Still Mesmorized by Frank T.

An American Elegy

This song has to be one of my favorite wind symphony pieces, to play and listen to.  I remember when I first played this song in high school.  It was with our A Band - Wind Symphony, and I can recall every moment of this song etching its way into my heart.  I memorized my part of course, the first part clarinet portion, but I also became entranced with the other instrument parts.  There is just something about a Frank Ticheli piece, that just pulls you in.  I feel this way with Frank, and Eric Whitacre.  But in this post, I'll stick to Frank.  This song, along with Blue Shades, Simple Gifts, Vesuvius, Shenandoah, Cajun Folk Songs, and Sun Dance, are some of my favorites.  But An American Elegy has to be my number one song from him.  I can place this song in its entirety, on repeat and never get sick of it.  To listen to this masterful piece, by an extremely talented band (you must), you will fall in love.  If you take anything from this post, take a listen to Frank's music, and with the link included, it will be by the Wind Symphony band of Michigan State University.  I said you'd need to hear his music from an extremely talented band, and that's what you'll get with them.  There is just something about the composition of a great song, topped off with dedicated musicians.  Feel free to become infatuated with these songs.  And don't feel bad about it.  I'm right there with you, repeat and all.

Fighting To Die (an original song)

**Disclaimer:  This is just a song!  The lyrics are meaningful, but in this time period, it's just a song.**

Fighting to Die (5:02)

Written by Kyra "Kacee/Klayster" Clay

(Guitar and Vocals-Kyra)

I can't take it anymore

Tried to break it down to it's core

Living proof, death still lives

Fighting down inside, fighting down inside

Fighting down inside

So, kill me quick

Make it sick

Fill your regret with remorse

Let me quit the fight, I'm ready to die

I wanted reality

But people played with me

I wanted a way from you

You kept showing up

Little by little

My breath slipped away, from you

So kill me quick

Make it sick

Fill your regret with remorse

Let me quit the fight, I'm ready to die

Ready, ready to die

Ready, ready to

Ready, ready, ready to die

Ready to die

I'm ready, ready ready

I wanted freedom, in my religion

By the time it happened, I was gone

I wanted my life, you weren't inside

By the time you showed up, it was at my gravestone

So grab me

Shake me

Still can't wake me up

I've fallen into  the other side

It was quick

I felt sick

No regret or remorse

Quit the fight

I was ready to die

To die, die, die

To die, to die, to die

I was ready, I was ready

To die, to die, to die

I was ready to die

I was ready to die

I was ready to die

I was ready...to..die

Pushing the Pedal(s)

Another day of Insanity.  Another day with a new-ish workout regiment, including supplements.  And another day of pushing myself to the limit, by including way more cardio than I should have ever thought of doing.  Not that I can't get it done.  But, after already doing one hour of Insanity and extra exercises that I've created, I decide to go for a 15 mile bike ride.  Granted the morning workouts give me so much needed energy to get through the day -- biking in heat with the sun baring down on me . . . Not the smartest thing to do.  Still, I feel great.  That is until I reach those HILLS.  The capitalization is what I feel when I lay eyes on them:  the death incline.  :-o  It's as if I begin to lose my energy just by glancing at the steepness.  At points I sit up higher, and push down even harder on the pedals.  Going.  Moving.  Getting a distance.  But then something happens.  I realize the wind is beginning to blow -- right at me.  So, I push harder.  Until I feel my tendons arguing with me.  Yes, my muscles talk.  Maybe I should listen?  :-p

I continue, but at a different pace.  I decide to move one pedal at a time.  This time, not overly exerting myself.  Yet in the process, I have absolutely NO speed, therefore I am almost at the point of going backwards down the incline.  So instead of making the partial trek almost unbearable, I just get off and walk the half way uphill, until I reach the top.  And after I get there, it's downhill AWESOMENESS.  That is, until I get to a driveway or blind spot area, where I know I'll have to quickly slow down, losing my speed, cut my thrill, and STOP.  Hoping my brakes get the memo, and do just that.  15 miles to accomplish, and I know on the way back, it's another set of hills.  And maybe even more sun.  Maybe I should have opted to just bike to the gym and do indoor cycling.  But there's just something about being out on the open road (minus the cars), iPod of bikeable tunes, and a clear mind.  There's something about losing yourself in the knowledge that you're just going for a ride.  Even if you've traveled that same path many times before, there's still a possibility of something new.  And who knows, you might just discover a new path.

So, you keep going.  Letting the road, wind, and music take you where you feel like going.  And after those 15 miles and early morning workouts, you feel like going, once more.

Almost a year has passed . . .

 

Almost a year has passed since I posted a video on any social networking site.  Not that I have stopped making music -- I have just been preoccupied.  But not to worry (listeners of mine), I still write music and perform, so be on the look out for new material within the next few weeks.  This is going to be a very productive few months, all leading up to another MAJOR journey, which I am beyond excited for.  And yes, I will post about it, at a later date.  So for now, PLEASE enjoy my music, "Revising The Days," which is what I wrote after my last June Residency in Cambridge, MA.  Geez, just hearing it again, takes me back to the emotion I felt when writing/performing it.  I hope you all enjoy. 

 

P.S.  Listen with you ears AND your heart.  :-)

 

Much Love,

 

~Kyra C.

 

 

NEED YOU NOW (How Many Times) by Plumb (official lyric video)

After all the events that have transpired through the week, this song (below) seems right.

Music can speak truth . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sa9qeV6T0o

Stripping Down (Dancing in the Sun)

"Unplugged . . ."  "Bare . . ."  "Stripped down . . ."  These words all describe what happens when I write a song.  Or any piece of writing for that matter.  I decide on going into the vault of memories -- some others, but mostly mine -- and take a piece of what I can (remember), in order to find the reality.

I never understood why it was, or is easy for me to be that way on stage (present), but in person I can't be.  I never understood  until I really listened to my own music.  And my Go-To-Music that gets me into writing mode.  Most of is what some may call "emo," "alt-rock/pop," or classical -- but what I'd like to call, real life through song.

I get inspiration to continue writing and to dig deeper into my thoughts -- after I've set a playlist that becomes more emotional recall than easy listening.  I begin to write.  Yet most of my thoughts would never see the light of day (to some -- I guess I'm not a writer then).  I continue to write, until I'm immersed into that world, and I can actually feel life inside the words.  Strange, eh?  But that to me is Stripping Down.  

I imagine how it would be, if I could take that same writers confidence and utilize it as I converse with people.  Don't get me wrong, I can be social -- I've been part of many social organizations and activities (even being head chair in most of them) -- but when it's just me . . . and no mention of organizations, jobs, music -- the go-to discussions, I'm lost.  I'm beyond stage fright, and I'm not even performing.  Or am I?

I guess, looking at life, that's somewhat a performance too.  Some of us have to fake it till we make it.  Some of us have to bare it.  And then some of us just write -- sing -- live through our music -- because that's the only way we can really strip down.