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• Journey to Planet Gong CD

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  "Journey to Planet Gong" is my second gong and singing bowl studio recording and I'd like to share some background how it came about. Drum set is really my first instrument and I came across gongs first as a way to have some more interesting sounds especially when it came to group free form improvisation. I liked the sound of my whopping one medium sized gong I had sitting around for a few years when I finally added it to my drum set. I then bought another gong and another. I had cymbal stands for each gong and I realized I needed to get some sort of rig to hang several gongs which would make the setup easier. I figured something out and then hey, I could get some more gongs! (My wife says I've gong crazy.) Honestly, I came across singing bowls from searching on the internet for gongs and they came up. I loved their sound immediately and purchased a few of them. I was frustrated at the time with not getting to play with people I really felt compatible with as far as free form improvisation goes. I then thought with a few more gongs (and who wouldn't want a few more gongs?) I could actually make some really cool sounding solo improvisations by myself using just gongs and bowls. I immediately started concentrating on this idea. That's how my first solo cd called "Gong and Singing Bowl Improvisations" came about. I really wanted to document my initial joy and enthusiasm in discovering these new sounds that were now available to me and I was really pleased with the result.
  Ok so now fast forward a few more years and I felt I wanted to document a lot of the new ideas and sounds I've discovered since the first recording. Yes, I've added a lot more gongs and bowls which automatically make it sound new and different but I also took a somewhat more compositional approach this time. While I didn't write down anything specific, I did think about the overall arc of the performance. I knew I wanted it to be one continuous piece like I usually do when performing. I thought about certain sections that I could develop and then I thought about the order and what would be a musical way I could switch to the next part. I didn't want to plan too much either because that could have ended up sounding kind of sterile. There was still plenty of room to improvise in the moment on all parts and transitions.
  When it comes down to recording original music I'm personally involved in (as opposed to a strictly hired gun or sideman), my approach is simply to make music I'd want to listen to. I try to step back and think if I heard a recording I just did and knew nothing about me or anyone else involved, would I like it? If the answer is "Hey, that's pretty cool. I like it,"
  then I feel I succeeded. So, to conclude, I consider Journey to Planet Gong a success and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it. Thank you!
  youtu.be/rxs0HpVCBgw
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Journey to Planet Gong via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ... more
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