Performance Today, April 9 and 10
The last couple of days on Performance Today they had a story about the Native American Composer Apprentice Program (NACAP).
"Every summer a professional string quartet from New York City travels to the most remote area in the lower 48 states, the northeast corner of Arizona. They meet high school students from the Navajo and Hopi nations, as part of the Native American Composer Apprentice Project, which is part of the Grand Canyon Music Festival."
These students have a Native American composer who spends the entire year going school to school and working with these students. By the end of the school year, the students have written a string quartet which is then performed by a New York string ensemble.
Listening to some of these quartets blows me away. These aren't classically trained students by any means, and I believe that's a great thing. You can hear the influences of rock n roll along with their Native American culture and the music is pretty amazing. I encourage everyone to go listen to last Thursday and Friday's performance today segments on these composers. I feel that they embody something that has been lost by many musicians - they don't adhere to the classical rules, yet their music is a new incarnation of classical music. In my mind, this is how music should be started, not by reading notes, but by encouraging creation and composition.
I'm going to shut up about it now, because I can't do it justice.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Day the Music Died
Its interesting to me what songs come to mind during different situations. I’m not sure if this is something that’s limited to musicians, but I don’t think so. I think most people have those songs that seem to fit a certain situation. I don’t just mean romantic situations either, though music seems to be a major comfort during relationship highs and lows.
Today is a gloomy day at work. Layoffs are inevitable and everyone is sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. And what comes to Rob’s mind? American Pie. Yeah, not the fast parts, but the slow, solemn parts. The parts about February making me shiver (even though its May and 90 degrees outside), and bad news on the doorstep, and the church bells refusing to ring…
And listening to the song, the whole thing, I realize that this day, this recession, is just a sign of the times and the music will die and be reborn many times. The songs will be both happy and sad. Love songs and drinking songs and party songs and breakup songs.
And the music will die, and we will sing “buy, buy, me some American Pie"
This song is one of my all time favorites...don't fully know why but it is.
Today is a gloomy day at work. Layoffs are inevitable and everyone is sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. And what comes to Rob’s mind? American Pie. Yeah, not the fast parts, but the slow, solemn parts. The parts about February making me shiver (even though its May and 90 degrees outside), and bad news on the doorstep, and the church bells refusing to ring…
And listening to the song, the whole thing, I realize that this day, this recession, is just a sign of the times and the music will die and be reborn many times. The songs will be both happy and sad. Love songs and drinking songs and party songs and breakup songs.
And the music will die, and we will sing “buy, buy, me some American Pie"
This song is one of my all time favorites...don't fully know why but it is.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Some songs and videos never get old...
Heard this on the radio this morning. Great song, great video.
I gotta admit, Ten was a great album all around.
I gotta admit, Ten was a great album all around.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Church Choir Rant
I'm a music minister. That being said, I've been on hiatus a couple of years, but when people ask about my church service and my ministry its primarily been music ministry. I've led a number of groups in my time and am currently looking for opportunities to get involved again.
I've been playing in church for a long time. I think that gives me some credibility. I've been to a lot of services lately where I've been very frustrated with what I've heard. That's what I want to talk about today.
Playing contemporary music does not exclude you from being good musicians
Across several churches over the last year in particular, I find myself very frustrated with numerous choirs. I know that these groups are not professionals, but I'm sorry, there's plenty of good groups that aren't professionals.
Directors, listen up! There are some of you who seem way more concerned with playing popular music than building the musicianship of their choir. Some of you seem seem to waste your practices trying to figure out how a certain song was done on the radio rather than ensuring that the congregation can be led in worship. Some of you seem so concerned about being "popular" as opposed to running a good, musical choir.
I will point out two key examples:
1) Around Christmas I saw several choirs across several churches that like to play loud. The same basic scenario occurred over and over: I could not hear myself or my wife (sitting next to me) sing and that was pretty annoying, but the congregation seems to like this choir, so I can overlook that. The thing that frustrated me the most was the obvious lack of practice. You cannot flub Christmas carols!! I'm sorry, but everyone knows them, so your sax player missing notes, your out of tune trumpet and your pianist fighting with your guitarist for the key were noticed!! I'm sorry, but I just feel that players who can't play well enough should not been allowed to play.
Now, I know that someone is going to read this and saw "what about inclusion? We can't just not let people who want to play in the group play." And as a I director I have dealt with that over and over. The answer is yes, absolutely - people that want to play should come to practice and as they are ready play in a few pieces. I never had a problem (though some of my parents did) with telling a trumpet player that it was going to take a month of him coming to practice every week before he would be allowed to play with the choir on Sunday. The players understood, their parents did not. Most of the players that simply came to practice were able to play all the pieces in a short time.
2) There is a group at a church that I sometimes attend where the group is best described as inconsistent. I have heard some great things from this group. I have also heard some terrible things from this group. They work very hard to do radio versions of songs, and maybe that's what their practices are spent doing. They obviously aren't practicing intonation, or even reading the music. Again, some pieces are really good, some aren't. The last few weeks though, they flubbed the mass parts. You know, those pieces that you play all liturgical season. Some would argue some of the most important music in the mass. And they slaughter it. Obviously a lack in practice.
Now, before I get the angry comments of "at least they're voluntering" and "you could do no better" and "why don't you get up there" let me say that I absolutly do appreciate everything that volunteer musicians do. But, I have been up there, have done better, and will do better again. And I can't run all the choirs out there. Life Teen music ministry is critical for the development of music ministers for the future, and if they come out thinking that all music should just be Christian radio and if they come out not knowing how to play in a variety of musical groups, they will not be good music ministers. Many will be frustrated to learn that most groups aren't like Life Teen and instead of contributing to another group, they will stay away completely.
Maybe I'm just an old foggie, but contemporary Catholic musicians cannot be taught that their bubble is the reality of music ministry. I want those musicians to be the musicians of the future. I want those musicians to bring thier music to the mainstream. But that's not going to happen overnight. As a result, musicians (Life Teen are you listening?) need to know how to play the more traditional music or - the best thing- would be if volunteers were taught to be real musicians.
I've been playing in church for a long time. I think that gives me some credibility. I've been to a lot of services lately where I've been very frustrated with what I've heard. That's what I want to talk about today.
Playing contemporary music does not exclude you from being good musicians
Across several churches over the last year in particular, I find myself very frustrated with numerous choirs. I know that these groups are not professionals, but I'm sorry, there's plenty of good groups that aren't professionals.
Directors, listen up! There are some of you who seem way more concerned with playing popular music than building the musicianship of their choir. Some of you seem seem to waste your practices trying to figure out how a certain song was done on the radio rather than ensuring that the congregation can be led in worship. Some of you seem so concerned about being "popular" as opposed to running a good, musical choir.
I will point out two key examples:
1) Around Christmas I saw several choirs across several churches that like to play loud. The same basic scenario occurred over and over: I could not hear myself or my wife (sitting next to me) sing and that was pretty annoying, but the congregation seems to like this choir, so I can overlook that. The thing that frustrated me the most was the obvious lack of practice. You cannot flub Christmas carols!! I'm sorry, but everyone knows them, so your sax player missing notes, your out of tune trumpet and your pianist fighting with your guitarist for the key were noticed!! I'm sorry, but I just feel that players who can't play well enough should not been allowed to play.
Now, I know that someone is going to read this and saw "what about inclusion? We can't just not let people who want to play in the group play." And as a I director I have dealt with that over and over. The answer is yes, absolutely - people that want to play should come to practice and as they are ready play in a few pieces. I never had a problem (though some of my parents did) with telling a trumpet player that it was going to take a month of him coming to practice every week before he would be allowed to play with the choir on Sunday. The players understood, their parents did not. Most of the players that simply came to practice were able to play all the pieces in a short time.
2) There is a group at a church that I sometimes attend where the group is best described as inconsistent. I have heard some great things from this group. I have also heard some terrible things from this group. They work very hard to do radio versions of songs, and maybe that's what their practices are spent doing. They obviously aren't practicing intonation, or even reading the music. Again, some pieces are really good, some aren't. The last few weeks though, they flubbed the mass parts. You know, those pieces that you play all liturgical season. Some would argue some of the most important music in the mass. And they slaughter it. Obviously a lack in practice.
