The Becker Scrapbook So Far

Hey there.  I know what you are thinking… “Oh no!  Not another scrapbook post.  We want to bake!”  Well, that one is just one blog down the pipeline.  However, I have actually had some readers (two, which is a large percentage of my core readership) tell me that they wanted to see the blank scrapbook I was making for my niece and new nephew’s honeymoon trip through Utah.  So, I have taken pictures of the pages so far.  I love these pictures, and I am proud to show them.
This is the first page. I know it is a little… busy. But I like it. I wanted to introduce an air of excitement. The main paper set I used for this is the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Lost & Found paper stack, but I also picked through my large private collection for anything that had a camping theme.  Unfortunately I do not know exactly what the titles of these papers are, but they were most likely bought at Hobby Lobby.  I included a small just above the title with a large tag halfway inside it for journaling.

Now the pictures are a little more laid back.  This one features stickers, both bought and handmade.  The letters are purchased. The signs in the top corner and down the middles are made.  I cut them from a paper full of them, and ran them through my Xyron machine.
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I like this set of pages.  The first page is pretty blank. I think that the place she is going will more than decorate the page.  I put up a couple of Quickutz suitcase die-cuts to decorate the page, a couple of sticker phrases, and a Tim Holtz sticker of a couple that has similarities to the Beckers.  the second page is just a large matte, for them to fill as they want.  If you look at this picture, you can see that the picture has a pattern.  I think it is a picture of a sweatshirt.

Another two page spread.  This time the large matte is first.  This one was just too cute to pass up.  The second one is another fairly blank page.  I did put more Quickutz handmade die cuts here, such as the US shape, the shovel, and the sign.  I also included a metal finding with a cute sentiment on it.

This two-page spread is more sedate than the others, but I think it is a great spread for travel.  I cut a page with a world map in half, to make the pages match.  The page matte is a wood pattern, so the picture mattes reflect the somber color.  To lighten the mood of the page, I put sticker phrases down, and made a couple of butterfly stickers out of a piece of pretty paper and foam tape.

I just had to use the frenetic papers I had with all the camping signs on them, they were just too fun.  Of course, it did need to be calmed a little.  So I used pickle-colored Bazzill cardstock for both the page mattes and the picture mattes.  All of the accents on this page are hand made, most are Quickutz.  In case you cannot tell already, I have a lot of Quickutz dies.

And finally, at least so far, the two-page spread based on a picture of a Utah mountain range.  I believe the blog about this spread explains this picture wonderfully.  And I love the way it looks.

Below are close-ups of some of the hand made accents I made.  Note that the butterfly is merely two identical cut-outs, stuck together at the body of the insect with a little tape, with the wings of the upper cut-out bent up a little bit.  Looks cool, no?
                      
I think my favorite die cut that I have used so far for this scrapbook is the Swiss army knife.  I used silver metal-looking cardstock for the knife and bits.  And the ladybug… that is just too cute to leave out.
                     

Making a Mountain (Scrapbook Layout)

While trying to come up with ideas for the Utah-based honeymoon album I a making for our recently married niece, I decided to look at pictures on the internet from scenic vistas throughout the state.  I saw one that was just perfectly framed, and it hit me.  it is layers of mountains... I bet I could make a page based on this picture.  The original picture if found at the Bess Realty Group website, believe it or not.
First thing's first.  I collected cardstock from my collection that matched well enough to make the layered colors.  For the sky background and farthest mountains, I used cardstock with white centers, so I could sand them (as I will show a little later).  The rest was from my beloved Bazzill cardstock collection.  And I pulled all my green Ranger Distress inks and a couple of extras (Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Weatherd Wood, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, and Pine Needless).  The rest of the equipment are: a pair of scissors, a fine knife for detailed cutting, a very thin (#005) marker for light details, and a nail file for sanding.


The sky is easy enough to do.  I could just leave the pretty light blue background plain, but I wanted to put a scant few clouds, like in the picture.  So I tore the top off of the file, to make myself a tiny file, and sanded in a circular motion until I got the shapes I liked.  I also used some Q-tips for painting, but forgot to add them to the picture.  Easy.
         

Next, I traced a mountain range on the gray-blue paper, putting the highest peak on the right page, and lowering the left side so it will fall under the next layer.  I cut this out, using the fine blade to get a couple of cuts a little more rounded.  I inked the edges of the mountains with the Weathered Wood ink to disguise the white center.


