My First Collaboration

I have recently had the chance to participate in something I’ve never done before: a musical collaboration on a single piece. Composer James Paddock approached me via a Direct Message on Discord and asked if I’d like to collaborate on a work for one of the user projects going on in the Doomworld forums. I agreed, and a day or two later Jimmy (as he’s known on the forums) sent me the first section of the song.

Boy, was I ever in over my head! Jimmy is a great composer, hands down.

Fortunately, I was able to find a few spots where I could insert a solo piano melody, with my line complimenting his work. I sent the MIDI file (we’re doing this for the Plutonia 3 user project, which needs MIDI files) back to him with my work. A few days later, I received another stellar installment. This time, we were able to discuss the project across the Discord chat application. We made some tweaks, especially to the tempo of the piece, and I then set about writing more melodic lines. Unfortunately, I had to stop halfway through for reasons I can’t go into here, but Jimmy carried on for me, even going so far as to incorporate some of my melodic ideas into his writing for the second half of the piece. He did a bang-up job on the end product, creating a fantastic work of music.

If you would like to hear it, it’s posted as “MISSION UNPOSSIBLE” on Jimmy’s YouTube channel. Please give it a listen when you get the chance!