Taking the initiative: The best thing you could POSSIBLY do

The new school year began on August 24 and now everything’s getting back into shape for what I would consider my “normal schedule”.  At the University of Houston there are two jazz bands: the Jazz Orchestra and the Jazz Ensemble.  I rehearse the latter (also known as the “second”) band twice a week.  A couple years ago, I started a Google Group for each band in hopes of making communications easier and to share music (NOT for illegal downloading!) as listening examples.  The following email showed up on the message board from a student:

Looking to get together with fellow students to work on tunes and general playing/reading/improvising. I'm booked solid Tuesdays and Thursdays unti 2:30. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I'm free after 11:00 a.m. Please don't wait until rehearsals to practice your parts.  I've been in too many bands and ensembles that waste time learning parts during valuable rehearsal time. We can make it fun and a valuable learning experience.

To which I replied:

Everyone,

This is great to hear!  Whether it's working on the ensemble's music or combo tunes and improvising, the outside practice and self-rehearsing will help your overall musicality in bounds.  My advice?  Take advantage of your time and situation while you're in school to put yourself in as many different musical situations as possible NOW.  Don't put it off, because you'll never get this time back (and you'll probably continue to put it off), it's important to practice as much as possible now when you have the luxury to do so.  It's important because you need to test your limits as a musician and then try to break through those limitations.

If anyone is interested in rehearsing combo tunes and improv, I'd suggest talking to some of the students in the Jazz Orchestra about this, since they're always looking to learn new material.  That group meets from 12-2pm MWF in room 175.  Also, if you haven't already done so, please go check out some local jam sessions around Houston.

Here's a short list:

Monday: Straight-No-Chaser Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Jam @ Smitty's Cafe and Bar Tuesday: King Biscuit Jazz Jam @ King Biscuit Patio Cafe Wednesday: Latin Jazz Jam @ Smitty's Cafe and Bar Thursday: Mike Owen Jazz Jam! @ Legends Jazz Cafe More info can be found at http://www.jazzhouston.com

Don't worry about showing up to play if you're new to this, but as a musician, you should definitely see what these are all about.  Then, maybe you can work up a small repertoire of tunes to play within a month or two.  It's just as important as going to see the symphony or opera!

Since then, a great deal of communication has been taking place on the group, planning for after-school jamming and rehearsing.

So what’s the point of all this?  I constantly stress to students (both new and senior) that they can’t sit around waiting for "it" to happen.  The "it" can be the gig you've been hoping for, or just simply progressing in your playing level.  We're not guaranteed anything in life, and the phone just isn't going to magically ring for work.  One popular saying is that "a good jazz musician is never at home alone every night of the week".  What this means is that hungry, motivated people are always out there seeing and hearing new things as well as meeting new people.  In the music world, this is especially true.  A quality musician is aware of what is going on in their world and yearns to interact with people on the bandstand.  Because a good percentage of this business requires a great deal of social networking, it is critical that you get out there and be seen, heard and liked!

We all cannot afford to waste any more time just simply hoping that "it" will happen for us.  Motivated students in turn motivate me to be a better teacher, player and person.

Ryan plays the trombone, not the bagpipes

For the past two weeks, I was vacationing in Scotland and England. At one point, I was lucky enough to get a chance to play bagpipes, at which I failed miserably. You can see my face turn to a lovely crimson in the process. I always knew I'd never like playing those double reeds. At the end of the video, you can hear a patron say "You've just composed a new song called 'The Dying Quail'". Indeed, sir, indeed. My thanks to The Falls of Feugh Tearoom for a great afternoon tea!

FAQ: Hiring musicians

Hiring live musicians can be tricky - especially if you have never done it before! In my attempts to both educate the general public and promote the merits of live music, I’ve decided to compile an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) that I have encountered over and over again in this business. This is designed for you, the non-musician and potential client, to read and consider before deciding to hire live musicians for your next big event. Also, I’ve decided to categorize the FAQ into a “What should I ask myself?” section and “What should I ask the person (or group) I’m hiring?” section. I hope you find this useful!

“What should I ask myself?” Things to consider before deciding on live music

1) What type of event do I want? What overall mood do I want for my event?

Whatever the occasion, live music can give your guests the experience you desire - but you have to know what you are looking for first. Do you want an upbeat, swingin' reception or a moody, soulful dinner set? Too often, event planners don't think about what they would like from an event and end up trying to direct the band during the event, leaving them no time to enjoy their party. Know what mood you want to set and let the professionals you hired take care of the rest!

2) Where am I having my event take place? Local or out of town? Indoors or outdoors? Do the musicians need a stage? Is there a convenient way to load and unload equipment?

