CREDITS
Vocals: Tom C. Reed
Keyboards: Andy (Doc) Roberts
Guitars: Yang Han
Bass: John Gingerich
Drums and Percussion: Chris Loser
Saxes and Flute: Dave Shultz
Trombone: Dominic Mascaro
Trumpet: Garrett Faccone
Horn Arrangement by: Andy Roberts
Produced by: Tom C. Reed, Andy Roberts, & Mike Furst
Recorded by: Mike Furst
Recorded at: TriForce Audio, Lancaster, PA
Mixed by: Dale Penner
Mixed at: Paradise Studios, Winnipeg, Canada
Graphic Design and Logo by: Megan Coffing
AI Image Generation Prompted by: Megan Coffing
Business and Creative Consulting by: Barry Coffing
"TOGETHER"
Tom's Words In His Own Words
For many years, I have purchased blank cards to send for special occasions. It could be for a birthday, graduation, or an important life event. Some time ago, my brother was getting married. I bought him and his future wife a gift and found a blank card with a nice photo or painting on the outside. I created a poem to mark the special occasion. I’ve said for years that my poems are more like lyrics than poems. With this one, a melody and then chords came with it. I had the melody and chords spinning in my head for weeks afterward. In fact, I had been away from music for a few years. The poem/lyrics and chords brought me back!
Within a few weeks, I was actively thinking of writing and recording music again. I had a small acoustic piano leftover from my days as a music major in college. I had explored the chords of the new song but I knew I needed an electric keyboard. On a business trip to California, I had a cancelled appointment, which left me with an afternoon open. I saw there was a music store not far from my hotel so I decided to go check it out.
The store had a lot of instruments and some of them were used. They allowed customers to play the instrument and provided headphones to prevent disturbing other customers. I found a keyboard and started exploring. A bit of time passed before I began asking about the keyboard and I made a deal to buy it and have it shipped back to my home. I also had a long conversation with some of the people at the store and I learned about home recording and hard disk recorders. Over the next few months, I continued to explore my new keyboard and the potential of a hard disk recorder. I decided which one I wanted to buy and moved forward.
The hard disk recorder came with a video cassette of a beginner’s guide. I learned the very basic functions and began exploring. I began adding a lot of new ideas that quickly emerged. My decision to return to writing music was focused on doing it for my own enjoyment. After a few years of creating music for my own enjoyment, I began to realize that it isn't enough.
This is a love story that I observed but it became entwined with one of my own. It began with imagining the relationship of a couple preparing to be married, then it morphed into my own budding romance.
WHAT WAS THE
PROCESS OF CREATING,
"TOGETHER"?
My brother was getting married and I bought a blank card and wrote a poem that went inside the card. This was another poem that came with a melody that also brought a chord progression. The melody hung around and generally drove me crazy for weeks! This song brought me back to creating music after several years of career and family.
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The melody and chords lived in my head for years. I hadn’t actually sat down to complete the piece so it was only a “rough sketch”. When I shared it with Andy, I heard new things, and the song developed further. The new melody for the chorus materialized and the tune began to take shape. Then Andy created the middle section and I generated a melody and discovered lyrics. It had become about winning over my lady: “I dance on along to some music I hear. Is it near?/I’m hoping to find what will move you to say, ‘It’s our day.’”
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This one is in F but uses enough accidentals to keep it interesting. I don’t often have repeated 4-bar melodies but that’s how the verses and chorus came to me. However, the new middle section is 16-bars and breaks up the repetition of the rest of the piece.