52 Songs for 2021

To combat the Doldrums of the Covid lockdown in the winter of 2020/21, I made a New Year's Resolution to post an unplugged or minimalist version of one of my songs every week for the whole of 2021.

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In the summer, as the restrictions eased, I had a lot of other commitments, so I wasn't able to keep to my weekly schedule. However, with an end spurt in December 2021,  I was able to complete the 52 songs.

 

Some of the songs had been previously recorded, some were works in progress, some were just ideas that I had jotted down somewhere over the years,  some were totally new and some were spontaneous improvisations.

 

Most songs were totally my own work, but some were collaborations.

 

Most songs were played and sung by me, but I was lucky enough to have some excellent musicians and singers participate on some songs. I would not consider myself a particularly good singer, although I do sometimes get positive feedback on my unique, personal singing style. It is, however, my intention to re-record some of the best songs with other singers and additional musicians - but without the time pressure.

 

My original idea had been just to do simple piano and voice versions, but my own aspirations meant that, as the year went on, the productions got more elaborate, even though I tried to keep most songs to one-take versions with no or minimal editing (this can often be the most time consuming part of a production).

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Having decided to post the songs on YouTube, it meant I had to come up with visuals for each song. This was something totally new for me. It was a steep learning curve, but it was interesting and mostly fun to experiment with different techniques. Most of the videos are real-time recordings of the actual performance, using three cameras and edited afterwards. This turned out to be a very difficult process: in planning, set-up and post-production, and so was not always possible. In those case, I had videos from other sources or used the common process of recording the audio first and then lip-syncing afterwards, with multiple video shots. In the Spring, I discovered the joys of using a green screen, as well as transparency overlays, which enabled me to add new dimensions to the visuals.

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I have always played and enjoyed many different styles and genres of music. This runs contrary to how the music industry works, and has possibly hindered me professionally as a performer and as a songwriter. However,  I make no apologies and have no regrets, having enjoyed the enriching experience. of finding the similarities and differences between different genres as well as meeting, playing with and learning from musical friends and colleagues from all over the world with many different musical backgrounds.

 

It was fascinating to receive the feedback on the songs: all songs were liked by some; all songs were disliked or found lacking by some; some had favourite songs, but they were mostly different ones.

 

Where does this leave the songwriter, knowing that he/she can never please everyone? It is actually quite liberating, meaning as long as you are happy with your work, you should always be able to find someone who will appreciate it: retain authenticity and please yourself rather than trying to please others (a general life-lesson). 

 

The internet has endless possibilities to reach potential audiences, but it is so vast, that it can be very difficult to break through the clutter. Throughout the year, I posted, with varying degrees of success, on different internet platforms. This is something I will have to investigate more if I wish to develop this project further: for myself, my students and for my musical friends and colleagues, .

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In the Autumn, I heard through GEMA, of which I am a member, that the German government were providing funds to kickstart the artistic scene after the deprivations and cancellations of the Covid lockdowns and restrictions. I became one of the hundreds of creators and cultural organisations that received funds to allow more space for creativity. I am grateful, even though the funding, in my case, amounted to an hourly rate that is a fraction of the minimum wage. This is why various logos appear here and on my later videos. 

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Scroll down for the individual songs and videos.

The lyrics and more information can be found in the "SHOW MORE" under the YouTube videos.