Now, before I get the angry comments of "at least they're voluntering" and "you could do no better" and "why don't you get up there" let me say that I absolutly do appreciate everything that volunteer musicians do. But, I have been up there, have done better, and will do better again. And I can't run all the choirs out there. Life Teen music ministry is critical for the development of music ministers for the future, and if they come out thinking that all music should just be Christian radio and if they come out not knowing how to play in a variety of musical groups, they will not be good music ministers. Many will be frustrated to learn that most groups aren't like Life Teen and instead of contributing to another group, they will stay away completely.
Maybe I'm just an old foggie, but contemporary Catholic musicians cannot be taught that their bubble is the reality of music ministry. I want those musicians to be the musicians of the future. I want those musicians to bring thier music to the mainstream. But that's not going to happen overnight. As a result, musicians (Life Teen are you listening?) need to know how to play the more traditional music or - the best thing- would be if volunteers were taught to be real musicians.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Musicians Save Lives
From an address to Freshmen at Boston Conservatory:
"Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with music? And yet-from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. ”
I sometimes wonder how my life might have been had I been a music major. I know why I wasn't - parents said it didn't pay, the idea that I would be a 6th grade band director for the rest of my life scared me, and I sure didn't think I was nearly a good enough player to go that route. So instead I got my computer science degree and decided to be an 'amatuer' musician.
What's funny is that in taking this 'amateur' route to being a musician, I've ended up being a far better, more dedicated musician than I would have ever dreamed. In college, music was my past time, my passion. I played in lots of ensembles and loved it. I had started to play guitar my senior year in high school and through UTEP was able to take jazz lessons, classical lessons. I ran music at my church. I did all these things without being 'a real musician'.
Now, the working world has been less kind to me as an 'amatuer'. That's been hard. You work 40+ hours a week, add some travel, move around some, and its hard to re-establish yourself. That's been the part I've failed at. Part of starting this blog was to push myself to play more, to keep up my fading skills - that if I had an outlet then I would do better. Its still always a battle.
But at least I still play. So many folks that I knew in high school and college that were good players - some of them the best players - so few of them even touch their instruments anymore, and I think that's sad.
So, when I pick up my guitar today, and I think about what might have been I will remember that I practice my art to save a life, and that life may be my own.
"Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with music? And yet-from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. ”
I sometimes wonder how my life might have been had I been a music major. I know why I wasn't - parents said it didn't pay, the idea that I would be a 6th grade band director for the rest of my life scared me, and I sure didn't think I was nearly a good enough player to go that route. So instead I got my computer science degree and decided to be an 'amatuer' musician.
What's funny is that in taking this 'amateur' route to being a musician, I've ended up being a far better, more dedicated musician than I would have ever dreamed. In college, music was my past time, my passion. I played in lots of ensembles and loved it. I had started to play guitar my senior year in high school and through UTEP was able to take jazz lessons, classical lessons. I ran music at my church. I did all these things without being 'a real musician'.
Now, the working world has been less kind to me as an 'amatuer'. That's been hard. You work 40+ hours a week, add some travel, move around some, and its hard to re-establish yourself. That's been the part I've failed at. Part of starting this blog was to push myself to play more, to keep up my fading skills - that if I had an outlet then I would do better. Its still always a battle.
But at least I still play. So many folks that I knew in high school and college that were good players - some of them the best players - so few of them even touch their instruments anymore, and I think that's sad.
So, when I pick up my guitar today, and I think about what might have been I will remember that I practice my art to save a life, and that life may be my own.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Long Time Without Posting...
Wow! Its been a while since I've posted. Bad Rob!
The last many months have been hectic I have to admit. Its taken quite some time to get the office into shape so I could start recording again. Then there were some upgrades. On top of that work has been crazy busy with the economy and for some reason they just don't think recording should be a priority.
This doesn't mean that there's been no recording. These two little snippets are just that snippets, but I feel like they both show some potential for greater things.
Shaker Theme
The Shaker Theme is from the hymn "Simple Gifts". This is an original arrangement and was essentially improvised. I used the Xpand synth with Pro Tools 8. I was mostly testing the brass sounds, and while not perfect, they are pretty good.
