Pia Pia Piano

Well hiatus, brief post, hiatus, delay, lockdown, avoidance… perhaps time to get the blog going again.. 

A few things happening which I am quite excited about, new teaching, new job, new house, new bands… but lets start with a focus…

During lockdown there were lots of difficult things we had to face, which I am going to totally avoid talking about here.   But there were also some moments of pure joy (for me and I hope for others too!)  And one of these, which is still going strong for me is this:

I got a piano!   A real live piano, that actually works and plays the right notes when you press the keys.  The notes also stop when you lift your fingers and they are actually tuned to a semblance of the right sound.  This small thing is making such a difference to my musical life.   The ability to potter, to play, to do scales and work my fingers around the notes.   To bash out chords, and to do all this on a real instrument.  

Keyboards just don’t cut it.  No matter how responsive, how amazing the samples they use, they just aren’t real.  They don’t create real vibrations of wood and metal on a form that you can feel in the room.   It doesn’t matter that I’m no great shakes at the piano, for me there is never and has never been a temptation to pootle around on the keys of my (quite nice) electric piano keyboard, that has been sitting in my studio for the past 10 or 20 even years.  It just isn’t a joyful thing to work with.  However even my cheap, budget, small, slightly creaky new instrument pulls me almost every day to work and play, and practice.  

Its great!  

Every home should have one.  You don’t know you need one until it is there.  If you can’t play then try, and if you still can’t, get somebody else to come and play it for you! 

So now I have this truly mediocre but wonderfully joyful instrument what next….

One thing I have discovered is that I am very bad at learning new things.  I have a great repertoire of about twenty or so classical pieces that I can play through pretty well.  I learnt them as a teenager and they have stuck with me.  Done me proud in fact.   The problem is learning new things… my fingers lack the musical memory to learn new fingerings, lack the coordination to synchronise their motion whilst I curmudgeonly clamber through the notation.  Its frustrating to be limited in this way.  To see my weaknesses as a musical learner.  I’ve been working at a short piece of quite elementary Bach for about a month now, and I can just about get through it (with a strong following wind that is).   But actually for me that is enough.  Actually 20 or so pieces is enough to keep my interest at the moment.  Enough of a repertoire that I always need to tinker and perfect, practise and improve.  

Whats next then?   Well apart from perpetually cycling through this limited repertoire of music I do have some aims.   Jazz voicing has always eluded me, along with any real competence at playing in a jazz style.   Yes I’ve had good enough chops to hash through a rehearsal with my improvising pupils.  Yes I can do a rather bland walking bass, and thrash out some syncopated chords in the right hand, but I’ve never really applied myself to being able to play what I would describe as real ‘jazz piano’.  

There was a long journey back from a gig the other night, where a band compatriot inflicted a jazz piano podcast upon me.   It wasn’t fun listening to the instructional… just play this mode over this chord and it sounds… totally awesome because you are actually quite good…  

Anyhow… some kind of jazz journey, working out what I can do on this instrument could be quite exciting…. Expect updates soon.   

(or perhaps another hiatus…) 

Just the smallest loveliest piano in the world!

 

Jammy Jam

I’ve spent the last couple of days getting myself out there again as a jazz player.  It is easy to get yourself stuck in a rut as a musician, find groups and gigs where you are comfortable and stop challenging yourself technically and musically.  I’m making a public statement here that I’m trying to challenge myself at the moment, and am going to push myself and my playing in the future.

So with that in mind, I grabbed my saxophone on Sunday afternoon and headed off to Brighton.  I heard there were a couple of gigs on with some bands that might welcome the odd guest and so i jumped on the train and headed down to the coast.  First up was a gig at The Seven Stars from Harry’s Tricks  I could hear the session was already in progress as I wandered down the sun drenched laines to the pub.  The band were really storming away in their first set with a blend of 20’s style slightly gypsy jazz accompanied by Dimitri with a really melodic trumpet and valve trombone sound.  A friend introduced me at their break and I was up and playing for most of the second set.  Lots of new tunes that I hadn’t heard before, and some unusual standards too.  The band were really accommodating and I felt immediately at home in front of a hugely appreciative (and often bopping) audience.

