Unless you are Bon Jovi, you are more likely to bore or scare the producer. People are much more likely to take you serious if you have a professionally recorded CD. You may even leave a CD with interested people, and yes, it will give your ego a huge boost if somebody phone or contact you afterwards to tell you which song is his or her favourite! Which brings us to the next point.
• It gives you a chance to get feedback from people. Very valuable feedback. This is free feedback you can use to invest back into your show. I have received lots of feedback from people on my concept album. Most people told they just loved "that blues song". I had some requests from people interested in licencing and recording "that love song". Others told me how that song about democracy had them in stitches. Knowing what the crowd favourite is, gives you a heads up on what you can use to sell your show to the next producer you talk to.
• The concept album is just that, i.e. a concept album. It is a development tool. It gives you a chance to try things out and change these things. I had some people making suggestions on how to improve the show. The most common idea is to add another big company sing-a-long somewhere in the middle. My show opens with a company number and close with a reprise of something on the same theme. People would love to have a break in the story somewhere in the middle as well, similar to Les Mis did with Master of the house. During the recording process I could pick up when a song just does not work. This gives me the chance to re-write that song.
• It serves as a milestone. It gives you something to hold and treasure. It gives the feeling that you have achieved something major. Your show have moved on from just paper to something concrete.

Recording a concept album is not cheap. It is much cheaper than in the 70's when ALW did Superstar, but it still requires some investment. In the next few months I will touch on the behind-the-scene process of producing a concept album. So, untill then. Leave some comments below about what you want me to talk about, and tell me which song did you enjoy the most from my concept album recording. You just might be able to say some day that you gave some significant input into the next hit on Broadway;)

 

I am free

Today we want to look at the final song of this musical. This is the song that brings everything to a close. This is what this whole play is about. This is what the Odyssey is about. Just like Telemachus has set himself free from the suitors who ransacked his home by bringing his father back, Tyler has set his home free from Anthony, the suitor, by doing the same. Hugo is now free by returning home, free from the spell of Cathy - just like Ulysses who was set free from Calypso's spell. Even Anthony is now free to so what he wants. He can now go out and drink every night, play pool, and pass out wherever he wants.

 

In the background of this tale is also the story of a whole nation that was set free. We have seen how the country was struggling under an apartheid regime, and how the things have changed.

Nothing is however perfect as in the forever-after-land fairy tales. Democracy has its problems. Hugo and Pamela still have a long way to go before life can really be normal again.

Track: I am Free

 

HUGO

(1A)

I AM STANDING HERE AS A FREE MAN

TO TELL YOU MY TALE

I REMEMBER THOSE WHO HELPED

TO SET ME FREE

 

TYLER

(2A)

I AM STANDING HERE AS A FREE MAN

ON THIS JOYFUL DAY

MY HOUSE IS NOW FREE

ON THIS GLORIOUS DAY

 

HUGO

(3B)

I AM FREE. FREE TO GO

I AM FREE TO LIVE AGAIN

HERE I STAND AS A MAN LIBERATED

SO I'LL REMAIN, HAPPY AND FREE

 

PAMELA

(4D)

THIS IS THE STORY OF MY HERO

WHO TRAVELED SO FAR AND WIDE

I ALLOWED HIM TO ESCAPED THAT NIGHT

NOW HE IS BACK AGAIN

 

CATHY

(5D)

MANY CITIES DID YOU VISIT

MANY PEOPLE DID YOU KNOW

AND MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SUFFERED

SO YOU'D BE FREE AGAIN

 

ENSEMBLE (WOMEN)

(6B)

HE IS FREE. FREE TO GO

HE IS FREE TO LIVE AGAIN

HERE HE STAND AS A MAN LIBERATED

SO HE'LL REMAIN, HAPPY AND FREE

 

ANTHONY

(7B)

I AM FREE. FREE TO GO

I AM FREE FROM THIS DREADED PLACE

HERE I STAND WITH NO SHACKLES TO RESTRAIN ME

SO I'LL REMAIN, HAPPY AND FREE

 

ENSEMBLE

(8B)

WE ARE FREE. FREE TO GO

WE ARE FREE AND LIVE AS ONE

NOW WE STAND AS A NATION UNITED

SO WE'LL REMAIN, UNITED AND FREE

 

Final confrontation

From the title of this song it is not hard to figure out what this song is all about. This is an conversation between Hugo and Anthony. It is not exactly a leasurely friendly conversation.

