Weird musical habits

One thing I love to create is music.

I have played the piano since I was 7. My mom, a piano teacher herself, had to fight me sometimes to make sure I practiced.

I didn't hate the piano. I just didn't like what I was expected to do on it. I had little interest in playing music someone else wrote. My own stuff was much more interesting (to me)!

For a few of my early teenage years, my family lived in a small rental home. Since space was tight, I ended up with a grand piano in my room. I didn’t complain. 

When I wasn't purposefully improvising on the piano, I was reading a novel. (At that age, my genre of choice was fantasy.) But I would read sitting at the piano with my book where the music was supposed to be. One or both of my hands would play music to accompany the book. Half the time, I wasn't even aware of what I was playing. Sometimes, though, I had to pay attention to myself. I still remember the epic song I cranked out during one of the chapters where a major Dragonlance character ended up dead.

Reading and playing became a deep habit, and I got immensely better at letting my fingers come up with the music, but it had its drawbacks. One day while I was reading in homeroom, another student was weirded out by my fingers drumming against the desk in odd patterns. I tried to explain what I had been unwittingly doing, but I don’t think he believed me. To add a little to my embarrassment as an adult, due to the time I spent playing my own stuff vs. my formal practice time, I’m not as good at reading music as I should be, though I’m not terrible at it. (Tip for unconfident pianists: If you know your way around the keyboard, most people don’t know you’re not reading the music exactly.)

Still, I love to sit down and compose. It makes me feel free. I can spend hours in my own worlds just by making melodies up on the spot or improving old favorites. It's rare to find someone who does this, so comment below if you do.

Unfortunately, I’m not great at remembering my own songs an hour later, which is why I stumbled into using GarageBand.

I’m just getting started with the software, but it hasn’t been terrible to learn so far. Below is a link to a simple theme I made up for Party of Four, a retro fantasy RPG game I have yet to write. This song's a little rough, but it will at least having this file will help me remember the melody!

Download the song here. It's all of a megabyte.