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.
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.’”
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.