Before I get to the distressing of it all, I went ahead and cut out the rest of the layers.  Next up is the blue-green paper.  On the left it rises above the mountain in the background, and on the right it is basically on the same level while the mountain towers above it.  I just freehanded a few mounds, making sure that they were not too high to cut off the mountain, or too low to make the front range look weird.  Then the front, light green layer, starts on the right about halfway down the page and just curves down across both pages, until it is close to the bottom left edge.  I used one piece of paper for both the left and right, to conserve.  I hoard my Bazzill paper almost religiously.


Here is, in my opinion, the coolest part.  I cut two and a half inches off the bottom to reduce bulk, but you can leave it in if you want to.  Then I wadded them up into small balls.  I carefully pulled them back out, and didn't flatten.  I used another piece of the nail file to sand certain areas, easily done by sanding the folds, to resemble little snow trails like in the picture.  To make the mountain shadows, I used Chipped Sapphire and rubbed it where I wanted it with my finger.  This gave it a smudgy look, instead of just inking any folds from the crumbling.  When the ink dries, then I flattened it enough to tape it down onto the background.


For the middle range, notice that there are trees on them.  However, they are so small that I was pretty sure I couldn't draw them.  So, I used the cast off paper from when I cut it and experimented with my greens until I found three that looked good to layer over each other.  I chose (Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, and Pine Needless).  I took the lightest ink, Forest Moss, and just slid it back and forth on the page, to give a layer of color to the matte green background.  Then, I took Bundled Sage and a Q-tip.  I tapped the tip onto the ink pad a few times until it was saturated, and then just made lines in areas where trees might be on both pages.  The darkest ink, Pine Needles, repeated these lines, until I had a mess of lines in groups on this layer.  I let it dry and taped it down onto the page.  It looks cool to me.

The bottom range is brighter, with larger trees. I had planned to make some trees with green mulberry paper, but I was unable to locate any.  Maybe mulberry has fallen out of style.  So, I decided to leave it blank.  This will be where any pictures or journaling my niece wants to do will be added.

The final result is very pretty.  And I proved to myself that I can be creative without a template or someone else's help.  And so can you.  Now, go choose a simple picture and amaze me.

Scrapbooking with a Template, Take One

For those of us who want the time to enjoy scrapbooking as well as making something interesting, there are a plethora of helpers out there.  They are called templates, and they can be found in blogs, magazines, magazine websites, and even your fellow scrapbookers have probably doodled lots of them.  I know I have.  I buy magazines every so often and like to read them, and then cut out everything I like and add it to a box.  They come in handy when I have scrapper’s block, or when I want to make something intricate but don’t have the time or inclination to think of what to do.
Today, I made a two-page spread for the honeymoon scrapbook I am working on using a template.  Yes, it was a blank page for someone else to put their pictures in.  But that doesn’t mean you cannot do this for yourself.  Why not make blank pages for yourself, so that if something awesome comes along, you already have pages ready to put them into to wow your family and friends.  It is faster, in my opinion, to make blank pages than to make ones for pictures you have had sitting around for ages.  But don’t worry, I have ways to make those pages go faster as well.  Anyway, let us continue.
Here is the template.  It was cut from a magazine, but honestly I could not tell you which one, because I cut this out well before I decided to make a blog.  It looks cool, and not too difficult (in my opinion).  The best thing about this template, and what makes it fairly easy, is that dimensions are written on there for everything I have to cut.  After that, picking out the papers to use is the fun part.  I only used paper, a paper cutter, and a little ink for cut edges for this page.

As you can see, I decided to move away from the greens and browns of the scrapbook so far and use a bright, delicious orange for the background.  This is going to be a page about food and taking a break, so I thought it would be appropriate.

When I am making blank pages, I work from back to front.  I start with the base paper, then the background paper(s), any large decorations, journaling, photo mats, and embellishments.  I know this sounds like “duh, how else would you do it?”  Well, normally I pick pictures that I want to see together, matte them, then figure out what should go behind them to make up the page.  So I pretty much am going to go backwards for me here.  After laying out the base papers, I cut out and tape down the background paper.  There are two large rectangles in this template that make up the background.  I cut the large piece of paper behind the picture mats.  It looks like it is supposed to be a single piece, but I used an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, which wasn’t big enough.  So, I used two coordinating pieces of paper.  I think it looks kind of funky.

The second back paper I decided to make a potato brown.  For the large, interesting shape, I freehanded a previously used piece of Ranger Distress paper.  It had a kooky bingo pattern on it that I like, but can never find a use for.  One of the best things about abstract shapes used for filler is that they don’t specifically have to match the theme.  Their only job is to look good.  And possibly provide a nice space for journaling if need be.  Which I think this will likely be.