Next off was a quick walk along the Seafront down the Lion and Lobster to see the marvellous Lawrence Jones and his band in action.  I had heard lots about Lawrence in the past from other musicians, all highly complementary about his encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz and his superb instrumental skills.  However I hadn’t ever met Lawrence in person until Sunday.  What a guy.  He is such a larger than life character both in his gritty stage persona, his intense jazz soloing, an his equally gritty vocal delivery.  I was slightly nervous just tuning up to Lawrence’s gig… he has a reputation for demanding the best out of the musicians around him, and to be honest I haven’t turned up and sat in on a band for years!  But nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I gladly accepted the invitation to come up and join him on a few numbers in the second set.  Lawrence’s band were really blistering and there was some great jazz happening in the pub that night.   His band have been a regular fixture at The Lion and Lobster for years and you can see why with the quality and variety of music Lawrence had put together.  And again some really unusual jazz tunes that I had never heard before!

Sitting in with these bands was a real treat, and I got to have a really worthwhile play at both sessions.  So Monday night I was all set for another outing, and this time headed down to Brighton with the aim of checking out some of the jam sessions that were on.

Again I haven’t played at a jam session for years.  I used to run a great session myself on Green Lanes in London many years ago, and I know there is a real skill in making these evenings work.  Making sure everybody gets a fair play, keeping the house band busy (and paid!) and keeping the egos out of the room as much as possible.   Some jam session can be really competitive, but the music I played yesterday in Brighton was all collaborative and supportive and musical!

First up was the Acid Jazz Jam led by Simon Brewin down at the Latest Music Bar.  This jam was in a great venue, a real music venue with full sound system and monitors for the band.  Simon is just getting this session up and running but it has real potential with an amazing rhythm section, Tom Phelan on keyboards was as ever a true musical star and really kept a variety to the sounds and the tunes being played, (which can be a problem with the funkier sessions!)

I came and joined the band for an atmospheric rendition of Maiden Voyage (which I could barely remember the notes for… must practise…) and an extremely funky version of The Chicken.  It was all good stuff, but the funky, explorative style of the music meant we could move away from the chords and have a bit of freedom.  It was great to play with a band that were really listening and thinking musically!

Next of was a walk across town to Chequers, a really fabulous, tiny pub which has just started hosting guitarist Tony Williams and his A Train Jazz Jam.

Tony has gone through a few venues with this session recently, but I hope that he has found a permanent home at this new pub, as it is a great venue with a really relaxed vibe.  There is barely enough room for the band to be honest (was great moving around to let people get up to the bar!) but that meant you were really up amongst the audience who seemed to be really into the music going on.  Tony had a superb rhythm section on the gig with Alex Eberhart on drums and Andre Fry on bass,  I was amongst friends and joined the band for most of their second set.  Some great tunes, and lovely playing alongside Phillipe Guyard on some double tenor numbers.

And so for the last train home and some bit thoughts and aims for the future…  It is time to get practising.   Playing in new environments has thrown up some tunes that I know I need to work at now.. and some tunes that are too easy a choice, cliched and I need to avoid playing.

i just need a plan to help me juggle all the folk and the jazz sessions now!

 

Open Mics?

This week I went on a bit of a mini-tour of some open mic sessions, performing with Jacqui Sampson as our new folk ‘band’ The Wildest Way.  We had a great couple of nights playing to some great crowds at a couple of marvellous venues in the South East of England.  The tunes we played went down really well (I think!) and we had a wonderful time listening to the other performers around us.