Draco 2
Another attempt at "Magic Music" for my uncle. I'm really happy with this piece even though its not complete - and I need to go back, pull off the effects and figure out what I was even doing on guitar. Another improvisation, I used a combination of heavy reverb and a bouncing delay to get the effects. Very dark and eerie. Reminds me of the soundtrack from the game Diablo :-)
The last many months have been hectic I have to admit. Its taken quite some time to get the office into shape so I could start recording again. Then there were some upgrades. On top of that work has been crazy busy with the economy and for some reason they just don't think recording should be a priority.
This doesn't mean that there's been no recording. These two little snippets are just that snippets, but I feel like they both show some potential for greater things.
Shaker Theme
The Shaker Theme is from the hymn "Simple Gifts". This is an original arrangement and was essentially improvised. I used the Xpand synth with Pro Tools 8. I was mostly testing the brass sounds, and while not perfect, they are pretty good.
Draco 2
Another attempt at "Magic Music" for my uncle. I'm really happy with this piece even though its not complete - and I need to go back, pull off the effects and figure out what I was even doing on guitar. Another improvisation, I used a combination of heavy reverb and a bouncing delay to get the effects. Very dark and eerie. Reminds me of the soundtrack from the game Diablo :-)
Sunday, November 23, 2008
What else to do on a Saturday?
Except to plug the electric in and jam out! That's what I did. Plugged my Les Paul into my Marshal and directly into my MBox. Fun stuff. Added some drums, did some mastering and I'm posting the result.
What I'm playing is a song that I wrote a while back that's always been played acoustically and drove several friends (and my wife!) crazy as I tried to hash through it. In fact I had different people tell me things like "would you just finish that damn song!" and "do you know how to play anything else?!"
I finally decided that no, I couldn't really finish and finally moved on, but its always been a piece that I wanted to do something with. I like this electric version and could see eventually turning this into something more polished and final.
Just a side note. Drums has got to be the toughest part of the recording process. Even with all the preset grooves you can get, drums are just such a pain!
The usual disclaimers apply - I know it ain't perfect.
On another note, please feel free to pass on this blog to anyone else who may be interested. Also, I'd be happy to hear more about what I should post about. I haven't posted much more than my home recorded stuff, but if people reading think that album reviews or tips and tricks would be helpful, I'd be happy to start posting those as well.
Journey_mix1
What I'm playing is a song that I wrote a while back that's always been played acoustically and drove several friends (and my wife!) crazy as I tried to hash through it. In fact I had different people tell me things like "would you just finish that damn song!" and "do you know how to play anything else?!"
I finally decided that no, I couldn't really finish and finally moved on, but its always been a piece that I wanted to do something with. I like this electric version and could see eventually turning this into something more polished and final.
Just a side note. Drums has got to be the toughest part of the recording process. Even with all the preset grooves you can get, drums are just such a pain!
The usual disclaimers apply - I know it ain't perfect.
On another note, please feel free to pass on this blog to anyone else who may be interested. Also, I'd be happy to hear more about what I should post about. I haven't posted much more than my home recorded stuff, but if people reading think that album reviews or tips and tricks would be helpful, I'd be happy to start posting those as well.
Journey_mix1
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Magic Music
This track came from a little goofing around on a microphone and some MIDI. My uncle does magic and was looking for something "mystic" sounding. I think this is a decent start. The drums need some work (kinda sounds a little corny), but it was fun to make. I should be adding more "magic" music before long.
I used ProTools and Sampletank 2.
Draco Take 1
I used ProTools and Sampletank 2.
Draco Take 1
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wedding Music
Last weekend I got married. It was an amazing experience and I'm truly lucky to have found the woman who I am now married to. Part of what was amazing was the music for our wedding. Since my wife and I are both musicians (my wife is a music therapist and sings really well), we made sure and had great musicians at our wedding. We also created a CD for guests as a favor. Music is such an important part of both of our lives that we wanted to include our guests as well.
Here are three songs from the CD we made for the guests. All three were recording at the home studio at various points in our relationship. From a recording point of view all three show an increasing maturity in my ability to navigate Pro-Tools and to make better recordings.
