Gary
4 September 2008 By
Gary here. I am the Tenor of the group I just thought I would post my first entry into the 4-AM site. As a group and with Jim’s help we are just starting to grasp the possibilities of sharing our work out in the cyber world. As we gain greater skills in our use of music production technology as an arranging tool I think you will begin to hear changes in the kind of sounds we create as a group. Traditionally, we have worked from written musical arrangements. We would then experiment using the written piece as our source. We are now experimenting with vocally improvised sketches and then developing the arrangements from these “vocal ideas”. It really is not much different than standing on a street corner and making up harmonies as was often the case with “Du-Wop” groups. Only now, we record the ideas and expand upon them. The more I learn the more I find out I need to learn. I really dig the creative possibilities.
Keep checking in for a listen and look at what we are doing and where we are going as artists. I think you will find it an interesting journey.
Happy Labor Day!
31 August 2008 By Leave a Comment
It’s that time of year again and that means that I’m in a parade. Actually, it means we all are, just not as 4-AM. Jenny, Flora, Gary and I are going to be in the Zion, IL Labor Day Parade as The Garden Club. If you’ve seen Mary Poppins, think the chalk drawing and that’s what we look like. This has always been a fun group for me for a lot of reasons, some of it is the music, but one of the most important is because this is a big reason for becoming 4-AM, so it’s special.
So if you’re up in the Zion, IL area and want to see us, the parade starts at 1:00 CT, you can click the map link under the Next Show heading at the bottom of the page. If you want to follow me on Twitter or Plurk you’ll get some on the scene updates and probably a picture or two (I’ll see what I can work out, cell phones don’t really go with the turn of the 20th Century costumes).
No matter what you do, have a great weekend!