Author Topic: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread  (Read 300590 times)

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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1365 on: June 05, 2016, 08:58:04 PM »
So today we answered the question which no one dared to ask:  What if someone decided to arrange a couple of classics from the Methodist Hymnal for two alto saxophones?



Brian - Alto II, Orbert - Alto I

There's a certain freedom in arranging duets; for the most part, one of us always has the melody, and the other has to do something which provides everything else.  Rhythm, and carefully chosen harmonies so you "feel" the chords.  I took it a bit further by having the two of us constantly toss the melody back and forth between us, so as the lines interwove, whoever ended up on top had the melody for a while.  Usually.  Sometimes the top line was harmony, but I used a few tricks to make it work.  People seemed to like it.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2016, 08:52:24 AM by Orbert »

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1366 on: June 06, 2016, 08:29:57 AM »
That's outstanding.  I would love to have heard that.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1367 on: June 06, 2016, 08:51:12 AM »
Thanks.  There aren't a lot of what I would call "real" musicians in the congregation, those with any degree of musical knowledge, but the few who were there made sure to compliment me on the arrangements.  They thought they were unique and really just pretty cool.  And that's all I was going for.  It was a fun challenge, something different, and we did it up.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1368 on: June 06, 2016, 08:52:50 AM »
Sweet.
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Offline BlackInk

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1369 on: June 06, 2016, 10:47:23 AM »
"If a cock could sing." - My cousin trying to convey the passion in the sound of a sax

Offline Kotowboy

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1370 on: June 06, 2016, 03:28:15 PM »
Checked the intonation on my 2011 Gibson Les Paul recently and apart from the G - it was pretty much spot on  :metal

Plus I raised the pickups slightly. Sounds awesome now.


Spent a couple of days also setting the intonation on my SG and it's also much better now. I just need to sort out the nut on that one and possibly lower the action a bit. :)

Plus i'm thinking of removing the Min-E-Tune system on it and putting normal tulip machine heads on.

The Min - E - Tune is cool but i'm not a gigging musician.

Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1371 on: June 07, 2016, 02:26:54 PM »
I'm hoping to catch your gig this weekend, Bob. It's all dependent on how tired I am and I honestly don't remember if anything is going on Saturday... Sunday I'm going to two parties (my brother-in-law;s retirement party and my friend's Tonys party) so I'm honestly not sure what's going on.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1372 on: June 07, 2016, 03:30:16 PM »
The venue is small, and the stage is even smaller.  John gave us an idea of the size of the stage the other day at practice.  "See the area of the brown rug.  It's about that."  The brown rug covers about half of our practice space, maybe a little less.  Maybe 15 feet wide, eight feet deep.  The rest is covered by the blue rug.

I'll be crammed into a corner, behind one of the stacks, with my saxophone set up under the piano.  Because the place is so small, John has opted to forego a sound man, so you won't hear me, either.  As usual, the guitars will get louder as the evening goes on, meanwhile no one will be there to turn up the keys, which will be coming through the P.A.  I'll have my little practice amp on stage, but that's basically my monitor.  It's the only way I can hear myself.  My amp, hidden behind the stack next to me, cannot possibly compete with guitars and Mesa Boogie amps.

So while I hope you can make it, this one has a relatively low potential to not suck.  We're only doing it because it's five minutes from John's house and he likes the place.  Acoustic duos and trios play there, and are fine.  I have no idea why he thinks it's a good idea for a six-piece rock and roll band to play there.  I was pretty pessimistic about both of the places we've played so far, however, and all three (two at the same place) have turned out to be great gigs.  So hopefully we won't suck.

Offline Scorpion

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1373 on: June 07, 2016, 04:31:20 PM »
I'm performing Schumann's Missa sacra on Saturday, pretty excited for that! It's a 40-minute piece for choir and organ, and probably the longest piece that I've ever sung. Yeah, it's divided into parts, but still.

Here's a link if you're interested.
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Hey, the length is fine :azn: Thanks!

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1374 on: June 08, 2016, 08:21:52 AM »
Sweet!  That should be cool!
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1375 on: June 08, 2016, 09:52:02 AM »
Good luck! :tup

Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1376 on: June 09, 2016, 06:46:22 PM »
OMG that sounds awesome. Wish I could see that, Scorpion.

