On today's episode of, "In Musicland"

On today's episode, we delve into the writing process, talk about progress that's been made, things that have inspired, and things to be thankful for.

I've never been someone who has had a lot of self discipline. This isn't really a good thing for a musician since playing an instrument requires practice. Practice requires discipline. You follow? The thing that is usually lacking is motivation. For me the thing that has hindered my discipline goes beyond motivation. I am definitely motivated by a positive end result, but lately I've succumbed to a fear of failure. The good thing is that there is always a bright side. Failure is the soil from which progress grows. Learning from our mistakes and all of that. So slowly I am weening myself from using fear as a crutch.

That's sort of where I'm at in the writing process, and that's actually what I've been writing about. Reasons that it's taken me so long to really progress from where I was.

I've been trying to do things lately to physically go with the flow to compliment mentally and emotionally doing so. I've been riding my bike a lot lately which has had an awesome effect on how I feel at the end of the day. Seeing things along the way, finding happiness in little things that you just miss when you're speeding along in a car.

The other day I was riding, and passed a woman walking home. Just the act of exchanging a, "Good afternoon," put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Seeing other bikers and feeling this commonality with one another is a profound thing. Really just seeing yourself in someone else, and sharing an understanding of that. I think the word for that is, "Namaste."

I tend to get on kicks where I'm really influenced by certain people.. other artists, my brother, my fellow local friends/musicians etc.. Someone I've learned a lot about joy and gratitude from is Jason Mraz. I'll let this video speak for itself. It's almost impossible not to smile all the way through it.

Crazy Man's Ju-Ju PART NINE (Make It Mine UK Version)


Lastly, my friend Sam has been a good source of motivation lately. He and I tend to be in the same boat of frustration with lack of productivity, so we've been kind of keeping each other in check. He wrote this great tune with our friend Matthew called, "Peras Argentinas," and I was lucky enough to play bass and sing backing vocals on the recording. You can check it out on his myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/maryshomelesspeople

Today I am thankful for an overly affectionate kitty, and my new bag of collard greens.

Namaste.

Dark Was The Night

Since I love Bon Iver, Feist and Nick Drake I made this playlist. All the songs are from a charity album called Dark Was The Night, that goes to support HIV and AIDS through the Red Hot Organization. There's quite a line-up, so go check it out.

I've been pretty busy as of late. Have spent the past 4-5 months in a new job teaching orchestra at a middle school here in Denton. It has definitely inspired me in lots of ways, but I have yet to find the time to put them into tangible outlets.
I've gotten a few new instruments, and have plans for purchasing one in the (hopefully) near future. I won't tell you what it is until I get it! All I'm going to say is that it's red.
The other two are guitars. One is a 1953 Gibson LG-1, and the other is my great great grandfather's parlor guitar. It needs a bit of work, but I want to make my other purchase before I put all my money into restoring it. Soon though. Feist used to (maybe still does) play on an old parlor guitar, and so does Bon Iver. It was a really exciting find.

I will be moving into a new apartment in a little less than two weeks. I will have much more room, and I'm hoping to sort of spread out my recording equipment and make it all more accessible. I think that will make it easier for me to just sit down and record a bit. I've also been working in pro-tools a bit more, and using the newish garage band. Once things calm down I think I'll be able to record some more and post more.

I've been working with/making plans to work with a few new people. For now things may just be in the works, but come summer I have a feeling they will come to life.

Be well.

news of the new

A few weekends ago I went into a sort of frenzy to try to record newer versions of a few songs. I ended up disliking most of the recordings, probably because I rushed through them. I've been trying to fit writing and recording into my schedule more as a regular event than a sporadic one.
I've been talking to a few people about doing some co-writing, and working on different projects together. I've stayed out of the music scene here for too long, and now that I'm becoming a more permanent resident I think it's about time I wade in.
I also feel like I don't use this blog enough, so I'm thinking I will probably take down the parameters I've set and let myself post even when I haven't written or recorded something new. Which means I'll probably post more pictures, and try to think through things here more.

For now I'll post the only song I really liked that came out of that session a couple weeks ago. It's a cover of an older Death Cab For Cutie song. It was actually one of the first songs I learned, and it's got a lot of nostalgic qualities for me.




I'm going to go have a picnic on the sun.

at home writing 6/28/08

Since summer started I've had loads of free time. I've spent most of it distracting myself with episodes of Sex and The City, but between episodes I've been writing. Here's a little clip of a new song I'm working on. Enjoy!

At Home Writing 6/28/08
by ofwhatwas

forget the hours I've been here

It's been ages, I know. I'm sorry. I still love you.

"Tonight"




Expect more soon.

sing song

I was thinking today about my habit of recording random songs, sending them to people, and then losing/deleting them from my own computer. I remember one that's on Megan's ipod, that we listened to in the car once. I couldn't remember why it sounded familiar, and then I go, "wait! I wrote that!" I texted Aly on my drive home to KC today, and asked about a song I remember sending her. All I remembered was reading letters, and then tracking one on top of the other. I was kind of surprised when she sent me this. I didn't know I had actually put music to it. It's making me feel very nostalgic right now.

overture tonight

I had uploaded a couple older tunes, and I thought I should post them here to sort of give a better representation of the songs that I've put together. The first song is one that I probably worked on for a year and a half. It wasn't a constant woodshedding kind of thing. More like I would go back to it every couple of months and each time I'd tweak it a little bit. The end product I'm really happy with. I feel like it's just a little thought. Sort of like when something's happening and you zone out for a few seconds. Then you sorta blink and come back to reality. I ended up recording it finally a couple of months ago. It's a song called Tonight.



