Music!

[Quietville]

So, for those who don't know (Which I assume is most...) I am a music education major in college! (That means I want to teach music.) So, I was wondering if any of you guys have any experiences in music that you would like to share? A good teacher, an embarrassing performance, a bad teacher?

If not do you play any instruments?

Also, what's your favorite genre, artist, and/or song?

 

[Quietville]

So, I've got plenty of embarrassing moments. The most recent is when I arranged the song The Battle of Jericho. I arranged this, and gave it to the performers assuming that they knew they needed to practice it on their own. So the time for the performance came and none of them had practiced it. One of the players took a repeat where the others didn't! Luckily for me it wasn't that terrible, but you could tell something was wrong. I guess in all, I wasn't so embarrassed for myself but more for them.

I play a lot of instruments! I am a vocal major (a bass) for my college... In high school I played Tenor Sax... I also picked up guitar in high school. I now play all the standard brass instruments and every woodwind instrument except oboe and bassoon which I'm learning this semester. It's all part of our training to become teachers.

I'm split between jazz and barbershop as my favorite genre. Duke Ellington is great, but he's too predictable IMO. I REALLY like Maynard Ferguson and Charles Mingus.

Maynard's Birdland is overrated though, and most of you have probably heard it on TV or in a movie.

 

[Gravy]

I have very limited playing experience.
I listen to all kinds.

But when I'm showering and shaving, I usually listen to something from
Zero 7.
They really know how to soften my whiskers, and when I shave both face and head, I can listen to a whole cd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT8Wz1fa-_4

 

[Shane]

Music education graduate student here.

Instrument: Percussion.

Genre: All of them.

Artist/Song: Too difficult to answer.

 

[rabidpotatochip]

I play(ed) piano and trumpet. Thankfully there were no bad experiences with either.

Favorite genres: jazz, downtempo, trance (goa and melodic specifically), rock, classical, house (some of it, anyway), techno, blues, trip-hop, funk.
Likeable and respected at worst genres: Country, hip-hop.

Favorite artists: Sarah Brightman, Infected Mushroom, Days of the New, Astral Projection, Fluke, Supreme Beings of Leisure, and then another page or two worth.

Favorite songs, only a handful come to mind: A huge evergrowing pulsating brain that rules from the centre of the ultraworld by The Orb, Atom Bomb by Fluke, and Eden by Sarah Brightman.

 

[Roman414]

House? Trip-hop? I never even heard of half the genres you mention. We have a meeting of the minds on the divine Sarah Brightman, though. I have every DVD she ever made. And watch/listen to them frequently.

 

[rabidpotatochip]

House? Trip-hop? I never even heard of half the genres you mention. We have a meeting of the minds on the divine Sarah Brightman, though. I have every DVD she ever made. And watch/listen to them frequently.

Out of all the styles of dance, I think house is one of the closest to its disco roots. Here is a bunch of history/info if you need reading materials. Trip-hop, well, I just like the rhythm. Massive Attack would be the best example, specifically Inertia Creeps, which is a great song for belly-dancers if you know any. The lyrics are kind of disjointed but the rhythm is perfect for a medium speed performance.

As to Sarah Brightman, I have a pile of her CDs in my collection. I was introduced to her music through an anime music video that used Deliver Me as a background song. I liked the song so I ended up getting another video that used Eden in the background, and it's been my favorite one of hers since. For me, the biggest compliment I can pay music is call it good background music. Not like the stuff they play in elevators, but music that causes a sort of synaesthasia and creates a mood instead of a sound. Anyway, I think Sarah Brightman makes good background music.

 

[Rorschuck]

Worst music teacher ever: in 8th grade (the graduating year for "Junior High" stateside), our music teacher put together the graduation program.

We had to sing.

Yes, we sang. At our own graduation, we had to sing.

Wait, it gets better (worse): we had to sing "Wind Beneath My Wings", by Bette Middler. I think we actually did three numbers, but that's the one that scarred me for life.

 

[stobes21]

I had a bad experience in late middle school with a band teacher. I was playing percussion, and the teacher treated us like an annoying afterthought. He'd spend nearly the entire class period working with the "real" instruments, then spend the last 5 minutes yelling at us for not doing a good enough job when the whole class played together. Suffice it to say that I quit that as soon as I could. I did later start playing drums for real, and really enjoyed it outside of a classroom environment.

 

[Shane]

I had a bad experience in late middle school with a band teacher. I was playing percussion, and the teacher treated us like an annoying afterthought. He'd spend nearly the entire class period working with the "real" instruments, then spend the last 5 minutes yelling at us for not doing a good enough job when the whole class played together. Suffice it to say that I quit that as soon as I could. I did later start playing drums for real, and really enjoyed it outside of a classroom environment.

Bad teachers sell kids short.

 

[sparkchaser]

I have absolutely zero musical talent but I am an avid consumer.

Bought my fiance a bodhrán for Christmas:

 

[masonjarjar]

I have a music degree from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. One semester I took a radio broadcasting class with Robert Conrad from WCLV FM in Cleveland. We did live broadcasts from various venues, usually within the Cleveland Institue of Music.

One night, Mr. Michael Stern, son of famous violinist Isaac Stern, was conducting the CIM Orchestra. I believe Michael Stern was Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra at the time. Anyway, he was a bit of a character, and somewhat difficult to deal with. I believe I was the writer for the production, meaning, I wrote the "script" for the announcer (Mr. Conrad) who was up in the booth. I was with the Stage Director, a friend of mine. She seemed to be a bit nervous dealing with Mr. Stern.

(this was nearly 20 years ago, so my memory is a bit foggy).

Anyway, the job of the Stage Director was to have a walkman on, listening to the broadcast, and queue the conductor to go out on stage at the appropriate time in the script. Mind you, this was going out over the air on WCLV, the main classical station in Cleveland. Pretty big audience. Now, both of us were dj's on the CWRU college station, but this was commercial radio. Big time.

