Library » Arts & Literature » We Are Essence!
By Peter Bayreuther
We are essence
We are artists
We are teaching
We are essence
We are flying
Greeting stars
We can drink it
We are human
We celebrate
We are essence
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The following is taken from Paul Helfich’s notes on the February 19, 2006 International Session entitled “Remembrance”:
Peter and Karin had come all the way from Melle, Germany to participate in the workshop. Peter is a big Seth, Elias, and Kris fan, and has recorded several CDs based upon various conscious creation concepts. They stayed for a week afterwards and went on day trips around Southern California.
Peter and Karin visited on Monday after the Kris Workshop on February 11-12 and he brought sheet music of his songs, which we played and jammed to in my studio.
We set up a date for him to return on Wednesday. I thought we would jam some more but Peter had other ideas! He suggested we record We Are Essence! Peter wrote the lyrics and melody during the workshop when we broke into groups to create skits that expressed our deepest desires. His group's skit included the basic version of the song! It was a trance-like, chanting kind of melody, and we all loved it!
Unfortunately by now, I caught Joanne’s cold, and was feeling out of sorts, but I said, “OK, I can go for an hour, let’s see what we come up with.” I was using new recording software, so I wasn’t able to do everything in a flash. At one point I thought we might not be able to do the recording at all because of technical problems. But something very magical happened. In the midst of trouble-shooting and installing new hardware, I put out a mental request to my Sister Muses to help solve the problems, and two and a half hours later we had recorded seventeen tracks of music!
Peter arranged the whole thing, and it was a pleasure to see musical mind in action. I became a co-producer who handled the recording equipment and computer. Peter played violin, an overtone chant track, lead vocals, and piano – the core of the arrangement. Karin and Jo laid down two backup vocal tracks, and were really lovely in their singing! And I played a flute, bass, and percussion tracks. It all happened very spontaneously and creatively. We were all inspired by the workshop energy.
Peter Bayreuther and Paul Helfrich Jammin'
Peter and Karin returned the following Sunday, the day of this session, to mix the song. That was a whole other adventure, as it was the first serious mixing I’d done in 2-3 years in my upgraded studio. So there were still some hurdles to mount, but we set aside three hours and finished by 3 PM. That gave us an hour to relax before company came over for this Int’l. session.
We played the song during the first break over our stereo system. I wondered what it sounded like being squeezed into the phone lines? But people got the gist of the song and arrangement, and we had a blast! Peter and Karin left that night for Hollywood to finish their three-week American adventure. And I would spend another six hours remixing the song because I wasn’t happy with the way Peter’s lead vocal sounded (a bit too much like being in a large trash can!).
I sent Peter an email with MP3 versions of the first and second mixes to see which he liked the best, and after he got home and listened on his computer, we agreed to send the second version out to everyone. Enjoy the trance mantra anthem: We Are Essence!
Mark’s note: Peter is a composer, a musician and a singer by trade. After being referred to the Kris Chronicles by Paul, Peter took a shine to the material, especially The Nine Sisters material. Peter is in the process of creating Nine songs (some of which are complete) in honor of The Nine Sisters. Peter perfromed “Sister Love” and “Sister Joy” for us at the February 2006 “Discover Your Passionate Self” Workshop in Castaic, California.