How to compose a Name Piece: Kennedy Jeanette Yearby

Saturday morning I woke up and was supposed to hop to it, and start cleaning for our guests who were due in at 10. There was also a graduation party, later in the day to attend. So, I thought: { I'll just go downstairs and see if I can compose a Name Piece for the High School Graduate: Kennedy Jeanette Yearby. I sensed my husband grumbling about how I was setting my priorities. While I was focused on plotting the graduate's name on an alphabet chart, I heard the vacuum seething upstairs}. {Maybe I could get a little cleaning in after I composed the Name Piece}.

This is how I did it on video:

In a Name Piece, the letters of the names are used to create the music. Make sure you have the correct spelling of the names. The first step to compose a Name Piece, is to write the first 7 letters of the alphabet (the 7 notes of an octave, A through G), and line up the letters of the alphabet under the 7 notes in order, as follows: A B C D E F G A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The second step: The chart shows what notes to use for each letter of the name. The letters of the graduate's first, middle and last names are assigned to notes according to the alphabet chart. Letters under the A column (including A), would be an A in the composition, and likewise for letters lining up under the remaining notes of the scale. This is how I applied the formula to Kennedy Jeanette Yearby : K E N N E D Y D E G G E D D J E A N E T T E C E AG E F F E Y E A R B Y D E A DB D The letters in bold are how the letters translate into the notes of the Name Piece. The third step: Once I have the notes plotted, I play through the notes to see if a key and rhythm suggests itself. You can see how I find the key and rhythm in the Youtube videos that accompany this post. The fourth step: After finding a key and rhythm, I add an accompaniment. For arranging, I rely on the ideas I learned in Deborah Henson-Conant's HipHarp Toolkit. The fifth step: I recorded the Name Piece, posted it on youtube. Now Kennedy can listen to her own Name Piece whenever she likes.

KENNEDY JEANETTE YEARBY: Here is the finished Name Piece; performed two hours after sitting down to compose. It can be done. Kennedy thought it was "awesome", and so did her friends, and family.

I was disarmed at how genuinely sweet and thankful Kennedy was. Other guests were amazed at the uniqueness of this gift. [ I was elated, gratified and glad I had composed a Name Piece for Kennedy]. And I had a little time to clean , too. 2 Comments

Teddy 6/21/2016 Alexandra, thank you for sharing this lesson on how you build a Name Tune. I am inspired to try it.

Alexandra 7/5/2016 Teddy, I would love to see your composition.