Crowdsourcing for Aspiring Musicians

By Musicteachers911 contributing writer, Marina Salsbury

A relatively new phenomenon among musicians that was born on the capabilities of high speed Internet connections is crowdsourcing. A PhD program level definition by Merriam-Webster describes the concept as, “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” In other words, crowdsourcing uses the internet to scale projects at a level and efficiency never known before. The respected dictionary site also states that the first known use of the word was in 2006.

With traditional avenues of distribution steadily losing market share, an individual or band needs to expand their outreach to fans through innovative ways. In today’s tech-savvy landscape, fans have come to expect a more personal way of connecting to their favorite artists. Crowdsourcing offers a way to not only do so but also a way in which to tap into the creativity of their listeners.

The popularity of mash-ups is an example of how the idea can be effectively implemented. Bands such as Nine Inch Nails have reached out to their fans seeking these clever re-mixes. Posting stems of a song on the Internet, the band allowed listeners to download and mix to their hearts content. Some of the results were compelling, but by doing this they achieved an even more important goal. They have increased fan loyalty which translates into more sales.

A related track is posting free music. British progressive rock band Marillion garnered increased sales after posting a recent album in its entirety. Those downloading were required to watch a short video from the band plainly explaining what they were trying to accomplish. Other artists have reported exponential increases in sales after posting free music.

YouTube is another essential channel for today’s musician. Even simple videos engender a greater connection with fans when posted. There is also the distant promise of one’s video going viral. Don’t scoff; stranger things have happened.

A different type of outlet being utilized today is Kickstarter. Their website offers applicants a way to finance projects by seeking donations from interested parties. An artist submits a project through their website. They offer certain incentives such as their new album for a twenty-five dollar donation. Kickstarter then either approves the project or asks you to tweak it some more. Once online, you have a deadline (set by you) to raise the amount of funds you are seeking. By harnessing the collective ability of the internet to finance large-scale projects, Kickstarter has helped many aspiring musicians self-produce and distribute their music.

Crowdsourcing is just the tip of the iceberg in outreach to fans. Other Internet avenues such as Facebook and ReverbNation are also excellent avenues to pursue. If an artist or band uses all of these to make the fans their most important resource, they will find their popularity on the increase.

Plan B?

Last night, I was to play piano with an 18 piece swing band for a local Christian radio shows remote broadcast at a local attraction, The Christmas farm. Every year this farm displays over one million lights depicting the life of Christ. The venue is truly spectacular.

The show was started at 4 pm. We were recording two broadcasts, one at 5 and one at 7 (with a short rehearsal for bumper music in between).

The first show started off great. Then, the clock struck 5:30, the time when the light displays are to be illuminated. That is when everything got very dark!

Needless to say, one million Christmas lights, a 32 channel PA, and 1000 watt radio transmitter tend to draw more than it's share of electrical power. I think I actually heard the transformer "POP" over the sound of all our horns.

So there we were, the live audience, a swing band, the radio show hosts all sitting in total darkness.

Then, a small Christmas moment occurred.

From the crowd, a tiny flame from a cigarette lighter startd to flicker. It was immediately followed by another lighting one of the hundreds of Christmas candles that were for sale in the Christmas store.

From the dim glow, I saw a very old church piano near the stage. I grabbed the music and winked at the band leader. He knew in an instant what I was scheming.

"The show must go on!" he said.

One by one, audience members entered the stage bearing candles. The church piano was so old that it had candle holders mounted on either side of the music tray. I couldn't help but wonder how many carols were played by candle light by church musicians before electricity became the norm.

Since the show was no longer broadcasting, the pressure was off as we were pretty much free to do whatever we felt like.

I started playing "Silent Night" as one by one, the horns entered improvising luscious harmonies. The crowd sang rather well and the moment was truly inspiring.

After about 20 minutes of traditional carols shared by audience and band alike, the power was restored. Personally, I was a little disappointed as this signaled we had to re-enter the 21st century and get back to work.

