songs [Christmas 2020]

 I prepared three Christmas songs this year that I will now share with you in the spirit of the season.

None of them are perfect, but they don't need to be. It's all right to showcase that I am a work in progress and celebrate the small successes. Also, I had to do three because I haven't posted anything since September, so I gotta catch up.

I was asked to provide an organ solo version of O Come, All Ye Faithful for our ward Christmas program. I knew about it for weeks but when the time came to show the music chair what I'd come up with I still only had the intro in mind. We pulled something together and I got my sister Kyra (a professional arranger -- check out Kyra Moon Music) to help me with the third verse. And so it was.

w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51NpWXGlM28

I worked on two Christmas songs for voice lessons this year. Neither of them truly got performance-ready, but I'm glad I recorded them when I did (because now I have covid and I am scared of singing).

I selected I Wonder As I Wander as a classical piece because I've always thought it was lovely. The lyrics aren't super meaningful to me, but I do like the pensiveness of pondering the condescension of Christ. What love that showed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGyXMb9uudU

And finally, I have loved this song for 15 years but it's pretty uncommon. I was looking for a jazzy number and decided to try to learn this one. I mean, I learned it. I just didn't perfect it. (The copious laughing is because I didn't know I was gonna do hand gestures until I was doing them, and they were so cheesy!) I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRyKi57DgLc

And if you're somehow still looking for more Christmas music content from me, check out last year's post! A compilation up to that point.

Christmas 2019

wrap life in the brilliance of death and humble us all

I'd been working on this song for a bit, but this week it seems there are fall colors AND I got a rejection, so I channeled those feelings into my art and got it recording-ready.

Sort of. One side effect of the rejection is I don't feel like I can sing anymore, and my technique is nonexistent in this song (I think it's playing piano at the same time that I'm still not good at?)

But done is better than good, so enjoy some fall weather and i'll, like, sit tucked away with my back to the wall craving a darkness or whatever

lol

Drought

(I'm fine btw)

Also, I am impressed that this blog, which has a strict Vienna Teng lyric post title rule, now has a Vienna Teng song on record. Like, how do I pick a lyric? Imagine the entire song as the title.

tonight the stars

 Hey there! Quick life update: I bought a piano. It's a 1950s-era Hamilton (made by Baldwin), so it's getting into antique range. But I got it tuned up this week and it still plays well enough for me.

I thought it'd be fun to try singing and playing at the same time and, haha. I need more practice. But this is a great song to start with. "One Little Star" from the Sesame Street movie Follow That Bird. Which I think is a great movie. And this is a nice song.

Stay tuned for the possibility of more videos in the future. But don't hold your breath.

Edit: I did the third verse that's a trio between Big Bird, Olivia, and Snuffy. I didn't include the piano because I didn't trust myself. But here you go!

lullaby

A few weeks ago I was traveling back down to where I live from where my family lives and I was feeling a little sentimental about my nieces and nephews, so I decided this would be my next song.

Many Things to Know, from Ralph's World

So that's this month's song down! I'm really starting to get a bit of a repertoire.

now I feel like I'm the flower trying to bloom

this picture came up in my memories and it's apt
2 yrs ago a gentleman caller gave me this bouquet
and I hoped
and a month later he'd ghosted me
it's easier not to hope

I picked my most recent song to learn simply based on the fact that I'd been enjoying listening to it, and decided to see if I could figure out how to play it. And I could! (with a slight key change, which is no obstacle for me)

And as I've been working on it (and realizing that there was no way I'd memorize the lyrics before I got bored of working on it, so I just read them) I've realized that it's actually, like, kinda meaningful.

I am the poster child for never wanting to let myself feel. If Hanahaki disease were real I'd be coughing up flowers all the time because of my utter unwillingness to be vulnerable with anybody.

So it's really hypocritical of me to sing this song and then encourage people to feel their feelings and be vulnerable about stuff. I have been shying from vulnerability as recently as, hmm, today.

But maybe, with these lyrics ringing in my ears, I'll be better?

lol

Ah my blue, blue

Hey here’s my latest video

It was the third take and maybe the worst take but it was the one with the best lighting

Like the video description says, this was the second song I learned on the ukulele but I never recorded it until now. I probably could’ve waited even longer! Practiced even more!

trace all my books [2019]

Here's my 2019 round-up. I said there weren't that many books but there were more than last year.

Technically, You Started It by Lana Wood Johnson
The main appeal of this one is the format -- a novel comprised solely of texts between two people's phones. I loved that she was able to tell the entire story that way, without having to hop out to a narrative. The plot is a girl gets a text from a boy, who has a cousin with the same name. She thinks she knows which cousin is texting her...but does she really?
(no picture of this one, I remembered about it from a tweet)

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas

Obviously I'm here for Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty adaptations and reimaginings all the time. But I love that Mulan's getting a bit of a spotlight too (with this book and that new movie). (Sure, Mulan might be a real person, but it's probably safe to say it's folklore.) Plot: Mulan has been training her whole life to duel a boy from a rival family to see who gets these cool swords. Most people think of her as her twin brother (who I think is dead*). So it's not that much of a step for her to join the army and save China. I said in the video I liked every part of this book and I'll stand by that.

*in Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim that I did not talk about in the video but was also good, a girl dresses as her brother (who is alive but disabled in the war) to compete to become the Imperial Tailor. And my mind confuses the two stories a little.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Took me a hot minute to get into this book but I spent some uninterrupted hours on New Year's Day reading this until I finished. I liked it a lot. (I also like An Enchantment of Ravens, and it was in searching that out to see if there was a sequel that I found this one. Which is not a sequel.) This girl grew up in a Library and has always had a suspicion toward sorcerers. But when tragedy strikes her home she must team up with one of them. Who happens to be pretty handsome. And who has a demon bound to his will.

There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

The sequel to When Dimple Met Rishi, focusing on Rishi's younger brother Ashish. See, his girlfriend broke up with him and he's lost his mojo. So his parents decide it's time for him to date a nice Indian girl. And they think Sweetie's pretty great. Thing is...Sweetie's mom doesn't have the confidence that Sweetie is great (it's a weight thing; Sweetie is great by any metric). But Ashish and Sweetie decide there's no harm in making his parents happy so they decide to fake a relationship for a while (as long as her mom doesn't find out).

Circe by Madeline Miller

It's about Circe.

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Already vlogged this one.

Sherwood by Meagan Spooner

No picture of the cover, but as I was reading this note fell out. It's extremely apt because this adaptation is a tale of Marian, learning of her Robin's death and becoming Robin Hood to honor his memory. And Guy of Gisborne will catch her, one way or another.


So there we have it! That's the video, basically. I teased that I'm looking forward to Return of the Thief this year (scheduled to come out last year). The sequel to A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer came out last week, and I'm excited for that hold to come in. (It's a Beauty and the Beast adaptation...loosely.) Sharon Shinn had some books come out last year that I've been reading this month. 2020 will be a good year for books.

AND as far as making a Best of the Decade vlog/post, I find that just really daunting. I'll keep thinking about it but no promises.