For awhile now, I have been trying to learn how to play Cathedrals on my guitar. The hardest thing about this song is the beat and the strumming pattern. Yesterday, I watched this video of Jump Little Children's live performance to look at the strumming pattern and... I found it! There is actually a quick upstroke at the end of each line (with the chords I am using, that would be C* and E). Get the chords here. Anyway, it is a pretty neat song. I think I might record it soon, so keep an eye out for it. Here is Cathedrals by Jump Little Children:

Earlier this year I started playing around with some tunes on my guitar. I have composed a few small things, but nothing major.

For my birthday, my mom and dad gave me a Platronics .Audio 10 Microphone. It's really nice, considering it was under twenty dollars. The sound quality is very good, also.

I have had a hard time trying to find a nice recording program that was free. I found one called Power Sound Editor (Free). It works fairly easily, especially for the beginner, and had an easy-to-navigate interface. This program has alot of effects to edit your tracks with and it allows you to record from a microphone, stereo mix(records from computer speakers), cds, and import mp3 audio tracks. You can also save your audio as a project and an mp3. However, there are quite a few downsides. First of all, it does not let you work with multiple tracks. This causes a problem when you sing to a track, and when you mix other tracks. Second, the screen does not have a horizontal scroll, so it crams the audio (Is it 'spectrum'?) into a small screen, making it hard to find specific areas in the track, which is hard to deal with when it comes to adding effects. Then a friend told me about another program called Audacity that has all the same features as Power Sound Editor. I downloaded the 1.3.7Beta version and gave it a try. It was better, even though it didn't have as many effects. The screen has a horizontal scroll, and you can mix multiple tracks. This comes in handy when you sing. As, you record the singing part (put on headphones), the first audio track will play, allowing you to sing with the instrumental track.

So, this recording was made with Audacity. I had a hard time naming it, but I will take suggestions. I hope you enjoy it!

Calling all christian film supporters! April 13th-18th The Widow's Might is coming to a theater near you. The Widow's Might was the winner of the 2009 San Antonio Christian Film Festival. This movie was written and directed by 19 year-old John Moore from Kaufman, Texas. I had the chance to view this movie with some friends a while ago and I thought it was very well done. If you do go see this movie, (and I encourage you to), do not do what I have a tendency to do: Expect Hollywood technology and acting. Don't get me wrong! The movie was fantastic! But if you don't go in with really high expectations, you will like it even more.

Plot:
Let me explain...no, there is too much...let me sum up(I can't remember all of the movie). A young man is trying to enter a prize-winning movie into a film-maker's contest. He is inspired by a widow, and the (unfair)taxation of her land. When he decides to base the movie around her situation, a young news reporter, in direct competition with him, is out to hurt his name and give him a bad reputation. Despite being talked bad about and accused of leading a religious sect, he rallies his community's support and conquers his own doubt, to make the movie a success.

My Review:
While this is not flashy, in-your-face, high technology (which I don't like), it is very well made. The sets are beautiful, the cinematography is great, the acting is better than normal(for low-budget films), and the plots are original.

So, if you believe in supporting encouraging young, christian film makers, to give us the family-friendly movies you want, go and support this movie!

Links:
The Widow's Might Website
John Moore's blog
Find where this movie will be playing near you (this make take a few moments)

I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts recently. Things have been really busy on the farm lately. My mini rex rabbit had given birth to six kits in mid-march, I planted lettuce and onions in our garden, my sister's goat kidded last week, and the grass grew 2 feet (just a small exaggeration). With this in addition to web design classes (which I just finished), school, 4H, and (of course) guitar, I have had very little time to blog. But I am planning on spending the next week catching up on new posts.

Next to autumn, spring is my favorite time. So, here is a video I made with a poem by Emily Dickinson. The field in this video is actually behind my house (for better quality, it may be necessary for the video to load). To view the poem, go here.