First, when I read the newsletter I realized I needed to say a big public THANK YOU to Gordon for making this wonderful gift happen. When Shannon was explaining the process she went through with Gordon she asked me how long I would have allowed to commission a piece of music from him. I said “Well considering Gordon isn’t sitting around waiting for requests and has a pretty active schedule including concerts, recordings and collaborations, to name but a few, I would have thought maybe six months or probably longer to be on the safe side.” Shannon then looked down and said “So contacting Sue and Gordon in November was probably rather short notice?”
The whole process has been a great learning experience for Shannon: including how long it takes to compose, practice and record a song and that people outside the USA don’t usually have US dollar bank accounts
That said she loved the whole experience – especially because Gordon was able to make it happen! Her cover story that I needed to make sure I didn’t look at her incoming e-mail page, because she was communicating with a woman in Devon about a special present for me certainly kept me off the scent.I came to experience parenthood quite late in life – I was 48 when Ethan was born. That said Ethan’s arrival has been at a time in my life when I have been fortunate to be able to slow down and spend a lot of time with him. No doubt that’s one of the reasons why he is a Gordon Giltrap fan! Gordon’s piece “This Father’s Love” somehow captures our relationship perfectly. I know the full arrangement of this song is yet to come, but it already works beautifully as a solo guitar piece.
Ethan is part of a family with some long lived genes. His great-grandmother is 98 and he remembers his great grandfather who passed away last year at the age of 97. Just think if Ethan follows in their footsteps he will carry Gordon’s music with him into the next century!
In 2014 Gordon composed songs for fans of his music in Poland, England and the USA, which by my reckoning covers a span of almost 5,000 miles – that must be some kind of record?
Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2015.
Roger
