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In *both* recordings below, the Yamaha CP88 was tuned to 432Hz to line up with the Earth’s frequencies.
The above is the non-matrixed no-forest pure digital audio version (straight out of the Yamaha CP88) of the entire album: Into the Green.
Track list:
Cat and Butterfly: 00:00 – Score
Freedom Cry: 3:15 – Score
Schedules: 4:48 – Score
Into the Green: 6:29 – Score
Chi Sai: 9:30 – Score
Valley of Decision: 11:50 – Score
Have You Heard the News? (Carol’s Song): 13:43 – Score
The Lull: 15:50 – Score
The Simple Life: 17:14 | Score | MIDI File (for use in Midiano: see the Midiano page!)
Nu-Nu-Li: 19:07 – Score
Forge Ahead: 22:55 – Score
The above is the matrixed WITH forest version of the entire album: Into the Green.
The pure digital audio was mixed with a stereo recording (Zoom H4N Pro placed ~20 yards out) of what the forest “heard” (through Yamaha HS80M studio monitors placed on the forest floor).
Track list:
Cat and Butterfly: 00:00
Freedom Cry: 3:26
Schedules: 5:03
Into the Green: 6:46
Chi Sai: 9:48
Valley of Decision: 12:09
Have You Heard the News (Carol’s Song): 14:02
The Lull: 16:10
The Simple Life: 17:34
Nu-Nu-Li: 19:28
Forge Ahead: 23:15
Description of the tracks:
Cat and Butterfly
This is a rather simple song that just made me think of a cat (or kitten) chasing around a butterfly in a forest meadow somewhere.
Freedom Cry
This is certainly a bombastic and bangy little tune. It’s meant to show the listener that true freedom never sleeps, is always seeking the ascendency, and cannot be stamped out.
Schedules
The precision of this song simply made me think of schedules and how we are tied to and ruled by them. I like on the non-matrixed version, the previous track barely finishes and Schedules takes off. Yep. That’s how schedules are!
Into the Green
This track (and the entire album quite frankly) was going to be about something completely different. God had different plans. After we essentially abandoned the gerbil-wheel American dream way of life, God showered us with land, a 5th wheel, a truck (love me my truck!) and a desire to get out “into the green”. So there you have it. Hopefully the videos on YouTube will show this.
Chi-Sai
Ms. Chi-Sai was a beautiful, petite Shiba Inu. She looked just like a little fox. I will try to upload a picture soon. We will probably also include video of this cute little thing in the official YouTube video.
Valley of Decision
This song represents how us humans are usually in the “valley of decision” concerning things in our lives. Usually this revolves around sin and temptation. That’s why it has wistful parts (where we are tempted) and then it has victorious parts (where we CHOOSE RIGHT!).
Have You Heard the News (Carol’s Song)
I have THREE Carols in my life:
- Carol Garlick (who recently passed away). She was my best friend’s mother. Back in the 70s every set of parents basically raised and/or parented everyone else’s kids. It was a wonderful neighborhood in Kennewick, WA to grow up in. We respected our elders enough to call them Mr. and Mrs. Garlick, Mr. and Mrs. Selby, etc. I kind of wish it was like that today. Mrs. Garlick shared the Gospel with everyone she met.
- Carol Jensen. This wonderful lady married my Dad after my Mom passed away. She is part of the family now and we just love her!
- Carol McQuilkin. This lady is the great-grandmother of our grand-daughter Eve. It has been great getting to know her over the last few years. Go Seahawks (as she would say!).
The song is meant to show how the gospel message of salvation from sin can be heard and acted upon by ANYONE and ANYWHERE. I especially love the responsiveness of the Yamaha CP88 keyboard and how you can literally perform a live “fade out” simply by using a very light touch towards the end. That was meant to show that the gospel goes places, finds root in people’s hearts, and then moves on to the next place. May it find a place in YOUR heart is my prayer. We need Jesus people…especially at this late date of Earth’s history.
The Lull
Sometimes when things are possibly not going well, there might be a lull where you get a bit of rest before tackling the next thing. There’s WAY more to this, but that’s all I’m willing to share about this at the moment.
The Simple Life
This is what I want my life to be like. Simple. I imagine simple hikes. Simple fishing. Simple conversations with the down-home folks in central Idaho. Simple pleasures. Simple garden. Simple retirement. Simple hikes around Deyo Reservoir in Idaho. Hopefully some video footage from Deyo will make it into the YouTube video of this song so you can see what I’m talking about. I like how the Garritan Flute sounds possibly like someone whistling a merry tune. I also remember a simpler time in America. I’ll talk more about that possibly on the video.
