YOUR FIRST RECORDING SESSION

You’re feeling pretty good about your playing…you’ve got a bunch of tunes you want to record, and the band is lined up. Or maybe you are a side musician on someone else’s record date, but you're nervous because you've never actually been in a recording studio before. Though applicable to side musicians, much of the following advice is directed to bandleaders.

You might not have a record deal, but that’s okay, so few do these days. You must, however, begin documenting…

 I learned something today.  My husband has been in medical treatment for a while, and I'd been putting off getting a doctor's second opinion on a surgery that had been proposed.  All I could think of was the seemingly endless list of all the documents, test results and the like, that I would have to somehow get copies of and assemble for the new doctor. I figured I'd have to track down all the departments and people involved to get everything, and it would be an interminable project that would weigh me…

I like modern.

I may not be the first in line to buy the latest [whatever] but I keep watch on emerging tech butterfly chrysalises and social trends.  When something attracts me, I check it out—often with my original iPad 1, which I pre-ordered before they were available. (It still works great so I haven't upgraded.) 

I went into Staples the other day and was completely overwhelmed by how many new products there were.  I can't be bothered to look at all this stuff.  The gods of Destiny and Expedience…

    I'm in a men's store waiting for my husband who is trying on pants.  I get in a conversation with the clerk.  His name is Gary.  I'm on my way to a sparring session and I'm wearing a Patagonia fleece vest, Patagonia nano puff hoody, and a Patagonia backpack that I got free with cardmember points.  Gary says to me, "You're all Patagonia-ed out."  

    Harrrrumph.  Dissed by a clothing clerk.

    I go home, rip the labels off the fleece vest and the backpack.  The nano puff label I leave on.  For now.

…

   To be an excellent musician you have to love the notes.  Each note, you love it, and the way you play it reflects that.  Each rest you love also.  Good cooks know that the secret ingredient is love.  It's what isn't written in the recipe.  It's not written on the music either.  You can't write it down, you can only feel it.

   Yeah.  You sit in the orchestra/band/pit/ and you hold out that whole note, and while you're holding it out, you're loving holding it out.  You're shaping it, sculpting it into a…

Why I don't use a music notation program First off, I spend quite enough time in front of a computer as it is. E mail is most people's preferred mode of communication these days, not to mention all the superfluous communiques that have to be sifted through. I often write my articles and books at the computer, do editing work, make videos, make promotional material, and do research with it. And write blog posts. After all that, I'm done There is something about composing with pencil and manuscript…

My friend Luiz wrote to me. Here's his question, and my reply "I need your input about something. A friend of a friend of mine in Brazil wants to buy a decent soprano (used or new) between $200 and $300 or a little more. Is that possible? He's a bass player, just got interested in sax recently He found the following ones at Amazon.com: Mendini MSS_N+920 Nickel plated $280,00 Lázaro 300 LQ Golden Laquer $319,00 Allora AASS_301 serie student $ 349,00" Sue's response: What is happening now is that…

SWEET SU

BY MICHAEL J. WETMORE

Intermission

Living out her name she goes table - to - table

A cosmic momentum captures the room

We are her faithful - and she is ours

But, now

Showtime!

A phalanx of noir notes

A dulcit overtone

A fine blue mesh, and then an explosion!

She sees the sax

She becomes the sax

She is purest Zen

Pity

Kerouac didn't live to hear her

He'd write about her just like Bird and Pres

Maybe he'd say: "So I am in this little place in the mountains in PA, see, and this chick's groovin's sax…

  "Area...closed...to hunting" said Billy slowly, reading the temporary roadside sign as he and Hank drove south on Rt. 447 in Hank's beat-up pickup. 

  "Yeah," said Hank as he shifted back into fourth gear to continue down the nearly deserted country road. "That jerk spoiled the hunting season.  And how'm I gonna feed my family this winter?  I'll have to hunt somewhere's else.  But dang, these woods is what I know, Billy."

  "Are you thinkin' what I'm thinking?" asked Billy.

  "Yeah, I think so."

  "How…

  In the previous entry we found Eric with his battalion of trained chipmunks (and squirrel officers).  I realize this is really going out on a limb; but I thought I would offer it just in case Disney wants to branch out.

  This is also a rather low-tech approach.  Maybe we'll have Eric using a Blackphone instead.  Blackphone encrypts all your communications between itself and another Blackphone (Google it if you're clueless) so he could be communicating with his sister, for instance, and receiving…