The Last Post

It was just over 2 years ago that I completed this little project to record an album of the last documented creative output of my 20's. I set out to make a record within the last 30 days before my birthday between July 22 and August 22. What happened during that period was an incredible creative learning experience and it produced for my feeling a great work of art. Although I have had my strange up and down relationship with this recording since it's completion and release it is undeniably honest and represents who I was, am a what I had to say during that period.

So much has happened since I made this record and in this short amount time I have seen much and changed a lot. I am grateful for that time period and feel good in realizing that this part of my creative output has come to an end. What I mean is that this blog has had it's life span and now it really is time to move on. That is exciting.. I have much more to say and have a lot of music running through me and it is a struggle finding ways that suit me to express it.

Thank you to those of you who have read this blog and I hope you will be around to check out the next output.

In regards to this project that gave birth to this blog, my plan is to have Songs in Preparation for the shift vol.1 pressed to 10 inch vinyl and have the blog post up until it's completion and some of the ones after its completion put into the liner notes. I don't have the cash for that right now but when I do I will re-release it.

Songs in Prep vol.2 is and has been on my mind and I am eager to create it as well as a collection I wrote while still in New York called Ode to Finality. I do not know when these or any of the other music brewing in my universe will be sounded and released as for me it's all about the right time and the right place.

A new website is coming. Yes, I know I have been saying that all year long but yes when the time is right it will be up.

I will leave this blog up as andrewapollos.com for a while and then it will take it's original blog spot url when I put up my new site.

Thanks again to those of you who have read this blog and listened to this music.. I hope you have taken something of value from it and I hope to see in the next creative incarnation..

Peace,

Andrew

Some recommended Listenings

Hey everyone, I wanted to share with you today some things that I have been listening to lately. So much has changed since I first put this blog up and my mind is brimming with new ideas for the new site one of which includes a periodic mixtape of music I am listening during a given period. But we are not there yet.

I have been on a LP buying fringe lately and have really only been listening to music in that format. It is one of the best choices I have made in a long time in regards to listening to music.

I recently went looking to purchase the core Joni records on LP and have been pretty successful. The core for me are Court and Spark,Hijera,Hissing of Summer lawns and Daun Juans Reckless Daughter. I will eventually pick For the Roses and Blue and even Miles of Ailses but these first ones are the core for me.

I managed to find them over the course of a few weeks and the tune for me at the moment is refuge of the roads which is the last track of side 2 on Hijera. I love the unorthodox harmony organization of this song and the bass parts of Jaco are so inventive.

I also picked up Marvin Gaye Here My Dear... I am not going to go into a critique of this album because music critic is not a position I want to add to my CV but I want to share that this record is making me crazy right now. I would suggest that you listen to the album in one sitting in it's entirety and then perhaps a few more times and then start living with one or two songs for a period. That's all I will say about it.

And....... this is all I have to say for now... No long compositions on the matter. A shift for me I know but I am trying some new things.. Until next time.....

Andrew

Sites and Singing

It's has been some time since I have written. My last post was a sort of update and plan to get this blog moved over to another platform and instead we ended up building a new website for another artist which was a very interesting and rewarding experience. You can check out the site and the artist her name is Amy Black and she makes a country/blues hybrid style of southern music that she calls americana. http://www.amyblack.com

I have been brimming with lot's of musical thoughts and am eager to share them with anyone willing to listen in regards to what I have been working on. So what have I been thinking about and working on? The short list is comprised of composition and vocal improvement. Singing is in my opinion is the most difficult of all of the performance arts. Mainly because it is very subjective while incorporating a demanding kind of technique in order to shape you vocal sound the way you envision it. Lastly, it is difficult because it is an extremely personal way to communicate to another person and you as the communicator cannot know exactly how the listener is interpreting what you are trying to communicate with you vocal performance. I suppose that is the subjectivity issue. For example, is Bob Dylan a good singer? He does not have an angelic glossy pop stars sound or much traditional technique either but does that mean he is bad singer? It depends on what listener you ask. It also depends on what the listener perceives to justify a good vocal performance or not.

So as you can see singing is a tricky subject. Personally I am not interested in sounding in a certain standard way actually I despise that more than anything in a "singer" when their voice has no clear character because they are trying to sing like some pop star. What I hear a lot these days are tons of Beyonce and John Legend rip-offs. No fun..

What I am interested in personally is learning how to insure that I make the best attempt possible to convey what I really mean in a vocal performance and that stems from a balance of clear intent and technique.


So I figured it is taking to long to get this new site up so I would just get back to writing here. I will let you know when I have finished building the new one.

That's all for now.

Peace,
Andrew

New Website coming early 2011

Hello everyone. It has indeed been awhile since I have made a post here but I felt inspired to give some sort of an update as to what is going on in my world as it pertains to music and other things..

First, I would like for you to know that I am studying some very specific composition techniques that I am aiming to incorporate in the next project although there is no scheduled date for when I am going to set out to make this new music. But I am going to be putting up a new website that will house my blog post, all of the my music and eventually some insight into what it is I am working on right now.

In the event that you are new here I would recommend reading all of the post up till now and listen to Songs IN Preparation For The Shift Vol.1 along with the "pilot version" of Songs From The Vault that is available on Last.FM for free download. I will be revamping Songs From The Vault with added material and be selling it via iTunes and Bandcamp in the new year so grab those tracks for free while you still can.

So to sum it all up, I am in the Shed right now and am looking forward to sharing with you when it's time to harvest. I will be making some efforts to make easier for us to communicate in the meantime.

Thanks for stopping by and consider adding me to your RSS feed to be updated when the new site is up.

