Used to play the bassoon. Yeah. I was that cool... Helped me meet a lot of girls though.
You bassoonists always get the babes... Well, it
is the most masculine-looking instrument. ;?)
I've been a pro musician most of my life. I started playing piano at pizza parlors, restaurants and hotels around L.A. when I was 16. (It's hard to believe, but there were lots of pianos back then!)
I played at Disneyland when I was 18, then transferred to Walt Disney World when it opened, and was there nearly 10 years. That was a great education. I learned to play and write in a bunch of styles, and also picked up banjo, guitar, mandolin and accordion (and actually got
paid to play them!). I also did some promotional touring around North America with Disney groups, and participated in the opening of Tokyo Disneyland.
After leaving Florida, I did studio work in L.A., and played at hotels, country clubs and house parties around southern California, as a soloist and leading some small groups; then did the same around Monterey and San Francisco. I also got to play at jazz festivals around the U.S. with some excellent bands.
In addition to composing and arranging, I'm a music editor, and have prepared scores for publishers and recording artists. (My specialty is piano and keyboard music, which can be tricky.) My favorite music is jazz (from ragtime and blues to funk, and just improvising), classical (early music to 20th century), tango and musette (on accordion—hey, somebody has to do it), bluegrass, world music, movie music, and a few other genres.
I've never been big on aggressive, high-volume music. It's great that people like it, but I miss things like variations in tempo and dynamics, key and meter changes, the creative use of space, the expression of feelings (besides rage), and so on.
Some of the people I studied with have also pointed out that while you can
impress people with technique, you're not as likely to
touch them. In other words, too much technique can interfere with musicality, and turn a performance into more of a gymnastics demonstration. I've generally found that "less is more". Of course that may not get you the mansion and the Bentley.
I'm also totally baffled by the whole celebrity-DJ thing. Someone's a star because they play
other people's music? Okay, they can segue
really smoothly from one tune to another, yeah, I get that... But doesn't it also seem like something club owners would dream up to avoid hiring bands? Sometimes I feel like the kid in "The Emperor's New Clothes" on that one. Maybe I just haven't seen the right people spin turntables.
Anyway, it's impressive how many of you guys are musicians, too. I suppose KBs and music have always had something in common. Besides computer music itself, it's all about being dextrously creative, right? Type on!
