Guitar Tides

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Judy

Clicking on this image is a link to hear my piece on Insight Timer.

The 4-chord melody for Guitar Tides was composed last year. I put it aside when I couldn’t seem to expand it beyond those chords. Instead, I found myself energized to work on “Autumn Hope” so I discarded those 4 chords in the key of A.

Once “Autumn Hope” was finished, I wondered whether I had another guitar instrumental in me. I went back to play those 4 chords and felt inspired to add a few more bars. As more and more passages were revealed, the song expanded beautifully. I didn’t have any idea what to name it, so for 6 months, I called it my “new piece in the key of A.”

It took patience for me to decide when my song was truly finished. Eventually, it felt complete and I recorded the main guitar part in August. But it still wasn’t done. I wanted to explore guitar additions. In the past, my other guitar part usually consisted of light finger-picking and an occasional soft strum.

I went ahead and recorded those additions by transposing and using a capo, but then I improvised and came up with some catchy lead guitar melodies. With my last piece “Autumn Hope,” I had discovered the beauty of adding harmonics, so I recorded lots of tracks with those, as well.

Culling the best parts from all the additional guitar recordings was a monumental editing task. But I loved it! The finished piece even benefited from a creative introduction, which had the guitar additions playing first without the main guitar. I faded it in and the result was fun. And of course, once I chose the name “Guitar Tides” – I thought adding some ocean sounds for the intro and the outtro would be soothing.

I had a lovely beach outing this past summer, which inspired me to take some pictures of my guitar on the sand. My good friend, Joni, accompanied me and also took some pictures of me. Everything came together and I’m so happy that I have finished and released my latest guitar creation.

I am planning to add a portion of Guitar Tides to an existing track named “Healing Guitar Dreams.” The moon on my song cover is very dreamy. I’m going to use a different view and change the name of that track to “Guitar Dreams.” It will consist of 5 guitar songs. That will be coming soon.

Every Season Magical Piano

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Judy

Even though it was gray outside when I took the picture above, I still marveled at the beautiful shapes of leaves holding on. I walked while listening to my latest instrumental “Autumn Hope.” Music continues to inspire me!

Every week, I perform 8-10 songs live on Insight TImer. Although I am not feeling confident about singing much these days, opening my heart to such a warm and loving audience has been a blessing to my life. It’s also wonderful that I am playing my songs regularly so that I don’t forget them.

I am still in the process of finishing my latest guitar instrumental to release soon. It consists of almost 30 minutes of solo guitar, which I gleaned from over 4 hours of recording. My last post has been updated to share a better recording of this new song. I’ve decided to name it “Autumn Hope.”

Although I finished solo piano renditions for all 50 of my songs, I’ve decided to redo 10 of them. My first 20 songs were created working with another pianist. They were much simpler and I am eager to hear them fleshed out with my current piano arranger, Devin Farney.

I will have 10 songs with creative and faithful versions. I plan to name the entire medley “Every Season Magical Piano.”

I really enjoy the process of creating piano songs for this new medley. The songs I’ve chosen are very special ones. Two are already finished and I am sharing them here: So Real Magical Piano and Set You Free Magical Piano. Please enjoy them!

My Hopeful Heart

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Judy

My newest painting above is named “Autumn Hope.” I have included close ups of it with a slide show at the end of this post.

I am excited to share that last month I heard a new song forming! Exquisite guitar passages enveloped me and my heart swelled with joy. Just when I needed something to uplift me, this new music appeared!

It has been at least three years since I last composed anything new. I plan to record my new song, but am still exploring the multitude of passages and combinations.

I played my new guitar instrumental live on Insight Timer and tentatively named it “My Hopeful Heart.” It felt like a perfect title to describe my optimism about the New Year.

I share a solo guitar recording excerpt of the meditation that will soon be released on Insight Timer. My final decision for the song’s title was “Autumn Hope.” It seems that title for my painting was lurking in my subconscious. I share also an introduction for my song during a live session when I was composing it.

This is another version that I’m sharing, which was recorded a week before my Insight Timer performance. It’s much faster and I haven’t decided the speed for my new composition yet.

Door To My Heart – Vocal Medleys

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Judy

I recently shared my vocals for the “Door to My Heart Medley” on Insight Timer. There is a Part 1 and Part 2 and each one holds five songs each. I have a song page for these medleys that lists more about the songs. Links to lyrics, stories and other recordings can be found on this page:

https://myjourneysinsight.com/door-to-my-heart-vocal-medleys/

To hear these tracks on Insight Timer, click on the images below:

Door To My Heart – Guitar Medley

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Judy

Door To My Heart – Insight Timer Page

Door To My Heart Guitar Instrumental Songs – Bandcamp Album

Door To My Heart – Links to stories, performances, lyrics and other recordings

For almost a year now, I’ve been working on the ten acoustic songs that comprise “Door To My Heart” Medley. The versions with vocals have been delayed, as I haven’t been singing very much. The piano guitar medley is very close to being finished.

Releasing solo guitar has been a recent venture of mine; the result is soothing and especially appreciated by my Insight Timer audience.

Some of the songs for this medley were recorded two years ago, but I have new versions of several of them. My most recent one was for “Watching You Grow,” and the tempo is considerably slower.

