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What's YOUR Musical Point of View?


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So...what's YOUR musical point of view?

 

I'm a weirdo and only seem to be able to do things that sound like me. I cannot really create music that sounds that much like other people. I'm totally okay with this.

 

This extends to night photography as well, It often comes out looking like something I did, not someone else. I'm totally okay with this as well.

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So...what's YOUR musical point of view?

 

I'm a weirdo and only seem to be able to do things that sound like me. I cannot really create music that sounds that much like other people. I'm totally okay with this.

 

So what's the point of view that makes you - you? What's the "Ken Lee" engine that powers your music? A point of view is not about sounding like other people, it's what makes you sound the way you sound.

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So...what's YOUR musical point of view?

 

I'm a weirdo and only seem to be able to do things that sound like me. I cannot really create music that sounds that much like other people. I'm totally okay with this.

 

So what's the point of view that makes you - you? What's the "Ken Lee" engine that powers your music? A point of view is not about sounding like other people, it's what makes you sound the way you sound.

 

I suppose it's to create a sonic world that sounds like a fantastic, strange world that I can inhabit which comes from me.

 

But that's just the thing. I am not really sure what makes me sound like me. Is it because I just am willfully obstinate in creating something that I simply like? Is it because I'm strange and just hear music differently? Is it because I'm incompetent and am unable to play music like other people? Is it because I take something from the ether and channel it through me and by the very nature of that and attempting not to interfere with my general "filters", it comes out sounding relatively different? Is it because I don't really care about any commercial success and am therefore more likely to create something different? Is it because I frequently believe that specific lyrics impose their will too strongly on music for my personal tastes and often prefer them not to be there? Is it because, more than most, I very literally view the human voice as an instrument and not a narrative or storytelling device? Is it because I had an effed up childhood and was already experimenting and tinkering with screwing up sound as early as 4th grade and was happy with doing that instead of playing baseball all the time?

 

Some of the above? None of the above?

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On the one hand, a Would-be Illustrator. Instead of images on canvas, paper or celluloid, I try to paint with sounds, and often think of sounds in terms of color, texture, depth, and their relationships within a 3-D soundscape.

 

OTOH, there's a bit of Frustrated Scientist, as well, part of what drew me into Synths, Sound FX, and even ERG's. I love trying to make my Guitar do things it shouldn't be able to do, like sing in Japanese (MIKU Stomp), or play Steel Drum sounds through Ring Mod & Flanging, when I'm not using it as a MIDI Controller, as well.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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I'm a musical chameleon, which has been great for being able to do a wide variety of work and not so great for being defined as an artist.

 

That said, I do have a love for complex, driving, and syncopated rhythms which I often interject into the variety of styles I play. I learned piano first and drums/percussion second, and I approach piano like a drum more than most pianists. I've even broken a few piano strings over the years. ;)

I just occurred to me that maybe I should provide an example of my applying rhythm to the styles I write (in this case, jazz):

 

 

Best,

 

Geoff

My Blue Someday appears on Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon

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I'm a musical chameleon, which has been great for being able to do a wide variety of work and not so great for being defined as an artist.

 

That said, I do have a love for complex, driving, and syncopated rhythms which I often interject into the variety of styles I play. I learned piano first and drums/percussion second, and I approach piano like a drum more than most pianists. I've even broken a few piano strings over the years. ;)

I just occurred to me that maybe I should provide an example of my applying rhythm to the styles I write (in this case, jazz):

 

 

Best,

 

Geoff

 

I enjoyed your music Geoff, left you a like and subscribed to your channel.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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... Someone with good hand independence, even when not playing key bass, gets more gigs of any genre because they can cover more parts simultaneously. In my low-tech world, sequencing or prerecording parts is not an option.

 

My abilities were always a bit strange when it came to playing with two hands. I did well with orchestrating and playing multiple keyboard parts. Seems that I was always covering horn parts with one hand and keyboard parts with the other. I NEVER did well playing key bass with the left hand and other parts with the right. I could play Bach 2 and 3 parts, but I struggled covering walking bass parts. Anyone who can play Bach 3 parts should be able to cover bass parts with the left hand, but not me. Maybe it was a mental block, but it was there. The other thing I always had problems with is church hymnals. Playing 8 note block chords every beat made me feel as if I was being stretched too thin. I hated it. The music could not flow. I felt as if I was having to push it out.

This post edited for speling.

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I just occurred to me that maybe I should provide an example of my applying rhythm to the styles I write (in this case, jazz):

 

 

Best,

 

Geoff

 

Good stuff! Although I kept waiting for the Latin percussion to kick in :)

 

Wish I had that kind of facility on keyboards, but hey, at least there's MIDI for people like me!

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Good stuff! Although I kept waiting for the Latin percussion to kick in :)

 

Same here! But I wasn't disappointed. Always happy to find good solo piano music, esp. when it features good hand independence and a strong sense of rhythm. I'm a cheerleader for anyone who can get a full sound playing solo without using backing tracks or sequences, doesn't matter which genre to me (not to pick on people who play monophonic instruments like horns, either). I'm a cheerleader for instrumental music, in general. If a picture paints a thousand words, music paints a million- in my book.

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People who hear and write melodies! A dying breed. IMO.

 

To take off on what I said earlier about music painting a million words, I think it would be helpful for every person who chimed in here to include a short clip of theirs, that they feel best illustrates what they talked about. But I would go last. I don't have enough of an attention span to create many semi-finished pieces of music, and usually end up deleting most of what I do, anyway.

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