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Some sounds you can listen to your entire life and still not fully understand until you’re standing in the room with them.

In this first installment of the Musical Bucket List, Chops explores the experience of being surrounded by a large group of people creating one sound together—from symphony orchestras, choirs and wind ensembles to a room full of people praying together or fifty voices singing Happy Birthday.

Along the way, we dig into the science behind why these experiences feel so different in person: vibrating wood, harmonics and overtones, room acoustics, extreme dynamics, tuning, human synchronization, and the strange moment when dozens of individual sounds seem to become one.

There are stories too—from riding bicycles around an orchestra in the park, to watching a conductor tune an ensemble until new sounds seemed to appear in the air, to possibly the greatest orchestra-pit nap ever taken.

You don’t have to be a musician to understand this episode. You don’t have to know anything about orchestras, acoustics, or music theory.

You just have to appreciate music, good stories, and those rare moments in life when you realize you’re experiencing something bigger than yourself.

Some experiences you can go looking for.

Others, you just have to hope life is kind enough to give you.

And when it does...

notice.

Musical Bucket List #1: Get in the Room.

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to this episode—raw, random, and real.
🔔 Follow the show so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
💬 Got thoughts, stories, or wild theories? Hit me up on socials or email [choppiechops@yahoo.com].
📡 Music in this episode created using Suno AI and my own twisted imagination.

Appreciate you being here. More chaos and conversation soon.

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What happens when the lights come on, the song gets counted off, and you’re not at your best?

In the Season 2 premiere of Hanging Out With Chops, Chops explores an idea learned through decades of playing, recording, and producing music: you perform at your average—and that’s not a bad thing. The goal is to make your average incredibly high.

After an emotional performance in Dallas reminded him how valuable musical “autopilot” can be, Chops looks back at his college years studying jazz saxophone, where a teacher had one uncompromising rule: no wrong notes. If a 250 BPM bebop tune had to be played at 70 BPM to play it correctly, then 70 BPM was where the work began.

From Charlie Parker licks finally “fitting your hands” to raising your floor instead of constantly chasing your ceiling, this episode is about consistency, muscle memory, practicing correctly, recovering from mistakes, and learning music deeply enough that your hands know what to do—even when your mind is somewhere else.

Because great performances aren’t built when the lights come on.

You built them at 70 BPM.

Support the show

🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to this episode—raw, random, and real.
🔔 Follow the show so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
💬 Got thoughts, stories, or wild theories? Hit me up on socials or email [choppiechops@yahoo.com].
📡 Music in this episode created using Suno AI and my own twisted imagination.

Appreciate you being here. More chaos and conversation soon.

buymeacoffee.com/choppiechops

https://hanging-out-with-chops.kit.com/497c631a7e

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After some time away from the podcast, I’m finally ready to talk about why.

On June 10th, I lost my wife. I’ve tried several times to sit down and record this episode, but I just couldn’t get through it.

This isn’t an episode about death. It isn’t really an episode about grief, either. It’s about my wife - who she was, the life we shared, the little things I miss, and what it means to figure out how to keep moving forward when someone who was such a huge part of your life is suddenly gone.

Before I could come back and talk about music, records, studios, and everything else we normally talk about here, there was something I needed to do first.

I needed to tell you about Martha.

Support the show

🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to this episode—raw, random, and real.
🔔 Follow the show so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
💬 Got thoughts, stories, or wild theories? Hit me up on socials or email [choppiechops@yahoo.com].
📡 Music in this episode created using Suno AI and my own twisted imagination.

Appreciate you being here. More chaos and conversation soon.

buymeacoffee.com/choppiechops

https://hanging-out-with-chops.kit.com/497c631a7e