Hi, all. 

I wanted to share with you the first pass at a chord-melody piece that I have been writing for my HopeScope peeps for the past few weeks.  I also hope that it will serve as a special "thank you" to Harmony and Marcel for all the time that they have been giving me over the past several years in helping me to teach myself to play guitar.  It's called Willow.

Here is a little footnote about Willow's inspiration:

In the late 19th century, Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story called Under the Willow Tree, in which children ask questions of a tree they call "willow-father".  Lest this imagery seem somewhat pompous, the idea on which the music is based is that, in this case, wisdom, empathy, kindness, safety, and other such humane equities are not so much bestowed by someone with a particular power, but are first bequeathed, and thereafter shared reciprocally by elder and younger.  The music is inspired by the notion that altruism, wisdom, temperance and its benevolent contemporaries are not the exclusive providence of adults, but are symbiotic in healthy relationships between adults and young people.  Willow is intended to be a musical expression of a cyclical and concentric investment by young and older in one another.

Further, in old English culture, Willows were sometimes seen as malevolent, capable of uprooting themselves and harassing wayfarers.  In this instance, though, the music celebrates the imagery of freedom that is afforded one when they practice teaching and learning in roughly equal parts, with an habitual and natural proclivity toward that which is constructive, as opposed to destructive.

Instrument: Guild (GAD) M-20 acoustic guitar
Tuning: open-D
Capo 4th fret
Strings: Martin M130 Silk & Steel round-wound folk

With that... headphones please... I hope you enjoy Willow. (Either right-click the link and save to your computer, or listen here via the player below):