In the previous scene, Pamela told Anthony what she wants his to do if he wants to marry her. Now, Hugo is simply reminding him of what the challenge is. If he accepts, Hugo will take off and leave them to be. If he forego the challenge, he must leave and never bother Pamela again.

The song follows a simple variation of the AABA song form (more like AAAB AABA B). Most of the song is a question and resonse type song. The two character alternates to sing a verse each at a time.

At the end, Anthony decides that what Pamela is asking of him does not suit his lifestyle. In his view, he will have to give up his freedom and be her slave. Finally, Hugo tells him to take off and never returns.

Track: Final confrontation

(Click song name to listen on soundcloud)

Album: The Exile, concept album recording

Words and music: Eric Swardt

 

HUGO

(1A)

ANTHONY

PAMELA LAID DOWN HER CHALLENGE FOR YOU

IF YOU STILL WISH TO HAVE THE HAND OF THIS WOMAN

YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR WAYS

TAKE ON THIS CHALLENGE

OR GET ON YOUR WAY

STOP YOUR DRINKING, GET A JOB

DO AS SHE SAYS AND STOP ACTING LIKE A SLOB

 

ANTHONY

(2A)

WRETCHED CREATURE

YOU HAVE NOT MUCH OF A GRAIN OF SENSE IN YOU

REGARD YOURSELF LUCKY TO BE ALLOWED IN HERE

AS FOR ALL THESE YEARS YOU ABANDONED YOUR FAMILY

WHILE FOR THOSE YEARS I PROVIDED FOR THEM

 

HUGO

(3A)

MARRY THIS WOMAN AND START TO BEHAVE

JUST LIKE A REAL HUSBAND TO HER OUGHT TO BEHAVE

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL

SHOW HER THAT YOU REALLY LOVE HER

AND YOU DO NOT NEED HER TO BE YOUR SLAVE

 

ANTHONY

(4B)

WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MAKE A CLAIM TO MY LIFE

DO NOT QUARREL WITH A MAN WHO IS HALF OF YOUR AGE

GET OUT OF THIS PLACE RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN

I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU ANY MORE

 

HUGO

(5A')

SO, ANTHONY

ARE YOU MEETING THE CHALLENGE LAID BEFORE YOU

IF SO I WILL LEAVE THIS PLACE

I WON'T STAND IN YOUR WAY

I'LL ACCEPT MY DEFEAT GRACEFULLY

AND YOU WILL NEVER HEAR FROM ME AGAIN

 

(6A)

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL

IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT

LEAVE THIS PLACE WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY

TELL US WHAT SHALL IT BE

TELL US IF YOU ACCEPT

STATE YOUR INTENT WITH NO AMBIGUITY

 

ANTHONY

(7B)

I GRIEVE THAT I HAVE TO FORGO OF THIS DARE

WHAT IS ASKED OF ME NO MAN CAN ACCEPT

YOU ASK ME LEAVE MY OWN FREE WILL

I WILL GO NOW AND NEVER RETURN

 

ANTHONY

(8A)

PAMELA LAID DOWN HER CHALLENGE FOR ME

IF I STILL WISH TO HAVE THE HAND OF THIS WOMAN

YOU NOW KNOW WHAT TO DO

I CAN'T CHANGE MY WAYS

I WILL NOT TAKE THIS CHALLENGE

OR BE ON MY WAY

STOP MY DRINKING, GET A JOB

DO AS SHE SAYS TAKE ORDERS OR BE A SLAVE

 

HUGO

(9B)

I SAY THAT YOU HAVE TO FORGO OF THIS DARE

WHAT IS ASKED OF YOU YOU DO NOT ACCEPT

YOU ASK YOU TO LEAVE YOUR EVIL WAYS

YOU MUST GO NOW AND NEVER RETURN

 

Ghost town - the radio mix

Remember the song Ghost town. Well, I thought it was a great song. But, not everybody thought so. I've sent it in for evaluation and guess what the comments was? They thought it is a great song, but it is too long....and the arrangements, sounded "unfinished", whatever that may mean.

So, here is the revised mix.

Ghost town the radio mix.

I did away with all the guitar and sax solos for starters. Then I did away with the second bridge. Two bridges are just too much. And then I did away with one verse and one chorus. What we have now is a song about two and a half minutes shorter than the original song, but still about four minutes long.

By doing away with the extra chorusses and the instrumental parts, the story and the message did not change at all. I thought that the sax solo especially did add to the atmosphere, but in the name of time constraints, that had to suffer.

