I live in Seattle now, and i feel stranger than ever.  When i chose the 'alien' LibSyn URL... how prophetic.  My life has changed a lot.  It could not have changed more.  My Rhodes is in safe-keeping with my brother Mark (whom i hope will use it on stage at one of their big gigs), my piano is at a friend's house (and may not even be mine anymore).   I still have my harp.  My apartment was broken into and my Mac and some recording equipment were stolen, so i haven't been able to produce anything new for awhile.  I'm sorry.  I will when i can get myself back on my feet.  I may change this feed into a Live Interview 'banter-cast'.  I've become a Queer Activist here in Seattle and would like to cover LGBT and feminist issues in interview (with perhaps a local emphasis).  We'll see.  I'd do it in Stereo, of course.  Nothing but the best for My dog.  First, i need another Mac (which will have to wait until rent and other things get stabilised).  Meanwhile, i hope you're still enjoying what i've got up (which is what's left of my stuff; ha).  Life happens.  Life is.  Feel free to e-mail with comments, praise, scathing insults... whatever.  joan@joanpatrie.com

Okay... let's try this yet again. Beware of flakey wireless whilst uploading (even with FTP). I'm re-posting this again with a new file; the previous one was damaged due to a flaky network connection at a certain well known coffee retail outlet which shall remain nameless. {I've just uploaded the new file at Dead River Coffee in downtown Marquette right now and their network is running at its usual flawless. :} Enjoy! Copyright MMVI Strandgeist Media, Creative Commons Deed 3.0  (the Attribution/Non-commercial/ShareAlike license). Performed Live at the Holiday Inn, Marquette, Michigan USA - the week after 'Nine-Eleven'... and i was in a strange mood all night.  All week.  This is just me playing my Rhodes Live through delay effects in a bar with a bunch of inebriated people with their collective head in the sand.  The pool game went on unabated (as you can hear). ___ It's seven years later as i edit these notes (on 2008 Sept 9).  I live in Seattle now, and i feel stranger than ever.  joanpatrie.com

This is pretend 'end-credits' music which i mashed together in GarageBand3 as an editing exercise.  It is the end section of a piece i called 'Mashup1'.  I had just upgraded to the iLife3 suite and had discovered the extensive library of stock audio that came with it. It started as an editing test to check out the usability of GarageBand as an editing tool, and i couldn't stop. Unfortunately all i saved of it was a 160 kbs mp3 file. [Joan kicks herself in the pants for not saving an AIFF -- or at least a higher bit-rate mp3] Oh well. Live and learn. ___ Stock Audio from GarageBand version 3. Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the Attribution/Non-Commercial/ShareAlike license) ___ strandgeist.com___ joan@joanpatrie.com

Suite II for Leigh (with Ostanada). This is one of my earliest works, recorded when my partner Jo was still teaching in China (before we were hitched). Okay, so here is the whole Suite II for you. ... I recorded the Rhodes (through a wide deep Stereo Chorus) onto a cassette tape, and then played this back in an atrium (at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Marquette Michigan in 1993), using Howard's old ReVox Reel-to-Reel for sound-on-sound delay looping, whilst alternately playing my flute or singing - recording this all onto my Beta Hi-Fi recorder (just Audio). I used my old Altec mixer to run a bit of the Rhodes 'direct' with some Rhodes playing through speakers in the atrium, as i played along with my flute (into my home-brew stereo microphones which were also feeding into the mixer and the tape delay loops; i did about two or three layers like this). The spaghetti patchwork was a hairy mess worthy of Edgar Varez. And i'll never come up with that exact same patchwork in a thousand years; i've lost my notes.  I have a friend, Leigh, with whom (in gleeful pride) i shared my finished work.  She informed me then (quite coincidentally) that it was her birthday. This was a very cool coincidence, so i named it for her. The suite begins with the Rhodes, in one layer of tape loops. Near the end (in the ostanada section) i add two more layers (where you'll hear both flute and vocal layered together). Enjoy! ~joan ... Copyright MCMXCIII  Joan Heath Patrie - Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license) ... joanpatrie.com

