Stephen Day MusicStephen Day Music
Sarod, Guitar, Vocals and Composition for Film and T.V.
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29 Jan 2018 Blog amp, anaheim, anaheimconventioncenter, convention center anaheim, funk, gear, george clinton, georgeclinton, guitar, hip hop, kcrw, L.A., lights, los angeles, musicmerchants, NAMM, national association of music merchants, nick harcourt, parliament Funkadelic, sarod, stage, trumpet

The Heart of the Matter – Navigating NAMM 2018

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George Clinton Band
George Clinton Band
George Clinton & Nick Harcourt Interview
George Clinton & Nick Harcourt Interview
Bluegrass Mandolin
Bluegrass Mandolin
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Keys
Keys
Mariachi Madness
Mariachi Madness
12 piece Mexican band
12 piece Mexican band
Ay yai yai yai yai
Ay yai yai yai yai
Arriba!
Arriba!
for the love of guitar
for the love of guitar
down home blues
down home blues
Indie pop
Indie pop
and now for something kinda different
and now for something kinda different
fashionable drums
fashionable drums
drum drums drums
drum drums drums
guitar shredder for president
guitar shredder for president
Patrick Abbate on Electric
Patrick Abbate on Electric
Drum Circle - 'your turn'
Drum Circle – ‘your turn’
Girl power
Girl power

I arrived at NAMM with some mixed emotions.  I’m not really a gear guy or a tech head so fighting L.A. traffic for a couple of hours on my annual pilgrimage got me wondering why I was making the trek at all?  NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants which means, in short, all the latest guitars, software updates, trumpets, keyboards, stage lights, amps, mics and more ( in my 15 years of attending I’ve never seen a Sarod though).  But this huge convention has always been much more for me than gear and this weekend I re-discovered why.

Soon after arriving I stumbled upon an interview with Nick Harcourt and George Clinton. Clinton, whose band Parliament Funkadelic has been making music since the 60’s, talked about how he always looked for and found a way to re-define his music to stay relevant to young people. When he saw that Hip Hop was going to be the next big thing he changed his compositions to make his music easier to sample.

Not only has Clinton’s crew remained relevant from generation to generation, they’ve thrived with shows now featuring both his kids and grandkids on stage as part of the band.  I kept trying to leave the interview because of all the gear I wanted to check out but, like gravity, was drawn back again and again.  I realized that without artists like George Clinton there would be no gear to upgrade and that the heart of the matter, what was bringing me back to NAMM every year,  was the joy of music as expressed by the artists who create it.  It was time well spent and I’m looking forward to NAMM 2019.

 

 

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21 Jan 2018 Blog

Men of Quality Respect Womens Equality

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Men of Quality Respect Womens Equality

Click for Relections & more photos

 

Woman's March Downtown L.A. Jan. 20, 2018

Woman’s March Downtown L.A. Jan. 20, 2018

Saturday’s trip to the Women’s March downtown helped me understand the significance of public protest while confronting some of my own shadows. As we approached downtown I began to realize I was on a full day expedition and I was angry that I wouldn’t be able to accomplish ANY of the tasks on my to-do list (buy a part for the sink, find the paint for the shelf, work on re-recording my the vocals for one of my songs).  As we got closer to the main stage, I looked around for something to relate to and couldn’t.  The crowd was 90% women and many of them were wearing pink hats with cat ears.  An angry woman appeared to be screaming into the microphone on stage and I was miserable. The ‘shadow’ man in me was screaming LET ME OUT NOW!!! Someone, please LET ME OUT!!  Thankfully we found a playground for my daughter to play and the stage featured a beautiful young woman singing a soulful melody expressing the emotions of the crowd. My emotions connected to the crowd’s feeling and I tapped into the bigger picture.  This was an expression that was much deeper than what I could understand rationally.  It was a historic uprising of people standing against an age-old problem that needed addressing.  Oppression of woman, immigrants, poor people, the young and old was being exposed by people’s willingness to march, to speak out and to sing.  As the crowd swayed to the music I began to see and transform into a man of quality respecting women’s equality.