The Gift of Love
This was recorded for one of my wife's patients. The woman had requested a whole CD of hymns and this was one of them. We used a single AT8531 - one of those hanging condenser mics that you typically use for choirs. That's all. The guitar was my nylon Takamine Santa Fe and it wasn't even plugged in.
I've since lost the original recording (hard drive crash from a few years ago), and only have the final wav file.
In the end, I think this proves how important a great performance is to recording and how accidents sometimes have amazing results.
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
The first Christmas that my wife and I were dating we put together a Christmas album. Someday I will post the whole thing. Again, I was very new to Pro Tools and recording and understood very little about getting a good sound. However, as was the case for Gift of Love, my wife and I were at the top of our game musically. My apartment at the time had good acoustics and things just worked out well. We were using the same AT8531 mic and my Takamine Santa Fe was plugged in this time. I did master this recording a little bit recently just to bump up the volume for the wedding CD. Other than volume and a little EQ, the recording is the original.
Psalm 95 - If Today
This is another version of the responsorial psalm that was used at my wedding. This time I recording the vocals separately with 2 mics. One is my trusty AT3050 and the other is a small, dynamic microphone that was given to my by Cheri's grandfather - found at a garage sale. I should probably post pictures sometime. Its not a great mic, I don't really even know what it is - but its heavy on the mids and I feel like it beefs up the sound.
Here are three songs from the CD we made for the guests. All three were recording at the home studio at various points in our relationship. From a recording point of view all three show an increasing maturity in my ability to navigate Pro-Tools and to make better recordings.
The Gift of Love
This was recorded for one of my wife's patients. The woman had requested a whole CD of hymns and this was one of them. We used a single AT8531 - one of those hanging condenser mics that you typically use for choirs. That's all. The guitar was my nylon Takamine Santa Fe and it wasn't even plugged in.
I've since lost the original recording (hard drive crash from a few years ago), and only have the final wav file.
In the end, I think this proves how important a great performance is to recording and how accidents sometimes have amazing results.
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
The first Christmas that my wife and I were dating we put together a Christmas album. Someday I will post the whole thing. Again, I was very new to Pro Tools and recording and understood very little about getting a good sound. However, as was the case for Gift of Love, my wife and I were at the top of our game musically. My apartment at the time had good acoustics and things just worked out well. We were using the same AT8531 mic and my Takamine Santa Fe was plugged in this time. I did master this recording a little bit recently just to bump up the volume for the wedding CD. Other than volume and a little EQ, the recording is the original.
Psalm 95 - If Today
This is another version of the responsorial psalm that was used at my wedding. This time I recording the vocals separately with 2 mics. One is my trusty AT3050 and the other is a small, dynamic microphone that was given to my by Cheri's grandfather - found at a garage sale. I should probably post pictures sometime. Its not a great mic, I don't really even know what it is - but its heavy on the mids and I feel like it beefs up the sound.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
A church piece
If you're not religiously inclinded or don't want to hear any religious music, then just don't click :-)
This is a responsorial psalm I wrote. This is by no means a polished recording, I just wanted to get it down on tape. Yes, I'm singing. I hate my voice.
Luckily, I made sure my fiance was much closer to the microphone.
Psalm 95 - If Today
This is a responsorial psalm I wrote. This is by no means a polished recording, I just wanted to get it down on tape. Yes, I'm singing. I hate my voice.
Luckily, I made sure my fiance was much closer to the microphone.
Psalm 95 - If Today
Saturday, August 2, 2008
More from the home studio...
Jammin' 1 and Jammin'2
These both come out of the same sessions that I posted about on June 8th. Unfortunately, its taken me nearly two more months to get the things up!
The drums were the same track and so I realize that if you listen to them over and over it can get a bit stale. That might be a change for another time.
