SafeT'unes

Welcome to SafeTunes.

2006-12-20T14:38:00.000-05:00

Welcome. This is SafeTinspector's music blog. I'm SafeTinspector.

Most of this stuff manifests in the following ways.

Piano, Live
- Live performance of a complete composed piece. Unedited, warts and all.
Piano, Improv.
- Live, improvised piano performance. Made up on-the-spot. Unedited in any way.
Piano, Sketch.
- Live, really short piano piece. Intended to have a haiku-like effect.
Piano, Arranged.
- May have performed elements, but has been arranged/sequenced in CakeWalk or something.
8-Bit, Arranged.
- My REALLY old stuff. Sequenced on a 386 with an original Sound Blaster.
16-Bit, Arranged.
- Kinda old. Sequenced with CakeWalk Pro and performed on a wavetable sound card of some kind or another.

In each case you have access to an MP3 file of the specific performance and some information about the music. I am not a trained musician, and I may not actually know anything useful about the tune you are listening to.
Navigate using the list boxes and the button above.

Stupidos - Piano, Improv

2006-09-15T16:21:00.000-04:00

Stupidos, 03:26

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

Stupidos
15, September 2006

My Full Left Hand - Piano, Live

2006-08-02T23:42:00.000-04:00

Full Left Hand, 01:56

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

My Full Left Hand
8, August 2006

Yeah, so there's these block chords, and they meet this dude who asks them for a doller.
"I need it for gas," says the dude.
But, like, the block chords don't believe him 'cause he smells like a distillery.
Yeah, and so the block chords just hop back into their Ford Focus and drive away.

I Wasn't Looking for This - Piano, Improv

2006-06-13T06:28:00.000-04:00

I Wasn't Looking for This (Were You?), 04:22

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

I Wasn't Looking for This (Were You?)
13 June, 2006

This is a continuation of the improv set from You Weren't Loooking for This. This one is less minimalist and more of what I traditionally do with improv. A bit more melodic, with mini movements here and there. Did you want to see Part One? Click HERE to go THERE, but I bet you weren't really looking for that.

You Weren't Looking for This - Piano, Improv

2006-06-13T06:22:00.000-04:00

You Weren't Looking for This (Were You?), 03:47

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

You Weren't Looking for This (Were You?)
12 June, 2006

Its my attempt at minimalism.It is repetetive, but there are variations in the iterations. I kinda like this, so perhaps you will as well. I bet you weren't looking for it, though!
Oh, hey, there's a Part 2 as well. Click HERE to go THERE.

2 Down I Feel 0 - Piano, Improv

2006-05-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

2 Down and I Feel 0

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

2 Down and I Feel 0
05 May, 2006

This seems to have been the springtime of death.
Within the last two weeks my father lost his wife, my best friend lost his mother, my partner lost a childhood friend to suicide, and an old friend lost his grandmother.
I was thinking about death when I sat down to play the piano;more specifically I was considering how I did not honestly feel anything about these lost people. I felt bad for my friends and relatives that have experienced the loss, but not in any visceral or truly emotional way.What is there to say about death and loss that hasn't already been told? The most one can hope for is to contemporize or adapt a thought to make it appropriate for a specific circumstance.

My Hymn - Piano, Improv

2006-04-23T22:01:00.000-04:00

My Hymn, 02:12

Right-Click or Control-Click on CD to Save.
Please let me know how you like it.

My Hymn
23, April 2006

I've been participating in an extensive conversation about religion and morality at L>T's blog.
I grew up in the Lutheran church and the Lutheran school system. So it was that my mind went back to the days of my youth and the countless church and chapel services I sat through.

Marmite Echo - Piano, Live

2006-04-03T12:06:00.000-04:00

Marmite Echo, 00:57

Right-Click or option-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

The Marmite Echo
1 Apr, 2006

This is a overly pretty little tune I whipped up over the weekend. I gather that marmite is a bit like vegamite, both of which are yeast based spreads all but unknown to Americans.
It was mentioned on a blog I visit occasionally named A New World Ruler, so named because the owner, Dan, is under the misbegotten notion that HIS offspring is destined to rule mankind. Eventually my daughter and his son shall have to come to a reconning.

The Surface - Piano, Live

2006-01-14T01:37:00.000-05:00

The Surface, 02:56

Right-Click or Option-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

The Surface
January 14th, 2006

This is the first composed piece I've done in a long time.
I'm so excited that I'm actually recording it a little early. I need to work out a couple teeny tiny kinks yet, but this one is close to done.
The name refers to the blank surface I try to start with every time I begin.

