(no subject)
ok, first of all, i got (i should say we got..er i should say Candace got and therfore i by proxy recieved.. a postcard from a real jazz musician...a pro as it were. and that is as close to fame as i get.
i play the banjo. so as you can imagine i have some slight insecurities in the musicianship department. they are, I assure you, well deserved insecurities. You see i have listened to other forms of music besides that which is played on the banjo, and i have come away with the belief that my music, that is the kind i specialize in, is well quite simple and not very difficult. Not that i find it easy. its damned hard, what with all the notes and having to play the right number of them within a certain number of beats and all.. so you can imaging what my brain does when it hears the tough stuff..jazz. I will confess that i used to think that "classical" by which i mean orchestra based music written between the 16th century to present was the tough stuff. but noooh, there is a whole group of folks out there who do incredibly difficult stuff with no apparent beats at all and yet stay together and do all sorts of things that make even mathmatical geniuses look up and say.."whoa...you do what when how? let me break out my Cray computer and see i can figure out what the hell your doing"...
ok ok, so i have put these guys on a pedestal.
This got me thinking.
Dan Fogelberg passed away the other day. It was sad. you see, he was sort of my idol. I was in jr high jor there abouts and was into folk music..not much radio listening since "me and mrs jones" came on and was played incessantly in the early seventies missed some good stuff because of that song... so click went the radio. and downstairs i went to listen to the only stereo in the house. my dads 8 track. the selection was meager. at first it was the usual stuff...Authur Fieldler plays the beatles..porgy and bess, then later some great stuff..benny goodman, Boots Randolf, beethovens fifth (all of the above interupted at the wrong times by the 8 track switch over..if your old you know what i mean) then one day my mom asked the guy at the record store who her kids would like..and thank god she got a guy with taste. we got two new 8 tracks. one was the Nitty gritty Dirt band's Uncle charley albumn and the other was Dan Fogelbergs Captured angel. the fogelberg was ok..and i didnt really latch on to him..but he beat the radio..and disco hit so it was better than nothing.
so later when my fiancee had dumped me two weeks before our wedding and i quit school to lick my wounds and become a potter. I spent two years wallowing in self pity and absorbing the great lyrics that fogelberg produced in the interim since i first heard him..I marveled at the diversity, the dexterity and the fluid style he had on guitar. he switched genres more often than most folks change their underwear. and with this soundtrack i became a damn good potter. (i kid you not i listed to this guys stuff at least once a week)
so he dies..not producing anything really great in years..but holy cow if i had the talent he had in just his left toenail i would be in heaven..
You see, its easy to listen to the flawless playing of recorded music and the technology to erase the mistakes etc..and forget that man there is real musicianship out there.and it doesnt come without effort...and its amazing. i struggle to keep time for 16 bars at 4/4 time. and there are those out there who can do it like they take their next breath....then add complicated things to it or improvise. to those i say...
thanks for the card.
i play the banjo. so as you can imagine i have some slight insecurities in the musicianship department. they are, I assure you, well deserved insecurities. You see i have listened to other forms of music besides that which is played on the banjo, and i have come away with the belief that my music, that is the kind i specialize in, is well quite simple and not very difficult. Not that i find it easy. its damned hard, what with all the notes and having to play the right number of them within a certain number of beats and all.. so you can imaging what my brain does when it hears the tough stuff..jazz. I will confess that i used to think that "classical" by which i mean orchestra based music written between the 16th century to present was the tough stuff. but noooh, there is a whole group of folks out there who do incredibly difficult stuff with no apparent beats at all and yet stay together and do all sorts of things that make even mathmatical geniuses look up and say.."whoa...you do what when how? let me break out my Cray computer and see i can figure out what the hell your doing"...
ok ok, so i have put these guys on a pedestal.
This got me thinking.
Dan Fogelberg passed away the other day. It was sad. you see, he was sort of my idol. I was in jr high jor there abouts and was into folk music..not much radio listening since "me and mrs jones" came on and was played incessantly in the early seventies missed some good stuff because of that song... so click went the radio. and downstairs i went to listen to the only stereo in the house. my dads 8 track. the selection was meager. at first it was the usual stuff...Authur Fieldler plays the beatles..porgy and bess, then later some great stuff..benny goodman, Boots Randolf, beethovens fifth (all of the above interupted at the wrong times by the 8 track switch over..if your old you know what i mean) then one day my mom asked the guy at the record store who her kids would like..and thank god she got a guy with taste. we got two new 8 tracks. one was the Nitty gritty Dirt band's Uncle charley albumn and the other was Dan Fogelbergs Captured angel. the fogelberg was ok..and i didnt really latch on to him..but he beat the radio..and disco hit so it was better than nothing.
so later when my fiancee had dumped me two weeks before our wedding and i quit school to lick my wounds and become a potter. I spent two years wallowing in self pity and absorbing the great lyrics that fogelberg produced in the interim since i first heard him..I marveled at the diversity, the dexterity and the fluid style he had on guitar. he switched genres more often than most folks change their underwear. and with this soundtrack i became a damn good potter. (i kid you not i listed to this guys stuff at least once a week)
so he dies..not producing anything really great in years..but holy cow if i had the talent he had in just his left toenail i would be in heaven..
You see, its easy to listen to the flawless playing of recorded music and the technology to erase the mistakes etc..and forget that man there is real musicianship out there.and it doesnt come without effort...and its amazing. i struggle to keep time for 16 bars at 4/4 time. and there are those out there who can do it like they take their next breath....then add complicated things to it or improvise. to those i say...
thanks for the card.