Let's do some solo piano. Or at least try.
Picture from one of the last times I was in the house where I grew up.
Sometimes songs come from unexpected places.
This week my sister texted the family chat that she was going to let the old family phone number lapse. It was ported when my mom and dad moved, but ended up being twice as expensive for one silly reason or another. That original phone number was mainly important to my mom, and my dad doesn't get many calls anymore. Time to let things go.
Funny how important something like phone number can be.
I'm really lucky. My parents moved back to their home state in 1970 and found a house...where I grew up....and stayed there for 50+ years. And because of that, they had the same phone number for decades. Never got a cell phone, that landline was the way to call them.
It was more than a number. It was sort of a touchstone. That sense that a lot of things can change, but that number was there. I had friends who connected with me again after decades because they called my parent's number.
Stayed the same. But now it's time to let it go.
It's almost silly to be sentimental over a phone number. But it's more than just a number.
It's calling for a ride home.
It's calling to talk about the good grade on an exam.
It's calling for help.
It's reaching out.
My parents moved in 2023. 53 years in the same place.
My mom died in 2024. They were married for 67 years. She was the one who really cared about consistency of phone numbers, things like that.
Things change. Time to let go. No answer from that ring tone.
Back to that text conversation. My sister and I talked about how that number is just ingrained in us. It's muscle memory. I said I could sing the tones. (Yes, touch tones are dissonant pairs. We approximate.)
Sing the tones? I think I know what to do about letting that phone number go...and what I'm doing for week 29.
› Production Notes‹ Production Notes
I had that scrap of melody in my head from the touch tones, but wasn't sure how to approach it without sounding a little too simple or cheesy. I knew I wanted it to be a piano solo, but I'm not a great piano player, and my musical ambitions for this sort of surpassed my ability.
Funny how things show up when they need to. I've seen clips of Rick Beato's interview with Billy Joel, and it's been great. One of the things Billy talked about is how he used dissonant chords. Ping! I played around with more dissonant voicing on my chords, and it was exactly what I wanted.
I had the song written in about an hour. And then I took another two hours to practice it and actually record it. Like I said, the music sort of surpasses my ability, and I wanted to PLAY this. I got it about 95% there and then tweaked some notes, adjusted velocities and added some tastier notes after I was done. Used a lot of sus4 and add9/add2 voicings.
Those initial tones are the actual number. And the phone number sounds are from an instrument I built for my very first weekly project waaaay back in 2009 (week 13 to be exact). I had built a sampler instrument in GarageBand that was exactly what I wanted. Rather than rebuild the wheel I imported that project (because of course I still have it) into Logic and saved it off. Done!
I think the Billy Joel reference is also funny because he used touch tones at the start of Sometimes a Fantasy on Glass Houses, back in 1980. Love that album!
Added a little synth line under the piano late Saturday night. Just a little more texture.
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