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Music For Earth Orbit
Music Video of the Earth as Seen From Space | 
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ABOUT MUSIC FOR EARTH ORBIT
How I Developed This "New Generation of Space Music" 
Ever since I was a young boy I have been fascinated with space and space travel. I watched the moon landing from a friends house because we didn't have TV in our house at the time, and I remember the feeling of disbelief and awe at the magnitude of this stunning achievement.
Because we didn't have TV then, I read any books I could find about the subject, built models of the spacecraft, and read and looked at any articles I could find about space travel and space exploration. I laid on my bed at night and tried to imagine being in space. I tried to imagine how far it was to the moon, and how it would feel to be between the Earth and the moon. I would try to imagine weightlessness and how it would feel. Somehow it seemed that this would bring me closer to the answer of who we are, and why we are here. I was never quite sure what it was that intrigued me about space ... it seemed to be a combination of fascination and a yearning to experience the vastness of the universe. Perhaps it was a desire to leave the confines of our known existence. Later in my life I was able to watch more of the space program on TV as I watched the NASA channel. I went back and collected all of the videos and documentaries I could find about earlier space missions and the history of the space program. I also visited exhibits and talked with astronauts on radio shows or at space exhibits whenever possible. Over the years I began to realize that I have been absorbing information about, and the feelings associated with space travel for most of my life. 
At some point I also began to see the "artistic" nature of the images and feelings I was experiencing. I saw the space dockings I was watching as a strange sort of surreal "ballet", and the images of the Earth from space as being profound and spiritual. After leaving the Heavy Metal music scene in my early thirties I began to experiment and invent my own form of music ... using the instruments I knew how to play, and a sense of, and affinity for electronic effects. In the course of this experimentation I developed what I began to call "Space Music". It started with the long, drawn out unfolding of tones from a highly effected bass guitar technique I had created, and evolved from there. These long, stretching "tones" of sound gave me that feeling I had inside when I was imagining space, and being in space. They somehow gave me that feeling I imagined of weightlessness and timelessness... floating and stretching through time and space. Then I added long harmonic tones from my violin. My violin evoked the emotional feelings I had as I played, and the bass tones brought out the "stretching", floating sounds of timelessness. The two instruments combined together harmonically began to create the total feelings I had as I imagined floating in space and viewing the Earth and moon. The next step in the process that led to Music For Earth Orbit came when I was watching some space footage and thought about my music... and melding the two. I immediately began experimenting with this and found it was possible that these images and sound would go together and reproduce that feeling I had inside. After further experimenting I decided to keep that new style of music, which consists primarily of overlapping tapestries of harmonic sound, and use it as my own version of "space music". This is the music that you hear on Music For Earth Orbit. Eventually I expanded the style somewhat, but I have wanted to keep that original version of this music in its purity so as to make it recognizable as unique and distinct. I have since developed other styles of music and sounds, but have kept this original "space music" intact. It is based on harmony and emotion. There is no real melody, but fluctuations of feelings and emotions that rise and fall as my emotions moved me. There is a sense of a kind of "meditative" quality to this music. It is not meant for thought or rationality, but rather emotion and beauty. For me, I can float along and ride the waves of harmony and change, and experience emotions and stillness instead of thinking and rationality. It is meant to stimulate another side of us... the side that yearns for that infinity of space, the side that steps away from our normal life and daily concerns. In the case of Music For Earth Orbit, the combination of the images of the Earth as seen from space, along with this new brand of space music, is meant to stimulate a sense of awe and reverence for the beauty of the Earth. For more information on my biography and further information on my other music you can Click Here to read my "Musical biography". Environmental Issues, Ecology And Conservation 
One of my visions for Music For Earth Orbit is that it will stimulate a deeper sense of awe and reverence for the beauty of the Earth.
