Breaking The Silence

The past couple work weeks have been as difficult as hand feeding a lion buffalo chicken strips. Well, I haven't lost life or limb, but it's been close. I say all that to say that I apologize for the delay of posting the song for week 8. I have posted its work in progress status as I had to halt its production to begin this week's tune. I will continually update it on my Soundcloud as it evolves into its completed form. Enjoy it, and spread the love(stumble it, share it, tell a friend in person...if you still do that sort of thing.)

I have a couple new "series" that will be unfurled in the next couple weeks so keep your eyes peeled until then. In the meantime, love the life you've been given. Use your gifts to add joy to others. Let's make this world more beautiful together.

"Love is furious and brave and loud. It will echo to the end of time." -- Michelle Williams, Incendiary

Thank you and Godspeed!

In Every Day There Is A Reason For Joy

Good morning everyone!

I decided to go a bit more organic with this week's creation. The drums and strings are the only sequenced elements of this week's song. You'll hear my smooth grooving on the bass guitar. I'm currently seeking other talent to fill up the sonic spectrum, but whatever else is added will also be live instrumentation. Stay tuned! You'll hear this raw, work in progress be transformed into an even larger, more beautiful work of art in the coming weeks.

This song is dedicated to my late mother. She's living the glorious life with our Father now, but her enduring smile, now only seen in photographs, still brings joy to all who witness it.

So sit back, crank your speakers up, and enjoy!



Support and spread the word of independent music!

Day Dreaming At Night

Good morning everyone! Here is my upload for Week #6. Enjoy!



Much love and Godspeed to you. Have a great week!

A Classical Fly On The Wall

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I wish I could have been their to watch the greats compose their masterpieces. Our textbook composers who wrote enchanting music that sounds so super human and flawless to my ears. I'm not attempting to demean their unique brilliance, but these men and women did bleed the same red as I do, and breath the same invisible air.

So sometimes when Ctrl+Z is my primary hot key, and I wish that Pro Tools had more than 32 levels of "undo," I imagine what frustrations Beethoven must have faced when trying to make perfect his forever famous Symphony No. 5. The part that everyone remembers is a simple four note motif. Four notes! Four notes that were composed in 1808 have survived three centuries of history. But I have to wonder what it was like composing such a piece. Did he feel "like a boss" the entire time, or did he get "stuck," and struggle stringing it all together.

  When the arrangement isn't flowing as I wish, I picture Stravinsky swearing angrily while penning The Rites of Spring. He must have encountered roadblocks, right? And, I mean, how do I have arrangement issues with a four minute song, but these guys wrote an hour long ballet with seamless flow...and did so on a regular basis. I wish more bands today would give us CDs with an hour worth of quality music. Is that too much to ask?

And when my heart is content about the track I just finished I wonder about the level of satisfaction Dvorak must have felt after completing each movement of his New World Symphony. Or did he even grasp the historical impact it would make? I wonder.

Now, I'm not attempting to distract from the geniuses I've mentioned. I'm not attempting to inflate my current abilities to a comparable level as theirs. I'm just simply stating that my experiences with music composition must have some similarity to what they experienced...I assume every composer, famous and novice, historical and modern, must face the slew of emotions that are encountered as you pull deep from within to write something personally meaningful and interpersonally relatable.

I'll also pose the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. Were they born with something "special" or is Malcolm Gladwell onto something with his "ten thousand hours" examination? I love and hate what I heard Vldamir Horowitz say in an interview. He said something to the gist of "I was born not with special abilities. Anyone can do what I do with practice." I love that statement because it obviously states that I'm capable of the great abilities that he and many others posses. But I also hate it because I don't currently posses that sort of extravagant ability on my instrument. And will I ever? I guess I need more practice and less blogging. Haha. And do yourself a favor and watch a Horowitz performance if you never have. I randomly found videos of him on You Tube, and I was completely blown away!

Thank you for enjoying my midweek musings. I have a great song that I'm wrapping up production on. I'll post it as soon as possible.

And for those wondering why I have posted a seemingly unrelated photo of Omaha, Nebraska, then pick up a book titled "Quitter" by Jon Acuff. It's a great book for anyone chasing their dream job. /p>

You're Gonna Know My Name By The End Of The Night

People will eventually hear you if you say something enough. People will eventually believe what they hear if they hear it enough. Once they're convinced, then you message will spread like wild fire.

May your passion be your energy, and may it flow forth as conversation. And may that conversation speak life and positivity into the lives of your listeners

Enjoy this week's double dose of sound!

I'm off to count some sheep. I love you guys.

May The 4th Be With You!

I'm currently on my way to Atlanta to volunteer at the Shaky Knees Music Festival. It should be an awesome day, but a very long one. However, I'm holding true to my promise of two songs this week. One is done and the other just needs some tidying up. I'll post them by the close of the day tomorrow. So tune in earlier on the 6th to squash your case of the Mondays.

Much love to you, and have a safe, yet memorable Memorial Day weekend.

I apologize for the misdirection of this post's title. I'm only a casual Star Wars fan, and I have nothing to say that hasn't been said.

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

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We all work diligently on the things we're passionate about. I believe that most of us want to have that "break," or to be "discovered." We all want the acknowledgement and compensation that comes as a reward for our talents. We see the success stories that come before us, and at least for me, they typically conjure a conflict of feelings. Their achievement inspires and encourages which causes me to believe, "I can do that too." However, at the very same time there is that nuisance thought in the back of my head that says, "well they are better than you. Or they just got lucky." And although I know it's not true when I hear that negative thought. And hopefully you believe it isn't true either. It still prompts us to pause and reflect. Then we begin to ask ourselves, "what do I need to do to accomplish what I've set before myself. I believe the answer is a simple one:

Put yourself in the path of the discoverer.
Nothing and no one is ever discovered unless it is located where the discoverers are searching. It's true that rare gems are stumbled upon seemingly by accident. But these instances are so special because they're...rare! Archaeologists search in specific areas looking for specific findings, hunters camp in specific areas looking for specific prey, and they people that will find you doing what you dream of doing have specific territory that they have scoped out to find you. You just have to find out where it is that you need to be there, and then be there all the time. And not only be there, but be ready.

I have discovered an awesome online community for musicians that makes this easy. It's www.broadjam.com. They offer both paid and free memberships. The memberships include the ability to peer review songs, and have your own songs reviewed. Enter contests with various rewards for winning. What I'm most excited about is their music licensing opportunities for film and television. Sure, tons of sites offer this. You can join a PRO and receive performance royalties...which you should. But Broad Jam offers something I haven't seen before. With their opportunities they guarantee the music supervisor/director will actually listen to your song! They'll even update you on the time and day that it is sampled! That's impressive if you ask me. They also offer free and $0.99 downloading options.

So if you're a musician seeking to broaden your network, hone your craft, and start making money for what you do then Broad Jam is definitely a great stage to showcase what you do!