Doing away with a verse takes a little bit away from the story. I had to decide which part of the story to cut down, so I took away the second last verse. The song still makes up a full story and makes sense from start to finish. Just a bit of storyline now simply does not get told. By doing away with the second bridge, I had to let the message suffer. In the first bridge, the singer realise the real meaning of it all. I can not take that away without loosing the whole meaning of the song. In the second bridge the singer resigns to her fate, knowing that her position is not that special and unique. Even though this is an important message, the song still works without it.

Listen to the two versions and let me know in the comments below if you think I did the song damage.

 

When a song just does not work

I am not a big fan of song recipes. There is no magic formula that you can follow to guarantee a hit song. However, sometimes it is obvious that a song just does not work, but you can not put your finger on it. That is a good time to refer to those recipes and try to figure out what is wrong with the song.

Here is an example. This is a take-out from The exile concept album recordings. The song is Long long time.

Listening to the song, it is obvious that something is just not working in that song.

Gary Ewer has a nice checklist on his blog you can use to identify problems with a song. Let's try it out.

Before we go into the checklist, just a few comments. This checklist is clearly aimed at a verse-chorus-bridge song form. In this ormat, the chorus is often repeated. the bridge section is rarely repeated. Not all songs are written in this form and other forms very often work just as well. My song, Long long time uses the AABA song form in an extended form. If we look at the song closely we'll find a AAB AABA form. The melody of the B section in this song is repeated. The lyrics are not repeated at all as in a chorus. This song highlights one problem with the AABA format. As soon as the B section is repeated, it does the same job as a chorus in some way. As we go through Gary's checklist, this will become clear.

Let's go.

Melody

Gary: My melody shows good contour, with a distinctive shape.

Me: No. The melody for this song seems to wander aimlessly.

Gary: I can identify a moment in the verse that would serve as a climactic point for that melody.

Me: No. The highest point in the melody is the 3rd bar of the verse, and wander around for the rest of the song.

Gary: I can identify a moment in the chorus that would serve as a climactic point for the song.

Me: The song does not have an identifyable chorus. The B section does not have a clear climax, with the highest point in the melody on the 2nd note and the melody moving in a downwards contour from there on.

Gary: My verse melody works its way upward, and connects somewhat seamlessly to the chorus. (If it doesn't, it uses a pre-chorus do make the connection)

Me: No. It starts high and work its way down. The B section does basically the same.

Gary: My chorus melody resides a bit higher than the verse melody, and features the tonic (key) note more than in the verse.

Me: The B section is barely higher (average one note) higher than the A section. The chorus features the tonic only 2 times on strong beats and once more on a weak beat. The verse starts offmon the tonic and thereafter features the tonic on the highest note, where it is repeated. Overall this gives the tonic more importance in the A section than in the B section. Generally, the tonic note is not strong enough to give the song a definite feeling of which key it belongs to.

Gary: My bridge brings in a 3rd melody, accompanied by chords that include altered chords, or explores the opposite mode (i.e., major key songs move into the minor).

Me: In this sense, the B section is much more like a bridge than a chorus. It however introduce only a second melody, not a 3rd. This section seems to have an identity crisis.

Chords

Gary: I use more "strong" progressions in the chorus, with more interesting "fragile" progressions in the verse.

Me: No. The chord progression is:

• A section: C,,Am,,F,,G,D.
• B section: Em,G,Am,C,Dm,F,G Em,D C

The B section has a mch more fragile progression than the A section

Gary: I use more vocal harmonies in the chorus than I do in the verse.

Me: There are no vocal harmonies at all.

Gary: I start the bridge, or any other "miscellaneous" section of my song on a chord other than the tonic chord.

Me: Yes. The B section starts on Em. Only problem is that the B section tries to be both chorus and bridge.

Gary: The majority of progressions throughout the song feel like a complete musical journey, and any complex progressions eventually feel resolved by progressions in the chorus.

Me: the verse ends on a D. It needs to end on a C to give resolution. The B section ends on C, but the D leading up to the C avoids the C to sound like a resolution.

Lyrics

Gary: I use relatively plain, everyday language that connects with average people.

Me: Yes

Gary: Despite my use of plain language, I find opportunities to say or describe things, events, people, etc., with an occasionally clever turn of phrase.

Me: No. The whole song just keeps going in an almost conversational manner, becoming boring and uninteresting

Gary: I ensure that my verse lyrics primarily describe events, people and situations, while my chorus lyrics primarily describe reactions and emotions.

Me: No. There is no emotional conclusion at any point. It just keeps going on and on.

