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Episode Highlight
Michael Gettel: The name of the album is The View From Here, and obviously, you think of landscape, but there's a metaphor there because as an aging gentleman of 62, we talked about my albums, The Key and other albums that have kind of an allegory or an archetypal journey in them. And The View From Here can be taken physically or it can be taken more of a, you know, a non-literal sense where you're talking about, this is where I'm at in my walk, this is where I am in my journey of life, this is where I am in my transition, you know, from one thing to another, and this is what it looks like for here.
Michael Gettel: If you don't see yourself differently at 62 than you did at 42, then you got to ask yourself some hard questions.
Marker - Highlight Ends / Standard show intro-preroll start
Lora Eshbach: Welcome to Titans of Transition, featuring real-life stories, anecdotes and inspiration about pivotal career moments from leaders who have been there.
Marker - Interview Begins
Joe Miller: Hey, Michael Gettel, welcome back to Titans of Transition podcast!
Michael Gettel: Well, hey Joe, it wasn't too long ago that we actually talked.
Joe Miller: No, it wasn't.
Michael Gettel: In April.
Joe Miller: Yeah, it was.
Michael Gettel: Yeah.
Joe Miller: It was great, and I got wind that you were up to something special this week, you're up in Seattle. What are you doing up there?
Michael Gettel: Well, when we talked in April, I kind of hinted at the fact that I was getting ready to seriously consider jumping into the river again. We were talking about currents last time, and so, thinking about jumping into that current of recording a new project, and it happened so fast in April, I can't even tell you. It was just quite, quite an interesting process, one that I've never really experienced before.
Joe Miller: So it came right at, basically after we had a conversation, things accelerated at that point, or?
Michael Gettel: Absolutely, a great deal. I mean, I had my feelers out and, to two specific people that were very instrumental in kind of being the glue between all of the records, and that would include the recording studio that I've always recorded at, as well as my great friend and sound engineer, Frank Bry. And you know, the stars aligned and the owner of the studio said, you come back whenever you want and we'll schedule you in whenever you can.
Michael Gettel: And my friend Frank just said, I'll do whatever you want to do another record with you, so with that in mind, and not having an idea about how much it was going to cost or anything, I just trusted the fact that this really needed to happen for me, at this point in my life. So, the process of actually composing the music literally took three weeks, in April and the first week of May, and I actually composed 11 songs. There's 12 songs on the record, but I composed 11 songs in about three weeks. And the biggest surprise for me was, I actually wrote it all out in hand with pencil on manuscript paper.
Michael Gettel: And that was the first time in 12 records I've ever actually written out complete piano parts. I've always written out lead sheets, you know, so that was, it was painstaking, but it was such a cathartic experience. And it was almost like a painter, you know, studying a canvas and coming back to it day after day after day and saying, no, I don't like that color here, I'm going to, I'm going to just adjust it a little bit.
Michael Gettel: And so here I am, I'm looking at this manuscript, that's like six pages long and I'm like, I don't like that voicing over there. And so I'd go back and erase it and switch it out or do something different, and a lot of it just kind of came and it just kind of created itself on paper as I was going.
Michael Gettel: So that was a very, very gratifying experience.
Joe Miller: I want to come back to that process a little bit, but it's been quite a while since your last project, right?
Michael Gettel: Oh, my gosh, yes. Yeah, my last project was a co-project with my wife Elizabeth, and it was called One Piano and it was released in 2001.
Michael Gettel: And so, after that release again, the music industry was in such turmoil and it just didn't seem reasonable to take any more personal risks in terms of releasing music at that point, because everything was just kind of getting ignored, Because record labels were realigning and companies were chewing up other companies and cutting them in half. And so, one thing led to another and years passed, and I had other things to do, being a teacher and a father and all of that.
Michael Gettel: But, you know, just the relocation, if any of your listeners have listened to our first podcast, they understand that about five years ago, we relocated to a small town in Colorado. That really kind of set my barometer, I suppose you could say, about a lot of things personally, and then just creatively.
Michael Gettel: And so, I can't believe that was August, and here I am on our very last day of mixdown, we're actually done. And my engineer right now is sending the waveforms to a [00:05:00] master engineer in New York. And so, probably have mastered mixes in a couple of days, yeah, so it's pretty exciting.
Joe Miller: That's really exciting. It's interesting, swinging back to the actual physicality of working with a pencil and doing, you know, writing that manuscript out. That's very different, a lot of composers these days have shifted to Finale, I'm sure you've used it, you know, so that.
