Permaculture San Francisco

Starting out his training on classical guitar in the 70’s, Alan switched to steel string guitar in the 80’s, creating new acoustic tapping and fingerstyle compostions. In 1991 upon injuring tendons in his left hand through experimenting with new techniques, the door closed to guitar for some years and opened to a series of still evolving one-of-a-kind wind and  percussion instruments.  Currently Alan composes for the huaca, an original pan-cultural clay wind instrument, deeply evocative in sound with three chambers or vessels - faciilitating single lines, harmony and chords - with intervals purely intonated to natures vibrational code; the didjeridu, where his interest was catalyzed early to playing melodies above the drone out of the organic harmonic series; and the hang, a new melodic percussion instrument from two Swiss inventors Felix Rohner and Sabina Scherer specially tuned to the principles of just intonation.  Played with the hands it combines the sense of the Indian ghatam, carribean steel pan and gamelan of Bali for a sound envelope rich in color, while giving the impression of opening and closing like a flower. Alan often performs in duo and has toured northern california as a solo artist. He also plays with Ancient Future’s Trance Trio,  and The Unusual Instruments Trio, led by author and instrument inventor Bart Hopkin. He has provided the music for ecological physicist  Brian Swimme’s retreats for many years.

Since becoming sensitized in 1986 to our current ecological crisis, through the work of  Swimme and geologian (geo-theologian)Thomas Berry, Alan’s mission has been to bring music to the heart of environmental & social activism. .   In 2002 he launched Octave Alliance 501c3, a musical venture to promote work in this area which then become the Green Music Network. His current interest is in exploring the future of music through study of the “ecology of vibration” with Mark Deutsch expressing it in an evolving new artform  with his Group Gaudi  in Hawk Hill Tunnel as part of the GMN Cave Concert “World in Vibration” Series.   His overarching interest for the next few years is in developing the concept of Integral Music as it relates to the work of Ken Wilber.

His compositions, unusual sounds and ecological literacy have been captured on 8 CD’s with two released on the Ancient Future Records label,  and two on the label, Hemi-Sync/Meta Music
which focuses on embedding binaural beats into artist’s music for a right/left brain synchronization meditative experience.   His organic acoustic sounds were used in the 2004 Disney/Skywalker movie Peter Pan, in soundtracks for meditation and yoga, in a series of Tsunami Ranger video’s on Sea Kayaking, and in the Ellipsis Arts CD/book bestseller Orbitones, Spoonharps and Bellowphones. His new  album due for release in April ’07 is Bearing Witness: our vanishing ethnosphere (14 didjeridu duo’s with Randy Graves, Stephen Kent & Mark Deutsch)

The music of Alan Tower is all tracings.  Like the bards of ancient times he holds up the mirror of our follies. But he also holds upstars and mists and fleeting lights that trace hidden paths out of the darkness.  He is a composer of dreams and a gentle artisan of hope.
- Miriam Teresa McGillis O.P.  Founder Genesis Farm &  Lecturer, Fate of the Earth