Latch Music's Ezine #36
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* "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: "Piano and Synthesizer" by Dave Latchaw
- Guest Artist: Todd Harrold - Drumming and singing grooviness.
- Featured Web Site: Fuse Online
- Featured Web Video: Thomas Dolby
- CD Pick: Tabla Beat Science "Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove"
Piano and Synthesizer
by Dave Latchaw
Piano players knowing how to play a synthesizer should be as common as a trumpeter doubling on flugel horn, or a tenor saxophonist doubling on the soprano sax. It is my observation that piano players tend to be snobbish towards the synth, while other musicians are more accepting of the instruments they are expected to learn to play and double on. Even when a pianist is playing a synth keyboard, they tend to gravitate towards the factory piano sounds, or if they are a bit more adventurous they may use an electric piano sound. Of course the whole time they are complaining about the action of the keyboard and are reluctant to dive into the other sonic capabilities of the synth.
Any trumpet player will tell you that there is a certain degree of difference between playing the trumpet and playing the flugel horn. One learns those differences and adapts to them. It's really no different for a piano player playing the synth, you realize the differences and adapt. Don't expect a synthesizer to play the same as a piano. If you can learn to play the piano, you can also learn to make the synthesizer into an expressive voice for you. Learning about oscillators and sound waves and manipulating sound to your own personal taste is no more difficult than the initial learning of playing the piano. It just takes a willingness to take the time to learn what the synth can do for you. If you only use the familiar sound of the piano on a synth, you are missing a whole palette of colors you could explore. In piano playing, we take a lot of time to get the notes right and don't always deal much with sound, the sound is very much up to the piano. With synthesizers you can learn to play the sound, a concept that seems very alien to many piano players.
I believe there is still an underlying feeling at many universities that electric music is somehow bad or not legitimate, which only perpetuates the reluctance of many pianists to explore the synthesizer. At many rural, regional colleges and universities there is a hesitance about electric music and instruments, even though electronic instruments have been around since the 1870's. Check out some cool history here at the Electronic Music Foundation. I'm sure it's hard for many piano teaching academic types who have spent years developing their craft to have the energy and curiosity to explore synthesis and synthesizers. It takes time to learn synthesis. But, they must get their synthesizer curriculum going, stay with the times, and stop missing their educational potential. (And don't even get me going about those same people accepting computers!)
Ideally, one could always make a musical living playing whatever style of music inspires them, and get away with just playing the piano. It may happen for some, but most of us need to be able to play many styles of music to make a living. Don't limit yourself by being a piano player only. Same goes for the music educator, if a student is motivated by synthesis and you have nothing to give to nurture that inspiration, that student may stop lessons with you and move on to someone who will have the flexibility to do both piano and synthesizer.
As a piano player, your double is the synthesizer. Don't let other doubling musicians show you up. Take the time and make sure you have both axes together.
Todd Harrold
Check out a couple of Todd's tunes! Click on the links below to listen.
The file will either download to your mp3 player or open in a new page. If a new page opens, please be patient while the file downloads, and when you have finished listening hit the Back button on your browser to return to this page.
#1 Who are your influences (drumming and vocally) that inspired you to develop your own thing, and why?
Oddly enough, I've been real heavily into some sort of music since I was about four or five. My grandmother's record collection was where I first found Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, and Burt Bacharach in the late sixties. Then my uncle bought me a couple of Beatles singles that I wore out in 70. From there I got into the singer/songwriter guys, all before the age of twelve. I remember Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, James Taylor, and especially Elton John records. I think I began writing and singing songs then. When I was twelve, I saw a PBS tv special honoring Down Beat readers poll winners where Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham, Weather Report, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, and many others performed. That was a life altering experience. From then on my rock and soul tastes had to have jazz overtones, and I got heavily into Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Traffic. From there, I began to get into music that would influence me for the rest of my life. Steely Dan, Santana, Chicago, Herbie Hancock, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, and many many fusion oriented bands. I was seriously writing songs by the time I was 15, and got heavily into Crosby Stills Nash and Young and James Taylor again. Later, while still in high school, I got into the Police, Bob Marley and a lot more world music influenced bands, although I think that influence began with Weather Report and Santana.
