I love writing music about people; I find it to be one of the most stimulating approaches to composition. People touch me in so many different ways, they create emotions and memories, they are complex and my perception of them unique. Tapping into that part of my brain when I’m playing has always been a rich creative vein.

This track was written as a thank you to my Aunt Irene for looking after us when we were in Paris. My Uncle Dominic had passed away the previous year and it was the first time we had seen her since the funeral. The piece starts off incredibly sadly and yet by the midway has become dramatic and full of life – just like my wonderful Parisian Aunt.

The melody that comes in around 9 ½ minutes is possibly one of my favorite string passes in the entire music2work2 catalog to date.

You can download a 5 minute version of the track by clicking the link below or purchase the full length track from your favorite retailer – we recommend MySongstore.

5 minute mp3 of Irene

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Now playing: music2work2 – Irene
via music2work2

Written for Lally, my maternal Grandmother – this track is built around three chords: B minor, B minor7 and D major. It’s one of the first times that I sat down with a set of chords in mind for a piece.

I had been listening to “A Kind of Blue” and reading about how the sessions came about. The story goes that Miles Davis had approached pianist Bill Evans at some point before they recorded the track “Blue in Green” and handed him a note that had just two chords on it – from that, Bill Evans developed the piece and it’s probably my favorite on the album.

Lally passed away from a stroke at the beginning of the year – she was 91 and had had an incredible life. There was enough time to fly to Scotland and hold her hand and tell her we loved her before she passed on. She was a wonderful person, kind and gentle but not someone who suffered fools gladly. I love the fact that this music exists – I think of her every time I listen to it.

You can download a 5 minute version of the track by clicking the link below or purchase the full length track from your favorite retailer – we recommend MySongstore.

5 minute mp3 of Lally

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Now playing: music2work2 – Lally
via music2work2

An old friend was dealing with cancer so I wrote her some music. After sending it to her, I asked for her numbers and then produced this piece. When I’m writing for or about someone, I often ask them for a couple of numbers, I use these to denote the meter and beats per minute of the piece – I like the randomness of the process and the idea that the recipient is determining the musical outcome.

Emma survived and continues to Skipper her yacht around the globe – she’s an amazing lady. Having had the pieces for a while Emma and her husband Richard sent me the following feedback:

“The first piece makes me remember the moment all this shit began, the horrific nightmare and all its tricks.

Rich and I were talking and for us the piece takes us on a little journey from the beginning right up to the post-mastectomy stage. I feel aggression, hatred and fear at the outset and then the music lifts which for us denotes the next step – the positive move forward after the removal of the cancer – the brighter side of this nightmare beginning to shine through if you like, the positive rather than the negative.

The second piece of music takes on the treatment – tentative at the outset taking on the unknown – I can see myself treading carefully through mess, gently with each step, nervously moving forward – sometimes feeling delicate from treatment, sometimes charging forward with stubbornness – positive and almost light hearted, but each step with determination, all the time pushing, pushing to beat this.

This cancer is strange – whilst I have a cast of thousands around me each one supporting, helping in their own different way – I feel like a boxer – ultimately it is me that stands alone in the ring to deal with this, me that has to step forward and take the hit.

I write this as I listen to Emma’s Numbers – I can just see you sitting there, eyes closed, composing, thinking, feeling the music. We were having dinner whilst listening to my iPod last night, we had friends over, and they asked what we were listening to – the second piece – they loved it. Just thought you’d like to know that.”

I did – thank you Em!

You can download a 5 minute version of the track by clicking the link below or purchase the full length track from your favorite retailer – we recommend MySongstore.

5 minute mp3 of Emma’s Numbers

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Now playing: music2work2 – Emma’s Numbers
via music2work2

Written in November 2005 – this track has a lot going on: piano, two string tracks, electric piano and bass. I remember learning a lot about my own composition style at the time and being very conflicted.

My natural approach to music2work2 is to just sit and play; Sexercise aside – I always start with the piano track and aim to leave room for any subsequent voices. I have an idea when I’m playing the first track what the other parts could be but I never really know until I’m playing them. This approach is of course anathema to the trained composer so I spent 2005 worrying about form and attempting to define structure and parts in advance.

I began developing themes in the traditional way: 1A, 2A, 1B, 2B etc – and played with various different forms –the end result – to my ears anyway – was lifeless. Oh sure – every part made sense, the music stood as a finite recognizable piece – but – it had no soul. It was a very frustrating time.

This track was the first time that year where I just sat at the keyboard and recorded what came into my head – no structure, no worrying about where I was supposed to go and how every part was going to work – the minute I finished one track I changed voices and immediately recorded the next, right on top. It has a flow that had been missing all year and I was mightily relieved when I went back to listen to it. Coming in at 5:10 is an early development of “Andy the Barman,” it’s a good story and will be told when the theme is ready.