So, at the designated point in the script, April queues Mr. Stern that it's time to go out. But.. he just stood there and said "Well I'm not ready"

(now, I have no idea if he really wasn't ready yet, or trying to throw us a curveball or just being a horses behind..)

April started *freaking* out. I think she said something like "No, Mr. Stern, you don't understand, you have to go out NOW" which of course, made Mr. Stern only more obstinate and difficult. "I'll go when I'm ready" I think he said.

I took April aside and told her that Conrad would vamp, that's his job, he's been doing this for years, he knows how to fill space.. Stern knows it's time, and he'll go when he's ready. This is what you get when dealing with the "talent"

Anyway, after maybe 15 more seconds he went out, no harm no foul. And I got a nice compliment from Stern on keeping my cool.. I've always thought he was trying to "teach us youngins a lesson" about live radio, I have no idea. But it was an interesting experience, and probably the closest I've come to dealing with a world-famous celebrity in a performance setting.

 

[Confuzius]

I played Double Bass in high school for 5 years, but couldn't translate it into electric bass and don't have the cash to get a double :-( I miss walking.

I had great music teachers. The key is the passion.
George Doxas; Part music teacher, part stand-up comedian, all excellent teacher. (Also my neighbour)
http://www.doxasmusic.com/about.html

 

[andy65]

I play the violin, and used to play the French Horn in grade school.

I LOVE classical music, rock and pop are not to bad.

 

[Quietville]

I played Double Bass in high school for 5 years, but couldn't translate it into electric bass and don't have the cash to get a double :-( I miss walking.

I had great music teachers. The key is the passion.
George Doxas; Part music teacher, part stand-up comedian, all excellent teacher. (Also my neighbour)
http://www.doxasmusic.com/about.html

Exactly why I want to be a teacher! I'm so passionate, and all the bad teachers like the one percussionist mentioned make me sad.

Translating double bass to electric bass is pretty simple... that is if you were taught bass correctly! Hit me up if you're interested.

"spend the last 5 minutes yelling at us for not doing a good enough job when the whole class played together"

Yeah, the percussion is the most important section in the band. They drive the music and make or break a band. It's important to spend probably half the time working with them just like any other section in the band... only more.

 

[harman]

I absolutely love music.

Received some music education during high school... didn't learn much at all. I bought an acoustic guitar a few months ago and practice regularly; I love it! I still suck at it, though. A few simple tunes I can play.

I listen to just about anything, mostly rock. Jazz, classical, rap, electronic, vocal, pop, folk, country, heavy metal. I absolutely love 70s hard rock (Deep Purple!), but my favorite band are The Beatles.

 

[Wil]

I have played the piano in the past and presently play guitar and the Bagpipes- I can tell you of a bad teacher/student experience that you should never do....

I enjoyed jazz a lot when I was younger and before my piano lesson there was always a 15 min break between the last student and the next- so during this time I would play anything that I wanted - to warm up my fingers- I tried to bring my teacher modern music as one of the tunes that I could play, but she kept to the classics and I eventually dropped asking for something modern to play- but on this occasion I was playing something that I had written down and wanted to see if it sounded better on the grand piano (I had an upright and things sometimes sounded better on the grand). I played my composition and she came around the corner and said that it was an interesting tune and that it covered jazz pretty well- when she asked me who wrote it- I said that I had written it and showed her the sheet music- she responded that that couldn't be as I was not yet good enough to write music let alone something as "good" as that. I continued to go to lessons for a month and then stopped taking lessons from her and went on to play the guitar-

this happened when I was in junior high school- so many years ago and it still makes me mad to remember her attitude- as a teacher you should always nurture and not destroy a student- she just never understood that.

 

[harman]

I have played the piano in the past and presently play guitar and the Bagpipes- I can tell you of a bad teacher/student experience that you should never do....

I enjoyed jazz a lot when I was younger and before my piano lesson there was always a 15 min break between the last student and the next- so during this time I would play anything that I wanted - to warm up my fingers- I tried to bring my teacher modern music as one of the tunes that I could play, but she kept to the classics and I eventually dropped asking for something modern to play- but on this occasion I was playing something that I had written down and wanted to see if it sounded better on the grand piano (I had an upright and things sometimes sounded better on the grand). I played my composition and she came around the corner and said that it was an interesting tune and that it covered jazz pretty well- when she asked me who wrote it- I said that I had written it and showed her the sheet music- she responded that that couldn't be as I was not yet good enough to write music let alone something as "good" as that. I continued to go to lessons for a month and then stopped taking lessons from her and went on to play the guitar-

this happened when I was in junior high school- so many years ago and it still makes me mad to remember her attitude- as a teacher you should always nurture and not destroy a student- she just never understood that.

Wow. Just wow. That's just awful.

It's bewildering why some people are teachers to begin with.

 

[gunner6477]

Had a choir teacher in Junior high that would scream, throw chairs, etc. Is a great guy though and and we always had an award winning choir. They recently named an Elementary School after him. Thinking back on it, he'd probably be arrested today and hauled off to jail...never once hurt a kid though.

 

[dmnall]

I played Alto Saxophone from Grade School until my Senior Year of HS. Hell in my freshman year of HS I saved up and bought a $ 1000 Selmer Mark 7 Alto Sax, but after buying this sax, the Music teacher basically pushed me out of his class *because I did not buy a selmer from him that was 500 more*, but then I sold it a couple of years ago to buy a dirtbike.. But during my Junior year of HS, I did learn to play guitar and love to play metal!

As for listening to music I listen to Metal, Classic Rock, Jazz, a little rap, Jap Metal, Jap Rock and other music!