Jammin' 1 -
Rythm Guitar - Gibson Chet Atkins
Lead Guitar - Gibson Chet Atkins
Drums, Bass, and Organ - Sampletank 2
Jammin' 2 -
Rythm Guitar - Gibson Chet Atkins
Lead Guitar - Gibson Les Paul (out of tune, sorry)
Drums and Bass- Sampletank 2
BluesJam-1
Similar to above, I took a blues drum track and then laid down guitar parts over it. Because I was not in the house yet, I could not crank up my guitar and so the distortion is from a plug-in: IK Multimedia's Aplitude. I plan to have several more blues jams eventually and hope to add bass and maybe some other instruments eventually.
BluesJam-1
Rythm - Gibson Chet Atkins SST
Lead - Les Paul (more in tune this time)
Drums - Sampletank
These both come out of the same sessions that I posted about on June 8th. Unfortunately, its taken me nearly two more months to get the things up!
The drums were the same track and so I realize that if you listen to them over and over it can get a bit stale. That might be a change for another time.
Jammin' 1 -
Rythm Guitar - Gibson Chet Atkins
Lead Guitar - Gibson Chet Atkins
Drums, Bass, and Organ - Sampletank 2
Jammin' 2 -
Rythm Guitar - Gibson Chet Atkins
Lead Guitar - Gibson Les Paul (out of tune, sorry)
Drums and Bass- Sampletank 2
BluesJam-1
Similar to above, I took a blues drum track and then laid down guitar parts over it. Because I was not in the house yet, I could not crank up my guitar and so the distortion is from a plug-in: IK Multimedia's Aplitude. I plan to have several more blues jams eventually and hope to add bass and maybe some other instruments eventually.
BluesJam-1
Rythm - Gibson Chet Atkins SST
Lead - Les Paul (more in tune this time)
Drums - Sampletank
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The end of the Marked Men
The Last Show for the Marked Men
The Marked Men is a band that I have followed with a lot of interest for some time. The main reason being that my brother is the bassist. However, I've really come to like some of their stuff and will put their record on once in a while. The second and third albums were far better than the first in my opinion, and from the shows I've attended over the years, I've seen a band that has matured musically along with its members. And now, after touring the world, and seeing a lot of places and doing a lot of things that I'm jealous of, it all comes to an end.
In future posts I plan to interview my brother about his struggles with being a musician - and how he plans to balance working life with his musicianship. In fact, I may do a series of interviews with "part-time" musicians. I really struggle with the balance, and I really respect my brother for "going for it" - having the guts to make the band his first priority.
The Marked Men MySpace
The Marked Men is a band that I have followed with a lot of interest for some time. The main reason being that my brother is the bassist. However, I've really come to like some of their stuff and will put their record on once in a while. The second and third albums were far better than the first in my opinion, and from the shows I've attended over the years, I've seen a band that has matured musically along with its members. And now, after touring the world, and seeing a lot of places and doing a lot of things that I'm jealous of, it all comes to an end.
In future posts I plan to interview my brother about his struggles with being a musician - and how he plans to balance working life with his musicianship. In fact, I may do a series of interviews with "part-time" musicians. I really struggle with the balance, and I really respect my brother for "going for it" - having the guts to make the band his first priority.
The Marked Men MySpace
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Katy Perry
Lately there has been a lot of buzz around the song "I Kissed A Girl". The song is definitely catchy - "I kissed a girl and I liked it. The taste of her Cherry Chap Stick...", but besides that I didn't really think much about Katy. My fiance then recently heard an acoustic version of "I Kissed a Girl". Turns out its pretty cool (starts about 14 minutes):
I Kissed a Girl - Live, Kidd Kraddick
Some further searching on YouTube also revealed another very cool song. I think it relates very well to some people that I have known. A great acoustic version is found here:
Ur So Gay - Acoustic at SWSX
I Kissed a Girl - Live, Kidd Kraddick
Some further searching on YouTube also revealed another very cool song. I think it relates very well to some people that I have known. A great acoustic version is found here:
Ur So Gay - Acoustic at SWSX
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Sad news
I realize that this news was quite old, but I didn't even hear about it until recently. This is about the sad passing of Jorge Avendaño. He was the 6th grade band teacher at Zach White Elementary and several other westside El Paso elementary schools. I only had him in 6th grade, but he always remembered me throughout junior high, high school, and I even saw him when I was at UTEP and he remembered me. He was also the tuba player for the symphony.
