A guest post by musician Joe Holiday, who contacted me via Twitter to ask if I could spread the word about his bee music. He says:

“Hello Bee People!

I have composed eight Bee songs and have recently recorded two of them. Have a listen. I would love to hear what you think!

For my next CD, I would like to record all of my Bee tunes–
Hive Life, Queens Life, 2 Mile Buzz, Stinger, Nurse B,  and Honey

Here are links to the actual mp3 files and a brief description of the tunes:

Drones (from the Bee Suite)
This speaks of the sadness of being a drone, hearing their call and realizing their purpose.  As the queen leaves the hive, flying high up in the air, the drones follow to mate with her. The harmonic energy towards the end of the piece evokes their moment of joy.

Drones: http://music.sonomaholiday.com/6Drones.mp3

A handsome drone, photo taken by Drew Scott.

Worker Bees (from the Bee Suite)
In Russia, which I was fortunate to visit in the 1980s, workers seemed to be honored. In this piece I imagined the worker bees doing their job day in day out. I also imagined an ancient tribe of hardworking people who tended their sacred bees while singing to them as they honored their mutual work. I invented the “bee language” to reflect this.  Musically the piece is composed of one-chord vamps with small cued sections separating them. This allowing the musicians a bit of a breather where they don’t have to read so much and can just play.

Worker Bees: http://music.sonomaholiday.com/3Worker.mp3

Busy worker bees

On my website, you can even download the sheet music for Drones if you would like to play it. http://www.senightmare.com

If you would like to hear the rest of the songs on the CD Strength and Kindness, you can listen here. http://www.cdbaby.com/m/cd/somebodyelsesnightmare

I would love to hear any comments or suggestions you have on the Bee songs.

Thank You, Joe”

I am happy that Joe has been inspired by the bees!