Saturday, April 30, 2022

Sometimes it Snows in April


Last day of April. This just popped into my head. It's also what popped into my fingers on 21st April 2016 when I sat down at the keyboard after Prince passed.

As an aside or spinoff to something else we were talking about on WhatsApp, Mia posted a video of an informal singing assessment of hers at Central the other day.  I don't think I have ever heard her vocals before. She's got a proper set of pipes. Natural pitch and clear intonation aren't given to everyone.

I have written a solo piano 'comping arrangement for someone to sing "Love is a Losing Game" against, so I've asked her if we can run through it together next time we are in each other's company and there is also a keyboard in range. I would like to see how it works in practice. When I play it on my own I think I perform too much of the melody because there isn't a vocalist. (Subtext: In my opinion Amy Winehouse was an extraordinary song writer, but Mark (tin and cloth ears) Ronson was a disaster as a producer and arranger.)

John, Mia's dad, has jumped aboard now on guitar. "Sometimes it Snows in April" is a great piano, guitar, vocals template. That said we have already started bickering about my, ahem, "expanded harmonic palette."

Me (definitively): C major eleven.
John (unconvinced): Sometimes it is just C.
Me: F minor six with a flat fifth.
John: Which is different from an F diminished chord how exactly?

Etcetera, etcetera  ......

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