Hidden Talent

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How many out there have discovered song writing talents you didn't know you had? This has happened to me recently. Although I am a trained musician, I never seriously delved into the art of composition...Oh, just a few little "ditties" here and there, but nothing to speak of. I joined a community theater in my area and became close friends with it's founder. For ten years I became deeply involved in acting and singing in various roles. Soon I became the music teacher for the theater group whenever they rehearsed their yearly musical. Recently, the 400th anniversary of Jamestown occured and our small group was asked to write and perform a month-long musical about the founding of our country and the role that Fincastle, VA. played in history. The founder of our group, an accomplished playwrite, began to write the play herself but died before she could finish it. She obviously knew she was dying because she left instructions for one of her talented sons to finish the play and that she wanted me to write the music. I was completely taken off guard. However, she did manage to give the titles of the songs, the direction the wanted them to go, and even what they were about. That is when I discovered why I haven't written anything of any substance for years. I lacked the ability to come up with original ideas for songs. Once I had the ideas and titles, the songs just poured out like water and before the month was over I had written 9 songs. The play ("From Sea to Shining Sea")is now complete with a total of 15 songs. At the time of this writing the play is currently in it's second week of performance and doing quite well. I started by writing the lyrics which gave me the feel and flow of the melody. Once I had written the melody, the bass of the accompaniment called out to me to be next. This gave me the basic framework I needed to fill in the other parts. Not being an accomplished pianist or guitarist, I composed all this music without laying a hand on a keyboard or a fretboard. It was all done on a computer. Has anything like this ever happened to you? I would like to read your story.