This is the second version of this piano improv. I asked Sophie, my 13 yr old student to add to the music a cello part the way she felt it. She has good instincts for someone so young. She has played several other pieces of music in the past 3 years that you can easily find gong down my list of tracks. she listened once to the original music and then added the cello.  I was pleased with what she played because she was able to feel where the music was going.

Insomnia (Collab With Sophie)Version 2

I am an artist, who writes, photographs, paints, composes music, writes lyrics, and sings.

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! 

Music, Sound and Programming are old time passions. I'm posting various things here. Some recorded nearly 30 years ago, classical guitar with Roland D5 multi tracked with two tape decks.

Modular pieces are recorded live without editing ... pure impro and tweaking.

Aleatoric Journeys are generated programmatically with an application I'm working on. Output is a midi file.
The tracks are rendered in LMMS with free plugins.

Meditation tracks are produced with the current version of my application.
Midi file is now much more elaborate.
It's just rendered with timidity. Effects are added in audacity. It's based on a mutable sequence concept I'm working on.
The sequences are periodically mutating at a given frequency and level giving an ever changing sequence. For recent pieces the sequences can be set back to the original periodically and then will evolve again.


Meditation Three is another improvement in the process as all tracks are rendered individually, then mixed in audacity.

When creating this application I always tried to make things sound like they were actually played. The purpose for me is to be able to work at a concept level to capture the ideas before they go away and in a way try to compensate my ADH.

Songs from the edge of somewhere.
You don’t know if you’re walking into a protest, a party, or a funeral.
Bluesy, soulful rock’n’roll.
Haunted, deep and raw. 
The kind of raw you can’t fake.

“You don’t sound like anyone else,” said Danny Thompson - legendary bassist for Nick Drake and Joe Strummer - about English producer Conil.

Tchad Blake, sonic architect for Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, agreed: “Strange Part of the Country is an amazing album. I still listen to it.”

Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green was also a fan, making a rare visit to Conil’s studio to record a mellow take on “Woke Up Around Midnight,” his smoky tribute to the jazz greats.

Conil’s distinct sound has drawn praise from Marc Ribot, Davey Graham, Pino Palladino, and John Leckie - artists and producers known for recognising the real thing when they hear it.

Upon release, Strange Part of the Country made quiet but lasting waves. Q Magazine gave it four stars and a Q Recommends stamp. Blues Matters Magazine put Conil on the cover, calling him “one of the most original artists out there.” In the U.S., “Years Between” climbed to number three on the Alternative Radio Chart.

Raised in England on the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, and Tom Waits, Conil later lived in some of the world’s most musically charged cities - New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Austin and Berlin - chasing sound wherever he went.

That began early. He travelled far, met the Dalai Lama, climbed Kilimanjaro, and crossed the Himalayas - experiences that shaped his perspective and his music.

He is now finishing his long-awaited second album - recorded in New Orleans, Chicago, London and Greece - with Danny Thompson, Tchad Blake and more.

Thomas O'Higgins Horna
Aspiring film composer.

1997
Founder "Fluorescent Project"
_Electronic Sound Prouducer.
_Colorist
_Photographer

Insomnia (Collab With Sophie)Version 2

Sonni Quick