MP3 Downloads
- The Fight Begins
- Ethereal Rhythm
- New Car
- V-Happy
- Trazz
- Running-Wind
- Follow My Lead
- Techno Phonics
- Persistence of Time
- The Wish
- Meditative
- A Light Heart
- A Step Down
- Beauty
- Though You Play...
Music Notes
The Fight Begins is the only song in this album that was composed for a specific purpose. My buddy Brad (at the time a computer science master's student) asked if I could create an introduction piece for his class group's 2-D role-based war strategy game. It sounded like a fun little project. He was very pleased with the result so I thought I'd share it with everyone else. Some astute (and geeky) movie soundtrack listeners may notice the Klingon Battle theme in the middle of the short piece from Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Ethereal Rhythm was composed on the XP-80 using the Session expansion board. The Ethereal JX patch on that expansion board inspired me to create a song appropriate for the sound. I was also influenced by the K-PAX movie soundtrack by Edward Shearmur.
New Car was the first piece I composed on my Fantom-X8. I didn't have a name for it for much of the time I was composing it. The rhythm and instrumentation began to remind me of those silly Mitsubishi car commercials with the lady seat-dancing and distracting her boyfriend driver. So I named the song accordingly.
V-Happy was the first song I created using the V-Synth. All the sounds (except the piano) come from the V-Synth and it's a happy, up-bead tune, so I named it V-Happy. Some have said the chord progression is almost identical to Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx, though that song was farthest from my mind when composing this piece.
Trazz is what I perceived to be an amalgam of trance and jazz music combined, though it's more trance than jazz. The jazz is mostly derived from the improvisational piano track while the trance is pretty much everything else.
Running-Wind is another venture into a melodic trance genre piece. The name is one I made up because the piece reminded me of a number of things and brought numerous images to mind. Wind was one. Some of the basic rhythms and note intervals vaguely reminded me of American Indian ceremonial music I've heard.
Follow My Lead is a play on words, mostly because I couldn't think of a good name for the piece. The main melody line in a song is often called a "lead." The song has an up-beat sound and encourages the listener to follow the lead sound.
Techno Phonics is another venture into techno/trance genre music (my boss at the time was a big trance music fan so I heard a lot of it, explaining the string of trance-like songs here). The name was meant to imply the nature of the song. Phonics are the basic sounds of a language, and this song sounded to me like the basic sounds you might hear in a techno piece (though I didn't realize the difference between techno and trance at the time).
Persistence of Time is a contemplative piece with an improvised piano. The name reflects a number of my feelings while composing the song. Probably a combination of boredom, frustration, and impatience.
The Wish is a reflective, melodic piano piece that represents my wish for companionship at the time. The mood of the song represents the type of companionship I was wishing for.
Meditative is just that. It's a combination of ambient chords and distinct, contemplative melodies.
A Light Heart is so named because of my feelings at the time I was composing the song and reflects the spirit of the piece. The rhythm and melody is happy and up-beat.
A Step Down resonates with my mood when sitting alone. The title alludes not only to the mood but to the coming of the end of the album. This and Beauty are probably my favorite pieces of all the ones I've composed to this point. This piece can be interpreted to reflect so many emotional changes.
Beauty is the first and only piece I composed on my XV-5080 using the Concert Piano expansion board. This and A Step Down are my favorite compositions so far. This is a gentle, contemplative piano and cello piece. The delicacy and expression are what I enjoy most about this song.
Though You Play... is a dynamic piano-centric piece similar to a 70's ballad. It reflects both gratitude and frustration. Though you (rather, I) play (music to ease the tension), there are still things to be grateful for even through the frustration. |
About This Album
(Buy the CD or buy in iTunes)
The songs on this album were composed between 2000 and 2004 using various combinations of the Roland XP-80, Roland XV-5080, Roland Fantom-X8, and Roland V-Synth (yes, after my positive experience with the XP-80, I decided I like Roland's hardware).
The music, like that from the Nathan Sheldon album, is inspired mostly from a combination of different emotions from curiosity and exploration to introspection and contemplation. One piece, The Fight Begins, was composed specifically for a friend's computer science class project (a 2-D game). All the others were composed with no specific purpose in mind other than to produce something that I thought sounded pleasing. |