Fiddle About!

I had a wonderful experience this week while playing my weekly gig at the Nyack Farmer's Market.  Just about the end of my time playing the market manager came up to make a request.  She wanted to "You and Me" a song of mine that she especially likes.  being that Ian Moore was there onstage getting ready to take over and play his set, he suggested that we do the song together.

     Ian is an amazing performer, a singer of songs and a story teller, who mixes in wonderful dancing with his fiddle playing.  He is also a fine composer.

     I was very happy to have him accompany me on the song, but also a bit nervous.  I get worried of being able to play and sing at his caliber, well not worried really, I flat out know I'm not in the same league.  But I was so excited for the idea too.

     I showed him the chord progression and gave him a quick idea of what the song is, that took about 15 seconds, and then we went at it.  That was quite enough time to let Ian know where to go with his part.  That's the kind of player he is.

     It was work for me to keep my mind in the attitude of he performer because I so wanted to be the observer and get the full affect of Ian's playing on one of my songs.

     He played a beautiful line, quite sensitive and appropriate, but creative.  I was very moved.  It seemed as though others listening were too.

     Sometimes 1+1 don't make 2, they make so much more, or Moore, Ian Moore.  I love that guy.

The great Ian Moore.( photo from https://www.reverbnation.com/ianmooreplaysfiddle )

     

Song writing, for me is like

Song writing for me is like looking out in the woods and seeing a shape in the bushes.  I can tell something, someone, is there, maybe a fox, or a dog, or a coyote, or a deer, but I have to look harder, be patient, in order to discover what, who it is.
If I see the flick of a tail I might realize it's a deer, or a dog.  I look a bit more and determine the color of it's coat, and then the general size.  And so it goes until I have a confident idea of who it is I am discovering.
Then, I need to spend some more time finding out the particulars of this particular being.  If I say I know it's a dog, or even a dog with a black and brown and white coat, about 50 pounds, with a long tail, I still don't know the disposition of this particular dog.  That take time and more observation, listening for a growl, or whine, or wiper, or friendly bark.
And so it goes.  This is how songs get written for me.  So far.  It can take a little time to become well acquainted with a new song.  Patience is always a virtue, as well as a willingness to listen, and look, and discover.

https://richardamaldonado.bandcamp.com

Winter Music activities

I started playing, at the Winter Indoor Farmer's Market in Nyack, last week.  It made me very happy to be back at the market, and to be able to play for the patrons and vendors.  The indoor space is the Nyack community Center, and the room has an elevated stage but I chose to play on the floor level because this allowed a bit more interaction with the patrons, especially the little ones, as well as the canine contingent.  It seems to me that the lower to the ground, the better the person, i.e. children and dogs.
It was great to be playing for people again and the time off allowed me to bring a few new songs to my rep.
Link to the Market:

hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/nyackfarmersmarket/?hl=en

Gone Til Spring

"Gone Til Spring" the title of a song I wrote last Fall about the end of the sailing season.  I had just gotten a new sailing rig on a small boat and was struggling with getting comfortable with sailing a small light boat, after years of really preferring a heavier full keeled boat. I like the song because it can easily be perceived as the end of some time with a person and missing them.

I've sent this song out as part of a set of "Seasonal-Musical greeting cards."  It's number 3 of 4 songs that folks will receive.  They are all Demos, which is to say, rough cuts, but in the spirit of fun and celebration, I've sent them out this way, blemishes and all, just like a family would sound singing Christmas carols.

The other significance of the song is that the Boat shop studio is closed up til Spring.  It being a music studio converted from a boat shop, converted from a garage, it can get a bit cold out there, even with the wood stove, which is not tight and singing and breathing smokey air is another challenge my singing does not really need.

The Winter sun will now only get stronger as the days grow longer.

I have released the single of "Return, A Solstice Song" on Bandcamp.  It's a demo version, but I thought with it being the Winter Solstice,  why not.  I want to develop the song a little more, but I'm glad to have celebrated the Solstice with the song as it is.

I haven't been keeping at the blog because I wanted to take a break, have a bit of a cloister as the Winter set in.  I will probably be back at it in the new year.

Seasons Greetings

https://richardamaldonado.bandcamp.com

Winter 2018 songs can be heard at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w0KX3g8q6E

"Summer Sessions 2018, Liner Notes, part two"

"Summer Sessions 2018, Liner Notes, part two"

The songs in this collection were all written in the last 3 or 4 years, but most of them were written this last year.  I think that after they were first written they evolved with a bit of influence from performing them weekly at local farmer's markets.

track #

4. The Last Reef
     In the old days of sail the crew would climb up the mast of the tall ships, via the rigging, and adjust the size of a sail using "reefs".  The work was hard, and dangerous.  When the wind got so strong that any sail up was too much you'd sail under "bare poles" but that usually meant a loss of maneuverability, and being at the mercy of the sea. 

5. Missing Parts
     It's hard for us to know the stories of those people who are out in the world sleeping rough, or homeless, and how they got were they are.

6. Around Town
      Some of us are broken by love, and instead of trying to dull our experience of heart ache, accept and actively face it.

available at BANDCAMP.COM

"Summer Sessions 2018, Liner Notes, part Three" coming soon.

I've joined the 21st century

Now Available on Bandcamp!

 

https://richardamaldonado.bandcamp.com/releases

All 15 songs available, as the album, or as individual tracks!

Video clip!

For no real reason, here is a clip from inside the studio on this rainy morning

The song is the first track on "Summer Sessions 2018",  "You & Me"