Gary: I try to find concise ways to say things, and avoid being unnecessarily wordy.

Me: Yes.

Miscellaneous:

 My song shows, even in a small degree, something innovative that sets it apart from other songs I've written, and other songs of the same genre that listeners would know.

 I've tried to incorporate something unique regarding instrumentation (fiddle, acoustic guitar, acoustic orchestral instrument, etc.).

 The song's intro is, even in just some small measure, interesting, and is likely to pull a listener into the rest of the song.

 I've varied the overall loudness of the song so that the basic dynamic level shows an interesting and compelling contour.

To save time and space, I will answer these 4 questions with one resounding NO. The arangement is generally borng.

In conclusion, this song scores 3 out of 18. No wonder the song sucks. No song have to score 100% in this checklist to work, but it takes no genius to figure out that such a low score is just not good enough.

 

PDCA - So, how much have we done?

Remember our plan? Let's remind you. We had the problem with so much to do in so little time. Then we drew up the big plan.

 

First, let us remind you of the basic principles of planning: Plan, Do, Check, Action (PDCA). No plan (Plan) is worth anything if you do not do (Do) anything. After you have done something it is worth your while to check how you have done against the plan (Check), and then take corrective action (Action) if you are not achieving the plan.

 

We now got to the end of the month of March. So, what did we plan to do?

 

To summarize, we planned to have 3 songs written for Rock fable, of which we wanted 2 recorded with vocals. For The exile we planned to have 2 songs vocals recorded plus 2 songs back tracks recorded. For Wake not the dead we wanted 2 songs back tracks recorded. That is a total of 9 songs backtracks, of which wanted 4 vocals recorded.

 

What have we done?

 

For Rock fable we have 2 written, with backtracks recorded. no vocals.

 

For The exile we recorded 4 backtracks, no vocals.

 

For Wake not the dead we recorded 2 backtracks, no vocals.

 

Yup, that is a little bit behind schedule, is it not? Rock fable is behind with the writing of one song. For the rest, we achieved plan on the backtracks, but when it comes to vocals, we are sadly nowhere. That is 4 songs behind.

 

What is the problem? As we have discussed before, the problem is to find singers.

For Rock fable I have a singer, she is just not ready yet. I will see her tomorrow, maybe we can discuss it and work out some plan of action.

For The exile, I uploaded all the backtracks, with lyrics and scores to indaba, but no success yet. If we hired professional singers we probably would have been on schedule.

 

Now I will have to make some decisions. Throwing money at it might solve it, while, on the other hand, the problem may get solved if we work a little harder at it.

 

Fact is, let's admit, I have not worked hard enough at getting singers. Just uploading songs to indaba and hope for the best is just not going to cut it. My countermeasure must be to actively seek singers on indaba, network more, and invite more singers to my projects.

 

My strategy for April will be to invite at least one new singer to each project per week. Once I have built up some momentum, I can ask singers who participated in one song to contribute to the other projects too. This way I just might get at least something done.

If you are interested, or know somebody who would be, just contact me.

Hold thumbs and let's hope we make better progress next month.

And b.t.w. in the meanwhile I am spending much more time than what I planned for with Protea Stage Productions. That definitely contributed to my falling behind schedule, but the experience gained there is worth it, therefore I will continue spending time with them.

 

The challenge

We are now nearing the final scene of our story. Anthony has been living with Pamela for some time now. He does not have a job. He drinks a lot, stay out late night with his friends playing pool, and just pass out in awkward places.

Pamela had no alternative. She allowed Anthony to take advantage of her just because she did not want to end up all alone. Now things have changed a bit. Hugo appeared on the scene. Now Pamela has a choice.

In the previous song, Hugo told Anthony that he is not welcome anymore. Anthony however told Hugo to get lost, as it is not his choice who should stay with Pam. She is the only one who can make that choice.

In this scene, Pam steps up. She is however not telling Anthony outright to take his bag and walk. She is giving Anthony a last chance by telling him that she will marry him if he gets a job and start to behave.

