Shakespeare is SO Close

This is the week we're recording the music for our new play Shakespeare Unshackled. (For those who don't know about it, it's an introduction to the life and times of Shakespeare for students in grades 5-high school.)

I never started a publishing company because I wanted to keep track of mailing lists or design catalogs. John and I started by writing musical plays for kids, and we were pushed into the publishing part. So here were are finally doing what we're really good at, writing and producing songs.

Several days ago I notated the four songs that Brenda Tzipori would be singing on and made rough demonstration recordings for her to listen to. That gave me a couple of days to actually start recording the instruments that she would sing to. And yesterday afternoon Brenda came in and sang her songs. As usual, some of it was easy and some parts of some songs were difficult to perform. Brenda may or may not have been swearing at the writers, but she wasn't perfectly happy...just like usual.

Today my job is to notate and make rough demo recordings of the four songs that Dana Shaw will be singing. After I put her demos into the mail my job is both to record her songs as well as do more work on Brenda's tunes. I need to get enough of the instruments recorded so guitarist Mike Fishell will be able to jump in and easily do parts on many songs when he's here on Friday.

And after Dana sings on Saturday it'll be time to mix the recordings down to stereo, make the master CD and listen to it very carefully.

I'm thinking that we'll be shipping in two weeks, as long as John and I are really productive over the next week. I think we'll pull it off.

Here's a sample lyric from the show. It's sung by King James with a little help from his courtiers:

I've got a dozen castles and a pile of meat
And twenty-seven servants to massage my feet
But all I'm really wanting is a front row seat
Too-rah-loo-rah-ay.

The King's Men are my troop so I just send a note
"Now come perform the latest thing that Shakespeare wrote,
And if you're late I'll have you all thrown in the moat"
Too-rah-loo-rah-ay.

Too-rah-loo-rah-ay, too-rah-loo-rah-ay,
Who da king?
(You da king!)
Who da man?
(You da man!)
Start the play, too-rah-l0o-rah-ay!

Since I've been king we've seen the best from Will Shakespeare
He finished his Othello and that old King Lear
I wonder why so many crazy kings appear
Too-rah-loo-rah-ay.

They say he's got a new one that will steal your breath
About my home in Scotland and it's called Macbeth
And if I know my Shakespeare it is filled with death!
Too-rah-loo-rah-ay.

© 2007 Ron Fink and John Heath