I sang this about a month ago. This was a BITCH to learn. It's a lot harder than it sounds, because it's double choir, and we did it as an acapella 16 piece vocal ensemble. We didn't take it this fast, obviously.
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Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1377 on: June 09, 2016, 06:48:31 PM »
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Offline Scorpion

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1378 on: June 12, 2016, 06:14:51 AM »
So our performance went pretty well, the only annoying thing was that there was what felt like a floodlight on the choir making it really uncomfortable to stand there in a suit because you were basically sweating from the first second on. Other than that, I had a really great time, and everyone that I talked to really enjoyed hearing the mass.

There was also a recording made, which I might post here once I have it; I hope it turned out good.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1379 on: June 12, 2016, 05:27:36 PM »
Congratulations!  Performing a mass is not for the weak or faint of heart.

Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1380 on: June 12, 2016, 11:59:26 PM »
The venue is small, and the stage is even smaller.  John gave us an idea of the size of the stage the other day at practice.  "See the area of the brown rug.  It's about that."  The brown rug covers about half of our practice space, maybe a little less.  Maybe 15 feet wide, eight feet deep.  The rest is covered by the blue rug.

I'll be crammed into a corner, behind one of the stacks, with my saxophone set up under the piano.  Because the place is so small, John has opted to forego a sound man, so you won't hear me, either.  As usual, the guitars will get louder as the evening goes on, meanwhile no one will be there to turn up the keys, which will be coming through the P.A.  I'll have my little practice amp on stage, but that's basically my monitor.  It's the only way I can hear myself.  My amp, hidden behind the stack next to me, cannot possibly compete with guitars and Mesa Boogie amps.

So while I hope you can make it, this one has a relatively low potential to not suck.  We're only doing it because it's five minutes from John's house and he likes the place.  Acoustic duos and trios play there, and are fine.  I have no idea why he thinks it's a good idea for a six-piece rock and roll band to play there.  I was pretty pessimistic about both of the places we've played so far, however, and all three (two at the same place) have turned out to be great gigs.  So hopefully we won't suck.

Okay, we didn't suck.  In fact, people seemed to really like us, which obviously is not a bad thing.  Maybe I should just accept the fact that John is going to book us into crummy little places because that's all we can get (for now?) and stop being so pessimistic, because the fact is that we haven't had a bad gig yet.  Every one has been well received and, I must admit, much more fun than I thought.

I wasn't too far off about the stage dimensions.  18 wide by 7.5 deep.  Tight.  Also, at one end was a statue of St. Patrick, and at my end -- I jive you not -- a bookshelf and some other crap that we were not allowed to move.  Also, behind the stage was a big TV, which was left on all night.  He killed the sound, but since one of the other two TVs in the room was down, he wanted to leave the big one on.  Okay.



It was loud as fuck in there, as predicted, but my wife was there, and she says that yeah, the volume was insane, but the mix itself wasn't bad.  You could hear everything.  I asked if that included keyboards, and she said yes, in fact they might have been too loud in a few spots.  Yes!  I mean, no, not great that things were out of balance, but I do get a bit tired of playing for my own amusement.  Because the place was tiny, John chose to forego a sound man, and as the guitars got louder, I just turned myself up, too.

Our drummer JT was late, as usual, so sound check was late and rushed, which is bad enough in a small room, but fatal if you don't have a sound man to adjust things as you go.  I'd turned my keys down to 2 to warm up (which we all did while people were still trying to watch TV and stuff), and before I knew it, John had turned me up at the board to compensate, and that part of the sound check was done.  Then we started the first song.  I was therefore responsible for turning myself up a bit for solos, but there's a huge difference between 2 and 2.5 when the P.A. is multiplying everything.  But in general, the mix was good, people danced, I got paid, and overall I had a great time, and I think so did everyone else.  So we're four-for-four.  I mean, I really don't think our band is capable of playing a gig that truly sucks, so I shouldn't be surprised.  All things considered, we're getting pretty good.