Next came the long pieces of paper across the bottom of the page.  Now, it looked to me like these could oh so easily be have been ribbon, or fabric or anything I wanted it to be.  For me, I saw this as a perfect way to use up those extra bits of paper I always get when I trim down background paper.  So I went into my scrap paper stash and found two pieces that matched the color scheme and were close enough to the right sizes for the page.  Note that I said close enough.  Like I say, templates and measurements – at least on this blog – are guidelines, not rules set in stone.  Besides, they look sweet.

Remember that potato brown paper I cut for one of the background papers?  I cut as many mattes as I could from the leftover for about four of the picture sizes listed on the template.  I put off white cardstock on those mattes, inked around the edges with walnut Ranger Distress Ink.  For the rest of the photo mattes I used a lighter orange cardstock than that of the main background.  Still sweet.

Last but not least, I added

One Hour Pastries–Tarte Tatin

So I am a baking fan.  And yes, I can make my own pastry doughs, crèmes, fondant, crusts, ganaches, and all that rot.  But I know that most of these take more time than I have to spend in an evening.  So, I have decided to find recipes for pastries that can be done in about an hour, like my eye glasses.  First up on the chopping block: Tarte tatins.
A tarte tatin is a French pastry.  It is basically an upside down tart, normally with apples, where the “bottom” is caramelized sugar and butter, then sliced fruit, then pastry on top.  It is served with cream, and is best served warm enough to melt the cream on contact.  It is a lovely treat with very few ingredients, so I knew that it could be done well on the first try.  Several pastry sites and blogs have the tarte tatin on them, and they fall in two categories: those that make the caramel first and those that let the oven do the job.  Unless you are good at making caramel in a pan, you are going to mess up the first times, making it take not only over an hour to make the tarte tatin, but use up more ingredients than you need to.  So, today’s pastry will let the oven do most of the work.  It comes from the website bon appetit, with only a couple of changes based on what was available to me.  I am making both a banana one and an apple one.  Tradition uses apples, but Kathryn (me) loves bananas.
Before your baking night, you will need to gather the following ingredients: 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (1/2 stick left out for 20 to 30 minutes); 8 tablespoons light brown sugar (don’t use Splenda based, it doesn’t quite caramelize); 4 ripe bananas; 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (leave this out for at least 30 minutes).  These amounts will vary depending on what you bake the tarte tatin in.  The site’s recipe calls for several crème brulee tins, but I don’t have those.  I used a 9” cake pan, and as you will see, the amounts of ingredients are only guidelines.

First, turn the oven on to 400 degrees.  This is important for you time management.  Believe me, because I forgot this step.  Next, take your pan in one hand and the butter in the other.  Slather that butter all over the inside of the pan, and make it thick.  This is why the measurements don’t exactly matter.  There just needs to be enough butter to prevent anything from sticking to the pan, and to keep the caramelized sugar yummy.  When you are done, say “eww, gross” and throw the rest of that butter away before you are tempted to make some toast.  Real butter is too delicious to eat.  Now is also a great time to wash your hands.

Next up, sugar those babies!  Again, the amount is only a guideline.  Cover the bottom of the pan with a good amount of brown sugar.  I put a couple of tablespoons in my hand and sprinkled until the pan was evenly covered.  For the banana tarte tatin I was feeling spicy, so I added a dash of cinnamon to that sugar.  And yes, I made a mess.  Anyone that knows me is not surprised here.

Now, cut the fruit.  For bananas, just cut diagonally into several pieces.  It took me two bananas for me to cover the 9” pan.  For the apples, I cut each into 8 pieces.  I broke the handy apple corer I was using, but a butcher knife makes quick work of an apple so it was easily done.  Be sure to peel the apple pieces.  Here is where your creativity can shine.  I kept mine simple.

Pastry time!  Using a little flour on a flat surface, roll out the pastry dough to thin it out a little bit.  Then you can cut it out to just a little bigger than the pan you are using.  I laid the dough on top of the fruit and cut around the outside of the pan.  Tuck the dough into the pan, around the fruit.  Don’t be harsh here, just make sure all the fruit is covered by the dough.

The oven should be nice and hot by now.  Put the pans on a cookie sheet (just in case of an overflow) and throw them in the oven.  Set the timer for 25 minutes (less if making a smaller one, but no less than 20 minutes), and go do the other chores you need to do.  I cleaned up the mess, did the dishes, made some peach tea, and watched about five minutes of the Big Bang Theory.

