I am scheduled to do a recording session later in August. It will involve my guitar,
and some more of the songs I've written. Although I've made over twenty albums of my
songs, for years the songs I've written and not yet recorded, have felt like a Mount
Everest, I hope to climb, but for one reason or another, can never quite reach the
summit of. Last year I was able to record fifty seven songs, most of which are now on four cd's, but a long list of songs to be recorded remains ahead of me. It is a pleasant problem to have, and yet, a bit of a haunting, raising the question, "will
you ever finally finish recording, the songs you've written you want to record?".
Over the years of singing sometimes in difficult situations, it is the recording of
my songs, that I've found be the toughest aspect of my song-writing work. There is
something in the past I've found daunting, especially in sessions when it's just my guitar and me, about the sound engineer saying, "take one or five", and then being
completely on my own to put down a version of a song for posterity, that I can live
with. I know I have to be fully present until the last note dies, making sure I deliver on the spirit of the song, and knowing the microphones will pick up any
hesitation or flubbed note I may make. I am usually a lover of spontaneity, and may yet do a
recording session where I haven't rehearsed anything, but in the time before the
recording session that lies ahead, I will be with my head down, first arranging, then
rehearsing, each song day after day, until I'm at ease with singing and playing,
all the ones slated for recording, and am ready to put them on a master disc,
never having to work on them again, and making another deposit into my "bank of
creations".............Quester.
