FAWM Collaborations – Candles and Flowers

Moist breath meets the air
Temperature dips so low you’d swear
Tender lips beyond compare
Will freeze stone blue in seconds

Warmth returns, land sun-kissed
Scenic romance in the river mist
She continues to ask, beg, insist
Come join me here next season

This year for FAWM I’m going to try something new: collaborations.

Fellow Fawmer Ellenpliss has very kindly agreed to let me set her piece ‘Candle and Flowers’ to music. I haven’t written a single note of music yet, but I thought I’d share my initial thoughts with you.

Why these lyrics?

Ellen offered any of her lyrics, but I chose ‘Candle and Flowers’ for specific reasons. For a start, I like them. They’re very different to anything I would write myself. I would rarely use so many long words (no, not because I don’t understand them) but because such words are sometimes hard to sing.

Also, they’re relatively abstract – there are hints of a story here, but it’s not spelt out and you have to read between the lines to take literal meaning from the piece. That’s very useful in music – if the words told the whole story why bother writing music? Because the words are subtle in their meaning, setting scenes and hinting at the story, there’s more scope for the music to add to them.

How will I write the music?

I’m not sure yet. First I’ll need to decide on the musical mood. The words are contemplative, so an up tempo heavy rock song probably isn’t going to convey the correct mood. I need something slow, melancholy, something that reflects the coldness of the imagery.

I’ll also need to reflect the changes in mood, particularly the mention of warmth, sun and potential hope in the last verse.

Harmony?

A very simple thing to do would be to write the majority of the song in a minor key, changing to a major key for the last verse to reflect the more hopeful mood. Those aren’t the only options though.

The coldness and loneliness makes me think a pentatonic scale might work well, whereas the whole tone scale might give a static, frozen feel.

Melody and structure?

The lyrics stick to a clear rhythm from verse to verse, so I could use a similar melody for each stanza. A strophic structure, where the melody stays the same from verse to verse, would work but I’m not sure that would be appropriate for the story told.

In conclusion

I’m not sure what this will sound like when I’m finished, but I’ve a few ideas and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in. I’ll let it brew or a day or two and then sit down with a guitar or piano and see what turns up.

Of course, I’ll post here when I’ve got something to share.