Sheets: cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/VinLudens/OC-020_Forgotten-Dream@release-assets/Forgotten-Dream.pdf
Don’t you also have these dreams every once in a long while, which overflow you with incredibly vivid emotions the exact instant you wake up from them? Dreams, which become more and more blurry the harder you try to remember them? Until you are finally hit by the realization that you already forgot all about it? Dreams, which feel so vividly real that it makes you wonder whether you just lived a moment from someone else’s life in a parallel universe? Dreams, which had such a deep impact that you find yourself lying in bed for another hour, trying to process the remaining fragments? This exact type of dream has directly inspired and lead to this composition, my greatest one to date I dare say!
I still remember it fondly; After waking up, I have a very intense emotion lingering deep inside; an emotion birthed from having lived through an incredible journey; a one of a kind experience which nothing else will ever rival. However, the more I tried to recall its events, the more the memory and its imagery started fading, until I eventually had forgotten everything about it. I was then lying in bed with grief, as I was pondering on whether I should have avoided remembering any of it, hoping the memory would remain intact, yet untouchable. The only thing left at that point were my emotions, which took a bit longer to fade away.
I started embracing these shattered fragments, trying to hold on to them hoping I do not forget those at the very least; they were indeed the very last thing I had left from my dream. A faint melody suddenly came into perception from afar. In my mind, I started moving closer to it, and it became increasingly clearer, until I found myself at a complete halt. The melody felt so incredibly nostalgic, so incredibly tender and so incredibly thoughtful, that it lend itself as the final catalyst to have these remaining fragmented emotions burst out in their full glory, one last time. I felt like I was able to find closure.
After that point, I started paying more attention to that melody. What started out as a hazy sound began to materialize more and more. Eventually, I felt a massive urge to take advantage of the clarity it now had, and write it down. I got out of bed, and headed straight for the piano, where I spent my entire morning writing down the melody, and allowing it to grow into whatever shape it wanted to grow. In a manner of speaking, I felt possessed; deep inside, my subconscious appeared to be holding on to something, and I let it take over completely to allow it express whatever it had left from the dream. My only interventions during that entire morning session were writing down the rough outline of what my subconscious was producing. And thus, the ideas for the opening section of the piece came to be.
When I came back to the piano in the afternoon that same day, I had already completely forgotten the melody as well. I have never felt such relief as when I saw my notes and listened back to the rough recording I took. From there on out, it was a matter of arranging the various fragmented ideas into a coherent piece. The question arose of how I wanted to tell this story: from the start of the dream, or from the way I retroactively lived it the moment I woke up?
I opted for the latter, as I did not want to "invent" anything in order to fill out the large blanks. I wanted this to be the most genuine piece of music I could possibly write, because somewhere deep inside, I could not help but feel as though these kinds of dreams are more than just "a dream". They make me feel as though I actually lived someone else’s life for a while, and as a result all the events, and all the people were in fact real. I therefore wanted to dedicate this piece to all the wonderful people and friends I came across in the dream, all the similar dreams that came before, and all the similar dreams that are yet to come! This one is for you guys!
A rough yet lengthy narration through the piece and how it represents the way I experienced the dream once I woke up can be found in the pinned comment. I highly welcome you to give that one a read as well if you already made it this far into the backstory of this piece.
Other than that, a very long and personal story for a change, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed creating every last part of this!
You have my deepest gratitude for stopping by here,
Until next time o/
P.S: Recorded June 11, 2023