7th Annual WML Academic Symposium

Presenter(s): Samuel Warren Hatch
Title: Lay This Body Down
Developed under the guidance of Dr. Aaron Carter, Music

This piece's original inspiration was to be used for a bar scene in a comedic Youtube series. Throughout writing the tune, I would picture the scene: a room of older men who routinely visit there to escape their home lives and troubling pasts, drinking and talking of their miseries. A young man would walk in and ask why they're so glum. Then, for it to be followed up by the immediate juxtaposition of them singing their sorrows to a fast-paced and catchy tune, with intricate harmonies. It was to serve as an odd moment of comedic relief to such a broken, depressing scene. The Youtube project was scrapped, but the tune remained in my head, and I set it to a 4-hand piano and small vocal ensemble arrangement.