A New Year's Piano Medley

Welp, time for some humble honesty: I did in fact abandon my New Year's resolution for 2025. This is rather expected, for many; jokes are found everywhere about many of us would-be-changed-folks not lasting more than three days into a new year before failing their resolutions. More embarrassing than that, though, I failed at the resolution which I made public on Vocal (and even got a runner-up prize for in their New Year's resolution-based challenge...yikes!). My resolution was to create and share, on YouTube and on Vocal, new original pieces of music every month. I did this for a while, but trailed off a little before the halfway mark through the year, just as some life things started to really pick up frenetic speed.

To any folks who were following along with this resolution of mine, and/or looking forward to hearing more music - I am genuinely sorry to have not kept my word on this one. I feel rather like a sham for having received such recognition and praise at the outset of this resolution, only for it to fall apart in about five months flat.

I could have perhaps foreseen the complications that wedding planning, marriage, honeymooning, moving, and starting a new job might have on such a goal. I could have planned ahead accordingly. I could have publicly adjusted my goal in light of all these things. I could have.

I did not.

:)

I am nevertheless proud of my growth in musical ability and confidence, and am sharing this piano medley I've been fiddling with for a little while as an expression of that. I hope you enjoy it! These tunes are obviously not original to me (I am still working on a number of original pieces of my own to share someday!), but I felt that my interpretation of these familiar themes might be something that others resonate with on this New Year's Day and beyond. The songs all have to do with meetings and partings, in one way or another, and I think they make a fitting spread of songs for me to welcome in a New Year.

The melodies in my medley are as follows:

Auld Lang Syne, the iconic New Year's piece about reminiscing on shared history,

The Parting Glass, a folk song (Irish, I believe, in origin?) about new paths and the farewells that they necessitate,

O Danny Boy, the traditional carol about a mother achingly bidding her son goodbye as he travels far afield,

and the chorus of This is My Father's World, a Christian hymn on finding the comfort and beauty of a loving God in the midst of the paradoxes and pains of this strange life journey we walk.

I didn't majorly plan out the structure of this medley, only practiced bits and pieces of each tune before mixing them all together. The confidence I have gained for quickly learning and improvising upon new pieces is something which I am proud of, and which I do believe has developed this year (despite the lack of original music being shared). I still see this year as a step in the right direction for my musical growth, and therefore do not hang my head too low for not having met my precise goal.

I haven't come up with a specific goal or resolution for the year of 2026. I may be feeling a bit wary about committing to something, after rather bungling last year's idea! I am mulling over a few ideas, and may try to develop a plan for a few goals over the course of this first month of the year - slowly, thoughtfully, intentionally - with the hope of affecting a bit of real change to my health, habits, and life-orientation, rather than banking on being a changed man cold-turkey from January 1st onwards. Perhaps I'll share some goals with the Vocal community later on this month or year; then again, perhaps not. Whatever the case, I do hope the start of this year might bring me and you, friend and reader, a renewed sense of hope, light, love, and purpose - whatever that looks like now.

Thanks for slogging through, friend - all the best to you.

Cheers,

Gabe H