As my siblings and I got to be young adults, my family gravitated more and more towards anti-consumerism. Gifts that were handmade and personal were cherished far beyond things you could just buy. And so we had music and singing, with lots of arts and crafts, along with paintings and poetry… collecting dust all over the house.
Photo by Bernd Dittrich.
And so I came up with the idea of creating a song, and then giving that song as the gift.
I did take the opportunity to create songs as gifts over the years, mostly within my immediate family, for situations like birthdays, anniversaries, and major life milestones. Using the technologies of the time, Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters[1] turned into an Anniversary song. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah[2] became a song of gratitude for the life of the family dog who passed away years ago.
In order to do that, I had to learn to use tools like a music score editor, not to mention learning enough music theory to make sense of a musical score. But Windows95[3] could play a familiar melody, displaying my heartfelt lyrics — just like on a karaoke screen.
Alas, not everyone can do that. My wife loved it, but it was pretty cumbersome to use. So I only created a handful of NoteWorthy Composer[4] songs. The technology just wasn’t ready yet. It would have been different were I gifted enough to actually compose the music myself but, alas, that is not the case.
Autograph manuscript from Mozart’s Six Quartetts [sic] dedicated to Haydn [Op.10] (1785).
Fast forward a few decades until, in February of last year, I discovered an app called Suno (meaning “listen” in Hindi and Urdu). Using artificial intelligence, Suno can miraculously turn any poem into real, life-sounding music, of any style you can possibly imagine. Having worked with this app for the past eighteen months, I remain amazed at how well the AI can match arbitrary lyrics to nuanced instrumentation; and create ‘singing’ that sounds just like real, human music.
Almost as a prototype, to try something easy, I wrote a simple chorus about Justin Sterling, creator of the Sterling Men’s and Women’s weekends. He had just died, and I wanted to honor his life of service and commitment to humanity. Throughout the chorus are segments of the text that is the Purpose of the SMW. From that, Suno created one of my very first songs, Thank You, A. Justin Sterling.[1] The AI automagically created this image (below), showing off its understanding of the song’s lyrics.
AI-generated image created for the song Thank You A. Justin Sterling.
A Personal Playlist:
Right after that, for my big-sister’s birthday, I created Still Nanci, After All These Years! telling the story of what it’s been like being her little brother. That, eventually, led to a Birthdays and Anniversaries playlist containing, among others, the love song I wrote to celebrate my grandson’s first, called Happy Birthday I-Squared T.
I did basically the same thing last Fall when my Church, the Unitarian Universalist Church (UUA), published their new core values: check out a few AI variations of Our Very Own UU Groton song[1] or even the Spanish-language versions.[2]
That led to With Love at the Center for the First Parish Church of my town, Groton, Massachusetts.
First Parish Church, Groton, Massachusetts.
Photo by Matthew Trump.
Team Songs
I had been working on this article well before this month’s theme, Hiding Out, was announced, and at first there was no obvious connection between that and my newly discovered passion for promoting the gift of song.
But that’s not the whole truth. The truth is that, rather than proudly promoting my passion, I’ve have been having very specific one-to-one interactions with people, choosing my words and my timing very carefully.
Why? Because I’ve learned that, at this point in time, pretty much everyone is uncomfortable, even terrified, of what some see as AI taking over, changing our lives in ways that humanity will ultimately regret.
Nonetheless, here I am, writing this article, doing my very best to promote this song-giving notion to the max.
What changed is that I came up with the idea of using Suno to create a team song: something that was not just a gift for one person or about only one person.
My first team song came about because my men’s team was preparing to complete. In a team completion ceremony, basically each man comes up with something he wants to say about every other man on the team. I decided to do that by writing a verse about every man on the team, and combining that with an engaging chorus that expressed the purpose of our team, as in this snippet:
Verse:
Palmetti… is sometimes quiet,
but always watching…
He’ll let you know when you are out of line,
with a little bit of growl…,
but always an open heart!
Chorus:
We are Men on Purpose —
We take a stand for Masculinity.
Every man gets the opportunity.
Of course, my name isn’t “Palmetti…” For confidentiality, we protect the men’s names when anything goes public.
I came up with a better formula for the next-generation team song. I talked to my team about the idea that every revolution needs a soundtrack, and enrolled them in a team-building exercise where each man wrote a verse about another teammate. One of the more gifted men wrote a very engaging chorus, and also the bridge, using lyrics that characterize the team as a whole.
All I did was use the Suno app, write a verse about one teammate, and basically lead the overall effort. We learned so much about one another that we might never have discovered otherwise.
And now, we really do have a soundtrack, and not only a soundtrack, but — fitting for the mid-2020s — an AI-generated road-trip playlist — a Multi-Ver[3] featuring the same song performed in a dozen different styles.
Finally, take a second and imagine what it would feel like to create, and deliver, a heartfelt song for your partner or your parents; for your daughter, your son, or your grandparents. It applies to anyone you care for. Imagine that!
Image generated using Gemini_Ai
My public playlist is Transformation & Team Songs, and all the songs are on the Suno platform — It’s kind of like a huge jukebox in the clouds.
I created a public profile as well, called Stepping Up For Love. That is my ‘performance’ name, created when I joined the Suno community, because my purpose there is to mentor others to make the World a better place through music.
If you wanna try this, and need help, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Meanwhile, enjoy the songs, and let me know if you want to explore giving the gift of song.
[Note: you can reach Kevin Pammett at media@mdimen.org
Please include his name in the description. -Editor]
References:
[1] All songs property of the author per Suno terms of service
[2] Thanks to Rev. Alea Kemler and intern Aaron Stockwell for their oh-so profound words
[3] Thanks to Haydee Adams
[4] Multiverse
About the Author
A twenty-one year MDI man, Kevin Pammett spent his career writing state-of-the-art software. He was raised in Canada and has lived in several countries including France, Switzerland, Mexico, and the United States. Retired since 2019, he lives near Boston with his wife of almost fifty years. He has two happily married daughters and one grandson living close by.
A Note on the Frontispiece
The frontispiece was adapted from a photograph of Drenge Syngende efter Korbog (Boys singing from a choirbook), a plaster relief by an unknown artist. The original work is housed at the National Gallery of Denmark. Photo by Europeana. Adaptation achieved using Gemini_Ai.
