The most compelling bit of evidence in the following observations is that of eternity, because in this context, there are no urgencies…. And where there are no urgencies, there is no need to interfere with what naturally occurs… What naturally occurs is beauty in all forms, on all levels, and at once in all places, times and worlds… What’s even more amazing than the simple divine nature of this aesthetic is that it doesn’t need observation to be… It simply includes us in its instant along with everything else… How our minds observe it is another thing altogether, but the instant doesn’t pause, end or separate from itself… So, any recognition of beauty is simply a oneness being playful enough to look upon itself from within itself… When instant and eternal occupy the same event, it can only be now - where joy and pain are just a strand of charms that make the event rich - no duality for good feeling/bad feeling, just depth of feeling …This single dynamic now of beauty that we’re all a part of, regardless of how we openly and privately interfere with its projection, I’m thoroughly convinced, is Love…

Now having managed that rather sappy and over simplified new age cliché, here is some interesting and hard evidence to support it… How we manage to separate ourselves from this truth is really the most interesting part, because all the drama that leads us back to it is like a dream - an illusion, but what an adventure and what a great story…

Excerpt from the Introduction of Richard Gannaway's book, "Drops and Sparks"

Throughout most of our years, life’s deepest curiosities are kept private, yet they’re always present in the background, regardless of our religious programming or upbringing… For many, that landscape is too vast and unknowable to embark on with any hope of resolve… So, typically we stay on a less contemplative path and just let life unfold with its subtle and not so subtle clues along the way - never expecting to solve any riddles… This is a noble path for anyone, however common or incidental, because in a person’s honest reflection, life does seem to have a mysteriously eloquent habit of throwing the right stones in our path… Tragically and repeatedly, they manifest like a built-in mechanism, perfectly tailored to our personal evolutions… That understanding is commonly not realized until seasons and chapters are long closed and rebellion, however sublime, is surrendered completely… This sort of experiential wisdom we all have in common and it eventually causes us to see how inextricably bound to each other we truly are, regardless of the roles we play… It also shows how efficiently natural laws of attraction can dispense influence on our lives without our ever being conscious of the hidden dynamics…

We live in a time of unprecedented change, causing our personal views to rotate rather frequently - at once, unsettling and liberating… Whatever the experience, I’ve found that the mere notice and contemplation of beauty in any form can lead to vistas, however abstract, that reflect what is behind it… Moving toward those vistas, for me, is a subtle, but steady approach as long as I sustain open and patient curiosity… Like a courtship, what is sought and what is seeking continually vitalize and vivify each other…

The overall message being pressed onto my understanding these days supports how creation is accurately defined in one word - song - played by something that can never be defined or described, only felt in all its movement and everywhere blended together around one playful theme... It just takes a little zooming back to notice all the correlations…

"See deep enough, and you see musically;
The heart of nature being everywhere music,
if you can only reach it. . ."
Thomas Carlyle

Music, like other art forms, has the ability to convey impressions for which there are no words, but the idea of using composition to distil pure music down to one message seemed presumptuous to me unless we could verifiably entrain every melody and expression with focused and sincere intention to do so… In other words, like many composers in all genres, our best hope for sharing the “feeling” behind the idea is to anchor the spirit of that feeling in ourselves as we go about making the music - the obvious question being, how does one verify that? …And wouldn’t such a contrivance completely take the artist out of the zone? …More importantly, the notion of attempting to interfere with how someone naturally apprehends music on their own terms is fundamentally out of sorts… Conclusion: One needs to just go about making music and let the message be born in the listener along with all the rest of nature’s messages…

It used to amaze me growing up how some of my favorite songs gave me everything I needed before I ever knew what the actual lyrics were… Either the artist didn’t enunciate clearly or I didn’t bother to notice and would often discover I’d been humming words for years that made no sense at all… As a composer in that subjective wilderness, I began to explore how we can know with any degree of certainty, whether or not what we intend to convey is really felt?

