Gratitude – Song and a Chat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:23 — 21.5MB)

Episode #72: Gratitude (Song at 4.22)

An interesting one this week. I stumbled across this old demo when I was going through some files on the computer.

I’ve already presented this one to the band (myself and the Patient Hum) – would’ve been handy to have had this demo around on the evening I sang it through with the guys.

Or maybe not…sometimes it’s fun to see what other musicians come up with, without them being steered in a certain direction. As it turns out, on the evening I played it to the band, I managed to convey the sensitive mellow sort of vocal take I had in mind… I was singing lightly, playing keys bass left hand and piano right hand. It’s certainly fun and it allows me to give some cues along the way by pushing the bass here and there and ‘easing back’ sometimes.

This demo fits the bill for this podcast. It’s got ‘something’ about it.- and that something is: feeling.

It’s not the most accurately played demo – that’s me on the drums, having a play through for the first time. The piano is improvised. I threw some quick strings, synth and vocal harmonies tonight, before I recorded the podcast episode. It needs a mix and some fixes, but it was fun. It’s pretty late now…Oh well, you’ve gotta go wild occasionally when you’re a muso!

Song number 655, Gratitude came in on the breeze as I sat at the piano, in between teaching students, back in 2017. I’m grateful for much about my life. I’ve chosen the creative path and I’m grateful for the fact that I chose to commit to this path early on in life.

This song started with a simple riff on the piano, which caught my ear, so I recorded it quickly using my iPad, shooting a video. Then I taught some more lessons.

After a while I had another break. I played back the riff .. Aha ! It’s a great feeling, knowing you’ve squirrelled something away that makes you feel …good.

Actually I wrote about this idea on my blog post this week. The idea of quickly writing just the skeleton of the creative idea, so it’s there for you to come back to.

If we don’t take this step, all this energy – and the seeds of an idea – are lost like dry sand between fingers.

It is such good fun playing the piano and singing. I did enjoy having a hit on the drums – just to get the ‘mood ‘across to another drummer. And that drummer will be, in this case, Dan Dew, the drummer from our band.

On this episode, I also recount a humorous episode of myself chasing a couple of rock wallabies on a very steep slope here in the Australian outback.., piqued your curiosity? I hope so.

Also my blog is petepascoe.wordpress.com . This is where you can view the painting I mention in this episode, plus there’s links to all sorts – including me recent live online concert -the video is up online too.

Here’s another 30 minutes of song and a chat. Relax and enjoy the music and conversation….