| Brandon36 19.05.2013 20:21 |
Okay, so I read that there are some *actual* musicians/people who've experience in the field of music. I myself am graduating HS this Friday and going to College as a Music Ed Major, and hope to perform and be successful doing that until retiring and then teaching till I die. Of course, those chances are slim, but hey; someone's gotta do it. I currently play Trumpet, but I'm going to expand and acquire two more instruments that I hope to be "adequate" with by the time I am done with college. I hope to be pretty darn good at Trumpet, Piano, and Voice (I do consider it an instrument in it's own right). Not sure what direction I want to go with my music. I plan on waiting until the end of my Freshman/beginning Sophomore year of college that way I have a year of college piano, voice, and theory classes under my belt. I have a big interest in jazz and in the queen style of European pop/rock, I'll probably dabble in both styles and see what I like more and have more success with. By the way, I freakin' hate cover bands. Sure, a cover album or a cover of a few songs you really like is okay, especially when the group is new and wants a good way of testing performance of individuals and equipment but at some point that group must move on. Screw all cover bands. |
| thomasquinn 32989 20.05.2013 10:45 |
I'd definitely recommend piano. You will need to gain an extensive understanding of harmony and voicings, which IMHO no instrument illustrates quite as well as a piano. However, note that you can't become proficient at an instrument in just four years, it's just doesn't work like that. But you can, with serious study, get pretty good in that time. Just don't expect to be every bit as good after four years of playing the piano than after many more years of trumpet. |
| The Real Wizard 20.05.2013 10:46 |
If you believe you can have a career in music, then you can have it. The walls are just there to keep out the people who don't want it badly enough. My first piece of advice - don't ever shit on someone else's career path, which includes people who play in cover/tribute bands. When you tell people you're a musician and they ask you, "Great, but what do you actually do, you know, for a living?" - you don't want them judging you, so don't judge other musicians too. Here's some perspective you may not have considered: There is a great thirst to hear old music performed live, particularly music by bands who don't exist anymore. Genesis and Pink Floyd are gone forever. Should that music just die with them? Should Beethoven's music die too? Orchestras who play his groundbreaking third symphony are technically cover bands too, just in a different setting. Focus on your craft, put yourself out there in every way you can and network. Networking is everything. And be accepting of music in ALL its forms. It all has its place, and it all makes people happy. Good luck ! |
| Brandon36 20.05.2013 18:25 |
That's a good way of putting it into perspective. I still don't like cover bands too much, but no musician should deter another from getting better. It's just not healthy for the industry, and I've felt strongly about that, probably since I do eventually want to teach in my life. |
| The Real Wizard 20.05.2013 19:37 |
How is it not healthy for the industry? |
| thomasquinn 32989 21.05.2013 04:19 |
Well, I can see the point here somewhat. Most venues that host live music have a marked preference for having either established names or, if that is not possible, bands that play covers of established names rather than groups/artists that aren't well-known playing their own material. One thing that I have noticed myself is that such venues often apply much higher standards to bands playing their own material than to cover bands. A result of this is that people come into contact with cover bands much more easily than with bands playing their own material. I have experienced first hand that band members were unwilling to write their own songs or have other members of their band contribute songs, because it makes getting gigs more difficult. I'm not opposed to cover bands as such (providing they do a good job, of course), but I do understand the problems they cause for bands trying to play their own material. However, this problem has been around for decades, and it didn't stop good bands from developing in the past, so I don't think it's an insurmountable difficulty. |
| The Real Wizard 21.05.2013 11:04 |
There are countless venues worldwide that only want original bands to play. Alan Cross said it best: "Thirty years ago there were a thousand bands with millions of fans. Now there are millions of bands with thousands of fans." There has never been more original music and places to play it in. And there are plenty of places to play covers. If any original artist thinks it's tough to find places to play, they probably aren't looking hard enough. |
| Brandon36 22.05.2013 21:15 |
I meant that discouraging other musicians from progressing and getting better by any means is unhealthy. I have quite an extensive plan laid out for college and how I plan to progress through it, my main career choice/path, and the backup plan as well as the second backup plan (Meteorology). I feel that no matter how my life pans out I'll be quite content and very happy with it. |
| inu-liger 22.05.2013 22:06 |
The Real Wizard wrote: There are countless venues worldwide that only want original bands to play.Indeed. I encountered some indirect skepticism when I booked our Breaking Hats show for last November 23rd, since we were playing a primarily Queen-themed setlist, but persuasion quickly won over :-) |