The Surface Improvised - Piano, Improv

2006-01-14T01:14:00.000-05:00

The Surface Improvised, 06:09

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Please let me know how you like it.

The Surface, Improvised
January 14th, 2006

Improvisations upon this other piece
'The Surface'.
Its kinda long...

Cold and Crisp to Gusting...snow - Piano, Sketch

2005-12-04T09:04:00.000-05:00

Cold and Crisp to Gusting...snow,
00:38

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

Cold and Crisp to Gusting...snow
4, December, 2005

Cold and drifty moves to a gust.
The kind of cold that seems to blow right through you...

Lack of Discipline in December - Piano, Improv

2005-12-04T08:44:00.000-05:00

Lack of Discipline in December, 02:35

Righ-Click or Control-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

a Lack of Discipline in December
12/4/2005

I'm feeling less and less in control, in spit of, or possibly because of, the completion of several projects.
Testing complete, I no longer study on Sundays.
YCUA complete, I no longer plan.
eBay store settled into a routine, I am no longer building.
And it is now very cold, very snowy. I feel lazy, and aimless. Being this way makes me a little angry.

Damn Bells.. - Piano, Improv

2005-11-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

Damn Bells, 07:00

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

the Damn Bells
Nov 11, 2005

Hectic time for SafeT. Tests, projects, eBay store, etc. Worked 8:30am-2:00am Thursday followed by 8:30am-10:00pm on Friday. Must study for my fourth MCSE exam in as many weeks on Monday. Played the piano, and the damn bells came out. Enjoy.

the Drip - Piano, Sketch

2005-11-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

the Drip, 01:42

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Please let me know how you like it.

the Drip
Oct, 2005

The Drip is based on the sound water from the tree in my back yard makes as it drips onto the awning.

AntiWaltz - Piano, Improv

2005-10-16T20:20:00.000-04:00

AntiWaltz pt 1, 04:03

AntiWaltz pt 2, 02:02

AntiWaltz pt 3, 00:43

Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

the AntiWaltz
October 15, 2005

Just another of my improv pieces, this one kinda working through a funky bass pattern
For some strange reason it switched to, apparently, waltz time.
As always, I could be wrong; I'm not trained well enough to speak with confidence.

All three pieces were part of a single recording session.
If you are sure you'll listen to the whole thing, start with part one. Its a little rough, and if you are at all prone to giving up on a piece because of the first 40 seconds, I would rather you start with part 2. Part 3 is really short, and could count as one of my improvised sketches. I'm pretty happy with parts 2 and 3, really.

Downspout - Piano, Sketch

2005-10-09T08:32:00.000-04:00

Downspout, 00:23

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Please let me know how you like it.

Downspout
October 9, 2005

I'm afraid this is shite, my friends. This is my third short-form piano sketch, and this one is inspired by the sound and appearance of rainwater rushing from my back downspout. I know, sounds pretty silly, but there it is.
Oh, and just for the record, this little mess is played entirely with my left hand.

Bare Branch - Piano, Sketch

2005-09-14T09:08:00.000-04:00

Bare Branch, 00:25

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Please let me know how you like it.

Bare Branch
Sept 14, 2005

This is a follow up to Idle Hands, which was my first attempt at a short evocative piano phrase; an attempt at a haiku like affect with music.

The crab-apple tree in my yard is always the first to lose its leaves. I should take a picture of it, but until then, this picture will do.

What's Left - Piano, Improv

2005-09-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

What's Left, 06:47

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Please let me know how you like it.

What's Left? What's Right?
August - September, 2005

I'm working on a new multipattern, (I have one already) and it ain't ready. But I used it as the sortof main theme in this piece. You may find that this is a long-winded number, but here it is. Made it up less than one half hour ago.

Idle Hands - Piano, Sketch

2005-08-09T21:22:00.000-04:00

Idle Hands, 00:21

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

Idle Hands
Aug 8, 2005

There's a blog I frequent called Haiku by Kevin, which contains original English language Haiku.
I'm probably being really naive and pretentious, but this is my attempt to perform a similar function in a musical sense. Its only 21 seconds long! Let me know what you think. Should I do this again?

