MP3 Downloads
- What Child Is This (Green Sleeves)
- Dreamalog
- GB Techno
- From Without
- Hálainn
- With a Start
- I Pick My Nose
- This Isn't Repetitive
- Peace
- Passage
- Moving On
- Altered Currents (NEW! Added February 21, 2010)
Music Notes
What Child Is This (Green Sleeves). I re-created this classic Western holiday song around Christmas (December 24th) of 2004 just because I was in the holiday music spirit.
Dreamalog began, as most of my compositions do, by accident. I was auditioning the analog synth patches in GarageBand and found the Moonbeam patch. I was very intrigued and began messing with it. I happened on a sequence of notes that sounded really cool to me so I recorded my performance. Later I imported it into Logic Express to work on it in more earnest (and so I could use my external synths). The song reminds me of a dream montage sequence in an 80s movie. The sounds are mostly analog synth sounds (digitally reproduced with the Logic soft synth engine, the V-Synth and the Fantom-X of course). So the cheesy name came to be.
GB Techno. I was playing around with Apple's GarageBand 2 and some of the accompanying Jam Packs and found a few loops I liked. I then began to wonder exactly how good a song I could make just using loops and GarageBand's "Software Instruments" without using any of my external hardware. Thus began "GB Techno." The rhythm is an "Real Instrument" Apple Loop included in one of the Jam Packs. The other tracks are all Software Instruments whose melodies are heavily based on the loops included with GarageBand and the various Jam Packs. I think this song demonstrates that you can create decent sounding music using only GarageBand and Software Instruments.
From Without. I created this song, like many of my compositions, while reflecting on my loneliness. At the same time, the song reflects not only the loneliness I often experience but also the gratitude for the things I do have. The title reflects the feelings "from (being) without" companionship but, secondarily, the not-so-easily-read behaviors "from without" (as opposed to "from within"). The song is a reflective, melodic, piano-centric piece with lush synth backing and a light acoustic harp accents.
Hálainn. An experiment using only the World Music Jam Pack for GarageBand and Logic, this turned out to be an enjoyable Irish folksy tune. Very up-beat with a catchy melody. Lots of harmony and instrument embellishments. In case you're wondering, the name is the feminine form of the Irish Gaelic word for "beautiful." It's pronounced very similar to the English name "Helen." I surmise that the name "Helen" comes from this word.
With a Start. It was with jolts and starts that the melody for this piece came about, thus the title of the song. It's a piano-centric, rather formulaic, melodic piece (formulaic in that it employs a rather strict A, B, A', C, A, B, A' form). I became somewhat enamored with the main melody (A, B, A'), and had to come up with a C melody just to break the monotony of the main melody. In any case, it's an up-beat rhythmic piano piece with a somewhat unique instrumentation that includes a (real) strummed dulcimer, sampled South African choral backing, sampled traditional drums, synthesized "pad" sound, synthetic harp, and (of course) the sampled piano.
I Pick My Nose (2007). Way back in 1994 when I was a Senior high school student I had a bit more eclectic tastes in music. One genre that I often enjoyed listening to was Country music. However, I also recognized a rather common lyrical theme among songs in that genre and thought it'd be entertaining to create a parody that poked fun at the "I lost my love, now I'm sad" theme so common to the genre. Of course, the quality of that recording (my first vocal recording) was quite bad. In 2007, I finally decided to re-record the song using my more advanced music equipment, mostly to entertain friends. Now I'm making that recording available to everyone else. Beware! It's pure cheese!
This Isn't Repetitive (2007). Months after recording "I Pick My Nose" in 1994, I decided to record another genre parody. This time the target was dance music. Ace of Base was popular at the time. I wasn't a big fan, but my sister listened to it quite a bit. So out came this little gem (my second vocal recording ever performed). As with the "I Pick My Nose" re-recording, I set upon re-recording this song in 2007 with my newer and more advanced music gear. Again, beware! This, too, is pure cheese!
Peace. On a friend's suggestion, I endeavored to create a Veda-inspired meditative, contemplative piece. This is a long 8 and a half minute song. It's tempo is relatively slow and is not a high energy work. As with most of my songs, it's piano-centric. This piece utilizes a good deal of reverb to emphasize the spaciousness feeling. The melody is simple, but the form is not quite formulaic. Some nylon guitar, fretless bass, ethnic percussion, and synthetic pad sounds are mixed in to round out the song.
Passage. The passage of time. The passage of opportunity. The passage of an inspirational text. The passage from a secluded atrium to the crowded streets. This piano-centric, free-tempo, contemplative, improvisational, melodic piece attempts to embody these and many other passages.
Moving On. This is an up-beat New Age-like, piano-centric (as usual) melodic piece with sonically full instrumentation. The major tonality and moderate tempo are intended to inspire optimism and positive thinking... to encourage you to move past whatever may be bringing you down... to move on.
Altered Currents. Here, again, is a melodic piano-centric piece. This is a slower paced song with major tonality. The mood is positive, but laid-back with a little syncopated rhythm guitar to keep the current moving. |
About This Collection
These are songs I've composed but not yet assigned to a collection of works or album. Once there are enough songs, I will move them to an album of their own.
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