I remember that he was very well liked. Just a very nice man and apparently generous as well:
Benefit for Jorge Avendaño
All I know is that he made band fun enough for me to continue. I know that a lot of people lose interest in music during school - I'll talk about my high school experience later - but suffice to say, I owe this man a lot. For me personally, he was my single point of introduction to formal music. I continued playing trombone through college and part of that had to be because when I first started it was made fun enough for me to continue. Sure, my parents encouraged me to play, but I was the one who had wanted to be in band, and I can only imagine that things would be much different had I not liked the first year.
The music world needs more Jorge Avendaños. People who are willing to take a group of 6th graders and teach them how to play an instrument and more importantly to make it fun!
Keep in mind, he did this year after year after year. I would see that as punishment. One would almost wonder what he had done in a past life to deserve this! He had to love what he did. Imagine what he had to listen to every day of his working life. Lots of squeaks and splats!
Thank you Mr. A.
I mean Jorge.
(He told me when I ran into him at UTEP once that me calling him "Mr. Avendaño" made him feel old)
I remember that he was very well liked. Just a very nice man and apparently generous as well:
Benefit for Jorge Avendaño
All I know is that he made band fun enough for me to continue. I know that a lot of people lose interest in music during school - I'll talk about my high school experience later - but suffice to say, I owe this man a lot. For me personally, he was my single point of introduction to formal music. I continued playing trombone through college and part of that had to be because when I first started it was made fun enough for me to continue. Sure, my parents encouraged me to play, but I was the one who had wanted to be in band, and I can only imagine that things would be much different had I not liked the first year.
The music world needs more Jorge Avendaños. People who are willing to take a group of 6th graders and teach them how to play an instrument and more importantly to make it fun!
Keep in mind, he did this year after year after year. I would see that as punishment. One would almost wonder what he had done in a past life to deserve this! He had to love what he did. Imagine what he had to listen to every day of his working life. Lots of squeaks and splats!
Thank you Mr. A.
I mean Jorge.
(He told me when I ran into him at UTEP once that me calling him "Mr. Avendaño" made him feel old)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
A few samples
I'm going to point a few samples of music that have come out of my "studio" over the last year. I'm working on putting together a timeline of my recording, but haven't gotten there yet. So here is just a smattering of things I've done over the last year and some notes about each.
Jammin 3
Jammin 3 is just one of a series of jams I put together about a month ago. It all started with me grabbing a drum track and laying down rhythm tracks for the chords to Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Knockin has always been a favorite jam tune for myself and friends and since I was more focused on getting more full songs down on tape, it worked well.
This was a more acoustic version - rhythm and lead guitars are both my acoustic Takamine, there's a second rhythm track that is a Gibson Chet Atkins SST, and the drums and bass are both MIDI. I found the drums online (don't remember where) and I recorded the bass myself.
My fiance and I put Stay down roughly a year ago. I had just gotten my new mic (AT3035) and we were playing around one night to test it. Turns out it was a good take. I wanted to add drums, but since we did it without metronome there's some time problems (your genius gutiarist over here doesn't have the best rhythm in the world), and so I went back and manually added MIDI drums. I also added bass via MIDI, but this song is in a tough key and there's mistakes there. One day I hope to redo this song from scratch, but this was a fun take and still sounds pretty good.
1) With the exception of the vocal part, I wrote and recorded all the other parts. The piano, the bass, the cello, the guitar. I wrote the music in Finale Notepad and then exported to MIDI for the piano, bass, and cello. The guitar parts were recorded with microphone and my fiance put the lead vocals over it.
2) Its a solid recording. I cut and re-recorded and rewrote parts until neither me nor my fiance could stand it anymore. In fact, I had gotten to where I hated this recording until I left it alone for a few months. I thought there was too much reverb, just didn't sound right ect. Now I can listen to it and appreciate it for the original vision - a church sung version of O Holy Night. I have gotten some comments that it sounds a little "over produced" and I'm sure my fiance and I will rework for another Christmas sometime, but in many ways I wanted to "overproduce" it - I wanted lots of parts, I wanted lots of instruments, I wanted big church reverb and I accomplished all those things.
