Valerie Michele Oliver is the founder of Reach 4 Freedom: Heal Child Abuse Music Project (http://healchildabuse.blogspot.com/).
Val is the producer and host of Creator's Parrot on Blog Talk Radio. She is also involved in projects as an author, ghostwriter, writer, songwriter, and is a healing artist and ordained minister.
When Val contacted me a few weeks back to discuss the possibility to play "All My Life", I didn't hesitate a second. This was both an honor given the cause she's working for, and a nice musical challenge for my own piano jazz project...
Well, to be honest, I had no real idea of how I would interpret the song, what harmonics I would lay down....but the Heal Child Abuse Music Project is a wonderful cause and is inspiring.
so here I'm...in front of the piano, and listening to the melodic lines Val shared with me as a guide and get a feel of what the song may look like...and now I had to try to deliver a piece of music that eventually made sense, and most importantly, not to let Val down.
As I searched for the harmonics that may best work for the song, I ended up messing around with 3 possible scenarios. Each had a different mood and I was not sure which one to choose. I decided to use all of the 3, placing them in some sequence so that the song was telling a short story.
The first part of the rendition is in a bluesy mood and is meant to represent the "Innocence".
The second part was enjoyable to explore, at least musically speaking. I shortened the harmonics to a very simple Bb, F#, Ab, G sequence. it makes it somehow obscure and deep. I used that sequence to illustrate the "Darkness" of child abuse.
The last part is looping on a classic AABA structure with very classic jazzy feel which you will recognize, it gets lighter...yet was no easy try to play...
I think I could spend months to rehearse and play a better version of the song...but if I was to ever wait for perfection, I guess you would never hear a song from me at the first place...so here we go, I'm once again exposing to you my flaws, but I also genuinely hope you will enjoy the rendition...most importantly, I hope you will join me in supporting Val's cause and her very own music project.
please visit her blog and follow her journey. She's an amazing character.
thank you Val for this opportunity. Had a lot of fun
Kind Regards,
Arnaud
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