The shows continued, uninterrupted.

Afterwords, everyone was musing about how the carol sing was the best part of the evening.

My mind hearkened back to a time long ago in Bethlehem where the first Christmas miracle lay in a lowly manger lit by candles an ancient torches.

After forty plus years of performing, one thing I have learned is that there is always a "Plan B".

Luckily, last nights Plan B was the best part of all!


good gigging!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

Be Happy, make money

Be Happy, make money

It's no secret that December is the biggest money making month for professional musicians (with June weddings as a close second).

With this years holiday events abounding, I am totally booked up with great paying gigs, while many of my more talented musicians friends aren't nearly as busy.

Wonder why?

There is much more to being a professional musician than musicallity (although that is a big part).

Your overall persona is a HUGE factor when an event committee is choosing just the right form of entertainment.

1. If it's a Holiday gig, I wear FESTIVE clothing. Sometimes, it's a Santa Hat, of maybe a cheery bright red Christmas tie.

2. I arrive early at each venue THRILLED to be there! I show that I am honored to have been selected to be a part of their very special occasion. To me, every performance is a special occasion.

3. During the breaks, I mingle with the crowd and am genuinely interested in how they will be spending the holidays I really listen to them and play all requests ( even if I've already played the same songs before).

4. I am especially attentive to any kids in attendance (being an elementary teacher gives me an advantage as I can dial in on the special interests of each age group).
You would be surprised at how many children of event planners beg their folks to have me back at annual events.

5. Nobody wants a sour puss at the party!
You have an opportunity to be much more than a musician. You can be the "pied piper" leading the crowd to an evening of exciting and cherished memories.

6. Accept payment with a grateful heart and let the host know that it was the best event that you have played all year. Compliment the decor and the quality of attendees.

7. Trade their check for a bunch of your business cards. Many future gigs depend on having your contact info handy when their guests ask them about hiring you for their future events like those upcoming June wedding.

good gigging!

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

Hostile Takeover!

Well, after forty plus years of playing professionally, I still encounter situations that educate, and yes, frustrate.

Case in point?

I was to play electric bass guitar in a combo hired to accompany a local college choir for their concert.

Like the good band mate that I am, I packed my bass and rather large (and quite heavy amp) to the music building auditorium. Although I am pushing sixty, I would rather strain myself for a few minutes before the performance, than suffer emotionally hearing my bass part played through an inferior, yet much lighter amp. I also owe it to the director, students and other band members to give it my best.

Then enter the guitar player with an amp the size of a two-slice toaster!

After the first selection, he reached over with his guitar cord in hand and said, "I can't hear myself over the band, mind if I plug into your amp?"

Before I could answer, he unplugged my bass from channel one, and reinserted me into the aux channel and plugged his ax where I was.

Instantly, the bass tone tanked, and my instrument was speaking softer than his guitar was before the switch.

But wait...............

it gets worse!

The next song was a slow ballad in which the guitarist played some really sour clunkers!

The director, horns and rest of the rhythm section glared at me as the offending tonal onslaught was coming from my amp set-up. (For those who don't play guitar or bass, the lowest notes of the guitar overlap the highest notes of the bass. Therefore, if the chord chart calls for a G chord in the first inversion (G/B), the guitar is actually playing a third lower than the bass note).

result?

A muddy gloppy sludge of low tones a major third apart trying to be produced by the same speaker.

So what to do?

Do I suffer in silence and keep a brave face as the everyone grimaces at me?

Do I start a nasty input fight on stage which takes the focus from those college students who have worked hard all semester for this night?

What would you have done?

write me at:

larry @musicteachers911.com

I would love your opinion on this.

Back to the story.........


So what did I do?

You'll have to wait for the next post to hear that, and the summery of your responses.


good gigging!

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

Can you hear me now?

Last week, I was playing bass for a local gospel festival. I was the resident bass player for every gospel choir at the event. Some choirs had as few as five members while others had over sixty.


