Cape Cod Acoustics
  • Home
  • Your Lessons
  • Performance services offered
  • About Gene
  • Contact
  • Guitars, Ukes & Accessories
  • Acoustic Guitar Blog
  • Tips for guitarists
  • Guitar Gallery
  • More...

Sheet music??

4/21/2014

0 Comments

 
Forgot to mention in my last post about interesting books I’ve read recently one that I found just fantastic: “How Music Works” by David Byrne. He is probably best known as the leader and creative force behind the group Talking Heads but this book is much, much more than just his ruminations on that group. It covers many thought-provoking subjects such as how music shapes cultures, emotional components of the writing process, the nuts and bolts of the music industry and how it has changed over the last three or four decades and more. I was never a fan of the Talking Heads so the middle third of the book in which Byrne describes the evolution of the New Wave scene in the 1970s and 80s didn’t hold my interest but the first and last thirds of the book would make a great basis for a college course. Written in a style that is both accessible and engrossing, “How Music Works” is quite simply the best book about modern music that I’ve ever read.

A few other quick hits….

There seems to be something of a rebirth of live music going on in the bars and restaurants in our area. This is a GREAT development, after many years of scarce opportunities for musicians due to the scourge of karaoke and DJs. I’m not sure what is causing this. Perhaps it’s a positive reaction to the proliferation of reality shows on television that feature singers in competition, often playing guitar? Does the popularity of those shows make people want to go out and hear live performances? I really don’t know, but the results are more work for local musicians. Here on Cape Cod, where we definitely have a seasonal, tourist-driven economic base it is expected that in the summer there will be work for musicians but in our small town there were at least half dozen places that had bands or single performers all winter.

I am a bit removed from that scene as I don’t really go after the bar work much anymore so I can’t tell what the pay scale is (my guess is that it hasn’t improved all that much) but at least a player can find work on an occasional basis if he or she is willing to put in the leg work required. This was not the case a few years ago. Hooray!

Last week one of my students asked me to recommend a good place to buy sheet music. Unfortunately, I had to confess that I didn’t really know any, not locally anyway. I suggested that he do some internet searches of the artists he likes and he would most likely find what he was looking for. This is a tough one – copyright issues come into play as it’s pretty easy to find free downloads of just about any music one seeks. It appears to me that music publishing companies have just about given up fighting this, which is sad. Writers deserve to be compensated for their work. But perhaps there is another mind set at work here. If an amateur player downloads the free (i.e., pirated) sheet music or even just a lead sheet/chord sheet of a song they’re interested in learning does that inspire them to purchase an MP3 file of that music? Music downloads are protected more vigorously so it’s much more likely that the artist will see some return (although as outlined in Byrne’s book, the cut taken by ITunes is almost criminal).

Some people still do buy printed sheet music of course. I think this is much more common when it comes to piano and vocal music, as compared to guitar music, except perhaps classical pieces. And when it comes to just basic chord sheets, an intermediate level player will most likely be able to figure out the changes “by ear” once he or she understands the basics of playing in a key and scale-line triads because in some genre’s such as country and folk music (and a fair amount of rock) the writers don’t tend to stray much outside the key a song is written in. Jazz is something altogether different of course!

Peace & good music,

Gene

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Gene Bourque

    Archives

    November 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed