bombergal
Raven
Joined: Jan 19, 2006
Posts: 119
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:36 am Post subject: instrumentalists? |
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How many of you play a musical instrument? I have played the piano for more than 25 years (am now 34). I have many videos on youtube if you want to check it out, of many styles of music ranging from classical to video game soundtracks.  Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bombergal1?feature=mhee |
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mushroo
Velociraptor
Joined: Sep 15, 2011
Posts: 492
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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Very nice, I like the drumming on the top of the piano, and when you play the high notes, your hand gets huge.
I love music, it is good therapy for me. I play a few different instruments, only a beginner on the piano though. |
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polyrhythmia
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Jun 12, 2005
Age: 53
Posts: 37
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| I like playing the piano using rhythms like 3 against 5, 4 against 7.... pretty much any combination. Just takes a little coordination... Anyone can do it if they desire to... Perhaps many can do it naturally. I myself had to work at it. I started not being able to play 2 against 3. Written many pieces but not on paper. Never published anything. Dave |
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AngelRho
Synclavier owner/operator
Joined: Jan 05, 2008
Posts: 3727
Location: The Landmass between N.O. and Mobile
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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I'm a clarinetist and a pianist. I didn't go looking to make a life out of playing piano--it came looking for me.  I have a regular church gig and teach lessons.
I play other instruments, too. When I feel I've gone as far as I can in one direction with whatever I happen to be playing at the moment, I'll pick up another instrument. I've been playing solo handbells for about 2 years now. I'm not great at it, but like anything it just takes practice. There's not much literature out for solo bells, so I've ended up composing and arranging handbell duets.
I also am a composer and synth programmer. Currently I'm designing sounds for an old Oberheim Matrix 1000. If you check my profile, you'll note I'm also quite fond of a certain famous 1980's synth/workstation on which I compose music and program new sounds. |
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AScomposer13413
Complacent Composer
Joined: Feb 02, 2012
Posts: 2052
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Your stuff is amazing :O Me, I'm a clarinetist and pianist as well. Started out playing the piano, then had to pick up a wind instrument for school. Wanted the oboe, but they didn't have any, so I went with clarinet, and I'm pretty content with that I'm also a composer of pieces mostly in the classical style. I have yet to publish anything, though :/ |
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AngelRho
Synclavier owner/operator
Joined: Jan 05, 2008
Posts: 3727
Location: The Landmass between N.O. and Mobile
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:35 am Post subject: |
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| AScomposer13413 wrote: | | Your stuff is amazing :O Me, I'm a clarinetist and pianist as well. Started out playing the piano, then had to pick up a wind instrument for school. Wanted the oboe, but they didn't have any, so I went with clarinet, and I'm pretty content with that I'm also a composer of pieces mostly in the classical style. I have yet to publish anything, though :/ |
I tried oboe for a year. I think either you're really good at oboe and keep perfect intonation or you totally suck at it. There's no in-between, whereas if you suck at clarinet the least you can do is stay in the low register.
Yeah, I started out on piano, but I really, REALLY didn't want to do it. I quit after a few months and started beginner band very soon after that. But I didn't stop playing piano. I just kinda taught myself for a while. I went back to piano strictly for composition purposes. My teachers after that made me play recitals, which I really did NOT want to do. I ended up getting into a lot of New Age piano music and some contemporary. In fact, one of my favorite piano pieces that I used to have memorized was Ginastera's "Hommage a Roberto Garcia Morillo." I was also (and still am) a huge fan of Debussy, but I just wasn't mature enough of a piano player to tackle really GOOD Debussy works (all-time fav: La Cathedral Engloutie. There's a whole universe of music in that thing). I dunno if you'll appreciate this or not, but one of my theory profs was John McGinness. If that doesn't rock your socks, he was a student of and collaborator with Pieter van den Toorn--the guy who wrote the famous response to Susan McClary's Feminine Endings. McGinness wrote some big paper on Debussy's Jeux, so I felt like I was in the presence of greatness.
