🚲 Is it the bike or the rider? 🚴🏻‍♀️

Composers: This video of artistic cyclist Viola Brand appeared in my feed this morning. About halfway through I joked to myself, “I wish my bike did all those tricks.”

The next thought was of course, “how many of those tricks could I even attempt?” if she — the artistic cyclist — gave me her bike for a week.

Seconds later I realized if I gave Viola Brand my bike, many if not most of the tricks she performed on her bike wouldn’t work on my bike, which is a beachcomber.

I began to ponder sample libraries and synthesizers, and how often we see online questions about which products can accommodate the most “tricks”. It’s at this point that I came to the obvious conclusion that it’s a combination of the right tools and the right techniques to string together a flowing sequence of musical tricks into a compelling performance.

Over the last couple years, I’ve made several product review and comparison videos, and a few technique videos. I have more technique videos slated for 2021. And I will endeavor to combine tools and techniques more holistically, with the approach being: “how can we get the most out of these tools, and do it as effortlessly as possible?”