As far as drumming influences go, I grew up enamored of Billy Cobham, Andy Newmark, David Garibaldi, Bernard Purdie, Steve Gadd, Lenny White, Michael Shrieve, Richie Hayward and Jeff Porcaro. Later I got seriously into straight ahead players like Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Eric Gravatt, Alphonse Mouzon, you know, cats with little gretsch kits and two cymbals. More recently I'm into Gene Lake, Rodney Holmes, Vinnie Colaiuta, Bill Stewart, Carter Beauford, Jeff Sipe, Lil John Roberts, and anybody else who has a great touch, great time and a great sound. Unfortunately, that's kind of hard to find nowadays.
I do want to mention how influential my teachers have been. I've sought out great teachers and really was lucky to listen to what they had to say, more so as I've gotten older. Paul Wertico, Carl Allen, and Jeff Sipe were especially helpful. I don't think you're ever too old or far along on your trip to get a lesson that really helps.
Vocally, I mentioned Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald, and James Taylor. Huge influences, as were David Crosby, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Bobby McFerrin, Ronald Isley, Greg Allman and more recently, I really got into Kurt Elling, the great Chicago area jazz singer, a few years ago. He's become a huge influence. I also don't want to leave out Sting, who has been a huge influence vocally, as a songwriter and as a musician. He's a real icon for being a triple threat. I think of him when I begin to slack at any of the three things I do.
#2 What is your routine to keep in musical shape for both drumming and singing?
I have a pretty regular practice routine for the drums, in which I work on various exercises that I picked up from Peter Erskine, Jeff Sipe, Steve Smith, Bill Bruford, and, lately, Rod Morganstein. Just little exercises that pinpoint different areas for improvement. I also might go back to books I have, particularly Gary Chafee, Robbie Ameen, Horacio Hernandez, and John Riley's books. I work on various exercises out of those books. Every day I try to work on something that's new, that I haven't tried before, at least one thing. I like to start the metronome at between 40 and 60 and work several exercises in a series for that setting then up 10 clicks, same series, then up 10 clicks, continue as long as I want to or am able to. I'll switch off what exercises I'm doing from day to day. I still like to play along with a disc or two every day also, sometimes just to see if the exercises have helped my timekeeping and touch. I usually practice two or three hours a day.
As far as vocals go, I'm not so disciplined. I do simple warm ups and sing every day in the car or working on a new tune. I'll focus on a singer's phrasing, breathing, and intensity (do I believe what they're saying?) when I'm listening, which I do a lot of every day.
#3 What is your compositional process, and what do you want people to get from your music?
I don't have a process other than sitting down at the rhodes or with my acoustic guitar and banging stuff out until something that needs to come out introduces itself, usually while watching baseball. I really don't ever hear melodies in my head and work from there. I get them but they usually suck. I don't want people to get anything specifically from my music, though of course I want them to enjoy it and I hope it makes the experience easier. Carlos Santana says that with every note you play, you cast off another influence. I think that's what my songwriting is. Casting something off, getting it out into the air and seeing what it sounds like. Once I know what it says about me and where I am on my trip, I don't really think about it that much. I teach the songs to whomever is playing them with me and then forget them on guitar or keys. They are someone else's then. Probably longer than they were mine.
#4 Who are some of the people you have studied with that have given you the most insight into your drumming, and why?
I've studied with in chronological order, Mike Shively, Earl Yowell, Carl Allen, Jack Mouse, David Derge, Peter Erskine, Jeff Sipe, and Paul Wertico. Jeff Sipe changed the way I think about drums...and motion...and breathing..and the way I think. I don't think he set out to do that, it was just right place right time, I was ripe for a big burst of knowledge, and I really didn't know as much as I thought I did about anything. He was very kind in helping me realize where reality was in relation to where I was, and the relationship drumming has to physics, yoga, meditation and philosophy.
Paul Wertico I studied with for a year and a half and I consider him to be the first teacher I studied with where I was really objective about myself as a player. I was able then to move forward much more quickly than ever before.
I'd also like to comment on how much I've learned from other musicians, on gigs or just talking, especially Michael Patterson or Bill Jackson, people who care enough about the music to say hey man, what are you playing there? Why are you playing that? Musicians bullshit each other all the time, saying, "sounds great man" instead of "I wish you'd quit pushing the damn beat! Where's the fire?" You can learn a lot from the rare honest moment. Of course, I've also been confronted by musicians who couldn't find their ass with both hands, so you've got to know who's got some sense and intelligence before you take the advice or criticism to heart.
#5 What was your experience like with Wall Street Records and the release of "Mr. Whatever"?
