My purpose in creating my blog MyBlackPiano was always to record my journey towards the launching of my musical ‘The Cross & The Switchblade’ on the world’s stage – while also inspiring others to dust off their own dreams and go again.
And in the process I have decided that all the way through I am going to be transparent in all my communications. You are going to read and watch (with my upcoming video blogs) my heart.This will achieve one of two things – understanding or ridicule. Well that’s cool, because the saints of old experienced the same. So I am in grand company.
November 24, 2009
On this day my father’s eldest sister, who is 79 years old, was led to write me a letter. She knew nothing of my musical, and we had not communicated in this manner for quite some time. Here is a portion of the letter…
‘Whilst going through past history, I came across the tape ‘Destiny’. (This was a recording I made in the 80′s.) Nostalgia filled me as I listened to the music and words. My spirit was stirred up with praise, overflowing joy and Holy Spirit fire. I continued to play it over and over again. I received a knowing to contact you.
For those who are not familiar with musical terminology, a composer is one who composes music, and a librettist is a person who writes a libretto – which are the words of an opera or a musical play.
In creating my musical The Cross & The Switchblade I chose to take on both roles – with a little help to this point, with some parts of the libretto being written by some very talented individuals.
So how does one become a composer? Lots of lots of practice. But in my case, between the age of 6 and 14, I studied the theory of music, and sat for exams, and it wasn’t until I was 14 that the spark to write melodies was lit. It was when I was handed some lyrics by an adult friend that I composed my first song.
People often ask, is it the words or the melody that comes first? In all honesty, there is no set formula. It can happen either way. I have a filing cabinet full of melodies I have written, that as yet have not been connected with any lyrics. One of the key things that has helped my fingers to remain nimble, and to have the ability to strike out on their own at times to find a tune is my faithful Czerny finger exercise book. It is so tattered and torn from over use, but after doing a bunch of these exercises my fingers are soon flying across the keys as they discover new melodies for me.
And then, what about being the librettist for a musical? Well the first thing I had to do, before I could write the lyrics, was to create a ‘musical book’ from the original book that was entitled ‘The Cross & The Switchblade’ by David Wilkerson. First I had to decide how much of that story I was going to tell – which equates to less than half of the original book. Then I had to create a synopsis of that section of the book – or rather a one page brief – and then from that I created the scenario – which breaks up the story into two acts and a number of scenes.
I was recently supplied with both original photos and news reports of the murder and the ensuing trial that forms the very basis of the story – ‘The Cross & The Switchblade’. These have been used to compliment the song that Davie sings before he travels to New York on his life changing mission.
Receive a copy of Peter's free ebook 'Dust Off Your Dream' (35 pages of pure inspiration) by subscribing to his blog MyBlackPiano, which will follow his musical's journey - 'The Cross & The Switchblade' to Broadway and beyond while also guiding you in the pursuit of your dreams.
