My Recital

So, everything has come together pretty nicely. In just a little over twelve hours, it'll be time for my senior recital.

Just gotta get some sleep now.

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated...

Okay, so it's exactly ONE WEEK until my recital next week at the Cali School of Music. Hoo-ray! Though I've hit approximately 584 snags, me and my crew of awesome musicians have been chugging along. This show is gonna ROCK, I can feel it.

So, for those who are interested, the program will consist of a solo guitar piece, a short piece for marimba and vibes, two jazz tunes, a piano trio, a solo piano piece, an intermission, a choir piece, a string quartet, and four songs. Bitchin'.

Stay tuned for more.

It's Been A While

Let me fill you in on my life on a very impersonal way.

1) I'm a better bass player than I thought.
2) Verdi Requiem was a huge success.
3) My composition recital is about a month away at this point.

So, I think I'll regale/bore all of you/none of you with word on my recital preparations. Things should get more interesting once I have videos up. At this point, you probably don't even know that I compose music.

So check out my myspace page for now- myspace.com/acmenescompositions

Let me fill you in on things I intend to do in the coming weeks/months, in no particular order.

1) Arrange my Piano Trio #1 for the MSU Classical Guitar Ensemble
2) Have a successful recital.
3) Get my hair done.
4) Post more videos/audio clips of my music//launch some sort of website.
5) Graduate
6) Go to grad school

Just about to sing the Verdi Requiem...

I wanted to update before, but I was fighting to get my hair looking good.

Wow. The choir has been working on the Verdi Requiem since September. Now we are being called to go on. This is going to be amazing.

I Can't Help It

In about a month, my choir will be performing the Verdi Requiem at the NJPAC and Morristown Community Theater with the NJSO. Three performances. I can't even begin to describe how exciting this is. At the same time, I'm feeling trepidation. I'll definitely recount my experience after January 30th, but for now, all I can do is recommend you listen to this work. I like the LSO recording- you can get it on iTunes.

Skratch Magazine- The Final Word

After working for them for about a month and a half (between September and October), I've come to realize that these guys are nothing more than scammers. They swindle young artists. $600 to put three tracks alongside tracks from 50 other bands is a ripoff. Your music gets lost among the CDs, which come out in droves. Sure, they go to record labels, but the chances of the execs actually paying attention to YOUR track are slim. When potential clients ask about bands who found sucess through the compilations, I was supposed to tell them to look up the testimonials on the site. There are only five. 5 testimonials after 51 CDs with about 50 bands on each. A very small proportion.

Basically, I quit after realizing that what you get for what you pay is very little. In the weeks before I quit, I constantly worried about my lack of sales. Why was no one going in for this offer, which promised widespread distribution? Guess what? I'm sure the record execs don't even care about the CDs. Scouts from the magazine send messages to just about every band- they don't pick bands who they think are worthy, they ask everybody to participate. Basically, you get on if you have the money, not the talent. The execs know this. Thus, your chances of being heard are slim. There is no quality control.

Bands, this offer is a rip-off. If you work hard to promote yourself, you have more of a chance of being heard. It might take a long time to get anywhere. But would you rather blow hundreds of dollars and be in the same place after the compilation is released? I know Double Vision is NEVER going to buy into this crap. We don't need these people. I'm sorry for attempting to sell out my fellow musicians. The best I feel I can do now is stop anybody considering this offer, and tell them they are better off spending their money on merch, touring, and gear.

The Worst Albums of the Decade

Just a little something to get back into the blogging spirit. No comments needed- I think the author pretty much nailed it.