While never in my entire life have I been compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, I have been compared to another movie star: Gumby. Whether or not that was a compliment I don't think I'll ever know. But I guess they were right. I am not exactly Hercules.
I've done my fair share (or perhaps slightly less) of hard work in the gym. I got in pretty good shape, too! I was pressing 130 regularly. Don't laugh. I weighed less than that then. I was at one time able to do 50 sit-ups in one sitting before falling over in a dead faint.
But now I am a full-time student and full-time musician. It seems I have no more time for building up my arms or getting a six pack. The most exercise I get anymore is climbing up and down three flights of stairs three times a day, four days a week. It's riveting.
So my excuse is pretty good I think. But I have met several musicians and students who are really fit and have an equally busy schedule. They ruin my excuses. It's not fair. My only hope is that when I graduate, maybe I'll have more free time to go back to a gym.
What am I saying.... free time? Enough fairy tales. Let's all just live happily ever after, OK?
Friday, January 30, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Home On The Range
If you think this post is going to be about that cloudless land where deer and antelope play, you're about to hear your first discouraging word. I'm talking about a vocal range. The blessing and curse of every vocalist. If you're a tenor, you're happy because everybody thinks you're amazing for those notes you hit...And so you are! If you're a bass, you're automatically a cool dude and everybody wants to hear you sing.
However, I am a baritone. Yes. That sorry, middle-of-the-road range that says I'm not man enough to sing tenor, and not cool enough to sing bass, but smart enough to dabble in both. We baritones get that leftover harmony too low for the tenors and too high for the basses, but not important enough for the lead singers. At least we're needed! A group would sound pretty shabby without us baritones! Or would they? Ralph Stanley and Ricky Skaggs both have recorded material featuring tenor, lead, and bass vocals with no baritone, and the result was award winning! Sheesh. Makes a man feel unwanted.
But take heart! As long as there are quartets (literally 4 people) there will be a need for baritones. Somebody has to sing those left over notes! We baritones can actually be pretty thankful our voices settled right in between everybody else's. Now we have become indispensable. You might say without us, quartets couldn't exist!
All you baritones like me must feel pretty special now, don't you? What can you expect? We're the most important guys on the team. If I was y'all I'd ask for a raise.
However, I am a baritone. Yes. That sorry, middle-of-the-road range that says I'm not man enough to sing tenor, and not cool enough to sing bass, but smart enough to dabble in both. We baritones get that leftover harmony too low for the tenors and too high for the basses, but not important enough for the lead singers. At least we're needed! A group would sound pretty shabby without us baritones! Or would they? Ralph Stanley and Ricky Skaggs both have recorded material featuring tenor, lead, and bass vocals with no baritone, and the result was award winning! Sheesh. Makes a man feel unwanted.
But take heart! As long as there are quartets (literally 4 people) there will be a need for baritones. Somebody has to sing those left over notes! We baritones can actually be pretty thankful our voices settled right in between everybody else's. Now we have become indispensable. You might say without us, quartets couldn't exist!
All you baritones like me must feel pretty special now, don't you? What can you expect? We're the most important guys on the team. If I was y'all I'd ask for a raise.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
A songwriter's sad tale.
Here I am. With the most poetic thoughts in the world flowing from my mind, to the paper in front of me. You might say I'm on a roll. I can just hear the next #1 hit freely leaping about in my brain. This is gonna be a good one!
All of a sudden, there's silence. Something has clogged the path from my head to my paper, and that magnificent piece of musical genius dies within me. Try though I may to revive the once spirited, buoyant, life of a would-be-winner, its too late. We'll never know how the song would've ended, nor will we hear that wonderful, catchy chorus everybody would've loved to join in on. A songwriter's tear falls from my eye in mourning of the passing of something that never became anything.
But thus is the life of a songwriter.
When I listen to music in my spare time, I listen to songs that have a lot of oomph in them. This musically correct term means that the melody and lyrics work together to make a song worth singing. I spend a lot of time studying musician's word choice and melody patterns in hopes that I too someday might write the next tear-jerker, or raise-your-hands-gospel song, or rambler ballad, whatever the case may be. I've tried to, believe me! The closest I got was what I consider my biggest hit: A Few Miles Down The Road. You haven't heard of it? Not many people have. Those who have heard it told me they liked it and some even learned the words to sing it! That is the biggest compliment any songwriter could get.
Ever listen to Celtic music? Some of the world's greatest lyricists are Celtic music writers. Bluegrassers are the same way. Folk music has its moments of glory as well. Just being in the crowd doesn't make me a good writer. I have to 1.) Start writing 2.) Keep writing and 3.) Write some more. Eventually, I may be able to do what so many songwriters are capable of doing.
But there's still the little problem of originality. "There's a girl on my mind I can't get over/ Yeah I'm dreaming about my Mary Ann/" Wait...have I heard this song before, or did I just write a good one?
