"Suspend"  From the album "A Distant Arcade"

www.jeffchipman.com

Suspend

https://brianhiggins.bandcamp.com/fan-club 

A&R Reps and scammers will be blocked and reported.

Kickstarter album launch campaign coming soon!


Many of the tracks reposted here are from my followers, so if you are discovering anyone here, please let them know I sent you! And thank you for listening and all your kind and  constructive comments

Born in Virginia, raised in Maryland; survivor of an alcoholic  family; graduated High School and Union Carpenters Apprenticeship; a student of Algebra, a student of Life, a  brown belt Samurai Chess Player; gave up clarinet in 2nd grade because he was too young to understand;  gave up French class 5 years later because he could not speak the language; turned down Ms. Maria Blautzig for the Sadie Hawkins Dance because she had turned  down his request earlier in the school year; walked out of typing class on day one, hell HOUR one, because he could not handle the stress of it;  walked out of Oklahoma State University because he really needed help at that point and did not know how to ask for it, so ‘tear it all down and blow it up’ seemed to be the only way to find any; experienced the deepest loneliness of his entire life to date out on that highway, with no direction anywhere.  He has worked as a ditch digger, a grass cutter, a TV Guide door to door salesman; he has been a farm worker, carpenters’ helper, apprentice, a Journeyman carpenter in Local 132, a Home Improvement contractor and a Facilities Maintenance Engineer.  He has passed up more opportunities than cars on a freight train; he has hitchhiked, hobo’ed and walked across tens of thousands of miles of America's roadways, and a few in Canada, for good measure.

By virtue of  a chance encounter one snowy January night in 1993, when he met and eventually married the revolutionary communist, aspiring novelist, multi instrumentalist soprano and as yet unheralded expert at fitting leftovers into the refrigerator, the  beguiling, and sumptuous Ms. Juliana; this union subsequently created the talented, smart, bubbly, and eye-catching Ms. Sophia, she of the musical pipes.
Mr Higgins first picked up the guitar at age 23, the harmonica at 57, and wrote his first book at age 5, or 6. It shall remain forever unpublished, as the only handwritten master of it is lost to the dustbin of history.


Numerous of the photos here are by my friend Charles Steck, who recently unexpectedly passed away. Thank you so much Charles, we are missing you .Thank you for listening to my music.  Voting link for Distrokid/Spotify playlisting
https://distrokid.com/spotlight/brianhiggins/vote/

How it works

Anyone (not just DistroKid members) can listen & vote on their favorites. Songs with the most votes will be added to a big DistroKid Spotify playlist. Playlists are updated each week, and votes are reset to zero.

I put Ave Maria up for voting on this week. 
Thank you for your support!
Brian

My music pieces are all piano improvisations expressing emotions. It is music telling stories without the words. In my earIy years I sang and played piano in piano bars or fronted bands of different styles, from country to heavy metal and to 40. I've been composing, teaching and performing most of my life.  I'm getting old(er) now 😔 but the great thing about creating music is it gets better the longer you play, and you have more to write about! 

This is what I leave of me to my generations to come who wonder where their desire to make music comes from. My mother, grandmother and great grandmother were both accomplished pianists when they were young. My son is also exceptional.  My great grandmother and gr grandfather sang and danced in minstrel shows (vaudeville) in the early 1900's. Kids today have no idea what life was like before moving pictures.  I now have great-grandchildren. They will know who I am through my music. When I am gone my music will still be here. What a wonderful thought! 

I am a pianist and composer in Maine; USA

My album "The Bleak Midwinter" was released October 2016. "A Distant Arcade" was released July 2022.

Thank you for listening!

Rock,Techno,Ambient,Metal,EDM etc...
There is no border.
Enjoy freely!

Harmonic Holographic Sigils 

www.siliconpsychosis.bandcamp.com

I am a composer and producer of instrumental music in several genres, including ambient soundscapes, electronica, orchestral and chamber music.  

Musical influences include John Coltrane, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Holst, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Tangerine Dream, Robert Prince, Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, Heinrich Ignaz, Franz von Biber.

My Method of Composing and Producing
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I'm sharing my method of composing and producing music recordings in case other composer-producers like me might find ideas worth exploring in their own work. I use this method for Classical, Avant-Pop or Neo-Folk Instrumental genres, not for Ambient and Soundscape pieces. Non-composers might find this explanation interesting, but having a bit of music theory background will definitely help. I consider myself a humble learner when it comes to music theory. 

I owe a debt of gratitude to British musician and educator Gareth Green, whose Music Matters online courses and free YouTube lessons have taught me so much over the past few years. Thanks to his instruction, I’ve moved from struggling to compose music by trial and error to something more enjoyable and productive. The knowledge I've gained has taken my work in new and expanding directions. As the saying goes, “Theory is not a cage — it’s a map. It doesn’t make the journey for you, but it keeps you from getting lost.” 

When I start a new piece, I begin by choosing a key, and picking a scale drawn from one of these sources:
 
1) Western Tonal / Functional Harmony - major or minor chords I II III IV V VI VII
2) Modal Harmony - Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, etc.
3) Slonimsky's "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" 
4) Messiaen’s "Seven Modes of Limited Transposition" 

For many pieces, I also decide on a progression, one as a simple as I IV V, or something more elaborate.  

Next I create a "scales and progressions" piano track in my DAW (digital audio workstation software) and enter the chords I to VII in my chosen key. These harmonized scales serve as a basis for writing multipart harmonies and finding pivot chords for key modulations. 

At the start, I know what instruments I want to use, making adjustments along the way. I tend to write chord parts first, then melodies created through a mix of improvisation and direct input in the DAW. Sometimes I start with a melody.

I develop melodies and variations of a phrase by some combination of: a) passing it from one instrument to another, transposing it by an interval that sounds pleasing, b) reversing it, c) inverting it around the tonic (first) note of the scale. These are well-known methods. 

After completing a section, I choose another scale and maybe a new key and repeat the process until I have a draft of the entire piece. Then I export a recording and listen to it “offline”, take notes of errors and new ideas, and incorporate them back into the piece. Often this “compose / listen / compose” cycle is repeated many times. These iterative cycles include adding new ideas, polishing transitions between sections, changing the arrangement, and incorporating expressive details like accents, and articulations (staccato, sustain, portato etc.). I’m often working several different pieces at once. 

Last is mixing and mastering: balancing the loudness between instruments and adjusting elements like reverb, compression, and equalization. I tend to mix as I compose, even though many producers frown on that approach. I find mixing as I go helps me envision the completed piece and make adjustments to the choice of instruments; it self-inspires me when the piece is starting to sound good.  At the end I do a final mix, but as the saying goes, “A mix is never finished — it’s surrendered.”

In the end, this method gives me a basis for exploration and creativity and helps me stay focused. The goal is always to make a piece of music that feels expressive, cohesive, and emotionally resonant.

On my way down the endless rabbit hole into sonic wonderland...

Suspend

Jeff Chipman