digital tape

Above and Beyond

What is fun about a project like Above and Beyond is that, while learning to play with a new instrument, I also get to test the limits of the technology at hand.  I am also met with the challenge of trying to push the boundaries of  my creative ideas, while simultaneously being held back by people’s expectations.  Above and Beyond was to be marketed to massage therapists for use during massage therapy sessions.  In a massage therapy session the music is supposed to be transparent.  The client is supposed to relax.  The music is to be ‘felt’ more than ‘heard’.  In that respect the music is a total failure.  This music demands your attention.  It draws you in.

To create the music for Above and Beyond,  I experimented with all kinds of sounds available only from a Korg M1 Music Work Station.  What’s really cool about the M1 is that you can take basic PCM samples and mold and shape them in an infinite number of ways.  Often, creating a song meant spending a great deal of time designing sounds specifically for one song.  I also experimented with the form and structure of the songs.  A number of songs were flat out rejected for being “too dark.”  I still love listening to those other songs that didn’t make it on the CD.

This album is now available as a download or for streaming online, but it was originally released on Compact Disk.  The disk was to be about an hour long.  And the order of the songs on the disk were set up so that the music would gradually bring the listener to deeper relaxation.  Then gradually bring them up a bit.  I don’t think it will work with every one in that way, but it was worth a try.




My first outlet  for selling the CD was at the Spa at Norwich Inn.  Betty Loiacono was the spa’s publicist at the time.  The following is what she had to say about this release:

“Above and Beyond  was a unique project for David in that it was inspired by his therapist wife Beverly, other therapists at the Spa at Norwich Inn, and by the guests at the spa.  Noticing that not all of the music (“New Age”) was having a beneficial effect, and was actually disturbing at times, David and Beverly created the themes for this music which would not only be relaxing, but uplifting for the spirit as well.  By popular request, Above and Beyond was created, right here in Norwich, especially for our guest and staff.  It now holds acclaim and the music has been described as a peaceful force.” Betty Loiacono – Public Relations Department – Spa at Norwich Inn (607 West Thames Street, Norwich, CT  06360)

The music in Above and Beyond was composed, performed and recorded by David E. Gonzalez,  Copyright © 1995 Advent Studio Recordings.  You can also look for it at you favorite online store.Above and Beyond

 

For those times when you’ve been searching for the Elusive Answer, and all you need is A Simple Thought, retreat to The Nesting Place at Summer’s End, and Surrender to Above and Beyond.  There you will find, riding high on Balloons, Windows In The Sky beckoning you to The Eastern Sky from A Long Time Ago, where To Flow As One in the Cielo Azul brought more than Friendship, it brought My Dance with Not A Cloud In My Mind.