Getting the Cutting Edge

Just a word to would be performers.

If you are a performer and have studied hard in, let's say, trumpet and excel at performance, let me be clear... In today's world you need and must continue to study and expand your knowledge.

We can no longer afford to be just a great artist. We must continue our education and surround ourselves with mentors that can help us to increase our foundation.

I studied voice for years. I have taught voice and choirs. But I have been a complete hack at piano. To understand the concepts of how things are pieced together is one thing, but if you truly want to become great in the field of music, you must continue your education. Learn another instrument. Get some decent theory under your belt.

Understanding the language of music is invaluable.  I finally get that I have to be more than just a singer. More than just a hack keyboardist. More than just a pop, shorthand songwriter. I really need to understand music in it's entirety.

This is my goal. My mission. For how can I write anything of value if it doesn't communicate what I have in my head to everyone else - including other musicians?

I'll give you an example. Several years ago, I was asked to perform at a local charity event. I'm a much better performer when I don't have to worry about playing the keys and singing at the same time, so I asked a keyboard player to do that part for me. There was also a bassist, guitarist and drummer. I helped them out by providing a recording of my songs to go along with my cheat sheets or musicians charts. These are just Word documents with chord symbols over the lyrics.

Not only did they not listen to the recordings, but when time came for the one and only rehearsal, it was horrible. The performance was not much better. The keyboardist had fallen ill with a respiratory sickness, but continued to play. They were out of sync and all over the board with the pieces. As soon as I had finished performing, I was so angry that I stormed off, got in my car and cursed all the way home.

But when I got there, I realized that I had no one to blame but myself. Even though I had provided the music to the musicians a month in advance, I had expectations that far exceeded reality. I should have written out each part or played the keys myself. This mistake was of my own design.

Please, please, musicians hear me. Do your very best in everything you do and when in doubt, continue your education. It's worth your time and effort. The world deserves to hear you at your best.

Keep playing!

Review Time

Sometimes review brings to light some things that totally confused you the first go around. Why is that considered this? What is that supposed to be? I don't get it! Ugh!!!

So, remember this? 

I took another look at it and... Ding! Ding! Ding!!! The light went on. Oh, in the first one, the major 7th is of course the B, then the D is the 9th, and the augmented 11th is the F#. Well, now the chords make sense. Other than the "cluster", which seems to be just a bunch of notes within the scale. Honestly, some of these chords do not sound so great on their own. But that's jazz! 

Other than review, taking a look at Dorian scales, blues piano and brushing up on technique have been on my agenda. Progress is coming along. The next step is the exercises prescribed... Arranging. 

Wish me luck!

Remembering the Concepts

I learned how to study in college. I actually had to take a specialized summer course on how to become a good student. I'm sure some of you can relate to the vast difference between high school and college. For me, however, there was a definite issue with how information went into my brain.

Enter St. Norbert College's summer study program. They taught me how to take notes, piece together concepts and what to study. Thankfully, I was eager to learn. When you have ADD, you tend to either be 3 things - scattered, not interested, or hyper-focused. Thankfully, I was the latter of the three, which made it easy to do the work asked of me. I really wanted this.

Now, when I take notes, I know what I need to focus on. I highlight and underline. Take side notes and try to only paste the key concepts I need to keep fresh in my mind to move ahead. My notes tend to look like this:

I can't tell you the value of taking the time to make proper notes so that you just open up a page and go, "Aha! I remember that concept now!" Makes the whole study thing breeze by. 

I also use whatever tools I can to make concepts stick with me. I may lose where they are in the book, and that's very frustrating. So, I will make cheat sheets, like the one I made here using Canva.com

I know it's not the prettiest thing, but it helps me remember the concepts. I really didn't want to spend hours making it "pretty". But now I've printed it out and I can refer to it anytime I need it. 

There's a lot to be said for creative note taking. Spending time doing it right the first time saves you a lot of time, confusion, and aggravation in the long run. 

Now that I have taken some great notes, it's time to get practicing! 

Amy

Enter Youtube

I'm a huge fan of Youtube. I love it's platform. The ability to be able to check out any topic on this medium is so useful. (Yes, there's more on there then just kitten videos and porn.)

So, as I'm learning as deciphering the code of Music Theory, it's extremely helpful to look up topically what is available on Youtube. Yes, I realize there's a lot of misinformation out there, but there's also some professionals who know what they're talking about. So, I was thrilled to listen and make the acquaintance of a Mr. Tom Hess.

