One of my better songs, if I may humbly say so. I wanted this to be a strong, confident, inspirational tune. Do you think it sounds like that?
“The Hill (2008)”
The whole song started as a melody (as what you’d hear at the beginning), with a Celtic Tin Flute sound. Then I added more and more layers, adding bagpipes, choir voices. I experimented with a series of different “African Drum” loops, which worked nicely.
The effect seems to be like a marching song from the heydays of the British Empire. You know, the Scottish bagpipes and African drums.
I can imagine the Singapore Army using this in one of their recruitment adverts, LOL.
But it’s not a warring song.
If I ever make a music video for this, I’d start with a single person at the foot of a hill. Simply looking up. Then for no apparent reason, that person starts walking up the hill. And soon, people starts to join the climb. The hill isn’t particularly steep but it’s not an easy climb. On the way, an old woman has to sit down to rest. A young man goes up to her. He carries her on his back the rest of the journey. The music video would end with a view of the people just standing on the top of the hill, quietly looking out on the misty glowing landscape.
This image illustrates the imagery nicely (Climb up the green hill. Originally uploaded by Berni Beudel):
Enjoy the song!
Let me know what you think of it. Leave a comment.
~ Ivan
December 12th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Two thumbs up. Sounds inspirational. I like your use of the drums in this piece.
December 12th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
great song! reminded me of the good old days when i listened to folk a lot. names like great big sea, four men and a dog, fiddler’s green , oysterband and so many more come up
thanks for sharing!
December 13th, 2008 at 1:24 am
dun know y, it reminds me of lord of e rings, at the ‘dwarf’s’ village during the happy times … interesting melody and nice blend of instruments.:) … can imagine this to be even more grand with added tracks.
erh… got quantize e tracks though? the instruments not so tight, like between 0.33s to 0.44s, n bet 01.00s to 01.07s.
way to go Ivan. this is cool!
December 13th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Definitely sounds very Celtic to me. And yes, I can envision the “music video” idea which you described. That’s a nice one!
December 13th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Folks, thanks for commenting! @Ginn – by “quantize” you mean “align” the tracks. Hmm, let me listen to it again and see how to tweak it. Thanks!
December 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am
[...] [Also posted at Starfish Stories :: The Band] [...]
December 14th, 2008 at 7:22 am
You sure have oodles of right-brain talent there! In another lifetime, I’d see you as a copywriter or a jingle composer or a music video producer.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:39 am
celtic feel is what im getting and its’ good. thank goodness no voice/vocal on the background lol, just kidding. keep it up man.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Yes, very Celtic/Scottish. I like it! It has the “soar” feel, yet light & hearty.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:27 am
[...] song, but I thought it would be more apt for the whole album to finish off on a high. Posted in Dec 08 (but actually I’d completed this more or less in mid 2008). This song features no guitar [...]
February 14th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
[...] ~ The Hill Received a ccMixter notification that this sample (from this song) was used in this [...]
December 23rd, 2009 at 7:25 am
[...] didn’t copy it onto the site here, but you can hear it over at Starfish Stories. If you go listen, leave him a comment and thank him for letting me use his [...]
December 24th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Thanks for letting Nathan Lowell use “The Hill” for his upcoming podiobook! I love the piece and have downloaded it to listen to in its entirety. I’ll enjoy hearing it in Nate’s podiobook as well. I’ve never been disappointed with his books or the music he chooses for them!
Congratulations on your fine work!!
December 24th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Hi Anita! Thanks for the kind words. I’m looking forward to Nathan’s podiobook too.
December 27th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Such a pretty song. It is interesting to hear how the “story” progresses over the span of the song. It builds and retracts, like a living, breathing entity. I absolutely love it! Thanks again for letting Nate use the music. I look forward to hearing how these two stories mesh when the Ravenwood podiobook comes out in January.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:41 am
Hi keikomushi/ DL Owens, thanks for listening and commenting. Actually, it is I who have to thank Nate for using the track. Nothing is as rewarding as having my amateur music being used. And in a (podio)book, no less!
December 28th, 2009 at 3:04 am
I love this piece. I look forward to hearing it with Nathan Lowell’s book. Thank you for making such a happy tune. Blessings
January 5th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Saw the link on Nathan’s site, great tune.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Yet another “Thanks” for letting Nathan Lowell use your song on his book. Great sound and very uplifting. Keep creating!
January 14th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Well, I now got to expect Nathan to find nice tunes that fits his books perfectly. Again, it is a perfect fit. Inspirational it is!
So, in short, thank you for this really cool song and letting Nathan use it.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:01 am
this is a wonderful piece of music. I want to thank-you for letting Nathan Lowell use it in his Ravenwood story. This is my kind of music and really enjoyed it . Will listen to much more!
January 25th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
[...] the story. For Ravenwood, Mr. Lowell chose a piece of music from composer/artist Ivan Chew entitled The Hill. As I shared with Mr. Lowell, this is the first piece of podcast music I have ever found myself [...]
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:56 am
It’s funny how we get locked into an ethnocentric way of thinking…Until I heard “The Hill” in Nathan Lowell’s podiobook, Ravenwood, I never would have imagined that the wonderful Celtic-style music came out of Singapore! Thanks for breaking me out of my little box, thank you for putting your beautiful, moving music out there for us to enjoy, and thank you so much for allowing Dr. Lowell to use it to “illustrate” his story.
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:02 am
Thanks to all who commented above. And to Rose: If I heard another Singaporean play a Celtic sounding tune, I would have been equally surprised as well. So it’s not you! LOL. Thanks for the comment.
July 25th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Nice song – I do was introduced to it via Nathan Lowell’s story – (We are the printed/ebook publishers of his work) it looks like you got a nice bit of exposure by making this available glad to see that type of cross – pollination.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
@Robin – thanks for the comment. Yes, Nathan gave this song boatloads of publicity! I consider it my good fortune that he decided to use the track. Yet another example of the benefits of sharing, I guess.
March 8th, 2011 at 1:28 am
I am so enchanted by your musical score for the audio book “Ravenwood!” You are an awesome composer! Please let me know more about your other works! Thanks. Laura
March 9th, 2011 at 12:42 am
Hi Laura! Wow, what a compliment. I’m glad you liked the track. And again, ever so grateful to Mr Lowell for choosing the track, out of so many others out there on the Internet (hah!) My other works, solo or collaboratively, is summarily listed here: https://myrightbrain.wordpress.com/my-discography/ Thanks again, for your comment.