Chris, this is beautiful! A melting tender play and feel and I particularly like this chromatically decending intermezzo starting at 0:50

Live Reflexion#008

sampled base song.m4a

Magic Box

A sentimental country-ish ballad with a big sad finish.
Dedicated to anyone suffering from memory loss. Thanks for listening.
Lyrics:
I can still remember
Felicia in December
Outside in the cold
Smoking Swisher Sweet Cigarettes
But she would always forget
If you're gonna inhale that shit
You know she always got sick
She'd chewed down the tip

It's like I told you on the phone
My mind is not all my own
All my memories are dissolving
Our nights in Arroyo Park
Out feeling that spark
That Datsun that would never start
My bad Cure haircut (disaster!)
My heart was beating faster
A sketch of a love scene
Painted behind
A gothic old master

I was selfish with my time
And now I seem to lead my life
Conducting orchestras in my mind
Oh, I don't know how this sounds
But sometimes I listen to the ground
To hear and feel the rumblings
I think that you're coming around

All my memories are dissolving
Soon, I'll have no memories of this world
I'll have no memories of this world
So let's go out tonight
And shoot out the lights!
Let's break our hearts tonight
I'll have no memories of this world

I wanted to drop you this line
To thank you for the time
And thank you for being in my life
Thank you for being my life

Let's Break Our Hearts Tonight

chorale

'Just Lettin' It Hang.'

UnBoxed March 2024
“Aliens stripped me out of my spacesuit.They were fascinated by the sight of my nakedness.They became excited and aroused. They eagerly licked and probed every curve and crevice of me with their long slimey vibrating blue tongues. . . and let me tell you, dear listener, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it!”

[ d o w n l o a d a b l e ]

Spaced Out Alien Encounter EXPLICIT MIX

Happy PIano Day!  (the 88th day of the year 03/28/2024)

This is a piano instrumental version of Ren and Chinchilla's "How to Be Me".  The original song is here: https://soundcloud.com/renmakesmusic/how-to-be-me-feat-chinchilla

The original has sparse instrumentation (simple strummed guitar chords and minimalist cello), but the added complexity of Ren and Chinchilla's codominant vocals make for a rich harmonic tapestry and a stimulating challenge to arrange a piano instrumental version.  For instance, one aspect of the song that I love is the use of the harmonic minor in a way that spans both a haunting classical (almost Chopinesque) sound as well as a soulful Jazz sound.  The raison d'etre of the harmonic minor is the V - i resolution. In early takes I settled on extending some of the V - i resolutions using a dom7flat9, which seemed to enhance the haunting classical feel and simultaneously felt in line with Ren's love of diminished chords (e.g., the diminished arpeggio in the Intro of "Hi Ren" which is arguably in fact a dom7flat9).  But then when listening back I noticed that in some places this chord extension did not mesh with the vocal harmonies and a dom7sharp9 a.k.a. the "Jimi Hendrix chord" sounded better).  This is just one example of the intricacies of jamming along with Ren's music.

Part of my motivation for posting this piano arrangement was the idea that Ren's music has enough complexity to stand on its own as instrumental music.  I was delighted when, later that day, Ren posted his first piano instrumental on youtube, a beautiful piece of modern classical music https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqq3VcwPGseErHUa0-xLInQ

Here are the youtube channels for Ren:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RenMakesMusic

...and Chinchilla:
www.youtube.com/@chinchilla_music

How to Be Me (piano arrangement)

In The Clouds

'gem' 

Jim/James 'jesus vegas' English: mule tricon resonator
Scotty: Yamaha storia II, harmonica, lyrics, vocals
art: Oliver Barr

Recorded live. 

I want to be happy again.
I hope you see that you are more than a friend.
You're my gem. 

I'm so sorry for not being me.
I hope to mend.
But, I must believe that I'll see it through to the end.
And just maybe then...

gem (with Jim 'jesus vegas' English)

Nostalgic Forest #3

In my early years I took piano lessons, regretfully I stopped them in my teens. I've always had a piano in the house and over the years have composed a number of songs (without words). What’s important to me is the melodic nature of the pieces and I wanted to share them with others. The origins of the music are probably influenced by my early classical lessons, Chopin and Schubert to name a couple. I love Liszt’s Hungarian and Rachmaninoff’s Russian styles but sadly my technical ability hampers the inclusion of their techniques.
Today’s home recording software allows many opportunities to develop compositions using other instruments to compliment the piano however, using the software has been a challenge, trying to get the “right” sound for the piano has been the most difficult part of the process. I’m slowly learning and will probably remix some of my current tracks as my experience grows.
Once I have recorded my heritage pieces, I plan to write a new selection of music predominantly piano but also experimenting with more or different instruments, watch this space!
Thank you for listening and commenting on my compositions and for the reposts, please don’t hesitate to offer constructive criticism, it could speed up the learning process.
Best Wishes,
Chris Cummins

In The Clouds

Chris Cummins Music

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