Well, first off, I believe everybody went into it with the best intentions, no bad guys. The record company wanted to make one kind of record and I wanted to make another. I thought we understood each other, but I didn't listen to what they were really saying, and they had final say, not me, which was in the contract I signed. At the time it seemed like what they were doing was unnecessary and wrong, like overdubbing strings on the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore. It just never occurred to me that they would hear what they heard fitting on what I thought was an already finished disc. They added parts, trying to make it more accessible to a smooth jazz audience. I was trying to make a retro, Doobies/Sea Level/Traffic type of album. To me it became a mess and lead to 3 or 4 years of depression and still trying to get my career going, same plan, when I knew that that was my chance and it just didn't happen. Plan b.
#6 What are the biggest challenges of leading your own band?
I am currently not leading my own band. The work in these parts is too sparse and too weird and I really don't want to do my music without a very specific kind of bass player. I think it's ridiculous to push this kind of music in this kind of club atmosphere. I'm setting myself up for more disappointment. I'm now interested in being responsible only for myself on gigs. I'm currently working with keyboardist Eric Clancy and multi instrumentalist Mike Patterson in a trio where I sing and play drums. We gig locally and hopefully will be recording soon. I still write and am very proud of my recent work. I just don't want to be in charge anymore, at least for awhile.
#7 How do you feel about the current state of the record bizz and music on the Internet?
I think the music industry may be in the saddest shape ever. I think big biz has taken over and you're never going to find anything meaningful on a major label again, at least until there's some sort of revolution or upheaval. Until people stop buying the lowest common denominator shit that they're being spoon fed, they're never going to see another artistic surge or the cultural change that that would produce. No one in power wants a cultural upheaval like the 60's again, so you're not going to see a lot of complex, experimental, philosophical, or radical thought expressed in music that's mass produced. You are going to see more and more American Idol karaoke I'm a star idiot music. That's safe, keeping the culture barefoot and pregnant, as it were. The internet and public radio are the only alternatives that I can see to this cultural scrap heap. Ya gotta look for the good stuff. Gotta search for the different ideas. You're not alone. Don't settle for boring and controlled.
#8 What future projects should people look for from you?
At this point I have no idea what's next other than continuing to play, practice and get better. I'm still writing, I think my writing's getting better as I get older and wiser, hopefully. I'd love to record and find a way to get my stuff out there again, probably via the net, but I'm scared to death of the financial bath that you can take trying to either record or distribute. And don't even ask about how financially futile touring is. I'm reading a lot. Listening to everything. Maybe I'm formulating a plan, maybe not. I plan to avoid the same mistakes I've already made, but that's the only obvious plan. I'm proud of what I've done musically, for the most part. I've not done so well business wise. It's been a very interesting trip so far.
Fuse Online
Fusion music is really important. If we all support and learn about fusion, it will keep the art form going. Fuse Online is a great source for interviews, links, CD reviews, and more. Whether you want to learn more about fusion or are already hip to it, Fuse Online is a cool place to check out.
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby has always been on the cutting edge of technology and music. This lecture by Thomas Dolby from the Canadian Music Week in 2000 is about music on the Internet and possible future business models that the music business will have to take to be successful. Even though the video is a few years old, there is a lot of food for thought for those who are using or thinking of using the web for their musical activities. He also talks about his company Beatnik. Check out the Thomas Dolby lecture here. Click on his picture and follow the instructions.
Tabla Beat Science
"Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove"
"Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove" is a wonderful live mix of Indian Classical and modern electronic music. These musicians have taken the best elements from the electronic world and the acoustic world and fused them together into a sonic rhythmic roller coaster. The music is jam oriented which just enhances it's trance-like qualities. Great musicians and playing make this fusion of such different elements truly work. Check it out, you'll be glad you did.
Musicians for "Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove"
Zakir Hussain - Tabla
Ustad Sultan Khan - Vocals, Sarangi
Ejigayahu "Gigi" Shibabaw - Vocals
Bill Laswell - Bass
Karsh Kale - Drums, Tabla
DJ Disk - Turntable
Midival Punditz - Laptop/Electronics
Fabian Alsultany - Synthesizers
Tracks for "Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove"
Disc #1
- Taaruf
- Sacred Channel
- Nafekeñ
- Ap Ke Baras
- Magnetic Dub
Disc #2
- Satellite (Show Me the Worth of the World)
- Tala Matrix
- Trajic
- Mengedegna
- Devotional Dub
Click here to learn more about "Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove"
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