Awakening (Word Version)

I had written a piece for virtuoso accordion as an underscore for part of Ann Randolph’s one-woman show, “Squeeze Box”. Then it turned out she needed another original piece for her show, because the Aaron Copland Foundation had not given her permission to use his “Appalachian Spring”. So I began the daunting task of trying to write something that would replace “Appalachian Spring”, and began sketching out several musical themes that could be woven together. Before I finished my composition, the Copland Foundation changed their mind, and let Ann use “Appalachian Spring” after all!

Months later, I arranged one of those musical themes, and set it to some text from Squeeze Box. I called this new creation “Awakening (word version)”, because I had used the same idea in a different arrangement, without words, for one of the tracks on my CD ‘Euphoric Owls”, called just “Awakening”. “Awakening (word version)” has six-part vocals: me on the 3 lower voices, and the Brown Sisters (Lauren, Lilly, and Jenna Brown) on the top 3 layers. Underneath is me playing piano, and soaring over top is a violin played by Brian Allen. Chip Reardin co-produced the song with me, and he did the recording, mixing, and mastering at Airtime Studios in Bloomington, Indiana.

For those music theory nerds, the whole piece has a pedal point of two perfect fifths, one stacked on the other one. And, believe or not, every note in this piece is diatonic. In other words, every note is in A Major, with no accidentals. Charlea Janette Bailey, a fan from the isle of Cyprus, put together this beautiful lyric video, and designed the cover art for Awakening. A huge thank you to Ann, Lauren, Lilly, Jenna, Brian, Chip, Charlea, and to Dave Weber and Krista Detor at Airtime Studios! Hope you enjoy it! You can download it on iTunes here, and watch the video on YouTube here.

Music composed by Timothy Reed

Words by Ann Randolph

Vocals by Timothy Reed, Lauren Brown, Lilly Brown, and Jenna Brown

Piano by Timothy Reed

Violin by Brian Allen

Produced by Timothy Reed and Chip Reardin

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Chip Reardin at Airtime Studio, Bloomington, Indiana

Lyric Video and Cover Art by Charlea Janette Bailey

Be sure to check out Ann Randolph’s website. She is currently performing her one-woman shows, “Loveland” and “Inappropriate In All the Right Ways”, and she leads writing workshops, too! www.annrandolph.com