Week 2 - Piano, Improv

2005-08-07T22:01:00.000-04:00

Week 2, 03:31

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Please let me know how you like it.

Stressed and Depressed, this week you get a bonus improvised track.
This one is almost unlistenable, although not because I'm making mistakes.
No, this one is harsh.

Blind Jump - Piano, Improv

2005-08-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

Blind Jump, 07:38

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

Well, folks, it was an interesting week.
My wife lost her job on Monday.
We had to pull my daughter out of the preschool she had been in to save money.
I then wounded my finger in a heavy metal door.
For these reasons I thought I wouldn't be doing a recording this weekend.
But I was in such a mood I had to play to get it out. At first I danced around my wounded finger, but then I just started beating the crap out of it. That hurt...still does.
This is a long one, and I hope you like it.

Kick Me Out - Piano, Arranged

2005-08-05T07:42:00.000-04:00

Kick Me Out, 02:51

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

Kick Me Out
a.k.a. Send Me Out
Arranged April, 2000

I played a somewhat superior version of this tune as an improv set several weeks ago. I humbly request you listen to both versions to see how this tune has evolved over time. This arrangement was created in 2000.

“You Send Me Out” was named by my grandfather, Louis Starcevic.

Grandpa was visiting about five years ago or so and I took the opportunity to force him to listen to me play the piano.

Grandpa’s approval and high regards are two things I had desperately sought since maturing enough to be aware of concepts such as “approval” and “high regards.”

Therefore, I was very happy when he gave all indications of actually enjoying my music, and at one point he claimed to hear the lyric: “You kick me out, you take me in/You kicked me out, but you won’t let me go” (He heard this in the theme which starts at 1:10 in this arrangement)

At that point I named the tune “You Kick Me Out” in honor of Grandpa. I later changed the word “Kick” to “Send” for esthetic purposes.

I have heard some say that I should’ve kept the original name. Ah, well.

Grandpa passed away at the age of 90 in February of 2004. He was, and remains, the man whom I loved more than any other on this Earth.

Dooda - MIDI, Arranged

2005-08-03T07:44:00.000-04:00

Dooda, 04:13

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

Sorry, folks, but I've misplaced the MP3 of this file. So your sound card will have to do all the work.
I have no idea if it will sound good on your sound card, as there was much opinion to the effect that this didn't sound good on my synth!

This piece is distinguished by the fact that it was completely composed on the computer, and with the insanely long chime solo in the middle.
Its good for a laugh, try it out!

SqueegeeVandal - 16 Bit, Arranged

2005-07-31T09:12:00.000-04:00

SqueegeeVandal, 05:23

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

This is actually a really modified version of AutStor, a piano peice which I have yet ot perform for you guys...I think.
Anyway, this arrangment, with four movements, is one of my favorites.
Composed on my Roland HP 237 digital piano, sequenced with CakeWalk Professional and performed with my Creative Labs SB Live! card, this has a silly name, which matches the last movement only, when it descends into a cheap dirivative sort of madness.
Hope you like it!

runCATS - 8 bit, Arranged

2005-07-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

RunCats, 02:38

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

This is the last, and by FAR the best, of my 8 bit compositions with MUSICIAN 1.
I'm going to toot my own horn loud for once, and state that this is a cheesy, exuberant, happy-ass tune with, like, three or four mini-movements.
The only fault I really have with this one is that it, like ALL the MUSICIAN 1 compositions, is too darn short. Someday I'll redo this in MIDI form on a good synthesizer.
I've actually tried a couple times, but the result was not as fun as this one.
(Same thing happened with Indigestion Prance)

Canon in J - Piano, Live

2005-07-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

Canon in J, 02:58

Right-Click on CD to Play.
Please let me know how you like it.

Here is my own private canon.
I made this while trying to figure out how to play Pachelbel's Canon. I never figured out HIS canon, but I made my own. A pale shadow, certainly, but fun to figure out new snatches of melody to plug into the canon. I might've missed a few in there.
Later, I will upload an arranged version, still on piano, which will sound a little more polished than this. Let me know how you like it!

Prance and Beat1 - 8 Bit, Arranged

2005-07-12T21:33:00.000-04:00

Prance, 01:08

Beat1, 01:12

Click on CDs to Play.
Please let me know how you like them.

Double Feature Tonight!

