Metta Music Collective
Our music can be categorized as Ambient/New Age/Instumental/World and at times a Fusion of different music styles. The Vocals are a warm, rich, emotional reflection of the music's changing moods; sometimes using lyrics, but most often using a variety of tonal vocalizations.
Sometimes when we listen back, it is almost like we are listening to someone else! What comes out of this spontaneous collaboration is a lot of fun and a deep and timeless appreciation for the process of music making as we mutually, without trying, push each other's musical expression to levels not experienced before.
Our desire for this kind of music making is first to provide an elevated experience for the listener. We are personally striving for that same experience, and to ultimately take ourselves beyond the familiar to places unknown, where we can hopefully send out a ripple of Harmony and Enchantment to a greater circle of life.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
We worked on some recordings a few years ago which also led to our doing some performing at that time. We re-united last August 2009 when Guy put together a concert. Later that fall we started playing at a local yoga studio.
Don is an avid yoga practitioner and had been playing music at the studio in exchange for classes. Guy is a deeply spiritual person with a background in Eastern healing arts. Don indicated to Guy that he had the yoga sensibility and that he should come and play. We played yoga music at Christmas for a yoga studio fundraiser for Haiti. We were both convinced that we were onto something really good. There was a natural flow in our playing...almost like a 'playing meditation' where we found ourselves going in directions rhythmically and melodically that we didn't plan or anticipate. Guy eloquently characterized this new aspect of the musical relationship as: "It felt like I was as much of an instrument being played as I was playing one....and my 'vigilant duty' was to try to get out of the way and not control the direction, but to let the direction I'm going in take me."
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
We play live yoga music once a week. We recently played a Baha'i feast to a very appreciative audience. The Baha'is really know how to rock. We are gearing up by building our repertoire and producing a CD for sales for more live performances.
What equipment do you use?
The ingredients we use to create our musical improvisations include:
Don playing a Classical, a Six and a 12 String Guitar and Guy, playing Guitar, Native Flute, Recorder, Percussion, Drums, Hammer Dulcimer and Voice...and any other toys he can can get his hands on.
