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Friends,
I've started a music page on MySpace under my composer pseudonym KSG. I'm hoping to actually peddle some music in the future under the KSG Records label. For now, due the MySpace's mp3 file size limitations, the full-length pieces are actually hosted on this site under the audio section. My MySpace site will list some blog updates and upcoming events. Hope to see you there!

An ambient piece I wrote on the evening of the 2008 winter solstice

Buddhism is the contemporary name of the collective teachings of the Buddha as they have been passed through the centuries since c. 500 B.C. To followers, the teachings are collectively known as the 'Dharma', which can be translated as 'law' or 'reality'. Buddhists refer to themselves collectively as the 'Sangha'. The main, and in reality, the sole goal of Buddhism, is to attain happiness and end suffering. As a result, one who strives to attain true happiness will, as a result, generate the will to lead others to happiness and end their suffering.

One of the primary concepts in Buddhist thought is the idea of Nothingness ('shunyata', Sanskrit). This is an idea that is very difficult to illustrate and is why many regard Buddhism as nothing but a nihilistic philosophy. The idea of nothingness is simply that our world, physical and mental, is impermanent. We often say "Things change", when in reality, things 'are' change itself. All appearances are only a glimpse of something that has already mutated into another form.

The word "Buddha" means "awake", and Buddhists refer to the Buddha as the "Awakened One". He is also known as the "Shakyamuni Buddha" (Buddha from the Shakya clan) or the "historical Buddha". The Buddha lived c. 2500 years ago in Northern India near Nepal. His name was Gautama Siddhartha, and he was a prince and was in line to inherit his father's crown. When he was born, his father went to the local holy men of the time for a prophecy. They told his father that he would be either a great leader and king or a great holy person.

The purpose of Buddhism is to find happiness for oneself and spread happiness among all living beings. I will jump right in with a story from the Zen tradition:

An older monk and young initiate from the monastery were walking down the road and saw a woman working in the field. They approached her and bowed graciously. The younger monk, eager to impart the teachings he had been absorbing, began to expound the Dharma (the teachings of Buddhism) to the woman. The older monk smiled and, in a break in the younger monk's long exposition, asked the woman a simple question. "Are you happy?", he asked. "Yes, I'm happy", she said. The older monk bowed again to the woman and tapped the young novice on the shoulder and they returned to their walk.

A piano improvistaion layered with sampled sounds.

Mahamudra (Great Symbol) is a piece for sampled keyboard instruments and electronic sound.

A huge library of free, public domain musical scores is back online after a copyright dispute with some publishing companies. Thousands of pieces by hundreds of famous and lesser-known composers. I was happy to find a trove of pieces by my favorite nutballs from the 19th and 20th century. Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) was a true American original.