How You Ended Up Here
Hello, Ryan here. Nice to meet you. Do you have 5 minutes to get to know me? No? I've got you. The bold letters are a pretty solid ten second summary.
I'm a connoisseur of cars with character and made-up ridiculous songs. A curator of atmospheres. A messenger of musical meaning. Sometimes, I’m serious and playful at the same time. Here at RSCM I create simple music mostly. You can listen for a few hours easily.
Why not go deep right now?
I believe music was and is given to us from another realm. I’m not saying this to create an aura. (I'm not interested in that kind of thing.) I believe that, for some reason, the unseen forces or entities among us love creativity. I hear it in our backyard wind chimes playing truly great music - from the very funky to the deeply dramatic. In my studio, interesting turns of events, divine guidance when I least expect it, in sometimes bizarre ways. A lot of musicians and other artists have similar stories. I believe it's a divine whisper saying: art matters.
Do I buy my backing tracks off the internet, or do I record all the instruments myself? To read about this, click here.
Since starting cello in school orchestra, I instantly loved playing any songs. Nothing has changed. Some say I was a teen prodigy (given a gift? yes; prodigy? no). All of us have to work hard to get where we’re going anyways. (Yes, even Prince.) Thankfully, I’ve always enjoyed the work of music (aside from my music-conservatory-burnout phase, 20+ years ago). What started with learning the strings of a cello, evolved into becoming a professional mix engineer over the past 8 years, with a whole lot of stops along the way. You probably didn't know I'm a smooth, pro-level electric bassist? A pretty decent rock drummer? That every sound in this music came from my hands?
It’s nothing but good vibes from audiences. I think this instrument, a cello, is part of the reason for that. Storytime! Years ago I became familiar with an enthusiastic karaoke scene. I was floored by how much famous songs mean to people. Almost everyone was singing together, at least sometimes. Passion. Meaning. Joy. Play. Community. How often do we experience all this? To this day, the memory reminds me that we share famous songs while we love them.
Favorite cello people? Yo Yo Ma, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Tina Guo, Jacqueline Du Pré, Cicely Parnas, and Janos Starker. Great cellists, not "cello-ists". You're welcome, and no judgment. We all have way more to learn than we already know.
Have you ever seen an introvert start talking and not stop for a while?
I think every famous song on my song list page is a classic. Well-crafted and written with heart. When it comes to my versions, they always end up becoming deeply personal creations, while my mind always comes back to the audiences, the shared nature of famous songs. As someone wisely noted when I started creating this giant repertoire, "You're curating an experience." I've adopted that sentiment in several ways.
In music, perfection doesn’t even exist. Here, songs are ready when they give me the chills. This means others will feel it too.
In fun settings, or in the most sobering of settings, I play these songs in many different ways and people feel the music.
To properly end this, here's my best vague editorial about how I like to live my life:
I love camping and the outdoors, holidays (mostly), floating with my fiancé on our kayaks, road trips, and sort-of-chugging my coffee with her every morning before I walk into my little studio. Anytime dogs are around, my friends might call me <I’m not telling everyone my embarrassing nickname!> which basically means that all dogs love me, and I love them.
I grew up in the Land of Enchantment, leaving after college (go Lobos!) and realizing there is no place I’d rather live. In 2017, I moved back to ABQ to chase this dream. In 2018, I officially became a full-time freelance solo cellist and have been ever since. It means a lot to dedicate my life to Music and our Community - to soothe, enhance, entertain, and inspire.
If you've read all this, that means you know a lot more about me than I (probably) know about you. But, you were interested, and what are some good reasons to hide who we are? And in the spirit of community, a fabric we should be building when we can, I invite you to say hello.