Daily Jam archives updated with latest and last!
Go here to download all 8 quarters of Jams.
Daily Jam: How long can he last?
One man. A new composition every day. No matter what.
The new phone books are in! The new phone books are in!
Publicity photo shoot for Temporary Shelter. Been working with these guys for a couple months now and it’s been a blast.
archives remastered - new ones added!
I’ve remastered the first year of Jams (evening out the levels) and added the following six months as well. They’re available for download in quarterly batches here.
Have fun and don’t get hurt!
1000 new visitors
That’s what being linked by “Cool Site of the Day” brought. Interesting statistics to note - about 10% clicked on the quick links I provided to my favorites. About 2.5% took a dedicated clicking journey through the archives. I got some nice notes from new listeners, too.
The vote tally put this site in the top third of “Cool”.
Thanks, welcome and I hope you stay a while!
And tell your friends!
Cool Site of the Day!
I’m excited to announce that the Daily Jam has been selected as the Cool Site of the Day!
All you new visitors - let me catch you up. I’ve been writing a new piece of music every day for over a year and a half now.
What kind of music? All kinds. Click through the archives. Sort by category or be surprised.
Here are some of my favorites:
You can even find metal, folk, rap and classical here.
If you like what you hear, let me know!
a little bitty diddy
I started piano lessons a few months ago. Here I am playing one of the pieces I’ve been working on. Needs more work, but it’s a fun job!
hey whaddya know
…a philosophical post.
Philosophizing out loud is like singing in public. It takes a certain sense of self-importance to execute well. Since I’m not important, I’m going to fake it.
I notice that my opponent is always on the go
-And-
Won’t go slow, so’s not to focus, and I notice
He’ll hitch a ride with any guide, as long as
They go fast from whence he came
- But he’s no good at being uncomfortable, so
He can’t stop staying exactly the sameFiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Growth can hurt. Ask my friend who grew six inches taller one summer.
People spend a lot of time trying to avoid discomfort, and sometimes that discomfort can be something as simple as a novel taste or sound. In music, I’ve found that going repeatedly into that discomfort — which in the beginning arose from dissonance or unfamiliar structures or unexpected patterns — was difficult. But I was intrigued by that discomfort. So I listened, and I listened and I listened. The more I listened, the more that discomfort became transformed; structures and patterns revealed themselves and became familiar. And with that familiarity came a new understanding of how to listen and how to hear. And more importantly, how patience with discomfort can be key to finding this wisdom. By expanding my palette, I’ve found the sense of discomfort has grown into more of a signal of opportunity — a chance to expand my ear, to grow my vocabulary, and to thereby grow the range and subtlety of emotion that music can evoke.
It is a strange irony with music that the more you go into it in this way, the narrower the common audience becomes (see most “serious concert music” in academic circles). If you want to speak to a wider audience (of course, not everyone would or should), and still satisfy your own subtleties, you need to find ways to keep coming back, bringing those things that are comfortable for you but not for much of your audience, and putting those things in service of your composition and expression.
I’m not talking about hiding broccoli in a brownie to get your kid some greens. I’m talking about making that broccoli an integral, and defining part of the piece. Like the Police putting Roxanne to a tango beat. Or the crazy textures and vocalizations in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. Or the olympian bass playing in Duran Duran’s hyper-melodic Rio. Or much of the Beatles’ catalog. Or pretty much anything produced by Quincy Jones.
Contrary to the sentiment common in some circles, the greatest popular producers, performers and composers, and the enduring works they’ve created, have succeeded precisely because of the broccoli, not in spite of it. A simple I/IV/V tune may get played a lot for a while, but it won’t last. But put something in there — a signature — a unique “voice”. Do it right, and you will have tapped into that timeless identity that makes a work a classic.
reminiscence and gratitude
Today marks the one year anniversary of the Daily Jam. That’s 365 Jams. 4 hours and 27 minutes of music.
I’ve been trying to think of what to say about all this that would be interesting. It’s difficult because I have been trying for a year not to overthink my approach to music. Just to get out of my own way and make sounds that are pleasing to me.
I wonder what this has demonstrated. An unusual talent? Or endurance? Or just the ability to stick to the oddest of commitments? I’m surprised by this, but it hasn’t really been that difficult to do and I have trouble believing talent is the reason (but it’d be great if it were).
Each of these pieces carries with it a memory of where I was when I wrote it, and how I was feeling, and what was on my mind at the time. In this way, it’s a very personal, indelible diary of my year.
There are probably a few dozen pieces in the bunch which I am extremely excited about. This is nearly a few dozen more exciting musical things than I’ve created in the past twenty years. Regardless of whether or not anything I’ve done here is really any good, or whether or not this work has made me a better musician, there can be no doubt I’ve written music. A lot of it. And it’s been fun! While I started for many reasons, I plan on continuing for that reason alone.
You can download the archives in four chronological installments using the links below. Each .zip file conveniently contains one CD worth of material if you want to burn them.
Daily Jam Volume 1
Daily Jam Volume 2
Daily Jam Volume 3
Daily Jam Volume 4
Thanks for listening.
deep string drama
This one was recently approved by my agency, which then forwarded it on to a publisher who provides music to film, music, television and video game executives. If the publisher likes it, I might actually hear it somewhere besides here!
The publisher was requesting “drama”.
new stuff (narcissism inside)
Check out my stuff. I just switched over from PC + Cubase + lots of hardware to Mac + Logic + some software. Overall, I’m very pleased with the new arrangement.
With two more input devices (Axiom 25 controller and Wacom tablet) my wrist is already feeling happier. The tablet is an ideal input device for a lot of midi piano roll drawing.
The iMac runs silent.
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 has replaced my old GSP 2112 and Sansamp bass DI without a hiccup. I am in love with that thing.
Logic is fantastic.
The best part is how compact my setup has become. I even got a Macbook Air and put Logic on that so I can do music on the go should the spirit move me. I’m away from the Apogee Duet and JV-1080 so I won’t be recording, but I can still write and then transfer to the iMac when it’s time to take it across the finish line.
I will be jamming for decades.
Podcast Feeds
2 full years!
From 3/3/2008 to 3/2/2010
I posted a new composition every single day, no matter what.
Check back for more music projects currently underway!
