Technology is Awesome!

by Marsha Ward

When I read about Robyn's book trailer, then went to see it, I was awestruck at her accomplishment and thought I should go and do likewise - someday. I put the notion of doing a couple of trailers for my novels into the overflowing "to-do someday" section of my brain. Then I set out to find the Movie Maker on my computer so I'd be ready for "someday."

At first I couldn't find it. That must have triggered my "By dang! I'm going to do this now" contrariness quirk, so when I discovered that the software was indeed residing on my 'puter, I launched into a two-day stint of creativity.

Since I had some people check out my first efforts to portray The Man from Shenandoah on electronic video and got good suggestions to implement, and since my second version wasn't quite perfect either, I can't direct you to the exact location of my fledgling book trailer today. However, once I take my handy flash drive into town tomorrow and use my laptop at a free broadband hotspot so the upload doesn't take an hour like today's did, I'll come back here and add the address for youTube.

Besides, youTube is undergoing a scheduled maintenance.

--->youTube address for the Book Trailer is right here<---

In the meantime, let me tell you a bit of how I'm feeling in the aftermath of this outpouring of adrenaline.

I searched for the perfect words, the perfect music, the perfect images to convey the essence of The Man from Shenandoah. In all humility, I had help. This whole Internet thing--the ability to search a myriad of places for resources, the miracle of youTube and similar sites--is simply amazing. I must acknowledge, as well, that as I progressed through this process I had heavenly help. My heart is full of gratitude for the tender mercies I've received in my quest to do the best job I could.

When I began, I found a bunch of pictures that I thought would help sell my book. One by one I pared them out of the film. Instead, I used mostly titles set against a rich almost-maroon background that echoes the book cover. Review quotes are on a color that picks up the grays in the cover. Perfect grace brought me the image of a young red-headed pioneer woman in a red dress.

The first music didn't work for me. Then I found a piece that is lilting, haunting, evocative of the emotions in the novel. When I made my final cut and listened over and over as I watched the images flash by, I was astounded to notice that a certain melodic theme played as the girl stared at me, and it was repeated, more softly, at the sight of the book cover, The Man from Shenandoah himself. I realized that the pizzacato strings under the solo violin and the throbbing *bass viol lines accentuate the fact that these people traveled via animal power, with clip-clopping hooves an ever-present sound. Who would've thunk that a piece by the Baroque master composer Vivaldi would so well suit a tale of distressed Americans on the move to the West?

I didn't.

My soul is soaring.

Edited to add the youTube address.
*Yeah, it might be a cello playing, but my first impression was that it is a string bass, so I wrote it that way.

Bragging Rights

As the mother of a musical prodigy, I'd like to claim my bragging rights. Yes, it's true, I have a musically talented six year old child. I always knew she had an ear for music, literally. Her violin teacher announced recently that she could play nearly anything she heard, but she wasn't learning the notes on the page. We're still working on reading music, but it's coming.

This last couple of weeks have been especially fun as she's experimenting more with her music. My husband found a song on You Tube and cranked up the volume. From the basement my daughter began playing along with it on her violin. It's one she's played before, but it had been quite a while since she'd even looked at the song. Then the other day she began playing a song on the piano that was currently playing on the radio! She doesn't really even play the piano, or hasn't. Now she's playing her violin songs on the piano too, from ear.

We've decided she has music in her soul. She can't do a thing without humming or singing. Her cars on the Xbox games even sway to the music that's pouring from her cute little lips. She's memorized nearly every song on our karaoke game and can sing all the words to songs like "We are Family" and "Play that Funky Music."

A few nights ago we retired to the basement for a jam session, my husband on drums, my older daughter on guitar and me on bass ... the sun fell and my six year old drifted off to sleep, her foot still tapping out the beat.