January 29, 2007
More Collaborations
Well now, aren’t I so lucky! I’ve really been blessed this year with opportunities to play with some awesome musicians. I play in a band we formed last summer called Contraband, which has been a ton of fun. Last week I started meeting with a few other friends from school (see previous post), and today I was invited to play with another completely awesome singer/songwriter, Chelsea Mitchell. Check out her Myspace page: Chelsea Q
I hope I can contribute something worthy to her songs. Ahhhh, I’ll probably just do some stupid noodling and try not to mess up. =)
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January 28, 2007
Rhythm and riffs
My friend Lindsey, a piano player, asked me to join her and a vocalist friend of hers at school today to work on a few songs they had written. They had also asked my friend Steve Rockwell, who is an amazing percussionist. We got some work done on a couple tunes they had, and after they left, Steve and I stayed to jam for a little while.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is why I got back into music. What a fucking awesome experience is it to play with someone that you can connect with! All we did was play through chord progressions, nothing even melodic, but it was probably the most musical experience I’ve had since going back to school. Steve is probably the best “listening” musician (if not the best musician hands down) at the school. It’s hard to explain to non-musicians who are reading this the absolute joy in the give and take process that two musicians can have in special moments. It’s a kind of flow, like energy passing back and forth. The chord changes ran rampant (but still magically made sense), we played in odd meters, used a lot of silence, played out of time completely and then found our way back… it was awesome.
I got a lot out of it, and I hope Steve and I get a lot more opportunities to play together. It was a very freeing experience. I haven’t been able to experiment with rhythm or chord progressions that way before. It’s hard when you’re playing alone at home to feel that kind of energy.
Today is the kind of day that makes me so glad I got back into music. I’m even more inspired to move forward now. Thanks Steve!
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January 26, 2007
Back for More
Writing is good for me, so I think this little bloggidy blog is going to get resurrected (sp?). I just wish this Pivot publishing thingy had spell check.
So what's new you ask? Well, the Spring semester has begun, and I think it will be a good one. Although I'm working more, I'm taking fewer classes, so I'm hopefull that I'll have the time to devote to more intense study, and also start writing more songs (and completing them, which I'm finding is pretty key).
The little music club experiment I started at school is going fairly well so far. I'm putting on 6 more concerts this semester, which is a good deal of work, but it's fun and I think my fellow students appreciate the additional opportunities to play. We do some other things as well, but the concerts are the main reason the club is in existence.
The terrible, horrible teacher most of you have heard me rant about is gone. Between all the complaints that came in from students as well as his fellow professors, they finally let the guy go. He's insane. It's amazing how much damage one person can do to a program or department. He was totally apathetic to the success of anyone other than himself. I'm becoming convinced that apathy is the root of all evil.
OK, so I'm listening to some great music right now (Tomasz Stanko Quartet - Lontano) and would like to concentrate on it, so this is the end of my post.
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Posted by at 9:38 pm | Comments (1) | Permalink
