Album Notes

Back in 1984, while visiting my friend Alyscia, I was asked to play some background music while she administered her massage therapy on a client. As this was the first time I had played her piano, I did not at first notice a fourth foot pedal. While playing, I realized there was a fourth pedal and then discovered the pedal was a harpsichord pedal. I began a personal jam session of quiet music that seemed to create a perfect backdrop to her massage therapy techniques being performed on her client. I must have played on her piano for about six hours that day developing a number of new themes that evolved into the pieces recorded in this album. This music was designed to relax for the most part, not to excite and therefore should be regarded as therapeutic and for deep relaxation rather than for entertainment purposes. But there are a few spots where the tempo picks up a little, but not much, and those parts do not take away the mood from the feeling of the entire piece.

Thank you Alyscia Cartwright for the use of your piano and for your massages that led to the creation of this music.


And Now: The Bio...

Errol’s music career began at the age of ten with the clarinet as his chosen instrument. During his very young years (2-3) he became quite fascinated by the music he heard coming from a neighbor’s victrola, mostly fairy tale music like “Old McDonald had a Farm” and the such. This most unquestionably had a subconscious effect as those tunes of fascination reverberated in his young mind. Also during that period he saw for the first time a piano which created great curiosity in that the black and white keys were intensely interesting and attractive. He then sat down on the piano bench and played an incredibly discordant tune that literally brought the house down! He was off and running.

But that experience was simply an introduction to the world of music and did not lead to anything in the immediate future. It was not until a number of years later that a keen interest in music arose. As Errol grew into his middle childhood years (during the mid 50’s) he began to listen to many of his parent’s LPs and was most impressed by the music of Benny Goodman.

One day while he was working for his father sweeping floors and doing odd jobs in the TV repair shop where his father worked in downtown Yorktown Heights, New York, he noticed a music store across the street. During his Saturday lunch break he wandered over and noticed this beautiful, long black instrument and recognized it as the same instrument that Benny Goodman played, the clarinet. He immediately got excited and went back to the TV shop and asked his father if he could purchase the instrument. His father told him that he would have to earn the money to buy the clarinet. Errol decided very quickly that that would not be a problem because he wanted nothing more than have that clarinet. He then worked not only for his father but began a lawn mowing business that soon after brought him the much needed cash to purchase his heart’s desire.

After buying the clarinet his parents decided to offer him the opportunity to take lessons. Although it was a bit too much for him at the outset of his lessons due to an overbearing teacher, Errol persevered and eventually was allowed to play with his tutor’s dance band at a junior prom. His musical studies at that time included classical, popular and jazz forms.

His skill as a clarinetist developed during his high school years and he was elevated to first clarinetist in his Yorktown Heights High School orchestra and played as an accompaniment clarinetist with his private tutor’s dance band.

In 1968, while working on his first series of abstract oil paintings (see Fine Art Bio) Errol was exposed to an LP entitled “Silver Apples of the Moon”, music composed by Morton Subotnik, one of the first truly serious composers of the newly developed form of electronic music. He was greatly intrigued by the unusual quality of the music and was deeply influenced by what he heard. At that point he decided that electronic music would be his new musical direction.

It was not until late 1974 that Errol began the development of his electronic music studio and career. From early 1975 through 1978 he spent countless hours, sometimes working through the night, learning about sound structure, music synthesizer systems and electronic music and subsequently began his development as a composer. Since that time he has composed fourteen albums of various themes of visionary music. He has also produced four albums of natural environments. His music was utilized in two video documentaries by producer/director Paul Davids who also produced the HBO movie “Roswell”. The first video, “Golden Anniversary UFO Briefing” celebrates the White Sands Missile Range Pioneers located in New Mexico near Roswell. The second documentary, “Timothy Leary’s Dead” (named after the 1960’s hit Moody Blues song), is a biography about LSD guru and Harvard professor Dr. Timothy Leary.

Errol taught electronic music systems and synthesis at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California from 1986-92. He has also written a textbook entitled “Fundamental Technologies of the Synthesizer” which has been utilized in a number of colleges and universities nationwide (see “Book” amongst the navigation buttons above). He also hosted a radio show in the mid 80’s on KUSP in Santa Cruz called “Vision of the Dawn”.