Highlights:  There were some great moments of proper music that it was a joy to be in the audience for.  The best things were the unexpected and quirky things that we wouldn’t have seen at a ‘normal’ gig.  The Schubert lieder performed beautifully on the pub piano, the bizarre but perfectly unanticipated keyboard electronica performance with equally perfect growled vocals, the proper blues played on harmonica and slide guitar showing that melancholy doesn’t have to be sentimental.

Leider at The Brunswick, Hove

Lowlights: The plague of singer / songwriters with mock melancholy angst… [ find yourself another outlet for your therapy! ], The scariest of prima donnas shouting abuse at people closing a door slightly too noisily as they came in to listen during her exquisitely painful creations.. [This could have also been a highlight, as it had Jacqui and me giggling in terror throughout the rest of her performance!]

Great session in action at The Trolley Stop, Tooting, London

I’ve been playing regularly at various open mic sessions for the last 18 months or so.  The first one went to was down in Cornwall a couple of years ago, where I went down and didn’t dare to get my banjo out to play on. [things have changed a bit there...] In my mind I didn’t know of anything like this that happened near me and it was a wonderful part of the Cornish folk thing…. I have since learnt that there is so much of this happening on my doorstep that I had just not realised was there before.  On any weekday night there is a plethora of different venues with various styles of sessions going on with a wonderful cast of local musicians sharing the stage together.

However there are issues that people raise… about how open mics devalue music…  Pubs and venues get used to paying for a single person to run things and bands then miss out on bookings.  But on the other hand bands are expensive and if having an open session means that a pub can actually get live music in this way rather than none surely that is a good thing!  These sessions are also fantastic in that they give a beautiful chance for people of all walks of life to get up and perform in front of a friendly audience. Performers who couldn’t manage (or have no urge to put on) a whole gig can perform and more experience players can try out new material, network and get better known by venues.

I think the issue with open mics is more subtle though.  For me its more about the platform that these sessions create.  Our pubs and the music we play in them should be more shared, and we shouldn’t need a special night, a PA system and a stage to make this happen.  All we need is musicians who are willing to perform in, and with, their community and venues to have the confidence to make it happen.  Pubs should have pianos that are open and encouraged to be used, pub goers should turn up with an instrument and expect to play it.   Everybody should have their own song and be encouraged to sing it!

I have blogged previously about professionalism in music here. Maybe I’m hankering after some rustic idyll that can’t exist in our society, [but if it does let me know! ] but for me the Open Mic session promotes the idea of the professional performer rather than detracting from it.  Musicians end up doing mini gigs, with mini sets of their own music, rather than something collaborative.  The open mic is somehow too much about the ego and not about the musical experience.

I’ll still be going to the sessions near me.  There are some great ones in local pubs and I love performing alongside the other musicians there.  I do love these sessions, both watching and playing at them, but somehow I feel that they and the musicians at them could offer more!

 

Straight No Chaser Big Band Latest Vid

Managed to capture a good clip from our Straight No Chaser gig last month at The Brunswick.  This beautiful arrangement is adapted from the original Porgy and Bess version.  Performed by Jacqui Sampson on vocals.   Hope you enjoy.

 

Lessons In Music

I had my first music lesson for almost 20 years at the weekend, courtesy of the great folks at http://www.dailyfrail.com. Pat (A.K.A Dear Old Dad) met up with me via Skype for a slot we had arranged earlier in the week and we had a good chat, and worked through some tunes. Pat was very kind and helpful, offering me some really excellent nuggets of advice. He had very thoughtfully already checked out my playing on some of my YouTube clips and so was prepared with some ideas that would be useful for me.

Not having a lesson for 20 years is not entirely true… I guess as musicians we are constantly learning from those around us. Every gig or rehearsal is a lesson in some way or another and I guess part of graduating to becoming a musician is your formal learning transforms into continual informal learning through experience.

