The Moses Project: The Early Stages
- Adam Bannister
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Pennsylvania
Have you ever had a dream that unfolded very differently from your original idea? The Moses Project was that dream for me. I originally planned to produce The Moses Project in 2021 as an album titled “Moses.” I figured I could have the entire album scored and produced in a few months (I may have had too much optimism, hah!). I never imagined the music would become a production four years later, but God had a plan beyond my wildest dreams..
The idea for the music first came to me while hiking in Ohio Pyle, PA. I was walking with my mother and sister through the green hills of Pennsylvania on a warm summer day. It was August of 2020, when COVID was still very much rampant, and people spent much more time outside than they did in previous years.
While walking along the trail lined with towering trees and shrubs, I started singing the words to the song, “Moses”. It was like a pestering thought I could not get out of my head. I had to write it down and record it ASAP, or it would be nagging at me all day. I pulled out my phone and jotted the first few lines. After I completed an entire verse, I started recording the melody in a Voice Memo. This initial ripple of inspiration flowed into a massive wave in the coming weeks. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll share this on the blog in the coming months as we unravel the journey of the Moses Project together.
Guatemala
The Moses Project was put on hold while I wrapped up my life in the US and headed for the great unknown. I moved from Pennsylvania to Honduras and then again from Honduras to Guatemala in 2021. As I settled into my new life in the rural mountains, I began working on music again, and this is when I began to orchestrate The Moses Project. I had my small MIDI keyboard seated on the table I spent weeks building in my rural house in Guatemala. I needed a work station to continue chasing the music God placed on my heart, and with a lot of help, I crafted a spot to continue writing music.
I didn’t have a plan, I just knew an epic story needed epic music to accompany it. I downloaded some software instruments and experimented with the strings and horn software patches to see what would happen. The process was time-consuming, but the music was not difficult to write. Once the song was started, it felt as if it would write itself. One instrument at a time, the songs would come to life, and I would spend hours sitting at my keyboard, writing down what I heard. I could hear the instrumentation flowing through my mind as I walked up and down the long dirt airstrip next to my house. Like an itch that needed to be scratched, I would hear a melody and write it into instrumentation the second I got back to my computer.
The backbone of the music was written during my days in Guatemala. Songwriting is always more fun with vast arrays of rolling green mountains all around you and sunsets that take your breath away. I was ambitious, still thinking I could finish the album in a year, but my time was quickly filled up with other projects and ideas, and The Moses Project was put on the back burner. I didn’t realize the Lord had so much more planned in His timing…. and isn’t that usually the case?
