The whole world, as I experience it, is completely of my own making. No laws have been imposed, no circumstances have come uninvited, no accident has befallen. The invisible hand that shapes my destiny is none other than my own. Why rail against the stupidity of my dance when I am the puppeteer.

G

While most of the people on Gaia know me as the composer and the blogger for Key of G Music there is another side of me that I would like to share.

Actually long before I started blogging as a composer I have been writing and teaching various shades of non-duality, meditation and emotional releasing.

So I thought I would start sharing that blog here as well. And rather than getting a different ID and signing on as a different person (which I do other places) I thought I would just put it all here under me. I will disinguish the two by prefixing the titles with either Not This Not That for the Advaita blog and Key of G for the music blog. Please no confusion with Kenny G.

The main blogging site I use is wordpress and my other blogging is there but I will be copying that here and adding it. To read that blog (which is also jsut getting started) go to http://notthisnotthat.wordpress.com

To wake up is our destiny.
G

I have been lamenting the whole process of making an album for a while now. Interspersed with my philosophical ramblings regarding music, where it comes from and why it does not obey my will. In the meantime some actual, concrete things have come to pass.

 Most notably I have finally settled on the title for the work. And that is no small matter. The title, while just a small phrase has the imposing job of expressing in just a few words what will amount to just shy of an hour of sound. That title will either capture the imagination of a would be listener or send them scurrying back to old favorites. And if it does win the attention of a prospective customer and the title does not match the content, there will not be any repeat performances. So the title is something you gotta get right!

And here it is. It is going to be called “Emptiness Dances”. I promised myself I would not go off in this blog about anything metaphysical so I won’t go into a discussion of what Emptiness is and how it can Dance (being empty and all). Of course, if you ask I will be compelled to elaborate. Its up to you.

So leaving the whole non-dual thing out of it (I was going to call it “The Shunyata Shuffle”), the title gives the picture of what I intend to convey with my music. Music is such a strange thing really. Simple vibrations in the air have such power to move us, bypassing the brain and going straight to the heart and body. It does seem to come from nowhere and spin its magic so effortlessly. “Emptiness Dances” seems to fit both the solo piano pieces that will make up the majority of the record and also the more ambient pieces that will hopefully punctuate the solitary journey.

I reached another milestone as well. I finally achieving a sound on the mix of the title track that captured the energy I was after. As you have all heard me complain about before (uh… and often), I am not an engineer and certain aspects of the whole recording and engineering process I regard as black art, bordering on evil. But somehow by chance and stupid persistence I have finally managed to come up with a sound that I really like. No, more than that. Its a sound that fits me. And its a sound that seems to do that magnificent instrument, the piano justice. It is staggering to me just how much life and subtlety there is in a piano. You have 10 square feet of vibrating surface producing a bewilderingly complex sound. And every square inch of it sounds different from every other. Finally capturing that makes this project possible.

So now the album has a title, a theme, a characteristic sound and a title track. I do find it interesting and a bit perplexing how these things work. For a over month I have been stumbling around in the dark looking for a light (praying for guidance) and then suddenly there it is. The whole thing begins to come into focus and the path starts to become clear.

Please check out the new mix http://emptinessdances.com. Click on the solo piano section then on Emptiness Dances. I hope you hear what I heard.

G

Everyone should hear this, pass it around http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

I get asked that question a lot. Every composer does. I get that question and others like "What were you feeling when you wrote that?" or "What is this piece about?" Interviewers have to ask questions like that. And musicians have to make up interesting answers like "I'm trying to create world peace", "I am vibrating the heart Chakra to clear your blocks",  'I am protesting the war in ________ (conflicts vary by era)" or "I lost my _____ (girl, boy, mom, car, job, dog, faith, way)"

Unfortunately the real answer is not so interesting. "Uh... I dunno. Its what I thought of when I was sitting at the piano"

All the answers, I'm afraid, are after the fact. First I write the music and then I figure out why I did it. Or more accurately I make up a story as to why I did it. Well, that does not make for an interesting interview so we music types are obligated to go on all day about the shades of sound, the vibrational centers in the body and the importance of reducing carbon emissions. But is there really a connection between that and the act of writing a tune?