As stated above, it became immediately evident, there is no how, so we simply began without knowing… In our case, the message is unity… We intend the lyrics to be universal and not so recognizable in any particular culture, thus vocal choruses are mostly sung in ancient languages or made up phonetics, carefully crafted for cadence, palette and shape…

As we become more adept at this way of making music, the vibrancy of our message seems in direct proportion to how much we are able to get out of our own way and just trust in our efforts to imbue the desired impressions on the musical canvas… Remembering not to force progress and have fun while doing it is the most effective way we’ve found to trust our instincts… In our musical genre (world/new age music), something else has proven incredibly helpful to that aim when it came to vocal refrains… It is our willingness to step away from the music stage and allow the presence of children… Children convey models of unity effortlessly, because they simply are the message… Thus, they’ve become an active ingredient in everything we produce and for our particular purpose, this recipe works, which caused me to become even more curious as to why…

The subjects that encircle this sort of query are vast and fascinating… They have to do with things in nature that are always occurring and how harmonic resonance reaches through every realm and dimension, no matter how impossibly subtle… There is no “how to” for getting very specific impressions across in any artistic composition (I still don’t know how that’s accomplished beyond the boldest expressions or that it ever should matter)… These pages pertain to observations I’ve made while trying to understand if and how that assurance could somehow be engineered… Consequently, I’ve found myself on landscapes way outside my intended destination and the excitements and surprises continue to astonish me with a sense of discovery I haven’t known since childhood…

Seeking beauty in everything and everyone, even when it's not reflexive, leads to finding it, which is a very accommodating feature, hence the warning, “careful what you look for”... Seeking something is surrendering to the idea that it’s there or that you can create it… The nature of things contain a fountain of common threads and seldom, until we notice them for ourselves, do words of enlightened authors and ancient teachings begin to nudge our perspectives…

Just a minute glimpse of the notions in these pages and what they suggest, inspire a wilderness of fascinating correlations that I like to think might one day be understood or at least noticed by the whole human family… Engaging wholeness and intimacy with an inclusive creator source is the most personal place I know to take my attention… Wilderness is certainly a display of surrender and the Golden Mean is virtually omnipresent in all the components of beauty that reach our senses… This extraordinary language at the pulse of music, color, form and movement (orientation) needs to be illustrated and then re-discovered again and again at one’s own leisure… In this way, the most illuminating perspectives begin to come forward in our day-to-day observation of things… These chapters will explain the extraordinary inside the ordinary from many angles to nudge perspective on the whole… Once these insights are ignited, a lot begins to make sense in the world around us, and even our most insignificant moments become more sacred and meaningful…

Excerpt from the Introduction of Richard Gannaway's book, "Drops and Sparks"

…Timing, is likely why AOMUSIC is so universally appealing, but what we intend to be the appeal is a sense of Unity…of belonging… Feeding that basic need causes anyone feel good… AO means "light" which is all colors blended & all musical expressions of course have resonant octaves in the range of color. That simple harmonic language continues into subtler realms, retrievable by our emotions, which is how music causes us to "feel"... Suffice it to say, these harmonics also neatly distil into a very simple complex of shape, movement & orientation that is remarkably familiar... Galaxies, seashells, atoms, music intervals or color wheels all follow the same harmonic curve (Golden Mean) of familiar eloquence... We believe this virtual unity is "known" within every human being & can be brought forward through music... "Thus, the method of AOMUSIC is this simple": "When we look beyond appearances there is something that has always been there, alive & in motion, emanating from one source... Music that includes all musical "roots" & colors implies UNITY, which is an irresistible thing & everyone alive is entitled to feel it... We've found the easiest way to see beyond appearances is through imagination & knowing when not to be too serious... Kids do it all the time… New hybrids of artistic expression are always risky in this business, yet the whole process recreates us in a very positive way… So the experience of AOMUSIC is just a bold & imaginative place to recall unity...and something else all our children never forget... LOVE RULES!

Here is how it works: The principal is based on the magic contained within the human heart & it's connection to others, the earth & all creation really... More simply put, "Our strongest influences are naturally occurring... not manmade." When we hear a Native American flute being played, it gives us a warm feeling, instantly transforming us to a place of peace, and placing us, for that moment in the company of simple and spirited people, harmonious with their beautiful native land, rich with waters, trees and mountains. Now in contrast, when we listen to the latest corporate assembly-line top 40 production, what do we feel ?? ...We may HEAR it... We may dance to it...We may even FEEL it, but it doesn't connect us to anything vital & true. It comes & goes without lighting up our day...or appealing to the sacred & playful within us... It simply doesn't open our hearts & release spontaneous joy... Why ?? ... Because it contains only TRACES of a deeper root system. THE MOST POWERFUL EFFECTS OF MUSIC ARE ROOTED IN IT'S EARLIEST SOURCES, indigenous to the land it was originally derived from. However, we are not content listening to original recordings of Native American drums or African chants or Middle Eastern ragas... we need more." "Enter: AOMUSIC. We have captured the purest essence & honesty in global music culture and blended that with our own contemporary expression to form a completely new kind of music, free of pop idols & superficial hype...just the spirit & color of global oneness...

