A Song For Somebody Special Tarek Sultani

When my English teacher died last spring, I wrote in his tribute a song called "Confusion." It is not the most technically impressive thing I have written, but it's my favorite because it conveys emotions I still can't put into words. Taking center stage to act out his lessons, Mr. McGovern seemed to have no problem finding words to make his feelings understandable to everyone.

"Confusion" is a guitar piece, slow, sad and dark. It must be finger-picked by each finger, not just the thumb or plectrum, to create a tone of smoothness. Although it is sad, it is also somehow calming. It's about a search which keeps returning to the same point. Each journey becomes more difficult, yet each one, despite increasing hardships, comes to the same sad destination. For instance, in the third verse, when the song shifts to the higher pitched chord of D minor, it seems for a moment that simple happiness is within reach, but returns immediately to the A minor chord before going to the even deeper and darker sounding E minor in root position. At that point the darkness deepens, and it lasts twice as long as the other verses of the song because, instead of reverting to the chorus, the song repeats its darkest verse....