As the house PA system was rather small, so there was no direct box for me and I was to balance my instrument with the choirs by adjusting the volume of the bass amp onstage. The biggest problem with that scenario is that it's impossible to know if my bass is balanced with the mix from the back of the hall since I am onstage.

Solution?

I gave the sound engineer for the vocals my cell phone number and asked him to to text me at the beginning of each group to let me know if the bass was overpowering or inaudible.

I then placed my phone on my music stand. Within 30 seconds of the first numbers, my phone would vibrate and display the text instructing me to turn up or down.

It worked like a dream.

Good gigging!

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

Music Teacher Power!

Music Teachers,

Ever feel helpless about the conditions in your neighborhood or workplace?

Fear not!

This Tuesday, November 8th, is the perfect opportunity to find your inner Teacher Power!

VOTE!

By making informed selections at the ballot box, you decide your state and local representatives and which agenda they promote.

Cut taxes or social programs?

Big business or labor?

Educational funding increases or cuts.

November 12 is Veteran's Day. Many in our armed forces made the ultimate sacrifice to insure your right vote. Please respect them and exercise your civic duty by casting your vote.

Good Gigging!

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

College Musicians

(by musicteachers911 featured writer, Marina Salsbury)

College Musicians

One of the most common stereotypes among budding musicians is that of the starving artist, and nowhere is this stereotype more true than in college. Many college musicians find it a challenge to balance their music, college courses, family, and work, all while trying to maintain a social life and pay their bills. Juggling all these elements can become difficult, but it's very possible for college musicians to keep up with it all.

One of the biggest obstacles for college musicians are the costs involved with playing music. Professional instruments can reach into the thousands of dollars, traveling to and from gigs can be a heavy financial burden, and to top it all off most college musicians don't get paid much. The truth is many college musicians end up playing bars and coffeehouses, and these gigs typically pay either a percentage of the door or might just pay in free drinks. It's not until performers have built up a name for themselves that they can begin to expect to make any kind of real money, and this could take years to achieve. As a result, many college musicians end up taking part-time jobs on the side to help fund their ambitions.



College musicians also have to try to balance a social life with their aspirations, which can be difficult at times. Between practicing, performing, and writing music, a college musician may not have time to hang out with friends or go out. Thankfully, musicians often form friendships through their music, either with fans or with other performers, and so music becomes a social network unto itself. On the other hand, musicians who make these connections may still need to form and maintain friendships outside of tightly knit musical circles.



However, the biggest challenge most college musicians face is trying to keep up with their studies. All too often, a student musician may develop dreams of quitting school and becoming a superstar, leading to lessened attention in classes, slipping grades, or worse, dropping out of college altogether. Musicians faced with this problem need to remember they can still continue to follow their musical dreams while remaining in college, and that completing their studies could prove crucially important in the long run. It can be difficult to strike a balance between believing in your dream and living in the real world, but by finishing their degrees musicians stand better chances of succeeding in the future, whether in music or in another discipline.


So what's a musician to do in college? The short answer: get grit. There's no easy fix, and no way around the fact that being a serious musician and a college student at the same time is just tough. If you're going to make it work, you have to buckle down and focus on what's important to you.

Knowing your priorities is key. On the broader level, if you've decided to keep up commitments to college and music, there's still some wiggle room in how much you put into each. It's a lot easier, for instance, to just keep up with practicing music while you're in college and maybe perform casually. Remember that you've got a finite amount of time and energy to go around, and that college is going to take a fair portion. Balancing what you spread out between your musical, social, and personal lives means thinking hard about how much each means to you.

If performing seriously really is your passion, recognize and accept the impact it'll have on other aspects of your college life. Know that equipment and performance expenses will mean finding part-time work until gig earnings at least let you break even. Know that practices and concerts will mean less time to hang out and party, at least with some friends. Know that playing late-night lounges and clubs may mean heading back to campus to sleep in front of the door of your first class in the morning to make sure you'll be on time.

