After a fairly extensive blogging respite, I have decided to return! Woo.
There haven't, in fact, been too many developments since then. I'm still a freelance musician, still trying to make my way through this wonderfully managed economy. Since my last post however, I have started my own website and small independent publishing business called Valley Music Press. You can check out it out at www.valleymusicpress.com. Thats it for now. Hopefully my next entry won't be two years from now.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Keeping it interesting...
The closest approximation I could remember to an actual gig call that I received:
"Nate, are you available to play at our church next month?"
"Yeah, sure. Not a problem."
"Do you happen to also know where I might be able to find some doves to release?"
"Oh, um...at a church service? Hm...I'm not too familiar with dove suppliers, sorry."
"Well, I would've used my own pigeons, but my wife never let me have any. I always wanted to send messages with them [from Philadelphia] to Mike in New York."
"Uh, ok... You said to Mike? Mike who?"
"Yeah, you know, Mike. Mike Tyson, in New York."
"Uh..."
So much to say...don't even know where to start. Sometimes its the gig calls that turn weird that make it all worth while.
"Nate, are you available to play at our church next month?"
"Yeah, sure. Not a problem."
"Do you happen to also know where I might be able to find some doves to release?"
"Oh, um...at a church service? Hm...I'm not too familiar with dove suppliers, sorry."
"Well, I would've used my own pigeons, but my wife never let me have any. I always wanted to send messages with them [from Philadelphia] to Mike in New York."
"Uh, ok... You said to Mike? Mike who?"
"Yeah, you know, Mike. Mike Tyson, in New York."
"Uh..."
So much to say...don't even know where to start. Sometimes its the gig calls that turn weird that make it all worth while.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
first impressions
So I finally check out this Susan Boyle clip on YouTube. For those of you who don't know, its from a show called "Britain's Got Talent," and this woman, Susan Boyle, sings "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables. I'll state from the top that I didn't even watch the whole thing. I couldn't make it. I didn't want to make it. These sort of shows make me sick, but thats besides the point. So unless something drastically different happened in the last minute of the clip, keep reading.
Lets state the obvious, Susan Boyle is not an attractive person. And because of that, you also wouldn't think she could sing very well either, for whatever wrong reason inside of us that tells us that. I'll give her this though, she showed good spirit, was positive, and had a good attitude from the outset. She also appeared to be quite confident, in a non overbearing way, and did not appear to be nervous. Having said that, she started off singing fairly well. In fact, what was most impressive, was that her start was quite good. Right on key, nice tone, and most of all...surprisingly NOT what you would expect. You can simply look at the judges faces to see that, or listen to the crowd. And it was good. As for the rest of the performance (from what I saw, as I still haven't seen the finish), I'll say this: it was okay. There was nothing special about it. If you actually just listen to her sing, take away the crowds' reaction, don't pay attention to the judges reactions, and most importantly don't give a hoot as to how Susan Boyle's pathetic look makes you feel bad for her, and simply listen, you'll find that she's just okay. Just okay.
So what in the world was going on here? Its quite simple. This was the typical first impression. It happens all the time in auditions. Unfortunately its what most auditions are built upon. In this case, some negative first impressions (that had nothing to do with her playing) gave a low expectation for what was to come. Thus, when her start was good, and I'll admit, quite good, everyone flipped. They didn't care what came next. They just liked it. And you know what? They were gonna like it whether the rest was good or not. Period.
In orchestral auditions, the same occurs. A panel is made up of a number of different musicians. Not only different instruments, but obviously different tastes too. Lets suppose a committee member starts listening to candidate number 84 play the same excerpt that they've already heard numbers 1-83 play. Immediately they're hit with an out of tune note, a crack, a bad rhythm off the bat. Thats it, they're going to stop listening. It doesn't matter if the rest is great. The fact of the matter is, you gave them a bad first impression, and they're just looking for reasons to cut you. After all, they've got 100 more candidates to listen to that day, all playing the same thing. Now if the flip happens, and you hit them with something really great, they're going to fight for you. They'll even make excuses for you if you do something wrong, whereas for #84, thats just one more reason to cut you. This is the problem too often with auditions...whether orchestral, or for Britain's Got Talent. And what makes it even more unfortunate is the time and dedication spent by so many musicians/performers in the practice room, when in reality, it all comes down to a moment's first impression.
Lets state the obvious, Susan Boyle is not an attractive person. And because of that, you also wouldn't think she could sing very well either, for whatever wrong reason inside of us that tells us that. I'll give her this though, she showed good spirit, was positive, and had a good attitude from the outset. She also appeared to be quite confident, in a non overbearing way, and did not appear to be nervous. Having said that, she started off singing fairly well. In fact, what was most impressive, was that her start was quite good. Right on key, nice tone, and most of all...surprisingly NOT what you would expect. You can simply look at the judges faces to see that, or listen to the crowd. And it was good. As for the rest of the performance (from what I saw, as I still haven't seen the finish), I'll say this: it was okay. There was nothing special about it. If you actually just listen to her sing, take away the crowds' reaction, don't pay attention to the judges reactions, and most importantly don't give a hoot as to how Susan Boyle's pathetic look makes you feel bad for her, and simply listen, you'll find that she's just okay. Just okay.
So what in the world was going on here? Its quite simple. This was the typical first impression. It happens all the time in auditions. Unfortunately its what most auditions are built upon. In this case, some negative first impressions (that had nothing to do with her playing) gave a low expectation for what was to come. Thus, when her start was good, and I'll admit, quite good, everyone flipped. They didn't care what came next. They just liked it. And you know what? They were gonna like it whether the rest was good or not. Period.
In orchestral auditions, the same occurs. A panel is made up of a number of different musicians. Not only different instruments, but obviously different tastes too. Lets suppose a committee member starts listening to candidate number 84 play the same excerpt that they've already heard numbers 1-83 play. Immediately they're hit with an out of tune note, a crack, a bad rhythm off the bat. Thats it, they're going to stop listening. It doesn't matter if the rest is great. The fact of the matter is, you gave them a bad first impression, and they're just looking for reasons to cut you. After all, they've got 100 more candidates to listen to that day, all playing the same thing. Now if the flip happens, and you hit them with something really great, they're going to fight for you. They'll even make excuses for you if you do something wrong, whereas for #84, thats just one more reason to cut you. This is the problem too often with auditions...whether orchestral, or for Britain's Got Talent. And what makes it even more unfortunate is the time and dedication spent by so many musicians/performers in the practice room, when in reality, it all comes down to a moment's first impression.
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