Spending the time with Pat at the weekend made me consider how we learn, and how we teach. Having taught music for many years now, both in the classroom and in private instrumental lessons, I have learnt how to overcome musical problems and how to impart this to others. I know how to work out exercises to overcome technical difficulties. Unless there is some technique I don’t actually understand, or physically am not capable of, then issues are simply a matter of time and determination to overcome. (Some things take more time and energy than others though…) For pupils who have been learning for some time lessons are much more about coaching and encouraging. The pupils know inside what they need to do, they just need somebody to push them to do it! Expression and performance is a matter of experience. Go and see performers play, and watch what they do, listen to recordings, analyse, transcribe and learn. You just need a willingness to self analyse, and determination to improve.

So what is the point of the teacher?

I am very glad I met with Pat. Having seen him many times in his videos it was so nice to chat and play alongside him in real time. It was wonderful that he could give me confidence in what I was currently doing, and what I needed to work at. I kind of knew these things, but I feel better about what I am doing having talked it through with another person. The lesson did help me and I have improved because of it.

So what next?

Well Pat has suggested we hook up for a ‘Skype jam’ at some point, which sounds great, not sure if i trust the laggy internet for this yet, but it would be a great thing to do, jamming with another guy thousands of miles away sounds like a great experience, so I may have to take him up on this!

Pat (and son Patrick) are offering all their knowledge for free through their Daily Frail videos, as well as currently setting up lessons via Skype to those that ask for it. (Please check out their website at http://www.dailyfrail.com ) I trying to work out how I can pass on my musical skills in a similar fashion. Being able to teach in order to share positive experience sounds like such a marvellous ideal, but how could I do so in my community? I need to work past my experience that my musical skills are a commodity that have to be sold, to a place where they are something I can share with others.

I haven’t got a plan yet… but I’m working on it….  Anybody need a music lesson in Sussex?

 

Blue Sky Thinking

Over the past couple of months I’ve been jamming and singing with a great fiddle player and singer: Elle Osborne.  After the first time we played together I met Elle at her ‘off the gird’ place on the South Downs overlooking Lewes.  We performed and sang some great tunes in the end of summer sunshine with the crickets and birds joining in with the music.  Since then we have played many times together and I have been working at filming some of the pieces that we performed under bright blue skies.

It really is amazing how easy it is to produce a quality recording even without power.  There have been some issues such as wind being picked up in the mics (Elle’s socks double up well as wind shields) and Fifi (the dog) having excitable moments with pheasants and other wildlife during recordings.  There is other noise to deal with too such as overhead aircraft (that we could never see!) or the neighbour along the hill setting to his trees with his chainsaw during all our good takes on a perfect recording day a few weeks ago… (Grrr).  But playing in a beautiful environment with the sounds of nature around you can’t be beat!

I’ve learnt masses doing these recordings.  Musically it has been a great journey, discovering Elle’s extensive repertoire and learning so much about the history of folk music in Sussex and across the water. Working out how to accompany another voice on the banjo and really following tiny nuances to get a performance with freedom that is still totally together.  The fiddle and cello work so well with the banjo, sustain and harmony pairing with percussion and rhythm,  I’ve also learnt back in my studio about the practicalities of video editing, syncing and mixing acoustic folk music too…

A couple of weeks ago we finally got together a recording that we were really happy with.  The light was right, (the chainsaw didn’t intrude too much) the equipment all worked, and we got a good image paired with a performance we were really happy with.

So please enjoy our version of The Ballad Of Alain Bain

Elle and I have also recorded a studio version of this song which is has been released on  Shirley Collins: A Life In Song

You can find out more about Elle’s music at www.elleo.com

 

Learning and Teaching

A new day job this year puts both teaching and learning in the frame for what I do.  Both have to work together and this seems to be happening constantly in my musical life at the moment.

Over the past year or so I’ve been thoroughly inspired by frailing banjo guru Patrick Costello, who has, without even meeting this delightful fellow, taught me as much about music as lessons at the most established music conservatoires in this country.