The new millennium has rapidly gotten underway with heightened agendas for ethic and religious cleansing, accompanied by an overwhelming global notion that some form of unity and healing must also begin anew. We all hunger for a universal reconnection and sense of togetherness. The vast majority of individuals in every village on the planet are ready to begin a strident journey to rediscover the simple heart and soul of one people.

People are discovering how rewarding it feels to help others—how to put aside selfish needs and be part of something that wages only joy. With so many borders, languages, colors and beliefs, the truth is we're all from the same source and are still connected to that spark and design. The one language that everyone undeniably understands is music, no matter where or how they exist in the world.

The "feel" is the ultimate gift of music. It causes us to feel happy, sad, energized or empowered. Corporate directorship of mainstream music has slowly and effectively lost the ability to recognize and expose music that is rooted in feeling and honesty. The long term result: people are left hungry for music that naturally lifts and inspires them. It's rare, but when they find it, they're passioniate about it!

There is a very distinct movement towards "global" sounds and textures, manifesting in the music genres of dance, trance and ambient, etc. This change is also noticeable in TV advertisting and film, bringing to the forefront music from all lands, especially China, Africa, the Middle East and Ireland. Take a close look at what's happening in today's progressive musical landscape. We can see this movement naturally emerging everywhere! People respond to these hints on many levels and volumes could be written as to why.

Well Ok, since I'm finally getting with the times, here is our first MySpace bulletin (My apologies for waiting so long :)...

Jay & I have been back in the studio recently & this time we have the pleasure of including Miriam Stockley's tracks in our music... We first discovered Miriam as the voice of "Adiemus" on the album "Songs of Sanctuary"... Since that encounter, we've tried to emulate the power & spirit she captures in the sessions we've had with choral groups over the years, and now we're happy to say, she is one of us... She is contributing as co-composer & thus far we have four new tracks complete that feature her brilliance, three of which are available for listening here ("On Jai Ya", "Obayo" & "Ye Ha")... These aren't yet mastered, but you get the idea... Miriam & husband/engineer, Rod Houison are an incredible team for production efficiency... I simply sent them a handful of very rough basic tracks (bouzouki, bass & bodhran) & they turned out these gems, which Jay & I had great success with in the August sessions... Over the past couple years, I've gotten to know them, along with their gifted offspring (Liegh & Carly) & can only say, I've not known more wonderful people on all levels... Miriam's site is: www.miriam.co.uk

If we get the nod from Miriam's management to continue with this collaboration, there will be many more where these came from & that will be very exciting, to say the least...

Since we completed the "Grow Wild" collection, which has never been formally released outside an NPR promotion back in 2000, Jay & I have managed to put together nearly an album's worth of new material in between other exploits & endeavors... Our partner & Asian liaison, Frank Mayor brought us to China & Indonesia in 2002-2004... We more recently worked with film score producer/composer, Sandeep Chowta in Mumbai... Sandeep exposed us to some incredible talent form that region... Chinese, Indonesian (gamelan) & Indian influence are the most noticeable new AOMUSIC flavors since the "Grow Wild" days & It will be interesting to see where things go from here, now that Miriam is on board, with her amazing South African influences...

We'll be presenting our final song collection to the Beijing Olympic Committee in the later months of this year... "On Jai Yah" is the primary song for that presentation, featuring Miriam & the CRC Children's Choir in Beijing... It's hard to believe 2008 is upon us!

Jay has an incredibly interesting project that you'll likely be hearing about soon... He & William Lenihan have figured out a way to put babies to sleep with a technology that uses ambient music & the frequencies of a mother's heartbeat (as you'd hear it from the womb)... The project is called "Sound Science" & their website is: www.soundsciencebaby.com...

Myself & several of Jay's colleagues have for years been urging the lad to do a solo piano project & he (we hope) may be getting to a stage we're he'll actually make that happen in the near term... If you know Jay, please help us to lobby him with that suggestion :)...