The Three Arrangements

Continuing my musical experiment called Dhymn, today I practiced a simple arrangement of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God by Martin Luther. Actually, I practiced several versions before finally settling on one.

The first arrangement was too simple, even for my limited playing abilities. It was a scaffold melody and only for the right hand. The fact it had no chords left me cold.

Then I tried an arrangement almost identical to the hymn book. That one is too hot to handle for my untrained left hand.

But I think I found an easy one that's just right for my skill level. I practiced that one for about an hour, making total practice time for today at about an hour and a half.

During practice there have been moments of despair mixed with a sense of accomplishment. I'm making progress on the song, but it sounds clumsy and rough. I'm not cut out to be a piano player, this I know for sure, but there are many kinds of composers I tell myself.

I'm going to remain focused and positive and learn this song. Then I'll see what kind of djenty embellishments I can add.

Meditation Time bookstanding today: 40 Quality of meditation (out of 10): 5

Practice Minutes on the keyboard today (out of 40): 40 minutes (although it's closer to an hour and a half, 40 minutes is the maximum I allowed) Quality of practice (out of 10): 10

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Martin Luther goes Djent

The hymn I decided to djent-ify for Project Dhymn is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. As you'll hear for yourself, the song has a majestic quality, a real oomf to it, and the lyrics are deeply reverent. It's one of my favorites.

The composer of this masterpiece is none other than social-religious reformer Martin Luther. I've enjoyed this hymn a hundred times yet never knew that until today! I printed off several arrangements (all in D Major) and started practicing the easiest version.

In whatever free time I can steal away, I'm listening to a lot of Djent bands too. Here's what I consider a good representation of the genre:

Cross-pollinating these two musical forms will take time. My expectations far exceed my nascent musical abilities, but I expect to learn a lot and create something new in the process.

Meditation Time bookstanding today: 40 Quality of meditation (out of 10): 3

Practice Minutes on the keyboard today (out of 40): 25 minutes Quality of practice (out of 10): 7

You can follow this blog via twitter or by RSS in your favorite RSS feed reader. I also send out the occassional newsletter.