"Prance" was the first piece I ever composed completely without a piano. I used a casio keyboard to test out the chord structure and directly built the tune on-screen in Musician I.
I really enjoy this tune, and wish I'd been able to make it longer. I later made a version of this in CakeWalk, a MIDI sequencer, but I don't actually like that version as much.

"Beat1" was my very first experiment with percussion.
I was trying to figure out how to make drums sound good, and had no idea where to go to. This is what I came up with.
It sounds neat, but it is quite repetitive, with the exception of the thumping drum sound.
The loop lasts for only a little over a minute, and does have an actual finish to it (doesn't just fade out), but I probably should have had it loop for about thirty seconds less.

Three In Eight - Piano, Organ, Live

2005-07-09T22:35:00.000-04:00

Three In Eight:
Piano, 03:50

Three In Eight:
Organ, 02:47

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

This is one of my newest pieces, and shows the direction I've been trying to figure my way toward lately; that is, alternate timings and interesting patterns which can be repeated but sound different depending on which notes are stressed.

Three In Eight is so named because there is a portion of the song within which I am playing four eighth notes on my left hand while playing three notes with my right hand.
Um, like 4/4 time on the left and 3/4 on the right.
I've since been told that what I am playing with my right hand is called "triplet eighths," and really isn't as interesting as I had originally thought.
Well, it is still a technically difficult feat for me to do, in any case.

I've included two versions. One is the original, which was created by me messing about with the pipe organ sound of my keyboard. The other is a bit more listenable piano varsion.
They are played differently, but are basically the same tune.
Let me know which one you like better! My wife absolutely hates the organ version.

Curl - MIDI Piano, Arranged

2005-07-07T09:44:00.000-04:00

Curl, 02:14

Right-Click on CD to Download.

This is just a MIDI file, but I'm at work and don't have a piano.
This tune is one I made back when they blew up the federal building in Oklahoma in the mid-nineties. The explosions in London made me think about it. I'll probably try to play this one live on Saturday, but I don't know...

Pages - 8 Bit, Arranged

2005-07-05T22:29:00.000-04:00

Pages, 01:22

RIght-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

Composed on our family 1935 Kimball upright piano, this tune was based on yet another eighth-note progression with a melody improvised on top. I originally composed this in 1989 at the age of approximately 17 years.

On the piano, I composed this tune after Inurys, and at the time I felt it was innovative in that the eighth note progression involved a series of four-note chords instead of the three-note chords all my previous progressions were based on.

This was the second tune I arranged in Musician I, and I introduced a violin as part of the melody/harmony thing. As such, this is the first time I used a non-piano sound in music I had created. I also placed some chords playing along with the eighth-note progression, just as I did in “Dream,” which had been my first Musician I arrangement.

Still, I had yet to discover percussion.

Enjoy.

I Say It Often - Piano, Live

2005-07-02T22:31:00.000-04:00

I Say It Often, 03:30

Right-Click on CD to Download.

Please let me know how you like it.

I hope you like this one, its among my best, although this recording is not my best performance of it. Listen closely to the first minute or so, as it is played one-handed. My right hand sits idle for a long time. And yes, I'm actually right-handed.

Originally this piece was titled, “I Say it Often, but It’s Still True,” but I felt that was a mouthful. The melody made me think of a possible lyric based on a facet of my real life with my wonderful wife, Heather.

I say, “I love you,” to her many times of the day and night, and sometimes I worry that she might think it’s becoming cheapened, or that it’s insincere.

On the contrary, I mean it every time I say it, and this tune is an attept to approach this facet of our relationship.

Now that I have Samantha, my daughter, this tune has an added element as I play it. I tell Sam I love her many times a day as well. But since she is four, I never worry that it is becoming cheapened.
On the contrary, when she throws her little arms around my neck and says, "I love you too, Daddy," I know I can never say it enough.

Morning Routine - Piano, Improv

2005-07-02T20:44:00.000-04:00

Morning Routing Improv, 04:17

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Please let me know how you like it.

Here is this week's improv set, and its a bit all over the board.
This is a take on a piece of mine called "Morning Routine," which was named by my little sister, Victoria. She explained it made her think of a person getting up, doing stuff, going to work, etc. I never know what to name my pieces, usually, so I let it go.

Timing is the thing to listen to in this one. I switch between 5/4 and 3/4 and some stuff that doesn't seem to fit a time signature.
It's nowhere near as interesting as that just sounded....

Let me know if you like it, or not.