| thomasquinn 32989 22.05.2013 23:46 |
Seriously, what? Inu. Are you honestly trying to back up Bob's argument that there are plenty of venues for bands playing ORIGINAL material by citing your own COVER band? |
| brENsKi 23.05.2013 08:23 |
i have to disagree with the OP re: cover bands. they may make a good living out of someone else's music, but 1. they pay a licence fee to perform those songs in public - so the orig artists DO benefit 2. they keep that music alive and accessible to people who wouldn't get to see those bands. couple of examples:- - i was born during the time the beatles rose and died. never old enough to see them live - but have seen beatles tributes live - and they're excellent - in every sense also - ELO no longer exist, and Eagles are not looking like coming back over here again - but i've been lucky enough to see both ELO Experience and Talon live and they're great....and as for Purple Zeppelin? an amalgam of two of the finest rock bands - really good to see/hear i think i also posted a link to Zepperella - an all-female Zep tribute (google them, watch "when the levee breaks on Youtube, then) say tribute bands are not worthy Paul McCartney said ( along time ago) that there's probably only three original tunes - which was his was of saying almost everything is a cover/copy of something else...it's all derivative. Tribute bands are fine by me |
| The Real Wizard 23.05.2013 10:43 |
brENsKi wrote: 1. they pay a licence fee to perform those songs in public - so the orig artists DO benefitIn some cases yes, but certainly not all. I've played dozens of cover/tribute gigs in theatres and I know for a fact that such fees weren't paid. That said - after the show some people will run off to the record store or iTunes to buy the albums, so most artists just turn the other way and let tribute acts do their thing. Otherwise great post ! |
| Brandon36 03.06.2013 09:04 |
Getting myself a Bach Stradivarius Trumpet from the late 70's or early 80's, other than the fact that the instrument will sound and perform better, something about it being from the time I wish I could've been in to hear Queen live makes it more awesome to me. |
| brENsKi 03.06.2013 13:17 |
that's the most tenuous of links possible to queen ^^^ |
| thomasquinn 32989 03.06.2013 15:10 |
brENsKi wrote: that's the most tenuous of links possible to queen ^^^What about going on holiday to the Bahamas because they gained full independence in the same month Queen released their first album? |
| brENsKi 03.06.2013 16:15 |
^^ equally as bad and BOTH are right up there with the top five most tenuous links to queen ever 1. taking a holiday in Holland because they used to have a Queen of their own 2. going to Vienna for A Night At The Opera 3. Buying a horse so to have A Day at The Races 4. Having the "Sunday Sun" newspaper delivered, because it used to be called "The News of The World" 5. Downloading loads of old Frankie Howerd videos - for all the Innuendo "oooer missus, now look ...shut yer face" |
| mooghead 04.06.2013 07:31 |
I don't believe in Jebus and Jebus is a Queen song. Does that make me the best Queen fan in the world? Yes, it does. ;-) |
| Brandon36 14.06.2013 18:29 |
It was sort of in jest, lol. Take it as you will ;) |
| Brandon36 05.07.2013 22:52 |
So piano and voice lessons have been going well. I've studied theory of music on my own for a few months now, and I have steadily applied it to my lessons and such... I'm progressing at a faster rate with my vocals when compared to my piano lessons. For piano I have a good understanding of theory but I need to just get in the habit of my hands going where they need to be. When I started voice lessons I was carrying my chest voice way too high and had a noticeable vocal break around Eb3 or something around there. Fast forward to now and there are no noticeable breaks, I have developed a decent blend and am gaining a lot more control over breathing, vibrato, and range. Right now the lowest note I've got is C2, B, and/or A (sort of) below that. Highest without falsetto is high tenor C (C5) but sometimes it's a little weak. Higher notes (Ab4, Bb4) are getting really easy now. If I tried singing Bohemian Rhapsody's ballad section, starting on "Mama" (The note value here is D3), I used to struggle and generally just stayed an octave below. Now it is way more natural and takes much less effort. I credit that to my instructor, helping me realize the importance of proper breath control and support as well as the fact that I've been "exercising" my vocal cords for a bit now. I have a high level of trust and confidence in my teacher. I'm also excited to start college soon, especially getting to study theory at the college level. |
| splicksplack 10.07.2013 11:25 |
Good luck. I played tuba up to Grade 8 level (in England that's the highest you can do outside music college). You can only acheive it if you've done up to Grade 5 theory. So I taught myself piano in totally the wrong way. basically bashing out chords (block or arpeggio) with the left and melody with the right). Enough to get the party going but not to sight-read anything. In fact, since I've tried to study piano properly I've found that playing a monophonic instrument first has been a drawback. That's because i was only reading one clef (treble - because thats how tuba's - or Eb basses - are written for in UK brass bands). So it gets kinda difficult to make that shift to reading bass clef as well at the same time. How do you find it? |