Michael Gettel: No.
Joe Miller: Oh, you haven't actually, okay. Well, I mean, a lot of people do, but I think we always argue about how efficient it can be and, you know, oh, I didn't like that key, I'm going to flip a switch and it's going to change the key or whatever. But I think there really is something when you engage your body in creation like that.
Michael Gettel: Well, yeah, and that wasn't what this process was about at all. For me, it wasn't how fast can I kick out a commercial or kick out a soundtrack for a TV show or even a record. For me it was again, very cathartic to write it out, and it was a very Zen experience and just a super-empowering experience, to actually go back to that old-school way of doing everything on paper and having these incredible snapshots, these souvenirs, these manuscripts that are going to be my, you know, treasures for the rest of my life and my kids and all of that, and you know, yeah, it's a special part of the process for me this time.
Joe Miller: I have to say that my wife saw, you posted a picture of a page on social media.
Michael Gettel: Oh, it was actually kind of a teaser, because I certainly know enough musicians and people who have played, that they would get curious to say, oh my gosh, here's the first song on the record called The View from Here, and it's the first page. And so, I had all these posts where people are saying, I'm trying to figure out what this sounds like. So that was pretty amusing, but I definitely got some people's attention with that.
Joe Miller: You definitely did, both myself and my wife. I'm a guitar player, so I mean, I can read a little bit of music, but I can't read. Barbara was a piano minor in college, and I went to my wife, Barbara, and I said, this looks a little crazy to me. And she goes, oh yeah.
Joe Miller: Of course, that's kind of one of your trademarks I think, Michael. Did you have a lot of ideas and snippets? Kind of the over the years built up that you kind of had in your mental drawer?
Michael Gettel: Well, that's such an interesting observation, what a great question, because yes, what a landscape composer tends to do, probably much like a photographer would do, is they remember a certain kind of light shade or whatever, and they probably put that in a drawer somewhere, and they go back to that time or that space and they wait for that light, or whatever.
Michael Gettel: And, I'm very similar. I mean, I've done a lot of traveling in my life and, as you know, especially in the last 10 years, when I see a really amazing tableau, I kind of check it into my head and there's actually, more than a few of those tableaus in this music.
Michael Gettel: And just a couple to, give you examples, there's three songs that are basically inspired by those kinds of experiences. And one is Stepping Stones Under Water, which in itself as a title, is really kind of intriguing. It's like, well, what is this about, and what is that, what's the significance behind that title?
Michael Gettel: And it's very simple, I was traveling with a group of students from my former school and we were traveling, we were backpacking actually through the Lake District. It was about two years apart and there's this beautiful, beautiful babbling river actually, that you had to cross in order to go up to walk up to the moors. And the first time, it was actually many times, but this particular time we were there, there are these, you know, huge hand-tuned stepping stones that go all the way across the river. And they must've been put there, who knows how long ago, hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
Michael Gettel: And so, the first time was fine, a few years later another group comes and it had been really rainy in the Lake District, and we got to the river and the stepping stones were eight inches underwater, making it impossible to pass. So we had to follow the river and walk down and cross a bridge and then go over that way, which was a little bit of a detour.
Michael Gettel: But that's a really classic example because the view from where I was standing, looking down at those stones, and just watching the water move over them and realizing you could walk over these if you wanted to, but good luck, you know, you're gonna fall in!
Michael Gettel: So the music is obviously, it's got a really nice meter to it and it's kind of happy-go-lucky and it's just a little pleasant surprise.
Joe Miller: Oh, that's great. So the theme, is it a collection or is there a specific theme for the different landscape?
Michael Gettel: Much like most of my albums, they are kind of concept records and this one again, like a lot of my other ones, kind of have, there's a double entendre, a lot in either the titles of the songs or even the title of the record.
Michael Gettel: [00:10:00] And this album especially is about beautiful landscapes, inspirations from landscapes and with the title of the album called The View from Here. And, I do have to digress for a second, the photography on the front is just absolutely stunning, including the inside cover of the CD.
Michael Gettel: And it's so sad for me to say that my friend, my photographer friend, who took those photos passed away two weeks ago. So I'm up here remembering him and laying down all these mixes and, you know, the sad part is he's not here to really fully appreciate the fact that there are going to be hopefully many, many, many, many people looking at that cover going, that is amazing!
Michael Gettel: But the name of the album is The View from Here, and obviously, you think of landscape, but there's a metaphor there because as an aging gentlemen of 62, we talked about my albums, The Key and other albums that have kind of an allegory or an architectural journey in them.
