Keyboardist : The Cause For Blues
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Keyboardist..
Subject: RE: MUSIC: Keyboard wannabies
Tim Burge writes:
>I think we could all be a little more "Christian" about this. It's not
>like these keyboardists are purposely trying to sabotage us bassists
>(hopefully).
Exactly. Sometimes I think we bassists have a tough time seeing the
situation from the pianist's viewpoint (I said pianist on purpose).
©2004 Stephen Foong
author@gsus.biz
http://www.gsus.biz
She's used to just sitting down at a piano, flipping open a hymnbook,
and accompanying the congregation. That's all changed now.
First of all, she can't just sit down at a piano anymore. Now she's
got a complicated electronic keyboard, with all sorts of buttons and
lights and stuff on it, that doesn't make any noise at all unless you
say the incantations *just right,* and then like as not makes some
unearthly shriek instead of the piano sound she expects. Where she's
used to being completely self-sufficient as an accompanist (and probably
a bit proud of it), now she's put in the position of probably not being
able to make a single squeak without help from some techno-geek--maybe
several. The volume isn't nearly as controllable as she's used to.
She's got cables and amplifiers and monitors and stuff all tangled
around her ankles now, and the keyboard feels like a toy. Probably it
wobbles when she bangs on it, which is disconcerting for somebody used
to banging on a several-hundred-pound piano. And it's awfully
narrow--she's probably squeezed into 61 keys when she's used to having
free range of 88. It may not even have a sustain pedal, and if it does,
it's probably a flimsy-feeling footswitch instead of a real pedal.
Secondly, she probably doesn't have a hymnbook anymore either--or if
she does, people yell at her when she plays what's written in it. More
likely, she's got a lead sheet with chord notations and maybe a melody
line that she's got to make up a piano part--out of nothing but past
experience--for.
Thirdly, she can't just accompany the congregation anymore. She has to
keep herself synchronized with the rest of the group, keep watching for
navigational signals from somebody and figure out what they mean, and
try to pick herself out from a dense, crowded monitor mix so she can be
sure she's playing the right song.
It's all very intimidating, especially for an unpaid position that more
than likely was accepted only reluctantly.
And now this idiot bass player, who barely has the intelligence it
takes to play ONE note at a time with BOTH hands, is giving her grief
about her musical choices and telling her that in *his* opinion she
ought to be more *flexible* and *innovative.*
It's almost enough to make a body give out with some decidedly
un-Christian language.
Something to think about.
© 2004 Stephen Foong
Email : author@gsus.biz
http://www.gsus.biz
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