6/05/12

This is Christian. This year is almost over... and what a year. Lots of music (and Theater). I have continued to write music, though not as much as I used to. A lot of Finals this week and next week– and a ton of studying. I've recently been drawing more. Although I am sad that my Senior friends are graduating, I look forward to playing in the Graduation ceremony band. I was pleased with our success in the Starlight Parade.

4/27/12

Christian.
Free 
As the wind
Don't know where I come from
Nor where I been
Asleep
By the shore
Don't know where I'm going
Nor what's in store

5/06/12

This is Christian.

I've been trying to post for a while now, but the new look of this site has confused me. I have now figured it out. And here's some lyrics:

I wake up blind, confused and alert
I don't recognize this place
I know you're here so I call out your name
But can't see your face
Start a struggle, a fight in my mind
'Round the corner and bend
It seems like all my present choices are mad
Right unto the end

Before you try and tell me, wait
I don't know who you are
I can't believe we've gotten this far
Then you try and find me, wait
This isn't what you want
I think we need another place to haunt

4/19/11

Christian: some lyrics.

[v1]:
The hearts you bring
Collide like cars
The meeting begins
Those present annoy you

The ideas you share
Explode like shrapnel
Your tendencies sound
And you feel uneasy

You want them to ring
Until they make sense
You hide in my room
Stairs smile from the ash

(chorus):
Alone in my sight
You glance at the seams
You look so confused
But then again, at ease
You jot down the dreams
No one could say
See your friends turn
And slowly walk away

[v2]:
Display forms you know
Search around for the rest
You've taken your toll
Yet still, no one knows best

I christen these walls
The immaculate cell
Don't have to try, it's
Just for you to get even

I've watched you believe
Through madness and hell
We've lost all we were
Yet you won't tell

4/06/12

This is Christian.

After a major discussion and inexcusable differences, we have disbanded Beacon Hill.
This may be my last post. I may post new lyrics later, as I will continue to write music.

3/18/12

This is Christian. I believe that I am now the sole contributor to this blog.

As of today, our Battle of the Bands ranking is improving, and we have more than 100 votes in our favor. We recently recorded a raw, rough cut of "This Is My Life", along with a mash-up cover of "Drops of Jupiter" and "Drift Away" (which use the same chords). I am displeased with my vocals on these takes and intend to re-record soon.
Our new YouTube recordings will be found under the username "beaconhillmusic" as they are posted.

3/08/12

This is Christian.

Apparently, it would be possible for us to perform in the Vans Warped Tour if we score high enough on an online poll of Portland bands. Intriguing.
We're going to try to record "This Is My Life" soon.

3/03/12

This is Christian.

We have quite a few finished songs, and are looking forward to our gig on APRIL 27!
We had an intense practice yesterday, and I really lost my voice.

2/1/12

This is Christian.

We've started a new semester, and with it come new possibilities. We've got a gig set for April, and about six or seven finished songs.

final thoughts

so we performed our final project for the band class. we now have a gig pending in April for 2 hours. looks like we've got a lot of writing to do before then. overall I think our musicianship with things such as writing and performing have increased greatly. I am excited as I look forward to see what will become of beacon hill...

12/15/11

This is Christian.

Our band's Google project came to an end on Tuesday when we played a live setlist for our final presentation to the class. The songs played were Violent Sky, Grass and Broken. The latter was written during class and may not have surfaced without the project. We aren't sure yet whether the project will continue into next semester, though I hope it does. We've learned a lot about songwriting and musical mindset, and have become better musicians.

12/7/11

This is Christian.

Today we decided which songs we'd use for our project presentation, polished and practiced, and made major headway on a new song using lyrics I wrote last night.

11/13/11

Tomorrow will be the second-to-last in-class project day. We need to decide which songs we'll perform for our presentation.

11/09/11

This is Christian.

I have one vocal melody stuck in my head, and I think I wrote it. I need to add words and apply it to a song.

Progress. 11/1/11

This is Alex. Yesterday was an awesome Google day!

     We started out by working on a piece that we began forming at Connor's house last week after school. I quite like it, and it will likely be posted soon in a video or sound form.
     After this song, we started up a mellow tune with very tribal sounding drums and slowly picked guitar. I quite like the beginning, and we will be certain to develop it into a full song.
     We then quickly ran through a few songs that we know very well, such as "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 and "Firework" by Katy Perry.
     Our band teacher, Mr. Matthys, then told us to perform one of our songs for the students who were in the room (around 15 to 20 people). We played our tune "Broken". It was very rough, and we didn't play all the way through, but they seemed to like it.

     Also, I wrote a song for Spanish 4 and performed it for the class. It is a simple chord arrangement on the guitar with Spanish vocals. The teacher liked it enough to have me perform it again for our class and a Spanish 5 class (in all, around 40-50 students). She said that my class may possibly memorize and sing the song together, and that she may teach it to students who take the class in years to come.
     This greatly boosted my confidence in playing the guitar in front of a crowd, and gave me wonderful experience. I had a great time.

10/30/11

Today we continued writing, and made a minor performance for the class.
Also, I've recently started listening to Motown music.

another good old day in the band room

today we had another google day in band today. we came up with some pretty interesting and cool little parts and pieces. Now we need to work on putting them all together. :P

this. is. CONNOR

10/25/11

Continued working on new material. I realized that I can draw vocal phrasing from the poems I've written; this may help with writing vocal melodies.

More stuff coming along

This is Connor

Sooo, asically, the band has started to speed up a little in the past few weeks. Friendships are tumbling and are being created, sleep is being lost, and a lot of half-progress is being made. Let me explain.
With the friendship situation: A couple friends have tried to pressure me to let them into them into the band, but I wont. Me, Alex and Christian work very well together and adding more people will make it too complicated. One of my friends even started to ignore me for a little bit because of this, but its all better now; he forgot about it.
With creating new friends, I have met a few people who work at the lakewood center, and can let us have our own gigs there!! How sweet would that be!
Sleep is being lost: Ever since finding that we can have our own gig, and that we have to present a few songs to the class, I have been working tirelessly on creating drum fills, guitar riffs, and writing lyrics that pop ito my head. Unfortunately, most of it only comes out half-way.....
We have a bunch of half-songs written that are very interesting and fun to listen to. We just need to get them to be full songs and BAM, we have an album.

10/20/11

This is Christian.

We've been polishing our first Google Project piece (now under the working title "Broken"), as well as writing others. We've got some great ideas and a few half-finished songs.

For future reference, songwriting seems much easier with a full stomach; Connor discovered this.