Dream - 8 Bit, Arranged

2005-06-29T07:48:00.000-04:00

DREAM, 01:00

Right-Click on CD to Download.
Please let me know how you like it.

This was the very first tune I ever arranged on a computer.
It’s little more than a piano piece transcribed onto the computer, and is a light-hearted little tune that I still occasionally play on the piano. The only thing happenning in this Musician I piece that’s different than the original piano work is that there are chords being played as well as the eighth-note progression, something a single pianist couldn’t do.
Since this was the very first piece I ever did on the computer, it is also the shortest complete work (not counting the looped “The Beat” scrap)

Two - Piano, Live

2005-06-27T09:23:00.000-04:00

Two, 03:09

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Please let me know how you like it.

This is a folky kinda piece, in 4/4. I chose this name because there are only two chords in the tune, and these two chords are played in just two keys.
The base-line is a repetetive frame-work which is played steadily with the left hand while I improvise the melody with my right hand.
The melody is improvised using two or three little themes which I mix and match between two separate octaves and experiment with throughout. I usually try to make it sound like a conversation between two parts, but I'm not all that successful.
In any case, I never play this tune the same way two times in a row, but that doesn't stop it from getting boring to the listener! It isn't straight improvisation, however, because the bass line is always the same.

This performance is a little rough, I'd say. But when I started this blog it was to record live, unedited performances, and that is what you get. I'll probably record it again someday.

This tune was composed in the mid-nineties on my old accoustic piano. I've added bits to it ever since.

Make Me Leave - Piano, Improv

2005-06-26T14:12:00.000-04:00

Make Me Leave 02:11

Right-Click on CD to Download. Please let me know how you like it.

This is the first time I've ever published an improv set.

It is a riff on a theme I made back in 1996 called "Make Me Leave," which I composed on my old Baldwin Accrosonic spinnet style upright piano in my wee little bungalo in Eastpointe, Michigan.
That old piece is really quite dull, and I don't play it straight anymore. But this two minute snippet was fun, and I think you'll like it.
Please leave me feedback, as I am still working on format for this mini-blog.

Inurys - 8 Bit, Arranged

2005-06-21T23:04:00.000-04:00

Inurys, 1:34

Its 8-bit night! On Saturday or Sunday I'll post a new live recording, but, from now on, Wednesday is the day I'm posting old MP3 files of stuff I've arranged.
Tonight's piece is "Inurys."

Click Here for information on MUSICIAN I
I composed this piece on my family’s 1935 Kimball upright as a teen. It, like most of my early tunes, started out as a neat (to my ears) sounding eighth-note progression on the left hand, with the melody being improvised afterwards.

But through repetition, the melody ends up solidifying and by the time I started using MusicianI I had stopped improvising and had a short but complete tune.

I started by programming in the eighth note progression and then the melody, and I was reasonably happy with it. But I wanted it to sound different than it did on the piano and I wanted some percussion. I had just finished making “TheBeat” and figured I was ready for it.

Drums never sound very good in Musician I, as it uses the white-noise generator in the OPL3 to do them. Nonetheless, I think the drums sound alright in this piece. I then added the violin to provide a little harmony, and I have a cute little electronic bit o' music. My biggest problem with this, and most of my MusicianI compositions, is length. It was so time consuming to program in the music that I usually ended pieces early and then didn’t know what to do to lengthen them afterwards. (Musician I didn’t have an insert function)

Three - Piano, Live

2005-06-19T00:55:00.000-04:00

ThreeMK1 ThreeMK2, 2:54 Right-Click CD to Download. Let me know which is better.

Three was the first piece composed after switching from my Baldwin Accrosonic spinnet style piano to my Roland HP-237 digital piano.

It sounds like it is 6/4 or 3/4 timing, but it isn't. Its 4/4, but with a bass line made up entirely of eighth notes cycling through three-note cords.

Short, normally only about three minutes long, although if I'm feeling a groove I'll extend the second half (during which the eighth note progressions make way for block chords) until I think I'm done--which is a few minutes after everyone else thinks I'm done!

This tune is actually very simple to play, although the last half includes some improvisation on the right-hand, so it sounds different each time.

This is my first time using the laptop to record, and I've made two separate MP3 files of the same performance, just slightly different audio settings.. Please let me know which one sounds better, and why.

The Beginning

2005-06-08T19:53:00.000-04:00

How My Music Got This Far
Though Not So Far As All That.