Track: The challenge

 

PAMELA

(1A)

LISTEN TO ME ANTHONY

YOU ARE ABUSING THE HOSPITALITY

MY SON HAS ALLOWED YOU TO MAKE

A NUISANCE ONLY FOR MY OWN SAKE

 

(2B)

YOU SAY THAT YOU WANT TO MARRY ME

LET ME THEN GIVE YOU THIS OPPORTUNITY

I WILL ACCEPT YOUR OFFER TODAY

IF YOU WILL DO WHAT I SAY

 

(3C)

STOP DRINKING WITH YOUR FRIENDS ALL THE TIME

FIND A JOB TO EARN YOUR DIME

START ACTING LIKE A MAN OF MINE

AND START TO PROVIDE FOR MY NEEDS

 

(4A)

I ASK THIS OF YOU ANTHONY

I ASK YOU TO DO THIS IF YOU DO CARE FOR ME

I ASK YOU TO OBEY

AND I ONLY ASK YOU TO CHANGE YOUR WAYS

 

(5C)

STOP DRINKING WITH YOUR FRIENDS ALL THE TIME

STAY AT HOME AND TALK TO ME

NO MORE PLAYING POOL EVERY NIGHT

OR PASSING OUT IN THE LAVATORY

 

(6A)

FIND A JOB TO EARN A WAGE

RENT A HOUSE AND GIVE ME SOME PLACE

BUY ME WHAT I NEED

ONLY THEN CAN YOU MARY ME

(7C)

STOP DRINKING WITH YOUR FRIENDS ALL THE TIME

STAY AT HOME AND TALK TO ME

NO MORE PLAYING POOL EVERY NIGHT

OR PASSING OUT IN THE LAVATORY

 

(8A)

FIND A JOB TO EARN A WAGE

RENT A HOUSE AND GIVE ME SOME PLACE

BUY ME WHAT I NEED

ONLY THEN CAN YOU MARY ME

 

Time for you to go

Hugo is back. All formalities are now dealt with. Tyler made up with his mom. His mom made up with Hugo, and Hugo... Well Hugo now have to deal with the realities.

 

Tyler has already told Hugo about everything that was going on, and especially about his mother's business with Anthony.

 

Hugo now approaches Anthony to confront him. Anthony is however not going to disappear that easily.

 

HUGO

(1A)

ANTHONY, I KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON

IN THE YEARS WHEN I WAS NOT AROUND

I KNOW YOU TREATED THIS WOMAN LIKE YOUR SLAVE

AND I KNOW YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE JUST THE MAN

 

(2A)

BUT THIS IS ALL GONNA CHANGE TODAY

CAUSE I AM HERE NOW TO TAKE MY PLACE

I KNOW THAT I HAVE NOT ALWAYS BEEN AROUND

BUT THIS TIME I AM HERE TO STAY

 

(3B)

NOW IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO GO

YOU BETTER GO WHILE YOU STILL CAN

I WILL GIVE YOU ONLY ONE MORE CHANCE

TO LEAVE THIS PLACE ON YOUR OWN

 

(4A)

NOW IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO GO

YOU BETTER LEAVE THIS WOMAN ALONE

YOU BETTER LEAVE THIS HOUSE TODAY

NOW IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO GO

 

ANTHONY

(5C)

MY DEAR HUGO, YOU HAVE NO IDEA

WHAT HAS HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE NOT HERE

I WAS THE ONE CARING FOR THIS GIRL

I WAS THE REAL MAN OF THE HOUSE

 

(6A)

WHAT A CHEEK OF YOU TO WALK IN HERE

THINKING YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BOSS ME AROUND

YOU HAVE NEGLECTED YOUR DUTY AS THE ONE

AND NOW YOU SAY THAT YOU WANT ME GONE

 

(7B)

YOU MUST GO BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE FROM

YOU BETTER NOT COME BACK HERE AGAIN

YOU CAME HERE ONLY TO START A FIGHT

A FIGHT THAT YOU CAN NOT WIN

 

(8C)

IT IS NOT FOR YOU OR ME TO DECIDE

FOR THIS WOMAN MUST MAKE UP HER MIND

IF SHE SAYS THAT I SHOULD LEAVE THIS PLACE

ONLY THEN WILL I GO

When I needed you

In act 2, Hugo returned home with Tyler. When they arrived back at Pamela's home, Tyler explained to Pamela where he's been. Then Hugo entered.

After an awkward moment, Hugo and Pamela started talking about all the years since he left her. One most important piece of the puzzle had to finished now. Hugo wanted to know why Pamela lied to him. Why did she never tell him about their son?

After clearing up the most important details, Pamela tells Hugo that she missed him.