 

 

Patrick is an inspiration both because of his innate musical talent and his ability to frame concepts with encouragement and friendliness that makes him a truly great teacher. However I am also inspired by his attitude to what learning is, and what music is as a cultural activity and concept.

Often I see and hear so called professional musicians and musical teachers complaining about the woes of their profession and the economics of their life earning their living from their trade. Comparisons to the rates of plumbers seem the norm, as do the complaints of non-professionals stealing their gigs.

I won’t be popular with my compatriots for saying this, but i believe that music is higher than this. If you are a true musician then you play because you love it. You perform and practise because it is something you love and wish to excel at. You want to share your performances with others, preferably lots of them! But dilemmas always arise over how this can make your living.

In my mind at least, once upon a time communities were made of people who all worked together. Some had trades and some of these might have been musicians. But being a musician is more than a trade, it is being part of your community. Without a community and an audience a musician is nothing. Performing requires and audient, it is a two way process with the performer as reliant on their response as the listener is on the musical experience.

This leads me to think of the current situation of professional musicians. Constant complaints about lack of pay for gigs, and the demise of the profession leave me cold. I play music because I love it. I can practise (occasionally) for hours each day. I don’t do this because I see a pay cheque for it coming. I do this because music is part of my being and something that I strive to improve myself at. I don’t do this because I see it as a loss-leader with pay as the ultimate goal.

If you want to earn money take up a profession that will give you your salty salary. If you want to be a musician then just do so, and don’t think that the world owes you a living, no matter how expensive your instruments were, or how many degrees you have.

This brings me back to Patrick Costello, who, despite being a thoroughly amazing musician and inspirational person generally, also sees music as a thing you do, rather than a profession. If you want a lesson with him (wherever you live in the world) you are invited just to ask him! (Skype is wonderful thing!). From Patrick’s perspective this is so that learning and sharing music isn’t about financial ties. It is something you need to do, if you want to do it, and all should be free and able to sit at that table. Patrick does not charge for his lessons.

I haven’t had a lesson from Patrick yet. Despite (or because of) being a teacher for many years I am still nervous about asking for help and opening myself up to learning in that way… But I have been told to man up already by the banjomeister himself.. so it may just be a matter of time before I report back here on progress being made

If you want to find out more about what Patrick does you can find him at www.dailyfrail.com

 

Folk Recordings

Just after this Xmas I managed to meet up with Henry Senior and Jacqui Sampson on the pretext of getting some tunes together to perform at a big birthday bash at my place soon after.   Well the get together unfortunately lasted until the pub kicked us out at 5 in the morning… slight tension with Mrs Bondonno that evening…  But the music was great and I have been working away at recording a few tracks with my accomplices over the past month or so.   Working at the recordings really helped with my playing.   I was able to focus much more on my singing (if you can tell!) and force myself to be a lot more diligent with my banjo technique…  i even did a little bit of bass!

Well the results of these endeavours are now up on my Soundcloud channel and are also here for your delectation.  Feel free to let me know what you think.

 

 

Wowotastic

 

Well Wowo turned out to be more amazing than could possibly have been expected.  Last time I was down there were some lovely laid back tunes around the camp fire, but this time we were treated to some amazingly talented musicians performing in the sites new and huge tipi.  One of the highlights were Georgia Lewis and Friends, a Brighton based folk group singing with close harmonies and driving rhythms on so many Irish tunes.  I will certainly be checking them out at a gig again soon, and it was a privilege to be able to play alongside them during the evening.   But the talent didn’t stop there as there were performers coming out with top class tunes from all around the tent.  Dave and Mary were also completely excellent (not sure now if Mary was Dave’s accordion or the singer performing after him… but both were great to be honest)  The American tunes from my banjo went down well and I’m looking forward to popping back again at a weekend soon.

The sun was out too for the weekend, and on the Sunday Ceara managed to video me doing a couple of tunes after a very laid back afternoon catching the rays (and recovering from the all night music the previous day!)  Catch a bit of it here: