Goldstone Wood Music Contest - THE WINNER!!!

Dear Imps, as a special feature, I invited animator Melanie J. Morgan to visit the blog today and let us all know what she thought of the FANTASTIC music sent in for this year's contest! Seriously, I think you'll be able to see from her comments that she was pretty much wowed across the board. At the very end, she will name her winner, the song she will go on to turn into an awesome animatic! But you did not make her job as judge and easy one . . .

___________

MELANIE J. MORGAN

Greetings and Salutations everybody!  I can’t even begin to tell you how much of an incredible blessing it was to be able to hear all of your work!  It warmed me right down to my toes!

At the same time, I felt I had been afflicted with the curse of having to choose only one!  It’s all your faults for being too fabulous!  Oh my goodness! So, in honor of all of you wonderful darlings, I’d love to spare a moment to tell you all how fantastic I think you are.

“Rise Up My Heart” – Meredith Burton:  Meredith, I absolutely love your voice!  It was such a blessing to hear it again this year!  I LOVE the flowing hymn-like quality you gave this song!  It’s so beautiful!!  I’m glad I got to hear more of your music!  So beautiful! 

“Down the Mountain” – Meredith Burton and Abby Cashen:  Ladies, this song is beautiful!  I love the contemplative tone, it really echoes Rosie’s mindset, and the lyrics are gorgeous!  And what instrument did you use, Abby?  The music has such a unique tone!  Awesome job!

“Eanrin’s Lullaby” – Clara Diane Thompson:  Ah, Clara, what a blessing it is to hear this song again!  It carries the lullaby SO wonderfully and is so beautifully performed and orchestrated!  It flows wonderfully!  It sounds like a legitimate lullaby!  Fantastically done!

 “The Ballad of Goldstone Wood” – Ryebrynn and Abby:  Wow, I’m amazed how much content you could cover in a single song!!  The setup is simply wonderful.  I love how you frame it in a story told to a child, and how each portion doesn’t give any “spoilerific” information, and just keeps you wanting more.  And that instrumental bridge!  Gorgeously done!  It has such a beautiful flow and build-up to it (I especially love the second half)!  Splendid!

“The Wood Between” – Melissa Snow:  Oh my goodness!  I love this song, I really do.  The vocals, the music, the editing, the tone, the visuals….Wonderful!!  It’d make such a wonderfully mysterious introduction to Goldstone Wood…SO beautiful…It definitely feels like a song from a film soundtrack.  I really love it, and it’s so well put together!!   Amazingly done!

“Lullabies and Dreams” – M. S. L. Miranda and Meredith Burton:  Wow, this was so beautiful!!  Meredith, your voice astounds me once again!!  The lyrics are fantastic and you both work together so wonderfully!  And M.S.L. Miranda, your ethnic music is just SO gorgeous….It sets a FANTASTIC mood to the song and it works wonderfully!  I love how the setup could easily shift from a scene of a lullaby into a perfect introduction of the setting of Golden Daughter.  Such a wonderful job!! 

“Coming Through the Roses” – Allison Rudivich:  Oh Allison, this was WONDERFUL!  And your recording has improved leaps and bounds from last year, this is gorgeous!  The set up is fantastic and the visuals the lyrics inspire is wonderful!  And the music!  It’s SO wonderful!  I LOVE the build-up, the lyrics, the music, UGH it’s all so fantastic!  It’s been getting stuck in my head often this week!  Awesome job!

“Song of Spheres” – Clara Diane Thompson: Ahhh Clara, so wonderful to hear this song again as well!  It’s so beautiful!  I still find myself singing it here and there even after this long.  It creates such a great visual of an introduction to Goldstone Wood…and has this inexplicable tone of foreshadowing.  As if just by listening, the listener can tell the song is important even without knowing what it’s about.  I love this song and you’ve done an amazing job!