Until then, I'll keep trying to put pen to paper and tell the world about life, hope, sorrow, and other such subjects. I'll write that song about a Civil War Battle (that I actually have to do research for). I'll write that song about my crush on Jennifer Willis (but I doubt she'll hear it, cause she doesn't know me from Adam's cat). I'll write that song about the '64 Cadillac I don't really have (but I'll write about it anyway in case the folks at Cadillac give me a free one).
Well, gotta go! There are songs to be written. Stay creative, my friends!
All of a sudden, there's silence. Something has clogged the path from my head to my paper, and that magnificent piece of musical genius dies within me. Try though I may to revive the once spirited, buoyant, life of a would-be-winner, its too late. We'll never know how the song would've ended, nor will we hear that wonderful, catchy chorus everybody would've loved to join in on. A songwriter's tear falls from my eye in mourning of the passing of something that never became anything.
But thus is the life of a songwriter.
When I listen to music in my spare time, I listen to songs that have a lot of oomph in them. This musically correct term means that the melody and lyrics work together to make a song worth singing. I spend a lot of time studying musician's word choice and melody patterns in hopes that I too someday might write the next tear-jerker, or raise-your-hands-gospel song, or rambler ballad, whatever the case may be. I've tried to, believe me! The closest I got was what I consider my biggest hit: A Few Miles Down The Road. You haven't heard of it? Not many people have. Those who have heard it told me they liked it and some even learned the words to sing it! That is the biggest compliment any songwriter could get.
Ever listen to Celtic music? Some of the world's greatest lyricists are Celtic music writers. Bluegrassers are the same way. Folk music has its moments of glory as well. Just being in the crowd doesn't make me a good writer. I have to 1.) Start writing 2.) Keep writing and 3.) Write some more. Eventually, I may be able to do what so many songwriters are capable of doing.
But there's still the little problem of originality. "There's a girl on my mind I can't get over/ Yeah I'm dreaming about my Mary Ann/" Wait...have I heard this song before, or did I just write a good one?
Until then, I'll keep trying to put pen to paper and tell the world about life, hope, sorrow, and other such subjects. I'll write that song about a Civil War Battle (that I actually have to do research for). I'll write that song about my crush on Jennifer Willis (but I doubt she'll hear it, cause she doesn't know me from Adam's cat). I'll write that song about the '64 Cadillac I don't really have (but I'll write about it anyway in case the folks at Cadillac give me a free one).
Well, gotta go! There are songs to be written. Stay creative, my friends!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Bluegrass...the manly way!
When I was starting out learning to play guitar, I did not own a capo. I never felt like I needed one, either. After all, I had never seen Chet Atkins use one (didn't look that hard for it, granted)! I figured only the "best" guitarists shunned such useless props.
But then I discovered the Key of B. That's right. That key which wouldn't sound right without a capo on the fourth fret. It has that sound that is guaranteed to put hair on your chest. That robust, crisp, resonate, powerful, driving, mash-y sound of that fourth fret Key of B inspired me to man up and use a capo. My early days of picking rarely saw the key of B, but after listening to the finest in Bluegrass, I couldn't imagine my music career apart from it!
The giants of bluegrass such as Terry Baucom, Tony Rice, JD Crowe, Doyle Lawson, even Mr. Monroe himself use this magnificent capo position to achieve nothing but that rugged bluegrass sound.
If you're planning to pick some bluegrass this week, do it the right way -- the MANLY way! Key of B; Bring it on, Son!
But then I discovered the Key of B. That's right. That key which wouldn't sound right without a capo on the fourth fret. It has that sound that is guaranteed to put hair on your chest. That robust, crisp, resonate, powerful, driving, mash-y sound of that fourth fret Key of B inspired me to man up and use a capo. My early days of picking rarely saw the key of B, but after listening to the finest in Bluegrass, I couldn't imagine my music career apart from it!
The giants of bluegrass such as Terry Baucom, Tony Rice, JD Crowe, Doyle Lawson, even Mr. Monroe himself use this magnificent capo position to achieve nothing but that rugged bluegrass sound.
If you're planning to pick some bluegrass this week, do it the right way -- the MANLY way! Key of B; Bring it on, Son!
Academia. A wonderful thing!
It is late at night and I am studying for a Calculus exam. What fun.
As I try to clear my head to think, a near impossible task at this hour, I realize how blessed I am to even be doing this. That's right! I get a real blessing out of cranking an all-nighter.
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "This is impossible! Nobody can read my mind!" and the second thing your thinking is "Mark, shouldn't you be studying instead of blogging?" You're right. Welcome to my random musings and short thoughts. Welcome to my blog.
As I try to clear my head to think, a near impossible task at this hour, I realize how blessed I am to even be doing this. That's right! I get a real blessing out of cranking an all-nighter.
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "This is impossible! Nobody can read my mind!" and the second thing your thinking is "Mark, shouldn't you be studying instead of blogging?" You're right. Welcome to my random musings and short thoughts. Welcome to my blog.
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