Ding!  D’argo and Rusty, my honorary bakers, run to the kitchen, and we pull out the treats.  Oh… my… goodness to they smell good.

Let them sit for about 5 minutes then flip them over onto a plate.  BEFORE YOU DO:  put a pot holder or towel underneath the pan to prevent finger burn.  Put the plate over the top and flip.  I like to tap the bottom of the pan a couple of times too.  Done!  If you don’t have any crème to serve with it, use whip cream or a little ice cream.  We had none, so I served it up naked to my test-monkey, Brant…

So there we have it.  An easy, low-ingredient pastry that is quick enough to make in an evening, and will be eaten even faster.  I will leave you with a picture of my honorary bakers, D’argo and Rusty.  They are not allowed to touch anything, but they hang around just in case I drop something.

My First Day of Choir

Hello, my time-conscious friends. As today’s title suggests, I recently joined a choir. How did I find time for it? Well, I basically used up my entire allotment of free time on Wednesday evenings, and my Sunday mornings to sing alto in the Highlands United Methodist Church at Five Points in Birmingham. So I get off work on Wednesday’s at 5pm and need to be at choir practice at 6:20. No problem, it takes less than 5 minutes to drive from where I work to the church. But it takes almost half an hour to get to my car, so Brant and I decided that it would be best for me just to stay on campus during this down time. I actually enjoyed the solitude. I had a mediocre cheddar bacon sandwich from the hospital cafeteria, made the slog to my car, and ate in my own space, listening to John Williams and the theme from E.T.: the Extra Terrestrial. Then I drove to the empty parking lot behind the church and in I went.

I was greeted warmly by no less than six people I didn’t know on my short trip up to the choir room. A hand was stuck out by Lindsey, who was dolling out the music for the week. She smiled and introduced herself, and already knew I was Lindy’s friend. FYI: Lindy Owens was the person that convinced me to join the choir in the first place. I was assigned a number for all my gear (there is so much music, from every era I know of) and told to sit anywhere. Of course, I chose to sit by Lindy. As we chatted about, well pretty much nothing, everyone strode in. This was the first rehearsal since their summer break, so everyone was getting reacquainted, but most of them still noticed I was the new fish and introduced themselves. I felt so welcomed… it was great so far.

The choirmaster (who is also the organist) came in and immediately started us on vocal warm-ups. Arpeggios going pretty high for me, but I sung along. Then arpeggios down, not really too low for me. Then he motioned for us to sit, warned us he was going to bust through things quickly, and he wasn’t kidding. He mentioned the name of a song, and started playing it. Luckily, each song had a number on the front, and my neighbor told me what the number was. It wasn’t too hard, but I had never heard it and stumbled a little. We divided the choir between the girls (sopranos and altos) and boys (bass and tenors) then all together. Next song. This one was weird, but he promised we would love it once we got it. A piece of the Magnificat. It was so tonally hard for me to get the notes, but by the fourth time I think I had it decently down. It pretty much spun like this through all the songs we were to sing in church in the near future, and then we broke for the evening.

The choirmaster called me to the front before I left. I thought I was going to get booted for the couple of lemons I warbled during some of the harder pieces we sung. The first thing he asked me was “what choir have you sung in?”

I stumbled. “I sung in youth choir when I was a kid, but I mostly play music. My Mom has been a church pianist / organist since before I was born (I don’t know why I said that). I play piano, French horn…”

He smiled. “I knew it. I was watching you. I could tell you knew how to read music well. And you caught on very quickly. I think you will be an asset to us here, and I want you to be a part of our choir this Sunday.” He had me fill out an “about me” card, sent me to get fitted for my robe, and that was it.

I felt so great! Totally worth losing seeing my husband until almost 10pm. Not that I didn’t miss Brant, but this is fun, challenging, and makes me feel so good. I just had to tell you all about it.

Pastime Blogs I Highly Recommend

This is by absolutely no means the whole list of blogs I love.  I have perused blogs on and off for years, my favorites waxing and waning with my cyclical favorite hobbies.  But these, not only are current, but have the style and content to keep me coming back for recent and archived information.  It should be noted that because they are all hobby blogs, they all have shops.  Some link the stuff in their shops to items they use in blog posts.  Some are outright sponsored by companies and that is all they shill.  Still others have their own business, and the blog is a natural outlet for selling what they do.  All of this is par for the course in hobbies, and never bothers me.  If I can make it myself, I will rarely buy it, no matter how awesome your shopping area is (at least online; in real life I am a total impulse shopper). 

