I’m not by any means a composer. At All. Back in the day, when I used to sail on the San Francisco Bay, my theme was from the Wind in the Willows, where Rat opined: “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

That is what I’m now doing, with music. Messing about.

I’ve written a few pieces now, and so have sort-of seen an approach to building that sound I find agreeable emerge, if anything, a bit organically. It starts with a series of chords:

Just chords… starts with a very rough idea. Those chords sort-of mull through my head, though, as I dig in the dirt and the gravel and do my garden beds, care for the chooks… and eventually, that mulling sort of grows and grows to this:

… And then, to this:

There are many versions – conversions, reversions, diversions, inversions – between these iterations. And there will be many, many more.

What’s really nice is that this costs nothing, stimulates grey matter and offers smiles to those who do me the extreme honour of listening to it. One such angel was Lucy Hood at work: she really liked it. Wow. Talk about buzz! Nothing half so worth enjoying, as someone appreciating your creativity!