Sheet Music Stories #1: Let Tomorrow Be Better
During the first week of Covid-19 lockdown in Norway, my latest LP Let Tomorrow Be Better was released. I didn’t quite imagine that the album title would become as relevant as it got, and I hope that the music can offer some kind of inspiration, comfort and hope during these strange times. One thing is listening, but how about spending lockdown time learning some new songs on the piano? I hereby present you the first post in a series of Sheet Music Stories. One song from the album in each post, with free sheet music PDF download and a live video of the tune. I’ll give you some insight in the background for the song and how it was produced, too.
Feel free to post videos of you performing the tune, I would be happy to hear your interpretation!
If you do, please tag me. IG: @larsjakobrudjord // FB: @larsjakobmusic
Let Tomorrow Be Better
This is the first song I wrote for the album, based on an idea that had been lying around in the drawer for a couple of years. It is kind of thoughtful, maybe a bit melancholic, but also has a lot of hope in it. The idea behind the title is that no matter what kind of struggles or challenge you face today, there will be another day tomorrow. And things will be better. I think that believing in change and remembering that things will be better is more important than ever right now.
Like in most of my songs, everything started with the piano part. Though written on my grand, I wanted a more quirky and rustique sound, so I went back to the white Yamaha upright piano at Galleri Lista Fyr (this one was also used for Pharos and Warpeggio) to record the piano part. Two KM184s quite close to the strings, and with the damper felt on, made the trick. I also liked the slightly noisy ambience of the room, and thought it suited the song well.
Back in the studio, I added elements that enhanced the emotions in the piano part, starting out with some organ parts on my Phillips Philicorda, sent through my Roland RE-301 tape echo. The tape in this machine is quite old, and the unit hasn’t been serviced a lot lately. This is also what I love about it: it is very unstable and you can never really predict what it will do. Sending mono pads through it twice (with the wonderful tape chorus engaged), and then panning the tracks L/R, makes everything very alive. The subtle bass sounds come from my Novation Bass Station II. Towards the end of the track I used my Fender Rhodes through a TC Electronic Flashback Delay and a TC Electronic Hall Of Fame reverb, doubling the piano. Although I mostly prefer to use hardware instruments, I’m not a stranger to soft synths if they sound nice and fit the production. There’s an airy lead synth playing melody throughout the song and it is one of Kontakt Player’s soft synths. This was added very late in the production, as I thought the piano part would benefit from having another, more airy dimention on top.
Enjoy listening, learning and playing the song, and hit me up if you have any questions!
