Gente Universe at Heima (mt CASA Exhibit)

Congratulations to mt Spaces: An Exhibit featuring Real Living Magazine, Everywhere We Shoot, Carina Santos and The Googly Gooeys last night at Heima Brixton. 

Thank you to Heima for inviting Gentle Universe to play at the exhibit opening. It was a happy arts and crafts event! Nice and  head bobbing set also by Nights of Rizal and Supermikki.

Here are some photos taken last nigh.

Gentle Universe performing at the mt CASA exhibit launch. (L to R: Stan, Valerie and Cris)

Cupcakes courtesy of Heima.

By The Googly Gooeys

Looking for a nice washi tape for the toy piano. :-)
 

 


Valerie checking out the mt CASA tapes.

Valerie with Migi De Belen aka Nights of Rizal, who also performed during the exhibit launch. His EP Zero Karma is also available at Heima Brixton.   .

Happy crafting with mt CASA washi tapes.

























Here is the event poster.

You can still check out the exhibit at Heima Brixton. mt CASA tapes for crafts and decoration are also available at www.heimastore.com.

By the way, online launch today of our new track entitled “All-Day Breakfast in Flower Bed”.

We hope that you also feel wonderful, energized and refreshed while listening to the new track. Happy crafting!

“All-Day Breakfast in Flower Bed” is part of the Heima Store's special playlist for mt Spaces. You can listen by clicking the play button below. 

Love,

Gentle Universe

Garden / Spaces from heimastore on 8tracks Radio.

 
Listen to more Gentle Universe tracks via SoundCloud

Intro to Handmade Musical Instruments

Hi there!I was invited to speak about my handmade musical instruments using coconut shells and other found objects on September 10, 2013 at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Venue is at University of the Philippines, College of Music, Annex 226. The colloquium is open to all students and faculty members of UP Diliman. See you UP! :-)

This is my handmade cocokalimba which won the first Mochiko's HandmadeExchange last February. I joined the contest to win the prize as a gift for my wife's birthday. :-)

Goblet drum made of coconut shell and abaka rope. I made this for my son Dylan.

By the way, we are releasing a new track soon! In the meantime, you can listen to some of our tracks on SoundCloud. We'd like to invite you to join our mailing list also for fresh updates and free stuff.   Thanks again!

Truly yours,

Cris

For Gentle Universe

Cocospheres

Thank you very much again to everyone who visited the Dr. Jose Maceda Exhibit 2013 at UP Vargas Museum. Special thanks to Dayang Yraola, UP Center for Ethnomusicology, Tad Ermitano and all my fellow Confluence artists.
 
Thank you also to artist/photographer Brendan Gogo who took a cool photo of my sound installation called Niyogan: Cocospheres (Sounds from the Coconut Village).

I will post more photos soon. In the  meantime, check out this article: GMA NEWS online featured the exhibit including a photo of  my installation. Thank you Kapuso! :-)

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo
For Gentle Universe
@gentleuniverse

"PlaySpace" Music by Gentle Universe

Hi! We’re happy to share that Acer Mobile w/ Intel’s PlaySpace used the music made by Gentle Universe.

They also asked me to create a sound mark at the end of the video for  PlaySpace’s #letsplaytogether and Acer Mobile (PH) w/ Intel logo. It was fun! Thank you to Russell Vergara, Azel Gorne, everyone at Vgrafiks and Julius of Bremont.



Acer Mobile (PlaySpace) from Acer Mobile on Vimeo.

After watching, you can download the music through our soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/gentle-universe/music-for-playspace-track-3-1

By the way, please tell you friends about our newsletter.   We’re sending new stuff!

Thank you!

Truly yours,

Cris

For Gentle Universe
@gentleuniverse

Gentle Universe at Shangri-la for Acer's Anniversary

Had a wonderful gig last Tuesday! Gentle Universe was invited to play ambient music w/ visuals at Shangri-la for Acer's anniversary. They provided a huge screen for the visuals! Thank you to Ms. Sirikit and the entire Confluence team. Here are some snapshots. 

 
Thank you for visiting! Have a nice week! :-)

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo
For Gentle Universe
@gentleuniverse
www.twitter.com/gentleuniverse

Sign up for Gentle Universe Newsletter.

Gentle Universe at "PlaySpace"

Hi! We'd like to invite you "PlaySpace" happening next week on April 29-30. Cris of Gentle Universe is going to speak about the group, our playthings, toy pianos, synths, gigs and more.  For more details and list of speakers, visit the lovely site by Vgrafix, http://www.acermobile.ph/playspace/ . Free registration. Please spread the word. Thanks! :-)

Gentle Universe at Rizal Park, Earth Hour 2013

Gentle Universe played at Rizal Park in Manila on March 23, 2013. The event was organized by the National Park Development Committee (NPDC) in joining Earth Hour 2013. Thanks to Gie Arnold and the staff of  NPDC. Thanks also to everyone who joined us during the event!  

 

Here are some photos taken by our good friend Joy Dela Victoria.

 

Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you at our next mini tour. :-)

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo
For Gentle Universe

If you would like to book us for your event or sponsor a tour for Gentle Universe, just send a quick note to csgarcimo@gmail.com

Winner: Handmade Musical Instrument

A couple of months ago, my handmade instrument called "Mochikalimba" was announced as the winner for Mochiko Mochi's first handmade contest.  I joined the contest because I like Mochiko Mochi's handmade advocacy, and also because my wife Shey loves Mochi. In the Philippines, Mochiko Mochi sells creative cream and ice cream-filled mocha (Japanese creative dessert). Incidentally, Shey was also celebrating her birthday at that time. I thought it would be a nice gift for her if I win the contest.

By the way, I got to know the contest through Pergy, one of my favorite artists, who was commissioned to create the poster for Mochiko Mochi's "Handmade with Love" campaign. You can also check out her blog and Behance artist page - http://www.behance.net/pergyacuna.

For my entry, I made a mochiko-inspired handmade lamellaphone using recycled coconut shell and steel spring. Lamellophones are instruments which have little tines, or "lamellae", which are played by plucking like thumb piano, mbira, kalimba (Africa) and mbiraski (Japan). "It was thought in ancient times that the thumb piano was able to project its sound into the heavens (Wiki)."

I used a coconut shell because of its circular shape and texture. I also want to create a recyclable material which is abundant in our country. We have a lot of coconut trees here considering Philippines is a tropical country.

Mochiko Mochi said that my submission looks a bit like a mochi. Here are the photos when Mochiko announced via their facebook page that my handmade musical instrument won the contest. :-)   

            
                                              
Here is a photo of Dylan at the stall of Mochiko Mochi at Southmall when we received the prize from Mochiko.  He was pointing at the heart in Mochiko Mochi's logo. Handmade with love indeed! :-)

Here are the different flavors of Mochiko. Our current favorites are the Straberry and Mango Flavors.

(Photo from Mochiko Mochi's FB page)

Thanks again Mochiko Mochi! It was fun! I am inspired to make create more handmade musical instruments.

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo
For Gentle Universe

www.twitter.com/gentleuniverse
 

Gentle Universe at Art in The Park 2013

Gentle Universe played at Art in The Park 2013 last week, March 16, 2013.  It is an annual art fair organized by Museum Foundation of the Philippines

"It is a community-based activity that people come to enjoy, peruse the stalls, and hunt for bargains. They end up lingering because of the convivial atmosphere,the food, drinks, conversations, and the friends that gather", explained by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines.

Thanks you very much Art in the Park 2013 organizers, artists, booths and attendees!

(Under the tree. Photo taken during the soundcheck.)

 

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by and watched our set at Art in The Park 2013. Hope to see you again next year!

 

Truly yours,

 

Cris

For Gentle Universe

 

 

www.twitter.com/gentleuniverse



 

Circle of Instruments



Above is  photo of  our jam set up last Saturday.

Hope to see you soon! Gentle Universe "Park Tour": March 16, Art in The Park, Salcedo, Makati; March 23 - "Concert at the Park, Luneta PArk Central Area, 6 pm.

Propagation of Sound

Sound Propagation

Hi! This is Cris. I'm posting this assignment as part of the course in "Introduction to Music Production" by Berkelee College of Music that I’m taking online via Coursera.org

We were tasked to teach any topic from the first week's lessons. I chose to discuss the first characteristic or property of sound called “Propagation”which means sound moving and travelling through a medium.  

Propagation is defined as the act or action  of propagating or to transmission through a medium. Wiki explained that sound is a sequence of waves of pressure that propagates through compressible media such as air or water. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound

How sound travels or how it reaches our ears for us to hear the sound?

Sound needs a medium to travel from one place to another or from the source to our ears.  The physical medium can be air, wood, water or metal. Generally, the kind and density of the medium affects the speed of the sound wave.  In other words the arrival time of the sound depends on the medium it goes through in order to reach our ears.

Where does sound travels better?  In air or solid?

I searched the web for fun and interesting experiments to understand where sound travels  better.

Let’s try to quick experiment called “Table Thunder”

 

In this experiment you need a friend, one table and writing materials. Sit opposite your friend. Then knock on the table. Take note how load the sound is. Afterwhich, ask your friend to place his ear against the surface of the table. Knock on the table again. What did you discover?

When you listen to the knocking sound through the table, it is much louder.

What we learned: Sound travels better and louder through a wood, than through air.

For more fun experiments please visit this link.

This lesson that we learned in our experiment leads us to the next  - “Why sound travels better through wood”?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In How Stuff Works, Jonathan Explained explained that:  “The speed of a sound wave depends upon the medium through which it travels. In general, sound travels faster through solids than through liquids or gases. Also, the denser the medium, the slower sound will travel through it. The same sound will travel at a different speed on a cold day than it would on a warm day.”

