The work presented here is merely what it is.
These recordings can be thought of as essentially journal entries or
sketches. They are an opportunity for me to explore and reflect on older, and
more fully integrated ideas as well as experiment with recording and production techniques.
The music here is free to download and share. Please feel free to
contact me if you have any appreciation for it.
Authorship should be stated as
Contact the author http://www.AgapeMuse.org
Audio Format
The audio format is
ogg-vorbis. It is similar to the mp3 encoding format. (I'll let others
debate the technological virtues) Most modern players are capable of
playing this format. Probably the best known free player for windows
would be Winamp.
4x16x125
Instrumentation:
2 Darabukas
Udu
Cajon
Riqq
Dunun
Ankle Bells
This is an exploration of a
combination of textures I have not previously worked with. The
challenge here was to play with material and a production that provided
for the expression of the individual nuances of a set of instruments
that have a lot of overlap in their frequency ranges.
This is based on a jembe groove that I came up with 9 or 10 years ago. The groove has stayed with me.
This recording extracts some of the parts and distributes them between jembe and darabuka.
This is an experiment in using frame drum with more of a traditional
jembe ensemble setting. The sustain in the frame drum contrasts nicely
with the more staccato sounds of the other instruments.
Dynamically, there are challenges to utilizing any of the more subtle
qualities of the frame drum in a context of a more dynamic ensemble
setting.
This is a recording I did one night in my studio in February of 2005.
It had been some time since I had been able to reflect on my own
creativity and skill-set so this work was essentially a journal entry.
All tracks are basically improvisational.
I had a couple of tasks for this one. I wanted to play a bit with some
of the polymetric ideas that have found there way into some of my
compositions. The two metric elements are 4x5 (5/4 in western terms)
and 4x3 (3/4) combining to form a 15 beat phrase. The A section has 6
bars of this and then the B section is 4x3 (3/4) with 4 repetitions of
an underlying 2x15(15/8) in the dunun. I tried to preserve the
differing metric feels of the part for each of the solo instruments.
The other task I had was to utilize the new toys I got from my
wonderful friends and family over the holidays. This provided an
interesting challenge from a textural point of view.
Audio Downloads
