Visual Music Productions

Visual Music Production is a music production house specializing in award-winning artist, commercial, feature-length projects featuring the services of Grammy™ award-winning arranger and multi-platinum award-winning composer, producer and performer, Fletch Wiley.

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Here is a little video from a benefit concert we did at Capital Church (Vienna, Va) awhile back. It's a song I wrote for my wife ("Samba for Kate"). It is a "home-grown" production, so be gentle (one mic/camera).

Leo Alvarez-percussion; Gary Grainger-bass; Alejandro Lucini-drums; Roger Hooper-keys (hiding!!); Rick Bowlby and Mike Ault-guitars; Ben McCall on sound; me on flute.

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It Just Got Easier (and Cheaper) to Make Your Recording Dream Come True

Ever dreamed of recording a CD?

In Nashville?!

Well, Visual Music Productions has some fantastic news! For a limited time, you can put “done” to that dream and get a chance to record with some of the most amazing musicians—ever—at a new lower price.

For well under $20,000, you can record 10 songs:

•            with Nashville musicians and background singers

•            at a state-of-the-art studio

•            produced by a Grammy™ Award-winning arranger

In addition, you won’t have to wade through the arcane world of creating charts, booking musicians and studio time, duplicating CDs, or finding the right graphic designer. That’s because for less than $2,000 a song, someone else will take care of ALL the details for you.

In almost no time—and even less effort—you will have top-notch players performing incredible arrangements of YOUR songs in the most famous recording city in the world!

The best part? You don’t have to lift a finger—just show up for the magic.

Pretty good deal? We think so, too.

At the risk of sounding like Groupon, this offer won’t last long. Get in touch between now and March 31, 2012, to take advantage of this offer.

If you want an idea of what your songs can sound like, ask for demos (at [email protected]). In the meantime, listen to this song VMP recently produced for a brand new songwriter from the DC area.

But don’t delay. Book before February 1 and get an additional 5 percent off!

Get in touch and start achieving your dream today.

[visualmusicproduction]

Whither Inspiration?

Many of you probably heard the news how hot this past summer was in Texas. Add to that a lack of measurable rainfall and, well, you got the makings of a pretty miserable season.

The only thing that kept a lot of us in Austin going was the hope of fall with its drop in temperatures and promises of rain. The rain is still spotty, but we’re now enjoying daytime highs in the 70s and even 60s. Quick! Get that sweater out of storage!

Lest you think this is going to turn into a weather report, it isn’t. It’s just my way of prefacing some photos I took (and am posting) along the Pedernales River west of Austin on a cool and blustery day this week. The venture was head clearing, to say the least. But inspiring? Not so sure.

Which leads me to ask: Where do you find inspiration?

Do you have a special place in the countryside or the city? Or are you like Mr. Emerson in A Room With a View who pounds on his chest and declares: “I don’t care what I see outside. My vision is within! Here is where the birds sing! Here is where the sky is blue!”

I think I agree with Mr. Emerson. I tend to go inside myself to find an idea for a tune or a string arrangement or whatever I’m working on.

But I still like to get out and about. Check out the dry and dusty beauty that is Central Texas this autumn.

And if you have some photos of places that speak to you, I’d love to see—and share—them.

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The need for rest, and sleep in particular, is not a new concept. One third of our lives is spent sleeping—or at least attempting to.

After reading Dr. Charles Page’s book Surrendered Sleep, I wrote some songs that are peaceful in nature and designed to lessen the day’s anxiety and bring you to a restful sleep. These songs are collected on the CD Surrendered Sleep.

Attached is ”Resting in You,” another cut from the CD. 

I encourage you to get Dr. Page’s book at Amazon.com. The complete Surrendered Sleep CD will also be available online soon, but to purchase it now, contact me at [email protected].

The price of the CD is $12.00 (plus $3.00 s&h). 

“Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life;     don't for a minute lose sight of them. They'll keep your soul alive and well,     they'll keep you fit and attractive. You'll travel safely,     you'll neither tire nor trip. You'll take afternoon naps without a worry,     you'll enjoy a good night's sleep. No need to panic over alarms or surprises,     or predictions that doomsday's just around the corner, Because God will be right there with you;     he'll keep you safe and sound.” —Prov. 3.21–26 (The Message)

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Surrendered Sleep, a CD of music designed to lessen the day’s anxiety and bring restful sleep.

Music, arrangements and production by Fletch Wiley, Visual Music Productions. Book by Charles Page, M.D.

CD available at [email protected].

[visualmusicproduction]

Visit Original Link

The need for rest, and sleep in particular, is not a new concept. One third of our lives is spent sleeping—or at least attempting to.

