original

HarpSong

Original Music Release A Day #15

Here’s another original banjo piece, thought I’d just play another one live since that was fun the first time and y’all seemed to respond to it so well.  

This piece was written in the early 1990’s after encountering a group called Sileas at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. They had just released an album called “Beating Harps” and the sound of these two women singing and playing two harps together completely blew my mind. They were so tight in their picking and in their harmonies together and it made a huge impression on me.  I immediately bought their cassette (ahem..) and have been listening to them ever since (though I’m glad they’re on Spotify now). 

I took their inspiration to challenge myself to try and emulate the joy I heard in their music and this is what came of that.  This might very well have been the piece that sparked my mission to make the banjo not sound like a banjo, or at least to play it non-traditionally.  I loved working out the cascading lines and probably should have developed this more but I was so enchanted with the sound that I just kept playing what I had since it sounded like nothing else I had ever written at the time.

More about my COVID-19 we’re self isolating so might as well make the most of it with creative projects original music release a day:

https://www.ericgeoffrey.com/a-song-a-day/

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Blue Waters

Original Music Release A Day #14

Blue Waters

Spent some time snorkeling in the glorious waters off the coast of Belize a few years back, and the experience inspired this doodad.  I dug up some footage from some of the dives and they seem to go together well with this piece of acoustic guitar work.  Feeling so cooped up, it’s been really nice thinking about warm water and being outside.

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Glass Uke ditty

Music Release A Day #13

Glass Uke Ditty

This was a bedroom recording from 2012 of a theme I developed for ukulele. It’s very Phillip Glass and I recall that was my intention / creative challenge for the piece. Not much more to it than that, and it’s got a really chill vibe.

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StirCrazyCabinFeverReliever

Music Release A Day #12

StirCrazyCabinFeverReliever ~ Original banjo & bass

Not much more to this tune than it’s now been two weeks we haven’t gone anywhere except the local woods and our backyard and it’s a rainy day and everyone is starting to get a little stir-crazy.  Thought I’d take on a little recording project, because why not.

A couple of hours with a banjo, bass, drums, and a synth and I got so wrapped up in the project I forgot to hit record on the video camera.  

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Angelic

or The Better Part of our Nature. Music Release A Day #8 ~ March 24, 2020

I was debating whether to share this recording from 20 years ago or to video me playing it this afternoon, and chose to go with the vintage version because there is something so jubilant about this piece and the original recording captures it’s integrity so well.  I love playing this piece so much because it’s impossible for me not to smile while playing it, and it’s an energy I believe we all need right now as this crises deepens and it’s ramifications spread throughout our lives.

This may not be the cleanest execution of this composition, but the rawness of it’s energy is what I really want to share today, so here you have it, another 12 string original, Angelic.

Listen to the piece: https://youtu.be/3Cs5g3pM9L0

About my Release A Day project: https://www.ericgeoffrey.com/a-song-a-day/

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Gurgalicious

Release A Day #7 ~ March 23, 2020

Ok, it’s time to get some weird on.  

There are times in life where after climbing to the top of a mountain you just want to raise your voice and holler I AM HERE!  It’s a celebratory thing.  A declaration of presence.  I’ve made it this far.  Whew.  But there’s no-one else around, you’re in the wilderness, so it’s really all just for you.  

This piece of music was born in sheer freaky joy, the celebration of a flow state having discovered what I still think to this day is a truly unique lead guitar sound.  There’s not much more to it than that.  I think that is every guitarists dream, to find a unique voice that is distinctly theirs, and this is decidedly one of mine.  It’s murky yet distinct, just like many passages in my life.

Yes, it’s a canned drum track. Sorry about that.  At the time it wasn’t meant to be anything more than a glorified metronome, but it ended up in this one-take-recording so it’s there for whatever it’s worth and there’s nothing I can do about that.  This is definitely a flow vibe that I want to do more with in a better rhythmic context, but it’s still one of my fav pieces from over the years.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgVQzB47ftE

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A Release A Day Project

Mid March 2020 ~ cooped up by the corononvirus stay at home protocols, I’ve set myself the challenge to release a piece of music a day for the foreseeable future, and have realized I need a central location to track it all. So here it is, a chronological list of each release and its direct link. For more detail about the project, visit the blog entry that started it all.