“Ballad of the Beanpole” – Michael Jones and family:  There is no one word to express my feelings on this one.  It was so heartwarming, so entertaining, and so awesome at the same time.  I pretty much literally can’t listen to it without watching it too.  You guys have done such an AWESOME job of collaborating with each other, and it’s so wonderful to watch!  The performance was great, the lyrics were fabulous, and even just the fact that you rallied your whole family into creating it was incredibly awesome.  It warms my heart and makes me laugh every time I watch it.  And all the work you put into lyrics, arrangement, music, costumes, etc…wow.  You and the family have done a wonderful job!!

“Moon’s Lullaby” – Allison Rudivich:  And now, this week on “Allison Finds a Way to Make Everyone Cry!”  Seriously, though, this song was absolutely breathtaking.  The lyrics were gorgeous and genius and fit into the setting absolutely beautifully.  And I love the parallel you made between the lullaby of Goddess Tithe and Hymlumé and her children.  Ugh, so many feels…  And the music fit so perfectly!  It was just absolutely fantastic.

“Daughter of Gold” – Hannah Williams:  Oh Hannah, darling, this is beautiful!  I wasn’t expecting the privilege of getting to hear piece from you!  The lyrics are fantastic, and it has such a wonderful emotional tone that is so bittersweet, so reminiscent of Sairu’s unconscious longing.  And I love the hint of the orient in the tune, it’s such a nice touch!  Fantastic job!  It’s so awesome to hear something from you!

“It’s Lovely to Be Me” – Beckah and Abby:  Ladies, this is so awesome!  I love how you chose to write a song for Gleamdren, and it’s so fantastic!  The lyrics are genius, it’s got a confident, lovely sing-song quality, and I LOVE the idea of the “ME!” musical number for Goldstone Wood belonging to Gleamdren, the likes of “Gaston” (Beauty and the Beast) and “Perfect Isn’t Easy” (Oliver & Company) (Forgive the Disney nerd).  The song is just so entertaining, and you both have done an amazing job!!

“In Between” – Hannah Williams and Clara Darling: Ladies, this is so wonderful!  So mysterious…It’s so fantastically written, recorded, and composed together.  It comes together so nicely!  It’s such a wonderful introductory song to Goldstone Wood.  It gives just enough to get people interested but holds back just enough to hook people in and get them wanting more.  So well done, ladies!  Bravo!!

“One and Only” – Ruth, Kara, Laura, Lydia, and Beckah (I mean…Eanrin):  This concept is genius.  Absolutely genius.  And I’m so impressed that all of you have collaborated together, let alone collaborated so well and edited it all together in one piece!  The music gives such a perfect Celtic atmosphere, and really echoes the atmosphere of what I’d imagine from Rudiobus (And I love the visuals you chose!).  And the lyrics fit the tune so well!  Splendidly done, ladies!

“Finding His Path” – Brittney:  Ahhh, Brittney I was hoping to hear something from you this year!!  And WOW…you have done the most difficult thing…I have always had a really hard time forgiving Lionheart’s character because of stuff in my own life…but not only have you made me FEEL for Lionheart, you’ve made me RELATE to him.  And it scares me and it’s beautiful all at the same time.  And the song itself is just GORGEOUS, and the pictures you’ve taken with the help of your brother and mom are just so perfectly appropriate!  It all fits so well and I just love this song!!  Bravo, my dear, bravo!!

“Where Did the Songbird Go?” – Daniel and Erin Hodge:  Oh gosh, you guys…this was so beautiful… the tune is so wonderful, and it portrays the lullaby so wonderfully!  It’s so memorable and the way it’s composed easily carries a theme of Goddess Tithe as a whole.  Daniel, your piano creates such a perfect mood, and Erin, your voice and his piano complement each other PERFECTLY.  Such a beautiful job!

“Rise Up My Heart” – Hannah Rogers:  WOW…just wow…All I can say is this gorgeous thing sounds like Lord of the Rings credits song-level (That is a giant compliment in Melly-speak).  The music and composition is just wonderful and creates such a beautiful, bittersweet, haunting mood that is perfect for its setting.  I love it.  It’s so beautiful.  And your performance is just breathtaking.  Wonderfully done, my dear!