The majesty and beauty of the Earth is most often seen in videos as "nature shows" or as backdrops that show the Earth and its diversity from the level of our normal experience. Often the further focus is on animal or plant life, and the incredible diversity of life on our planet. Only relatively rarely is the Earth seen as a whole, or as it is seen from space. In reviewing and cataloging all of the space footage I could find revealing the Earth as seen from space, I found that there were relatively few distinct shots of it that could be experienced as a whole view - or that allowed me to absorb that experience without interuption. Further, I found that those Earth views that I did see were relatively short. Most shots of the Earth that the average viewer sees are short little snippets of footage that highlight some specific point about the Earth... there is a short shot and then a break away to another view from the ground, or in the case of space documentaries, a shot of "mission control" or perhaps the inside of a spacecraft etc. I had rarely seen shots of the Earth from space that gave me time to really stretch out and watch for extended periods of time... with the exception of some raw NASA footage that you can find if you seek it out. Seeing the Earth from space is a distinctly different perspective, and that it is very valuable and not often enough available. Viewing the Earth from space is another way to inspire a deep love and reverence for the Earth that might not be available in other ways. As an example, viewing a mountain from a distance can give you the overall impression and feeling for its size, the way it looks against the sky, the way it melds into the skyline, and how it fits into the whole dynamic of the area it is located in. To view a mountain from a trail on that mountain can take you into a completely different level of awareness of the mountain, but one that is potentially more "fragmented" than holistic. If it were possible to see and experience the Earth as a whole, it seems more likely that one could be exposed to realizing the holistic sense of the Earth as a complete "entity"... or that one could glimpse the experience of seeing the Earth as a "being" as in the Gaia hypotheses. 
It is my hope that exposing more people to these astounding images of the Earth as seen from space will actively stimulate them to love and revere the Earth. This expanded experience of the Earth can be a beautiful addition to the normal appreciation that many already have.
Environmentalism, ecology and conservation might have a better chance of being nurtured and surviving if a person can see and experience the whole beauty of the Earth rather than fragments or bits and pieces of that beauty. For some it might be more likely that emotion could be the trigger for environmentalism, rather than rationality or "guilt". Views of the Earth as seen from space are inspiring. The beauty of the Earth is poignantly available to us all by experiencing these images, and Music For Earth Orbit can trigger an expansion of this avenue of appreciation and awareness to greater numbers of people and in more diverse ways. Please watch the Music For Earth Orbit video and see what you think. If you like it and know others who might like it please pass on the information about this so that we can spread this experience along and be part of the increasing consciousness of humans on the Earth who truly realize what a magical place this is that we all call home. Music For Earth Orbit And The Boston Space Conference The music on Music For Earth Orbit was used as the theme music for the Boston University Space Exploration Symposium in April 2007. The full title of the symposium was "The Future of Space Exploration: Solutions to Earthly Problems?".  Here is a link to the Press Release of the Conference and a link to the web site of the conference as well. The Music For Earth Orbit soundtrack was used for the slideshows of the conference after the conclusion, and the video was shown during the conference as well. A Note About "The Color Was Blue" Music There was an unexpected development that happened after the music for Music For Earth Orbit was developed, and it concerns the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 2001. Several years after the attacks on 9/11 I was sitting in my living room listening to the music of Music For Earth Orbit and I was listening to the song titled "The Color Was Blue". As I was listening I had strong "visions" of seeing the planes hitting the Twin Towers in slow motion. I could see it all clearly... I felt the surreal mood I had experienced on 9/11 and the days immediately after. After I had this vision I knew there was a link somehow in this music and I decided to follow it through. This lead to the creation, in 2006, of my "WTC 9/11" Music Memorial Video.  (The Photo above is a composite used to label the video on YouTube.) Though the mood and subject matter for this video was completely different than the original video on Music For Earth Orbit it was so powerful that this video was one that had to be made. Since it has been made and put on the internet the "WTC 9/11" video has been viewed over a million times on several networking websites. For more information you can follow the link to The Color Was Blue and see more there. The Music For Earth Orbit Cover Graphic 
The cover graphic for Music For Earth Orbit is from the Doorgan Project by the Seattle artist group known as the "Dharmic Engineers". This image shows the Earth in space from a unique angle ... as seen through a crack in the rocks on a planet ... possibly Earth itself. This artwork was part of a 3-D Door project, where the art was embedded and painted in the door. Several other art works were commissioned from Dharmic Engineer Ray Pelley for some of my other music recordings.
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About MEO 
Music For Earth Orbit
"Space Music For The Earthbound"
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