Jeremy Weinglass: Blog

Nearly 10 years ago I began the process of composing a 12 part musical piece representing each month of the year through all 12 keys.  Fresh out of college, I was determined to keep myself motivated to compose now that I no longer had school assignments that I was required to complete. Beginning in 2001, I assigned myself the task of composing a song for each month throughout the year as it unfolded. I would call it The Piano Odyssey.

I made it to April that year when something changed for me.  Up until then, I was heavily focused on trying to “out-do” myself, or finding a new complex structure or clever harmony to use in my next composition.  After all the continual deadlines and vigorous schedule of writing during college, it seemed that I had run out of steam.  I remember wishing that I had called the first four months “seasons” rather than “months.”  For the first time I can recall, I decided that I desired something else to focus on other than music: more life experience and new inspiration. I began to seek out new experiences and dive into my new post-college life in Los Angeles. During this time I also joined the band, Ballentine, and we put a lot of energy into trying to make it big in the pop/rock world. We recorded an album, toured all around the world and performed in nearly every nightclub in Los Angeles. Before I knew it, a four year break from my Odyssey project had ensued.

My greatest inspiration came unexpectedly into my life on my birthday in April of 2005.  That was the night I met Kim, the woman whom I would eventually marry in August 2008.  We embarked on our journey together exploring nature, spirituality, personal growth, traveling and developing many new friendships.  I took time to reflect on those experiences and grow from them. I was seeing the world through a new lens and best of all, I had someone to share it with!  The inspiration to write was triggered within me once again and the music began to flow out of my heart, but this time with deeper passion than I had ever known before.

By October 2008, I had every month completed except October and the finale of December. October was an extremely important part in the flow of the twelve months.  The entire Odyssey had to reach its peak here.  All I had thus far was one melodic idea and I knew it was going to be in A minor. 

On October 29, 2008 I was playing the meditation music for the congregation at Agape as I had done for many years on a regular basis.  Since I improvise the music during the meditation, and the space is so powerful, it has often times given rise to wonderful new creations in the moment. As we were coming out of the meditation, I thought this would be the perfect time for me to play around with my idea for October.  Then, right as I was about to begin, a guy I had never met before approached me on stage holding a violin and whispered, “Hey, do you mind if I play along with you?”  All I could think was that if he was asking me right now, in front of hundreds of people, then he must be pretty good with that violin.  I said “ok sure, just follow me in A minor.”  We began delicately to bring the room back from their silence. The music flowed out so naturally into a fantastic improvised crescendo of melodies and harmonies that filled the entire hall.  When we finished, Rickie Byars Beckwith came on stage and introduced us… “Jeremy Weinglass and Chris Woods everyone! Isn’t it fantastic to witness spirit creating magic like that?”  During and after the applause, people enthusiastically asked what we were playing and how long we had been working together.  They could hardly believe that we had met moments before on stage and that almost all of it was improvised.  Afterward, I took my seat next to Kim in the congregation and she said, “That was amazing! You should work with that guy and rewrite Odyssey for piano AND violin.” I felt the same way and over the course of the next year I went back and began to re-write the entire Odyssey adding the violin part!

The task of rewriting Odyssey to include violin gave me a whole new set of choices to make. Throughout each piece, I would decide whether to give the melody to the violin, leave the melody with the piano while extracting counter melodies and harmonies, or writing a completely new part in conjunction with the piano. In the final recorded version, I kept the finale of October as an improvised section which is the signature climax of the whole Odyssey!

I brought Chris Woods on board with the project as we began rehearsing together near the end of 2009. We recorded the album now entitled ODYSSEY: A Twelve-Month Revolution in February 2010.  When I started this back in 2001, I never would have thought that this was how this project would have unfolded, but that’s the beauty of it. In my experiences, one of the things I have learned is that being open to serendipity can create magical results and things come together in ways that could never have been planned. 

As I continue to open myself up to working with more people to create something much bigger out of this musical piece, I am now embarking on a new creative process of scripting an interpretative dance performance to go along with the music! 

I have many people to thank for their help in making this project what it has and will become:

Chris Woods for partnering with me on this project. David Bergeaud for producing and mixing the album. Lonnie Parker for shooting the photos of Chris and me for the album. Robin Huber for the graphic design of the album. William Henshall for inspiring me to think bigger. Agape for providing me with the opportunity to play and meet Chris Woods. My Mastermind team: Lesa Bergeaud, Travis Lea, Paula Kelley, and Aaron Tap for their ideas, encouragement and support. Chris Ramsey for offering me the opportunity to perform at Fuente Eterno thus allowing me to show the potential of what I want to create with the performance aspect of Odyssey. Michelle "Star" LaVon for expanding the vision of the performance with me through the story and the choreography.  My wife, Kim Weinglass, for her incredible dedication and work on this project and our business in general. All of these people have provided teaching, support and inspiration that continues to impact me greatly! THANK YOU!!!