Chronicles #5: In The Waking Hour

 The people that know me, know that I have a particular fondness for improvisation. I find improvising to be the ultimate form of musical expression. It’s often like walking a musical tightrope, where anything can happen, including falling off. But it’s that sense of danger that also makes it appealing to me. 



I also have a particular fascination for the female voice, especially singing wordless vocals. Some of my favorite recordings are female voice and percussion, like the 3 albums put out by Tamia and Pierre Favre in the 1980’s (de la quit… le jour, on the ECM label, is a particular favorite and has been a source of immeasurable inspiration these past 33 years since it was released), and the series of  duo recordings Fredy Studer released over the years. I had wanted to do something along these same lines for many years, but it all came down to finding the right people for the project.


This recording was born out of the Milwaukee Improv series, Unrehearsed MKE. I had played with Barry Paul Clark on a number of occasions (including my 1st appearance at the Unrehearsed series) and really enjoyed working with him. Besides being a fearless bass player, he also blends in electronics/loops to create a wide pallet of sounds. I had heard Joni Clare sing in various Unrehearsed sessions, but had yet to work with her. Like Barry, she also used electronics and loops. I knew this would be good.



While the 3 of us had never played together, we seemed to have the same sense of tonality and movement through space, so I proposed to Barry doing a recording together. He got a hold of Joni and then we all met at Jason Wietlispach’s recording studio one Sunday morning. I brought in my large percussion set up of gongs, bells, blocks, drums, and various noise makers. There was no plan, no ideas discussed before hand—we set up and just started playing. What you hear on this recording is 3 musicians listening and breathing together, creating music in real time. 


We cut the whole album in one session. I remember how energized I felt throughout. Joni and Barry provided such a rich backdrop for me to work with. It was exhilarating and inspiring. Sadly, we never got to play live (a tragedy) because Joni relocated to Portland. But at least we have this one document of a magical day when we created something very special.


The resulting album, In The Waking Hour, is one of my favorites and I feel that we achieved a cohesive sound that belies the fact that this was our very first time working together.


Joni Clare





Barry Paul Clark



Michael Bettine



Jason Weitlispach





~ MB


Chop Wood / Carry Water / Play Gongs™ / Improvise




If you've enjoyed reading these blogs, please consider a donation. You'll be helping me keep writing for hopefully many more years. Thank You ~ MB.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's The Best Gong To Buy?

Image
I field questions nearly everyday from people asking about drums, percussion, and especially Gongs. Whether it's via e-mail, message, or even a phone call. the most popular question is:  “What kind of Gong (or singing bowl, or bell, or ride cymbal, or hi-hats, or drum head, or various other things) should I buy?” And I wish that I could just give everyone a nice, tidy, easy answer. But there are none. Part of my initial reaction to the question is, “How should I know?” This is not like buying toothpaste , where I can suggest a whitening one if your teeth look dull, or a freshening one if you have bad breath. Sound is completely subjective and personal I'm sure you wouldn't like some of the instruments I own and use, because they create the most unmusical sounds. But they work for me and the music I'm involved in. But let's look some typical questions and the criteria for recommendations: What Gong should I buy? - Is this your 1st Gong? 2nd? 27th? That ma...
Read more

528Hz, 432Hz, and Other Fallacies

Image
OK people, it's time to get real and actually do some reading and research, instead of just passing around articles that are so blatantly false! The latest one to come across my desk from Facebook is:  The Healing Benefits of 528 Hz & Other Solfeggio Frequencies . Follow the link and take a minute to read through this article. “I  don't really care if it's true or not, it's just fun and interesting.  I'm sure you'll feel the same.” Can 432Hz save the world? (photo from:  Forever Conscious ) Let's get real here. As a professional musician, I care about whether something like this is “true or not.” I also don't find bogus information masquerading as science “fun.” Let's look at some of the “fun” ideas this article presents: There is NO conspiracy to change our musical scales away from some “ ancient and sacred 6-tone scale” to something sinister and menacing. The Solfeggio system is just one of many, many musical systems used throug...
Read more

Cracking/Breaking Gongs

Image
This comes from a Facebook percussion group I'm in. Apparently it was either an outdoor marching band or drum corps show: “Kid cracked a gong on the first hit of our show Saturday because he didn’t warm it up. Of course. It’s a decent sized crack, and we don’t have $1000 laying around to buy a new one. Is there any easy way to fix it? It's a Zildjian gong, idk how big, I'm going to GUESS 40"? It's cracked right at the edge of the gold ring and the outer ring, and it's about 4 inches long. The mallet we're using is not that hard and should not have done that kind of damage.” Without actually having been there, or seeing the Gong in person (apparently it was a Chinese Chou Gong), I can only speculate on this, but my first impression is that the kid overplayed the Gong by hitting it way too hard. Playing outdoors is difficult, because the sound dissipates quickly. There are no walls or ceilings to create reflections and contain the sound. Outside, you play...
Read more