Diary of an arrangement

This diary is characteristic of how I work: inspiration, obsession, and a flurry of activity.

C’était charmant music video

Sun.1.28

Finished a busy week of performances, rehearsals, and concerts. Had some big feelings.

Mon.1.29

Morning: Break from practicing- flute needed adjustment because I had stupidly dropped my backpack.

Evening: Still buzzing from the previous week’s events, so I dug around for music. Listened to some French artists, since I’m studying a French opera. I discovered* Françoise Hardy and went through her albums.

Found C’était charmant, which gave me some cathartic satisfaction, and incidentally has a flute (generally a positive sign from the universe). Listened to the track ten times or so before falling asleep.

Also searched some photos, and found it awesome that we rock the same hairdo.

*Others have recommended her to me, but I just now investigated

C’etait charmant- Françoise Hardy

Tues.1.30

Morning: Listened on repeat while on the way to practice, making the arrangement in my head. I decided I wanted the arrangement to stand alone with voice/piano, and be expandable with The Pan-Tones.

Sorted out the first half of the music and lyrics with the piano.

Listened on repeat throughout the day.

First half

Wed.1.31

Morning: Figured out the second half of the song (just slightly different than the first half) and lyrics. I think my French pronunciation improved over 24 hours 🙂

Afternoon: Started notating my arrangement.

Second half

Thurs.2.1

Morning: Got dressed for photo shoot while listening on repeat.

Afternoon: Finished notating the arrangement.

Listened to the original recording while doing chores, started singing a harmony line for the second verse.

Notation was quick since I already sorted out the arrangement at the piano

Fri.2.2

Morning: Recorded a demo of my piano/vocal arrangement.

C’était charmant demo

Afternoon: Messed around with the EQ on an app, and improved the sound somewhat. Ultimately decided to make an HQ recording in our studio (since Robert agreed to help me).

We recently got a Distrokid account, and I was inspired by how easy it was to share music. I decided to make my recording available on YouTube Music, Spotify, etc., so I made an image for the recording.

Mon.2.5

Morning: Recorded my arrangement with Robert in our studio (about 2 hours). The quality is definitely better, but it’s also worse in a way because you can hear all the imperfections clearly 😅

Making the demo was good preparation- I was well prepared and efficient. The piano is recorded straight through, and the vocal part is patched together from a few takes.

I wanted to do the recording while my head was in the music, and the initial feeling of inspiration was with me.

Tues.2.6

Afternoon: Uploaded my recording to Distrokid to be distributed to various online music channels (Spotify, YouTube Music, IG/FB, etc.)

Evening: Live on YouTube Music!

Wed.2.7

Morning: Shot footage for a music video (1.5 hours). I had planned a mental list of the shots I wanted.

Afternoon: Edited the video on Final Cut (1.5 hours).

Evening: Edited and scheduled this post. Done!