Freedom and Improvisation – a juxtaposition
Freedom and improvisation came together for a concert in Trumansburg, New York. Here’s a taste of what happened there.
Music
Music written, composed, and/or performed by Stan Stewart. Learn more about the stories and inspirations behind the music.
Less Wreckage – or how a song got its 4th version
As I mentioned, “Wreck-less” already has three released versions. So, why did it need another one? Times Change “Wreck-less” is a formative song for me. I wrote and revised the lyrics during several wars. The current battles are both violent and personal. My day job, my friends, my family, and the country of my birth
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Live Drums, Honey Bees, Recording Studio Music Video
Play drums live. One of the best things about Ritual Escape was playing my fun hand drums. Plus, I used no synchronization, quantization, metronome or click-track in the creation of this music. Any “bad timing” is purely my fault. Check out the mini-review of this 5-song suite from a friend on BlueSky: Done! Not what
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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
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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Is it too “early” to tell? Another album preview.
First there was “Wayfaring Stranger“. Now, there’s “Early”. How To Rise and Keep Rising Just a few weeks ago, I shared the only cover song from my upcoming album as a first preview. Thanks for all the wonderful response to that. Next up is one of the 8 original folksongs that will be part of
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“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
Release, release, release
I have three music releases. I’d call them “new”, but that would only be 33% true. My B3 Release on Bandcamp Coming to Bandcamp for the first time is my 2021 release “Be (5) Yourself”. Though it ended with three tracks centered on the sounds of the Hammond B3 organ, this was a fun and
Cold Vocal Comping – Scratchy, Shaky Good Sounds
I had a cold. But it was time to start laying down vocal tracks. Cold It’s one thing to start singing cold, without a warm-up. But it’s another thing to sing when I have a cold. This one had hung on for a couple of weeks. And I had delayed my recording sessions because I
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Dream Destroyer – the found is feeling again
Here it is: the found piece is in release. Three versions of the same improvisation. Read on to understand the feeling behind it. Feeling Memory Once I found this bit of music, my memory of the feelings that inspired it surged inside of me. The emotions I had tried to squelch suddenly felt just as