Then an even older song I co-wrote with my friend Greg. We call the ongoing project of ours The Slimfit Brigade. The trio is completed by his sister Kate. I sent Greg the lyrics to this poem that I had written, and told him that I wanted to make it into a song. A short time later he said that he had sort of tweaked the words a little bit, and figured out a guitar part to go with it. When we were back home in Kansas City over break the three of us got together, Greg played what he had written so far, and we finished writing it together. The end result was something we all got excited about. We ended up calling the song Overture.



That recording was one we made last winter break.. 2006 I believe. Or maybe it was summer 2007. I don't really remember. Greg brought over a mic, an interface, and his old laptop and the three of us sorta huddled around it for this take. It's a little rough, but I like it that way. Greg's on guitar and vox, Kate is playing mandolin, and I'm playing bass.
The Slimfit Brigade is something we would definitely like to continue at some point in some way, shape, or form. I kind of like that it's sporadic though.

Anyway, I just wanted to put those up because they're a couple of songs that I really dig.

peace and love. S

jam session 12-07

Over the break my friend Greg came over, and he, Matt and I played around for a couple hours. This is one of his songs that we just sorta jammed on called, "Jesus & Me."

at home writing/new recording

This video is sort of an extension of the last video I posted. I wanted to show the progression of the song thus far. As I said, it started when I was listening to a song that I had heard called, "Book Down In The Basement," that was written at a song retreat Hanson puts on every year. So the beginning of the video is the piano part that I figured out. You can sort of hear the progression of the song, and the use of a similar syncopated rhythm in the finger picking.



I posted a new song on www.myspace.com/listentoswitzerland, but I thought I'd go ahead and stream it here as well.


Compared to the last recording it's quite a bit a) cleaner, b) more sparse, c) less bright, d) shorter, and e) coherent.


I haven't been recording or writing for very long, so it's a very cool feeling to hear a song that you wrote/recorded months ago that now sounds quite different and evolved musically.

I think next on the agenda is to continue writing, edit the footage I've taken into some new videos to catch everybody up on what I've been doing, and to record some more down the line.

S.

As of late

I've just been working on a few new songs. I'm about to start student teaching, and I think that may free up my evenings. I tend to work best at night, so I'm hoping/expecting to get some things done. Here is a video of me messing around with a guitar part for a song that I'm working on. I had heard a song that Hanson had worked on with some other folks at their "Fool's Banquet" retreat, and I really dug the syncopated piano part. I figured it out, and thought the rhythm would sound nice on the guitar.



I've cleaned it up a bit since I took this video, and I'm currently working out melodies and lyrics. We'll see where it goes.
I head back home to Texas on Monday, and hope to spend a few days writing and settling back in.

Cheers.
S.

23 demo 2

I rerecorded the song 23. It's sounding a lot better. I'm still not thrilled with the vocals, but I think I'll get over it. Also, the balance of the bass isn't always that great. That's what I get for recording into my mac through the internal microphone. I'm pretty pleased with this recording.


23 demo 2

23 demo

I wrote this song that I'm calling "23" about a month ago. Around the same time I had gotten some recording equipment; a mic, preamp etc.. Since then I've been fiddling around on my 4 track, and sorta getting some arrangement ideas.
At one point I had gone to my friend Kevin's house and recorded a quick run of it the day I finished it. Thus, the lyrical mistakes and such.
Tonight I've been recording, and I got the whole song to sound pretty decent. I can never get the vocals to sound right apparently. I was just recording on Garageband on my Mac. Well, when I exported it for some reason it was barely audible. I went back in, and cranked all the tracks. Not much luck. It sounds alright, but the vocals are hard to hear. I'm uploading it anyway to give an idea of how the song is evolving. Disregard that I sound like I have no sense of pitch.

First recording.
Second recording.

Also I'll leave you with the director's cut of Hanson's video for the song Underneath. It's one of my favorites.

writing, listening

For the past few months and years I've just been writing. Recording some, though rarely satisfied with anything as of yet. I go back and forth between wanting to record, and just thinking I should focus on writing. I've been recording a bit on my 4 track, and also attempting to get some friends of mine to help me work out the kinks. However, I end up just getting frustrated with the quality. It can probably be easily fixed, but I need another set of ears and some guidance.
So it is, then, that I keep writing. Someday soon I'll get it all down. I'm eager to play some more shows, but I'm also eager, as I said, to work out some new material. I think the last few months have been especially productive. Hopefully that trend continues.
Here I'll be posting my progress via audio clips, video clips and obviously journaling. I'm hoping that focusing and writing this out will help me find a bit more direction.
I'll also be posting songs and videos of people by whom I've been inspired. More about that later.

swiss