BIOGRAPHY
I create music and sound recordings, mostly utilizing organic feeling electronic instrumentation and intricate vocal arrangements, to communicate spiritual concepts for which words are not enough.
Music, to me, is the soundtrack of spirituality. It's how I communicate concepts for which words are not enough. It's how I create something too complex for a picture, to inexplicable for a poem.
With music I can use words as far as I can take them, but through the instrumentation and the melody I can also also map a shortcut to the feeling involved.
Though I learned music as a group activity, lately I prefer to create music alone.
I am most comfortable singing. I love the feeling, I love the breathing, I love the expression one can achieve with only air and a body. These days my favorite instrument is the computer. I have played keyboards, 12 string and electric guitar, but I've found computers can do most everything I need.
I don't spend a minute of my life thinking about whether or not my music will appeal to everyone. I only try to make sure it feels honest. It's more important to me that one of my songs, or one of my field recordings, be just what is needed to bring forth understanding or peace in this moment.
Barbara Kingsolver, in talking about writing, said:
"Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer.”
I'm trying.
Sometimes music balloons into existence unexpectedly. Sometimes it's a calculated activity, with planning and intent. But usually music comes toward me, from what feels like some other place. A place that is separated from my conscious awareness but still a part of me. I have to listen for it to receive it. I have to slow down, be patient, desire it without expectation.
I have to listen.
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