Welcome to my new space!  This space consolidates some of my other activities into a single unified “brand.”  Namely, I needed a real home for my album “Off the Path,” which will be available shortly for download or CD purchase, and a way to associate it more closely with my podcast “Spontaneous Reflections.”  My previous blog home – http://auburnmarshes.spaces.live.com – was failing to meet some of my needs – for analytics, for comment moderation, and just for plain old professionalism.

This new site integrates all of these activities and gives me a fresh look as well!  I hope you enjoy it and visit often.  Please update your blog rolls, feed lists and favorites.

Jason and I are again performing as the “opening act” for the Placer Nature Center’s 4th Friday lecture series this week.

This lecture is on ABC: Arthropods, Butterflies & Climate and will be presented by Dr. Arthur Shapiro Friday April 24th.  Music starts at 7PM, lecture at 7:30.  See you there! 

Variations on a simple theme of imploring.

 

 Imploring [4:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Simple spontaneous hymn for a Sunday afternoon.

 

 Hymn [4:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Guest appearance of Jason Marsh playing the octave violin (special strings tuned an octave lower than normal), playing Pat Metheny’s great ambient piece Sea Song.

 

 Sea Song [4:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There’s a title for a new song, don’t you think?  Jason and I are performing as the “opening act” for the Placer Nature Center’s 4th Friday lecture series this week.

This lecture is on The Environmental Legacy of the Gold Rush and will be presented by Dr. William Murphy Friday Jan 23rd.  Music starts at 7PM, lecture at 7:30.  See you there! 

Tomorrow night, Dec 19th, at Pachamama’s, Jason and I will be playing again 6:30-9PM.  Improvisations of a little Christmas music mixed in with our usual fare.  Join us!

At long last I’ve updated my sampling equipment beyond the lame built-in sound card which provided such a nasty hum on some of my recordings.  I spent part of the weekend resampling all my previous podcasts. I cleaned up a few bits of tempo flux that were bothering me too, but not enough to damage the basic improvisatory quality I hope.

Anyway, if you’re a subscriber of Spontaneous Reflections, and have any old episodes lying around, please delete them and grab the new renderings, I promise you’ll enjoy these more!

Now I can get back to creating some new recordings (though an updated website is rising in priority too…)

Jason and I will again be playing our eclectic improvisitory mix of jazz, new age, folk, and world music (violin and keyboards) for the opening of a new exhibit of figurative work at the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville.  Join us there on November 15th between 6:30 and 9:00PM.  I’ll be using this opportunity to start more actively promoting my Spontaneous Reflections podcast.  Come by if you can!

Who doesn’t enjoy that extra hour in the morning when we “fall back”. Midi-recorded live performance on 11/02.

 

 An Extra Hour [2:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A simple rhythmic interlude comprised of a jumble of notes I recorded between rehearsal and church this morning on the Yamaha Clavinova. I emailed the resulting MIDI file to myself and rendered on my CP300. Remixed the pad a bit for variety.

 

 Scree [1:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Happy song after a morning horseback ride up the canyon.

 

 Off the Path: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today I’m launching my new musical podcast of short piano or keyboard improvisations.  I call it Spontaneous Reflections, and am planning to update it approximately weekly.  It’s available free in the iTunes store or you can subscribe directly here.

For those of you who don’t know, I started my career in music school and playing keyboard in the showrooms of Reno, but found the vocational aspects much less exciting than I hoped, and switched over to a more intellectually and financially rewarding career in computer software.

After a long period of playing primarily pipe organ, a couple of years ago I returned to piano and keyboard and though I don’t have my 20-year old chops (and pipe organ tends to ruin your sense of rhythm) I am exploring some new directions in my improvisation, really trying to dig into the instrument as a percussion instrument.

Live music is a funny thing though - each note goes out into the Ether and dissolves, gone forever except as ghosts in memory.  And I find that playing is quite a different experience than listening, heavily colored with the subjective.  To grow further I thought it valuable to be able to listen to some of my improvisations and see what works and what doesn’t, and to help me practice more discipline about the overall shape of a piece.  This podcast thus is an audio journal, not polished or refined, but genuinely spontaneous.

I hope you enjoy it!

Variations on a rhythmic theme over a trivial chord sequence tarted up with some flavorful intervals.

 

 Slightly Spastic [4:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Spare minimalistic piece allowing you to sink into the rich tones of the Yamaha CP300. All sounds played live (no dubbing.)

 

 Holding On [2:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download