Woodstock 2024

[@jimideer]

nice

[@frankdicristina1019]

Thank You. Glad you liked it!

[@soundandsilence108]

Just some thougths that came up by listening and in the same time looking at the video. So many unnecessary noises. The guy playing the gongs is making more noises from moving, taking one mallet, playing for 10 seconds, going taking another one playing for 20 seconds and so on ... I am not sure if he has some shoes and also that ones make noises. One thing that I consider very important is what you wear, if it is jeans or wearing trekking pants (I am not sure what kind of pants is wearing the guy but seems super noisy) that are making so much noise and to keep your keys hanging, only if you want to make out of your keys a rattle instrument. The mallets seems to make noise when they are dropped on the floor. When holding a sound session, for me, first of all is how can I avoid unnecessary noises and being mindful of all my gestures. It is more like a movement meditation. At one moment the guy just went out from the room and the one who seems he wanted to meditate he just looked after him. Too many disturbing factors. Lack of flowing transitions. When the guy took the handpan it was incredibly loud. The guy seems to be everywhere and nowhere. Maybe to have the setup more compact, not so much spread throughout the entire space. I am sorry guys to come with this big and not so happy review, I hope it is a constructive one or maybe I am too perfectionist. Other than this, there were some moments with nice flowing sounds, beautiful sincronic timbres. But from what also the two guys from the front row, from the middle of the session they seemed they had enough, or they looked bored. I think it is also an art how to catch the people with this kind of sounds and to put them into an entrainment state, but of course, not all will resonate. I hope this is is helpful and not taken too personal. Personally, my favorite feedbacks are the ones that I can improve from them. Not the very beautiful ones that will inflate my ego!

[@soundandsilence108]

@ Of course I would consider the discussions to go further away from here. I am open to any thoughts regarding my comment. I am aware that maybe my entire comment didn’t came from a place of objectivity, but my intention was not to insult nobody but just an observation of what I notice from the point of an observer. I don’t think that I wrote something that is not obvious in the video. But I am curious to hear you more of your thoughts. Thank you! Unfortunately the email is not showing here, but I will try to post mine here. nadaheals (at) g(m(a(i(l. (c(o(m

[@frankdicristina1019]

Your comment(s) are coming from a place of what you feel things should be without knowing what is. This not your typical transcendental meditation sound bath. This was experimental and done live without edits. Fun facts for those that were there rather than the casual clicker. We had a blizzard the night before and the building was not heated before we opened up to setup so it never got to a comfortable temperature. Hence the shoes and jackets and some wearing hats. Video (camera angle) was to capture as much of the room as possible and be out of the way. A digital recorder was feeding the camera audio input so the microphone is hearing more of what the ear does not. So in the space some of the extra noises your observation (complaint about) was not heard. There also was a heater vent behind the recording setup that kept turning on and off (I could not do anything about) also there were room buzzes and rattles from my custom subwoofer that no matter how many or much shims of cardboard or whatever we could find to quiet them down we could do nothing about it. The subwoofer was crucial for the Beams (electric monochord tuned to D1 36.71Hz) to achieve its full effect in the space. This recording only comes faintly (and I mean faintly) close to what the people present were feeling. Yes, it was shaking the floor like it was supposed to, as well as the walls, ceilings, light fixtures and anything else that was not bolted down. Transitions... well that's an interesting perspective being the observer. Not everything is supposed to flow especially if one (or two) are "searching for the sound" ~ Phil Lesh. when we started we warned our attendees that this was not going to be your normal sound bath and that we were looking to explore uncharted territories. Basically nothing was out of reach and all efforts were to create "THE SOUND" whatever that might be. Hence the possible (from looking) "jumping around." And yes, some were meditating but they got cold and needed to put their jackets on or watch what we were doing because we were blowing their minds (their words afterwards). The space was a rental for about 6 weeks being used as a classroom and Gong showroom. SO I told John not to move anything and we would work around his setup since we were only going to use it for no more than a couple hours. The video was an after thought and a test of the new digital recorder I purchased the day before embarking on my journey to Woodstock, NY. Otherwise this would not be posted and would have only been a verbal story which to me is just simply meh. For me I felt it as quite a success. Not only can I now say I played in Woodstock but I have a video and recordings of it to possibly edit later and see if I can clean it up a bit. Yes I have that technology but wanted to post a raw video because people did not want me to wait weeks or months to post it. So here it is with all its bumps, bruises, moles and warts. Sure there are some opps's but for us experimental types pushing the boundaries and not being held to your classic format or rinse and repeat, there is some gold if not glimmering diamonds there. I know it, I felt it, I was there you were not. When it was all over we both looked at each other and said "What the F*ck was that all about???" BTW, not on camera was the standing ovation and hugs that went around. Think about getting past the what you do or should do and push the boundaries. You'd be surprised at where you go and where you might end up. And mistakes... well we are all human and maybe I should have tailored this one for the masses. But it's WOODSTOCK, yea that one, I had to push the boundaries not for ourselves but to show people that there is more out there than mimicking everyone else doing the same thing. How else do we take IT to the next level. Next time we'll wear house slippers or scuba fins depending on we direction we take. As I listen back to this with its bumps and bruises I listen to the diamonds and gold and go to myself "how do I do that again, or do it better?" And I mean the parts that are blowing me away. Why? Because that sound in my head I have been trying to get out, I finally did and I found someone else to help me not only do that but allow me to explore it, nourish it and expand on it.