I have been getting into music tech in a big way. We have bought cables and boxes and more cables and boxes! And a midi controller. And I have been studying Ableton, a great DAW for composition.
But today – a frosty day in January, none of the kit was working for my ears or my soul! The kit couldn’t capture the sound of my keyboard in my dining-room on a frosty day. It kept changing it and containing it and perfecting it. And I wasn’t going to have any of it!
So . . . I recorded myself playing the accompaniment on my good old keyboard and I then recorded myself playing the tune over the top on my good old camera! And now you can hear me playing my keyboard in my dining-room on a frosty day!
This is Silent Night as you have never heard it before. My looper pedal just kept surprising me as I built up the layers. I know there are a few wrong notes but it was very exciting. I felt as if my room was being filled with violin players! I could do another take but would never be able to capture the moment again. If you get through the first half you will get to hear the country twist. Hope it makes you smile!
Hi, I think the backing track is slow country but it suggested to me something with a classical twist and so is this is what I played! I hope you enjoy it.
My improvisation is called Transformation
Sometimes we don’t need to change something. We just need to be open to the idea of transformation!
So . . . another cloudy day in the UK! I found this backing track that made me feel the intensity of the cloud and I just wanted to play an intense deep feeling creation of my own to go with it. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi, sometimes it just good to sing something from your heart. As my son and I have colour sensitivity, our journey is a complicated one. I am not anti-doctors but lets just say that sometimes when you have a life to live, their opinions can get in the way!
Hi, May is an amazing month for me. The light just feels a whole lot better than any other time of the year. It is just bright enough for me to still be able to perceive some of the red and orange light from winter but not too bright so that the blue of mid summer dominates and drains the colours. And it makes me feel like opening my heart wide. I hope you enjoy my loop.
Musical doodles are important things. They help to punctuate your day with feeling. I don’t deliberately doodle – they just sort of happen – and then I realise that I am enjoying the feeling, the rhythm, the sound. And it is a moment.
So next time you find yourself musically doodling – go on, let go and see where it wants to take you.
Finally my pre-amp has arrived so I am able to get some sound out of my microphone. I am just having fun playing with my voice and creating layers. This is called ‘Priming the Well Pump’. I hope you enjoy it.
Yesterday I met an 8 year old who sang from her heart. She had so little confidence in her voice that she would only sing to me standing with her back to me and singing to the wall. Then she sang this most beautiful song that she had created about love and friendship. It really touched me.
I create little songs too and often don’t have the confidence to sing them out. In fact I have collected my little songs in the hope that one day I will make them into proper compositions. When I feel a song coming on I just sing into my camera and then keep it in a folder on my computer.
Today exactly that happened. A song came out of nowhere. At first I thought it was nothing but then I thought ‘No this is definitely something.’ I started singing the words ‘Don’t rock the boat Jennie Wren, don’t rock the boat!’ Jennie Wren is the name my mother and my sister have called me at times. I don’t use it or hear it any more very often at all but it takes me straight back to my childhood. An then the words developed, along with the tune and my strong feelings and before I knew where I was I had a song. And as usual I recorded it straight into my camera.
So . . . the recording isn’t the best, the song was never drafted or practiced. This is just an expression straight from my heart. It was not born to be made into a composition. It was born to be heard in its raw state in this moment. I hope it touches you.