“The Waltz of Arpiar” – M. S. L. Miranda:  What a blessing it was, my dear, to hear this song again!  The ATMOSPHERE you create with this song is so haunting and so beautiful and creates such a gorgeous picture and dynamic, and it creates such a unique and distinct picture of what Arpiar is, and I love it.  It’s so intricate, and there’s so much depth to it.  Such an awesome song, darling, bravo!!

“The Roses of Arpiar” – Stuart McAdam and Jemma Tainsh: Wow, so much emotional tone in this song!  It’s wonderful!  The way it’s composed it makes it so easy to sing to, and I could easily sing the song in my head while listening to it.  It’s clear, and clean, and so beautiful and a bit melancholy.  It has such a nice effect that soothes but keeps you in a mood that could be somewhat sad.  It’s such a deep and complicated feeling that you’ve captured so well!  And the tune is so memorable!  You guys have done an awesome job!

“Etatun’s Lament” – Erin and Daniel Hodge:  Oh. My. Goodness…Are you guys going to be making this a habit, making me cry?  Shame on you.  In all seriousness, the tune, the composition, and music, how it all came together.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  And the feeling you’ve captured in that single song, and how you handled its composition…awesome.  It paints such a clear picture.  And that picture is gorgeous.  Tragic, but gorgeous.  Fantastically done, you guys!!

“Black is the Color” – EverRising Productions:  Words?  Words exist?  Oh my goodness…Hannah, the visuals you used fit perfectly and made it a joy not only to listen to, but to watch.  Bryn, the writing was amazing, and so on point.  It was absolutely perfect.  Stephen, your voice acting for Eanrin was PHENOMENAL.  I was totally floored.  And David, your singing voice is shockingly gorgeous and perfect for Eanrin.  The music was fantastic and had perfect pensive and melancholy tone with that hint of longing.  It was just a perfect collaboration, and the production quality is absolutely astounding, and how you brought the ending into the beginning of Heartless?  Genius.  It was an absolute joy to listen to.  Splendidly done, you guys!

Thank you guys so much for giving me the absolute pleasure of listening to your amazing, beautiful music.  You’re all so talented and it gives me such incredible joy to listen to your fantastic work.  Thank you.  And thanks to Anne Elisabeth for allowing me to be a part of this.

So!  I’ll have you all know you’ve made my job an almost-literal nightmare trying to choose amongst your fabulousness.  If I didn’t enjoy your work so much, I’d tell you all to stop being so fabulous.  Judging was nigh impossible.  I’m sure if I had to judge on a typical scale I may have never come to a solid conclusion.

It took quite a while and multiple listens to even come close to a decision of which song to storyboard. The decision I came to was a song that stirred me with such a vivid picture and such a heart-wrenching vision that I couldn’t stop thinking about the story in my head.  Its tune and emotional tone were striking and fit perfectly in its context.  When I listened to it, I could easily hear a piece that I could storyboard without fail.  It quite honestly moved me to tears.  And it was the best candidate that I knew I could storyboard well.

So!  Without further adieu, the song I’ve chosen to storyboard is…

ETANUN'S LAMENT

By: Erin and Daniel Hodge

 

 ____________________________

Thank you, Melanie, for those wonderful write-ups! And BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Erin and Daniel on their win! I can hardly wait to hear your music performed in Melanie's animatic!

A note to everyone else . . . EverRising Productions, who submitted the "Black is the Color" piece are teaming up with Erin Hodge and Melanie to produce the animatic, with the amazing David Chamberlain offering Etanun's singing voice and the talented Stephen Shutt creating voices for both Etanun and Akilun. So the folks at EverRising are part of the winning project as well and will also be receiving copies of Poison Crown: The Smallman's Heir when it releases. So congratulations to them too!

It's going to be fantastic. Thank you, EVERYONE, for your participation! You made this year's concert even more exciting than the last one (which I wouldn't have thought possible). It was so much fun to share and enjoy your talents.

Next up . . . the Fan Fiction Contest!!! Don't miss your chance to participate. (Here are the rules.)

Have a lovely weekend, and do take a moment to congratulate our winners!