Jonathanhartsock: Recent Episodes

Jonathanhartsock

“The emotional aspect of music is the thing that makes it music; it’s the soul and spirit inside the mechanism. Without it, it is not alive. “– Jonathan

What has set Jonathan apart from the crowd in composing music is his unorthodox approach to song writing. He selects and creates elements of stories to follow for an album outline, then spends many hours and days on studying relevant sources to create a pathway through the story, which is followed by dissecting the emotions and psychology involved for all characters in the story. Once this is complete, and vague track titles are created as pace markers, Jonathan then has freestyle recording sessions on his hammer 88 midi keyboard dedicated to specific moments and songs in the album. While some melodies may come together in pieces outside of these sessions, the vast majority are improvised by Jonathan once he is at the keyboard and in character for the track he is recording.

“Something I am satisfied with in creating music now is I have really tuned into my technique in writing, and it’s truly become an empathy exercise. In consequence I come up with compositions I wouldn’t have thought to on my own, I just get on that keyboard and get my head into the character’s feelings I’m trying to speak for and start playing. It can be intense, but also lovely. I’m ecstatic to keep doing this moving forward with future projects. This approach has taught me both musically and emotionally, I can appreciate how complex yet simple people’s hearts can be in their motivations. I think it makes me a better composer, and a better person. I’m better equipped to deal with life and the people in it because of it.” – Jonathan

In his premier release “The Burden of Atlas” Jonathan put himself to the test by composing a 50 track instrumental album. Through the use of orchestra, piano, strings, harp, organ, acoustic guitar, & mild electronic synth elements, Jonathan gives an interpretation of the Greek Mythological Tragedy of Cronus whom overthrows his father Ouranos through murder, fating himself to one day being overthrown by his own son Zeus. Atlas plays as the main focal point in this interpretation. The music itself takes a semi modern yet classical renaissance approach to the story, as most of it is quite eloquent in its delivery, but takes liberty to be aggressive in some compositions such as “Standoff” a solo piano depiction of the battle between Zeus and Cronus. “I felt like I was literally hitting the keyboard with Standoff, it was an unleashed moment, and it captured what I wanted that track to be.”

Jonathan will continue to write and create music with the expressed goal of it being soundtrack compatible moving into the future.

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