I'll Remember April - Solo Vibe- PIPERvibe

Thank you Patrice. I never feel like I've "mastered" it but I sure do love trying. This short video sample of I'll Remember April" is doing much better on social media than it is on VW. It has achieved over 6500 "likes" and 72 "shares" (that I know of) world-wide on www.Facebook.com/Pipervibe in only five days of showing. I can't wait to get back to work in the real world and apply some new ideas I have for concertizing.

I'm leaving the South Pole tomorrow and heading for McMurdo Station where I'll be until June. This will complete a five year stint of life spent in Antarctica, including 5 months at the South Pole and many missions around the continent resulting in a healthy 13 year hiatus from the music biz. All in the Fire/EMS service as firefighter/paramedic and "Rescuer Down Under". Now it's time to head back to my roots and play serious music. Thanks again - much appreciated.

The sixth's in one hand are very difficult but there are ways of cheating. For instance, when the melody note is a sharp or flat, leave out the harmony note for that one and just pass through it playing only the melody note and when the harmony note is the sharp or flat, leave that note out if they are too difficult to maintain clarity in the melody. The ear will still hear it as if it were played. If you want them in regardless, you have to really examine your physical movement and adjust the rhythm to accommodate the passage.

The musical effects are something I've been experimenting with for some time now. I like to add the illusion of tremolo and an occasional echo that you get with a motor but only at some places for brief moments. The constant sound of the motor turning out constant tremolo drives me crazy. All of it takes extreme mallet damping coordination but for me, it's worth the effort.

The arrangements I do are attempts at having something unique to say about each song. I think the melody of "Ode to Joy" and the melody of "I'll Remember April" go together like a nice, matching pair of pants and shirt. I use the melody to "Ode to Joy" moving in parallel voicings of a triad with the 2 in the bass and the third as melody note on top. To me, that motion expresses April Wind and the changing of seasons. The "splashing fourths" before that during the very beginning remind me of April Rain splashing off the roof tops and was inspired by the unison vocal/string parts in the song "Cherish" by the association. In the bridge, I sometimes voiced the chords as major chords built off the moving sixth (changed from Gm, Gm6, Gm7 to Gm, Ebmaj, Emaj, Ebmaj). This too gives me a feeling of weather turmoil. They are fun artsy things I like to play with.

Another thing I like to do (but isn't on this recording) in "I'll Remember April" is to surprise the listener by jumping directly at the end just before resolving to the Gmaj in the last 8 but instead of doing that, go directly back up to the Cm7 to F7 and Bb Maj7 section and playing it down. I love that surprise.