“The Live More Lightly Songbook and Workshop Guide” is a printed book and DVD that contains everything needed by a group to host their own workshop.
The Live More Lightly Songbook and Workshop Guide by Victoria Gibson
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at livemorelightly.com/creative-commons-license.
I finally have a screenshot function in Ubuntu so I can show you a draft of page one of the Live More Lightly Song score. This is a thumbnail to show the viewer and the additional pages. Eric is a very busy person, so I am glad that we are able to work through e-mail now. Progress is being made and should have this basic arrangement for voice and piano ready to send to our editor soon. The information about our editor will be posted on the “About Our Team” page soon.
I made a larger version so you can see the music. I really like Eric’s piano arrangement and I will have to work out a guitar chord accompaniment too.
Due to time constraints I may end up setting up web downloads for licensed users of the book. The idea of this book is a bit different because I am selling a license, no different than a software license, that gives the book buyer the right to print copies of the parts as they require more. Unlike most publications, the print ready parts are provided on a disk and more can be printed or photocopied if the group expands. I want the workshop organizer/ choral leader to be able to use this music with a variety of different groups, so we are providing different arrangements, the basic version is shown below.
We are also preparing a SSA (soprano,soprano,alto) and SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) with piano. I hope to have everything finished a month before I leave. I have to keep working ….
Tech Notes: The score was prepared on a Mac Powerbook G4 with Finale.
This is my first attempt to create a cover with the photo “At Water’s Edge” by Michael Wheatley. This photo really grabbed me as the reflections in the water look like an abstract painting. I love the colour pallet and will be working to create a design that will show the beauty of the natural landscape.
Tech Notes:
This cover was created using The Gimp and Scribus open source tools on the Ubuntu platform. These programs are quite different from the usual Photoshop + InDesign that I am used to, but I am working hard to get the same level of functionality.
Eric and I have been working steadily on preparing the sheet music for the book. I am entering it in Finale on the MAC G4 Powerbook that I sold to the studio I work at. I had designed the studio with the Mac integrated, so I realized I had to get another notebook for this tour. I may still have to get a Macbook Pro, but so far I am able to have access to the studio and work on the score.
The new notebook with Vista installed, will soon dual-boot with Ubuntustudio distro, but so far I have not found a good open-source notation program. I really like this notebook that I am updating this post with, but I have no Vista software, everything I have is XP or Windows 2000. I prefer Ubuntu as I can download available software at no charge and so I don’t have to re-purchase or buy updates for software that I already own. The Ubuntustudio distro is supposed to be loaded with software that I had to hunt down in the Gutsy distro that I have installed on my desktop. However, besides Lilypond, which I did try, but could not really figure out, there isn’t a really good notation software that I have found.
I wanted to put a screenshot of the music notation on this page. Ubuntu (so far) is not doing screenshots. Vista does screenshots, but I have no photo editing software to make a .jpg to upload into WordPress. My XP computer has no internet access (planned ultimate firewall – no ethernet cable and no wifi card) because it is my music production computer, so I can’t download the file and upload the result. Off to the studio to try it on the Mac … I remember downloading some open source freeware photo software a while ago. Transitional times in cyberspace — but I hope that once I get the notebook set up and all the tools I need in Ubuntu then I will be able to concentrate on the project and not the enabling technology.
I have just met with Eric Hominick to start production work on the “Live More Lightly Songbook” and we put in a very productive session in the studio. We are working on producing sheet music for three arrangements of the song.
All the versions will be published in one book, with only the basic version printed out in full. Sample pages of the other printed arrangements will be included in the book so that choral directors can assess the suitability for their group. Parts for versions 2 + 3 will be included on CD for the group to print out.
Directions for the workshop will be included so that people can do the entire process without me. A list of environmentally friendly suggestions will be included to help people develop their personal commitment to living more lightly.
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Equipment utilized: Disklavier piano => MIDI to USB by MOTU => Logic Pro Audio on G4 notebook OSX3.9
The “Live More Lightly Songbook” is in the production stage now and I am researching environmentally friendly book production methods. The Association of Book Publishers of BC (ABPBC) has already done a lot of the work for me and has produced an EcoKit that you can download from here.
They also recommend visiting Markets Initiative to find out more about ancient forest friendly paper. I am so happy when I see industries making the move towards reducing the impact that humanity has upon the planet.
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I also intend to minimize the amount of material I use by making the book as small as possible and including the rest of the content on CD. Updates, additional arrangements and other extras may be downloadable from the website. I would like to compile a library of song performances, so that every participant can feel the support of all of the other singers.
This is a video of a song written by Victoria Gibson in honour of International Women’s Day. Performed by Victoria and the Seaquam Secondary School Choir for the Society of Women in Science and Technology Conference in 2000 held at the school.
I have performed this song almost every year since I wrote it in 1994. The song was written to include the audience in affirming and celebrating International Women’s Day by giving them the line “Way-way-oh-way-oh” to sing or chant. I chose these syllables because my teenagers were arguing and one was insisting “Way”, while the other stated definitely “No way”. This sparked the idea in my mind that “way” could be a synonym for agreement and also indicate a positive direction, path or way.
This is a Quicktime link
Link to Women’s Day Song
Link to Womens Day Song Information and Lyrics
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Victoria will be performing the Womens Day Song
live in Bellingham on March 8th, 2008
[WA] Whatcom County Intl. Women's Day Celebration -
The Bellingham Intl. Women's Day Celebration in Bellingham
with Farmworkers Whatcom County Women's International Day Celebration****
TIME: 4:00 PM LOCATIONS: Bellingham, Washington Maritime heritage Park (500 Block of West Holly Street), the rally will kick off with a performance by the Raging Grannies and a short talk by Andreia Borges Ferreira of the Brazil Landless Workers Movement. At 4:30pm we will be marching downtown Bellingham and ending up at the DreamSpace (1318 Bay Street) for an evening celebration of dancing, divas, and desserts! Focus: Rural Women confronting globalization fight for food sovereignty!
Check out Womens Day events near you on this site:
The more I research the current climate crisis, the more concerned I become. All too predictably, the climate summit in Bali did not embrace any new ideas. Those who are in power feel more threatened by change than by the possibility that the earth may be uninhabitable.
My son pointed out to me that nothing that I am saying is new, Al Gore has received huge publicity and support throughout the world. Yet, three people who were planning to attend the conference in Bali were detained by the Indonesian government for speaking to a group of villagers about a planned garbage incinerator in their area. In Bali, these environmentalists would be speaking to other foreigners and to representatives of the Indonesian government, so that is permissible and safe. But raising awareness of pollution as a health and safety issue in the community, where citizens might learn some facts and become upset, is actively discouraged.
My unfortunate experience as an activist in Canada has taught me that most of these conferences and public meetings are intended to keep concerned citizens and knowledgeable experts busy, while the decision makers proceed with their original plan. It allows them to put out press releases with opening statements like, “After extensive consultation with stakeholders, we have decided that the best course of action is …”.
Now, I want to use my song to encourage people to “Live More Lightly”. The only method I have tried that has had any success is to vote with my purchasing power, minimal though it may be. It is my decision to pre-cycle by refusing to buy over-packaged merchandise, non-recyclable plastic, processed foods and other small every day items. These decisions direct my money into the green consumer category, and if similar choices can be made by many individuals — it will make a difference.
In our society, we are limited in what we can do. Realistically, I cannot imagine being able to affect a huge change in the global economy, which I firmly believe is required. I am trying to do something that I can do — create a song that can become a personal statement to encourage individuals to do “Just one thing now, to make a stand, and live more lightly upon the land”. Continue reading About The Song, “Live More Lightly”
