Lack Of Good Music?

I've seen the occasional post or meme about the lack of "good" music these days. As a GenXer musician and teacher, I know enough not to judge the taste of younger generations. I remember a time when my own generation's musical tastes were being judged and questioned. However, I would like to address one point about the music industry that has changed for the worse and may have a role in the supposed decline of "good" music.

Today, there are limited opportunities for working musicians to earn a decent living by playing live. The consequences are that musicians have limited opportunity to improve, create, and compete between themselves. As a result, the general quality of music suffers. The more incentives there are through work, the greater the chance that "good" music (and good musicians) will be developed.

Many of the highest-skilled musicians today are attached to educational institutions. However, without a strong live music scene, the general public has limited opportunity to listen to them play.

I wish I had the time and energy to contribute to a local scene where musicians are paid fairly. Some inroads have been maid in Portland Oregon with the Fair Trade Music movement. However, it's been slow to be used as a model in other cities.

Songwriting Contest

I entered a songwriting contest today, something I haven't tried in a long time. I had a couple of songs in the archives, so I decided to try it again with a labour song I wrote and recorded in 2009. It will likely be my only labour song, as my experience with organized labour was short lived. However, my experience was intense enough to inspire writing about it. To listen, follow the link below:

I Will Hold The Line

Your Practice Area

As a music teacher, one thing I cannot control is the student's practicing environment, and the issue seldom comes up in a lesson. Therefore, I decided to make a video about it.

Preparation

Today is the first day of a long weekend with three days of nothing on my schedule! This is gold, because today I was able to do a vocal workout, run through my set for next week's concert, and do some music business stuff.

Yesterday, I made a video to demonstrate a reworking of an old song of mine.

I've been keeping up with the morning jog this week too. Major win.

Making A Come Back

So, I am back at this again, after a long hiatus, trying to reboot the real music career that has eluded me. It's not that I have been inactive; au contraire, I've been very active but pulled in many directions by the different genres and instruments I play. I thought I had found my voice in 2002 when I released my first CD but alas, it was not to be.  Teaching lessons is a necessity, and I've become comfortable with that. But being an artist is not about being comfortable. We all must grow, change, and adapt or we become irrelevant quickly. My career goal with music is modest yet ambitious; to provide for myself through playing music only.

Most of my peers know me as a jazz saxophone player, but I have a soft spot for guitar and rock and roll and folk music. It's been difficult for me to hook up with a serious band mostly because I am a saxophone player going from gig to gig. So I've always played guitar on the side and recently have been going to town on improving my vocals.

I did what I hope will be my last saxophone gig on the weekend. It was fun, well worth it, but it was another distraction from what I've been trying to do.

In two weeks I make my debut at a local charity concert solo with equipment I've been learning to incorporate. This is my set up.

Since this picture was taken, I've replace the standard microphone with a headset microphone so I can have more freedom to move my head while singing.