PAMELA

(1A)

WHEN I NEEDED YOU, YOU LEFT ME ALONE

YOU LEFT ME TO BRING UP A CHILD ON MY OWN

ALL THESE YEARS YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT HOME

WHEN I NEEDED YOU

 

HUGO

(2B)

PLEASE FORGIVE ME I WAS NOT ALL AT FAULT

I LEFT IN CIRCUMSTANCE BEYOND MY CONTROL

WHEN I LEFT THAT DAY YOU TOLD ME TO GO AWAY

WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME A CHILD'S ON THE WAY

 

PAMELA

(3C)

WHEN YOU LEFT YOU TOLD ME TO FORGET ABOUT YOU

HOW COULD I WITH YOUR CHILD TO REMIND ME?

EVERY DAY I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD WALK THROUGH THE DOOR

ALL THAT HOPE WAS JUST IN VAIN

 

HUGO

(4D)

I DID NOT KNOW. I WAS NOT TOLD

IF I KNEW I WOULD HAVE RETURNED TO YOU

YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME

 

PAMELA

(5D)

IF I SAID A WORD THINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN OBSCURED

YOU WOULD HAVE STAYED AND LET YOUR DREAMS SLIP AWAY

IF I TOLD YOU

 

(6D)

ALL THROUGH THE YEARS YOU DISAPPEARED

WHEN THE TIDE HAS TURNED YOU SHOULD HAVE RETURNED

'CAUSE I NEEDED YOU

Where did you go

Tyler returns home, where his mother is waiting for him. He has much to tell her.

Pamela asks Tyler why he left without telling her where he went. She is just a normal mother, worried about the well-being of her son.

Tyler starts to tell Pamela everything he has done for the last weeks. He tells her how he and Melissa went to Melissa's father to find out if he could give them any news about Hugo's whereabouts. Unfortunately, her father could not help, but he at least send them in the right direction.

Tyler tells his mother they went to London, where they met Manual. He told her that Manual still had regular contact with Hugo, and gave them Hugo's address.

Tyler tells his mother how they visited Hugo in a little apartment at the university. He tells his mother how he met his father and how they talked for hours. A father who did not know about his son.

Pamela tries to explain. Tyler tells Pamela that she don't need to explain anything to him. There is somebody else who would like to hear her side of the story.

Before Pamela can say another word, Tyler calls somebody else into the room.

Hugo enters.

A feast to my eyes

Act 2. Scene1:

 

We have closed act 1 at the pivotal point in our story. Tyler went all the way to London to find his father. Even though Hugo dreams about his home country, he could not immediately agree to return with Tyler. However, after learning the truth, he recalls the promises he made. The next morning, he decided to return home.

That was where act one ended. In act two, we will follow him home and find out what happens.

Scene one opens where Hugo is wakes up the first morning in South Africa. As he walks around outside, he is surprised with how much has changed over the years.

Track: A feast to my eyes

(Click title to listen)

HUGO

(1A)

I WOKE UP ONCE MORE UPON MY LAND

I HAVE BEEN AWAY FAR TOO LONG

THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE I BELONG

THE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHTS ARE A FEAST TO MY EYES

 

(2A)

I REACH MY ARMS TO THE HEAVENS UP ABOVE

I GAZE UPON THE WIDE OPEN PLAINS

THE MOUNTAINS THAT REACH TO THE SKY

THESE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHTS ARE A FEAST TO MY EYES

 

ENSEMBLE

(3B)

WHAT IS THIS PLACE WHERE HE LANDED HIS FEET

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT ARE WALKING DOWN THE STREET

THE PLACE HE LEFT BEHIND

LOOKED SO MUCH DIFFERENT AT THE TIME

WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE WALKING SIDE BY SIDE

 

HUGO

(4A)

I LEFT THIS PLACE IN A HASTE

BULLETS FLYING AT MY HEAD

NOW I HEAR THE SOUND OF CHILDREN PLAYING ROUND

THESE ARE THE MOST WONDERFUL SOUNDS TO MY EARS

 

ENSEMBLE

(5B)

I CAN SMELL THE CLEAN AIR ON THE BREEZE

AT NIGHT I CAN SEE THE STARS IN THE SKY

IN THE MORNING I CAN SEE ALL THE BIRDS IN THE TREES

THESE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHTS ARE A FEAST TO MY EYES

 

The big plan

Planning is an essential skill for anybody who wants to get something done. This can be anything from writing a song, or recording a whole album, or even putting up a live show. Every musician can benefit his or her carreer greatly by following this kind of process. It is simple and takes little extra time, but saves a lot of time later on.

If you have been following the previous posts on this blog, you will remember how I embarked on this exercise of planning. First I identified the problem. Then I deided on a mission, and then I broke the problem down into detail tasks. Today, I will show you how I visualized my plan on a simple spreadsheet.

