Amado Ohland

I went deep into the symbolism that these words have for me, for today's song. Don't know whether that will be evident in the performance. What's a bridge? Something that goes over something that is between where you are now and someplace else. A river is going that-a-way, its water flowing over its bed fluidly, carrying with it anything taken up by its currents. The "I" narrator of this song is g...

I think of most haiku as gentle, while my music is frequently un-gentle. So when I came across this haiku by Anthony J. Pupello and it reminded me of my wife, I knew I had to save it for an up-tempo day. Here you go, boo. Don't compromise. Let's get those plants in the ground.

It's a quote from Carl Jung, because I was looking for something Taoist to relate to the Star Wars universe, and this is what I found. So it aint a haiku. But it spoke to me. So off we go!

Continuing my "Words Month." Have you ever felt the impulse to match your inner fire to nature's fury? From some place of protection, of course, because nature is on a different power-scale than we humans. But with such protection as we've crafted... might we rise to such?

May is a month for words. I'm not sure how it's going to unfold. But this beautiful haiku makes for a wonderful start. Improvi-composed in under an hour on 02 May 2016 as part of my Daily Song Project.

Intense, today. I didn't PLAN on today's piece being in an odd meter, much less it being at a breakneck pace of a tempo. But while on my way to my singin' place, the riff/beat took hold. And once it was there, I figured it was best to make use of it while it was still strong in my body and mind. Time ran short, though, so I got the loops down and walked away. Mild "cheat," because I had the chance...

...and steeping like a cheap tea. Becoming saturated. Wondering what it's like to live underwater.

Dr. Bellowsmore, you're needed in the Emergency Room. Seems there's a calm and meditative situation that need disruption, STAT. [ image credit http://etoli.deviantart.com/ ]

Like so many others, I find it hard to describe the depth to which Prince influenced me. I have a hard time understanding it myself. Along with Queen, Bobby McFerrin, and probably Rush, he shaped my High School and College years, musically. Now, a musical legend only 10 years my senior, and he's already gone. All too temporary, this life. All too short a time to get down to business. Why have I sq...

recorded immediately before I learned of Prince's death. recorded in a room next to where a toddler was playing—a fact that rescued this song from what I was struggling with here http://amadomusic.com/the-state-of-my-method/ And that's all I can muster to say about that, right now.

Wow. Worst one in a while. The ingredients are good enough, but I felt like I've been cooking up the same kind of casserole a lot lately, so I tried to mix it up. And it is indeed mixed up!

I tried to sing a song that encapsulated all that I am musically. All my Funk, all my blue-eyed Blues, all my Jazz, all my Prog Rock, all my a cappella. There was no way. I can't even. So, I sang the one song that happened, and I poured as much of "me" into it as I could. This is what it was. Another me (or, side thereof) tomorrow.

I revisited a groove that underlay a song I did a loooong time ago [https://soundcloud.com/amadoohland/final-hour]. I tried to match tempo and cut-funk feel (although at 57bpm, this is way slower than a typical 80bpm cut-funk). I tried to depart as much as possible in tone-center, and find what groove felt right for THAT, in my instrument. This is what happened. And it happened QUICK (it's a short...

It started with a looooong melody in the same tone center (although a different mode). And I did something I hadn't done in a while... i BAILED on an idea. I just couldn't nail the chord progression implied by the melody, not quickly enough for the time allotted. So I kept it, and then moved on to a "new" one. I kept the tempo, I kept the tone center, and I settled into the groove. The bass happen...

We're so genteel. So cultured. So polite. We think we've gotten above it all—the raw, the real, the primitive. Oh how wrong we are.

Been a while since I've done a "cascade," and I wonder if I've ever done them in an upward direction? Well, I have now. It was a day for minor; not because of anything going on, but just because of yesterday's mode. And I did something in a slower tempo than I usually do... swung that beat to try to make it move... hit the VP hard to give it some energy... and that's just not the song that it want...

Not a grand slam. Not even sure it's a base hit. But I again channeled the thing that comes to me when I'm describing circlesinging to people. I seem to be able to come up with a short motif like BAM, I built something off of that. The melody wasn't flying until I remembered what I was singing ABOUT. My purpose, in shining, is not to overshadow, nor to try to out-shine (as if I even could). I know...

Strange process today. I started with riffs that might be the kinds of things I'd do with a live circle, and tightly interlocking to boot. Kind of old school for me. It just wasn't happening. Then I added something that might be like a "melody," a longer-line loop. Harmonized it. Stuck yet another thing on top. And whoah, it was nice! ...and totally not in the same chord progression as the rest of...

Couple of errors in this one, nothing too major. And a note here and there in the solo/melody that was a little on the sour side. The mood is a riff on the common belief that "no-one is irreplaceable." I beg to differ. Everyone is unique, so how can one person stand in for another? A person can be succeeded by someone else. But that's not the same thing.

Today was about the technical difficulties, and the scheduling difficulties, and the fatigue, and the boredom, and the waiting. It was about turning the curtailed afternoon music idea into this evening's music. It was about a slow burn starting to ignite.

The restlessness means you're growing. The unfortunate noises mean you're stretching.

Silly noise, check. Another silly noise, check. More silly noises and do they work? Check check check. Let me try. Did I get it right? Wait, let me try again. Srs bznz.

Be sure to hang on until about 2 or 3 minutes in. Because life can feel static after a while, even if you're rockin' it. But when changes come, that's when you realize that your routine isn't your life. It's when your routine is upended and you're forced to meet each moment afresh that you realize that THAT's what really living feels like.

I wasn't feeling the somber. I just wasn't. But I _was_ feeling like many things I'd done recently were in one of two tone-centers about a tritone apart, so I picked a key in the middle... and like I had done some things in major modes recently, so I picked a flavor of minor. I arrived at the tempo artificially as well; it's (2^(1/2))*60 [yesterday's tempo] ~ 85bpm. My aims were to not make it too...

I'm not sorry for the melody. I know it's not melodic, not coherent. That's just the way it had to be today. One of my teachers, Rhiannon, said that sometimes you need to forget all musical logic and kiss the angels (I paraphrase). That was necessary for today's topic. For today I'm thinking about a realization that my wife got me to, a couple of days ago. The realization that I've got a deep moti...