If you can face all this and still know you're up for it, then you've got the resolution to do what it takes. If you find yourself cringing, that's OK. It just means you still need to spend some time getting your priorities straight.

College is supposed to be a time of learning and growth, and being a musician certainly affords those opportunities through meeting new people, performing in public, and learning about yourself through music and performance. By taking the time to really think about what's important right now, as well as what will be important later on, college musicians should be able to find ways to still pursue their dreams without forfeiting education.

Good giging!

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

Top Ten reasons how Steve Jobs accomplishments have changed Music Education.

I know that many of you mourn the passing of Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers.

I would like to take just a moment to reflect on how his contributions to music education have affected Music Education over the last 30 years.

Here's what teaching music was like for me in 1976 (before computers).

1. I would write and arrange music by hand with an ink pen on staff paper.

2. I taught general music with chalk and record player.

3. I would have to wind the metronome before checking tempos

4. I created letters on a manual typewriter and used white-out instead of the delete key.

5. I carried a pocket calendar from the bank and a miniature golf pencil around for scheduling.

6. I carried dimes for making phone calls when I wasn't at home.

7. My class room had one electrical outlet for my entire music program.

8. I recorded my concerts via cassette tape

9. I carried a city map in my car's glove compartment.

10. There was enough money in the school budget so music teachers were continually hired , not let go.

good gigging!

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

Eric Loy, guitoonist

While hosting the local GUITARFEST event in our area, I was chatting backstage with Eric Loy, one of the performers,. It turns out that he is also a talented cartoonist. (I prefer guitoonist). After successfully attaining his permission to post these, I hope that you enjoy some of his latest creations....


good gigging,

Larry Marra
www.musicteachers911.com

Know when to hold 'em

Anyone old enough to remember the lyrics to the Kenny Roger's song, "The Gambler" will know the phrase, "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em". This is pretty sage advise when dealing with a student who has lost interest in playing an instrument.

Despite your love of music, it's important to realize that not everyone shares your enthusiasm for performance art. Some people march to a different drummer. (pardon the pun).

Case in point.........

I developed an interest in playing a band instrument in the fourth grade after seeing the local high school band perform at my elementary school. Unfortunately, the only instrument my folks could afford was the clarinet my mother played 15 years earlier in the University of Dayton Marching Band that resided under her bed. The pads were as old and hard as a jalopy tire!

After three weeks of squeaking and squawking, my teacher (the same HS band director) wisely advided me to quit.

Being only eight years old, I emotionally recovered as soon as football season arrived.

The I started junior high........

I must have suffered from ADHD decades before the condition became a popular diagnosis, because my grades were horrible and I found myself in the principal's office for fighting on more than several occasions. Upon one unscheduled visit to the office, the same band director that started me on clarinet wandered into the office.

"fighting again?" he quipped. "Yup" I replied.

Then he uttered a phrase which changed my life.....

"Do you want to hit something that doesn't hit back? "

I left the office under his "custody" and started a very successful journey as the school's bass drummer. I must admit that; during a fews rough days, I broke more than my share of head and mallets. Miraculously though, he didn't seem to mind. My grades improved and the office visits for fighting disappeared.

Eventually, I ended up becoming a band director with a unique perspective on knowing when to hold em and when to fold em.

My advice? Don't force a student to keep playing an instrument if they have totally lost interest. If they are destined to be a musician later on, trust me, they will find you. There is an old Buddhist saying that goes, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear"".

Many parents are trying to live their thwarted dreams of becoming a successful musician vicariously through their children when their kids resonate more with sports, dance, or visual arts.

After a heartfelt discussion with a student, learn when to hold 'em and when to fold em when advising the parents on the future of music lessons.

As for me, if I had been forced to continue making horrendous sounds on my mom's beat-up clarinet, I am certain that a successful career in music education have never been my destiny.

Because of my own past, I tend to guide self -motivated students rather than encourage parents to force music students to "stick" with an instrument in which they have clearly have lost interest.

Just be ready to embrace those same students when they return with renewed interest!

Good gigging!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com