Part 2

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

On an ideal day, I meditate in the morning. I then set an intention for my work that day, and create a “to do” list . I try to write some on my book of memoirs, or my script for a comedy film based on my experiences as a musician in the early 1980s.

Most of the work I do in a day is not actually playing music or a creative project, but instead, involves managing my music catalog registrations, replying to music-related emails, doing interviews, reviewing contracts, etc. Finding a balance between creating new music, and managing the music that I have already recorded has helped to make my music into a career rather than a hobby.

Working on my next album is on my list of projects, and I plan to start recording it later this year after I complete some of those less inspiring, yet important projects.  

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

“Valley of the Birds” (1981) is still one of my favorite albums by Emerald Web, and the title track is my favorite song on it. It was recorded in our 4 track reel-to-reel studio in the Berkeley, California hills. The surrounding trees were home to many birds whose songs inspired the flute melodies that echo through this piece.

This is a quote by Ramana Das for Yoga Journal in a 1981 review of “Valley of the Birds” shortly after its release:

“Emerald Web never presents a truly ambient music — behind each musical soundscape lies the intertwined melodies of Bob and Kat’s flutes caressing one’s ear and heart.”

The sequencers and synth tracks were recorded as the first 2 tracks, then we added flutes and Lyricon as the other 2 tracks. Sometimes I like to create a musical environ, and then stay there to float and bathe in the sound, mood, and ambience and not move out of it which is what we did in this piece.
 
I don’t think about making the music “ambient,” it just happens in a very natural way. If the musical space I have created is luscious, and it feels good to stay there to float and enjoy the sound, then that is what I do. Usually, the music does eventually move on to another place but not necessarily in the traditional verse to chorus format.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I love listening to music with an audience, especially when attending a live concert. Being a part of the energy that an audience generates in partnership with the performers is a beautiful thing to experience. I also listen to music when I am alone, and that usually includes me dancing as I listen.

I enjoy collaborating with other musicians in all music genres. I have been known to climb on a stage after being invited to jam with country bands, jazz, Latin music, and almost every style. I also “guest artist” on many albums. I love that sense of creative sharing that can happen when good musicians play together with open hearts and muted egos.

Bob Stohl and I collaborated and co-composed music very spontaneously. When we worked together, it was never competitive, and always an exploration. That was part of the fun of composing together. Whomever started with an idea could hear that idea moving into an unexpected direction.

I also enjoy composing alone, in my own studio, with no one else nearby.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Music is the most universal of all human languages. It touches the heart and soul of the listener.

The role of music in society is to heal, inspire, inform, protest, and unite people. It also preserves tradition, history and storytelling.

We celebrate, meditate, create, worship, and mourn with music. Music is humankind’s best tool to create a harmonious, humane world.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

A powerful way to experience the big topics and the big emotions of life, is through music. Devastating emotions cannot be described accurately with words. Music can open our hearts, and feed our soul. It can connect us to this earthly plane or help us to release this earthly plane and move on.

After my concerts, often audience members will talk to me about how my music touched them. Very often they will tell me about very personal things in their life: a loved-one who passed away, a meaningful spiritual experience, or their own anguish, hopelessness, or joy. The music is directly communicating from one soul to another.

I continue to create music from that place of magic, wonder, and inspiration. After all, that is what motivates us to play music.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

Music is made of vibration, mechanics, air, electronics, and energy. It includes elements of physics, biology, anthropology, physiology, psychology, mathematics, and many other branches of scientific knowledge. As we learn to play music, and find the music that is our own unique voice, we begin to use the science of vibration intuitively.

I had planned to have a career in scientific research, and studied that at the University, until music diverted my plan. But I continue to embrace the Scientific Method in my music, and in my every day life.

For me, it is important to understand how the world works, to use critical thinking, and to be fascinated by everything. That curiosity fuels my creativity.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think that the small things that we do each day with love and an artistic aesthetic, are an important part of living a harmonious life.

Making a great cup of coffee can be an art. It is about being mindful and focusing on one task, and mastering that task with thoughtful attention and intention. As the spiritual teacher Baba Ram Dass said “Be here, now.”

That focus and attention to detail is one of the skills used in creating music. Perhaps creating music can be a deeper experience as it can express emotions from anguish to ecstasy.

However, the basic act of thoughtfully creating a great cup of coffee can be a satisfying artistic ritual ….and delicious!

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

The way music makes us feel is partially learned. The music we listen to as a child teaches us what music should sound like and how specific sounds make us feel, for instance we learn that a minor key is sad. It is also partly cultural. The music you listen to as a child becomes the music of your traditions, rituals, nostalgia, and celebrations.

There is something universal about music as it can evoke emotions in human beings. It can inspire them to dance in joy or cry with heartbreak. Music can open a heart that is made of stone.

I think the power of music is that it comes from the spirit of the musician and has the ability to touch another person’s spirit, as music can bypass language, culture and thought.

Please recommend two pieces of art (book, painting, piece of music) to our readers that they should know about.

I would recommend the song I mentioned previously, “Valley of the Birds,” by Emerald Web, written and recorded in 1981. This is a good example of Emerald Web’s music, which we created spontaneously on a 4-track recording reel-to-reel tape machine.  

Bob Stohl and I met in 1972, and began composing and performing music together. We were both spiritual seekers and quickly became best friends, collaborators, fell in love, and later married. Unfortunately he passed away in 1990.



I also recommend “Strategic Structures” by Robert Rauschenberg, Kat Epple and Bob Stohl.

The "Strategic Structures" are a collaborative artwork created by Bob Stohl, and Kat Epple, with renowned visual artists, Lawrence Voytek and Bob Rauschenberg. The audio structures are constructed utilizing a variety of metals, including aluminum, bell grade brass, steel, and weapons-grade titanium.

In physical form and appearance, each of these sound structures has the qualities of integral strength and beauty, and are stripped bare of superfluities. Electronic audio processors are incorporated into each structure to shape, color, finely tune, and amplify the rich timbres generated by these exotic metals as they are bowed, plucked, struck, and stroked. Each instrument has its own musical personality, name, and unique set of performance parameters.

Bob and Kat have affectionately named these musical creations: “George”, “Gracie,” and “Bo”.