Spreadsheets are handy for this kind of task, as most people have Excel already on their computers, or can download many alternatives for free.

To visualize the plan, I start by listing all the songs that I need to do more work on for each project. Then I added a column named YTD, meaning Year To Date. Here I make a note for everything that is already done on each song. For reference, my legend is shown at the bottom of the spreadsheet, i.e. W for words, M for melody, B for backtracks and V for vocals.

In the first column under YTD, I added a WM down for each song that the words and melody is written. A WMB means that the words, melody and backtrack is done. And an added V would mean the vocals are recorded as well. I changed the color of all the cells with work finished to green. Green means good.

Now, I add more columns; one extra column for each week. Next I start to plan time slots for every task. Let's look at an example.

First song listed under The exile is Singing comes cheap. Under the YTD column I have WM, meaning the words and melody is written, and I marked it green. Every song needs to have words, melody, backtracks and vocals, i.e. I still need to plan backtracks and vocals for this song. I added a B under the next column with a heading of 13/3/10. This means I have to finish the backtracks (B) before 2013, March, the 10th. Next I added the V under the next column, meaning then that I want to finish the vocals by March the 17th.

Then I moved on to the next song and plan a time slot for all the Bs and Vs, and so on. When I get to the songs where nothing is done yet, I added slots for the words and music in one week (WM). Preferably we should not put the B and V in the same week, to give the vocalists more time to record the tracks.

I estmate that each task will take about 5 hours to complete. In a normal week, where I work a normal 40 hour week for my day job, I can fit in another 20 hours at nights to work on this project. That means I must plan such that I do not have more than 4 tasks in the same week's column. When planning time slots, always start with projects where the time slots are dependant on other commitments. I started with this plan around the Rock fable project, as that also involve some collaborations with other people.

After finishing the whole grid, I ended up with the possibility of 20 songs that will be finished and recorded by June 16th. That will be pretty good going, and most likely a bit optimistic. That is more songs than most artists or bands record in two years, and they do it full-time. Ambitious, but let's give it a shot.

So, we can summarize by saying our objective is to record 20 songs by the middle of this year.

As we go along, we may sometimes fall behind in our plan, or at other times, we may get ahead. We will keep on updating our schedule every week by marking things in red when we fall behind, or in green as we finish things off.

Keep on watching this blog to see how I progress.

 

Finding Nemo to sing

Now that we kickstarted our project to record the rest of The exile somgs and got it back on track, we have to face the problems. The biggest problem in this project will be to find enough vocalists to sing our songs.

For The exile, the concept album recording, I chose specific vocalists based on some restrictions, e.g. I hade to make sure that I have one vocalist per character and that vocalist had to sing all the tracks where that character was required. I also choose the timber and the sound of each voice carefully to it the written vocal ranges and to ensure that the characters for Tyler and Melissa sound younger than the other characters.

For the rest of this project, I will not restrict myself in the same ways. The only requirements are that the vocalist must preferably be a a specific gender and the vocalist can do the required voice range. I will not try to match voices to characters. This approach may sound strange for a musical, but the idea is not to end up with a cast recording, but rather something that will sound like a compilation or concert recording.

There are not many sources for finding vocalists. First possible source is friends. That means I must have friends, or at least ones that can sing. Failing that, I can try to make friends. That is a long and hard process, and assumed that I frequent the places to find them and the ability to befriend them. Failing those avenues, I can hire local musicians. For the concept album recording, that was also not so easy. It is a slow process and they charge standard union session fees. Each vocalist wants to be paid a session fee for rehearsing and recording the song. Recording of chorus lines or backup vocals require the same, multiplied by at least 3 musicians. I will also have to be present at all sessions, requiring me to take leave from work. All that then need to happen in a studio that cranks up studio time. All and all, it works out to about R10,000 per song (about $1,00), plus my own time and cost of leave (yes, we buy our leave).

For the concept album recording I opted for Studio Pros. Each vocalist now charged $150, and that includes a lead vocal and one backing vocal track. That has brought the costs down to about $300, or R3,000 per song. Studio Pros includes all studio time and everything was mixed in my home studio. That is still pretty expensive going at about R30,000, or $3,000 fot the whole project, but for a final album that can be sold, that is a possibility we may wish to keep in mind. Another advantage of this route is the time saving. Turnaround times for Studio Pros are usually a few days. Even a large project like the concept album recording was finished within three weeks. And best of all, it needs very little time from my side to revord the vocals after I upload the files.