I did sing a vocal for the above song. To see it with a very personal slideshow, click here: Watching You Grow Slideshow

I’ve just completed a new course named “Songs of Healing and Hope.” Several other new meditation tracks will be coming out soon based on this course. Although my course is not yet published on Insight Timer, it is available for purchase on Bandcamp.

I might move forward to create a new course based on the lyrics to “Door To My Heart” songs. It would be such a joy to create another course!

I love this image that a friend shared with me for my “Door” song cover.

Wings To Fly

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Judy

My moments of joy come whenever I work with Bobby. He is such a talented pianist. Bobby always says things that lift my heart up. With his musical training and my lack of it – I am beyond flattered whenever he compliments my songs. Examples of his enthusiasm come through with comments like: “Judy, do you realize what an amazing key change you have here?” or “I love this chord – please play it for me on your guitar” or “Your song is incredibly moving and I want to know all about it.” No wonder I loved working with him!

Bobby has been helping me add piano to the ten songs for a new course to be released soon on Insight Timer. It is named “Songs of Healing and Hope.”

For every one of the ten songs, we create two distinctly different piano solos. One follows the melody and the other I call “ambient.” The ambient clip isn’t actually ambient – it is just a creative interpretation of my song. Bobby has been very successful working on film scores and his improvisations always blow my mind. He gives me multiple motifs and each one is magical. The pleasure of editing his ideas to create a solo piano journey for my song is indescribable. Here I am, a guitarist – and now piano editing has encompassed my energy.

My new course is almost finished – we have only one song left. The piano clips add so much to my lessons. Trying to decide where to add music to my speaking is truly a creative joy. I also plan to create a piano meditation track of all the songs. I have already released a medley of the songs with guitar, as well as guitar and piano. The link to more about that is on my last post.

My song “In The Past” ends with this line: “Things that made me cry, gave me wings to fly.” To read more lyrics, stories, and hear performances and other recordings: https://myjourneysinsight.com/in-the-past/

“Wings to fly” is a lovely image that especially helps me during this difficult time. Please stay safe everyone.

Below are the two clips from my course lesson for “In The Past.”

“In the Past” Ambient Clip:

“In the Past” Melody Clip:

This silhouette is definitely from my past. I was 20 years old when it was taken.

Earlier Updates

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Judy

April 15, 2020

I am working on my “Song of of Healing and Hope” course for Insight Timer. This is a link to the songs for my course: Insight Timer – Songs of Healing and Hope Medleys.

Every lesson for my course incorporates musical clips: old arrangements, guitar mixes and piano solos. I have hire an arranger to help me create the piano clips and it’s fun. We do two different clips; one is more ambient and the other is faithful to my song’s melody. Each lesson ends with a piano solo melody clip.

Below is a medley of the melody piano clips for the first five lessons. Thank you for stopping by and I pray for everyone to emerge from this dark time with their health intact. The losses are staggering and I feel the collective weight of grief. It is horrifying to think about.

My life’s passion and energy has been devoted to maintaining hope of healing. I will continue on my path. Stay safe and sending my love.

January 23, 2020

I caught a terrible chest cold in early December and am still coughing. I would say I’ve been concentrating on healing for many months now. My life is calm and peaceful. I record guitar songs and work on piano additions to them. I have a few that i am simply enjoying recently. Below are new guitar recordings for my songs “Someone to Love You” and “How We Don’t Care.”

I went with my daughter to Huntington library last week. It was simply a gorgeous day and I appreciated that I could walk again!

December 1, 2019

I recently released three new meditation tracks on Insight Timer. The first one is named “Healing Guitar Dreams” and the image above is the cover for this track. It consists of a solo guitar medley of three of my previously released songs: Healing Song, Waterfall Dreams and Farewell.

The other two meditation tracks are a medley of ten of my songs. One is with vocals and the other is guitar and piano. My Insight Timer page link shares more about these medleys: Songs of Wonder – Vocal Medley & Guitar/Piano Medley

(Below are the covers for the medleys, which are illustrations of mine.

I am elated to have finished recording the last of my 52 acoustic songs

My newest project is one that I am very excited about. I have been enjoying a slightly different process of creating meditation tracks, which began with my new version of “Healing Song.” Instead of recording my guitar and adding in piano, I am doing the reverse. I had my arranger, Devin, create a lovely piano solo for my track “Farewell Love Song” and I am going to record a new guitar track that complements it. This process is definitely different for me and a lot of fun. I share a brief excerpt of the piano solo below, which is quite beautiful:

Thank you for checking out my music. It continues to fuel my joy and helps me greatly as I am healing from a broken ankle. I celebrated Thanksgiving with extreme gratefulness for all my blessings!

October 25, 2019

It has been a month now since I’ve been able to walk again. I recently celebrated my 60th birthday and it was a very joyful occasion of being surrounded by my dearest friends.

I have continued to forge ahead with new meditation tracks for Insight Timer. Recently I released a new version of an earlier track named “Healing Song.” I had a beautiful intro and outtro added, courtesy of my piano arranger, Devin. His talent is enormous and made my song amazing. I created a shorter version of my track to share as an audio excerpt: