When I thought the door has been closed, it was still open. I gladly entered it. She was still there, the connection was still there, and we’re enjoying the present. I may have felt shattered once but I guess I was able to pick up the pieces so it ain’t over.
piano
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: IX. “A Full Day” (07/31/2015)
Fridays can be filled with so much things to do. You can make the here and the now exciting.
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: VII. “Shattered”
Being heartbroken is sad and difficult to deal with. I gave it everything I had. No matter how hard I tried, it just wasn’t meant to be I suppose:
Now that I’ve expressed it on the piano, time for me to move on. On to the next story at a later date, folks!
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: VI. “Mind Over Heart, Heart Over Mind”
After two weeks of what was an emotional roller coaster, one would be apt to resolve the conflict between the rational self and the emotional self. By the time things were about to come to an end, I was doing everything I can to prove myself, pushing out every ounce of strength, resources, and the mental resolve that I will be different from all those other people from her past. Unfortunately, none of that would help settle her own internal conflict. I ask why can’t we be together. Seems like there is something wrong with me or something wrong with my present situation that will never make it happen. I had difficulty processing the thought that no matter how much mutual admiration, respect, attraction (if you will) that we had for each other, it just wasn’t the right time. Perhaps her own situation would also prevent her from completely loving me or meeting my needs while I might try to do as much as I can for her (that is if we had the chance to be together).
The themes using the symmetrical octatonic and whole-tone scales represent the mind while those based on major diatonic scales represent the heart:
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: V. “It Must Be the Rain”
The wet season in the Philippines is usually associated with major disasters, flooding around the Metro, the inconvenience it brings to city dwellers, disease, even death. Where I live, I encounter problems where it looks like it is raining inside my house. However, there are occasions when cloudy, rainy weather will remind you of a wonderful experience:
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: IV. “Waking Up From a Dream of Grit and Gravel”
There is a time when all of those feelings and emotions coupled with complicated situations and the lack of sleep will leave you feeling frustrated:
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: III. “Quid Inenarrabile Musica Voluntaris”
Part of living life as a single guy would be numerous attempts to meet women in many ways, shapes, and forms. In such a pursuit, there is a time when all of the sudden, you find this person. It’s as if the stars aligned themselves i.e. the person you have found thinks in the same manner as you, completes and compliments your thoughts, having similar struggles as yourself. I felt happy having found someone like that within the last few weeks. We knew each other back in the ’90s, and even back then we had this connection. I met her again recently, went out with her a single night that I probably will not forget. Two days later, we realized that this mutual attraction was real, was so intoxicating that there wasn’t a single day where we weren’t talking to each other. It was on the verge of a whirlwind romance yet for some reason, it was a romance that would never see the light of day. Such emotions are rather difficult to describe in words. When words fail to express, the music will:
Life as a “Single” Guy – Stories Through Musical Improvisation: I. In My Solitude
Ever since I got separated from my ex-wife and started living the life of a single guy/parent, I have gone deeper and deeper into my musical activities. An almost everyday routine I have established is to record various musical ideas and improvise on them, mostly using the piano. While I have been doing this for the past few weeks, something about them was revealed to me. I then realized that as it turns out, they are actually reflections of how I felt at the moment or whatever it is that I experienced within that period of time. As I have previously written before, my current life in solitude can be lonely yet it is an open road where many opportunities have sprung up. Here is one of my musical stories from my current status, as told on the piano, called “In My Solitude”:
A Jazz-Prog-Rock Fusion Band’s Early Beginnings
Since going for anything musical full time in a professional capacity, I decided to form my very own jazz-prog-rock band with two guys from graduate school, namely Diamond Manuel on trombone and Jeffrey Abanto on guitar, bassist RJ Sy (Karl Roy Band, Kastigo, etc.), and drumming virtuoso and chef KC Puerto. Together, we’re Hi-5! Nah, just kidding. We’re an unnamed jazz-prog-rock fusion band that is currently in its infancy. The video above is an excerpt from our two-hour first rehearsal session together where we had the audacity to take a crack at Alan Pasqua’s “Proto Cosmos” (popularized by the Tony Williams’ Lifetime band and Allan Holdsworth). I am quite pleased with our first session together as we were able to go through a somewhat tricky piece and survive it, hahaha! Other than this piece, we also had loads of fun with a free improvisation session. Hopefully, we’ll start working on original music as well as a couple of covers to spice things up.
The spark of it, all, however, was this free improv session with Diamond:
Lunch Break at the PWU School of Music Recital Hall
This is probably the first time I spent my lunch break on music rather than on food.
What’s happening here is actually a test of recording equipment. This is a video recording of myself and Jeepney Joyride trombonist Diamond Manuel performing a free improvisation jam. Everything here is completely improvised. The first piece is a 20th-century classical sounding ditty influenced by the likes of Bartok, Varese, Messiaen, Zappa, and maybe a bit of Debussy. The second piece is a pretty straightforward swing jazz in C minor.
Now, as to why I was testing recording equipment, I was checking recording levels on my Zoom H4n because I’m supposed to record Diamond’s trombone recital this coming Saturday morning. He will be performing his recital program on December 6, 2014 at the Philippine Women’s University School of Music Recital Hall. It’s free admission, and safe to say that I don’t think anybody’s going to hear this sort of jam session at the event.
The test did come out great on my Zoom H4n. I have to say, however, that the video posted here is from my crappy smartphone and so the audio quality is not so great. Since I usually have to take videos for my research, I suppose investing money on a real camcorder isn’t such a bad idea.
So, if any of you are in Manila on Saturday and happen to have some free time, please drop by and watch Diamond Manuel’s trombone recital. Cheers!
