Calm

Its all about holding onto your dream, in this case, music, when times seem toughest. 'Emotional Playing ......'

Do you ever suffer 'musician's block'? Have you ever felt inadequate? Have you been stuck for ideas, or tried to create and nothing seems to come out? Its a 'war' inside one's own mind.  Perfectionism, lack of time, 'I'm not good enough' …. excuses abound …. eventually negative feelings can creep in  and override that 'dream', whatever it may be, [in this case music]. Frustration can creep in and 'musician's block' rears its ugly head.

Such thoughts may be reinforced, as one gets out of practice and the skills one gained eventually weaken ….. one feels like they need to start all over again; just as I did, when poor health intervened in my 'journey' and I felt that no progress had been made; that I had to start all over again; the 'fun' had been lost. …………….. My original goal: to enjoy, to escape, to heal, and to feel with music - my outlet-  had become a source of frustration. Maybe others can relate to such feelings?

Musicians are often described as quite emotionally sensitive people, whom are able to push out such emotions into, and through their music -  and it is these internal feelings that make a difference - it doesn't have to be 'perfect' - it is a journey of story-telling and of transporting ourselves and others away. This was my 'journey' and journeys can be 'rocky roads'.  

Musicians are story tellers with music, and not just with words - and it doesn't need to be 'perfect', creativity can never be 'perfect'.
- we feel and inject  pain, anger, sadness, happiness, and beauty, we reveal the emotions into the world of sound, transporting ourselves and other people into this 'world', often transcending what is 'technically correct' - yes, technique  is important too, but we try to bring it from the heart as well.

Music is my outlet. Yours too?

Whatever one's goal is; whether its for fun or to become famous (ummmm, lol), or to feel lost and escape the world of 'reality' for awhile… it is your dream, as long as it is a passion and it remains fun 

Some dear friends on SoundCloud encouraged me to keep going and I also watched some great videos about 'emotional playing' and learning how to relax into one's music without being overly self-critical. What also inspired me, in knowing that I would never become a 'concert great' :-), ... was that some great composers who achieve such passion and connect through 'emotional playing', are also famous for bad technique and playing wrong notes :-)

So - This is my renewed attempts - its a - Megs 'starting' again piece, a WIP [work in progress] and it brought me great comfort to know that I could once again, sit down at the piano and play at least; to rediscover the energy and satisfaction. To learn to be kinder on myself, to be patient and to know that we don't have to be 'perfect'  in creativity

- and most importantly to have fun in doing so! :-)

NOTE: This piece will also be worked on further and transformed into an orchestrated version with John Styles and Matt Baker, please stay tuned ….

Composer: Megan McCarthy
Solo Piano: Megan McCarthy
Mastered by: John Styles (OneVision CrossWorlds)

Hold Onto The Dream - Megs McCarthy (Producer: John Styles)

Pianoscapes

Passenger

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Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent) [Cover]

After a strange dream the other night, I felt a strong need to express the feelings which stayed with me when I awoke. Do you ever wake and cannot seem to shake the feelings evoked by deep dreams for some time? It is a strange feeling. Hence I went to my piano and just 'played' until the early hours of the morning, influenced by the night's atmosphere when the city was quiet and many people slept.This piece was the result, a strange sensation of longings, strange dreams and times, a sense of being trapped in endless cycles, patterns of behaviour, and questions about life itself. 

What resulted was an imperfect improvisation containing one main theme repeating and encircling itself with few melodic changes, cyclic, in nature but with different and subtle changes throughout.  An almost eery sensation and something quite different indeed :-)


Composition/Impro: Megan McCarthy
Piano Solo: Megan McCarthy

Graphic sourced from: 
- http://stormraynes.net/wpinstall/?p=622    by Maria Beavers

Endless Cycles - Megs McCarthy

Valery Beshevli - Ballad

Something different again from my last 'uplifting piece' [Moths to a Flame], this one slower,  more simple and gentle …… and in progress [I think!] hehe ….

The night was silent at the start of a another heatwave here in Australia, houses still warm despite the coming of relief and 'cool' air over the last few nights. The only sound was that of the portable air conditioner struggling to fill the room with cold air. On nights such as this, during the worst times, one dreads to leave that 'cold' room to enter into rooms where a furnace seems to envelope one.

