i'm officially a dork...
myle...@gmail.com
on a very regular basis keeping whoever chooses to read it up to date
on my progress as i attempt to go from jazz guitar student mediocrity
to serious player.
more than likely, i will start posting here less and less, but will be
updating the blog continuously. i get plenty of website hits, so
oddly enough, there must be some lurkers who dig what i'm trying to do
(or maybe they're just rubbernecking at a deadly accident), so maybe i
can bring them to my blog. if anybody stops by to read it from time
to time, feel free to add comments or email me or whatever.
i'll still post clip and vid alerts here from time to time.
anyway, if anybody is curious, the main reason i started the blog is
simply that i was planning to keep a private online journal writing
out ideas to work on...thoughts about how gigs have gone, etc, b/c the
physical paper kind of kept in notebooks gets a bit disorganized. i
decided i would make it public b/c some people seem to enjoy following
along as i do whatever i do, and it will provide me with some extra
motivation if somebody emails me and says, "hey...did you ever do that
transcription you talked about 4 months ago?".
anyway, you can get to it by going to my website at www.mylesgorhammusic.com
and clicking on "musings" or by going to http://mylesgorham.blogspot.com/.
i've recently updated my site a little bit, but yet with the most
important part (new music...)
myles
andy...@mailinator.com
I would like to give you a little info that helped me as to do with
having to do a bit of teaching to earn a bit of money.
I started teaching about 10 years ago in schools to earn a living and
had 5 years of real hell.
The reason for this was that I was teaching kids "rock" guitar and had
to work out many songs (which they never learned/gave up on /suddenly
didnt like etc etc. I also tried to do "trinity rockschool grades" to
give some structure to the lesson. IT DOESNT EVER WORK.
The best way to teach in schools, or kids, (ie you do the lesson, get
paid and go home without thinking about it till next week) is to teach
classical guitar.
I suggest you get into it a bit on your practice routine (dont bother
with all that growing nails/buying really expensive guitar etc).
Its also a nice relaxing way to give yourself a break from jazz whilst
still playing the guitar. In effect classical guitar could become your
"second instrument".
let me recap:
1) Rock teaching 5 years of hell.
2) I switched over to classical guitar teaching (even teens will not
be too bothered at "learning to read")
3) Classical guitar teaching... hassel free money in the bank.
may I suggest also a good book "how to get from where you are to where
you want to be " by Jack canfield. (canfield has gone a bit cuckoo for
me now but this is a good book you will make a couple of $1000 after
reading it.)
KenK
Hi Andy-
I teach regularly at my home and almost always enjoy it.
Mostly I get kids who want to play rock guitar.
Maybe the school environment somehow helped the situation be less than
optimal for you. Or if you just never liked "rock" at all that would
explain your bad take on it as well.
When you switched over to classical lessons were able to find the same
amount of students? I'd think there's be less.
How long were you playing cg before you started teaching it?
I ask because I've been obsessively teaching myself cg for nearly 5
years now and barely feel qualified to do so. Maybe I should just jump
in the pool.
KenK
Jonathan
> i've recently updated my site a little bit, but yet with the most
> important part (new music...)
>
> myles
Waking up at 10 AM every day is one of my retirement goals :)
Mark Kleinhaut
Myles, you are being a dork. Just spend the time practicing, jamming
and going out to hear as much live music as possible. This interent
BS is the biggest waste of time ever!
Joe Finn
<myle...@gmail.com> wrote
>
> anyway, if anybody is curious, the main reason i started the blog is
> simply that i was planning to keep a private online journal writing
> out ideas to work on...thoughts about how gigs have gone, etc, b/c the
> physical paper kind of kept in notebooks gets a bit disorganized. i
> decided i would make it public b/c some people seem to enjoy following
> along as i do whatever i do, and it will provide me with some extra
> motivation if somebody emails me and says, "hey...did you ever do that
> transcription you talked about 4 months ago?".
Hi Myles: I think it's great that you are working on your site and your
blog. I'd encourage you to continue to post here too. When you post a
comment about a recent gig or what you're working on here you are likely to
get some worthwhile comments, insights, etc. Usenet continues to serve many
of the same functions as the blogosphere but in a more interactive fashion.
