Projects

Music, Plays

  

What's Here?

Welcome to Jason's favorite avocation. When Jason is not helping others explore their musical intelligence he is trying to find time to explore his own. His favorite fun workshop is called "Getting in Touch with the Musician Within Using GarageBand." He remarks: "At the beginning of the presentation I ask, 'How many of you don't feel you are musical?' Many hands always go up. At the end I ask the same question and very few hands go up. All I did was open a door that most never knew was there."

This site features selected music and sound pieces composed for a variety of musical projects over the last fifteen years. Music projects vary widely, from music and soundscapes for radio and theater, to keynote audio backdrops, to "just for fun." Also included are two plays, both of which received awards from through the Great Alaska PlayRush.

Can you use Jason's music in your own projects? Absolutely, please cite the source. Where the source is not clear, cite this web page.

Project links

Music Samples

From across the spectrum

The quick links below provide an overview of the kinds of music available through this site. Each song has a link link a short excerpt (a minute or less), as well as a link to the complete piece. If you want to familiarize yourself with the nature and range of Jason's composition, this is a good way to do it:

The rest of this site features the complete pieces referenced above, as well as additional music.

Plays

Go to the Plays section below to gain access to the following theater pieces:

  • What the Rain Will Do
  • Same Time, Same Network
  • Robots Reflect, What Our Machines Think of us

Robots Reflect - Experimental Composition

What our machines think of us

Robots Reflect is a half-hour radio program combining story and electronic music about a time in the future when machines control humans and become jealous of the one gift we have that they will never have - the innate capacity for irrationality. In an attempt to become more like us in this regard they create religions, take vacations...even dance. The music is everything from techno-edgy to spacious and soothing. Featured below are a few pieces from the program.

Music excerpts:

  Opening narrative for Robot Nostalgia. Narration about a time in the future when Robots will feel emotions; it introduces the next piece, "Robot Nostalgia." From the narrative: "Either we use the technology to make art, or the technology will make art out of us." (size = 1 mb, 1 minute)

  Robot Nostalgia. Jason's sound rendition of a Robot's experience of nostalgia, introduced with spoken narrative in the preceding piece. (size = 3 mb, 3 minutes)

  Do Robots Dance? Will Robots dance one day? Six short musical interpretations of music for robots to dance by. (size = 8 mb, 6 minutes+)

  FunkSchway. Urban edgy, the way robots like it. (size = 8 mb, 6 minutes+)

Contact jasonOhler.com if you want a CD of the entire radio program. The cost is $5 for postage and materials.

Orchestra, Quartet Music

Music created pre-GarageBand, using old synthesizer sounds

  Remembrance, 2nd Movement. First string orchestra piece produced in Jason's studio, many years ago. Aired on local public radio. (size = 4.2 mb, 4 minutes)

  String Quarter #1- The Juneau. Third movement. (size = 6.7 mb, 6 minutes)

  My ringtone. An excerpt from the piece above, (String Quartet #1- The Juneau, 3rd movement), which I use as my cell phone ring tone; (size = >1 mb, 30 seconds)

Mars and the Dream of the Green Chamber

Radio drama sound effects

Excerpts from the soundscape created for a radio drama about human's search for water on mars:

  Dream of the Green Chamber. Performed on an Elgit. For more information about the Elgit, contact the composer; (size = 1.5 mb, app. 1 minute).

  Flute flight, (size = 1 mb, 1 minute). Mark Whitman on flute.

Jazz, Swing

Assortment of upbeat pieces falling loosely within the jazz, fusion, swing genre:

  Swing Thing, (size = 4 mb, 4 minutes). Every new piece of music software incorporated into the studio is christened with a project that defines the arc of the learning curve. Swing Thing is a short swing sketch using drums, bass, saxophone and trumpet. It was created primarily to explore the new version of Apple Logic and the Garritan Personal Orchestra, with support from GarageBand and Quicktime.

  SaxAttax, (size = 6.95 mb, 6 minutes). The goal with SaxAttax was to explore the capabilities of GarageBand as a stand-alone composition program. The song is comprised of a heavily modified GarageBand background, a saxophone melody added via a simple USB keyboard, and an electric guitar solo created by plugging my Telecaster directly into the line input on my laptop. The guitar input was then modified using a number of GarageBand's post-production capabilities.

RoadRunner

Created many, many years ago, pre-GarageBand, recorded on archaic media, appearing here for historical value. It consists of one track of drum machine, and two tracks of guitar.

  Road Runner. (size = 1.3 mb, 1 minute)

Plays

The following plays won awards through the Great Alaska PlayRush and are downloadable:

  • What the Rain Will Do. How to stay dry to a wet climate... spiritually and emotionally, as well as physically.

  • Same Time, Same Network. Two men, who would never find each other in RL (Real Life) find each other through a dating sevice online. Both lie about their gender, and spend most of the play trying to behave as they think women would behave. This was written well before the Internet, and predates references in motion pictures to online communication as "normal" vs. as science fiction.

In addition, you can download the text to Jason's radio play, Robots Reflect - What Our Machines Think of Us. At a time the future, our machines are in charge and discover they envy us for the one thing we have that they do not: irrationality.
© 2008 jason ohler