Lullaby of Birdland

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a jazz song called "Lullaby of Birdland." This song was composed by George Shearing, who claimed to have written it in 10 minutes. However, he said that his prior experience was a contributor to his ability to write the song. Even though those years of experience weren't directly connected, they still played a part in his composition. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
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It isn't actually a coincidence that "Birdland" has the word "Bird" in it, a name which the saxophonist Charlie Parker was often called. The title "Birdland" was given to a jazz club in New York, which was intended to be named after Charlie Parker. According to the tale that has survived for 70 years, George Shearing played the piano there, so when the owner of the venue was planning a radio show, he asked Shearing to record a song for it. The pianist reportedly thought about the request for several weeks, then walked over to a piano and produced the song in a few minutes. 

Since this story had become famous enough to create some impressed reactions, Shearing later reported that he hadn't really come up with that idea on the spot; it was fueled by all the years he had spent in the music industry.

One might not have expected him to say something like that. You might think he would simply take the credit for his accomplishment. But instead, he took an opportunity to point out the value of experience.

Image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay

It would be easy for one to think that all the years one spends playing music doesn't really have an effect on anything. Sure, they might make you a better musician, but what else can they accomplish for you? More opportunities, perhaps, when you start building a reputation for yourself. But can they really provide you with ideas?

Maybe, when you think about it more closely, they could. If you're always hearing new musical ideas wherever you go, those could inspire you to compose songs. You might even see a technique that another musician applies and decide to use it yourself. And, when you spend years listening to the songs that other musicians have written, you're going to pick up ideas from them.

So, as Shearing himself would have said, "It's not that I dash something off in 10 minutes. It's 10 minutes, plus umpteen years in the business." All of that time was contributing to the song that he eventually composed. In fact, he was probably accumulating musical ideas in his head without knowing it, so it only seemed like he had quickly come up with them.

You never know how the next few years could come in to your advantage, if you....

...keep filling your teacup with music!
~Liya