Nature's Path

This short film straddles the line between being a nature film and being a music video. It was shot entirely on location in Houston Texas.

This piece was basically an exercise for me. I am very new to videography and was not really comfortable with the ends and outs of FinalCut software. This piece allowed me to stretch things a bit in terms of seeing what I could do with it. It was also an exercise to see if I could break with the normal way of doing a music video. For instance the main musical performance was not recorded in a studio, but was recorded live. (This was done with a shotgun mic located about three feet from the instrument.)

This was also a personal exercise for me. A few months before this footage was shot, I developed some heart problems. These problems necessitated me going into the hospital and having a stent put in. As I was recovering I would talk to other people who had similar health issues and I was struck by the common habit of such people of avoiding going off alone for fear that they may have an attack. I always found myself very uncomfortable with this viewpoint. What I found discomforting was that I could actually relate to it, but I knew that if I succumbed to this sort of thinking, the rest of my life would be completely empty. Therefore, all of the location shots were shot by me, alone, in isolated places. I would simply lock the camera in the tripod, turn it on, then do whatever I had to do. This was tedious, but it accomplished everything I needed to on technical, artistic, as well as a psychological levels.

The music of this piece is Indian music. There are only acoustical instruments used. There are two tanpuras (the drone instruments in the background), the live recording of the dilruba (the bowed instrument pictured in the piece), and a water-harp (a.k.a. "Waterphone" the eerie effects found about two-thirds through the piece). There were no synthesisers or any artificial sources of sound.

This piece is in an Indian rag known as Chandrakauns. It uses the tonic, the minor-3rd, the fourth, the minor 6th and the natural 7th.

Here is where more information may be found:

David Courtney's Bio:
http://www.chandrakantha.com/biodata/david.html

The Dilruba:
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/dilruba.html

Introduction to Indian Music:
http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/index.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• nature
• Indian
• music
• Chandrakauns
• dilruba
• meditation
• raga
• psychedelic
• samadhi

[imareare1949]

This is becoming my source of inspiration to play this instrument.

Sir.

regards

rr

[LORDMAUD]

beyond.

[LakshmiRavishankar]

amazing audiovisual!

[donkeySkatingproduc]

awsome if you do get your recording ill bye it

[spannerchops]

This is a really amazing short film! i loved the music that was being played!

[Buzsound]

Veddy good tablaji, most cool indeed.

[drpantzo]

Hey, David! That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing that with me. -Frank

[beartribe]

Fantastic! I forgot you played strings....! More, more...!

Hurry! :)

[neyzenx]

Beautiful...simply beautiful! I hope to hear and see more soon. Keep it coming!

[sitarjunkie]

Nice video David!