This morning a question popped into my mind.

‘What to do to realise the ongoing recording and finalising the first ‘album’ of Frail Autumn’s songs next year? To re-record every single song and pay attention to finishing them properly. And what can be considered as inclusions of other art forms to bring to the project in order to create synergy?’.

OPENING SUNG LINE TO THIS SONG BELOW?

‘HOW MANY YEARS DID IT TAKE TO FIND YOUR DREAM…..‘

AND NO……I DON’T FEEL LIKE AN EMPTY ROOM.

Overall. It is about enjoying the whole concept. Therapy found within applying oneself to a variety of the arts is something worth truly considering for expansion from the start of next year. One of those ‘Spider’ plans that have the central theme and then surrounding ideas to support it.

A lot of focus and time can be put into the singular uptake of isolating the music alone. But then a sharing of different artistic mediums can provide a wonderful exploration of whether they can all marry together to create a synergy that feels comfortable to present to others. Vibrancy and avoiding the suffocation of a single songwriting project can exist in use of various formats. The collective mediums can go across each others’ borders and interact. Dynamics can be interesting and not musical single minded.

Is it important to find guidance from some logical source? Yes.

And then I remembered a charity shop find. A book called ‘MY DREAM MAP. An Interactive Companion to Put Your Dream to the Test’. By John C Maxwell.

I am usually useless at following planned guidance like this. But it may be essential in reality in order to understand the correct way of continuing and to make the right choices this time. I’m getting older and can lose my focus often nowadays. Of course there is the ‘Central Essential Dream’ which is to record the songs I’ve been writing. Is the dream to be only that one chosen endeavour? No, not really. On the periphery are the other art forms that can enhance the presentation of the music to an outside world. I can’t afford to pay skilled others to do various contributions themselves concerning artistry and other formats. Artists, penmanship, promotional writers, video makers, technical issues of uploading to Bandcamp or other platforms, printing, etc.. So there are so many considerations, as they materialise, over the months ahead.

Writing word and doodle imagery for well being.

Producing the tactile nature of hard copy CD, cassette, or the ultimate dream of vinyl, formats.

Visual YouTube presentations. Setting up song/music platforms like Bandcamp, SoundCloud, etc., and so allowing people to listen to the songs.

Going out to live ‘open mic’ nights or performing solo/band pub gigs.

Getting in touch with the promotional aspects out there.

Using the VeeDub Bus as a promotional central focal point at certain times. Go to weekend VeeDub meetings over the year. Or simply turn up at the local beach, guitar in hand, over the summer months.

Okay. It may all be a bit ambitious. And my ethos in reality is to simply record songs and get them onto a music platform or two. And also get a tactile reality result so that friends and family get to own a CD or DVD. But I was considering the time I first arrived here in Wales 30 years ago. I met many new people and many new exciting personalities. After a few conversations came the statements that started surrounding possibilities in offering me inclusions.

‘Oh! You played in a band. Do you fancy joining, playing, singing with…. Play guitar for the day hospital patients, do some Christmas carols, do a drum workshop…….

‘Oh! Photography. Do you fancy doing an exhibition, can you show me how to do a darkroom print, run a small demonstration class at the Youth Club,….……..

‘Oh! Your writing is nice. Can you do some wedding invitations, have you considered writing and framing poems and selling them…….

‘Oh! Nice use of making Driftwood and flotsam and Jetsam beach finds into art. Can you make me a picture, a mirror, a garden bench……

‘Oh! You make pottery. Can you supply my shop, do a local craft event, make a pottery cat, dragon, sheep, for a birthday/Christmas present,……..

‘Oh! You can use Sign Language. Can you do a local class, can you teach it at the local college,

and so it went. And then ‘went’…… away.

But I did actually do a fair few of those things. And very, very willingly to be honest. But kept it all at arm’s length in avoiding long term commitment. Jack of all trades, master of none is my contribution to a life lived. But it has hit me into thinking that it would be great for the Frail Autumn project to include small additions of these past excursions.

A CD requires an arty cover. A filmed video DVD does too. Also, visually, videos of some songs could use Sign Language inclusions with signed lyrics. Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman signed in Paul McCartney’s video for his song ‘My Valentine’. Looked cool too. I taught a hard of hearing girl, the daughter of one of my nurse colleagues, who wanted her poetry to be presented using Sign Language for her project with the National Deaf Children’s’ Society’. She was amazingly adept and unique at describing her deafness with use of amazing pieces of poetry. Also, she became pretty awesome in her sign language skills in presentations too.

My skills in all these endeavours were, and are, variable. Some of the arts I really lacked confidence in and others I felt were okay. Although it would still be nice to do some naive, but be brave in giving it a go, arty stuff again. Tread softly, be humble and create an ambience of presentations to contribute to the Frail Autumn project. And the DREAM MAP journal may help focus.

Keep me on my toes.