Ruly Mix: Ben Harris

‘Tis the season! Whether you are joyfully shopping and putting up decorations or feeling a little tired and overwhelmed, you will get a great boost from today’s Ruly Mix track from composer Ben Harris! I asked Ben for some modern holiday music and he came through with a wonderful tune called “Pushing Forward” that is inspirational and motivating but not necessarily aligned with any particularly “holiday.” It also makes a great New Year’s soundtrack with its positive vibe.

Read on for more about Ben and his music.

1) What is your musical background? When did you begin playing/writing music? What instruments do you play?

My musical training began as a child singing with the radio. I continued to learn music at home and in school. I started piano lessons at age 12 and taught myself guitar and bass at 15. I began writing music while in high school with aspirations of becoming a rock star. I sang in the choir, played bass in the jazz band, and played in multiple garage bands. In college I studied music, played in more bands, and realized that I didn’t want to be a rock star anymore. I wanted to do the less visible side of music such as composing, engineering, arranging, and producing. I have made a career in that less visible side and I still sing, play piano, keyboards, guitar, bass, percussion, and of course I play pretty mean MIDI drums on the keyboard.

2) What inspires you when you are writing music?

The groove inspires me most of the time, just finding that hypnotizing rhythm or melody that you want to play over and over. But what inspires me the most are the rare magical musical moments. The times when a passage of music pierces you and reminds you of a buried memory or makes you close your eyes to take it in. The times when repeating the part too many times seems to cheapen it, as if it where a sacred gift. That is what inspires me.

3) Tell us about “Pushing Forward.” What were you thinking about when you composed this?

I composed the original riff for Pushing Forward while in high school and then recorded it in college, so I was probably thinking about girls. Pushing Forward has one of those hypnotizing grooves and I remember just playing it over and over losing track of time while writing and recording it.

4) What “holidays” are you celebrating this December, if any? Do you have a favorite holiday tradition?

I am celebrating Christmas and New Years with my family. One of my favorite traditions is singing Christmas music. I purchased a Christmas fake book a few years ago that has made me the life of every Christmas party since. Everybody looks through the book for his or her favorite Christmas songs and then I accompany the singing on a piano or guitar. I just wish I had ten copies of the book so everyone could sing the same words.

Click the picture below to play or right-click to download Ben’s track, “Pushing Forward.” (If the picture is not working for you, you can also download by clicking here.)

To respect the rights of the musician, please comply with the simple Ruly License terms below.

Ruly License: You may download and play any Ruly Mix song for your own personal use so long as you keep the voiceover tags intact indicating the name of the artist and that the song came from beruly.com. Businesses may also download this song to play as background music in their establishments so long as the voiceover tags remain intact. Any other uses of the song (such as in videos, etc.) must be pre-approved by the musician. Questions about license permissions can be addressed to info@beruly.com.

If you enjoy this mix, please comment, give a “like” on Facebook and share this link with others!

Have a great weekend!

Previous Ruly Mix artists: George Vlad, Samuel Pushpak, Danny Stewart-Smith (“Maintain Focus”), Danny Stewart-Smith (“The Flow”), Danny Stewart-Smith (“Insights”), Danny Stewart-Smith feat. Evin Gibson, Joe Hanley, Jamie Smith, Rajiv Agarwal