Music from 231

An improvisation using my octave mandolin in regular tuning (GDAE). The instrument with its longer neck affords more complex chords and voice leading than I can manage on my conventional mandolin.

An improvisation for solo NS violin with a variety of guitar pedals. A meditation on 2025. Recorded live December 28th, 2025.

Solo guitar improvisation. 57 year old Gibson J50. jrBaggs pickup and preamp. Finger style. Exploration of A Mixolydian. Standard tuning. Recorded on Dec. 1, 2025 with the rain on the skylight. It is my 73rd December.

Solo exploration of my octave mandolin.

A short improvisation with my new octave-mandolin. Inspired by the rain on the studio's skylight.

A spontaneous musical conversation leaning towards tonality and somehow capturing the mood of early January 2025.

One of a series of eight minute improvisations on the different instruments that I have been studying. This is my Godin fretless nylon string guitar. No editing. Processing includes bass enhancement, compression and reverb.

One of a series of eight minute improvisations on the different instruments that I have been studying. This is my Taylor, electric/acoustic 12 string. No editing. Processing includes bass enhancement, compression and reverb.

One of a series of eight minute improvisations on the different instruments that I have been studying. This is my Epiphone mandolin. No editing. Processing includes bass enhancement, compression and reverb.

One of a series of eight minute improvisations on the different instruments that I have been studying. This is an NS electric, fretted violin. No editing. Processing includes compression and reverb.

One of a series of eight minute improvisations on the different instruments that I have been studying. This is my oldest – a 1968 Gibson J50 that I bought new, some 56 years ago. No editing. Processing includes bass enhancement, compression and reverb.

A voice & piano (Wendy Rubin) and violin (Martin Gotfrit) improvisation. Wendy & I have been meeting for these spontaneous musical conversation for quite some time and this work captures much of the essence of why it is so important to us.

Unadorned recording of an improvisation on my 60+ year old J50. Rainy and dark January day.

A musical conversation: Wendy Rubin piano, Martin Gotfrit guitar with pedals.

A flute (Wendy Rubin) and Violin (Martin Gotfrit) improvisation from our weekly music conversations.

Saxophone sample from a Yamaha MODX played by a MIDI guitar.

Responding to the events of October 7th, 2023. A solo played on an 11 string fretless guitar.

A solo improvisation - acoustic steel string and a variety of pedals. No editing, etc. but some mastering. Part of a series exploring different keys and modes.

Samples + Wendy Rubin piano, Martin Gotfrit violin

An improvisation flute (Wendy Rubin) and acoustic guitar (Martin Gotfrit). An example of our ongoing musical conversations over the past years. This one is based on a piece for solo guitar in E major with a slight pentatonic feel at times.

An orchestral sketch of a theme for Patricia Gruben's new film "Heart of Gold", now finishing post production.

A short study for the trailer for a new film by Patricia Gruben.

Playing with myself again - a track of mandolin (note all finger picking) and another layer of violin.

Blues in G on a 54 year old Gibson J50. Played with a stone pick.

Part of my new unadorned series. My 54 year old J50 played into a Røde MT1 recorded on a Zoom H6. Improvisation played finger style.

Part of my new unadorned series of improvisations. A blues study for the mandolin. Kentucky mandolin & Røde NT1 microphone into a Zoom H6

An acoustic violin improvisation on the 77th Anniversary of the liberation of Aushwitz-Berkinau. Part of a new series of my instruments played without pedals, etc.

Mandolin & acoustic guitar in celebration of coming through Omicron.

An orchestral essay on the year that is just passing.

A study for fretless guitar in an alternate tuning I invented in 1999 and just recently re-visited. Solo, improvisation with nods to two previous pieces of mine: In the Cold Distance and Playing Guitar in the late 20th Century.

A study for piano and violin, reflecting on the dark November just passed

A guitar solo in E Mixolydian or E Major with a b7.

An exploration of a common middle eastern/asian tune on the mandolin

The title plays with the ambiguity of the word: referring to both the act of fleeing and of flying and the synonym for a set of stairs. The composition was entirely derived from only two recordings: the interior of a passenger aircraft landing in Bahrain and the composer running down an office building stairwell. Commissioned by the CBC as a reflection upon Sept. 11th, 2001.

Based on the skeleton of a piece from 40 years ago. Chords based on 5ths to mark another circle around the sun.

An orchestral choral study as a response to recent personal revelations about colonialism.

Real-time improvisation with a Godin A-8 mandolin, Electro Harmonix "h.o.g.", Red Panda "particle", compression, reverbs. No overdubs.

On a dreary and dark Solstice afternoon — an improvisation. Two tracks - one with guitar & pedals, the other with violin and pedals. (NS electric violin / 1974 Gibson ES335, Red Panda Particle, meris Hedra, E.H. h.o.g., & E.H. Memory Man)

In light of all the darkness this November I was in need of creating something joyous.

On the eve of the US election. Rumours abound. Fret-less guitar, violin (live) plus sampled orchestra.

Revisiting an old musical idea, playing the piano again after a while, thinking of the changing season in this strange time.

Fretless guitar with a layer of fretted violin, both using a large array of pedals. A mediation for a rainy and dark October day in 2020.

Solo violin. On the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the start of 5781.

Two violins - one layer with pedals, the other fairly clean. A musical expression of summer passing. My birthday is at the end of August, so it signals the end of how I mark my own years. In 2020, with all in disarray, the promise of the new year that tempered the passing of the old is diminished. There is a little hope though.

A miniature made in Vancouver on July 1st, with rain falling. Live mandolin with piano and bass via Logic and Kontakt.

A live recording of my Gibson J50 through several pedals: EH H.O.G., Bass9, Canyon, Oceans 11, Memory Man, and T.C. Elec. Reverb. After listening to it - it's partly an homage to Joni Mitchell (some of the chords and changes are reminiscent of hers) and there is a clear influence of the optimism of Pat Metheny.

A musical conversation: Fretted violin & voice with spontaneous Hebrew lyrics from the Song of Songs.

Continued explorations with my recently acquired NS fretted electric violin. Not likely a real maqam as I've taken liberties. Of note is a vibrato that is now possible for me with the frets...

A simple structure from a film soundtrack recorded by Metamusic maybe 40 years ago. Looping pedal for layers of violin, fretless guitar, with a live track of mandolin laid on top later. Thanks for listening.

A solo improvisation with my Godin A8 electric violin with the ElectroHarmonix H.O.G. pedal. It sustains some of the material and adds a lower octave. A few other pedals to round out the sound. A little happier than the other 7-9-18 pieces.