How Do I Pay For It? Strategies to finance your album.

How do I pay for it? Strategies for recording an album.

As the music business continues to figure out what it is, new fresh ideas are coming from unexpected places that can breath new life into this career called performing musician. Some better minds than mine are showing us new ways to finance our recording project.

A little history. In the past a performing artist or band would pitch themselves to record label through an agent or manager for the much coveted album deal. For the most part, those days are gone. What has developed through the efforts of many resourceful minds is the idea of funding your album through your fan base. This will demonstrate to why developing your fan base is so critical to achieving your goal of being a performing musician.

So, how do you develop a fan base? Well this list of things is not exhaustive. The point here is to start the brainstorming Hopefully this will get you started and perhaps you will come up with better ideas. At every concert it is good to have someone to collect email addresses. Make sure that you get the persons okay to add them to your contact list. As you the list builds invite them to join your fan club. I have seen artists who create a separate web page as a fan site. This happens after you have set up your website. Create a blog that you can use to drive traffic to your web page. Decide on a price to join the fan page. Try $50 a year and $75 for 2 years. This is how you can finance your recording sessions and post production. As an incentive to join, you promise a limited edition copy of your album or EP. Your fans want to be a part of the creative process so it is a natural fit. You might also schedule a live streaming opportunity for your fans while you are in the studio. They can see you in the creative process first hand. You can do the math. Your fans can give you a very substantial budget for your recording.

Another strategy would be for your fans to fund your project after they have signed up after they have paid to be members of the fan club. Using something like “Go Fund Me” to generate the funds needed to pay for your recording.

Fans love the idea of getting content that is exclusive to them. Brian Epstein, the manager for The Beatles, published a monthly magazine and a special Christmas greeting every year. What you get for your effort is a core fan base who will, by word of mouth, increase attendance at your concerts. These are your super fans. Offer them free tickets to your show. They tell their friends about your concerts when you come to town. This will also grow your fan base.

I think this is enough to start a conversation on ways to generate the funds needed to record. Any other ideas that you have found, that have worked for you would be greatly appreciated. These idea exchanges will help all of us to make Northern Colorado a music mecca.

-Adrian Yañez

When Does the Note End? Simple Performance Practices

Many tout the virtue of good timing, learning to count a meter with the proper pulse. But one thing that is often overlooked in this discussion is when does a note begin and end. Many of us have heard, or been taught that it is good for the members of a group to come in at the same time. What I have also observed is that many don't know when a note ends. Mastering this can greatly improve your performance by showing that you make the choices of what the music is.

So, when does a note end? Let's use a whole note as an example. Most of you know that a whole note gets four beats in a 4/4 measure. The note begins at the beginning of the 1^st beat of the measure. Here is the part that many performers don't connect with until it is pointed out to them. The 4^th beat ends with the beginning of the 1^st beat of the next measure. Following this simple practice will greatly improve and polish your performance. 

Don't be vague about where notes begin and end in your performance.  When all of the members play this way it leads to great ensemble playing. You begin to listen and hear what each of the other members of the band are doing and you listen to yourself with the same keen ear that you have for the other members of your band.

If you are interested performance lessons, please, let me know.

-Adrian Yañez

The Last Shall Be First....A Better Way to Practice

The Last Shall Be First....A Better Way to Practice

Here is a great tip that was given to me by Anthony Glise, many years ago. Practice a piece that you want to memorize quickly by working on it from the end of the piece to the beginning. This is how it works.

Start by practicing the last measure first. Take the time to perfect it. Work on it till you can play it comfortable and without the music. Next take the measure before it and repeat the process. Add it to the last measure and work on the two measures until they are perfected. Then take the 3^rd to the last measure and work on it. Add it to the second to the last measure and perfect them. Continue the process until you get to the beginning of the piece. When you have completed this process play through the piece from the beginning. Repeat this process. You will be amazed at how quickly you learn and memorize a piece. As you perfect this process you will begin to absorb music.

One of the benefits of learning pieces this way is that as you perform the piece you get better and more confident as progress through the piece. 

Check out Anthony Glise at anthonyglise.com

-Adrian Yañez

If You Can't Sing It To Me....

If you are fortunate enough in your life to hit a brick wall, count yourself blessed. Musically, for me, that came when I was sent by a noted guitarist/professor to another teacher to rebuild me as a musician. I had completed my undergraduate degree in music, having even played a senior recital. To this point my musical education had been pieced together with what I could find along the way and was held together by the bailing wire of pride and bravado.

The process began with this new teacher, informing me tht I was going to start over. He set me to the task of rhythmic training, tapping out rhythms and singing beats and rhythms. He then introduced me to Paul Hindemuth's “Elementary Training for Musicians. My teacher then told me, “If you can't sing it to me, You can't play it for me.” This was the brick wall that I ran into.

Being able to sing what I play has shown me that every musical instrument is an imitation of our first instrument, the voice. As I learned to sing what I play I was able to discover how a piece is played musically. Singing will show you where the music should breathe, as if you are singing it. This goes a long way to making your performances more musical.

It is also a good way to improve your singing. When practicing scales and arpeggios sing them while you play them on your instrument. This will help you to interiorize the music and the music will come from inside you. You won't be waiting on your fingers to tell you what you are playing. It will increase your focus on the music and will eventually shorten the distance from your heart and mind to your fingers.

-Adrian Yanez

Revisiting Old Friends

Revisiting Old Friends

I am sitting here, listening to Alison Krauss “Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection” and sometimes I am amazed to discover that a song that I thought had been performed to perfection by the original artist is either topped by another artist's performance or is a song that I had judged as a throw away in the original performance and I haven’t given a second thought.

