Photos from a Holiday week
My spouse and I were just on holiday. Here’s a bit of the beauty we enjoyed. I’ll be back to music-making tomorrow. And it looks like I will bring plenty of inspiration with me.
Creative Insights
Along the way, Stan Stewart has learned a few things about creativity. He shares them with you in the hope that you’ll respond with your confirmation or perhaps that your experience is completely different. Both are welcome.
This is also a place where you’ll find some articles about inspiration. After all, that’s an essential part of artistic creativity, too.
Escape May Be An Option – Ritual Escape
Is there no escape? We live in challenging times. Tyrants, fascists, and bullies too often have the upper hand. But … And … At the same time, there are examples of human beauty rising up. People are turning to community and art as ways of accenting the good. Sometimes, the flood of the sweetness and
Creating Through Limitations – Scales of Creation
I’m supposed to be confined to my long-term project. But here it is again: a brief interruption. Confined Since I was off the rails of my folk song album, I decided to give myself a challenge. “Hey! If you’re going to mess around, at least do it with purpose.” This time, I chose limited instruments,
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Forms: Passacaglia and Fantasia or Fugue and Fantasy
“Classical music” can be interpreted so many ways. Is it an era of composition or a musical genre? Does it pay more attention to form than to substance? I know that Classical and Baroque periods of music are European, white, and male-dominated. Because this is part of my background, I have influenced by it. I
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Clouds and More from the Finger Lakes
In a time of war, I seek peace. In a time of deadlines, I turn to beauty. Clouds My sister and I continue to share cloud photos with each other several times a week. Here are a few that I captured in the Finger Lakes region of central New York state. No matter how many
“Ritual & Mayhem” by the numbers
Numbers may mean something. Or they may be random. Let me break it down for you. Five, Six, Seven In my suite named “Ritual & Mayhem“, I created three tracks: Invocation, Mayhem, and Ritual Dance. The first of these I wrote in 5, the second in 6, and the third in 7. What I mean
Why Sing In A Choir?
Why sing in a choir? You can’t get harmony with one voice. Singing Together I’ve been singing with the Trumansburg Community Chorus (TCC) for a few years. When I first joined, I wondered if it would really work for me. The singers are quite varied. Some are trained vocalists and others struggled to read the
The “other” day job – what matters
Some things matter. Some things matter more. Nothing Wrong With A Day Job I’ve gone through periods when my only income was from music. However, throughout most of my adult life, I’ve had a non-music source that provided most of the money coming into my accounts. In addition to writing, composing, arranging, performing, and recording
Tracking The Toughest of All – Singing Vulnerability
Vocal tracking is challenging. And who is the judge of that? Vocal Tech I could say that the most challenging thing about recording vocal tracks is the technology. It’s true. Vocal tracks require as many or more plugins (or modules within plugins) than other tracks. Typical vocal tracks benefit from a de-esser, a compressor, and
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The stranger in “Wayfaring” unmasked
For me, there’s more than one “Wayfaring Stranger”. Let’s see if I can explain. Where we’ve been The story so far is that I recorded throw-away “scratch” tracks while I had a cold. Then, I decided to keep those vocal comps. Next, I explained a bit about why I chose this cover song as the