As The Snow Flies
I was sitting at the piano late one afternoon - searching for inspiration. The holidays had passed and the year was coming to a close. The hustle and bustle of Christmas was still on my mind and how busy my life was at that time: trying to juggle a full time job, parenting, being a spouse, trying to make the holidays special for everyone and trying to live up to my own expectations in general. It can be overwhelming - especially around the holidays.
I was thinking of my dad, who had passed away some years before and was trying to think back to when I was a child and what sorts of things I cherished at Christmas time when I noticed it had begun to snow outside: big, fluffy tufts of snow slowly drifting downward. I decided to step outside onto the front porch for a few minutes.
Something special happens, acoustically, when snow falls as it blocks out ambient noise: no sound of traffic in the distance, dogs barking or the roar of air planes overhead could be heard. One sound, however, rang out softly in the distance: the bells from our neighborhood church.
The bells were light a beacon in that moment: that the world and all of our daily activities distract us from what is truly important. Because, at the core of each of us is a visceral longing for something simple, something comforting and something honest and genuine - love. This song is about that longing to connect with that simplicity.
The opening chords of the song are the church bell in the distance and the structure of the song is one of simplicity. There is a brief reference to 'Silent Night' in the vocals at the very end, which I had thought about incorporating more as a theme throughout the song, but ultimately decided against adding too much complexity. In the end, I wanted the song to be a moment of rememberence, revelation and meditation.
I think Whitney Houston's voice would work well for this piece. I thought about Celine Dion as well, but her high range is a bit too assertive. This might also work well in a tenor/baritone voice.