Since writing the last blog post, I did my first two songwriting sessions: One live on Instagram and the other live on Facebook. Before I started, I didn’t know how it was going to turn out.
It turned out fantastic! My friends Elizabeth, Hope, and Janet actually contributed a fair bit to the lyrics! Below is a rough draft of what it sounds like.
This is of Esther 1:12-18, after King Xerxes / Achashverosh / Ahasuerus / Khashayar (depending on which name you prefer) ended up in a fury due to his Queen Vashti’s refusal to turn up and show off her beauty to his banquet guests. So the king asks his wise men for advice, and Memucan responds, making it seem like Queen Vashti’s rebellion was a big deal in order to convince the king to get rid of her! So I am thinking of whether to make this scene comedic or not.
Alternate lyrics for Memucan’s 3rd and 4th lines:
This could change it all
The structure could fall
But I forsook it in favor of being consistent with the feminine rhyme structure: “disorder” / “borders”.
Thanks again to Elizabeth for her idea to repeat the first stanza’s melody for Memucan’s part and her lyrics suggestions “Wives in the land could now resist”, “You don’t own me”, and “I can dethrone thee” which made up a fair part of the songwriting!
Suggestions always welcome!
We’re using this Middle Eastern scale for the song:
Other updates
- Made some really cool friends on Instagram, including a composer, and so I can’t wait to listen to her work!
- Some people think Memucan is actually Haman (theory). What do you think?
- Live songwriting is actually really cool! And when I got stuck, friends helped me out in the comments.
- Will work on uploading the live songwriting sessions to this blog as a way to document the process!
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