Despite the silence, I couldn't sleep. Feeling unwell, drained from heat, worried about someone dear to me, I felt a strong urge to play the piano. A melody of sorts had formed in my mind, a melody to soothe the soul. So I pushed past that pain and mental barrier which was telling me  'I can't get up', and I got to the piano. Darkness surrounded me except for the gleam of lights from the street lamps outside my window, …..The only other light came from the glow of the computer screen spilling out onto my piano.

So I closed my eyes and just gently played in that silent warm night,… to my surprise it sounded soothing and delicate, my fingers seemed to hit the right notes and a gentle melody and harmony was created - after a difficult patch with my music, I was surprised at how my fingers effortlessly 'found' what I 'felt',….. I was so engrossed with what was happening, how calm it felt, how much joy I was gaining from playing, thinking that maybe things would be ok for the person I care for,  that I couldn't pull myself away to simply press the record button. 

My heart sank.

Could I play it again, play an improvisation, the way in which had just been created from nothing, or from within? To soothe my soul and the person I cared about so deeply, and hopefully others too.  I tried to forget that it was recording and ignore that darn metronome which I had forgotten to turn off - it throws me, hindering the free-flow nature and freedom of an improvisation

I continued to play, attempting to recapture this melody once again, and this is the result after several problems with my DAW and it not capturing the recording properly.  No, its not the same as my first attempt, no, it doesn't seem to flow as well, or find some of those harmonies that just 'came' so effortlessly from within the first time……  …..simple and imperfect though this piece may be, it still portrayed a sense of the gentleness I felt, ….. in playing ……. "quietly in the night" …. hoping that my dear friend would be alright ….

Improvisation/Composer: Megan McCarthy
Piano Solo: Megan McCarthy

I would also like to draw your attention to  David Ackerman, who surprised me by sending me a wonderful version and interpretation of this track, adding a new dimension of guitar and ambience which suited [playing] quietly in the night' so beautifully, so I most gratefully said yes for him to upload it …. You can find him and the track at: https://soundcloud.com/deephod/quietly-in-the-night-feat  :-)

If this piece [Quietly in the Night] speaks to you in anyway, I would love to hear your feedback, the more I continue on my 'journey' …..  I might also attempt a second version of this with added instruments, and/or if anyone is interested in a collab?  :)

Graphic Source:Julie Lueders  http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/walk-quietly-into-the-night-with-me-julie-lueders-.jpg  

Quietly In The Night - Megs McCarthy

a new series, sharing some sketches with you named after stars :-)

thanks for following @spotify: http://open.spotify.com/artist/758yIKdhJhWL6oTuTSFVV6

Midnight Sketches - #01 Deneb (thx. for supporting and following @spotify)

Reuploaded with a (hopefully) better mix.

First song of mine to feature an orchestra.  Was an interesting learning experience writing for five sections.

If Only Tomorrow

Improvised music produced entirely on the iOS platform using an iPad Pro.

Bill Evans on a Moonlit Beach

Boulder

Composed by Oliver Sadie for The Silver Notebook
Performed by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
© 2015 Lovely Music

The Silver Notebook is a multi-artist production library album published by Lovely Music label, a collection of piano and strings compositions performed by the RLPO.

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The Contentedness Of Being

New Age Piano Music By Javi Williams.
-Music is the voice of the soul.

Music created by Javi Williams
Photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash

My new album #Universe is out now!
https://javiwilliams.bandcamp.com/album/universe

Purchase my album Memories on Amazon! https://n9.cl/javiwilliamsmemories

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Thanks for the support, for more news you can visit my twitch channel!!

Light

An alternative mix of a hybrid original, replacing sound design parts with orchestral parts.

Earth Pulse(The Organic Mix)

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Earth Pulse (The Organic Mix)

Here is the colors of winter. The piano plays for me, It gives me a gift, so I share it to you :) Enjoy <3 .  

Wood Spirit

This little song came to me while I was improvising on my current piece and since the melody did not get out of my mind I decided to take a short break and release this one inbetween ...

watch the "lullaby..." video at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ascoltadi?feature

If you like my music please give me a smile and like my Facebook page :-): http://www.facebook.com/Dirk.Maassen.Music





Dirk Maassen - Lullaby For The Sleepless - Video Link in Description

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Midnight Sketches - #01 Deneb (thx. for supporting and following @spotify)

Dirk Maassen

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