Beyond the Beat

11/15/2024

My amazingly talented friend Vide made this beautiful song! I’d love to know the English translation. Keep sparkling Vide Geiger❤️

Song: Varje Steg Vi TarArtist: Vide GeigerWebsite: www.VideGeiger.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/VideGeigerTwitter: twitter.com/VideGeigerYoutube: www.youtube...

10/31/2024

Try these Pentatonic Scale YouTube Short tutorials to help improve your ability to improvise on the guitar.

This is a very important E Pentatonic Scale Pattern. It's a movable scale that is very comfortable for guitarists. It allows musicians to improvise solo's an...

10/25/2024

Phill Lesh was a trumpet player who studied composition and loved Jazz music. But he joined the Grateful Dead and went on one of the most magical adventures that will never really end.

He played a six string electric bass with a pick and his bass lines didn’t really repeat themselves. It’s unbelievable how well it all worked. I guess it worked really well because of how it didn’t always work.

I never met Phil, but I feel like I just lost a family member today. He was somehow very different than a typical rock star type, somewhat unaffected and genuinely musical. It’s just so wonderful when unique individuals play music together. Phill just didn’t allow the bass to be boring in any way. Amazingly, it challenged his band mates to do new things and move around their instruments in a none repetitive way. It’s totally uncanny.

I really love his tone and bass work on the “Europe ‘72 “ tour. It’s very distinctive and clear. I think the tube driven clean amplifier made it very easy to pick out the notes. If you take the time to listen to the recordings from the bass out, you will be treated to a musicians treat. It’s delicious, imaginative. It’s so wonderful and melodic. Counterpoint really.

I really get the impression that Phill was simply brilliant and humble, kind and generous. Farewell you beautiful soul, I’ll miss you and I guess I love you.

Love,

Dave Mackenzie (one of your biggest fans)😢😭❤️🎶

10/19/2024

This is something new that we are trying out. Please look past the colour grading and rough edges and see the amazing potential. Also dig how insightful and articulate these young artist are!

This is an experimental music podcast that we are developing with "The Olympic Proof Mermaids". The idea is to give the band a platform to develop musical id...

06/13/2024

Cover by “The Souvenirs”

06/13/2024

The Souvenirs Cover “I’d have to think about it” by Leith Ross

The Souvenirs are an art folk trio from Toronto. They have been together for two years and are beginning to write original material. This cover of "I'd have ...

06/07/2024

This shot is of our amazing student Savanna moments after she closed our final show of the season. The performance also marks the end of her beautiful 10 year journey at Beyond the Beat. She happened to absolutely crush her performance, but that’s just icing on the cake. The important part is the profound friendship and memories built over her experience at the school. It’s all about fun and support. Brings a tear to my eye and a huge sense of pride and joy. If I could do it all over again, I’d choose this! Great work Savanna, you are a wonderful human being. It’s been an amazing journey and I hope you come back and reconnect by recording a tune with us when you are in town. ❤️🎶

The teaching team in the second photograph is legendary. They give everything they have to their art and their craft. They support each student from the heart and it’s pure magic. Thanks you so much!

05/10/2024

A couple of friends helped create the magic yesterday 🎶

03/08/2024

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/rain-dogs-2023-remaster/1695046955

I think it was about 30 years ago to the day that my buddy Richard Reed Parry sat me down in his moms living room in Ottawa and introduced me to Tom Waits by playing the song "Time". The album is called "Rain Dogs" and it spoke to me in a way that I haven't found since.

This is the thing. I really love music, so so so so much. Tom Waits found a way to be compassionate through song by standing up for the ones on earth that couldn't stand up for themselves. He gave them their voices back by telling their stories. Tom Waits is possibly the very best songwriter to ever live. His songs are real and they are truly humane works of art.

Now the musical arrangements are a whole other thing. They are art and they are theatre mixed up and steeped in art film brilliance. Not to mention, they are music! The best collage of folk, blues, rock and roll and jazz that I have ever heard. It's unfathomable. It's hard to believe that someone could put so much into lyricism and find the energy and work ethic to follow through on re-inventing the language of music to go with the words. The poems.

Thank you Tom Waits, to this day, I have never found your equal. You have touched my heart and soul. You have taught me about what it means to be human by making the most interesting songs on earth. Thank you Richard Reed Parry for making the acquaintance. Thank you to all of my fellow Rain Dogs for sharing this love. Keep sparkling Tom.