*Screen shot of instrumental layers : Song For Judy A few weeks ago I had a beautiful email from a member thanking me for the music I make. I was so touched that this month’s composer’s choice is composed and dedicated to Judy. In my email I replied: “… when I was 12 …I would play sustained, slow, ambient, Erik Satie/ dreamy Debussy-esque improvs to put my dad to sleep. He saw this as a very good investment in my music lessons! So, it goes way back, and I think this process was also dropping my own brainwave-states as well- and then Id record and play and speak on a cassette player, my own meditations.” My whole aim is to slow down the heart rate and drop your brainwave state as well as to take you on a journey. As a process, I imagine that I’m flying over an ever-changing landscape. These compositions are multi layered with interweaving layered sounds (polyphony- thankyou J.S.Bach) and I tend to get the whole structure down in the first sitting. Because I’ve been meditating for years, I can go into deeper brain states and still be composing/awake and I think the elevated ‘flying place’ placeSong for Judy-Composer’s Choice by Stephen Fearnley
Blue Lotus (After Tomita) by Stephen Fearnley
There is one very big influence on my electronic musical compositions for One Mind Live: Isao Tomita. In the 1970’s I was knocked out by his breakthrough LP called Snowflakes are Falling : “Virtuoso Electronic Performances of Debussy’s Tone Paintings”. Tomita said that his big influence was western classical music: “I thought I was listening to music from outer space,” but for this wide-eared Anglo Celtic kid of 15, when I heard his Debussy arrangements I was transported back to a childhood filled to the brim with Japanese aesthetics (loads of art books at home) and of course Japanese cartoons. Lots of Japanese cartoons. (It is only now, as I read about Tomita’s death in 2016 that he composed the theme for Kimba the White Lion!) So Tomita was always there in my life and as far as I was concerned he was from outer space. His work opened up a life-long love affair with electronic music especially Tangerine Dream, Eno and Stockhausen. Somehow, such is the mash-up of my mind, all these confluences have produced Blue Lotus, which sounds nothing like Debussy, but could be, with your eyes closed, a Japanese garden in the snow glimmering with layered referencesBlue Lotus (After Tomita) by Stephen Fearnley
The Elixir by Stephen Fearnley
“The usual hero adventure begins with someone from whom something has been taken, or who feels there is something lacking in the normal experience available or permitted to the members of society. The person then takes off on a series of adventures beyond the ordinary, either to recover what has been lost or to discover some life-giving elixir. It’s usually a cycle, a coming and a returning.” Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces According to Joseph Campbell the elixir is a treasure to benefit yourself and others but you have to travel to the “un-ordinary” world to get it. The Elixir could be an idea, a skill, a wisdom, a new realisation, a message from the future or a message from the past, from other timelines or from some past life or ancestor.….anything really that wells up from your centre into the light of your awareness. This elixir has always been there with you and for you. And there is always more than one elixir. Maybe you have known about it since you were little. Maybe its only now being revealed because you are ready to receive it. The elixir could also present itself as a symbol or colourThe Elixir by Stephen Fearnley
This Unmapped Shore by Stephen Fearnley
Of course the best ‘letting go’ story has to be the opening of Richard Bach’s Classic book Illusions. It describes a little underwater creature clinging to a rock resisting the powerful current of the water. This is what all his fellow creatures do until one day he decides to let go. After a few bumpy starts he’s swept up by the current and is held aloft. Suddenly to the astonishment of his fellow creatures a miracle has occurred! He can fly! It’s through surrender and letting go that we transform and enter a world which I call the unmapped shore. Letting Go Month with Lori Deschene led me to find this musical combination of ocean sounds and slow, very slow cycles of synths, pizzicato bass, and beats. Letting go is not about letting go of power. It’s the reverse. Within the mystery of living we can do ourselves the favour of letting go of self judgement, the need of approval, and control. They really are not the best travel companions. Steve Stephen Fearnley is an award-winning filmmaker, artist and composer. He composes transformational soundscapes for the meditation journeys of One Mind Live – a unique worldwide online group meditation community. To sampleThis Unmapped Shore by Stephen Fearnley