First off, for anyone who wants to start a blog on scrapbooking, the place to start is a site called “Scrapbooking Blogs.” It is a powerhouse of scrapbook blogs: updates, templates for your own site, and lots of freebies for both blog sites and those of us just looking for cool scrapbook techniques.  Templates are also given on lots of scrapbook blogs for page spreads, and freebies often mean recipes for creating one of a kind accents or pages.

The blogs are typically divided up into traditional or digital blogs. I myself am a traditionalist. I love cutting, poking, ripping, staining, and layering paper, and digital just doesn't "cut" it for me. But I think I have found a kindred spirit in the author of the blog, "ScrapMatters.” She has put together a blog that is a hybrid of traditional and digital scrapbooking, with a little bit of selling thrown in. She does have a shop, as do pretty much all of the scrapbook blogs I have toured so far, as well as a great gallery, and challenges for newbies and pros alike.

Music writing blogs are a little harder to find, as most of these consist of someone just trying to sell their latest homemade CD. That is good, and some of them are great songs, but that isn't a blog to me. However, I stumbled across one called "The Writer's Corner" by Jerry Gates. This is through Berklee Music blogs. He talks about techniques as well as theory, and has links on the right hand side to other bloggers divided by types of blog. His "About me" section proves that he knows of what he speaks.

A more laid back blog is "Songwriting Scene" by Sharon Goldman. She is a more natural blogger. She posts about how she needs to learn to finish songs that she has started (I hear that), how she writes, what she writes about... a great, and personal blog in my opinion.

Baking (cakes or pastries, I do both) is a blog area that is stuffed to the gills! There are blogs that do nothing but rate blogs about these subjects. I got so lost looking around for blogs I like here that I ended up in a shoe blog because I clicked on a shoe-shaped cake.  I do have to say, I love the look and feel of "Half Baked - The Cake Blog.” Yes there is some selling in there, but when they talk about a cake, man do they go into detail. And the pictures... loads of them that showcase everything that is wonderful about the cake they are talking about. I love their featured DIY's; something cute and cool that I can do myself on a website full of professional decorating. Awesome.  Another great is the "Cake Journal.” It is a blog tutorial site. Most of the blog entries I see are how to make this or how to make that. It seems to be focused more on the decor side than the baking side for my taste, but the site is very well put down. I read several pages of it before I remembered I was supposed to be telling you guys about it.

As for a straight up baking site, I found "RecipeGirl" to be quite breathtaking. It is chock-a-block full of recipes, her little self-blurb says 2500 of them. Not all of them are baked goods, but all of them are delicious looking. And she tells you about the recipe herself. They are not just clips from allrecipes.com, they are telling you how to do these recipes on this site. And her blog talks about what she does during her regular life almost as much as she lists recipes.

“Joe Pastry” is an amazing pastry making site. It lists the history behind pastries as well as how-to's in its no-nonsense site. "Dessert First: A Passion for Pastry” is another pastry obsessed blog. This one is less formal than Joe Pastry, but the personal touch brought me in. She talks about what is popular in her area, about when her freezer broke down, anything that has to do with pastries in her life. I love "Charmaine's Pastry Blog,” a blog about one woman switching careers from ophthalmology to pastry, and all the things in between that she loves.

Before I leave you for the day, I will give you a great blog site for a hobby I don’t do at the moment.  Not because I don’t want to anymore, I absolutely adore beadworking.  No, I don’t do it because I don’t have the time to do much of the above hobby genres, let alone something as expansive as beadworking.  But I do miss making sculptures, baskets, furniture, and little people out of nothing but beads and some tiny wire.  I still read this blog every so often.  I don’t know why, maybe just to make that tiny voice in my head nuts.  Maybe just to torture myself.  But “Beading Daily” is a bunch of blogs stuffed together, and is full of free recipes, tips, techniques, and everything I need should I ever dive headfirst back into it.  Enjoy.

Musical Immersion for Sanity

Musical immersion is something I do when I want, desperately, to be creative but just don’t have the time or stamina to do it.  Work is a great example.  I listen to headphones whenever possible to keep myself focused on the job, because music does that for me.  But sometimes I just have an itch to make something (crafters out there understand this) and can’t scratch it at that time.  So I listen to particular types of music that allow my creativity to… how do I put this… feed and be satisfied until such time as I can do something about it.  I let my stifled energy feed of the genius of other creative masters until I can make my own masterpiece (or at least a masterpiece to me).

