We are always talking about Defining Moments and how they have changed our lives. On the first Friday of August 2009 another defining moment occurred. The KORG M3M-61 arrived on the Grizzly.
To call the M3 a keyboard is a monstrous understatement. It is an entire orchestra encapsulated into a very sophisticated computer. It can play over 900 instruments and combine them into multi-track recordings that are as simple or as complex as can be imagined.
Our desire to be on the road did not even begin to predict that we would want or could compose music. Neither of us are accomplished musicians, but we both enjoy music. As we have traveled around the country, the things that we saw, heard and felt inspired this blog. Then, we would see things and take pictures of them. Our videos seemed incomplete, because the music never quite matched what we were seeing or feeling. Sometimes just sitting by the ocean, the sounds of the sea would make music and as we tried to capture the sound, the feel was just not there.
We were visiting some dealers in Santa Cruz and stopped by to see our old friend Arthur Hull. A master hand drummer, musician, UCSC professor and composer, we were in his home studio and Wendy spotted this thing that looked half computer and half keyboard hooked into Arthurs computer. When she asked what it was, Arthur said it was a KORG M3 that he had just bought in Japan and packed it up and carried it home. He described it as an orchestra in a box.
A year or so pasted and we had been across country twice in the Grizzly. Still inspired by what we saw, we talked about what we could do as a hobby with each other that would break the seven day a week work habit we have become accustom to. Over the same period, we would always stop at the Guitar Centers around the country and pop in to play with the M3. Very expensive, but fun.
About a month ago we had decided that we should buy a KORG. To our surprise, the company was overloaded with inventory and cut the price in half. Last Friday it arrived and we spent two days playing with it between work. Not only was it extremely relaxing to us both, it has inspired us in making music and with ideas for Keys.
So, as a sort of joke, we created a new musical group called Chill Travelers. We even created a website www.chilltravelers.com that will be expanded from it current holding state as we discover and create more new things.
Are we nuts? Probably!
Below are a few first musical compositions we have created with the M3. We hope you enjoy them.
First Compositions
Arcada: Named for the experience of the mountain roads traveling to Arcada California
[dewplayer:/chill/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Arcada.mp3]
Raindrops: Named for the sound of the rain that has fallen each morning as a fog in Newport Oregon
[dewplayer:/chill/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/raindrops.mp3]
Aaron Grizzly: A composition by Wendy describing the feeling of driving the Grizzly through some of those places seen in old John Ford western movies with musical score by Aaron Copeland
[dewplayer:/chill/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Aaron-Grizzly.mp3]
ORA: Named for the place we are staying in Newport. This song seems to capture the feel
[dewplayer:/chill/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ORA.mp3]
C-Care: Named for our manufacturing partner. When we were recording a how its made for Solar Rx, we found some music that sounded sort of like C-Care. This composition is dedicated to the team a C-Care and is our vision of what it sounds like to be there as products ramps.
[dewplayer:/chill/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ccare.mp3]
PahTah: Is the sound of two notes on a hand drum. It is the vocal sounds that our friend Arthur uses to teach people which notes to make on their drum.
[dewplayer:/chill/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/PahTah.mp3]
We aspire to get better, so check out this page every once in a while.
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