In 2006 I attended Marylhurst University for three quarters.  My overall goal was to become a Music Therapist until I realized I was already doing a lot of what I was being trained to do by simply working with small diverse groups of various age groups to help in the development of their lives through music.

Part of the curriculum was taking a music theory course which I struggled mightily with.  While I could hear the music in my head I had a terrible time reading it or classically replicating it.

One of the assignments was to create a simple melody line using a classical bass line progression.  I was able to hear the progression but struggled with writing it for an exam as it had to be exactly as one of the many classic progressions.

At one point in the process, I sat at the piano and, carefully following one of the progressions and played out the opening melodic line of Lefty’s Lullaby. Once that was in my head, the rest began to pour out.

A word on the theme of the song:  At the time, Linda was going to Graduate School, teaching piano 4 to 5 hours a day, being a mom to two teenage girls, and living with a man who was working a temp job while going to school.  She had a very hard time sleeping.  What Lefty’s Lullaby became was an invitation to Linda to just relax, sleep deeply and let her dreams remind her of how extraordinary she is, and that all was going to be well.

Epilogue: I finished the song, turned in a piano score of the piece, and got an A on it. I was asked to sing it at one of the lunchtime concerts which was the only success I had in college.

Interesting Fact: Lefty is my pet name for Linda and has been since the day we first played catch.  She’s left-handed…so; you know, “Lefty”.