Michael Gettel: And The View from Here can be taken physically, or it can be taken more of a non-literal sense where you're talking about, this is where I'm at in my walk, this is where I am in my journey of life, this is where I am in my transition, you know, from one thing to another. And this is what it looks like from here.
Michael Gettel: Maybe it's gonna get, it's going to change in a little bit, or it's going stay, this is the view I'm going to have, but I just love playing with titles and having people be able to sort of embrace it however they are comfortable embracing it.
Joe Miller: Yeah, I loved the way you brought that in, you know, it's kind of the sense of view from maybe it's partially looking back, partially looking forward, but the idea of transition, sometimes we think it's only things that happen almost instantaneously, but some transitions happen quickly, but still there's a long arc on them.
Joe Miller: Yeah, meandering, it's kind of like a trail, right?
Michael Gettel: Absolutely.
Joe Miller: It's zig-zaggy, it's up and down.
Michael Gettel: It's stepping stones under water and up the hill and down the hill, and finally up to the Lake and the craig of the mountains and, you know, that's what life is.
Joe Miller: It is.
Michael Gettel: If you don't see yourself differently at 62 than you did at 42, then you gotta ask yourself some hard questions.
Joe Miller: That's a good point. Yeah, I totally agree with that. It really is a journey and I think we're hard on ourselves sometimes. You know, we want resolution or we want some specific outcome and we think too much about kind of the arrival point, and not enough about the journey and the process.
Michael Gettel: And again, I guess from my perspective, from my view from here, this music is really about gratitude, and all of the songs are inspirational in a sense of how they were perceived, like you said, these little snapshots of either memories or our visual kind of cues. But all of it, in and of itself, there's not one song on this record that you couldn't listen to and just take it to heart and feel gratitude for something that you've got.
Michael Gettel: And whether it's the land, the sky, your life, your health, your personal wellbeing, any of it, it's there for you to find if you want to look for it in this music.
Joe Miller: That's awesome.
Joe Miller: Let me pivot. I know you don't have that much time, you have to get back to the project, but, let's deep dive into maybe a few musical kind of questions.
Joe Miller: Did you find, when you went into this, I'm going to say it, I know you're humble about this, but you've reached a certain level of mastery years ago. But did you find that as you were going through this project, you were stretching yourself?
Michael Gettel: Oh my goodness, yes!
Joe Miller: And in what ways, speak to the musicians for a few minutes Michael, and talk about in what ways, and you can get specific because I want to connect with some of those friends and your students too, by the way, you know?
Michael Gettel: Right. Number one, if you stop learning at any point, that's where you, I mean, there's no more growth if you stop learning. So, whether it's your craft, like my composing or my piano playing, or whether it's anything in your life, if you stop being open to being learned and you start creating a fixed mindset, you are never going to grow past that moment.
Michael Gettel: And that is one of the biggest lessons I could ever say to anyone. I would say that to a student, I would say that to anyone who would want any kind of advice from me. I would say, always be a learner. So in that light, I, again, going back to the manuscripts, that's the first time I've ever done that.
Michael Gettel: So that in itself stretched me. I thought, what am I doing? Because it took me, you know, it really took me eight hours probably, every day for two weeks to physically capture what I was doing. And at any point during that process, I just thought, I don't know if I'm going to be able to pull this [00:15:00] off.
Michael Gettel: And then when I got done, I looked at everything I did and I said, I don't think I can play this. So that in itself.
Joe Miller: Oh, I love it!
Michael Gettel: That in itself is stretching me. And then of course, I spent the next six months trying to play what I had written. And there's so many technical things that I have never taken those kinds of risks in a solo piano album to do, and so um, gosh, just the virtuosity that some of these pieces have and how hard it is to really, I guess, express the highs and the lows, and just to be careful with your performances. Really, really challenging.
Joe Miller: That's amazing, and you didn't back down from it either.
Michael Gettel: No.
Joe Miller: I think I'll take the eraser out and take some of those notes out.
Michael Gettel: I was too committed. There was no way I was not getting to make this happen. I mean, some of these takes, my poor engineer, he's like, okay, 43, take 43. That didn't happen too often, but it's a real interesting experience to get back on the horse after 20 years.
Joe Miller:
Joe Miller: I can't wait to hear it, I can't wait.
Michael Gettel: Yeah, thank you. Well, it really, really is, I think magical. And it's an experience from beginning to end, much like maybe some of my instrumental albums can be, you know, listeners can feel that way, but this is very intimate, and I think they're going to come away with sort of the same reward as they would, listening to a big Michael Gettel record.
