Latch Music's Ezine #29
"The Zine" content is contributed by Dave Latchaw and colleagues who use the Internet to promote their musical projects. You can check out previous issues at "The Zine" Archives.
- Article: "Music Should Be Fun!" by Dave Latchaw
- Guest Artist: John Wardrope - Sonic adventures.
- Featured Web Site: K-v-R
- Featured Web Video: Carlos Santana
- CD Pick: Weather Report "Live and Unreleased"
Music Should Be Fun!
by Dave Latchaw
Music should be fun! This fact about music is very often forgotten by players, educators and students. It's easy to be distracted by many things that have nothing to do with playing music. Players, educators and students all have a variety of circumstances or situations that may cause frustration, angst or anything else that gets in the way of having a good time with music.
Some players get wrapped up with the "it's a job" aspect of making music, either as a freelance musician or in a band. We all can't be Sting or Madonna or play in their bands. Unfortunately, many musicians feel they will be successful only if they achieve something of a similar magnitude. We can all strive for that level of expertise, but there is just not enough demand to allow every artist to achieve that kind of success. Nothing wrong with attempting to have that kind of success, and very cool if one achieves it, but it's important that we have a good time doing it, and dig the fact that we can make music. Sharon Osbourne once said to me, "Ozzy would be Ozzy regardless of whether he was famous or not." I'm sure he prefers being famous and the money and all that, but if he wasn't famous he would still be out there somewhere rocking out, the way only Ozzy can. This is a cool space to be in for any artist, it's liberating. Making music because you dig it is the only way to go. If you can make a living doing it, even better.
Musicians have to deal with an immense level of competition. The competition that goes with making music can bring fragile egos and insecurities to forefront. Many times this can bring a dark vibe to the music-making. The musicians who don't have their ego and insecurities in check play like they have to prove something to the other musicians in the band and their audience. They are wrapped up more with themselves than the music, and this gets in the way of a band sounding cohesive and allowing the listener to truly have a meaningful experience. When a musician can be in control of their ego and insecurities it allows them to be selfless and submit to the music. Being selfless can lead to a higher level of music-making, which makes for a better experience for player and the listener. Making the music experience more fun for everyone involved is a wonderful goal.
Some music educators get fed up with the tediousness of teaching. It does take an amazing amount of energy, focus and drive to do it well. The amount of training an educator has to have to know their subject matter is often not obvious to most, which leads to educators not being fully appreciated. Also, the pressures from some school administrations and parents to have a competitive music program can lead to potential burnout for both educators and students. When burnout happens, music educators and students end up preferring to do anything else but music, which will lead to a great deal of frustration for all involved. Convincing parents and administrations to be more concerned about having a positive enlightening musical experience is not the easiest thing to do. They can easily get hung up on making music into a sport, sports are more tangible to them. Winning competitions becomes more important than an enriching musical experience for the student. The more an educator can enlighten all parties involved with the school music program that it is about learning to love and appreciate the music, the more fun they and their students will have with the musical experience.
When teaching music, one has to be aware of their own abilities, limitations and neuroses, especially in private teaching situations. A lot of personal teaching style has been handed down from one's own teachers, which means passing on both excellent musical knowledge and hang-ups from generation to generation. Sometimes private teachers are players that only teach to add to their income. Players who are frustrated about teaching should remember that it's not the student's fault that one can't support themselves fully from performing alone. The time a teacher spends with the student is meant to help them to get further down their own musical path, and thinking that the student should only follow the teacher's musical path isjust the teacher being self-absorbed. The more confidence a private educator has about themselves, the easier it will be to help the student improve, which is more rewarding and fun for student and teacher alike.
Sometimes students of music forget that improving musical skills takes time and effort. If it was easy everyone would do it! A student that is not willing to put in the time is not going to have as much fun, simple as that. Music students also need to learn not to be sensitive. The very nature of taking lessons involves being told to try things differently than the way you are currently doing it. If you are defensive rather than open to new ideas, you may miss out on a wide area of musical possibilities. Remember, if you make the appropriate commitment to music you will be a student of music all of your life. If you embrace being a life-long student of music you can reach greater heights of musical satisfaction and fun. Have a good time all the time!
John Wardrope
#1 Where on the Internet can people find out more about you and your musical activities?
This is the main site from which you can reach the other mp3 music sites: www.psychosymphony.com. I also have sites at MP3.com for Psycho Symphony and Coventry Rd.
#2 Who were the influences that inspired your interest in music, and why?
There are two parts to this answer. The first is my parents who, when I was growing up, had these fantastic parties. My dad played stand-up bass in a band called the "3 hot potatoes". It consisted of piano, bass and drums. Everyone would stand around singing Mac the Knife…. Bye Bye Blackbird…. Up the Lazy River, etc. These memories reinforced a positive relationship with music for me. Not until I was 24 years old did I take music seriously; I was standing by the speakers of a band called "Honeythroat" at a University of Manitoba Social when this individual came out on stage in a tails tux holding a candelabra. He sat down at a piano and started playing a classically oriented rock tune, he then with his left hand started playing the bottom end with an RMI electronic piano and increased tempo. He then switched both hands to the RMI changing the tune to complete rock. He then further brought in melotrones of strings, flutes and brass creating a "King Crimson" sound, then the rest of the band walked on stage. This finally inspired me to change my life. Over the next three years I took 3 – seven month sabbaticals from work and taught myself to play music on synth keyboards then put on my first concert calling myself the "Psycho Symphony".
#3 Being self-taught, what do you feel are the most important aspects of music you have studied to develop your own voice?
