Ok, this is, I believe, the third time I have come back to the blog after a long hiatus here or there. I've been working at home and practicing while my wife is in graduate school. She's probably going to get a thousand Master's degrees, but I've started taking control of my career. The blog is going to become a place to promote my music (which I am in the middle of recording.) I hope to have six albums out before the summer. All of them are nice and smooth easy listening tracks I'm recording as A Man Of Few Words.
I'm also going to start a video series on YouTube for band excerpts on bass clarinet, on for basic pedagogy and another series of background tracks that you can listen to while you are working. I'm going to actually leave the blog up on my computer this time, and I will actually *gasp* reply to comments. I read a few lovely comments that I had never seen before because I just wasn't looking after the blog at all.
So, I'm back, but this is my career, and I hope to do it full-time from now. When I get my first two albums done, I hope to have them on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora and the Google Play Store. So, you'll be able to enjoy my stuff wherever you are. More updates to come when new videos or tracks are out there. However, I can't do any of that if I keep yapping on here. Did you know how much goes into getting your music on iTunes, etc? Sheesh! I have to get to work finishing this music, working with an aggregator and get my stuff out there.
That's it for today, hopefully more good news is to come!
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Keep Your Practice Journal
I never took a practice journal...ever. I was never asked to keep one by a private teacher, not even in college. So, it was kind of a foreign concept to me. However, it didn't bother me. I just never kept one.
Well, on January 9th, 2013, I was denied a contract release I had been guaranteed previously. So, I said "Fuck it, screw it, fuck education...I'm done with this shit." I took the year between January 9th, 2013 and January 12th 2014 to basically practice at school constantly. I did a TON of practicing. I learned all the excerpts I was never taught (which is pretty much all of them.) I taught myself to play Bb clarinet correctly (which was a major hurdle in my life previously.) I bought an Eb clarinet, a C clarinet, I had already bought an Alto Clarinet and Leblanc Paperclip BBb Contra in the fall of 2012. So, I have a full collection of clarinets. And I learned EVERYTHING.
However, I didn't write anything down until June of 2013. Then I started charting everything. I started writing down goals. I charted my tone for each instrument and took all kinds of notes, set goals for learning solo pieces and I learned about 50 pieces in a year and about 100 excerpts. Basically, I gave myself a Doctorate in performance in a year. Most of what I got done at the end of the year was directly tied to what I wrote down in my practice journal.
So, what do you write in your practice journal? Whatever you want. If I took pictures of mine and posted it here, you wouldn't be able to read it. It's scribble scratch, but it works for me. Do your own scribble scratch and see where it takes you.
On a side note: Don't keep a journal for every instrument you play. Let them all intermingle. You never know what you'll learn about one while you're practicing another.
Next up: My new Bass setup ;) ... sort of.
Well, on January 9th, 2013, I was denied a contract release I had been guaranteed previously. So, I said "Fuck it, screw it, fuck education...I'm done with this shit." I took the year between January 9th, 2013 and January 12th 2014 to basically practice at school constantly. I did a TON of practicing. I learned all the excerpts I was never taught (which is pretty much all of them.) I taught myself to play Bb clarinet correctly (which was a major hurdle in my life previously.) I bought an Eb clarinet, a C clarinet, I had already bought an Alto Clarinet and Leblanc Paperclip BBb Contra in the fall of 2012. So, I have a full collection of clarinets. And I learned EVERYTHING.
However, I didn't write anything down until June of 2013. Then I started charting everything. I started writing down goals. I charted my tone for each instrument and took all kinds of notes, set goals for learning solo pieces and I learned about 50 pieces in a year and about 100 excerpts. Basically, I gave myself a Doctorate in performance in a year. Most of what I got done at the end of the year was directly tied to what I wrote down in my practice journal.
So, what do you write in your practice journal? Whatever you want. If I took pictures of mine and posted it here, you wouldn't be able to read it. It's scribble scratch, but it works for me. Do your own scribble scratch and see where it takes you.
On a side note: Don't keep a journal for every instrument you play. Let them all intermingle. You never know what you'll learn about one while you're practicing another.
Next up: My new Bass setup ;) ... sort of.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!
So, I logged on and realized it's been almost 3 years since I've said a word here. However, the blog has been viewed like 15,000 times since I stopped writing. So, I guess I should keep it up. In fairness, when I stopped writing, I got screwed by my school district and sent to a place I didn't want to go, spent a year there, found my best friend and someone I call my sibling. Then I spent another year and a half working in an even worse situation before I finally quit.
Now, I'm working at home full-time, writing. It's great. I homeschool my kids and I work on excerpts in preparation for major orchestral auditions. So, I'm doing good. However, I've made a few...discoveries since I stopped writing. I guess I should share some of those, but I don't want to write it all tonight.
Suffice it to say, I learned A LOT about playing, and it all started when I got screwed out of a new job. Now, I'm nearly ready to take any audition on the planet. This is WAY more fun than teaching, and provides a much higher quality of life.
Stay tuned!
Now, I'm working at home full-time, writing. It's great. I homeschool my kids and I work on excerpts in preparation for major orchestral auditions. So, I'm doing good. However, I've made a few...discoveries since I stopped writing. I guess I should share some of those, but I don't want to write it all tonight.
Suffice it to say, I learned A LOT about playing, and it all started when I got screwed out of a new job. Now, I'm nearly ready to take any audition on the planet. This is WAY more fun than teaching, and provides a much higher quality of life.
Stay tuned!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Why The Big Bang Theory Could Teach School Music Teachers A Few Things
School music is a cold and cruel place. For the most part, you have to know someone to get where you want to go. So, it actually has nothing to do with innate skill or hard work. Hard work isn't rewarded for teachers -- brown-nosing is.
That stretches all the way into the classroom where kids are pushed to their limit, for the most part, to get a rating or a score. That rating or score really doesn't do anything for them, but it DOES give a boost to the Director's reputation and THAT'S what it's all about, right?
Wrong.
You know how you get an NBA (National Band Association) Citation of Execellence? Pay the dues and get one of your friends to give you one. That's it. It is rarely connected to actual merit -- just, who you know. Again, buffeting the Director's reputation and bio in the name of education, but at the cost of time at home for both the Director and their students, many students' self-respect, and some harsh words.
Look at The Big Bang Theory. It's one of the most beautifully written shows ever. If you've never watched it start now, but I can fill you in.
Leonard (Johnny Galecki, who used to play David on "Roseanne") is a physicist and his three best friends are Sheldon, Howard, and Raj. You've got a physicist, engineer, and astrophysicist there. They're brilliant people. Penny (Kaley Cuoco, who is undeniably drop-dead gorgeous) moves in next door. From the PILOT Leonard says, "Our children will be smart AND beautiful."
Four seasons into the show, as of today, and Leonard and Penny have misfired, miscommunicated, been together, been not-together, been together again, and broken up. However, the CRUX of the show is "Leonard and Penny are each other's soulmates, period." How long it takes them to figure that out gives us more and more hilarity with every new episode because everyone on the show is so funny.
However, Penny and Leonard are growing up and learning how to nurture each other in a completely unlikely relationship. She's a wannabe actress from Nebraska and he's a freaking genius. They're so mismatched, but the writing and acting is so good how could you NOT want them to eventually end up together?
It's a beautiful thing to be lauded (for the superb acting, especially of Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper), to be celebrated (because people should GROW in love with each other), and commended (because it isn't vulgar or stupid -- it's authentic.)
So, as a school band director I'm touched by it. However, I actually care about something other than my bio and how many times we've gotten superior ratings.
Now, take this lovely show with a lovely premise and put it in front of your classic student-mauling, rating-seeking, over the top director and they will likely see little value in it at all. They won't care if Jim Parsons is a comedic genius, or if Simon Hedberg is oddly likable, or that Leonard and Penny's relationship is still beautiful even if they haven't figured it out yet.
They truly love each other and that is how well the show is acted. How can you NOT be affected by how those two people feel about each other? Penny beats a girl's ass because she feels like said girl is taking advantage of the guys. She's a caring person.
How do ratings-seekers find no value in this lovely little show?
There's nothing in it for them. Nothing to add to their bio. No superior rating. Just beauty. Beauty they can't comprehend or that they can't take credit for.
Watch the extras on the DVD's for this show and Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady (the creators and head writers) give ALL the credit to the cast. They just heap on praise about how beautifully the cast acts their scribble-scratch they threw down in the writer's room.
Yet, a school band, orchestra or chorus director will sit at their desk ALL DAY with their feet up and hands casually behind their neck regaling ANYONE who will listen about how THEY did this and how THEY did that.
That's not beauty. That's total, uncontrolled, ridiculous, disgusting, egotism. It's exactly the opposite of the Big Bang Theory. A place where even Sheldon can learn to hug Penny when she gives him a great napkin, Penny can love (nearly unconditionally) a guy who is not her type, and Leonard can finally learn to express to his soulmate how he really feels. THAT is art. THAT is beauty.
Superior ratings be damned. I'll take this sit-com anyday over some pontificating jackass who pretends he or she built the world in five days and bested God.
Long live beauty and the art of The Big Bang Theory. Be gone ye rigid, conceited, rating-seeking, egotism. I like my art with a couple nerds, some honest emotions, and some tender hearts. Isn't that what your band, orchestra or chorus should be made of?
PS -- Feel free to steal my idea if you get it, but don't pass it off as your own. We have it here in black and white on the internet that I wrote it down first :)
That stretches all the way into the classroom where kids are pushed to their limit, for the most part, to get a rating or a score. That rating or score really doesn't do anything for them, but it DOES give a boost to the Director's reputation and THAT'S what it's all about, right?
Wrong.
You know how you get an NBA (National Band Association) Citation of Execellence? Pay the dues and get one of your friends to give you one. That's it. It is rarely connected to actual merit -- just, who you know. Again, buffeting the Director's reputation and bio in the name of education, but at the cost of time at home for both the Director and their students, many students' self-respect, and some harsh words.
Look at The Big Bang Theory. It's one of the most beautifully written shows ever. If you've never watched it start now, but I can fill you in.
Leonard (Johnny Galecki, who used to play David on "Roseanne") is a physicist and his three best friends are Sheldon, Howard, and Raj. You've got a physicist, engineer, and astrophysicist there. They're brilliant people. Penny (Kaley Cuoco, who is undeniably drop-dead gorgeous) moves in next door. From the PILOT Leonard says, "Our children will be smart AND beautiful."
Four seasons into the show, as of today, and Leonard and Penny have misfired, miscommunicated, been together, been not-together, been together again, and broken up. However, the CRUX of the show is "Leonard and Penny are each other's soulmates, period." How long it takes them to figure that out gives us more and more hilarity with every new episode because everyone on the show is so funny.
However, Penny and Leonard are growing up and learning how to nurture each other in a completely unlikely relationship. She's a wannabe actress from Nebraska and he's a freaking genius. They're so mismatched, but the writing and acting is so good how could you NOT want them to eventually end up together?
It's a beautiful thing to be lauded (for the superb acting, especially of Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper), to be celebrated (because people should GROW in love with each other), and commended (because it isn't vulgar or stupid -- it's authentic.)
So, as a school band director I'm touched by it. However, I actually care about something other than my bio and how many times we've gotten superior ratings.
Now, take this lovely show with a lovely premise and put it in front of your classic student-mauling, rating-seeking, over the top director and they will likely see little value in it at all. They won't care if Jim Parsons is a comedic genius, or if Simon Hedberg is oddly likable, or that Leonard and Penny's relationship is still beautiful even if they haven't figured it out yet.
They truly love each other and that is how well the show is acted. How can you NOT be affected by how those two people feel about each other? Penny beats a girl's ass because she feels like said girl is taking advantage of the guys. She's a caring person.
How do ratings-seekers find no value in this lovely little show?
There's nothing in it for them. Nothing to add to their bio. No superior rating. Just beauty. Beauty they can't comprehend or that they can't take credit for.
Watch the extras on the DVD's for this show and Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady (the creators and head writers) give ALL the credit to the cast. They just heap on praise about how beautifully the cast acts their scribble-scratch they threw down in the writer's room.
Yet, a school band, orchestra or chorus director will sit at their desk ALL DAY with their feet up and hands casually behind their neck regaling ANYONE who will listen about how THEY did this and how THEY did that.
That's not beauty. That's total, uncontrolled, ridiculous, disgusting, egotism. It's exactly the opposite of the Big Bang Theory. A place where even Sheldon can learn to hug Penny when she gives him a great napkin, Penny can love (nearly unconditionally) a guy who is not her type, and Leonard can finally learn to express to his soulmate how he really feels. THAT is art. THAT is beauty.
Superior ratings be damned. I'll take this sit-com anyday over some pontificating jackass who pretends he or she built the world in five days and bested God.
Long live beauty and the art of The Big Bang Theory. Be gone ye rigid, conceited, rating-seeking, egotism. I like my art with a couple nerds, some honest emotions, and some tender hearts. Isn't that what your band, orchestra or chorus should be made of?
PS -- Feel free to steal my idea if you get it, but don't pass it off as your own. We have it here in black and white on the internet that I wrote it down first :)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Haven't You Ever Had A Bass Clarinet Thought?
When was the last time you looked at your instrument and had a thought consumed with hope for how well playing the horn would go that day?
Know Your Literature
I received a very encouraging note from my college Clarinet teacher yesterday. Basically, it made my whole college experience.
So, today Iw as poking at literature and reminding myself that I need to know "my" literature. Not everybody else's.
In that same vane I can still add to my literature, but only slightly. To date I hold onto:
Echange...Xenakis
Duo...Loevendie
Parable...by a friend (trust me when I say it's about 10 minutes and it's a bitch to play)
Waltz...by a college colleague. He just needed to write it for a class, but I like it to this day.
Acht Stucke...Hindemith (it's actually for Flute)
Syrinx...Debussy
Carnival of Venice...Herbert L. Clarke
Towards the Crest...Robert Carl
Six Studies in English Folksong...Vaughn-Williams
Interludium from Six Dances...Phillip Martin (my favorite because I love ripping the hell out of it)
Voltage...DuBois
Bach...Cello Suites
Rhapsody...Osbourne
As I write this I'm definitely taking on the Mozart. What could possibly go wrong?
There's more, but for now I'm committing to taking down the Mozart--just for funsies.
This should be good...
So, today Iw as poking at literature and reminding myself that I need to know "my" literature. Not everybody else's.
In that same vane I can still add to my literature, but only slightly. To date I hold onto:
Echange...Xenakis
Duo...Loevendie
Parable...by a friend (trust me when I say it's about 10 minutes and it's a bitch to play)
Waltz...by a college colleague. He just needed to write it for a class, but I like it to this day.
Acht Stucke...Hindemith (it's actually for Flute)
Syrinx...Debussy
Carnival of Venice...Herbert L. Clarke
Towards the Crest...Robert Carl
Six Studies in English Folksong...Vaughn-Williams
Interludium from Six Dances...Phillip Martin (my favorite because I love ripping the hell out of it)
Voltage...DuBois
Bach...Cello Suites
Rhapsody...Osbourne
As I write this I'm definitely taking on the Mozart. What could possibly go wrong?
There's more, but for now I'm committing to taking down the Mozart--just for funsies.
This should be good...
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Bass Clarinetists Are Idiots Sometimes
So, today I did someone a favor. I ran over to a rehearsal to lend out one of my instruments to someone who's playing in a conference in a couple weeks. Apparently, this person's instrument wasn't treating them nice.
No big deal.
I bring my horn over and I asked that that person's instrument be present so I could take a look at it. Now, basically, I have four theories about instruments that "don't work".
1. It's a mis-adjustment of the throat A key. Too tight and the Ab may be slightly open. Too loose and air will leak out of the key. It needs a little "play", but not much.
2. A mal-adjusted low G or A. Some Bass Clarinets have all kinds of adjustment screws down there for low G and low A. Some have vent keys for low A and some don't. Keeping two adjustment screws in balance, OR getting the right level on just one could be difficult. Sometimes, an inexperienced Bass Clarinetist (even if they are a seasoned musician or Clarinetist) may not be able to play through a slight mis-adjustment of this key.
3. Odd bending of keys and adjustment plates around low B or Bb. There's all kinds of systems designed to deal with these keys, but sometimes they're just bent too.
4. The person just flat doesn't know what they're doing and they are AFRAID. Yes, AFRAID. I even had a sane person who is a specialist on Bass Clarinet tell me that they played this instrument and sometimes it squeaked weirdly, etc. Fear makes you do stupid things, and it makes you play badly.
I boil all this down to stupidity. You have to REALLY know the instrument and you really have to know its tendencies. Not the tendencies of just your instrument, but the tendencies of the Bass Clarinet in general.
So, though the term "idiot" may seem a little harsh, it's all I've got. If you're not learning this stuff as you're playing then you just aren't using you brain. That's the hard and fast truth.
I played a perfectly good instrument today because of someone else's fear and lack of knowledge. Though it's frustrating it's not surprising.
When will we learn?
No big deal.
I bring my horn over and I asked that that person's instrument be present so I could take a look at it. Now, basically, I have four theories about instruments that "don't work".
1. It's a mis-adjustment of the throat A key. Too tight and the Ab may be slightly open. Too loose and air will leak out of the key. It needs a little "play", but not much.
2. A mal-adjusted low G or A. Some Bass Clarinets have all kinds of adjustment screws down there for low G and low A. Some have vent keys for low A and some don't. Keeping two adjustment screws in balance, OR getting the right level on just one could be difficult. Sometimes, an inexperienced Bass Clarinetist (even if they are a seasoned musician or Clarinetist) may not be able to play through a slight mis-adjustment of this key.
3. Odd bending of keys and adjustment plates around low B or Bb. There's all kinds of systems designed to deal with these keys, but sometimes they're just bent too.
4. The person just flat doesn't know what they're doing and they are AFRAID. Yes, AFRAID. I even had a sane person who is a specialist on Bass Clarinet tell me that they played this instrument and sometimes it squeaked weirdly, etc. Fear makes you do stupid things, and it makes you play badly.
I boil all this down to stupidity. You have to REALLY know the instrument and you really have to know its tendencies. Not the tendencies of just your instrument, but the tendencies of the Bass Clarinet in general.
So, though the term "idiot" may seem a little harsh, it's all I've got. If you're not learning this stuff as you're playing then you just aren't using you brain. That's the hard and fast truth.
I played a perfectly good instrument today because of someone else's fear and lack of knowledge. Though it's frustrating it's not surprising.
When will we learn?
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