Joe Miller: It's solo piano, are you putting anything else in the backgrounds, or?
Michael Gettel: There are a few surprises in the background and a couple of third hands and that kind of thing, so, yeah, for sure.
Joe Miller: That's awesome, so, I want to respect your time on the project, I know you're right there.
Joe Miller: Is that the studio behind you or
Michael Gettel: Yes, actually.
Joe Miller: Yeah.
Michael Gettel: Yeah. I'm still here.
Joe Miller: Go ahead, pick up the camera, go ahead.
Michael Gettel: I'm sitting in the main room, and I don't know if you can see the,
Joe Miller: Yeah, there's the piano.
Michael Gettel: The piano. This studio is where most of the famous 90s Seattle bands have recorded, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains.
Michael Gettel: Yeah, everybody. Macklemore, this is the place.
Joe Miller: What's the name of the studio?
Michael Gettel: Robert Lang Studios. And I don't know what kind of a secret it is anywhere else, but on the West Coast, no one doesn't know about this studio. It's just extremely wonderful to be here.
Joe Miller: Well, I want to thank you so much for letting us kind of dive in at the very.
Michael Gettel: It's always fun to talk to you because you have such great questions and you just make it so effortless to have a conversation, so I appreciate it, Joe.
Joe Miller: So what's your rough timing, when do you think this is going to get out there and how will people find it?
Michael Gettel: Yeah, well, I think it's going to be pretty easy. I am working with a world wide distributor on it, so we're going to release the single, probably at the end of November and then probably another single in January. And the full album will probably drop the end of January, the first part of February.
Joe Miller: So it is going to be a physical product as well.
Michael Gettel: Oh, absolutely.
Joe Miller: OK, just checking.
Michael Gettel: Right, but the CDs will be out there on Amazon and that kind of thing, or listeners can always private message me and I can then arrange to send you my own copy, so.
Joe Miller: Well, be careful there, buddy. You're going to get overwhelmed.
Michael Gettel: Oh boy, yeah, I know, what? No, it'll be great.
Joe Miller: And yeah, just a shout out to your students, they were so engaged on my first episode, so many positive things to say, so I know they're going to be very anxious, so I'll try to reach out to them.
Michael Gettel: Well, I do have to close with one quick thing, because you mentioned my students. Over the last five years, I've actually met a kind of a protege of mine, who basically was born to my first record.
Michael Gettel: And her parents have listened, the whole family's kids had been born to my music, so they've been listening to all my albums since about probably 1990. So Kelsey has grown up wanting to play the piano and I've been, you know, a pretty big influence in that way. And so, talk about things coming full circle and mentoring people, she was my guest for two days and she came in on this album. It was just one of those experiences that I'll always remember as a highlight of my recording life, because you're really passing the torch onto someone else to say, I bless what you're doing, I love, I love your skillset and I can't wait to see what you're going to do and, you know, it was such a warm experience. And mentors always have to mentor. And whether you're teaching in a classroom setting or anything like that, you can never underestimate the [00:20:00] power you have for passing off something to a younger individual.
Michael Gettel: Whether that's kindness, whether that's a skill, whether that's showing them anything that makes them feel more empowered and more accepting of who they are and what their goals should be for themselves, and how to be a good steward of their talents.
Joe Miller: Oh man, that's beautiful.
Michael Gettel: Yeah, it's really exciting.
Joe Miller: And it's brought these multiple threads of your life and your journey together.
Michael Gettel: Oh, for sure, I know, right? It's awesome.
Joe Miller: You know, I shouldn't say, in this current project you're working on, it's just, that's wonderful. So once again, I just want to thank you so much again, Michael for being on the podcast. I really enjoyed it. I'm going to let you go.
Michael Gettel: OK
Joe Miller: Before you hang up, just let people know that I will of course put information in the show notes, and if you've enjoyed this, please like and subscribe to the channel, either on the YouTube channel or on the audio podcast. OK Michael, good luck. I'm sure this thing is just going to go wonderfully, I can't wait to listen to your new record.
Michael Gettel: It's really, it's really pretty.
Joe Miller: All right. Well, we want to see that photography too, because I know how special your friend is and please do send me any information on him to credit him, so.
Michael Gettel: Easy to do.
Joe Miller: Okay.
Michael Gettel: All right.
Joe Miller: Thanks a lot, man, appreciate it, take care.