There are two songs on this collection that fit the bill. The first is the title song, “Now That I’ve Found You”. The original performance, by the The Foundations, to my mind, is a successful attempt by a UK band to imitate The Motown Sound that was very popular and innovative at the time. I think that the meaning of the song is lost in its success. Alison Krauss has brought out the meaning of this song in her rendering. The arrangement pares away the style and leaves us with a tender song of desperation, a plea for what she is losing. This could go very badly. The background vocals are used sparingly and effectively with the words “darling but I can’t let you” and “I built my world around you”. Will her plea end with this man’s return? Will she heal and move on? Or………?

The second song that came to mind, as an example of a well done song; The Beatles “I Will”. Paul McCartney captures the innocence of love in its first throes. It is genuine and without guile. The words are spoken to the loved one with complete honesty and truthfulness. The young man is bold in his proclamation. He has no fear of rejection. In Alison’s version, I hear it as a proclamation of joy at having found the person she is meant for and who is meant for her. The producer leaves us, at the beginning; with a guitar introduction that doesn’t give away what the song is. He relieves the tension 18 seconds in when the melody is introduced on the banjo. The banjo, when played at this tempo, communicates fragility in its inability to sustain notes well. It depends on the other instruments to carry it along.

Alison and company bring a new perspective to this great song. It seems, to me, to be more graceful and gentle. She brings out the hope for good things to come. Well done.

A very special thanks to Jo-Ann Hedleston at KRFC FM Radio 88.9 for being the inspiration for today's blog. She played "I Will" this morning.

-Adrian Yañez

Can't Play With a Click Track? There is Help

Preparing for the Studio: Playing with a Click Track

Often, with musicians who are new to the studio, I have found that they struggle with playing with a click track. This is because they have not yet developed a strong sense of pulse, timing and rhythm. Some do fine when playing along with a drummer or guitarist who can keep time, that is why it is incumbent on the rhythm musicians; drums, guitar, and bass, be especially good at keeping tempos. If a piece of music speeds up or slows down it should be because it was chosen by the musicians for effect and not because the musician is struggling with tempo. It is easy to tell when the reason is for the latter.

So what can we do about it? Practice with a metronome. Start by choosing a scale pattern on your instrument, set your metronome to 50MM, and begin by giving a whole note value of 4 beats. This may seem a little extreme, but if you do this it will train you to listen for the pulse of the scale and will lock in your ability to keep time. Many students try to skip passed this step and end up with inconsistent timing, pulse and rhythm. If you are a singer, conduct yourself along with the metronome as you sing. Use the standard conductor’s patterns that can be found online. These patterns vary from meter to meter and thus will help you to develop a strong sense of the pulse of each meter. Continue the process by playing 3 beats per note or dotted half notes. Move on to half notes, 2 beats per note. This process continues until you can play 16^th notes, 8 notes per beat. You can also add playing in groups of 5 and 7. When you can do it at 50MM, increase the speed a few beats per minute (BPM). Do this 3 or 4 times a day. If you want to see a more fleshed out version of this process, check out Pebber Brown's YouTube video on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2656SWkvRQ . In fact check out all of his videos.

Pebber starts with ¼ notes but I prefer to start with whole notes. It is harder to play slow than to play fast and you will not get to fast without mastering slow. Many of the concepts that he presents apply to any instrument. Slow and steady wins the race.

For singers, sing through all of the vocal parts with a metronome. Slow it down and bring it up to tempo a little at a time. If you can sing it without the ensemble then you will be able to lead the ensemble and not be a follower. When performing songs, it is the vocal part that is most important. All the other instruments are in service to the vocalist.

Practice with the metronome, with headphones on. This will make hearing the click track in headphones easy when you get to the studio. When you rehearse with your band it is a good idea to rehearse with a metronome. Get a metronome that subdivides the beats.

-          Adrian Yañez

Space

I had a great preproduction meet up with an artist yesterday. One word that came from the artist was “space”. She said that she wanted it to have space in the music and that she didn’t want it to be over layered. Perhaps one of the reasons that the recording industry has gone through the downturn is because the recordings don’t stand up to multiple listening and are overproduced.

In an effort to create with a sonic canvas, some engineers and producers have ventured into a place where the music becomes unlistenable. Let’s not kid ourselves; auto tuning vocals and instruments has only made for lazy or subpar performances. You can’t fix it in the mix or polish a turd. Great mixes begin and end with great music and a great performance.

It seems to me that at one time vocalists had an earnest quality in their singing. I think of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and others. I also think of Joni Mitchell, Patsy Cline, and Judy Collins. There is a joy in listening to Ella and Louis Armstrong sing duets. Louis' voice is the trumpet. His trumpet is a mirror image of his singing. When Ella scats, she imitates the trumpet.

Patsy Cline displays this earnestness in the convincing power of her voice. Billie Holliday is earnest in her vulnerability. Listen to Judy Collins in her rendition of “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim. The closing line shows a resignation to what is happening. Look into “Sea Songs” by Edward Elgar, sung by Dame Janet Baker. She captures the storm and the return to safe harbor, a metaphor for home and family.

Use your imagination to seek the deeper meaning of song and music. Ask yourself, who am I singing this song to? What does the song mean? What are the emotions, thoughts and sentiments conveyed in the song? Where is the song being sung? This should move how you perform the song and the musical choices you make for its performance.

Adrian Yañez