Melbourne Musos Classics now on YouTube!

Some fond memories of some great musicians I was lucky enough to film for Melbourne Musos between 1995 -1999 ...
Terry Bozzio, Alan Zavod, Richard Piper, Trilok Gurtu .... and more to come :)

I've also been busy and posted more original works on YouTube. I've also blown the dust off of music I've composed and recorded over the last four decades, spiffed them up with a bit of remastering and combined them with some art and photography. I'd love you to go have a listen :) ...

The Melbourne Musos YouTube Channel

The Composer Series

Frank Zappa - Opposites Attract / Black Page and Elsewhere

Two episodes discussing the compositional techniques of Frank Zappa; Episode 554 deals with Zappa's term "Conceptual Continuity" and his use of polyrhythms and polymeters, specifically talking about the way Zappa played rhythms off each other as well as juxtaposing phrases in different time signatures. Episode 555 deals with "The Black Page", Nested polyrhythms, a short history of the man and further demonstrations of these techniques.

Frank Zappa - Opposites Attract Frank Zappa - Black Page and Elsewhere

Film Music
... specifically, Trent Reznor and Mike Patton

Drum Show 552 discusses the various techniques for scoring music for film.

Watch Music for Film

Following on from "Music for Film", Drum Show 553 discusses the techniques and styles of Trent Reznor and Mike Patton. Both of these great artists are best known for their bands Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More respectively and have now broken into composing music for films ... episode 553 delves into their contrasting styles ... Watch Reznor and Patton

John Cage - four easy pieces!

This episode of The Drum Show discusses the work of John Cage and the influence and legacy he has left on so many aspects of contemporary musical thought. The three main periods of his career are discussed which includes the Prepared Piano, the piece "Amores", Chance Music, (including Brian Eno's Bloom phone app) and of course his best known work 4' 33".

Cage 1 of 4 Cage 2 of 4 Cage 3 of 4 Cage 4 of 4

The revenge of the attacking New Music !!!! - "The Minimalists"

This episode of the Drum Show deals with the Minimalist school of composers with a study and discussion on the two leading composers attributed to this style, Phillip Glass and Steve Reich. The techniques these composers used such as Phasing, Augmentation, Polyrhythms, Paradiddles, Hemiolas, Ostinato and the concept of "Notes within Notes" are all discussed.

Watch The Minimalists

New Music Attacks Again !!!! - "Stravinsky"

This episode of the Drum Show is dedicated to not only one of my favorite composers Igor Stravinsky, but to one of my favorite pieces of music "Le Sacre du Printemps" ... The polyrhythms, polymetres, odd time signatures ... my God, what was this man thinking!!!??? I finished this on Xmas Day 2011 ... Merry Xmas Igor :)

Watch Stravinsky

New Music Attacks!!!! - "Varese"

Edgard Varese is often referred to as the "mad professor" of 20th Century Music. He coined the term "Organized Sound" and the famous quote ...
"The present day composer refuses to die!".
Widely regarded as the "father" of electronic music, I have prepared four pieces of drumset music in the spirit of and gleaned from studying Varese' work. A tip of the hat to "Octandre" "Ionisation" "Density 21.5" and "Poeme Electronique".

Watch Varese

The return of the son of New Music!!! - "Debussy"

This show is about Claude Debussy. Carrying on from using triggers on the tom toms to trigger notes and samples, I have used the technology to trigger the Whole Tone Scale that permeates so much of his work as well as tuning my piccolo toms to the G minor pentatonic scale, incorporating Polyrhythms, Polymetres and Double Bass Drum work to create a series of soundscapes that hopefully evoke the "atmospheric" quality of this influential composer's work.

Watch Debussy

The Son of New Music!! - "Shostakovich"

I've made this show in dedication to Russian Composer Dmitri Shostakovich. The show details his life, times and tribulations as well as talking about his four note motif which appears in so much of his work. Carrying on from using triggers on the tom toms to trigger notes and samples, I have used the technology this time to trigger the four Shostakovich note motif to create drumset music in the spirit of one of the great composers of the 20th Century.

Watch Shostakovich

New Music! - "Trigger Happy"

Trigger Happy is a series of nine musical vignettes that depict the clash between cultures, the futility and ultimate destructive nature of unresolved differences with a hope that peace can develop from acceptance and a determined effort to cure the virus of prejudice. The title is a play on words used to describe the nature of the music as well as the way in which it is realized, the use of drum "triggers" on four of the tom toms to trigger specific notes and instrument samples.

Watch Trigger Happy, make my day!