The Glamour and Substance of Music: A Reflection on Artistry

Many still perceive a musician’s life as shrouded in mystery. At first glance, the world of musicians appears glamorous—a shimmering facade. Music videos featuring their favorite artists show them parading with wads of cash, glamorous women, and fancy cars. Concerts of popular music are a spectacle of shimmering dancers, pyrotechnics, and individuals pretending to play musical instruments. The expectation is that a successful musician is an excellent musician, and an excellent musician lives a glamorous life.

The most popular music touts a life full of the darkest habits and pleasures; ultimately, glorifying money, sex, illicit drugs, and violence as an escape from life’s hardships. Music becomes the conduit through which anyone can promote their new Messiah. And so, those who don’t even know what a dominant chord is can spew out vitriol and hate language without consequence. The people chant, “Give me more! It has a nice beat.”

Don’t get me wrong; I will continue to value freedom of speech. I will continue to value freedom of artistic taste and expression; however, it can be somewhat disheartening when those who consume music purely for entertainment seem to prioritize glamour over excellence.

One of my favorite music videos is that of the renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin playing “La Campanella” in one of the finest halls, elegantly dressed in a tuxedo. It was an exquisite and expertly executed performance. At the end of the video, you can see him waiting at the back exit of the concert hall, holding a bouquet of flowers. The big takeaway for me was that he did not have a full audience, and when his ride arrived, it was a Volkswagen instead of a limo.

Don’t be fooled. Excellence transcends time and space, and for some, it still holds immortality. It is true for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, even though he was buried in a pauper’s grave. It is true for Joseph Haydn, who chose humble service as a working musician over a glamorous life in Vienna. True musical excellence endures beyond material glamour.

I invite you to explore my new piano compositions, Seven Pieces. I believe in pursuing a passion for true musical artistry, in transcending fleeting trends, and crafting music that resonates with timeless elegance.

Seven Pieces by David E Gonzalez is available on many online music streaming platforms. Look for it at your favorite online store.

Samples, Synths and Positive Organs

The idea is simple; achieving the desired result, however, is an entirely different matter. The question being, is it possible to produce any sound you can imagine from a single instrument? Instrument makers have answered this question with a certain level of success over the years, and with today’s technology, it is possible to have just about every conceivable sound in a single box.

The organ is such an instrument, as it has been the choice instrument for many musicians wanting a band at their finger tips. Organ makers would cram flute, string, vocal and percussion sounds with varying levels of success into a single instrument. Pipe organ makers made this possible by adopting different techniques and materials to manufacture the pipes. Theater organs, for example, may have actual percussion that can be played as one of it’s ranks. The history of organ making is long and requires textbook length discussion to cover the subject. The history of synthesizers is also quite extensive, but I will fast forward to 1988.

The Korg M1 was already about four years in production, when I purchased it. The M1 held such promise to be the all-in-one solution I was looking for, but I would soon discover it’s limitations. Nevertheless, that did not stop me from continuing to try and push it to the limit. The Korg M1 has a limited number of sample and synthesizer based sounds and functions. With these and a vivid imagination, synthesis parameters can be changed to come up with a limitless number of sounds.

I would soon discover that the instrument could only produce a limited number of voices at one time. An 8 track sequencer was never enough. Playing too many layered sounds at the same time meant that there would be “dropped” voices, so getting a rich multi-layered sound was impossible with just one Korg M1. If you’ve had any experience in these matters, you know how these limitations can be frustrating. This did not stop me from trying to dial in or multi-track the right sound. Fast-forward to present day.

Playing the band from a single box has it’s limitations. Outside of the box, I’ve had the privilege to learn and play many other instruments. In my opinion, playing a “real” piano is still better. Playing any real instrument is better than playing the one in the box. Even with the higher sample rates and resolutions available today, nothing beats a real piano, etc. With that said, there are many real instruments that would have been out of my reach without the use of my Korg M1, sampler or VST instruments.

One such instrument is the positive organ. The price of a quality positive organ could easily cost $28,000 and more. I love the sound of ancient music played on the positive organ, especially when it is played in the right room. So with a little imagination, I dial in the parameters on my Korg M1 and “invent” the sound I want.

In the following example, I have recorded layered Korg M1 sounds to play: Fantasia by Johann J. Froberger. Getting warm and realistic sounds from the Korg M1 is very challenging. The following sounds are made from the basic sampled sounds of Bottles, Organ and DWGS TRI. The idea here was to emulate a positive organ of one or two ranks, with pipes made out of wood.

This next example, Toccata, is a piece by, Johann P. Sweelinck.

The following example is, O Sacred Head, Now Wounded. The music is attributed to Hans L. Hassler, 1601; harm. by Johann Sebastian Bach, 1729.

For the following three examples, I am comparing harpsichords made using the Korg M1 against a harpsichord from a leading orchestral library. Nowadays, instruments can be sampled and played at much higher resolutions. It’s the equivalent of taking a 2 megapixel picture versus a 24 megapixel picture. The piece recorded here is Gavotte by J. S. Bach. This rendition is for harpsichord and flute. I am playing a “real” flute.

The following Korg M1 harpsichord was layered from 3 different basic samples. The harpsichord was then recorded onto three different stereo tracks and blended to make the single instrument.

This Korg M1 harpsichord was also Layered from 3 different basic samples. The harpsichord was then recorded onto three different stereo tracks and blended to make the single instrument.

Harpsichord played from the IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik sample library. For this harpsichord, the instrument was played without any parameter changes on my part. In other words, I could play the instrument without “inventing” or synthesizing the sound.

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Just In Time — smooth jazz flute …from “Quicksand”

Watch David perform his song, Just in Time from the “Quicksand” CD. The original composition was performed and produced by David E. Gonzalez. All instruments performed and recorded by David E. Gonzalez.

This is not classical. It isn’t jazz. It is not pop and it’s not rock. Quicksand is a blending of styles with a hint of new age, jazz and latin/spanish sounds. It can be haunting, peaceful, moody, forceful—-beautiful. You decide. Give it a try. It may be speaking your language.

Thanks for listening