Ostanada, from Suite II for Leigh. This is one of my earliest works, recorded when my partner Jo was still teaching in China. I recorded the Rhodes (through a slow, deep Stereo Chorus) onto a cassette tape, and then played this back in an atrium at Saint Paul's in Marquette), using my friend Howard's ReVox Reel-to-Reel for sound-on-sound delay looping, and playing my flute and singing, with the mix recording onto my Beta Hi-Fi. I used an Altec mixer to run some of the Rhodes 'direct' (with some of it playing through speakers in the atrium) as i played my flute into my home-brew stereo microphones -- also feeding into the mixer and the tape delay loops - in about two or three layers. The spaghetti patchwork was a hairy mess worthy of Edgar Varez.  I shared it with my friend, Leigh, who told me that it was her birthday. This was very cool, so i named it for her. This piece is just the ostanada at the conclusion of the two suites, and i think it's the best section, so it's what i share. Most of the full suites are only the Rhodes in one layer of tape loops.  In this ostanada i add two more layers. You'll be able to hear both flute and vocal layered together near the conclusion. Enjoy! ~joan ... Copyright MCMXCIII Joan Heath Patrie - Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license). ... joanpatrie.com

More Rhodes less travelled by.  Here is another glimpse into the production process. This is a 'Rhodes' stage piano patch i tweaked in GarageBand (to get the sound i like when i play my real Rhodes - which i've been playing since 1991). I've done a wee bit of sequence editing - to fine tune some note velocities and smooth out a few rough edges (mostly to compensate for the mechanically un-weighted M-Audio Radium49 MIDI Controller's total lack of feel; the real hammer action of the real Rhodes won't let the velocity do anything mechanically unnatural). {2008 Sept 9 addendum:  I was thinking of getting a Kawai MP8, but after playing a Yamaha Motif XS-8 i'fe fallen in love with the Motif tone generators.  The Motif feels like a wonderful creative tool, so, well, i can't afford it anyway, so i may as well dream about it. [heh]  I was planning to use this as a musical 'backbone' for a more finished composition, but the theft of my Mac from my burgled apartment here in Seattle has brought an end to that idea.} ... This sequence is 99% untouched.  Enjoy! Copyright MMVII Joan Heath Patrie - Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license) - i.e: some rights reserved. ... joanpatrie.com

Leaves beneath my feet. my breath hovers before me. sunbeams in the snow. ... A misty morning glomen brightens the luminous sky. The first snow comes beneath the veil of night - a frosty patina upon the landscape. The first rays of the sun now grace the icy dust. It sparkles in the chilly morning air. ... Breath hovers. I walk, unhurried. Footfalls crunch the crispy leaves dusted in sparkles.  Desolation before Winter. Stark beauty, upon this Earth - fragile island home. ... How insignificant in the grand scale of Reality. Yet, she is my whole World. This one life i know. Crusty leaves crunching beneath my feet, my breath before me, sunbeams sparkling in the snow. ... III:  beneath veil of night. a frosty patina falls. sparkling in sunlight. ..... This is my 2nd official GarageBand composition. It is also Tranquil MMVI.42 (in honour of Douglas Adams, of course) in my 'Tranquility' podcast (which i've been posting since last May). ... poetry and music Copyright MMVI Joan Heath Patrie - Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license) - i.e: some rights reserved.  joanpatrie.com