After reading Dr. Charles Page's book Surrendered Sleep, I wrote some songs that are peaceful in nature and designed to lessen the day's anxiety and bring you to a restful sleep. These songs are collected on the CD Surrendered Sleep.

Attached here is a cut from the CD called "Quiet Place."

I encourage you to get Dr. Page's book at Amazon.com. The complete Surrendered Sleep CD will also be available online soon, but to purchase it now, contact me at [email protected].

The price of the CD is $12.00 (plus $3.00 s&h). 

"It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep" —Ps. 127.2.

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So Give Me the Beat Boys and Free My Soul

I recently came across this fascinating article by Melissa Ayala on the effect music can have on people with dementia or other mental disorders.

As a musician, I know all about the power of music, how it can evoke strong emotions and create or alter an atmosphere. And back in the days before music therapy was an occupation, I used to volunteer at a state school with a man who was a music therapy pioneer.

While he played his guitar and I played my flute, people with profound mental illnesses, who were locked away in some deep place in their own minds, would stop and listen. Sometimes they would try to interact with us.

Kind of like the lyric by Bob Seger: "Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock 'n roll...."

Amazing stuff!

So I applaud the efforts being made at the Gracy Woods Nursing Center in Austin, Texas, and hope you’ll take a moment to read about this encouraging work.

If you do, take another moment and let me know what you think.

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Music has a unique ability to tell a story without words or pictures (other than the ones the mind supplies).

Give a listen to The Turn and hear just how a film cue can create and move a narrative along (in under 3 minutes).

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The Art of Failing Forward

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” —Phil. 3.13–14.

As Christians, especially the American variety, we are told to expect success in everything we do, to speak/act/think like a successful person.

I absolutely agree with the philosophy behind this attitude, but some of the time my mind is in the toilet, my body is full of pain, and I am on the wrong side of the river of God looking at a sink hole of my own making.

In other words, I am drinking from the wrong cistern (Prov. 5.15). I have stopped drinking the “living water” (John 4.11) and am trying to satisfy my formidable thirst in a muddy, stagnant puddle.

In short, I have failed once again.

When we fail God, ourselves and our family, we tend to try to hide that failure under a blanket of deceit, even from ourselves. We think it’s better that way, because then no one knows, and we hope against hope that we will “get over it” before it leaks out.

But the sad fact is that we don’t—or can’t—get over it, and so we live in failure, without a clue about how to get out of it.

The good news? God loves us so much that He always reveals sin (which is really just another word for failing) and also provides a “way of escape” (I Cor. 10.13; I John 1.9–10).

Disappointments in ourself have a way of latching onto us forever, if we will let them. But they don’t have to. If we’re ruthless in putting up boundaries to keep sin at bay and adamant about “forgetting those things which are behind,” we can actually move a few steps on down the road.

It’s a skill that will take time and diligence. But maybe next time when I fail, I will strive to fail forward.

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“Nightwatch”

I wrote this song in 1981 for a record of the same name (Star Song Records). It was inspired by the fact that the Lord never sleeps nor slumbers. He watches over us as we sleep (see also Jer. 51:12, which states: “Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon: Make the guard strong. Set up the watchmen, Prepare the ambushes”).

This video was made during a concert in Hawaii at New Hope Church. My good friends Tim and Joey Gruber really wanted to do a jazz concert with me, Abe Laboriel, Bill Maxwell and Justo Almario. In addition, Greg Mathieson, who had played with these guys for years, graciously consented to come along and play keys.

Since I had recorded a live record with these guys at a church in DC (as well as recording this song with Abe and Bill thirty years ago!), we kind of came as a package deal. The concert was just one part of a four-day weekend we did at the church. This included rehearsal, clinics, and services Saturday and Sunday.

The people of that church and their pastor Wayne Cordeiro ministered to us more than we did to them. We were blessed!

The song unfortunately cuts off right in the middle of Justo’s solo. So much for my video editing skills! Plus the sound and video ain’t that great; but it IS live!

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Frank Sinatra: He Really Was that Good

Making records today sure is different from any other time in music history.

Thanks to my friend Bill Maxwell, here is a rehearsal/recording of “It was a Very Good Year” by Frank Sinatra (written by Ervin Drake; arranged by Gordon Jenkins. Check out the VERY lush strings!).

In this video, Frank is clearly in a great mood, lots of good give-and-take between him and the arranger and musicians, and even legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite doing the voice over! An all star cast indeed.

To say this was done in one take is an understatement. Back then, there was no multi-track, so EVERYTHING had to be one take.

The recording was also probably in mono, since the Beatle’s “Sergeant Pepper” LP was one of the first stereo recordings.

But it didn't matter; everything came together, as it always did with great musician, singers, arrangers, engineers; all working together to make great music.

