A Little Grace: music video project

On Saturday 23rd November, I met with fourteen members of Mouth Orchestra, an a capella choir based in Maleny; their conductor Brian Martin; sound engineer Mark Smith; videographer Wes Hopkins: and assistant producer, Charles Living to film and record a live performance of the song, A Little Grace.

My vision was to create a single shot music video that captures the magic of the choir performing live in the present moment in tandem with a live audio recording. We met super early in the morning, set up the space and microphones and made some music together.

It was a day full of well, grace. The weather was perfect after five days of rain; we saw a rainbow on the drive to Redcliffe; dog walkers and holiday makers on the jetty delighted in the performance; youths fished in the ocean; toddlers tumbled and giggled on the shoreline; and swallows (the bird of grace) twirled and twittered in the ceiling as voices soared.

I wrote the song, A Little Grace in December 2023. It began as a deeply personal prayer for self-compassion. After hearing me perform it at a Christmas Party open mic, I was asked by choir conductor, Brian Martin, to write a version for a choir to sing. This was a first for me and an interesting songwriting process - to move my work into a different musical genre, to put it on paper, and to take my personal story and turn it into a creative expression that many singers and different audiences could access and feel. Brian and I then worked together on the soprano, alto, tenor and bass arrangements over several weeks to create a finished musical score and sheet music that could be shared with other choirs. The result was this version of A Little Grace. It makes me cry each time I hear it.

I feel honoured to have been involved in this project. To have been present at the song's first public performance at the Maleny Music Festival this month... to learn more about the intricacies of a capella singing... to witness the rehearsal process of every word coming alive in new and intimate ways for each member of the choir... to hear my own words come back at me through many voices... and to know I'm not the only one who struggles with self-compassion. 

We're diving into post-production this week, aiming to have the music video ready to share by Christmas.

We're diving into post-production this week, aiming to have the music video ready to share by Christmas.