what is going on in your musical life

Djp: Glad to hear about the organ blower

Am currently spending Christmas alone bc I have to sort through and edit 60 GBs of orchestral recordings for a film score

ahhhhhhh did a solo show tonight! the first thing i played got royally messed up from the outset and it was my first time out with the looper totally under my control so there were some bumps. but the second thing i played felt much more right and i feel so relieved!! ahhhhhhhhhhh

the last three weeks i have played
alex chilton tribute
regular rock show w the band i play with
solo w looper

a range of experiences in a short period of time, very satisfying :)

Right on, glad the solo show smoothed itself out.

BTW they didn't fix the organ before my Handel recital so we all ended singing to Casio accompaniment:

https://soundcloud.com/djperry1973/for-behold-darkness-shall-cover-the-earththe-people-that-walked-in-darkness

I guess I should have looked upthread to see that I already said this, oops

I was hoping for some glowing 8-bit type Casio sounds, now that would have been a happy accident

I'm gonna suggest we do a chiptone Messiah next year

And congrats LL!

My drumming has been feeling better than ever lately, but having a hard time with producing new music. Starting lots of tracks and abandoning them if they're not clicking rather than pushing through, which I'm choosing to see as wisdom rather than laziness. And having a hard time not feeling like I'm repeating myself, or like I'm making something that hasn't been done better by someone else. There's one track I'm really happy with, but I seem to like it more than anyone else, which is not ideal.

xp yesss

LL, that sounds like a great variety of fun stuff to be doing!

DJP - I'm gonna suggest we do a chiptone Messiah next year -> please please! I need this.

My band's album now physically exists, to be released vv soon, eeeek!

https://scontent.flhr3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/82119783_2650535134996085_2119605212850159616_o.jpg
(hopefully that works, ours is the LP on the right)

https://scontent.flhr3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/82119783_2650535134996085_2119605212850159616_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ohc=2DaYleYxFYUAX97bste&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr3-1.fna&oh=e9aa15f909050f898cd3c1bafefd4ff2&oe=5E9EF02B

?

Emil.y I can’t wait to hear it!!

The band I play with is releasing a record this spring too. I only play on one song on the album but it’s still exciting!

I'm gonna suggest we do a chiptone Messiah next year

Get a Commodore 64 and a MSSIAH cartridge!

A woman in my social-media orbit recently asked if anyone has a drum set sitting around, to potentially sell to her 17-year-old daughter.

As it happens, I am thinking about selling some drums (to get more and different drums, of course).

Nothing especially momentous, and perhaps it won't happen, but it does warm my heart to hear that there is a teenager living in the year 2020 who even a little serious about playing acoustic drums.

What started as a one-off show last spring evolved into us playing as an actual band and we've played a couple of shows at bars opening for other bands and stuff, and now we somehow ended up in a battle of the bands kind of show at a local venue tomorrow. If anyone told me ten years ago that in 2020 I'd be playing bass in a band in the town I currently live in it would have sounded insane. It's still terrifying but super fun.

I've never played live on a stage of any sort until this past year there is a whole world of logistical stuff I sort of vaguely knew about but never had to deal with when just fucking around at home alone, like micing and DI stuff and monitors and hearing yourself and others on stage vs. at rehearsal and seeing the dot markers on a dark stage and hauling heavy cubical objects into and out of places through alleys.

Ha been there. Hoofed large amounts of gear up 4 flights of stairs to a loft space. My first time w cords + looper + drum stuff. Lost my power strip 😢

Also anyone know why a looper’s looping function wouldn’t work through a PA but work fine through an amp?

I have another concert this Sunday where I will be the bass in a quartet doing Brahms Op. 92, Copland's arrangement of "The Little Horses", and "Stars" from Les Mis

\m/

Finished recording one piece, now in the always-pleasant phase of listening obsessively for everything that could be wrong/deciding whether things are worth changing. I do intend to move on to the next soon enough.

Yesterday went REALLY well; I got some applause on the Copland piece before I even finished singing and I had multiple people compliment me on the Les Mis piece (which I'd never really even listened to until about 4 weeks ago) including a jaded teenager, which felt like a massive win

I flubbed some minor spots in the Brahms but the audience loved it so 🤷‍♂️

Rad! Congrats.

I have been rehearsing with a group doing Schuetz, Green, and Allegri in a concert next week Saturday that has been pushed back to a date in May where I can no longer sing with them. I'm supposed to start rehearsal with my regular group on Handel's "Alexander's Feast" on Sunday but I suspect that is going to be canceled.

Fuck you, coronavirus

I just bought a fancy new drumkit, just in time to not gig.

What kind?