This is one of the most important, but least remembered parts of booking live music. If your event requires musicians to travel out of town, then their price quote will certainly reflect that travel time! Also, there are too many things that can go wrong while traveling to ensure that everyone will arrive on time. Maybe it would be best to hire musicians from the area that you will be traveling to in order to save money, in addition to the fact that those musicians already know the area well and (hopefully) won’t get lost.

For events that are outdoors, you must first consider the climate and type of instruments that you want outside. This is a big factor for classical instruments such as strings and woodwinds. Humidity and extreme temperatures can put a lot of stress on the wood of those instruments. If you insist on having music outdoors, most musicians will require that you provide a covered, cool and shady area for them to perform under.

Finally, it’s time to weigh the venue capabilities against the size of of the ensemble that you want to perform for your event. If you want a small three-piece group, then this is normally OK in most any venue, but trying to fit a 16-piece big band into a small space meant only for 3-5 performers can be problematic!

3) What is my budget?

This is another important one. Having a rough idea about what you are willing to spend before going into this can save you a lot of headaches and frustrations when trying to book a specific act. As one agent I know always puts it, “Expensive flowers and food are great, but they don’t sing and dance.” In other words, it’s important to prioritize what you want out of your event. More than likely, you and your guests won’t be talking about the dessert in five years, but you’ll certainly remember when the band played your favorite song as a request. Be willing to spend the necessary money on a quality act if you have decided to have live music. This isn’t the area to try and save money!

4) Should I use a talent agency or hire a group directly?

You always want to have recommendations, references and testimonials on your side. A safe bet is to hire through an agency, as they thrive on this system. However, I would personally recommend hiring a band based upon good reviews from people you trust. The bottom line is this: Make sure that you are able to hear the music before you commit to anything. Good recommendations are still opinions, and your tastes may differ from another person’s.

Furthermore, if you should encounter any difficulties in communicating with your potential musicians leading up to the event, that should set off a red flag in your mind. If they are already difficult to deal with before the event, then how can you really know what to expect when the big day arrives? Good music may be left up to personal tastes, but bad business practices are universal. Be aware before you sign any contracts!

“What should I ask the person (or group) that I’m hiring?” Things to know about live music for the uninitiated

1) What is your instrumentation? What style of music do you play?

For the non-musician, this can be tricky. Instrumentation is the group of instruments within a given ensemble. Do you want strings, horns or just an acoustic guitar? This guide from the New England Conservatory does a great job to explain each instrument family and their applications for different genres and styles.

2) Do you have a website or any demo recordings?

Hopefully any act that you decide to hire is professional enough to have something put together to sell themselves to potential clients. If they have no packaging readily available, then it’s probably best to move on. Try to deal only with professionals.

3) What equipment do you provide? What equipment do you need?

Depending on the type of music and instrumentation, a musical group’s needs can vary dramatically. For instance, if you decide to hire a classical ensemble for a wedding ceremony, usually nothing will be needed due to the fact that classical music uses all acoustic instruments. Generally, no amplification will be required for this, but if it is in a large hall, then you may want to consider a microphone and PA system. Usually, the biggest concern for acoustic instruments is in regard to the piano. Will there be one provided at the venue? If so, is it in good working order? Is it in tune? Otherwise, the piano player may need to acquire a keyboard, which then requires electric power.

On the flip side, a rock band will need LOTS of power for guitar, bass and keyboard amps, their lighting system (if they use one) and the PA system for all microphones for other instruments, including vocals. Most professionals will provide this equipment, but if you need to rent any of this equipment for your own event, then the price tag just went a little higher.

4) How long are your sets? How long do you need for a break?

Every musical group needs a break, usually followed by one hour of continuous playing. My standard rule is that a group requires one 15-minute break per hour played. Of course, this is all contingent on the time line and schedule of the event. Things ALWAYS stray from the plan, but it’s important to keep a loose schedule in order.

*Another point to consider: Will the musicians need a break area? Do they need to be fed? If the event is four hours or longer, these things need to be provided. Any etiquette book will suggest the same answer - treat your musicians like guests. Make sure to ask if background music can be provided while the musicians rest. It should be no problem for them to provide some tunes for you while they break!

5) Do you have a contract? Do you require a deposit?

Contracts are good. You’ll know that you’re dealing with a professional group when you encounter a well-written contract. However, make sure that you read it over well and look for any funny stipulations. For instance, if the band has to cancel at the last minute or even worse, doesn’t show up, will you get your deposit back? Most of the time this isn’t a problem, but I still urge people to be cautious about such things.

