I start today with a sigh. I feel that the year has been unproductive, yet at the same time a tireless struggle of constant daily work which is not reflected in my output.
The year started with a promise of an album each month, as training, as a boost in output, to transform and shape my future art, a new path of sorts. Things feel as though they gradually ground to a halt. I completed and released Secret Electric Sorcery, and then wrote and recorded Heart Of Snow (holding off on the release until November), then Remembrance Service, which is good, a small but certain step forwards. The new synthesizer took up a lot of time, the sampling and learning of it, and the sheer number of new options and waveforms slowed things down.
I've also published my music for the first time, or at least, started to arrange it for sheet music; made much more progress in learning to sight read, gained a first piano student, and performed live music more times than at any time since 2019. About 6 weeks of the year have been spent upgrading Prometheus, my vital music software, some of the changes a consequence of the new synthesizer. The key features added were a new spectrum analyser of whole songs, to allow a degree of auto-balancing in a final mix. Several auto-loop options for samples, and the ability to mass-load multisamples. Those features proved vital for sampling the several hundred new sounds I added to my sample-bank in 2022. I've added a few more MIDI features, like the ability to group and sort manually recorded notes, and control and automate MIDI controller messages, but the biggest update was adding 10-octave support and new dynamic allocation of temporary variables, making the program smaller and faster, but with more features than before.
I wrote and published How To Organise Your Computer Files, which was worthwhile, and charged into painting, but managed to complete only a scant few paintings; all of which were partially complete the year before. Plus, I finally staged Neorenaissance (and published the subsequent book), though at the worst possible time due to Covid restrictions, and entered a first few art exhibitions since the pandemic began, as well as being accepted into the Society for Art of Imagination, though with scant few new works of quality to contribute so far. I've written 60 or 70 new songs, including the ones for special events like the Bob Dylan and Ukraine Benefit performances.
At least two months, perhaps three, were spent on the Lou Salome album, probably my best work so far of the 'lieder' albums; and Fall in Green's releases and performances keep growing in terms of attention, as well as quality.
The Modern Game, and Burn Of God were re-mastered, with re-recording of guitars and vocals as required; so a lot has been done, though much on 2022 feels like covering old ground, or (in the case of software, singing training, and sight-reading training) preparation for potential new ground. I am reminded that art is a mix of creation and the shoring up of existing works, and perhaps my charging forward in previous years was at the cost of this important shoring up.
Well, I have a few weeks of 2022 left, and will keep working on the 'painters' album. My music work is now taking longer and longer, costing more and more in time and money, so I should start each album only with high and lofty aims, to prove my best, but I can't... I must really behave with my art as I always have, to make what I want and choose ALL options when faced with a choice, to charge into the full fold and do all of it. It is only by doing this that the accidents of great works can emerge, because nobody can identify those before the fact - though we must try.
My life began at 34 when I joined my first art club, when I decided to 'take art seriously' - but perhaps that is dramatic, as I've had several re-starts. 2002 was a year of starting; the start of IndieSFX and Cornutopia Software. 2012 was a great year for art and success. The pandemic, perhaps, has taken two years off... so 2024 should be the next year of renaissance? Well, all years must start with the best of intentions, the greatest dreams. Life is short, our days limited in number, so each day must contain something new, a new droplet to fill the bucket of our lives.