Nu-Nu-Li
This song has deep roots. It is tied to Nunnally Lake above Mattawa, WA. This lake is very special to me for many reasons that I will divulge later. Hopefully video from multiple fishing trips to this lake will make it into the YouTube video. I like how the song has a “circular” feel and the Garritan Flute towards the end adds to the mystery and adventure and represents the savage winds that can spring up on this lake. This lake has PHAT trout. We fly fish it and have a great time. We’ve been caught in high winds TWICE and shipwrecked (our version of being “shipwrecked” is having to ditch the boats in the reeds, walk a mile or two back to the car and come back the next day to rescue the boats).
Forge Ahead
This song is meant to be hopeful for the future of America and the world. We are truly in apocalyptic times people. I believe we can take our country (and hopefully the world) back from the evil psychopaths that have taken it over for the last few decades. This song reminds me of the industry, power (rightly placed), and faith of the American people, ESPECIALLY the farmers. We owe a debt of gratitude to the folks that get up every day and work their farms to feed us.
The overall vibe I was going for was that this album would give you peace and hope for the future.
I deliberately tuned the Yamaha CP88 piano to 432Hz because I’ve done some study on how the original 440Hz was arrived at and how that frequency (440Hz) DOES NOT tend to line up in sympathetic resonance with the Earth’s typical frequencies. Since I knew I would be recording outside in the forest (in the green!) and because I knew I would capture what the forest “heard” (coming from the CP88 through the Yamaha HS80M speakers), I simply wanted this music to be as harmonious with the Earth’s natural frequencies as I could make it in hopes that this music finds a place in your heart and soul (and mind!). Folks that know me know that I’m not a typical tree-hugging environmentalist new-ager (even though I feel bad when I step on a sapling on my land), HOWEVER, I certainly believe that the Creator made all this for us and I suspect that a lot of harmony to nature has been lost in mankind’s past. My hope is that tuning to 432Hz and recording “in the green” can capture some of this harmony and transfer it to you.
I wish to acknowledge the brilliant and wonderful engineers at the Yamaha Corporation for creating the CP88 piano. It has many grand pianos stashed away inside it, but I personally gravitated to four of them (in the order shown):
- Hamburg (this is a sampled 9 foot Steinway grand piano)
- What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good Steinway. This is because I met my wife Kathy in the Velvet room in Regents hall at the Washington State University (WSU) campus back in 1983. The Velvet room is a student lounge next to the cafeteria and it had a gorgeous Steinway grand piano back in the day (which I probably played at *least* an hour a day). Recently, when I turned 58 years of age, we took a trip back to Pullman, WA (through the Palouse!) and the kind folks at Regents hall unlocked the Velvet room and let us back in the very room where nearly 40 years earlier, we had met. That Steinway was still there. A little beat up since I last saw her, but still as woody and yummy and tinkly as I remember.
- Imperial (this is a sampled Bosendorfer grand piano)
- Big, bold, and brassy, this piano has plenty of “oomph” for pounding out big songs. On the other hand, I find it is almost tender on Hymns (which I will begin working on next, as time permits).
- S700
- The S700 is a handcrafted acoustic grand piano built by Yamaha master artisans. It has the power to cut through dense arrangements while remaining delicate and expressive in solo and sparse settings. I like it because it has a wonderful “squishy” sound that just sits nicely in a mix but is very nice solo.
- CFX
- This is Yamaha’s flagship 9′ grand piano. Bold yet plenty bright.
In addition to the great grand pianos in the CP88, the action is exactly what I was looking for. Plenty stiff, but not TOO stiff, and able to do fast repetitive notes (as in Freedom Cry), yet you can then also hang back and let it sing on songs like Into the Green, The Lull, and others. You can also play extremely quietly and it responds in a whisper.
Just a fantastic piano that lets me communicate my gift to the world.
Lastly I would like to thank my wife, Kathy, and our four children: Jeff, Tom, Emma and Katie.
They are my everything in this world and the reason for my being.
Remember, all of you:
we have a date in the forest where we will sing and record our family song: Growin’ Up.
I’m holding you all to it!
This album was a labor of love…some labor…but a LOT of love and I’m glad I got to share it with you and I hope it blessed you as much as it did us. I will probably talk about the video aspect of this project in the various YouTube videos that we release in the winter of 2022.
Sincerely,
Kevin B. Selby