A “venus lock” is a mudra in which the fingers interlock and the hands fold. Written to accompany a set of Kundalini Yoga workouts, this piece uses synthetic sounds to create a light, compelling groove. The melodies are exotic and free-flowing, but the drum loops and non-traditional instrumentation keeps it modern and “practical.”
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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 later. To create the Companion Music CD, I selected my favorite compositions from the DVD, extending a few of them, and then re-mastering all of the recordings. I was asked to make up titles for the compositions for the CD. To do this, I tried to find interesting words said by Bill Donnelly or Jeff Bader (the Spirit Trainers) during their instructions for each yoga pose that my music accompanied.
The DVD features 3 Kundalini Yoga workouts. In Set 2, “Strengthen and Energize,” one of the poses taught is “Half Plank Pose.” The instructions go something like this:
Bring your elbows underneath your shoulders and then interlace your fingers in Venus Lock. Come up into half plank, a great posture for strengthening the torso, the navel center… Cross your hands, curl your toes under and lift yourself up. Work to make sure your body is as straight as a plank.
Clearly, “Venus Lock” is the most interesting sounding set of words and so they became the title of my composition. The music was composed to go with the video. I created it while watching the video. The style of the music is based on what I was writing for the Guru2Go shows.
“Venus Lock” features modified loops of drums, percussion and other unusual things from Spectrasonics’ Stylus RMX. Most of the synthesizer sounds, including the lead synth playing the melody are from Spectrasonics’ Atmosphere. I also played the melody with a Yamaha WX11 MIDI Wind Instrument triggering a sound called “Eastern” from a Yamaha VL70-m synthesizer. The music was recorded, mixed and mastered using MOTU‘s Digital Performer software.
For more info about the Spirit Trainers, please visit their website: Spirit Trainers