Digital Pill - working musicians talk about their lives

John Fleming sings Icarus Wings

Leo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:02:28 +0000

John Fleming is a singer and instrumentalist who has performed extensively in comedy and theatre internationally and also composes for TV, film and theatre. This song “Icarus Wings” was written for a 2007 Melbourne Fringe show entitled “Stung”, it’s about taking risks and being prepared to fail in order to learn and grow.

Download the words to this song here

Visit John’s website
johncf.com.au

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Guitar: rhythmic variation (Doug DeVries) pt 2

Leo — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:51:57 +0000

In part 2 of a series Doug DeVries shares some ideas on how to add rhythmic variation to a piece of music. In this lesson he demonstrates how to increase interest by varying the rhythm.

Visit Doug on these links

His website dougdevries.com

Doug’s albums on iTunes

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Can you learn these chords, accompany Doug DeVries and video yourself doing it ?

Leo — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:18:28 +0000

Doug DeVries lays down – the Challenge – Can you learn this chord sequence and then use it to accompany Doug playing the melody in the video. Then video yourself doing it and post it as a video response on youtube? No clues provided. You are equipped only with your ear as a compass and your pulse to sync with the maestro over the rugged terrain of this melody in a frenzied pace to the finish line. The piece is called the Humming Bird.

I liked Doug’s idea so much I gave it its own category in the menu just in case any other Melbourne musos wanted to lay down the gauntlet and issue their own musical challenge. Any video responses to Doug’s video that are truly inspired I will post on this site. Leo

Visit Doug on these links

His lesson is on this page of Digital Pill

Visit his website dougdevries.com

Doug’s albums on iTunes

and here is the first video response from Kev

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Guitar: voice leading (Doug DeVries) pt 1

Leo — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:54:12 +0000

Doug DeVries shares some ideas on how to add harmonic and rhythmic variation to a piece of music. In this lesson he uses one of his own compositions – Astoria – as an example of voice leading in harmony as well as examples of how to increase interest by varying the rhythm.

Visit Doug on these links

His website dougdevries.com

Doug’s albums on iTunes

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Plans for 2010 and beyond

Leo — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:45:57 +0000

Happy new year to you all
I am currently drawing up plans for an improved podcast studio. It’s only on the drawing board at the moment but I have a budget in place for it already, so it will definitely happen – better set and lighting, a bit more space to run an occasional interview, moving up to 1080 resolution videos and occasional trio performances in studio.

To date the videos on the site have been mainly either performances or lessons, here’s a sneak preview of the other topics you can expect to see covered in the coming year
Out on a limb – videos about musicians who have taken a risk because of an idea they had and it has paid off. Practise – besides ideas about WHAT to practise – this would be a series of videos about ideas to KEEP you practising. Musician’s stories – I have been collecting these in 2009 and plan to start a series in the next couple of months. At the gig – more video shot at live gigs

Also
Live streaming – continuing to experiment with live streaming and move up to 720p streaming
Digital Pill availability as an iTunes podcast

2009 was a BIG year for the site with mainstream publicity and Digital Pill passing the 100K views mark.
As of today that figure is touching 140,000 views.

Thanks to
Phil Greenwood and Kim Lynch for their great work redesigning the site
and our supporters (links on the right)
the site’s subscribers
to everyone who passed on the word through facebook etc
to every one who contacted me with encouragement and constructive criticism
Garry Barker for writing the excellent article about this site in the Age
and to all the musicians who came and sat in my little podcast studio and shared their ideas and music
and were very gracious about my video direction

Finally
I will need to continue to find financial support to keep the work going
but that doesn’t detract from the fact
that Digital Pill is a labour of love . . .

Thanks

Leo Dale
Melbourne, Australia

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Guitar: walking bass (Tim Nikolsky)

Leo — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:28:40 +0000

Tim Nikolsky demonstrates how to do Walking Basslines on Guitar. Tim has been performing with the vocalist Margot Leighton for the past 13 years and has developed a unique style of playing in this musical duo incorporating the whole rhythm section on guitar. The technique of walking bass on guitar is also a great way to accompany other instrumentalists and soloists. Here he demonstrates the secrets of good accompanying on guitar; and breaks down his approach to walking basslines on guitar – step by step.

Click HERE to download a pdf of the lesson

Visit Tim online here
whitewithtwo.com
australianjazzrealbook.com
youtube.com/timnikolsky

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Anita Hustas – graphical music scores

Leo — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:37:50 +0000

Anita Hustas performs and talks briefly about two graphic scores ‘Stream’ and ‘Underwater’ from her ‘Water’ collection composed in 2008. In trying to find creative approaches to composing and making music, and integrating visual art and music performance, Anita has been creating graphic scores for improvisors since 2003. In this video Anita plays Double Bass and Waterphone.

Find out more about Anita’s work here
anitahustas.com
myspace.com/anitahustas

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Digital Pill feature article in the Age

Leo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:03:48 +0000

Garry Barker has written a feature article in the Age GREEN GUIDE about Digital Pill and the Louie Prez CD launch.

Below is some info about the new Louie Prez album with Leo Dale, Ray Pereira and Doug DeVries.

Sample the first track – The Phantom – in this youtube clip

Visit Louie Prez online here

The album tracks are on iTunes

BUY the Louie Prez CD – SCAM – here

CDs are also available NOW instore at JB HiFi – Readings Carlton and Basement Discs as well as in any other store in Australia or New Zealand through our distributor the Planet Company

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Eugene Ughetti percussionist

Leo — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:36:24 +0000

Percussionist Eugene Ughetti plays an improvised percussion solo on gongs and temple bowls

Visit Eugene’s projects on these links
Speak Percussion
Glass Percussion Project

Eugene’s CD is available here

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Mal Webb sings – Ad for beer

Leo — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:28:21 +0000

Mal Webb sings his song – Ad for beer – featuring vocal, guitar and some of Mal’s evolved vocalisations. He wrote it after Chick Ratten of the Rainbow Hotel in Fitzroy told him his music was “not a good ad for beer” and made Mal realise who his audience REALLY was . . . Good on you Chick !

There’s HEAPS more Mal at his website malwebb.com

You can get Mal’s music on iTunes
And his CDs are available here

“You’re a freak” – Ani DiFranco
“I didn’t know beatboxing could be so musical” – Mark Holden
“He’s like Bobby McFerrin, Aphex Twin and Cole Porter playing scrabble” – B. Freely
“An enormously accomplished singer… from jazz to African yodelling”
- John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald.

And then there’s all the Oxo Cubans albums on iTunes

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