"Love (Luv): an afterthought"

"Love (Luv): an afterthought" is the musical that my friend Dan and I are working on. We started it in high school and in the past week we have started working on it again. So far we have a draft of the first act done and the second act script is being written. I have all the music for the first act done; songs, scene change music, and underscoring. I'm sure it will undergo a huge editing/rewriting process in the future, but for now it is done. Many of the songs are the same from when we first started writing it in high school. However, several have changed. Because we set the show aside for a year or two and recently looked at it again with fresh eyes, there are many things that we have decided to change. Many of those things are music. In addition to editing the old music, I also wrote a couple new songs. One of which is the first song in the show. This song isn't an "opening number" it is simply a song that comes before the opening number. It sets up the two main characters and gives a nice, low-key opening to the show. Today I recorded a demo of the song, and wanted to share it with those of you who actually read my blog. The song is called "All That Matters" and has the two main characters singing about how they are in love, and even though there are things that are wrong with their relationships, the fact that they are in love is 'all that matters'. At this point in the show, we don't realize that they are not singing about each other; they actually haven't even met. They are both in relationships that they think are great, but their friends can see that they aren't that happy.

So that's a little background on the song and here it is. Again, it is a midi generation of the instruments and I am singing both parts. The second verse is the female lead singing, but I sang it in my range so it was more comfortable. However, the ending I sang the female parts up the octave, so they sound correctly.

Enjoy:

I really happy with the way it turned out. That's all for now.

Soulmate? recording session coming up in about a month!

-Brad

"Soulmate?"

Soulmate? is finished! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Soulmate? is the musical I have been writing. I started it february of 2009. I have been working on it, on and off, for the past year and a half. As I stated in the last entry, the first video log was a song from this show. The music that I've written for this show has honestly been some of the most fun I've ever had composing. The music is heavily influenced by shows like Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, and RENT. It originally started as a rock opera/concept album but quickly turned into a musical. However, most of the show is still a sing through. The recording session that I'm doing in August has 7 songs from the show. One of the songs we're doing is "David's Message". The song is when the soulmate of the show declares his love for the main female character. On stage, he is sitting at a table writing the letter and she is standing on the other side of the stage reading the letter. He sings as he writes but they don't interact. It should be a cool scene on stage.

Here is a demo I did of the song. It is a midi generation of the instruments and I am singing. Enjoy:

In the fall I will have a great recording of this song from the recording session, with my good friend Alex singing.

I will keep you updated.

That's all for now,

Brad

Composition, LinkedIn, Recording Sessions and More...

As the title states, I have been very busy recently and now is the time to share. First off I recently had my final performance for my composition II class. We all composed pieces for Piano and Cello/Violin. I chose to write for piano and cello. My piece was entitled L'ouragan which means The Hurricane in French. The piece is in three movements to represent the three main stages of a hurricane. The opening movement starts out slow and is in a minor key. This is greatly contrasted by the second movement which is mainly solo cello. It is very calm sounding to symbolize the eye of the storm. Finally there is the third movement which arrived very suddenly and is meant to catch the listeners off guard. The music is fast, minor, and makes the piece go out with a bang!

Please check it out!

The second part of this entry's title is LinkedIn. I recently joined LinkedIn and am looking to make connections. Below is my public Profile on LinkedIn. Please add me as a connection if you already have a profile or create on. They are great to have. Brad Kemp

Other Composition that I have had recent performances are two choral piece I composed for a church choir in Mequon, WI. About a month ago I was contacted by the music director from Christ Church of Mequon, Wisconsin. He found my website while he was searching for the high school I went to. He told me about how he listened to One of God’s Angels, the choral piece I wrote in high school. He enjoyed it so much that he wanted to get a copy of the score so his choir could perform it. After emailing back and forth for a while we decided the piece was too complicated for his choir. So I proposed that I compose him an original piece for his choir. I asked him for suggestions about what text I should use. Usually I would just find a bible verse or search the internet for a public domain sacred poem. I then found out that his wife is a poet. He sent me two of her poems and I thought they were fantastic. I decided to write two different pieces with the two poems. I composed the pieces in contrasting styles: one is a cappella and the other is with piano and is more melodic. I send him the pieces and he loved them. He moved some things around and told me they would be performing the pieces in the beginning of May. I booked my train ticket and was very excited to hear their hard work. The pieces sounded great and I hope to have recording posted on my website soon.