 

 

 

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2 Jan 2017 Blog

The Gift of Losing Baggage

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As the onset of the holiday season approached, I began to question the meaning of Christmas. My regular routines, things that give me joy and raise my spiritual awareness, were disappearing as music students and friends became preoccupied with holiday plans. I was so tired that the mere thought of traveling for the holidays made me wearier. Even the observation of simple acts of kindness, an old lady trying to help a homeless person, for instance, brought forth cold cynical thoughts rather than the warm feelings that th time of the year was supposed to bring.

Travel was a nightmare and my bags were so over-stuffed that we almost didn’t make the flight. However, once I relocated to Vancouver, our holiday destination, things began to change. In yoga class, the teacher encouraged us to choose something to let go of as we worked through our stretches. Setting the intention of letting go became a daily habit and the cool mountain air, cleansing rain and cozy gatherings by the fireplace proved to be the perfect setting for real transformation.

Christmas Eve brought drama and by my midday Christmas morning, I found myself apologizing to my family for holding onto things that had made me distant from them.
It was truly a moment of letting go from within and resulted in the whole family coming together in a much deeper way than even the most thoughtful of gifts could ever have done. The ‘letting go’ continued as news of influential celebrities and friends who died rolled in one after the other like waves hitting the beach. I found myself shedding skin after skin of perception in meditation and reflection.

As I packed my bags to head home to L.A., I felt lighter in more ways than one. Giving more than receiving and, most importantly, losing baggage that I had been carrying for much too long were the themes of the season. I’m looking forward now to committing to resolutions and goals I’ve already made within myself but have been unable to achieve. De-cluttering my inner life, and getting back to basics has helped me reconnect with the meaning of Christmas and I look forward to 2017 with renewed focus and enlightened intention.

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Ombience
2 May 2014 Blog

Ombience

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Ombience works with various individuals, groups, organizations and institutions in society to raise awareness of the spiritual nature of the arts and of the creative and spontaneous nature of spirituality.
Ombience was founded in 2003 by world musician and meditation instructor Stephen Day at a concert at the University of California in Berkeley.
Stephen, who studied both music and meditation in India and then subsequently performed throughout the world for several years, had long been inspired and intrigued by the connection between meditation and music.
Ombience, literally meaning the ambience of Om, was thus born and has since worked with various institutions, including the California State Public School system (K-12), California State Universities and Colleges, private schools, art and music festivals, museums, and yoga and meditation organizations.

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Scores
2 May 2014 Blog

Scores

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Stephen Day’s compositions have been played on major networks (MTV, NBC, Discovery Channel, BBC) and have been featured in various TV shows including Madmen, America’s Top Model, Animal Planet and Rich Girls. Stephen has scored and provided additional music for several films, including the award winning documentary Naked in Ashes, and Formula 51 starring Samuel L. Jackson.

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Sarod
2 May 2014 Blog

Sarod

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The sarod is smaller than the sitar, it sits comfortably in the players lap, and is leaner and cleaner in sound. It is no less demanding to play. The fact that there are no frets make it harder to locate the notes. It is nails on steel that gives the sarod its clear muscular sound. There is an expression in hindi, “Swara hi ishwara hai” and that means “sound is God”. And whilst you are playing you can feel God. The sarod is more than an instrument, it is a friend and spiritual companion.

“The sarod should have human expression, it should sing, yell, laugh, and cry – all of the emotions. music has no religion, in the same way flowers have no religion. Through music and through this instrument, I feel connected with every religion and every human being – or every soul, I should say”.
~ Amjad Ali Khan

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28 Oct 2013 Uncategorized

Hello world!

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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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8 Oct 2012 Photography Beautiful, Image, Nice, Photo

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Aliquam tincidunt mauris eu risus
7 Oct 2012 News Beautiful, Nice, Photo

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4 Oct 2012 Post Formats

Another Quote With Testimonial

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[testimonials]
[testimonial name=”John Smith” website_url=”http://www.johnsmith.com”]
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[/testimonial]
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