Twenty five years after I graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Music in Music Engineering Technology, I decided it was time for another degree! In 2013, I started Graduate Studies in Composition at CUNY Hunter College and received my Master of Arts in Music (composition) in 2015. This was something I…
As a senior at North Salem High School, I’m enrolled in a class that entails finding an internship for forty hours, in whatever field you want, and creating a project to solve a problem specific to the student’s mentor or profession. I called Barry and he surprised me by already knowing exactly what he wanted…
In 2008, my brother-in-laws, wanted to become part of the group and then they were also singing on the Father’s Day recordings for the next few years! The first time I recorded them all, they sang live with a piano accompanist that followed them and then I added a bass part after. A very different…
I sometimes get complimented on certain aspects of my music production work, like how I arranged or mixed a song, or how I edited something or played an instrument a certain way… But I’m beginning to notice that a number of people are even more appreciative of me because I simply acknowledge them by responding…
A few years ago, I produced Annie Karto‘s CD, “Refuge,” which featured Annie’s “Song For Immaculee.” This song was inspired by Immaculee Ilibagiza‘s incredible book, “Left to Tell.” Annie has since become friends with Immaculee and there is a VIDEO of Annie singing her song live, with Immaculee in the audience. The emotional hug at…
In honor of his 84th birthday, which was on February 2nd, we are all going bowling today with my dad! I should also mention, that like Freddie Mercury, my dad also sings… Well, not really like Freddie Mercury, but maybe more like Billy Eckstine or Frank Sinatra. I recorded dad singing a few times in…
In my last blog, Everybody Else Is Wrong, I had a quote from Abraham-Hicks, a Dr. Seuss story and a Todd Rundgren/Utopia song. Everybody Else Is Right has nothing to do with any of that even though the title sounds similar… The other day, someone was complaining to me that their client made them make…
In recent years I have become a big fan of Esther Hicks and the teachings of Abraham. I like receiving their Daily Law of Attraction Quotation in my email every morning. Today’s was particularly interesting: Physical man gets into an uncomfortable place when he concludes, “I and those like me have come to the right…
Over the years, I’ve produced and arranged numerous recordings for songwriters with various levels of music training. Sometimes I am presented with songs that are very complete with lyrics, melody and chords. I am initially given a lyric sheet that may have chord symbols over the words, and maybe a demo recording so I can…
I’ve always had pretty good relative pitch and consider this an important skill to have if you are a musician or a singer. When I’m learning to play a song or composing, I try to use my ear only (not an instrument) and write down what I hear with a pencil using music notation. Once…
Shortly after I graduated from college, I started working with Mike Costanzo at his recording studio in midtown Manhattan, MPC Productions. Mike, a very talented producer, engineer and musician, is a very good friend of mine from high school, and it was great to be working with him at his studio. I learned a lot,…
More often than not, when someone calls me in a panic to save their studio in the middle of a session, the solution is simple. But sometimes problems are more complicated. If I can’t figure out what’s going on over the phone, I may need to visit their studio in person. Once I’m there I…
The twelfth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Float” from the Spirit Trainers’ Companion Music CD to the DVD “Practical Yoga for Everyday People.” After composing all of the music for their 2005 TV series, “Guru2Go” (15 episodes on Discovery’s FitTV), I was asked to compose the music for the Spirit Trainers’ yoga DVD a year later. To…
The eleventh track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Venus Lock” from the Spirit Trainers’ Companion Music CD to the DVD “Practical Yoga for Everyday People.” After composing all of the music for their 2005 TV series, “Guru2Go” (15 episodes on Discovery’s FitTV), I was asked to compose the music for the Spirit Trainers’ yoga DVD a year…
The tenth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Songbird” by Annie Karto. This song is from Annie’s CD, “Refuge” released in 2009 and was dedicated to her husband, David Karto. “Songbird” was written by Christine McVie and was featured on Fleetwood Mac‘s “Rumours” album in 1977. This song was later covered by Eva Cassidy and my…
The ninth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Song for Immaculee” by Annie Karto. This song is from Annie’s CD, “Refuge” released in 2009, and was inspired by the book, “Left to Tell” by Rwandan genocide survivor, Immaculee Illibagiza. Immaculee’s book recounts her experience during the atrocities in Rwanda in 1994 and was on the New York…
The eighth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Tarot” by Karin Marcello. “Tarot” is an original composition of mine for flute and harp, written for Karin Marcello, for her ”Vision” CD, released in 2010. Karin is a flutist and composer from Long Island. As mentioned in my previous blog about “Danza de las Hachas,” all of the…
The seventh track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Danza de las Hachas” by Karin Marcello. This recording was included on Karin Marcello’s “Vision” CD, released in 2010. Karin is a flutist and composer from Long Island. “Danza de las Hachas” is the third of four movements from Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Fantasia para un gentilhombre,” a concerto for guitar…
The sixth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Vudu” by Batik. It can also be heard on YouTube: As mentioned in my last blog about John Roggie’s “Lizarb,” Batik is an eclectic jazz/world/fusion group featuring Dave Anthony, Tom Nazziola, Tim Ouimette, John Roggie and myself. “Vudu” was composed by me, and is the title track…
The fifth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Lizarb” by Batik. Batik is an eclectic jazz/world/fusion group featuring Dave Anthony, Tom Nazziola, Tim Ouimette, John Roggie and myself. “Lizarb,” composed by John Roggie, is the first track on our debut CD, “Vudu” released in 2009. “Lizarb,” in case you haven’t figured it out, is actually…
The fourth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Goodnight My Hero” by Victoria Faiella. Victoria and I have written a number of songs together over the years. At one point we decided to see if I had anything in my “pile” of unfinished compositions that might be a good starting point for a new song. I went…
The third track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “War Pigs” by Victoria Faiella. In her feature on SongClearance.com, Victoria explains why we included a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” on her Wild Butterfly CD: The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were weighing heavily on my heart & mind. Like so many people, I too was often debating the issues…
The second track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “In Mary’s Arms” by Donna Cori Gibson. “In Mary’s Arms” is from Donna’s CD, The Way of the Cross. In my blog about her song “She Was There,” I presented some background information and details about the CD. ”In Mary’s Arms” is about the thirteenth station, where Jesus’ body is taken down…
The first track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “She Was There” by Donna Cori Gibson. I met Donna at the University of Miami School of Music my first semester there. Ever since then, we have created a lot of music together. I must have worked on more songs for Donna than for anyone else! She…
Very often, people ask me a lot of questions about my work as a Producer, Composer, Arranger, Engineer and Musician. How do you do this? How do you do that? Questions come up about: music theory & composition audio engineering (tracking & mixing) using various music software programs recording in commercial studios hiring overseas orchestras My goal…