Jim's Music Downloads
 
All songs copyright @2003 Jim Bumgardner

If you're wondering, yes, I'm well aware that this music is amateurish, bland, over-produced, and poorly sung. Most of it makes me cringe to listen to. There's a reason I don't make music for a living. :) But hey, you're the one that clicked on the page...

Windows users: You can right-click and select "Save Target As..." to save the track to a local file on your machine.

Another Sad Song (MP3) Another Sad Song (Sheet Music PDF)

"Another Sad Song" was written in the early 90s and is typical of my sad C-minor piano pieces (generally played in a semi-improvisational manner). I've written a handful of these. A transcription of the piano part is also available as a PDF file should you desire to play it.

Kontact Improv (MP3)

"Kontact Improv" is a quick recording I made when trying out some new piano sounds I had recently downloaded for my sampler. Like all the recordings here, the piano sounds are not recordings of me playing an actual piano. Instead, I am playing an electronic keyboard which is triggering recorded samples of an actual piano. My computer-recording setup is too ungainly for me to transport into the living room (where my piano is), and the audio quality probably wouldn't be as good, if I recorded it.

Bagels from Heaven (MP3)

"Bagels from Heaven" is about a bunch of zombies in a shopping mall, ala George Romero's Movie, Dawn of the Dead.

Nola Can't Stop (MP3)

"Nola Can't Stop" was written shortly after the Iraq war started in March 2003. Although it is not about the war, it was probably influenced by my mental state after watching 24 hour news for a few days. The melody seems very familiar to me, but I can't quite figure out what I'm stealing.

Crazy Mahatma (MP3)

"Crazy Mahatma" is a short piece for headphones (not really music), that juxtaposes two bits of audio from the 1930s. The speakers are Mahatma Gandhi and Orson Welles (reading material adapted from H.G. Wells). With headphones on, it causes a kind of angel/devil on the shoulder experience. I may eventually incorporate this into a music piece, but it's interesting on it's own.

Into the Mountain (MP3)

"Into the Mountain" was written shortly after I began reading "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset in late spring 2003. Early in the novel, young Kristin has an encounter with a "dwarf maiden" who attempts to lure her into the mountain - a bit of Norwegian folklore I found evocative. The song as recorded, is just a basic sketch, and will probably be filled out with a bridge or a solo (although there's something to be said for keeping it short).

In C - Terry Riley (MIDI)

A MIDI version of Terry Riley's seminal piece 'In C'. I created this recording using KeyKit, a MIDI programming language by Tim Thompson. The Keykit source code used to make this file (much shorter than the actual midi file) is here.