A Small, Meaningful Act Can Lead to Great Things

I haven't done anything great that has had any kind of impact, except for one time. I did something small and easy, yet important. Several years ago, city council was going to cut funding to local transit. I was opposed to this, and I innocuously started a community Facebook event called Stand Up for Local Transit (I substituted Local for the name of my city). At the next council meeting, hundreds of people showed up to protest the cuts and council backed down on the measure. All I did was start a Facebook event, and I was shocked by the result of my small anonymous action.

Today, I did something similar, but I don't yet know if my action will have an impact. There was a meeting today about the state of the local music scene. Ideas were being sought on how to make the music scene great which would lead to making my city a tourist destination for music. Being a full-time musician who often works outside of my own community, I had a serious personal stake.

As well intentioned as this grassroots initiative was, I couldn't take it seriously without the involvement of the Canadian Federation of Musicians of which I am a member. Therefore I invited representatives from the CFM to the meeting, and they came. Several musicians really appreciated the attendance of CFM reps. One older musician even gave me a hug to thank me.

My community lost it's CFM local in the 1990s, and since then, it has become increasing difficult to receive fair compensation for work here. However, musicians are dealing with this reality all across Canada and the U.S.A. Since my town doesn't have its own local anymore, we now fall under the jurisdiction of another city. As a result of my invitation, I will become the informal (or perhaps formal) liaison between my town and our CFM local.

I truly hope that this grassroots initiative gains traction and that it makes a difference in the long run. There were many great ideas generated today from stakeholders of every age. Hopefully, the collective mind will find a way to invigorate my community's music scene.

I firmly believe that when musicians can earn a living wage, they can invest time into their craft so they can compete for paid gigs. This leads to higher quality music, leading to more patrons coming out to listen, leading to a thriving music scene. There are many more facets involved, but I maintain that fair compensation for musicians' work is fundamental to the effort.

A New Year

I woke up thinking about new beginnings this Labour Day. For me, the first Tuesday in September has always been a new year. School resumes, I'm refreshed after the summer, and ready to get back into a routine.

I then thought of the calendar New Year and realized how unmeaningful it is to me. I can't get excited at the stroke of midnight when a four-digit number increases by 1. I've worked as a musician on many New Year's Eves and I have to fake being excited at midnight, but at least I'm playing Auld Lang Syne to cover it up. I wonder how many other people fake it too, or just go to bed early that night. When you think about it, January 1st is in the middle of the dark, cold, Canadian winter. It is after the Christmas season, people are tired, have less money, and don't go out much. It's a dark, cold month and a continuation of what I stopped doing in December. Maybe I'm just thinking like a jaded Gen-Xer again.

September has so many things starting or changing, and this year I am genuinely optimistic going forward. I'm a little sad that summer is finished, but there are new beginnings ahead. Perhaps it's because my life is linked with the education system. For those people who love the January 1st New Year, you still have your big party in less than four months. I'll be busy playing Auld Lang Syne in a small town in Quebec. Quebecers know how to party though.

The "Simon" Method of Practising a Lick

I was working on a melodic phrase on the guitar today. I was getting a bit frustrated because I could play the phrase intuitively on the saxophone but not on guitar. Intellectually I knew it, but the guitar mechanics were not there for me yet.

Then I remembered to try the "Simon" method of practising that I use with my students occasionally. I call it the Simon method after the electronic game that plays a sequence of colours and tones which you memorise and play back to the machine. Each turn, the machine adds one more colour/tone. I've adapted the premise of this game to music practising.

Let's say the music phrase that you need to practise has 10 notes in it. Play it as far as you can and notice how far you can play it perfectly. Pretend you can go as far as 5 notes. Practice those 5 notes until you can play them easily. Then add note number 6. Once you can play the first 6 notes easily, add note 7. Keep adding notes until you can play the whole phrase.

It's another approach if you are getting bogged down. Let me know if it works for you!

Observing Basic Stress In Time Signatures Can Lead To Better Musicality

In music notation, time signatures really do mean something. Time signatures present the notation in a way that is more visually clear and they convey how the music should be felt. In the process of learning the technical aspects of a piece, it is easy to overlook the feel of the piece. This is okay when you're first learning the pitches and rhythms on your instrument.

Eventually, musicality needs to be incorporated. I've discovered that the first step is observing the time signature and playing the piece with a stress on beat 1. Doing this will start the process of flow of the music. However, be careful with this guideline when approaching jazz music.

Each time signature has its own unique stress with beat one being the strongest stress in the measure.

          >      >
4/4     1  2  3  4  

          >
3/4     1  2  3

           >
2/4      1  2

           >          >
6/8      1  2  3  4  5  6

There are many other time signatures but incorporating the natural stresses in the music early on in the learning process helps to internalize musicality.