This guy gets it. He really understands why writers do what they love to do. He is inspiring and a professional in his art. I love finding stuff on youtube like this guy. Forget the pretty graphics, the topical nonsense, give me a solid, well-learned expert who gets why we do what we do any day of the week.

Another guy I'm just eating up is Mr. Bill Hilton:

He's great at explaining theory and if you're a keyboardist, this guy is very helpful. But he's not the only one. I watch and listen to several of these guys, because I want to make sure I've got it all down. 

Part of the reason I'm watching these guys is also because, sometimes in the book, I admit it, they're speaking Greek to me. So having this resource to see and hear other examples is SOOOOOO nice. 

So, there's my secret weapon - Youtube. 

Ok, back to the grind. Have fun practicing you guys!

Amy

Finding the Joy in the Journey

Sometimes frustration can drive you to lose all interest in a project, and being someone with ADHD makes it harder to continue when you're constantly running into brick walls. Your blood pressure goes up, you think about all those times when you were in grade school and felt so stupid for not being able to complete tasks that now, that you're older, you find mundane.

This is how I felt about music theory. I thought, "There is absolutely NO WAY I am ever going to be able to learn this stuff. And besides, I'm naturally gifted at music, I can just make it on talent." Now, you can probably sniff out the flaws in my logic from where you sit, but understand that I had already come pretty far as a young person at that time on just talent alone. It also helped that I had a mother who had been trained vocally and passed on her knowledge to me through hours of practice. But the one thing she couldn't teach me was very much in music theory.

Jazz Composition and Arranging Book

Fast forward years into the future. Imagine the frustration of a songwriter that doesn't understand why certain chords sound good together. What exactly is a 'voicing' or 'phrasing'? Why do some chords sound awful, but you know they're right? What are closed chords? What are open chords? Gah! I can't remember how that sounded in my head now that I'm trying to put it down on paper? Or, that sounded so much better when I played it a week ago and now it sounds really messed up. What happened?

Sure, I understood how to piece together songs and have had a slowly growing understanding of keys and scales (major and minor) over the years. But a pentatonic scale? or a lydian or dorian scale?

Enter the Jazz Composition and Arranging in the Digital Age book, by Richard Susan and Michael Abene. These guys aren't exactly making it a cake walk, but I like that just fine. I have had Sibelius for a few years and have arranged a few things on it here and there, but these guys tell you some tips and tricks to make your arranging run smoother. Plus, there's a website that will let you listen to examples in the book. They explain how to arrange for small ensembles up to large, all while explaining to you how different voicings sound in those groups. What works well, all while explaining concepts of music theory.

I found the blues scale and it rocked my world. I know how it's supposed to sound and have played them before, but to find out there's a formula to the blues was just awesome! It takes the guess work out and simplifies things so much more!

There are things I'm still striving to understand, like how these make a Cmaj7 chord:

But, I'm not deterred. I know I will run into road blocks. That's part of learning and every day, I'm learning something new. I've found the joy in the journey.

Forward we soldier on!

Amy

Bold New Career Steps

I have been a musician my whole life long. My mother loves to tell the story of how I sang the chorus of "Angels We Have Heard On High" when I was only 3 months old. Later, it was nothing for me and my two siblings to stand in front of a congregation and sing a few songs with my mother playing guitar. I think that began when I was around 4 years old.

I have sung in musicals, a country band, a rock band, a jazz band, a big band, and on, and on.. I have had jobs as Worship Leaders and Directors in churches. And so, I have enjoyed and reveled in the attention one gets from being on a stage doing what they love.

In college, I studied music and began writing songs, but did not study theory very in depth.

I play several instruments. Some well, some terribly. I have spent a fortune on instruments, recording equipment, live gear and anything that will make me better at performing.

After recording several albums of material, both sacred and secular, I realized that yeah, you can hack your way through music and make it sound decent. But, now, I want to go deeper. I want to know the depth and breadth of music. So, I have decided that it's time I learn how to compose and arrange.

My goal is to bring something fresh and new to the world of music. Here's what I know, I'm going to write crap at first. I'm going to screw up and have many trial runs. But if I keep at it, I know I can bring the music in my head to the written page.

Some of you are going to cheer me on. Some of you are going to lose interest. Some of you are going to hate it. Some of you are looking for insight into your own struggles as musicians and writers. I hope to help you with my journey.

Won't you join me? Maybe we can all learn something.

Amy