It is a DW LowPro - a travel kit that fits in a rolling suitcase. Very compact and nimble; idwL for the small clubs that I am not playing in.

https://i.imgur.com/mpCrCLK_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

*ideal

How much sound comes out of that kick when not mic'ed up?

that's really cool YMP!

reminds me of the old steve jordan "cocktail" kits i used to see in modern drummer ads in the 90s:

https://i.imgur.com/JU494Rj.jpg

Jordan - quite a lot.

It's very full and boomy. Sounds like a jazz kit (more "note" than "thud"). I will likely change to some more rock-oriented heads, like Pinstripes, to get my accustomed sound. But as configured it is plenty loud for a bar stage.

And KM I know a dude with one of those - I find the ergonomics questionable. I played standing up a couple time in an experimental band in college, no wish to repeat that. With my old Pearl travel kit and with this new one, I am making all the same motions as I would with a normal kit; the drums are just a little smaller.

Those little kits are built for someone my size — I’ve been wanting one! Unfortunately my musical life is a minor mess rn. Even if the band I’m playing with doesn’t have their record release show cancelled, I’m not playing at it as had been previously planned :(

Sorry LL.

My band has a text thread going right now about canceling our gig in a couple weeks.

I feel very torn about that kit because even though I loathe lugging drums more every year, they just don't look cool :/

what does that mean, LL? Are you still with the band?

fortunately, the drama of my situation has been drowned in COVID-19, so the sting is less fresh.
i could explain the whole thing but the basic situation is that I was under the impression that we were going to try a double-drummer situation, we rehearsed this way once, a month passed, and then I got an email with the other drummer's suggestions for my parts a) 3 days before the last rehearsal before the show and b) they were extremely minimal, including playing a tambourine/shakers/doing nothing. i didn't have time to practice his parts even if i wanted to, and upon reading them (and because of the combination of a and b) I decided that I did not want to. So I bartleby'd and told everyone I would prefer to hang from the floor instead of on stage.

now i'm not sure the show will actually happen, and i am assuming that i am still local sub because we all have bigger things to worry about than drum parts. still, i did not relish the idea of being on a stage doing nothing but needlessly shaking a tambourine.

i feel that i am showing a lot of restraint by not complaining in public about all of the things about this situation that bothered me. i am now over it, hoarding food, and looking forward to a little pandemic practice time

Wow, LL, that seriously sucks. Shitty move on their parts.

That does suck, but I must say that shaking a tambourine is never needless

Yeah it sucks.

I think I disagree w you Jordan

When there are already 5 other people on stage, it is not necessary for an extra person to be there shaking a tambourine. Would you want to be that person? I decided that I don't, at least not under these circumstances.

xp - it's actually kinda difficult to do double drummers (depending on the parts and musical style) without much rehearsal -- so I could see other band members thinking the parts suggestions were good and pragmatic and still valuing you as a musician / bandmate. Otoh that sucks to be person demoted.

I don't know if this will make you feel better, but, last month I got to hang out with a friend I hadn't seen in a year. About 13 years ago he was in a band with a double drummer line-up. He was the bass player. One of the drummers was the bandleader and he kicked the other drummer out of the band because he felt her playing wasn't similar enough to his style. I was shocked to hear this, because she, the second drummer, was like, always perfect. Her timing was perfect. Her sight-reading was perfect. ... Anyway, now he doesn't really have a band, and she is in a very highly regarded weird/arty/indie band that there are threads about on ilx.

that does make me feel better!
more than anything i would like to preserve my relationship with bandmates (and especially the songwriter/main person whose band it is) and keep things going smoothly. it didn't have to be like this, and that is part of what gnawed at me about this situation.

I messaged you further details!

I get that there are probably additional dynamics here with the band, and also maybe a gender thing if you see playing shaker/tambourine as not as important as drums.

But personally I love playing tambourine, I think it makes everything come together and I often sit in on friend's gigs on tambourine, and we often have a third drummer who just plays tambourine and cowbell. But I probably wouldn't join a band just to play tambourine, yeah (unless they were really good friends).

I just think the tambourine is a noble pursuit!
https://youtu.be/ib9lUmgCyFU?t=84

Both things are true: LL was treated shittily, _and_ we can dig a well-played tambourine.

When I am sitting in as a percussionist with a band that has a drummer, I will add what I think is tasteful and right for the song.

But if I'm one of two drummers? No, we will talk about the parts and we will come to a consensus decision about what best serves the song. That can include subtler parts, sure, but by agreement, not by dictatorial edict. What it sounded like in LL's case was that the other drummer thought of it as "lead drummer / backup drummer", not "two drummers."

yeah totally

Agree. Mostly I lament that there was not clearer communication to have avoided the situation I found myself in upon reading that email 3 days before rehearsal.

In more upbeat news, my band's album is OUT NOW WOOO: https://slumoflegs.bandcamp.com/album/slum-of-legs

Yaaaaaaay!!! I recently saw that a guy I knew in high school (in Ohio!) is a fan of yours!!