I've met dozens of great people over the years that I initially encountered
here too so don't be a stranger. ...........joe
--
Visit me on the web www.JoeFinn.net
Gerry
All things in moderation. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
There's time for both work, love, hobbies and dining, if one manages
your time well. Sleep too. If you have kids, well--that's another
matter...
--
Dogmatism kills jazz. Iconoclasm kills rock. Rock dulls scissors.
andy...@mailinator.com
> Mostly I get kids who want to play rock guitar.
> Maybe the school environment somehow helped the situation be less than
> optimal for you.
Yes, i would say that especially with trying to get results year in
year out with the same pupils.
> When you switched over to classical lessons were able to find the same
> amount of students? I'd think there's be less.
> How long were you playing cg before you started teaching it?
I think if you do schools, the kids just accept it immediatly...they
see you are their teacher so it must be the way!
>
> I ask because I've been obsessively teaching myself cg for nearly 5
> years now and barely feel qualified to do so. Maybe I should just jump
> in the pool.
>
I got a lot of lessons from a very well renowned (or well self -
publicising local teacher), but i didnt hear anything exeptional in
what they were doing and soon did the G5,G6 pieces quite well, and
felt that I could emulate . Its worth having the lessons before
jumping in the pool, but I think its advisable to jump quickly!
A year ago I got a girl through her G5 with a distinction (trinity) so
i must be on the right track!
I recommend Trinity as all of the grades can be purchased as a books
and even cds are available of carlos bonita performing them. Also you
dont need to do the G5 theory in order to sit 6,7, and 8.
any more Qs just post at rmmgj and i will be happy to answer them for
you Ken.
Guy Snape
wrote:
>Hi, nice one.
>
>I would like to give you a little info that helped me as to do with
>having to do a bit of teaching to earn a bit of money.
>
>I started teaching about 10 years ago in schools to earn a living and
>had 5 years of real hell.
>
>The reason for this was that I was teaching kids "rock" guitar and had
>to work out many songs (which they never learned/gave up on /suddenly
>didnt like etc etc. I also tried to do "trinity rockschool grades" to
>give some structure to the lesson. IT DOESNT EVER WORK.
Interesting ... I teach a few kids (and occasional adults) and I have
recently started using the rockschool books, having been frustrated by
the kids always wanting to learn hendrix/metallica/whatever before
they can hold down a barre chord. So far, I quite like them, as it
gives me the opportunity to introduce theory, counting, improv, etc.
quite gradually and there's a definite progression in difficulty in
the pieces.
What did you find so bad about the rockschool approach?
Cheers,
- guy
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
yeah...i know..it sounds kind of pathetic, doesn't it? but i've
played gigs until 2am and 5am (!) within the last month...meaning
getting home and unloaded by about 3am and 6am respectively. it's
easy to start waking up at noon when everything you really need to do
happens on a schedule like that.
myles
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
> and going out to hear as much live music as possible. This interent
> BS is the biggest waste of time ever!
well, as i mentioned somewhere, this was initially just going to be a
personal practice journal like i've kept in spiral notebooks off and
on for a while (but always got disorganized). i just decided to let
it be public b/c of the little extra push that comes from knowing that
people could be checking out what i'm doing at any time. it will
certainly take less time than arguing in newsgroups now that the setup
and first post is done...
myles
Jonathan
Nah...you're a professional musician. You're entitled to sleep late :)
It just struck me as kinda funny as a rat-racer.
I'm just a hobbyist.
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
> blog. I'd encourage you to continue to post here too. When you post a
> comment about a recent gig or what you're working on here you are likely to
> get some worthwhile comments, insights, etc. Usenet continues to serve many
> of the same functions as the blogosphere but in a more interactive fashion.
> I've met dozens of great people over the years that I initially encountered
> here too so don't be a stranger. ...........joe
joe...my reply to the email you sent me this morning bounced back.
may want to have somebody else test it...
myles
andy...@mailinator.com
> Interesting ... I teach a few kids (and occasional adults) and I have
> recently started using the rockschool books, having been frustrated by
> the kids always wanting to learn hendrix/metallica/whatever before
> they can hold down a barre chord. So far, I quite like them, as it
> gives me the opportunity to introduce theory, counting, improv, etc.
