New Opportunities and Embarrassments.

Well this weekly I sadly missed out on Wednesdays lessons due to a check up at Glasgow however this did not mean that I didn’t manage to keep up with musical activities the rest of the week. On Monday I helped out an HNC student with his band by playing trombone in two covers and one original for there up and coming show. I had been given the time to practice the tracks before hand however I had not anticipated playing them in a different key than the original to the singers vocal range and found it exceedingly difficult to transpose to the new key. It was a harsh lesson into the realms of transposition for I find it extremely difficult to figure out keys and transpose on the spot without major problems and so I learned the hard that it was an area that needed a great deal of improvement. Another embarrassing trombone related incident this week took place in session skills in which I was to find out that all the trombone parts were written in treble clef of which I cannot read a single note! In the end I had to attempt to play by ear, which proved to be a disaster.
Although trombone is not my main instrument I hope to succeed in it. Its still one that I aspire to be capable of playing at a high standard and so have found out embarrassingly some major issues missing from my trombone vocabulary that will need to be looked upon in the following weeks if I am to succeed with this task.
On Tuesday I returned to the samba band Rhythm Wave to carry on my position as a snare drummer. Last year I learned a great deal from my experience with the band in terms of technique and time playing and had the added bonus of going to Glastonbury at the end of the college year. I expect to gain as much enjoyment and knowledge as I did last year and who knows, I may end up at Glastonbury again. This year in samba I have also been asked by Ronnie to play trombone in some of the arrangements, which will be a fun new opportunity for me.
Also this week I took a step towards learning the piano as I booked my first piano lesson for the following week. Although it is not really a step towards becoming a session drummer I don’t really look upon a session artist as a solid and efficient job. All musicians I know do not sustain themselves solely on performing and recording as being a musician is a very independent and competitive job that sometimes needs more than one income. I hope to be able get a lot of work in this field however I feel that to sustain myself I will need to be a teacher and instructor whenever I get the chance. I think to succeed in this piano could be a vital instrument in terms of achieving this goal and could also help me with my up and coming theory exam in March next year. I am jumping at every opportunity I can, as it is the things we don’t do in life that we regret most so I might as well try every resource that I can get my hands on if it will benefit me in my career.
Although I wasn’t in college much this week I am still learning a great deal to help me with my ambitions of becoming an established musician but for now, I just have to take it one small step at a time.