The molecules in wood are closer to each or tightly packed other compared to the molecules in water. Instead of jumping from molecules that far aay from each other, the sound easily travels trough the molecules of the wood.

I hope that you learn something. :-)
 

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo

P.S. For more discussion on Propagation of Sound, you can also visit the following links:

http://www.jhu.edu/virtlab/ray/acoustic.htm

Physics classrom  

 

"Follow the Rainbow": Gentle Universe Outreach Show

Gentle Universe had an outreach show at Silid Booklatan, San Pablo, Laguna on January 19, 2013. Silid Booklatan promotes reading in the underprivileged communities by providing venues, reading materials, reading-related activities, and support. We performed for around 100 kids! Thank you very much to Silid Booklatan for the oppurtunity.  

 

We love outreach shows because it is an opportunity to offer something to those might not have easy access to it. 

Here are some photos from the outreach:

South Luzon Express Way



After almost 2 hours, we finally arrived at Silid Booklatan, San Pablo!    




Stan reading a nice book on music with vintage illustrations.



Valerie Faye at the reading area.

Stan and Faye checking out the books and magazines.

Some kids at Silid Booklatan waiting for the show to start

 



Performing for the kids. 



We went to San Pablo Lake after the outreach.



We also donated children's books to Silid Booklatan. If you are interested to donate books to Silid Booklatan, please visit their facebook page. They are also looking for volunteers.

We wish to have more outreach shows in different places.  If you would like to support our upcoming outreach shows, please send a quick note to csgarcimo@gmail.com.

Thank you very much for visiting. May you follow the rainbow and find the true pot of gold inside your heart. J

Truly yours,

Cris

For Gentle Universe

PS. My wife Shey and our son Dylan were not able to go with us. Dylan was not feeling well at that time due to the cold weather.

Gentle Universe at TOMS Give Fair, Alabang Town Center

We had fun performing at TOMS Give Fair! Thank you to TOMS Philippines for a heart-warming event.

"It is a celebration of the season of Joy and Giving through a fun-filled event featuring games, music, and food for all ages. It is also a gathering of like-minded people who give back! This festive event with a “street fair” type of setting will provide attendees with a host of different interactive, creative, and inspiring ways to engage with the concept of Giving." - TOMS Philippines, FB Event Page

Photo by Lia

Stan, Valerie Faye and Cris. Photo by Joy

 

Stan and Faye

For more photos, please check out the Facebook page of TOMS here.

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo
For Gentle Universe

For bookings and projects, please e-mail csgarcimo@gmail.com

Gentle Universe at Ang Bahay Parola

Hello! Gentle Universe will play at Ang Bahay Parola on November 30. It is shelter and learning center for street children. We are happy to play as part of the outreach program of Espasyo Art Space. If you are interested to help Ang Bahay Parola, please visit their website here. Thank you. 

Truly yours, 

Cris Garcimo

For Gentle Universe

www.twitter.com/gentleuniverse

Gentle Universe in Preview Magazine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gentle Universe was featured in Preview Magazine’s  September Issue together with Similarobjects of Number Line Records and Encounters With A Yeti of Terno Recordings. Special thanks to Cheekie Albay of Preview Magazine. Cheekie is a freelance writer, music lover and a mom. She also creates wonderful mixtapes. You can follow her on twitter: http://twitter.com/cheekiealbay. Cheers!

Gentle Universe in Esquire Magazine (Phil, July Issue)

Grab a copy of Esquire Philippines (July Issue). They made a diverse list of music to check out (2012). It includes our favorites Bent Lynchpin, Outerhope, Modulogeek, Wilderness and many more. Gentle Universe with our track "Saglit" (written by Erich Diolola) was also included in the list. Cheers to Shey, Erich, Stan, Valerie, Yen and all our friends and families!

Special thanks to Mara Coson for including Gentle Universe. Mara Coson is a freelance writer, fictionist and columnist for Philippine Daily Inquirer. She is also a contributor to Rogue, Esquire, Preview. For more info, you can visit www.maracoson.com.

As a thank you note, we send her a photo of one of our toy pianos. We call this piano the "Yellow Magic Piano". The name was inspired by Yellow Magic Orchestra.

We took the picture early this morning at our front yard using our old point and shoot camera. We also applied some of the lessons from a book by Nick Kelsh about how to photograph your baby (like turn off the camera flash, use natural light and take photos in the morning ). I just luckily found it at a nearby secondhand bookstore yesterday. We spent the whole Sunday morning taking photos. It was fun! I think the natural light really works. Here are more photos of the yellow piano with our son Dylan.

I like the leaves at the left of the photo. Looked like they are trying to reach for the toy piano. (Photo by my wife Shey. I just added a little bit of saturation using Gimp).

Cheers to more clean beats and baby manuals!

Thanks for visiting. :-)

Truly yours,

Cris Garcimo

For Gentle Universe

For free download of Saglit, just go to http://gentleuniverse.bandcamp.com

For news and updates subscribe to Gentle Universe Newsletter. Thanks!