nathan david mcwilliams

As of right now, this is my favorite song to play. I think it has a good flow to it. This is one of the first songs where I decided maybe it was a good idea to try to organize some of my random improvisations into a song I could play more than once.

I need to make another recording of this, because when I recorded it I still wasn’t quite sure exactly how I wanted to play it, and there are a few changes I have made. As always, I need to work on dynamics. There are some notes that are played too loudly or too softly.

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This is a simple yet relaxing song that came about on a Friday night awhile ago.

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This isn’t a song at all, just some random playing. I actually have a lot more recordings like this. I like to listen to them for ideas because they all have some interesting parts, but in the end it’s still just random playing.

I’m not sure exactly why I am even putting this one up. It’s already here, though, so I’ll keep it around for awhile.

You may be wondering why so many songs are named “futokutei” followed by several digits. Futokutei means random, and the digits are the date in which I recorded the song. For example, this song was recorded in may (5) 2007 (7) on the 26th (26).

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This is the first song I ever recorded from my Yamaha to my computer and into Garage Band.

Ok, I concede… it’s not really a “song”, but random improvisation. I was just excited to get my MIDI cable in the mail from Fedex and I wanted to record something right away. So it may be random, but all songs must start somewhere. I would actually turn part of this into a song if I remembered how I actually played it.

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“Reflection” was written a long while ago– before I was even recording any songs. I had it saved on my keyboard, and decided I might as well record it onto my computer. There’s nothing significant here, just another simple, yet relaxing song.

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The first parts of this song came sometime in February, and at April 14th I think I’m pretty much satisfied with it. This song can be broken into two main sections. The first section is somewhat slower paced, while the second section is faster, with a higher concentration of notes(is there a musical term for that?)

These two sections were actually not originally going to be a part of the same song. I wrote them both at different times and both with something different in mind. I don’t like working on more than one main song at a time, however, and the first section was more developed than the first, so I decided to combine them.

Either way I think it comes together quite well. I was having some problems playing this one all the way through, so the recording is not that good (some notes are way too loud).

In a way having a difficult song is both a good thing and a bad thing. Whenever I write a new song I like for it to be challenging for me to play, because that will increase my skills. On the otherhand, it makes it very frustrating to record!

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Right now I’m living in Pittsburgh, and while the weather isn’t the worst, by mid April we were still covered by grey cloudy skies and rain. The sun did manage to make it’s way out, and for the last week or so we have had really nice weather in the 70s.

There’s nothing like simply enjoying sunny skies after going through a cold and wet winter. This song came from one of those moments. The theme is very short and to the point yet it nicely captures the feeling of relaxing in the sun, I think.

One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 26:3:

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

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This is the first new song after a long while. I thought of it some time during the Summer, but I didn’t finish it until recently.

As far as the song itself goes, aside from the title there isn’t much else to say about it.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” - Joshua 1:9

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First new song in a long time. The recording for this one is different too. Instead of going through MIDI, this is just a direct recording of me playing.

I’ll try to describe the image I had in mind when I came up with this. Imaging standing outside in the dark of midnight, with a flurry snowflakes floating softly to the ground. The ground is covered in white, and the stars in the sky are visible. Even though its the middle of the night, the bright snow creates a luminous effect, enhanced by midnight’s soft quietness.

Just stand peacefully and take it all in. It quite enchanting.

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I recoded this song back in October of ‘07, but I never put it up because there’s so many mistakes in the recording. I really like the ideas behind it though.

Some parts of this song date back to when I first started recording music, which I think was in May of ‘07.

“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” Jeremiah 5:1

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” 2 Tim 2:15

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a desolate way.

the way of travel is not unknown;
you aren’t the first person to take it.

it leads to an entrancing place;
your steps won’t be the last to walk it.

yet right now you are the only one to brave it.

stripped branches and misplaced stones.
abandoned trees and uneven ground.

a tangle of uncertainty, yet constant predictability.
uneventful commotion, and unsettling serenity.

this Desolate Way is only as valuable as the destination it takes you.

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From April 2009. This one was lost and forgotten, but I came across it recently.

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This is a simple song, but it’s one of my favorites.

If I remember correctly, I wrote it in a couple days over a weekend around the same time I was working on “Seek the Truth.”

I like it because it’s so simple yet still carries a lot of emotion.

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Another song for an RPG game I’m working on based on David’s story. This is the theme song for David and his companions’ first home base in the game, shortly after David started being chased by Saul. In that sense, it’s a bit of a “hidden village” type of theme.

It’s a bit of a sad time since David is after all being hunted down by the King, but at the same time he has some loyal friends and followers who joined him that he can depend on. Here’s some relevant quotes:

“And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph”

“After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?”

As always there are a number of mistakes that I’d need to fix before putting this in the game. I need to vary the baseline piano theme just slightly a few times, and the end part with the shakuhachi is too loud.

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