The last item that needs to be addressed is the recording session. Late this summer I am going to have a recording session for some of the songs from the show Soulmate? that I wrote. I have great musicians lined up and have picked dates. One of the songs from the show was featured in the first video log.

This song ("Goodbye") is going to be done at the recording session. I really hope to have recordings of this up as well, very soon.

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading!

Compositions

It finally Winter Break!!! Which ironically for me means get to work. I have a huge list of compositions and projects I want to get finished over the next five weeks. Some of the projects on that list are: the demo recordings for HINT, the new show Soulmate, several classical pieces, and a couple christmas pieces. I will try to continue to post with recordings or updates on the piece's progress.

I recently updated my website with a couple little things:

http://www.bradkempmusic.com/BradKempMusic2/Home.html

I have also recently put up a lot of videos to youtube so check that out too:

http://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarGODLOA

If you're too lazy to go to my website or youtube page, here is a new video to enjoy!

I also put up a couple new songs on my myspace page so check that out as well!!

http://www.myspace.com/bradkempmusic

Enjoy all the new things,

Brad

HINT

I have been working on "HINT" for the past week. It is a murder mystery musical that is loosely based on the board game clue. Here is a summary for everyone:
The show opens with William Williams talking to the audience about his death. He goes on to explain how he was having friends over for a diner party and right before it was going to start he was killed. The characters go through out the mansion in fear while many other people get killed off. After many hilarious scenes and songs the show comes to an exciting climax when everyone finds out who the killer is. The show keeps audience members on the edge of their seat while making them laugh the whole time.
I have had the script completed for a while ,but haven't had time to finish all of the songs. That's what I have been working on for the past week. I am really excited because I have had several different people tell me they would be willing to work on a staged reading when I complete it.
I will keep everyone updated with everything as I figure it out.
Brad

Video Logs

The video logs have been going great. So far I have two of them up and I am putting up a third one tomorrow. The first two videos combined have been watched about 110 times!!! I am very excited about the amount of views I am getting on the video logs. There has been a couple comments and ratings on the videos but overall not very much. So the favor that I am asking to everyone who reads this blog is to comment and rate the videos!!! I am also extremely excited about the number of subscribers I have gained from the video logs. After the first one I had about 5 subscribers. Now that I have put up the second video log, that number has more than doubled to 11. To most people that doesn't sound like much, but to me it is really awesome.
So some of the new exciting news. For video log three, I am going to have my friend Ali Arzeni sing. It is going to be great. She is singing the song "Waiting" from the show "Love (luv): an afterthought", a show that my friend Dan Lowry and I are working on. We have been working on it for the past couple months, very on and off, and it has gotten better and better. So everyone make sure to look on my youtube acount tomorrow night, for the release of video log three with Ali Arzeni.
That is all for now,
and remember to please rate and comment on the videos,
Thanks,
Brad

Vlog

Hey everyone,
For those of you who don't know I send out a newsletter for my website on the first of every month. This next one I am very excited about because I am launching my Video Log (Vlog) on Youtube. I am going to try to post on it once a week or so. It will have videos with myself playing some of my recent work. Most likely songs from "Soulmate?" or songs that I enjoy covering. I will also probably have some of my friends in the videos playing other instruments. I think it is going to be really cool.
Another cool thing is that Youtube updated their website. So now there is a new layout for Youtube accounts. Everyone should check it out.
Here is my account.
http://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarGODLOA
So check out my Vlog, it should be up in the next couple days.
That's all for now,
-Brad