Week 4 - Recording 0

No, I haven't recorded anything yet, so that means that I'll have to record at least twice during two weeks this year to catch up.  I haven't even found the time to make sure my home studio equipment is functioning properly.  Last time I tried to record something, I wasn't able to get it to work, and never figured out why.  I haven't even turned that computer on.  What I have done, though, is figure out how to play music here on my blog.

So, as a test run, I'm posting the totality of my recorded catalog.  It's a piece I'm calling "Flow Pace," and is the piece I've written that I've taken the least seriously (which is probably why I finished it).  The story starts when a book called Chi Running changed the way I run.  One element of the technique laid out in this book is to keep your feet moving at a consistent (and speedy) rate no matter how fast or slow you're running, or whether you're going up-hill or not.  The rate is 170 steps per minute.  I was already enjoying running with an mp3 player, so I searched my collection for songs that fell somewhere between 168 and 172 beats a minute.  I found surprisingly few such songs in my collection, so I decided to write one myself.

Starting with the tempo and a very simple chord progression, I recorded each section within minutes of writing it, all but improvising the parts.  I never wrote any of them down, and did not apply any of the rules of part-writing.  I used a cut and paste tool to avoid having to play any section more than once.  That's why you hear the same timing error in the bass every time it repeats.  The whole piece is performed on the acoustic guitar, the djembe and a plastic soprano recorder.  The bass line is created by taking the guitar down an octave after recording it.  You can hear the original recorded part in the last repetition.

I hope to record something this weekend, or some evening next week.