And finally, check out Frank’s voice: incredible pitch, sonority, phrasing, time. He really was THAT good.

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WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT … ALFIE?

“I wanted to record some of the music that was on my radar before I ever wrote a note of my own, or in a few cases, even before I played an instrument.”

That’s Pat Metheny talking about his most recent recording “What’s It All About.” The side is really almost an homage to the musicians and composers that Metheny grew up listening to. It’s his side of the musical conversation, anyway, and it’s just plain cool.

Go listen to a few cuts and see if you don’t agree.

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Confessions of a Serial Idolater

Growing up as a child of the 60’s in Seattle, it was as natural as breathing salt air that art would be pursued. My friends and I were encouraged by our school district to play jazz—as 13-year-olds. How amazing that seems looking back on it.

But what a funny time that was, a slice of rampant self-actualization where self was not only number one, but there was no number two.

I’ve been reflecting on JD Salinger’s death a little more than a year ago. It reminds me how much, like Holden Caulfield, I disdained the lot of a trust fund baby, which you can do only if you are one. But underneath it all, I cherished hopes of growing up to be a trust fund baby, only to find my grown-up self having to work.

How unfair!

Things that are developed early on tend to stick with us—both good and bad. I learned some great habits through music: practice, self-discipline, pushing through plateaus, relationships via ensemble playing.

But the competitive nature of the music business and our need to be number one make for bad ingredients in life. And they tend to stay—forever—unless we let God deal with our inner core.

That’s where idolatry can find a nice cozy home. In my need for constant affirmation and affection, I make myself the object of worship. It is a place reserved only for God, but He is hardly ever seen there.

Jeremiah 31:19b states: “I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.” The “disgrace of my youth” doesn’t only happen when we are young, but can rear its very ugly head throughout our lives, as I continually find out.

Why do I continue to be needy, and what does that say about my heart?

These are the things that we, as artists, need to continually bring to the foot of the cross. And no time like the present.

That’s why I urge you to bring your needs to Christ —today—and let Him wash you, heal you and fill you with Himself.

Not sure how Holden would respond to this. Oh yes, probably something along the lines of being a “phony.” And I agree. It’s my belief that “phony” is denying our need. “Real” is realized on our knees. Try it!

[iscarriot]

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weasley-fred:

you can’t go around being “i hate all religions. blah blah blah” because you’re being contradicting and plain stupid.

you can’t say that you don’t have a religion because anyway you choose to live your life is your religion.

by definition, religion is “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe”

so basically anything can be classified as religion.

you can worship a god, an artist, a musician, a statue, nothing at all, etc. but it’s still a way you choose to live your life and a religion. 

so yeah. 

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A day at the Kimbell, Ft Worth, Texas

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A respite before next week's session with Miss Lillie Knauls.

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The Case for Enlisting a Patron

In What Are You Waiting for? Blake Easter tells musicians that they better be the ones in control of their careers. 

“Your manager or producer probably doesn’t wake up thinking about how to make you successful in the morning. They wake up thinking about how to make themselves successful and that may or may not include you. No matter what level you get to, you have to be the one driving your career. I understand that you can’t do everything and you shouldn’t do everything yourself, but you should be the one in the driver’s seat.”

What he’s really telling us is that we need to be out there marketing ourselves like mad.

In my recent post Tinker, Tailor, Businessman, Musician, I addressed a similar topic by Jason Spitz: Are You Building a Band or a Business? (While we’re on the subject, what’s with all the questions as titles? I’ve been guilty of doing the same thing, but it’s kinda tedious, so note to self: do not use questions in the title of upcoming blogs.)

In his blog, Spitz urges musicians to turn fans into customers by creating products fans will value. (At Visual Music Productions, we still consider music a valuable commodity.) He has some mighty fine suggestions about how to create these provided, in addition to being a musician, you’re a graphic artist/printer or are tight with someone who is.

Now in his blog, Blake Easter would have musicians pursuing a parallel career as marketers.

Great advice for those musicians already marketing inclined, but for those who aren’t, it won’t be easy.

Besides, we’re hesitant to encourage musicians to come up with any additional reasons for putting off practicing, composing and rehearsing.

Instead, we suggest you find a patron. Preferably someone with deep pockets. Like Mozart had. But definitely someone who will handle all the more troublesome aspects of a career in music, who will book gigs, pay for new tires for the van, call up radio stations and keep track of the sale of CDs, t-shirts and the like. Oh, and maybe unload some band equipment.

On second thought, it didn’t work out so well for Mozart, so maybe we do need to roll up our sleeves and give this marketing/product development idea a try. 

We’re going to start with a limited edition of our laptop keyboard cover with the legend “Yes, we can’t.” For more information, leave us a note.

I’ve got to get back to practicing. Now that’s something I know how to do.