Anyway...
If you're serious about composing, it's never too early to look into getting your work published. I have ONE self-published piece for piano called "The Willow." I'd taken a role in the play "Playing Juliet/Casting Othello," so in doing some research I found what I believe to be the original "Willow" song that was popular in Shakespeare's day and used that as the basis for a solo piano piece. About the time I finished working on it, I signed on with thatnewmusicwebsite.com and submitted "The Willow" for distribution. It was a good deal, the guy running the website liked it, and I got the satisfaction of having a published work, small though it be. And I didn't even consider it my best effort. I submitted one other tune that got rejected, which was a much more respectable work IMO, and I was preparing to send my big piano+string quartet that I'd written some years before. The guy in charge of that website vanished off the face of the planet, the website got sold to a bigger publisher, and nobody has been allowed to submit anything since.
There are better established websites out there now, anyway. I'm thinking about submitting to musicaneo.com. There probably are better websites out there, but if you're just getting started in music publishing, that is a GREAT website for beginners. Once you get started with that, you'll want to join ASCAP or BMI. I'm thinking due to my interests SESAC might be a better deal for ME, but I'm still weighing benefits and risks. Everybody wants to join ASCAP, but that's not where the "real" money is. I need money right now a lot more than I need prestige, and ASCAP isn't even really all that difficult to join. More important than publishing is performances. If I were you, I'd spend more time getting to know performers and ensembles that share your musical interests and collaborating with them. This might seem backwards, but it's actually better for business if you hold off on publishing until after you're getting repeat performances. Catch 22: you need to be published in order to get performances; but you can't get published unless you're already getting a lot of performances! You can probably tell I spend more time performing my own work, but that's the only way I can draw attention to what I do. If you want to do well in publishing, you have to play the same games all the commercial guys play. The best way to start is hitting the college/university circuit and either sell/give away scores out of the trunk of your car. That's how I discovered Eric Mandat who still uses stencils and pens for his printed material. If you haven't studied Mandat's clarinet music, you're in for a real treat when you do. I have his book of preludes, but he has another book that is deeeeeeeeep. "Folk Songs." In fact, one of the appendices in New Directions for Clarinet (Rehfeldt) is a listing of Eric Mandat's fingerings. This is stuff so awesome it borders on deadly. But I digress... When I met Mandat at the end of my undergrad days, he was doing some decent business selling his clarinet music in person, and once you see it you'll understand why it would be so difficult to get any of it in publication. It's probably gotten easier since Finale has improved a little since the late 90s, but I suspect Mandat enjoys doing things the old fashioned way.
Looking forward to hearing more from you here. Piano+clarinet+composition makes for a pretty solid creative combination, don't you think? |
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SanityTheorist
Wandering Artist
Joined: Feb 14, 2012
Posts: 2098
Location: The Akuma Afterglow
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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I can play basic drums, moderate-advanced bass and beginner-moderate guitar. Can you tell which instrument gets the most attention?
If you want to see my video (I can'tlink it from here) look up "Grunge homage with fast slapping" on Youtube. I made that title to be distinctive intentionally.
Influences: progressive rock/metal, industrial metal, hard rock, heavy metal, alternative metal/rock
_________________
My music at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SanityTheorist5/videos
Currently working on getting in a studio to record my solo album 40+ tracks written.
Chatroom nicks: MetalFluttershy/MetalTwilight/SanityTheorist |
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SanityTheorist
Wandering Artist
Joined: Feb 14, 2012
Posts: 2098
Location: The Akuma Afterglow
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, and of course grunge.
_________________
My music at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SanityTheorist5/videos
Currently working on getting in a studio to record my solo album 40+ tracks written.