You can download a 5 minute version of the track by clicking the link below or purchase the full length track from your favorite retailer – we recommend MySongstore.

5 minute mp3 of November

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Now playing: music2work2 – November via music2work2

This time it’s Lauren Zettler – you can check her out at:
http://laurenzettler.com/
http://www.myspace.com/laurenzettler

I’m digging the voice – she has this whole Susan Vega / Shawn Colvin / Alanis Morissette / KD Lang / Nanci Griffith thing going on – complete with high register vocal moves that Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace) would recognize. All this is a good thing. She has a seriously nice instrument and sounds like herself. The music is accessible and cleverly delivered, the guitar work particularly tasty – also, you just gotta love a glockenspiel every now and then – listen to Shapes.

The reason I found this music? Back in november of 2008 I came across the following tweet:

Today my wife went to a panel discussion on the economy w/ some world leaders and economic experts. Meanwhile, I bought a glockenspiel.

It struck me as just funny – it paralleled my own experiences and so I started following the author – turns out that Cameron Mizell is a guitar player: he practices, he plays out, he loves his family, he’s hipped me to new information and he’s made me laugh – he reminds me of Jazz Pianist Noah Baerman who is definitely one of the good guys.. I caught something in his stream recently about going out on the road and had a moment to see what the gig was – which of course led me in turn to Lauren Zettler.

If you like the names referenced at the top then you’re probably going to dig Lauren – you get a free download when you join her mailing list – a killer cover version of FleetWood Mac’s The Chain – it’s very good. otherwise, go buy her two EPs – hell at under $7 each they didn’t break the bank and here I am – listening to her music on rotation while I’m writing this!

I love living today and right now I love Lauren Zettler – but in a way that my wife would be ok with ;-p

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Now playing: Lauren Zettler – Persevere

Another one of my favorite pieces of music – written in 2006 when I’d just got my hands on a Triton Extreme. Single voice piano all the way through, nods to Beethoven and Wendi’s theme – I really enjoy working to this one – I’m writing to it right now!

The reason this track is called “Late” is because that’s when it was made; late, late in the evening and into the early morning. Most of music2work2 has been done out of normal “business” hours – whether it’s a music gig or a marketing gig – the day job has enabled me to write, to practice, to be a better musician and marketer and as a result – music2work2 continues to develop.

I like to think that this track is a mix between Gary Vaynerchuk and Malcolm Gladwell; take one part “Outliers”, combine with 1 part “Stop watching fucking Lost!” add an incredibly cool and supportive wife and there you have it – music2work2.

You can download a 5 minute version of the track by clicking the link below or purchase the full length track from your favorite retailer – we recommend MySongstore.

5 minute mp3 of Late

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Now playing: music2work2 – Late via music2work2

One of my favorite records growing up was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations – his take on Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A minor. Originally written for violin, Lloyd Webber created this variation for his brother Julian, a cellist and also a member of a rock band.

The music was cool but the album cover was cooler; it was the electric cable coming out of the cello, the flying V in the background and the 18th century musicians playing 20th century instruments that got me.

I loved the idea that you could go and develop an existing work, that you could build on an idea, take something established and change it radically and yet keep it real; change the lead instrument, change the tempo, change the instrumentation.

A lot of this piece is a development of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata which was the original inspiration behind one of Wendi’s themes (and yes that’s plural – she’s the wife so she has a few.) You’ll hear the original Beethoven theme around 7 minutes or so before it segues out into Wendi’s G Minor theme.

Coming in around 14:30 is Wendi’s other theme – this one was written in our first year together and gave me the courage to continue on with music2work2.

Both themes have yet to be developed to where they are ready for release but they are getting there – hopefully I’ll finish them before she hits 50!

You can download a 5 minute version of the track by clicking the link below or purchase the full length track from your favorite retailer – we recommend MySongstore.

5 minute mp3 of Wendi at 40

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Now playing: music2work2 – Wendi at 40
via music2work2

I think this could be a good platform for string development – have one more technical hurdle to leap first.

Michael Jackson died yesterday – I remember seeing the album cover of "Off The Wall" for the first time – I remember listening to Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough for the first time, I remember staying up to watch the Thriller Video – I loved his music and his art – I hope he is at peace.

This is the development of the theme – thanks Dennis.

There is definitely a theme evolving in here – I’ve been working it all morning and it is probably going to end up as the first new piece of music2work2 in a while. Not quite sure where the tempo and meter will end up, we’ll see but it certainly lives here as well.