I also met a very pretty girl named Jessica who told me I was great and had "mad skills".  I also met her boyfriend Armand, and my wife was there and there was zero chance of anything happening anyway, but Jessica had beautiful hair and a great ass and it's important to remember why we're doing this.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1381 on: June 13, 2016, 09:02:10 AM »
Indeed  :metal
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Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1382 on: June 13, 2016, 10:45:17 PM »
I'll catch you guys one of these days. I swear. This sounds like a broken record of promises. We had two parties the next day (my brother in laws retirement party way out in Hampshire and then my friends Tony award party in Des Plaines so lots of driving (I didn't drive because I drank more)... But yeah. Couldn't go the night before. The next gig looks more doable.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1383 on: June 14, 2016, 07:36:08 AM »


Vet Fest in Huntley Town Square.  Apparently we're going to be playing two hours straight, no break, one of three bands on the bill that afternoon.  So that should be interesting.  I hope you can make it.  This last gig, we played two 90-minute sets.  Damn, that was killer, especially since it was about 90 degrees in there.  I had a big fan blowing directly on me where I stood, so that made it bearable, but just going 90 without a break, then going another 90 was tough.  Hell, just standing that long would test me, let alone rocking the whole time.  During teardown, I was leaning over to deal with some cords, then sat down on the floor because it was killing me to lean over.  I realized my mistake almost immediately.  At some point, I had to get back up.  I briefly considered just laying down right there and sleeping a little bit.

Anyway, I know it's tough to make it out to see bands, especially when you have a family and other commitments.  My one buddy at work -- the only other musician type -- has been wanting to check us out forever and this gig was like 10 minutes from his house.  So of course he was out of town last weekend for a family thing.  That's the breaks.

Offline TheLordOfTheStrings

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1384 on: June 17, 2016, 02:18:31 AM »
I did a cover of Donovan's Catch The Wind, for fun. https://soundcloud.com/cody-marshall-mckenna/catch-the-wind-donovan-cover
Check out my various music projects - I’ve got concept albums, singer/songwriter, rock, metal, prog, and more coming soon:

https://linktr.ee/STARCOMMANDStudios


Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1386 on: June 18, 2016, 10:52:34 PM »
I'm conducting 3 pieces for the community choir of which I am the assistant conductor coming up... Our summer concert is at the end of June and then we are singing in the city's Independence Day festival on the 3rd along with the community band for some pieces. Should be interesting. I love doing this and just wish some middle or high school principal would see me and hire me based on this, because conducting a choir is my passion...
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1387 on: June 19, 2016, 04:29:30 PM »
Whoa, what exactly is "the city's Independence Day festival"?  If you mean the City of Chicago, then it's gonna be televised.  (And also, I'm gonna record that!)  There's some great exposure right there.  Congrats, and I hope it goes well!

Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1388 on: June 22, 2016, 07:45:56 AM »
Whoa, what exactly is "the city's Independence Day festival"?  If you mean the City of Chicago, then it's gonna be televised.  (And also, I'm gonna record that!)  There's some great exposure right there.  Congrats, and I hope it goes well!

:lol no not Chicago.  Crystal Lake. That will not be televised LOL
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1389 on: June 22, 2016, 10:13:05 AM »
Not even on the local cable station or something?  You never know.

Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1390 on: June 22, 2016, 04:32:03 PM »
Not even on the local cable station or something?  You never know.

Public access, maybe. I don't know.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1391 on: June 22, 2016, 04:35:24 PM »
That's what I mean.  Seriously, you should check.

Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1392 on: June 25, 2016, 12:05:20 AM »
I will try to make it to Huntley to see you guys but it's not as cut and dry as I thought since we have to get up at early 0'clock to go to church since my daughter is singing with VBS. I know you aren't playing that late but my wife is like "man that's going to be late" so I don't know.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1393 on: June 25, 2016, 10:36:47 AM »
We're scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30, no break.  On the other hand, they've only allowed half and hour between bands (4 to 6, 6:30 to 8:30, 9 to 11) because organizers are stupid like that, so I suspect we'll be running behind before we even start.

Still, I hope you can make it.  With no break, a rush to get things cleared out once we're done, and you having to leave, I don't know if we'll get a chance to talk, but let's see how it goes.

Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1394 on: June 26, 2016, 09:36:59 AM »


Holy Hell!  95 degrees in the shade, two hours without a break, people passing us bottles of water so we wouldn't pass out.

But it was a big tent open on all sides, so plenty of breeze, a nice stage, and so it was another rockin' Saturday in the park.  I still love outdoor gigs the best.



Orbert, Pat, JT, Anne, Jerry, John

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1395 on: June 26, 2016, 02:25:57 PM »
Hey, here is a song I wrote with a friend. He plays the piano and sings on this, I did the guitar parts, the drums are mostly done with EZdrummer. We would really love some opinions/criticism!

https://soundcloud.com/ikmatthijs/the-drinkers-jest


The lyrics are about an old man sitting in a bar and thinking about how he lived his live without actually enjoying it. Than he realises he should change that, but drinks too much and wakes up remembering nothing and goes on living his live without enjoying it.


Quote
95 degrees in the shade, two hours without a break
That must be exhausting! I haven't commented on them I think, but I do really like reading the Flashdrive updates :azn:
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Offline splent

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1396 on: June 27, 2016, 12:31:06 PM »


Holy Hell!  95 degrees in the shade, two hours without a break, people passing us bottles of water so we wouldn't pass out.

But it was a big tent open on all sides, so plenty of breeze, a nice stage, and so it was another rockin' Saturday in the park.  I still love outdoor gigs the best.



Orbert, Pat, JT, Anne, Jerry, John

Yeah couldn't make it. There was no way... especially since my wife worked early afternoon, and then later my mother in law took us to dinner (we aren't passing up free dinner :lol) plus our daughter has been absolutely ridiculously obnoxious the last week or so, going through a phase of testing us with EVERYTHING. Plus with the weather... it was AWFUL the last few days... we went to swedish days yesterday in Geneva (where our church is, so we were down there anyway) and we were dying. Add on top of that that my wife has an accompanist audition at New Trier on Tuesday and she needs to practice... Believe me a week ago I was still planning on coming.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1397 on: June 27, 2016, 01:10:38 PM »
It's okay.  As I'd mentioned, the way things were scheduled, we wouldn't have had a chance to talk much anyway, if at all.  There's one guy from my church who comes to most of our gigs, mostly because he doesn't have a life, and I felt kinda bad for basically blowing him off.  As I suspected, we spent most of the time beforehand getting things unloaded and staged, then we had half an hour for both the previous band to exit and us to get set up, plus sound check (we made it in about 40 minutes), then two hours no break.  After we finished, he came up to me and said we were great, but he had to get going because he worked in the morning.  I got the distinct impression that he stuck around just because he wanted to say something and didn't want to leave before we finished, but he bailed almost immediately.

And man, once we finished, it was the same thing, get our shit off the stage as fast as possible.  I took the time to pack mine up and take it to the car (I scored rock star parking right across the street) because I knew once I sat down, I didn't know when I was gonna get up again.

Would've been nice to see you, but really, don't feel too bad.  Next time.  Mike and Diane from Sammy's were there, they raved a lot, and they want us back again.  Looks like we're getting really popular out in the booming metropolis of Huntley, Illinois.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1398 on: June 28, 2016, 07:34:53 AM »
I am going to be moving from Mount Airy, NC to Raleigh, NC in a few weeks.  Which is very exciting in every way...except I have to leave the current church where my wife and I serve in music ministry.

Great friends, and we have a pretty kick-ass band, if I do say so myself.  I will miss them.  :(

Our last Sunday morning service with them will be July 17th, and the music minister is letting my wife and I pick the setlist.  So that will be cool.

Also, they will be playing an outdoor gig on a Saturday night later this summer, and we will come back for that.  And that will be it.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #1399 on: June 28, 2016, 11:14:06 AM »
Bummer about leaving the church and the band.  There will be tears, but you can tell them you'll be back in x weeks for the outdoor gig.  Then coming back later for the outdoor gig will be bittersweet, since it'll be both a "good to see you again" and a final farewell.

I hate moving, for any reason.  I've never been in a situation where things were so bad, I had to move, so each move I've made has been because of economics, or my job, but I've never had to leave a musical group because of moving.  That's gotta suck.