My favorite genre of music is film scores.  The music is specifically written to put feeling into the movie, to tell us when to cry, when to feel scared, when to be relieved.  It adds an extra level to the actors’ abilities, or gives them the air of more talent than they have.  Many of my favorites are from movies I could not stand, but the composer was just too good to be ignored.  Now, I love pop music, rock, rap, R&B, gospel, and even country and tejano.  These have great rhythms, and tell stories that are catchy.  But a good score makes me feel.

During those times when I have no time to do anything creative, I love to listen to music that makes me feel creative.  I have five go-to film composers that are my source of sanity when I have too much work to do to make something of my own.  These are Rachel Portman, Basil Poledouris, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, and my favorite, John Williams (the links are to YouTube videos of my favorite songs from their catalogs).  Each one brings a different flavor to the table, which I use to slake whichever creative energy is being stifled.  Of course, if you want to do musical immersion, you can choose whatever music gets you going.  I will try to describe how and why I use the composers, but sometimes it is hard to put into words how they make me feel.  So forgive me if some of this makes no sense to you.

“We All Complete” from the movie Never Let Me Go

Rachel Portman is great at the melancholy music, and can take a simple theme to great lengths, which add depth to the movies she is a part of.  Her movies include: The Joy Luck Club, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, Never Let Me Go, The Manchurian Candidate, The Duchess, and Grey Gardens.  I go to her when I want to be writing but cannot.  My stories are often mired in morality tales, and her sensitivity give me the gravitas I crave when I write.

“Crystal Palace” from the atrocious Conan the Destroyer

Basil Poledouris is a grand, expansive writer.  He uses a strong base for a catchy melody, and then expands it gradually throughout the song, until you are surrounded by his vision.  His credits include: The Blue Lagoon, The original Conan movies, Red Dawn, RoboCop, Quigley Down Under, and Starship Troopers.  As you can see, he is very versatile as well.  I choose Mr. Poledouris when I scrapbook.  His titles are varied enough that I can find something for whatever I want to scrapbook about.  And his ability to form pictures through the sometimes overwhelming use of orchestra is perfect for converting a few pictures into a beautiful page.

Theme from The Mission, played by Yo-Yo Ma.

Brant’s beloved “The Ecstasy of Gold”

Ennio Morricone uses such unique ideas in his music, he is my eclectic guru.  His catalog includes: The Clint Eastwood spaghetti western trilogy, The Canterbury Tales, Once Upon a Time in America, Red Sonja, and The Mission.  He is an Italian composer, and most of his stuff I have never seen and can barely pronounce (his list is huge on IMDB).  In Brant’s favorite song, “The Ecstasy of Gold”, Mr. Morricone takes a simple theme, repeats it, and adds a soprano, some choir wa-waahs, and driving drums to give a feel of desperation that lets you know exactly what those guys are feeling in that scene (from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).  Mr. Morricone is great for when I just don’t know what I want to do, but want to do something truly unique.

“Train to Johannesburg” from Cry, the Beloved Country

John Barry is a very romantic writer, and believe it or not my go to guy for baking.  Movies that benefitted from this trademark style include: several James Bond movies, Born Free, Somewhere in Time, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, and Cry, the Beloved Country.  His signature style, in my opinion, is to take a simple melody and make it more complex through the use of instruments rather than through harmonies and filler.  The melody pulls itself into the orchestra, instead of being held up by it, and creates an expansive feel, as witnessed by the movies he has done.  Simple ingredients and simple directions to make a wonderful palette, full of flavor and a sense of place.  Exactly what I want in my baking.

“Prologue” from Hook, a very underrated film score

John Williams is my favorite!  His use of French horns first drew me to him, because I loved to play his music myself.  You probably already know a bunch of his hits, because he collaborates with Steven Spielberg a lot.  But here is a sample of his enormous catalog: E.T., the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars sextet, the Christopher Reeves Superman movies, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first three Harry Potter Movies, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Patriot, Far and Away… the list of things I love from him is too long to put here.  I go to John Williams for both writing and music composition.  His blending of a full orchestra into one strong voice, separating them into a cacophony of matching sounds, and bringing them back together is better than anything I can do.  And his masterful use of brass instruments to give a feeling of power and dignity for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles has become the theme music for the games ever since.

“Olympic Fanfare” who could NOT love this song?

Ah!  Just writing about him makes me want to go listen to a whole soundtrack right now.  I have to go immerse myself.  You have fun finding your immersion songs.  The list is half the creative fun, you know.