A request for something special reignited a creative spark I hadn’t felt in a while. The result is ‘June 16th’—a piece that blends an unconventional meter with an accessible melody. There’s a story behind each of the musical choices I made. Want to know more? Listen on one of the streaming services and read along here.
My sister-in-law got married in the summer of 2024, and my wife and I had the honor of serving as the masters of ceremonies for the wedding. The couple asked me to compose a piece of music for their ceremony, as they both found the harmonica to be a beautiful instrument. This was a truly unique request, one that set me on a similarly unique path. Music—performing, composing, entrepreneurship—had once been central to my life but had been put on the back burner due to deliberate choices to prioritize things like children and career.
In the months that followed, so many creative doors reopened in my mind that it reignited my musical flame entirely. Over the course of weeks, I wrote “June 16th,” a piece in E-flat major, set in a 7/8 time signature. The 7/8 time signature doesn’t offer a stable 4/4 beat or the familiar feel of a waltz. Instead, it’s an irregular meter, divided here into three groups: two counts of two beats, followed by three beats. There are a few pieces I enjoy listening to that are also written in seven; think of Brad Mehldau’s “The Falcon Will Fly Again” or Bonobo’s “Animals.” By the way, Sting’s “Seven Days” is in 5/4 time. Also irregular, but not seven. Confusing. But I’m sure the man himself had a good laugh about it. After all, he wasn’t shy about writing in seven (I Was Brought to My Senses).
I composed “June 16th” in the evenings, often when the family was asleep, with the practice pedal engaged to soften the sound. The practice pedal brings a layer of felt between the hammers and strings, making the strikes softer and more muffled. The pedal was originally intended to be considerate of housemates during practice. But these days, this sound is completely ‘in.’ Just listen to Spotify playlists like ‘Peaceful Piano’: many of those pianos use the felt damper.
For me, writing music is a process of refining a rough idea or concept. I often play something, try different things, and approach it slightly differently—to see how it sounds. I then test other melodic lines, different harmonies, or alternative accompaniment. What feels right stays. What doesn’t, I keep ‘in pencil’ until I find a better phrase. At the end of each session, I record the current state of the piece with the voice recorder on my phone.
To give an example of such a recording: Here you can hear an early draft of “June 16th”; you can recognize parts of the melody, the descending bass line is in place, but I’m still searching for the right harmony. And the harmony of the ‘chorus’ is roughly there, but the melody is far from ‘final.’
“Composing a piece on the piano is one thing, but such a composition truly comes to life when a musician like Hermine literally ‘breathes life into it.”
When I had “June 16th” roughly on paper, I reached out to my old conservatory teacher, Bert van den Brink, to discuss the piece together. That man is phenomenal in the academic approach to music. An hour with him generates so many ideas. Such a session takes me back to my conservatory days when I played piano for eight hours a day in preparation for the weekly main subject lesson. Bert connected me with chromatic harmonica player Hermine Deurloo. Hermine is an incredible musician, and I’m thrilled that she agreed to participate in “June 16th.” Composing a piece on the piano is one thing, but such a composition truly comes to life when a musician like Hermine literally ‘breathes life into it.’
Chris Weeda handled the post-production and used his years of experience (with Toots Thielemans, for example) to mix and master “June 16th.” To infuse the piece with deeper emotion, I recorded the piano part on the grand piano once played by the bride’s father. While this added sentimental value, the instrument’s unique ‘character’ required significant extra polishing work for Chris. Then, I gained my first experience in distributing a piece of music to streaming services like Spotify. The royalties and regulations make it feel difficult to ‘modernize’ distribution. Spotify briefly experimented with a program between 2018 and 2019 that allowed artists to upload their music directly. However, that program only lasted six months. Now, independent artists must use intermediaries to distribute their music. If you’re signed by a record label, that process is taken care of for you.
But I digress. Let’s take a closer look at the piece, making it a kind of director’s cut, where I highlight a few things. Pull it up on Spotify or Apple Music to hear the whole thing.
The piece starts with the piano presenting an important theme, just as the chorus will end, and I’ll explain why shortly. The intro is otherwise short; the stage is set, and the 7/8 meter is established. Soon, the clear sound of the harmonica introduces the melody. It’s an accessible melody, really a singable melody—despite the irregular meter.
The melody in the verse is built using a technique I once heard about in a documentary on Obama’s speechwriter. The idea is: “It’s not A, it’s not B, no, it’s C!” This is called a tricolon. It’s a structure of three sentences with repetition, where the last sentence often receives the most emphasis. This creates rhythm and makes the message stronger and more memorable. This technique works not only in rhetoric but also in music.
In the chorus at 1:01, a distinct countermelody emerges. The piece was, of course, written for a wedding. That’s why we hear two melodies here: one at the top reaching down (a descending motif), and one at the bottom reaching up (an ascending motif). The melodies reach for each other and eventually embrace in the unison line at the end of the chorus. Unison means: making one sound with multiple voices. Here, two melodies continue as one. You see where this was going: much like a marriage, two distinct voices come together to create a harmonious union.
“You see where this was going: much like a marriage, two distinct voices come together to create a harmonious union.”
Then, the improvisation begins at 1:27 into the song. The piano takes as its starting point the motif of the three successive ascending notes that also open the melody in the verse, but from a different starting point. The harmonica plays a great solo, freely over the 7/8 meter. Each phrase responds to the previous one, creating a coherent story. In the solo, Hermine builds towards the chorus, increasingly using the higher octaves of her instrument. At 2:50, the built-up tension is released with three successive eighth notes. It’s hard to put into words, but at that moment, a lot of energy is released, as if the piece suddenly starts swinging, even though there’s no swing timing.
After the solo, the piano plays part of the theme alone at 3:15. Then, the harmonica plays the theme again, but with different harmony: now, moll-dur is used. This means that sounds are borrowed from minor in a major context. The piece is in E-flat major, where the sixth is normally a C, but in this piece, it’s lowered to a B (or actually C♭, for the purist). This creates beautiful variation. It sounds a bit sadder. The accompaniment also briefly breaks up the 7/8 meter at this point. Now, a chord is laid down every seven beats.
Then we come to the second chorus (or actually the third, if you count the chorus in the solo). At 4:07, we take a turn. The melody is almost the same as in the first chorus, but from the turn, we’re a fourth higher. Compare the first chorus at 1:10 with the second chorus at 4:11. Now, we’re building towards the highest note of the melody: the G-flat at 4:17. You could actually call this part the bridge. Here too, we eventually arrive at the unison motif.
The motif leads us to a final verse. Here at 4:32, the piano plays small, cheerful melodies in the high register, between the phrases of the theme. I wrote this as a reference to the small, joyful product of the couple’s love: their little girl. (p.s. Yes, this title was a Soulive reference)
In the outro, we take a joyful detour to bossa (in 7/8 time!) and a blues-like riff.
It’s amazing that this piece has been recorded and is available for streaming. What’s next? I’m considering writing and recording a piano solo version. Want to stay updated? Sign up for the newsletter.
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