I’ve been debating on whether I should write a farewell post or not because I am a very emotional person. However, I want to express my love and gratitude to everyone at FMM so here we go... 

A month before NYU’s deadlines I was in theater class and my teacher told me she wanted me to apply for a spring program for drama at NYU. I actually started writing my essay a day after she told me and I thought I had everything planned out until i saw an ad about Clive Davis Institute. I was super intrigued cause who wouldn’t be? I saw the FMM 2017 video and at the moment I said to myself “If I don’t take this opportunity, I will regret it for the rest of my life”. So, I deleted everything I wrote for the theater program and started a new prompt for FMM 2018.

Thank you to all the TA’s because y’all came in every Saturday prepared to help us learn. Muriel, you are so talented & such a wonderful soul I hope you have a great Summer and a great Senior year! Devon, you are super talented & such an inspo. Have a great summer & great senior year! Federico, you’re honestly one of the best people to hang out with, I really enjoyed our talks specially when Alex & I made fun of you (jk it’s all love). Ethan, even though we didn’t talk constantly, when we did you always had a chill vibe which is super cool & you’re also super talented like I listen to all of your stuff on SoundCloud and it’s dope! Nicole & Marat y’all are the best mentors anyone could ask for. Thank you for teaching us the necessary tools to keep developing our projects/goals.

Hey everyone, my name is Keisha. I’m from Colombia but I am currently living in Brooklyn. I study at Brooklyn High School of the Arts where I sing and act.  I’m very excited to start FMM on Saturday! 

Ella Fitzgerald was one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. 

She began her career at a period in history when black music was becoming “acceptable” in white society. She was a part of a group of artists that included Louis Armstrong who helped revive interest in what would become known as The Great American Songbook. To this day, Ella is considered one of the first to develop bebop and scat as a female vocalist, extending the boundaries of Jazz. According to a Billboard article, “She made gibberish sound not only compelling and logical, but very, very pleasurable”.

During her successful career, she had 14 albums on the Billboard 200 chart and hit singles on Billboard’s Pop, R&B, Country and Adult Contemporary rankings. She was also a 13-time Grammy Award winner and the first woman to receive the honor of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967. She sold 6.7 million albums in the U.S. and managed to notch a number of chart-topping songs on Billboard’s charts, including “Cow-Cow Boogie,” “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall," “I’m Making Believe" and “Stone Cold Dead in the Market" (with Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five).

My name is Keisha Sanchez (stage name Keisha Monique), I am 16 years old and I am a singer. My artistic journey started in Bogotá, Colombia where I found my passion for performing. Now I live in Brooklyn and I am working on developing my personal sound.

At a young age, I was introduced to Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Celia Cruz, Selena, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey & Alicia Keys. I fell in love with them because they were/are talented, unique, determined, powerful, and they knew how to connect with their audience which is a struggle for many artists (including myself).

My strengths are my voice, my ability to move across a stage and making people experience emotion. I’d say what makes me unique is that I’m high spirited and I think it is reflected in my performances. 

“Visions of Gideon”

Part 1

Format

Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Outro

Part 2

Credits

Artist: Sufjan Stevens

Written by Sufjan Stevens

Produced by Thomas Bartlett

Album: Call Me by Your Name (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Released: 2017

Arrangement Notes

The song starts off with what I would call an ethereal piano which goes on without vocals until 0:31

Verse 1 starts with soft vocals followed by the first chorus

Verse 2 starts with the same soft vocals yet they are getting louder. More synths are added to the previous ones

Chorus 2 kicks in with more background vocals + harmonies

Outro begins and song is faded

Lyrical Notes

After watching “Call Me by Your Name” the first thing I did was find out who wrote the music for the film and eventually I ran into Sufjan’s music. I love how he transfers raw emotion into what he writes. I think the title “Visions of Gideon” means the memories of a love that isn’t there anymore and when he says “is it a video” I automatically think he’s saying “am I imagining it, or did it really happen”? When I heard the first line “I have loved you for the last time” I thought it was a simple lyric but it goes very well with how he sets the mood for the entire song. Sufjan uses repetition quite often ex: the first verse and second verse are almost the same except he changes “Is it a video” to “Visions of Gideon”. The chorus stays the same and then the outro is a repetition of “Visions of Gideon” mixed with background vocals singing “is it a video”.

Opinion

These lyrics definitely have meaning behind them though everyone will interpret them in their own way. His lyrics are very simple but they tell a story. I have to admit I do love a song that will make me cry or make me really happy and Sufjan does this with his music. *If I had the opportunity to meet Sufjan I would ask him why he used “Visions of Gideon” as his title*

Key Production Moves

I noticed that he uses a lot of minor chords which are known to spark sad emotions

The synths he uses are soft yet they go very well with Sufjan’s voice

Background vocals + harmonies add fullness to the song

Key Songwriting Success

Repetition of the verses and chorus

Assonance “visions of Gideon” & “Is it a video”