However, we first want to see if we can get away for free. There only a few places you can get people who are happy to sing for free, and most of them I have not found yet. The one place I have used before is Indaba music. I had a huge successful recording of Ghost town there. So, I will try Indaba again.

Progress is sure to be slower than what I planned for, as I will rely on volunteers only, but let's give it a chance and review our strategy as we go along.

 

I'm going home

Today I wish to interupt our discussions around the busness side of things and return to our story. Last week we left our story where Hugo's life has been thrown upside down. For all the years he believed that all his ties back to South Africa has been broken. There was no reasn for him to return. Now for the first time, he learns that he has a son back ithere. As he went to bed, he thinks about what this means. In his dreams he remembers the promises that he made. Promises that he did not keep.

The next mornng, when he wakes up, he has made up his mind. He will go back to talk to Pamela again.he buys a ticket and packs his bags.

In this song he is ready to leave. This is his goodbye song.

Track: I'm going home

Album: The Exile, concept album recordingArtist: Eric Swardt

(1a)

Tyler, my dear son

I thank you for taking me home again

Even though this is something I wanted

but I would never have been able to do

but now I'm going home after all

(2a)

Manual my old friend

so I say farewell to you one more time

so many years and so many thingshave we gone through

and so many things that we have done

but now I'm going home after all

(3b)

While you were aboard to claim the reward

I was a fool who never played the rule

now it is my turn to claim what I have earned

and go back where I belong

(4a)

Goodbye my dear

You were a true friend for all these years

Please do not cry

Have a last drink with me

Wish me joy until eternity'

cause now i'm going home to be free

(5a')

I bid you fare thee well

I wish that one day you will be happy again

and one day you will find

someone so kind who will make you happy again

Someone who deserves someone like you

------------------------------------------------------

 

Anybody remembers that epic scene from Rocky Horror picture show when Frank 'n Furter says goodbye?

 

 

 

Planning to get more done

Today we will start to do some serious planning. If you remember, we started this all when I realized that I have a problem. My problem is that I have too much to do and not getting anything done. Having too much to do and not finishng anything is just another form of procrastination. This is a very typical problem that millions of people all over the world suffer from. Lucky for me, there is a solution. It is called planning.

Before I draw up my plan of action, I have to establish the extend of what I have to plan for. Let's call this my scope. I start to define the scope first by giving it a mission statement. This is simply putting into words what I want to accomplish; into a single generic sentence.

So, what is my mission? I want to write songs and I want to record them. To be more specific, I want to write and record songs for the musical shows I am working on. Now, that sounds like a mission to me. Let me refine that into some generic words that I can put up on a signboard.

My mission is to write songs and make recordings of the songs from the musical shows I write.

Let's read that again. Not bad. Now we can start to get creative.

Now that I know what I am doing, I can start to break that down further into more detail. I am talking about musical shows I write. I have a long list of those, in various states of completion. Let's look at that list again:

1) The exile

One concept album with 16 songs dne. Nine more songs written (words and melody) to be recorded.

2) Wake not the dead

One song recorded. Three sng, words and melodies written and needs to be recorded. Nineteen more needs words, melodies, and recordings.

3) The nightingale

One song recorded. Five more, words and melodies are written and needs recordings. Twenty six more needs words, melodies, and recordings.

4) Ghost town

One song recorded. One more with words and melody. Total extend unknown.

5) Christification (bet you did not know about that one?)

Book and story in progress, but no songs yet.

6) Denise (this is just single songs)

Two songs submitted.

7) Rock fable

One song with words and melodies written. Backtracks recorded. Needs vocals. Many more to go.

 

I will leave the other activities like Protea Stage Productions off this list for now. Rock fable includes full production responsibilities (album and stage show). Butbfor the purposemof this excercize, I will listbonly the initial songs required for the promo.

Next, let's see what work needs to be done for each song. Every song needs lyrcs (or words) and a melody. Then we need to record backing tracks (guitars, drums, piano, etc.) and then we will submit it for a vocalist to do his or her job. Often it needs second lead vocals and backing vocals as well. After vocals are recorded, we spend some time on mixing it together and then upload it for general public consumption.

So many works in progress, and so much work that needs to be done on each song. We will have to prioritize. After reviewng the list, I decided to prioritized Rock fable, The exile and Wake not the dead at the top of the list. We can get quickest results with them. If we see how much we can get done on these few, and then tackle the others.

The next step is to list all the work that needs to be done. For this I will use a simple spreadsheet like the one shown here. A spreadsheet is easy to use and a very effective tool. In the next blog post I will explain my spreadsheet in detail.