Chatroom nicks: MetalFluttershy/MetalTwilight/SanityTheorist |
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AScomposer13413
Complacent Composer
Joined: Feb 02, 2012
Posts: 2052
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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| AngelRho wrote: | | AScomposer13413 wrote: | | Your stuff is amazing :O Me, I'm a clarinetist and pianist as well. Started out playing the piano, then had to pick up a wind instrument for school. Wanted the oboe, but they didn't have any, so I went with clarinet, and I'm pretty content with that I'm also a composer of pieces mostly in the classical style. I have yet to publish anything, though :/ |
I tried oboe for a year. I think either you're really good at oboe and keep perfect intonation or you totally suck at it. There's no in-between, whereas if you suck at clarinet the least you can do is stay in the low register.
Yeah, I started out on piano, but I really, REALLY didn't want to do it. I quit after a few months and started beginner band very soon after that. But I didn't stop playing piano. I just kinda taught myself for a while. I went back to piano strictly for composition purposes. My teachers after that made me play recitals, which I really did NOT want to do. I ended up getting into a lot of New Age piano music and some contemporary. In fact, one of my favorite piano pieces that I used to have memorized was Ginastera's "Hommage a Roberto Garcia Morillo." I was also (and still am) a huge fan of Debussy, but I just wasn't mature enough of a piano player to tackle really GOOD Debussy works (all-time fav: La Cathedral Engloutie. There's a whole universe of music in that thing). I dunno if you'll appreciate this or not, but one of my theory profs was John McGinness. If that doesn't rock your socks, he was a student of and collaborator with Pieter van den Toorn--the guy who wrote the famous response to Susan McClary's Feminine Endings. McGinness wrote some big paper on Debussy's Jeux, so I felt like I was in the presence of greatness.
Anyway...
If you're serious about composing, it's never too early to look into getting your work published. I have ONE self-published piece for piano called "The Willow." I'd taken a role in the play "Playing Juliet/Casting Othello," so in doing some research I found what I believe to be the original "Willow" song that was popular in Shakespeare's day and used that as the basis for a solo piano piece. About the time I finished working on it, I signed on with thatnewmusicwebsite.com and submitted "The Willow" for distribution. It was a good deal, the guy running the website liked it, and I got the satisfaction of having a published work, small though it be. And I didn't even consider it my best effort. I submitted one other tune that got rejected, which was a much more respectable work IMO, and I was preparing to send my big piano+string quartet that I'd written some years before. The guy in charge of that website vanished off the face of the planet, the website got sold to a bigger publisher, and nobody has been allowed to submit anything since.
There are better established websites out there now, anyway. I'm thinking about submitting to musicaneo.com. There probably are better websites out there, but if you're just getting started in music publishing, that is a GREAT website for beginners. Once you get started with that, you'll want to join ASCAP or BMI. I'm thinking due to my interests SESAC might be a better deal for ME, but I'm still weighing benefits and risks. Everybody wants to join ASCAP, but that's not where the "real" money is. I need money right now a lot more than I need prestige, and ASCAP isn't even really all that difficult to join. More important than publishing is performances. If I were you, I'd spend more time getting to know performers and ensembles that share your musical interests and collaborating with them. This might seem backwards, but it's actually better for business if you hold off on publishing until after you're getting repeat performances. Catch 22: you need to be published in order to get performances; but you can't get published unless you're already getting a lot of performances! You can probably tell I spend more time performing my own work, but that's the only way I can draw attention to what I do. If you want to do well in publishing, you have to play the same games all the commercial guys play. The best way to start is hitting the college/university circuit and either sell/give away scores out of the trunk of your car. That's how I discovered Eric Mandat who still uses stencils and pens for his printed material. If you haven't studied Mandat's clarinet music, you're in for a real treat when you do. I have his book of preludes, but he has another book that is deeeeeeeeep. "Folk Songs." In fact, one of the appendices in New Directions for Clarinet (Rehfeldt) is a listing of Eric Mandat's fingerings. This is stuff so awesome it borders on deadly. But I digress... When I met Mandat at the end of my undergrad days, he was doing some decent business selling his clarinet music in person, and once you see it you'll understand why it would be so difficult to get any of it in publication. It's probably gotten easier since Finale has improved a little since the late 90s, but I suspect Mandat enjoys doing things the old fashioned way.