Not for me. Even if I really want to write a piece about something. If that particular something appears in the piece it is not because I wanted it. It is because the music gods wanted it and one of two things happened. I just happened to want what they wanted at that time or they made me want to do that in the first place so I could think I actually had some say in the process. Which, as far as I can tell,  I don't.

All the explanations come later. I am really convinced of this. So if there is a connection between what I think I did and what actually happened it is pretty much a coincidence. Actually, its a bit of a delusion, a pretty delusion to be sure but a delusion none the less. I suppose we all want to believe we have control over things. We want to see a connection between what we do and what happens. It makes us feel safe. But is it true? Uh... not that I can see. But hey, it doesn't have to be true to make me feel safe. As a matter of fact the more delusional it is the better I feel.

So let's look at what really happens or better said what I really experience. A bunch of events occur, one after the other. I sit at the piano. My fingers move, sounds appear in my mind and a piece of music happens. I play it. I record it. Someone hears it. All of that happens of course. But did the one thing happen because of the previous? Or did it all just happen? I mean I could have sat at the piano and no new music happened. So sitting at the piano does not cause the song to happen. Nor does a song happening mean that someone other than me will hear it. So exactly where is the causal connection? I assume a connection but looking closely at my actual experience there is just a series of events.

So I will continue to answer people's questions about my music, although I'm not really sure it I can rightly call it mine. Calling it mine is the tail wagging the dog. None the less, I won't buck convention and I will continue to explain how I am saving the whales, ending global warming, bringing peace to heavy hearts. And I actually hope all that will happen. But the real answer?

I didn't. It just happened.

G - http://emptinessdances.com

Music paints its pictures on the canvas of silence. I hold the brush and trace a pattern on the emptiness.

"So what kind of music do you do?" Oh if I had a dime for every time that question was asked of me. I don't know. In fact I have no $&^%in' clue. I have tried to categorize it. I really have. Radio, music stores (there are a few left), record companies, promoters, distributors all want to know the answer to that question. Audiences do to. Even though the audience is the most open to not having strict categorizations they ask me that question more than all of the others combined. So everybody wants an answer, in words, of what kind of music I do.

Ok, it is a fair question. I personally regard it as unfair because I don't know how to answer. "Oh its kind of a house, hip hop, new age, neo-classical, instrumental, pop thing. With ambient overtones and shades of polka." "Earthy tones with a great finish and touches of cherry and limestone". Describing wine is easier.

So where do I belong (other than in the home). For better or for worse I seem to fall into the New Age category. Predominantly piano at this stage of my career New Age is the only category where I fit. Classical? Neo-classical, Modern classical? Those might work but frankly classical is the kiss of death for a modern composer that is not trying to get played by the local orchestra. Besides I'm not dead yet.

And puleez no "serious composer" label. I am not serious about anything, especially music. Art is play. I play and some little voice tells me what to play and voila art happens. That same little voice has not told me to do anything that would land me in jail... yet. But don't think I don't see the similarity. It is all in what the voice says not the voice itself. Who knows what it will say tomorrow?

So New Age it is, I guess. I do like crystals. They're pretty. Don't know if they will balance my Chakras but hey if they do I can undoubtedly use the balancing. And if the goddesses allow me to sell a gazillion copies of my next record I promise to name my next child Sky or Ambrosia or Isis or something.

G

http://emptinessdances.com

The famed landscape photographer Ansel Adams was once asked why there were never any people in his photos. He answered "No you're wrong there are always two people in my pictures. Me and you".

Artist often get all caught up in their artistry as if the piece lived in a vacuum. As a composer I get to hear the piece first. That is all. And when I hear it is is a combination of the notes and my ears just like anyone else. Until the composition is heard it is just a bunch of meaningless notes vibrating in empty space. The ear, the hearer gives the notes their meaning, not the composer. The composition takes place in the ear and in the heart of the listener and it happens in the moment it is heard. Outside of that it can be rightly asserted that the song doesn't exist at all. Would the music be music if there were no one to hear it? No, just vibrations of energy wandering aimlessly.

You are the composer not me.