Jammin 3
Jammin 3 is just one of a series of jams I put together about a month ago. It all started with me grabbing a drum track and laying down rhythm tracks for the chords to Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Knockin has always been a favorite jam tune for myself and friends and since I was more focused on getting more full songs down on tape, it worked well.
This was a more acoustic version - rhythm and lead guitars are both my acoustic Takamine, there's a second rhythm track that is a Gibson Chet Atkins SST, and the drums and bass are both MIDI. I found the drums online (don't remember where) and I recorded the bass myself.
My fiance and I put Stay down roughly a year ago. I had just gotten my new mic (AT3035) and we were playing around one night to test it. Turns out it was a good take. I wanted to add drums, but since we did it without metronome there's some time problems (your genius gutiarist over here doesn't have the best rhythm in the world), and so I went back and manually added MIDI drums. I also added bass via MIDI, but this song is in a tough key and there's mistakes there. One day I hope to redo this song from scratch, but this was a fun take and still sounds pretty good.
I would have to say that this is one of my best overall recordings to date for a number of reasons. It was recorded at Christmastime of 2007.
1) With the exception of the vocal part, I wrote and recorded all the other parts. The piano, the bass, the cello, the guitar. I wrote the music in Finale Notepad and then exported to MIDI for the piano, bass, and cello. The guitar parts were recorded with microphone and my fiance put the lead vocals over it.
2) Its a solid recording. I cut and re-recorded and rewrote parts until neither me nor my fiance could stand it anymore. In fact, I had gotten to where I hated this recording until I left it alone for a few months. I thought there was too much reverb, just didn't sound right ect. Now I can listen to it and appreciate it for the original vision - a church sung version of O Holy Night. I have gotten some comments that it sounds a little "over produced" and I'm sure my fiance and I will rework for another Christmas sometime, but in many ways I wanted to "overproduce" it - I wanted lots of parts, I wanted lots of instruments, I wanted big church reverb and I accomplished all those things.
Welcome!
Welcome to Rob's Studio!
In the inaugural post for this blog, I'm just going to talk briefly about my purpose in creating this forum and to list out what I hope this blog will become.
At the end of the day, I just want this forum to be fun and interesting. I want opinions and comments about my recordings and what I post. I want to hear from others - whether you are a home recording artist or someone who enjoys music. I am an amateur. I don't do music full time, but I am very passionate about it. I think we as a society have lost the idea of amateur music and amateur musicians - I want to proudly declare that I do music on the side, I have a day job, I was NOT a music major, and I still enjoy every minute of it!
In the inaugural post for this blog, I'm just going to talk briefly about my purpose in creating this forum and to list out what I hope this blog will become.
- First and foremost I'm going to use this as a forum for posting my home recordings. I'm always happy to hear comments and suggestions on my recordings and I encourage others who are recording at home to send me what they're doing.
- Second, I hope to post about the music I'm listening to lately, and especially how its influencing my recording. Sometimes its more about how good a certain album sounds or what things I hear in a album that I don't like. I also want to post about artists who aren't well known.
- Third, I hope to post about the little bit of music theory that I know and how to apply that to songwriting and recording. I became interested in building chords and theory in high school when I was first learning guitar. Even though I never majored in music, I took enough guitar lessons - both classical and jazz - in college to learn a fair amount of theory. What I'm finding out is that theory is elusive for many musicians, even trained ones! I hope that I can post some hints and tips that have helped me over the years.
- Fourth, I will talk about my opinions in music. I played trombone and tuba all through college. I was not that good, but enjoyed it. It wasn't until high school that I started playing guitar and my musicianship REALLY took off. I have some strong opinions on what music education has becomes and the sad shape of adult musicianship that exists today.
At the end of the day, I just want this forum to be fun and interesting. I want opinions and comments about my recordings and what I post. I want to hear from others - whether you are a home recording artist or someone who enjoys music. I am an amateur. I don't do music full time, but I am very passionate about it. I think we as a society have lost the idea of amateur music and amateur musicians - I want to proudly declare that I do music on the side, I have a day job, I was NOT a music major, and I still enjoy every minute of it!
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