Bob Jenkins - 12 Steps and a Winding Road

I just received Bob Jenkins superb new CD, "12 Steps and a Winding Road." Though certainly everybody would enjoy this music, it is aimed at a specific community of people with a background in addictions and recovery. The songs are poignant and true.

Since the days of Edison, the music business has had a problem in that the audience has been largely anonymous. It is very difficult to market even a well-known artist to the masses. A much better approach is to identify and target a very specific group. If you can identify your fans by name and address, it is even better. That is where the music business is today.

An artist needs millions of fans if they don't know who they are. If you have their names and e-mail address, a few thousand is plenty. If you know exactly what they want to hear, you are all set.

Bob Jenkins new CD is right on target. You can contact Bob at coloringmoses@yahoo.com.

Jim's Tips #18

Since I am longer producing 100 concerts a year, I don’t have as many suggestions for improving your show as I did when I watched people make simple mistakes night after night. But I have a few suggestions for becoming a better musician.

Always, or almost always, practice with a drum machine or metronome. I used to think I had a good sense of timing until I bought a basic Alesis SR-16 drum machine. I practice with it all the time now. Musicians I have known for years have commented about how solid my timing is. They never said anything before. Developing a good sense of time is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a musician.

Practice with a tape recorder or other recording device. Hearing yourself as others do can be a real eye-opener. It is also the fastest way I know to improve.

Play out as much as you can. My experience is that I learn about ten times faster in front of an audience than I do at home in my music room.

The nicest thing you can do for your fellow musicians at a rehearsal or jam session is to pass out a chord chart. Some cats can follow by ear, but most can’t. A simple lead sheet or chord chart will make friends in a hurry.

Music listening

Though I haven’t done any hard research, I’ve been doing some guessing and casual surveys about the way people relate to music.

I have heard that 90% of the population listens to music a little, but are not interested enough to listen to even one song all the way through without talking or thinking of something else. These are the people who buy records and go to concerts. It is extremely hard to get and keep their attention because they really don’t understand music or even care that much. This is the challenge for performers in a nut shell.

Less than 10% of the population are musicians, or musically inclined enough that they like a variety of genre’s and can identify tempos, chord changes, etc. About 3% of the people can play a musical instrument.

The weird part to me is that there is another group, maybe 10% of the total, that doesn’t like music at all. These people never listen to music on the radio, don’t own a CD player or tape machine, and believe that music detracts from the movies or a worship service. I know people that cannot name one song or one performer by name.

So that’s the gamut as near as I can tell. The listening experiences by population would look like a bell curve with musicians on one tail and the music haters on the other, with the big majority in the middle centered round the people who only like one style of music or a limited number of pop artists.

What is your experience?

Jim's Tips - Over playing

Much popular music is overproduced with too many instruments and too much noise going on. Yet when I’m on stage playing, I tend to do the very thing I find so annoying with other groups – namely playing too much.

Taste is the missing ingredient. Playing just the right note at the right time is much better than playing a blaze of notes that don’t fit and only drawing attention to the player and annoying the audience. I’m as bad about this as anyone, but I see the problem and am trying to do better.

I think the reason that many bands play too loud is because each person is trying to be heard over the clutter. As everybody keeps turning up, eventually the audience is heading for the door with their ears ringing, and everybody in the band is blissfully happy that their bit came through. I know - I’ve been there.

This may come from age or maturity, but figuring out that you don’t have to play everything you know, is right up there with learning that you don’t have to tell all you know when speaking. We say what is important to advance the conversation. In music we should only play what is necessary to advance the musical conversation – and not step on somebody else, like the singer for example.

The most common complaint I hear about bands is that you can’t understand the words or that the vocals aren’t loud enough. The real problem is that a lead instrument is covering up the vocals.

I’ve read several articles in music magazines and blogs about this lately, so it must be a topic that is hitting home. It all comes down to listening to what the band is playing and not just trying to get your licks in whether they fit or not.

If we consider that a piece of music is like a photograph or painting, there needs to be some white space, or neutral space, so the important parts can breathe. In a photograph we need to be able to quickly see the subject. If the whole page is covered with information we tend to dismiss the whole thing. It is the same with music.

Chew on the meat and spit out the bones and happy gigging.

Jim

Recording session

This weekend I worked a recording session. I don’t think anybody, particularly me, was overly excited with my performance. When I expressed my frustration to my wife, she was not surprised. She reminded me that I am an entertainer, not a studio musician. Session musician and entertainer are on the opposite ends of the personality spectrum for musicians. This has nothing to do with musical skills and everything to do with personality type.

I am at my best in front of an audience. I get energy from the crowd. Playing with people that I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing music with, doing a song I’ve done a hundred times, in front of a full house is the best. Sitting in a sound proof room with headphones on, playing a song I’ve only played a couple of times, is no fun at all.

That is why big time recording artists use studio musicians to record and take another band on the road. They are two different types of people. Great studio musicians generally lack stage presence or are uncomfortable on stage, and entertainer types are uncomfortable or lack energy, at best, in a studio.

Comments?

Las Vegas

About 35 years ago my wife and I were in Las Vegas. We happened to notice in the local paper that B.B. King was playing in the lounge at the Holiday Inn. We went down and for a few dollars, spent a couple of hours with the “King of the Blues” at the very height of his career. Since then I had just assumed that the best music in Vegas was in the lounges and that the big rooms were for the likes of Barry Manalow and Cher.

Last week I was in Las Vegas and saw where a duo was playing in the hotel lounge. As I approached I heard what sounded like an eight-piece band playing old Motown, Stax, and Chess tunes, you know, ‘60’s R&B. When I looked in, I was surprised to see two guys singing along to tracks. I am sorry, but the subtle differences between singing cover tunes to tracks and Karaoke is lost on me. I am glad I had not paid any money to get in.

The next day I went to a Beach Boys concert. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston were as good as ever, backed by five wonderful musicians, who I am sure were not born when the Beach Boys were formed in 1961. Which brings up the question, when does a band become a “tribute band” to themselves? When the last original member is gone? Or is a band not a tribute band (impersonators) as long as there is a direct link to the original?

I’ve been listening to http://www.rockabillyradio.net lately and loving it. That early rock and roll is just good time music. As a result Sky Blue http://www.skyblueband.net/ has been taking on a little more of a “rockabilly” flavor. I think this is a good thing. It sort of makes me wish I still had my 1950’s Gibson ES-125, the one with the single P-90 pickup. I traded it for a 1961 Thunderbird in 1967, but that’s another story.

Worship vs Entertainment

The period from about 1500 AD until 2000 AD is generally known as the Modern Era. We are quickly slipping into the Post-Modern Era.

One of the characteristics of the Modern Era was the elevation of science to a religion. As a result of the Modern Era, other religions, such as Christianity, must now answer to science in the public forum. Christians find themselves defending themselves against things like evolution and astronomy.

Another characteristic of the Modern Era is that art, music, and literature have been subjugated to math, science, and engineering to the point where the arts are only considered good for entertainment, not to be taken seriously like math, science, or medicine, for example.

One of the problems we have in the church is that the things we use to worship God - music, drama, dance, & art - are considered nothing more than entertainment by the secular world. Since we are so influenced by the modern culture, we find ourselves increasing the entertainment value of our worship. (Worship, of course, should not be confused with Christian entertainment which can be a form of outreach.)

I don’t see an obvious solution, except to draw a harder line between entertainment and worship and find new ways to worship God. In my opinion, our worship times are too entertaining and Christian entertainment is little different than worship.

Since we are rapidly moving into the Post-Modern Era, this problem may get sorted out as the arts once again take a prominently place in society.

What do you think?