what is going on in your musical life

even though that lady was trying to give me $5 to stop, it will take more than that!

i think at heart i am ultimately most impressed by feel and seek out unique voices in that regard

this is otm for me too

it took me forever to wrap my head around jeremy taggart's drum part on our lady peace's "automatic flowers" and but i think it's all just lightly modified stroke rolls? anyway just *thinking* about this stuff is fun

oh excellent i found a decent drum cover, maybe this one is still baffling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_xFjY3y1nQ

the drummer was my old dermatologist

Insert "skins" joke here

I just sang Love Bade Me Welcome at an evening service tonight, which means I’ve now performed all 3 of the solo numbers from Vaughn Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs”

The singer/bandleader for the band I play bass in dissolved the band yesterday, after 6 months of rehearsals & one fun show. It’s a bit of a relief, because I feel like I’ve taken on too much in my life & need to simplify, & now I get to not be the flaky guy who quit.

Need to make sure I keep up my bass muscles/chops, though — those took a while to come back!

did not stay for either of the sets after theirs and took all their people out to the bar to socialize amongst themselves for the entire evening

I hate this. I am relatively understanding if a band's on a big tour and they need some chillout time for themselves but it smacks of arrogance to not bother watching other bands on the bill.

My band's album is soooo close to coming out now, just finalising artwork and checking test pressings. It's been a long time coming!

awesome about the album! looking forward to hearing it!! will it be on bandcamp as well as physical copies? this is slum of l3gs?

the uncouth band who took off after their set was local! they played and then literally hightailed it to the bar (different room) to hang with their friends, presumably because they had to work the next morning as rock and roll dermatologist + friends. the touring band, who were very kind and funny and had some sweet harmonies, played to an almost empty room :( (we all watched them + maybe 5-6 other people) they were good sports.

usually i would be on the side of the people who maybe just didn't know the rules or conventions but these people really should have known better. i wonder if the dermatologist is an advertiser at the paper they were written up in :thinking emoji:

Insert "skins" joke here

fyi i loled at this
wonder if he hears that much

will it be on bandcamp as well as physical copies? this is slum of l3gs?

Yep, definitely putting it on bandcamp too. And yes, it's SoL!

Had a recording session in a lovely church space last night that I'm pretty happy with. I recorded a guitar duo playing a piece of mine and a piece by a friend and former student. Hope to get my piece edited and out, probably next week after life slows down. I used two of these, which wouldn't seem like the obvious choice to record classical guitars in a church but seemed to work well.

Going to do a short improv set with a biggish name classical guitarist at a concert in early July and play in a guitar orchestra for Ben Verdery's Scenes from Ellis Island at a chamber music festival here later in July.

Also getting closer to completion with a guitar/electronics recording. Still hoping to get an album done this year.

Cool Sund4r!

I agreed to back someone up for a festival set here, because her partner (who is also in the band) is an old friend, and I played on some of the albums. Feeling conflicted because I think the music is bad (not good). Well, the music is fine, but I find the singing and lyrics embarrassing. It's whatever and I'll just put on my session dude face, but I probably shouldn't have said yes. :/

I'm always trying to figure out how people can best present their talents, and this person could make really great instrumental music, or use their voice effectively in a style that doesn't call for great singing in a very traditional sense. But in this very exposed singer-songwriter context, man. People get to make their own creative decisions though, I'm sure people think I've made some bad ones too.

On other fronts though, I'm playing some drums and percussion for a Dr. John tribute show tomorrow night, and finally got a release date (Aug) for the electronic album I finished early in the year.

Those sound p cool. The other situation sounds tough. Curious how you end up making out with it. I'm probably going to have to say no to something that is just not my bag but it can be hard.

i love the apple "music memos" app, especially the feature where it can add drum and bass parts to what you've recorded. it's a little wonky but that makes it even more fun. i recorded a sketch of a song i'm working on last night, which doesn't have words yet so i'm kind of murmuring some nonsense, and with the fake drums and bass it sounds like a skip spence song. i'm tempted to export it as is and just sing real vocals on top of it once i write lyrics.

for a while i would also get my kids to do stuff by singing a song about brushing their teeth or getting dressed or whatever into my phone then adding the drums and bass before playing it for them. i should bounce all those down.

ok i did what no one was asking for and bounced down the songs i made up to nag my kids. i don't know why there's 10 seconds of silence at the beginning but otherwise it's truly the "fingerprints" of being an annoying dad

https://soundcloud.com/user-378919876-468565288/nagging-songs

I uh found myself last night looking at the free preview of a lead sheet trying to arrange piano accompaniment for Green Day’s Basket Case. Nobody asked me to do this.

Wow

I have only gotten about three measures in so far and to date I would not describe myself as being able to sing so I'm not sure what this exercise is for, exactly, if anything

Going to do a short improv set with a biggish name classical guitarist at a concert in early July

This was last night. I just played prepared electric guitar with him on one piece at his concert, which was an honour. (He was also my teacher from 02-05.) It reminded me of how much I used to enjoy spontaneous improvisation with other musicians, using one's ear to dialogue.

ooh write some more words about what you enjoy about it -- i am getting my improvisation workshop together for 12-13 year old campers (later this month) and i could use some fresh quotes!

"It's the notes you don't play, maaaan."

(not helpful, sorry)

Sorry, LL: I was thinking about it but wasn't really sure what to say; maybe there's too much to say? I'd be happy to answer more specific questions.

don't sweat it -- the workshop was yesterday, it went super well imo. i changed the structure a little, recycled some of the supplemental materials i had printed in 2017, recorded the jams. i heard from other people that it was effective, which is all i ever want from that workshop. enthusiasm! i forgot to hand out some oblique strategies to the salty teens but there is always the next camp session!

played two shows this week with band mentioned above and they were both fun. the other local band we played with last night was so fun to watch irl. this is their bandcamp but it does not do them justice. i recommend tracks "working girl" and "working boy" -- https://ovefow.bandcamp.com/album/working

did you use my potato chips quote again?

lol yes indeed i did -- i used it as an encouraging anecdote because i didn't have a projector so i had to wing it with paper that sticks to the wall and a printed copy of the slides to keep me on track :)

speaking of improvisation -- about 2 months ago I played an improv gig with a few guys from LA who were on tour and their drummer wasn't able to make the trip. I played my "roommate" instrument in this group -- first time playing it in the context of a group, it's something I play solo -- it worked out pretty well actually (the instrument) -- though musically there were the standard issues. My friend who was at the show, commented that it (and a lot of improv) is like this quote from Planes Trains and Automobiles:
Here's a good idea - have a POINT. It makes it SO much more interesting for the listener!

What's the instrument?

Basically it's a free-standing metal armature made of rebar, basically a rib cage with legs. I put contact mics on it, run them through pedals, and play it with drumsticks, mallets, chopsticks, and occasionally a cheap leather flogger.

it began its life as 1/2 of a sculpture my bf made called "roommates" which he abandoned to my care when we broke up, hence the name.

it's basically about as tall as I am.

so I play it standing up. ... when I do a solo set with it, I add a contact-mic-ed piece of sheet metal screwed to a piece of wood on the floor, because as a drummer, I am used to being able to play with my feet as well.

that sounds rly cool!

Cool, sounds like it sounds amazing!

i remember seeing a photo of it!!!! the coolest!! how did you feel playing it during the performance? what are the standard issues?

the standard issues in improv? ... it's similar to making new friends in a way. ... what does the other person want to do? what do they like? how fast/slow do they want to go? what are the best dynamics in a conversation -- is it more like turn taking or are interruptions appreciated? How long is best for the other person to solo ...

like, imagine you are developing a new friendship but in front of an audience

I have a lot of friends that are "improvisors" and we have lots of discussions about "how to improvise" and "why we improvise" and "what are bad and good things people do in improvisation" ... lots of analogies ... some of them end up being sexual.

but obv if this is a workshop for teenage girls, analogies to conversations and making new friends would be more appropriate than the more adult ones.

xp - oh i understand that. -- it's what is fun about the whole thing! it was the same way at the workshop, i had to get 3 volunteers to 1) show up to the workshop to lend a hand and 2) jam together/w me in front of campers and none of us knew each other at all. different than a professional performance opp of course but the concept is the same. did you get to rehearse at all? how well do you know them?
if this is intrusive i apologize. if given the opportunity to ask, i always have a lot of questions, lol

speaking of sexual though!! i usually assiduously avoid going there, as a rule. nothing i said yesterday would have inspired prurient material. however, when i went around looking at the post its i had them write on to express the thoughts or feelings they wanted to have in mind while they were improvising. there were 3 of them that clearly were related to sex. lol! teenagers, gotta love em. i was proud of them for being so open.

no rehearsal. I knew them socially -- 2 of the 3. The 3rd I don't think I'd met. They asked me to play with them because at one point months ago, when one of them was playing a show at my friend's house (where this show was), we were hanging out afterwards, and I semi-drunkenly demonstrated that I could play 4 and 5 stroke rolls. ... as in getting the stick to bounce 4 or 5 times in a steady rhythm. Dude was impressed.

ha seriously? that's funny
i'm impressed by your boldness of "yes i can play this giant ribcage with these strangers on a stage"

anyway -- another example of how socializing/networking leads to gigs

the time where i got frustrated as a drummer playing in a large group where everything was muddy and too loud to hear myself so I intentionally fell off my drum stool onto a broken bottle on the floor was more bold than just ... playing my instrument in a group w/3 guys: two guitarists and one modular synth player

i still have a scar from that bottle

indeed it does!! that is but one reason why i have been bummed to have been sick all summer --> result: my socializing has been minimal :( i was anticipating it being maximal and helping me get through the winter with all my plans but i will have to keep at it.

omg at the bottle, that is O_O you musta been real bored ;)

it was a really shitty improv. very bored.

also, it was the "ooh, you want to be punk/noise and play sloppy and loud, let me just take this to the next level" ... performative oneupsmanship ... there's a lot of that in improv too