point and click the notes. it is not an easy road. music finds a way. ... This is my first official GarageBand composition. I was playing around with it, clicking on the notes on the floating tiny keyboard pallet, and, before i knew what i had done, this came out. {I was in a Skype call, if i remember rightly - live on the w0kie network (i think), and someone in the IRC had asked me a question. I had opened GarageBand to check if it could record in 24-bit linear, and i got side-tracked (as usual).} Needless to say, i got hooked. I began lusting for MIDI controllers, did some research (a lot of research), and formed the dream of using a Kawai MP8 Professional digital stage piano - which, unfortunately, costs a couple grand. But, this has been the imputus for me to get off my duff and score as many gigs as i can manage. I still don't have the MP8, but should be getting an M-Audio Radium 49 delivered tomorrow. {Hey, it was only a hundred bucks.} The 'point-and-click' method of music composition is just too frustrating; i had to do something. ;-] And so, i started this Podcast in anticipation. Enjoy! ~joan ...  © MMVI Joan Heath Patrie ... Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license) ... http://joanpatrie.com

she sits and plays - not knowing it's recorded - a pleasant surprise ___ This is the last of three pieces recorded the night i crashed Wade's gig at Emmajoes Coffeehouse (in 2001 or 2002, i forget exactly when). This is played 'straight ahead' in front of a Live audience. ___ In this piece, 'Exstasis', i sat down at the keyboard and did what i do best: improvise. At first Wade wasn't recording, but said he freaked out and got the MiniDisc machine rolling when he realised 'how good' i was. {This is one of the best compliments i've ever received. A compliment like that from a Musician i admire carries a lot of weight.} ___ He got only the last five minutes of the first suite i played (not complete enough to publish - plus, i can't find the master, which is all i have of it), then he sat down at the analogue modeling console and twiddled whilst i played. I didn't realise he was recording until after we'd finished. I'm so glad he did; this is one of my better improvisations (which i plan to work out on acoustic piano one of these daze). Wade didn't have the room miked, so you can't tell it's Live - except for my mistakes. His MIDI keyboard had a broken 'F' key, midscale, which stuck up at a rude 'excited' angle, which i had to play around - hence, at least two of the obvious flubs i make. But, that's Live. ;-] Enjoy! 'for music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.' (William Congreve) ~joan  © MMVI Joan Heath Patrie ... Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license) ... http://joanpatrie.com

play for me some pads, as i twiddle many knobs. many sounds we make. ... Welcome to the inauguration of the Strandgeist Media podcast. The 'Tranquility' podcast has an obvious theme - into which some of what i do will never fit. So here i am -suffering from 'LaPorte' syndrome - maniacally adding ever more podcasts to my 'publishing empire'. ;-] ... This is from a gig crash, oh... what? 4 or 5 years ago? When i first started playing Emmajoes Coffeehouse, where i was alternating Monday nights with a friend named Hunter Wade.  I was curious to hear what he played, so i went to his gig. He did some truly excellent Cat Stevens covers; his arrangements are ace!  He has a Roland analog modeling synthesizer which does amazing things - with an interface reminiscent of the analog synths from the '70s (like the Arp 2600 and the Moog Sonic Six) - with the notable exception being that the Roland can play polyphony. {The major limitation of the old synths was that they could only play one note at a time. So it was impossible to play complex music Live; you had to layer all the parts together using a multi-track tape recorder. Wade's Roland has no such limitation - which allows one to play the music 'straight ahead', Live, which is what we did.}  He invited me to play a set - most of which he recorded. {There is a whole suite i played before he decided to press the 'Record' button on his little MiniDisc Recorder. Bummer. But i'm glad he did press it when he did.} 'Protologue' begins with Wade laying down some nice pads as i twiddled the analogue modeling parameters. This then progresses to just one source note - with which i create the second part of the suite out of thin air - working with nothing more than the analogue modeling parameters.  I hope you have as much fun listening as we did playing. Share and Enjoy!  My next post will be 'Exstasis' from that same fateful evening. We switched seats, and i played the MIDI keyboard (with the broken 'F' key), whilst Wade played 'Analogue Modelling Artist' on the Roland console to my playing.  ~joan  © MMVI Joan Heath Patrie ... Creative Commons Deed 3.0 (the attribution/non-commercial use/share alike license) ... http://joanpatrie.com