Music

Okay, I know there are some other music threads out there, but I just want to share my general musical journey; not just other bands but some of my experiences with performing and such. Feel free to do the same if you want.

So when I was about four my mom got me started on piano lessons. I am a fairly talented musician (I don't mean to brag really, just a statement of fact) and so I picked it up pretty fast. Although it is the instrument I have played the longest I haven't really done much with it in the way of performances and such.

So fast forward about six years and that was when I was in my country music phase. I didn't really listen to it all that much it was just something I liked in general, so that if you had asked me what type of music I liked I would say "country." Since then I have never really gone back to it, which I think is partly due to my expanding musical tastes and instrumental progress.

It was the summer before sixth grade that I went to a music camp called Camp Jam where you are placed in a band with a few other people to pick a song and perform a cover version at the end of the week. I played keyboard, which in retrospect was somewhat of a waste of time since the songs chosen (I went two separate weeks) were not really "keyboard" songs. The importance of the camp was in getting used to performing on stage and an introduction to what would become my favorite band: Rush. I heard one of the bands perform "Tom Sawyer" and even their cover version blew me away. I went home and looked them up and this began my foray into the progressive rock genre.

Sixth grade was also the time at which I began to play drums. I got a decent drum kit for my birthday (my mother knew it would be a good investment) and started to mess around on that for the first two years of drum playing I didn't really do all that much because it was in eighth grade that I was able to join the school jazz band. There happened to be another drummer in the same grade so we traded off songs, where one of us would get the real drum set and the other the auxiliary percussion. That was a ton of fun just playing music with my friends and classmates on an instrument I loved and really set off my drumming career, if you can really call it that.

Eighth grade was also the time I started playing bass. Although it seemed like an odd choice since i had already tried and failed at guitar, I got a Fender jazz bass for Christmas. As an instrument, the bass is really a lot more related to drums than one might think, so it could be seen as the logical next step for me to take. Keep in mind that at this time I was still listening to and processing Rush's vast catalogue of music and I finally got to see one of their concerts in April of 2011 (an amazing experience, certainly). It was my first real concert and to get to see the band I loved live was incredible. Notably, around Christmas of eighth grade (2010) was when I got Minecraft and started playing on Blackreavers.

Near to the end of eighth grade I joined a band with a few friends playing bass. Although I had only played it for a few months I already had a pretty good grasp on the instrument and we played a Rush song called "Closer to the Heart" for the grade at the end of year party. It was my first time performing a song on bass, and it was in front of all of my classmates. I was incredibly nervous so my stage presence was virtually nonexistent (bass players are known for having little stage presence; mine was even less pronounced). I would go on to perform a couple more times with this band, for our grade, at battle of the bands type things, and at a charity concert. We have written a few songs but have yet to record them or make money off them. This is about the extent of my work on bass, performing occasionally with a few friends and messing around with different styles and techniques.

The summer before ninth grade was when my musical taste started to expand, first to other prog rock bands such as Pink Floyd and then to just straight rock bands such as Boston and Led Zeppelin. My friend had given me copies of Pink Floyd’s “Animals” and “Dark Side of the Moon” for Christmas and I had finally gotten around to listening to them. At this point I would like to thank Stanky for introducing me to “The Wall”, arguably Pink Floyd’s masterpiece and apex of their career. As the school year progressed I went to a few more concerts: Roger Waters (performing the entirety of The Wall), Van Halen, and Iron Maiden among others. Van Halen did not really stick to me as much as Iron Maiden did. Although they are considered metal they have been a sort of guilty pleasure band to me, with their somewhat cheesy lyrics and straightforward riffs.

So I gradually got into more and more styles of music, usually just sticking to two or three bands of each style. For example I began to appreciate Latin American music (Santana) and jazz (Miles Davis). I also began to pick up guitar again to a limited extent, just playing a few minutes every now and then. I own an acoustic, which is a bit harder and less interesting to play due to the string thickness and just the fact that its sound and effects are much more limited than those of an electric guitar. I was still in the school jazz band (even though we play mainly funk and other styles mildly related to jazz) and was introduced to horn-oriented rock such as Chicago. Although I do like them as a band, there are many songs by them that have the same theme (love) that I cannot stand to listen to over and over.

By tenth grade I was getting pretty good at drums and somewhat neglecting my other instruments. As I was part of the jazz band (again) I decided to try out for TPSMEA, which is a sort of all state band composed of kids from various private schools. The auditions were to play along to a song with your instrument edited out, record it, and send the recording in to be judged. I’m not going to lie; playing to a tape is difficult. As it is recorded and not played by a live band, the song doesn’t have the same flow that it might have otherwise. Instead of the drummer setting the tempo, he/she has to follow a tempo already set. The music cannot change and flow and it has a very concrete feel that was initially very awkward to play to. Long story short, I made first place in the state (somehow) and I will be travelling to play with the band in about a month or so. This is the first major thing I have done on drums besides playing at the occasional school function or concert.

And it was about this time (November, December) at which I have moved into a new phase of music with the funk/jazz fusion type stuff. I recently bought the self-titled album “Tower of Power” as well as “Head Hunters” by Herbie Hancock. Head Hunters is a great album that I have really taken a liking to despite some of its eccentricities.
So as you maybe have guessed by now, I do not enjoy listening to rap, pop, hip-hop, etc. and have not bought into the modern music scene with its emphasis on fame and fortune rather than the music. For me, the only music that I can enjoy listening to is music with soul and with a meaning. Music impacts me most as a conductor of emotion and feeling. I don’t want mindless music because it can be (and is) so much more than that to me.
So yeah, thanks for reading. Feel free to ask any questions or share your own experiences.

 

Pink?

 

I'm sure I could find something to post sooner or later. I'm not sure what all I've got on my computer but ill find something good.