Looking forward to hearing more from you here. Piano+clarinet+composition makes for a pretty solid creative combination, don't you think? |
Thanks for the thorough response, AngelRho! I had stumbled across musicaneo.com and am debating whether or not to send in my scores. The only problem I see is that I'm Canada-based, so I'm not sure if that will affect my putting my works out to the websites you suggested. There are a few Canadian equivalents to ASCAP, but some require a CV of works already performed :/ I figure I need to dabble in the legalities of music (copyright, creative commons, etc.) before I can consider publishing. As much as I want my music to be shared, I don't want someone trying to make money off of my own creating and have no means or proving it :/
As for Eric Mandat, I had never heard of him until now. Just decided to look up some of his stuff! I'm still trying to figure out how he did some of the techniques in "Folk Songs", particularly the 4th one, where the clarinet sounds like a flute! I have more to say, but it's probably better if we PM each other |
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AngelRho
Synclavier owner/operator
Joined: Jan 05, 2008
Posts: 3727
Location: The Landmass between N.O. and Mobile
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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The flute effect? Easy.
Take the barrel off the clarinet and blow across the upper joint just like you would a bottle.
Yeah, I dunno about Canadian laws, but they aren't entirely all that different in concept. The only reason why you need a CV of what you've had performed is that they just want to know that you HAVE music out there. ASCAP and the others are performing rights organizations. One example of how ASCAP works is churches, universities, and other venues buy a license to use ASCAP's entire catalog. It's not really all that expensive, but a good thing to do. Every quarter or so each venue sends in programs (or set lists if it's a club or espresso bar, etc.). ASCAP checks each performance against their catalog and they disperse royalties accordingly. They also keep a database of contact info on all their artists, so if you wanted to do an album release, you can get in touch with them (or, more likely, their agents) for the appropriate recording license. ASCAP only handles performance rights, not recording rights, so for mechanical licenses you have to deal directly with the artist.
I think performance rights associations are international in scope. Besides, it's not uncommon for Canadian composers to set their sights on getting performances in the US to buy themselves some "legitimacy." If you can show that you're getting performances at US universities, you might have more of an edge when you're competing for arts grants. Canada LOVES their composers!!! |
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AScomposer13413
Complacent Composer
Joined: Feb 02, 2012
Posts: 2052
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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| AngelRho wrote: | The flute effect? Easy.
Take the barrel off the clarinet and blow across the upper joint just like you would a bottle.
Yeah, I dunno about Canadian laws, but they aren't entirely all that different in concept. The only reason why you need a CV of what you've had performed is that they just want to know that you HAVE music out there. ASCAP and the others are performing rights organizations. One example of how ASCAP works is churches, universities, and other venues buy a license to use ASCAP's entire catalog. It's not really all that expensive, but a good thing to do. Every quarter or so each venue sends in programs (or set lists if it's a club or espresso bar, etc.). ASCAP checks each performance against their catalog and they disperse royalties accordingly. They also keep a database of contact info on all their artists, so if you wanted to do an album release, you can get in touch with them (or, more likely, their agents) for the appropriate recording license. ASCAP only handles performance rights, not recording rights, so for mechanical licenses you have to deal directly with the artist.
I think performance rights associations are international in scope. Besides, it's not uncommon for Canadian composers to set their sights on getting performances in the US to buy themselves some "legitimacy." If you can show that you're getting performances at US universities, you might have more of an edge when you're competing for arts grants. Canada LOVES their composers!!! |
And it's the catch 22 you mentioned earlier that I'm currently trying to wrestle with. I have thought about trying to get into the industry through the States, since the demand there is much higher (especially since I'm thinking of concert band music), but not at this early stages, as I've really only been composing for a small amount of time and there's so much to learn! Tell ya what, expect a PM from me soon! |
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