COLOUR & TONE is the expression of music through synth keyboards, which creates my playing ability. This is an advantage for expression but a disadvantage to the structure of established styles. I have great confidence in myself as an artist but feel I am always struggling to educate myself to be a musician.
#4 How did your interest in improvisation start?
Hopefully I won’t get lost answering this. The concept of being emotionally moved by music fascinated me. The idea of striking an object such as a piano creating sound that represented the players’ emotion, that generated sound waves that could be mathematically defined traveling through the air, hitting the listeners’ ears, and then recreating that emotion in the listeners, is unbelievable. I developed the idea of starting with one tone. Playing with that one sound represented the way I felt at that moment, adding other notes as I could physically and mentally. After 3 years of intense practicing and development, I learned to play what I heard in my head.
#5 What do you want the listener to get from the project "Psycho Symphony"?
Listeners who are looking for or want to have obscure inner thoughts and emotions represented by tone and colour, hopefully to feel the same intensity of emotions being felt by the musicians playing the music.
#6 What were the challenges of recording "1040’s basement", and what qualities were you looking for in the musicians that you recorded with?
"1040’s basement" was a dream come true to me. Over 18 years of playing, meeting different
musicians, things finally came together one winter (1999). I realized it would not last forever so
I invested in equipment that could record 24 tracks live to capture the moments of spontaneous
improvised jams. The qualities the musicians had were closer to a common abstract idea that existed
when we were together which took form when we played. Depending on the moods and emotions of all
involved and events that happened in our every day lives created intense extremes to spatial voids,
which I thought, represented all the events in peoples lives that they never talked about or even
realized, in short sensitivity, control of their instruments and an ability to play within themselves.
A final goal to this type of playing would be to team up with a contemporary dance troop that could
improvise with form at the same time as the music was being created.
#7 How is the Internet aiding your musical activities?
The Internet has become my major tool of communication and marketing for my musical projects. When sending someone a promo package or getting together information for a website, you are forced to organize yourself and focus, which in turn creates goals and accomplishments.
#8 Do you get to play live, and what future projects should people look for?
My partner Guizy Dammann and myself are getting together French pop music, which will be played at venues in Winnipeg (Winnipeg has the largest French population in western Canada). Other projects in the future will be studio work, completing the mixing of "1040’s basement" music and uploading it to the Psycho Symphony mp3 site. There are 8 sessions 45 minutes each in duration in our library. The best sections will be mixed down to create 8-10 minute mood setting sessions.
K-v-R
Supporting open standard plug-ins
K-v-R is a cool site for musicians who use software that supports VSTi, DXi and Audio Unit formats for Windows, MacOS and OS X operating systems. K-v-R also brings you the latest plug-in news. There is a nice instrument page that allows you to search for information and downloads for a specific type of instrument in a given format. They also have a good forum page to find out possible answers to common problems. The instrument review and ratings of commercial and free instruments is very helpful. Because time is always limited, I found the information at this site very useful. They also have some cool free downloads!
Carlos Santana
You can't get much cooler than guitarist Carlos Santana. Santana has developed his own unique voice with a fusion of Rock 'n Roll, Blues, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and many other global music influences. His music has spanned five decades and he has sold more than fifty million albums. He is an amazing, passionate player, who always comes up with the best burning bands. Besides a lot of other cool things to check out on his site, he offers many fine web videos. To watch them, go to santana.com, then click on the high bandwidth option if you want to check out the great flash intro, or the low bandwidth option if you can't be bothered. Once you are into the site, hold the mouse cursor over "SIGHTS & SOUNDS" at the top of the page. You will see a few selections appear below it, click on "VIDEO" and you can check out various current and past videos. Very fun distraction on a tedious day.
Weather Report
"Live and Unreleased"
Those who have studied Weather Report recordings for years will be thrilled with the chance to check out many classic compositions in a live setting from the various incarnations of the Weather Report line-up. Weather Report's music has been described as Jazz Rock, Jazz Fusion, Fusion, World Jazz, World Fusion and so on. It really doesn't matter how you describe their music, it's simply great. On "Live and Unreleased", it's wonderful fun to hear how the band sounded over the years with the various rhythm sections. As a keyboardist, it's a cool way to for me to hear Zawinul evolve with the keyboard technology and master the art of making a synth into an organic musical device. Intense, wonderful playing from Wayne Shorter throughout this recording. I am particularly drawn to the tunes "Two Lines", "Fast City", and "Night Passage". The only thing cooler than this release would to be able to see live footage of these bands on DVD. Be sure to check out "Live and Unreleased", you will be glad you did.
Musicians for "Live and Unreleased"
Joe Zawinul - Keyboards
Wayne Shorter - Saxophones
Alphonso Johnson - Bass
Jaco Pastorious - Bass
Victor Bailey - Bass
Alex Acuna - Drums & Percussion
Manolo Badrena - Percussion
Robert Thomas - Percussion
Jose Rossy - Percussion
Chester Thompson - Drums
Peter Erskine - Drums
Omar Hakim - Drums
Tracks for "Live and Unreleased"
Disc #1
- Freezing Fire
- Plaza Real
- Fast City
- Portrait Of Tracy
- Elegant People
- Cucumber Slumber
- Teen Town
- Man In The Green Shirt
Disc #2
- Black Market
- Where The Moon Goes
- River People
- Two Lines
- Cigano
- In A Silent Way / Waterfall
- Night Passage
- Port Of Entry
- Rumba Mama
- Directions / Dr. Honoris Causa
Click here to learn more about "Live and Unreleased"
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