Yesterday during practice, Wendy and I decided that, on occasion, I would put my voice to the blog. It makes perfect sense, really, and it’s because of the way we work together; each one of us brings something new to the practice every time and it’s always a pleasant surprise. No doubt this will be true of the blog as well.
Yesterday, for example, we had a long practice, but concentrated on two songs, one by Taylor Swift, something she wrote for the Hunger Games Soundtrack called Safe and Sound, and an original tune by Wendy called Blue Skies. Blue Skies was originally called Nobody Knows; it is a tune Wendy had written some time ago that she was willing to pull out of the dust in the hope that we could revive it together. A bit nervous (it’s always a little frightening to put forth something you care about), she played it for me at the end of a practice last week and immediately I liked it. There is so much being communicated in her lyrics and I always feel privileged to get a chance to put my touch on the way the song ends up. It’s a meandering process of creativity that works for us. We try a number of things, nod in agreement when something works or, in a lot of cases, simply take note of body language indicating that something isn’t quite right. And we pay attention to all of it, until such time that we find ourselves moving easily through a tune that has transformed into something that makes us smile. It’s always a great moment—a true joy—when, at the end of a song we’ve been working on for a long time, we hit the last chord and look at one another with the full knowledge that we’ve created something that we know people will enjoy.
As I said, Wendy changed the name of the song after our work on it to Blue Skies and it makes perfect sense. It’s all I can see, after all, in this partnership of music and friendship. I hope you enjoy the songs. They are both young in our repertoire, but here to stay.

Blue Skies – Original

Safe and Sound – Taylor Swift Cover