#1 Our Story ~ Small Craft Advisory ~ The Spoken Word of Eric Geoffrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvRSq_nRcmc

#2 What Will It Take? ~ Small Craft Advisory ~ The Spoken Word of Eric Geoffrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rzuHKujVYU&t=2s

#3 Equinox Greeting ~ original banjo composition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQyiw_jHv0k

#4 New Beginnings ~ original nylon string guitar composition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO32Xd-LQsA

#5 Sitting On Top of the World ~ COVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPXVWuWm84

#6 Alchemical Reaction ~ original 12 string acoustic guitar composition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyl4udns7T0

#7 Gurgalicious ~ original electric guitar flow state weirdness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgVQzB47ftE

#8 Angelic ~ original 12 string acoustic guitar https://music.ericgeoffrey.com/angelic/

#9 Stewards of the Planet ~ Small Craft Advisory ~ The Spoken Word of Eric Geoffrey https://music.ericgeoffrey.com/stewards-of-the-planet/

#10 Five Foot Two ~ COVER song featuring ukulele & electric guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgjBG_tl1Rc

#11 Water Is Life ~ Small Craft Advisory ~ The Spoken Word of Eric Geoffrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4iN_oKtyG4

#12 StirCrazyCabinFeverReliever ~ original piece featuring banjo & bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce0e_30bqc8

#13 Blue Waters ~ original guitar piece inspired by snorkeling in Belize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YSE55ytrWg

#14 HarpSong ~ original banjo composition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv82bJLwO9g

#15 The Meaning of Life ~ Small Craft Advisory ~ The Spoken Word of Eric Geoffrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev-B_gBXWCY

#16 Glass Uke Ditty ~ original ukulele piece inspired by Philip Glass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKnRnPqkmXQ

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New Beginnings

Release A Day #4 ~ 3.20.20

So here’s the thing. I’ve got a lot up my sleeve, but none of this is planned out. I’m really flying by the seat of my pants having set myself up to do this release a day thing, and am taking it day by day and just trying to be open to what will be the best choices.  I am feeling drawn to another upbeat and celebratory piece today for some reason, perhaps because yesterday’s piece was so well received, and lord knows I’ve got my fair share of intense and heavy pieces as well to share in the days and weeks to come.  

New Beginnings was born a couple of years ago when moving into a new house and there was great acoustics in a very large room. I loved how this piece rang out and the waltz timing feels so fluid.  It makes my wife smile every time she hears it, so I like it for that reason alone.

It’s also a great example of so much music that comes through me, where I sense that there is so much more going on in the composition than what I can actually play myself. I’ve tried to approximate what I hear with the strings, but approximate is the operative word.  It’s what 90 minutes of creativity has afforded me today, and I’m happy enough with it to share, though it still feels like a sketch.

I hope it brings a smile to your face as well. 

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Equinox Greeting!

Release a Day #3 ~ Spring Equinox 2020

I moved into a room once when I was in my mid 20’s and found an old banjo in the closet.  It needed a lot of love, but of course I was intrigued.  I nursed it into playing shape, bought new strings for it, asked a friend carve me a new bridge for it, and it became playable.  I’ll never forget the first clear note that rang out from it, and that moment shaped my relationship with the banjo ever since.  It made me think of so many other things than a banjo, and I resolved then and there to discover how to coax new life from this wild creature, figuring that there were enough banjo players in the world already, I wanted to do something different.

I’ve spent years exploring that path, and rarely have I ventured into territory where my banjo sounds like a bluegrass instrument, and I really like it that way.  

This piece was born in the summer of 2019 in the backwoods of the Adirondacks of NY while on retreat with my family.  I instantly fell in love with the vibe as I feel it captures the essence of a peaceful summer day.  

On this first day of spring 2020 I thought I would offer something more in the spirit of the day as we welcome an uncertain spring with so much turmoil and challenge. I hope that this serves as a reminder of pleasant days both past and those to come.  Perhaps this is my prayer for healthier days down the road for all of us…

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