Peace,
Andrew

Music: A Meditation on Notes

Hey there everyone. So today I want to switch gears and speak a bit about some thoughts that I have about music. In all honesty I have quite a lot to say about this and I have been mentally pacing for about a week as to where to begin. But I have decided to just come here and let it flow very much in line with the process of how I create my music.

Our 12 Notes:

I love our 12 notes and my heart in some way mourns their creative relationship amongst themselves in most of our modern music that is available to us today. But what are these relationships I speak of? For me the beauty of notes breathes a reflection of the very human experience that you and I live everyday. 12 notes each with there own distinct color and frequency. Unique in every way from each other yet bound together through a shared experience if we are sensitive enough to tap into that individual yet collective experience.
Yet therein lies the challenge and the struggle. It is to be aware of this experience this is what it is to create music in the purest sense. It is how we individually as artist play with the dimensions of these relationships that makes music special and a musician truly unique.

To listen to music is to constantly be refining our own perspectives so we may be open to share in this experience on our own various levels.

Let us us continue to evolve unhindered and find new and honest ways and re-establish and develop our relationship to the notes on all levels. Listening an creating.

Peace,

Andrew

Stop the Wandering Mind:An Exercise In Creativity

Hi everyone, I took a small break last week but now it's time to move forward on our journey towards experiencing more creativity. This will be the last preparation exercise before we move into the area of practical application.

Today I want to discuss the importance of calming our wandering minds. This subject is often touchy for many because it brings up many philosophical questions in regards to self/soul, ego/spirit etc... The primary problem arises in one choosing to accept this concept: You are not your mind. Your mind is an element of the human body from which we use to experience life through. You can sit with that and I am sure over time, as I have in previous post, continue to elaborate on this as an understanding of this will help you in your creative endeavors and beyond.

You ask, what does this have to do with me being creative right now? A wandering mind is the enemy of creative thought and experience. Have you ever tried to study something or read a book etc.. and found that while you were engaged in the activity you reached a point where you no longer knew what you were reading about or where you were in the book for that matter? This is wandering mind. Perhaps you were trying to listen to something and then you realized that you had no idea what was going on. Perhaps you blamed the book or the music for not engaging you but the real issue is your wandering mind.

I have discussed this problem with many people who feel as if their mind is trying to keep them from doing what they want to do. The root of this problem lies in a misunderstanding about the mind. This misunderstanding is that your mind must be trained and tamed to work with you towards your goals. Your mind is merely a tool, a VERY powerful tool, but just a tool that must be brought into proper negotiation with you. You must be able to focus on things clearly for an extended period of time. You must be able to recognize when your mind is generating unwanted thoughts and let them go. It is from this space that we can really begin to develop our natural habits of creativity.

AN EXERCISE: 100-0 visualization

Try this exercise to experience for yourself this space I am talking about. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes and visualize the number 100 in your minds eye. Next count backwards towards 0 watching the numbers change from 100,99,98,97 etc... Now here is the catch, Do Not Sub-vocalize meaning don't hear the voice in your head say 100,99,98,97 etc... only see the numbers going backwards towards 0. Lastly, when you notice that your focus has drifted to a passing thought or that you are sub-vocalizing go back to 100 and start again.

You will experience that this is indeed difficult in the beginning but I encourage you to stick with it until you get quite comfortable with this. You will notice results.

Let me say this to close, Hard work in service of yourself is the most valuable work one can do because it is through this labor that over time we will come to a richer self-knowledge that will lead us towards our creative contribution that shall consciously serve the whole, our planetary family.

Peace,
Andrew

Expansion Of Imagination: The Next Step Towards Creative Living

HI There everyone. I hope this week has been going well for you all and that you are beginning to take steps towards a more creative life. Today I would like to add another element to the quest towards creative living. There has been a lot of talk lately about the imagination, what it is and how to use it. Perhaps you have read a quote from someone you admire mentioning it or you have come across one of the movies or e-books online about manifestation and they all emphasize the importance of using the imagination to create what you want.

Although I agree with all of these perspectives about the importance of using the imagination I think what is lacking is a clear way of explaining to people what exactly it is since I feel that so many people actually have forgotten what it is and it's basic usage.

Imagination is the ability to consciously dream. This is quite different from the dreaming that we do at night because unless we are lucid dreaming(A discussion for another time) then your night dreaming is a go along for the ride kind of experience. To imagine is to consciously direct what it is you do, where you go and what you see and feel from within your mind. Imagination is the root of all creation because the order of operations are as follows: Imagination leads to intent which creates opportunity which leads to action which leads to manifestation. This is the creative process simplified and it can apply to all activities.

So seeing that imagination is the foundation of all creation we better build a pretty good foundation. So how do we do that? Yes, that is a good question because I think many people find imagining anything to be rather difficult and let me add that a wandering mind is not imagination remember that I stated that imagination is a conscious process but I digress but for good reason :o) So yes, many people find imagining anything to be hard because it is not an accepted part of our western culture and way of operating, in fact it is looked down upon and stamped out of most people when they are young. But all is not lost as your imagination and the use of it can never be taken away from you we just need to remember how to use it.

Exercise: Simple Visualization

Basic visualization is where we will begin towards getting our imagination back. Visualization is the root of imagination. The ability to sense things within our mind. We start with the sense of vision. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. I want for you to try and see a rose within your mind and hold that rose there for a long as you can. You will know when you have fallen off when some other passing thought takes over and you are no longer looking at your rose. This is ok as this is normal in the beginning. Just try again. Close your eyes and take another breath and then see the rose in your mind.

If you take a few minutes everyday to work on this you will advance and you will already begin to experience results such as a quieter mind over time.

That's it. Try this and we will go further into this next time. Be well and be creative.

Peace,

Andrew