When I was 12, my family received a 1935 Kimball upright piano for the price of moving it from someone’s basement. I wasn’t very excited about it at the time, as I had never had any music lessons and never considered myself very musical.

But I would occasionally sit in front of that piano and mess around. My first bits of music were pretty poor. The only reason you might’ve thought they were supposed to be music was that the horrible noises coming out of that instrument sounded the same every time I made them. And while sound-patterns don’t always constitute music in any real sence, I thought MINE did.

One day an organist/historical impersonator who performed as J.S.Bach visited my Lutheran grade school and played a bunch of Bach’s organ works on the church’s huge pipe organ. His performance seemed stunning to my little mind and from that day on I wanted to play and compose like J.S.Bach. I especially loved “Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring,” and desperately wanted to play that piece. I still have yet to be able to play that piece, but I did, at an early point, figure out how to play a tiny part of it. From that kernel of proto-music I discovered that if you play the notes that make up a chord seperately, one after the other, in an interesting pattern, it sounded pleasing to the ears. (Others who lived with me at the time might disagree with that assessment, but music is very subjective)

From then on I slowly evolved my poor musical skills by working out chords and playing them out one eighth-note at a time in an interesting pattern. Then I would play those patterns with my left hand over, and over again, until they were burned into my synapses. Once I got to the point where I no longer had to think about what that left hand was doing, I would use my right hand to improvise a melody to go along with the eighth-note progression.

Almost all my music started this way, and by the time I graduated high-school I had a number of pieces composed and somewhat playable.

In 1991-1992 (I’m not sure which year it was) my brother Gerald and I bought a 486DX-33 Packard Bell computer from Montgomery Wards using my step-father’s charge card. I cought the computer bug and soon purchased a Creative Labs multimedia kit from a friend on Prodigy named Glenn Weber. I soon found myself dialing up the Creative Labs BBS and downloading a Finnish program called Musician I.

It was a sequencing kinda program, but was strangly sound-card specific. It only worked with Sound Blaster OPL3 FM Synthesizers. Making music with It was a laborious process, as it forced you to sequence each individual voice seperately. And when I say "each individual voice" I mean one voice, not channel, at a time. In order to make a chord, for instance, you would have to program one note, switch to another voice, program the second note in the chord, switch to a third voice, program the third note in the chord, so on and so on....

But I was happy...for awhile.

Eventually I grew frustrated with the slow pace of working within Musician I and prevailed upon my mother to assist me with the purchase of a Miracle keyboard and CakeWalk Pro version 2 for Windows. At that point I went MIDI (see Indigestion Prance for the first example of my MIDI tinkerings) but I have never equalled these Musician I arrangements in terms of fun.

Take me Home

Recording Methodology

2005-06-07T19:19:00.000-04:00

For the live perfomances, the method I'm using to record is pretty unsophisticated. My recipe:

One HP nx5000 laptop (with 1/8" microphone-in jack)
One Roland HP-237 digital piano (with 1/4" earphone jacks)
One 1/4"-1/8" converter
One 3 foot long 1/8th inch stereo patch cord
Audacity open-source audio editing software (makes WAVs and MP3s)

I play my performance live into the one-track midi recorder built into the Roland. Then I hook the audio patch cable into both the laptop mic jack and the Roland headphone jack, fire up Audacity, and record the playback.

For the arranged pieces, I upload an MP3 recording from my modest catalog of unreleased music. These are either edited piano works, 8 bit arrangements from an archaic ad-lib package called "MusicianI," or 16 bit MIDI sequences performed on whatever synthesizers I had at the time.

Please check back and listen, as I really enjoy playing for others and have no audience in my home. Thanks for stopping by!

Sad-Sack Intro

2004-10-16T20:55:00.000-04:00

- Sad-Sack Intro -

I have always had an urge to create something--to do something unique.

My mother told me I was special when I was little, that I was surely intended to be great. I believed it; I held that belief close to my chest as an inspiration and comfort throughout my difficult adolescence and early adulthood.

Unfortunately, at the age of 33 I have yet to accomplish greatness, and am left, finally, with an understanding that I am just a man like any other. A man whose possibilities have begun to constrict.

While I have always enjoyed being “full of potential,” I now realize that my potential is fast becoming spent.

A by-product of my youthful dreams of greatness and creativity was my music. Music is the closest I have ever come to achieving those dreams, and even in this I am mediocre at best. Fabulously mediocre.