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