As far as deposits are concerned, they are a way for any group to put your event’s date down in ink. This means that your event is now officially in the gig calendar, and is a guarantee on your contractual promises to hire said musicians. Deposits are usually required for larger ensembles that require extensive legwork by a manager to book, so this is a very necessary step. It simply means that your event’s date is now set in stone, but (as I stated above) be sure to read the conditions on how to get your deposit back in case of a screw up on their end.

6) Do you take requests? How much advance notice do you need to prepare a certain song?

Most bands will take requests. However, each band knows a limited number of songs off the top of their head. If you REALLY want a particular song to be played (such as a first dance) then you need to tell the band leader as soon as possible. There are many things for a group to consider when learning any new song, so they need time to work it out. A minimum of two weeks before the event is a sufficient amount of time for any ensemble to get a new song together.

You may encounter some unforeseen roadblocks, however, such as paying an additional fee for your song to be played. This varies depending on the band, and each group has their own reasons as to why they need to be paid more to learn something new. Also, if a band has a song list available for you to view, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they can play all 5,000 songs at any given moment. Instead, these are the songs that they are capable of playing with some advance notice.

Here are some other helpful links: Top Tips from Soho String Quartet: Your Complete Guide To Hiring Musicians New England Conservatory: A Helpful Guide to Hiring Musicians Oberlin Conservatory: Hiring a Musician Made Easy How to Hire and Select a Music Ensemble Suggested questions to ask Musicians before Hiring

The largest production of 'The Music Man' ever!

"Seventy-six trombones" is nothing compared to this!

From The New York Times, review by Anthony Tommasini:

"Frank Lloyd Wright might never have anticipated this. But the rotunda of his late masterpiece the Guggenheim Museum — which opened in 1959, six months after his death — is an ideal place to perform one of the most mesmerizing and eclectic musical works ever written: “Orbits” for 80 trombones, soprano and organ by the Montreal-born American composer Henry Brant. The East Coast premiere of this 1979 work, conducted by Neely Bruce, took place on Sunday night at the Guggenheim, part of both the museum’s Works & Process series and the daylong citywide festival Make Music New York. There were two performances of Brant’s 25-minute piece. The fire code allowed for only 300 listeners to mill on the floor of the rotunda during each one.

Brant, who died in 2007 at 94, experimented with unusual sonorities and spatial placement of instruments. He regarded space as the fourth dimension of music, along with pitch, time and timbre. “Orbits” was first performed in 1979 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. This primordial, organic piece, by turns brutal and celestial, unfolds in thickly layered clusters and a maze of individual trombone lines. Brant’s vision was to have the players surround the audience.

That vision was excitingly realized at the Guggenheim. The trombonists were lined up on the walkways that encircle the rotunda, facing in, so that they could see down to Mr. Bruce, who conducted from the path leading up to the lower ring. An enormous rented organ with a row of loudspeakers was placed in a corner of the floor. The soprano Phyllis Bruce sang from on high, though what she sang was not angelic in the conventional sense.

Brant came to believe that music written in a single style could not evoke the “stresses, layered insanities and multidirectional assaults of contemporary life on the spirit,” as he once wrote. “Orbits” is defiantly polystylistic and multilayered. It begins with quiet trombone grumblings, like dinosaurs of our imagination stirring awake. The organ enters with a splattering of pitches in its high register, to contrast with the deep, indistinct sounds of the trombones.

As the music gains in intensity, there are captivating antiphonal effects, with ferocious outbursts passed back and forth among groupings of trombones and the organ erupting in a fit of cascading chords, holding its own against the din of brass. But there were also strangely spiritual episodes in this fitful and overpowering piece, as when the trombones played gently rising harmonies built from scores of individual lines while the ethereal soprano sang a wondrous mix of slinky slides and wordless melodic fragments.

Lining up 80 trombonists to play this piece could not have been easy; according to the program, there were 89. Before the performance, I asked one player whether he knew how many trombonists there were in New York City. He said, wryly: “About 85, I think. A few more came from other places.”

The scene in the rotunda was inspiring. As the audience entered, there were children in strollers, elderly people with walkers determined not to miss the event and some enterprising folks who brought along compact folding chairs. When the music started most people walked quietly around the space to hear from different vantage points. For once at a museum, people were allowed to take videos and photographs."

Welcome!

It's about time I published something official on the internet! As my first news update to this site, I would encourage you, oh sacred visitor, to return here often to check for updates. Or better yet, subscribe to my site via RSS feed! Right now, you'll only find some small sample audio tracks of my trio, but this place will soon be swimming in photos, videos, blog posts and even MORE audio samples galore!!! How can you NOT want to come back here regularly?! - Ryan