> quite gradually and there's a definite progression in difficulty in
> the pieces.
>
> What did you find so bad about the rockschool approach?
>
> Cheers,
>
> - guy
>
ok , ill try to be as brief as possible:
1 to 1 teaching rock is ok, but in schools you have to work in groups
sometimes of up to 4.
This is the killer as one always "hates" the tune you are doing and so
will not learn it.
Also TAB is the worst way to teach , as there is no concept of rhythm.
The rockschool grades are good for adding a bit of structure/goals (I
passed my grade 8 with a merit!) but there is NO TUTOR BOOK, so the
teacher has to make his own and this leads to confusion.
Contrast this with a kid doing page 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,etc of your
classical guitar primer book.
Also a classical kid can do his grade ,3 and play OTHER stuff of say a
grade 1 level quite quickly with a little help,
However in rock teaching it is ALWAYS "how does this one go?" "can i
hear the recording?" or they will miss sections of the tune out
altogether, they also NEVER look at the music/TAB sheet and rote learn
everything.
I do like rock and have some very cool sheets I did of say- all of
purple haze on one side of A4 (minus the solo of course) so this is
nice on a 1 to 1 level but hard for more than that.
I decided that I wanted an easier teaching life and now concentrate on
primary/middleschool level kids and just do classical , now its a
simple matter to regroup and demote/promote someone who isnt learning
or lazy and doing a kids concert is quite easy too.
The kids never ever say "can i do rock?" they just accept it, I do
show them a bit of rock/pop occasionally however ie today I notated a
simple quick version of "iron man" (in music) and they were well into
it!
In conclusion I would say that if trinity rockschool had done some
rockschool tutor books and not ever used tab then I would probably
have stuck with them.
Anyway all the best Guy ;)
Greger Hoel
> The rockschool grades are good for adding a bit of structure/goals (I
> passed my grade 8 with a merit!) but there is NO TUTOR BOOK, so the
> teacher has to make his own and this leads to confusion.
>
> Contrast this with a kid doing page 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,etc of your
> classical guitar primer book.
Dude, it has to be easier to put together a rock method book, (heck, even
writing one yourself,) than picking up classical guitar and mastering it
sufficiently to teach it ..unless you're a Holdsworthian superdextrous
wonder with Tedescian reading skillz. :P
--
Sendt med Operas revolusjonerende e-postprogram: http://www.opera.com/mail/
daveyjazz
figure out why no students wanted to play jazz.... go figure!
I solved the styles vs. good learning by :
Playing ensembles using pop/rock - I arranged 2-3 part stuff
Having tests played with classical music. Everybody seemed happy! I
validated all styles with a listening day once a week, played classic
rock in ensembles, and had them all play Carulli in tests - Everybody
seemed happy! - no jazzers surfaced though.....
I wrote a great beginning method book for classroom use - e-mail me
and I'l send you a pdf!
willythepicker
>
> A year ago I got a girl through her G5 with a distinction (trinity) so
> i must be on the right track!
>
> I recommend Trinity as all of the grades can be purchased as a books
> and even cds are available of carlos bonita performing them. Also you
> dont need to do the G5 theory in order to sit 6,7, and 8.
>
> any more Qs just post at rmmgj and i will be happy to answer them for
> you Ken.
I've recently picked up a classical guitar so this discussion about
Trinity and G5 , 6 and 7 interests me.
Is Trinity the name of a classical guitar method book? and the G5 , 6
and seven refering to book 5 ?
Bill Godwin
Guy Snape
wrote:
>whoops, sorry about the mini hijack of this thread Myles!
>
>> Interesting ... I teach a few kids (and occasional adults) and I have
>> recently started using the rockschool books, having been frustrated by
>> the kids always wanting to learn hendrix/metallica/whatever before
>> they can hold down a barre chord. So far, I quite like them, as it
>> gives me the opportunity to introduce theory, counting, improv, etc.
>> quite gradually and there's a definite progression in difficulty in
>> the pieces.
>>
>> What did you find so bad about the rockschool approach?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> - guy
>>
>ok , ill try to be as brief as possible:
>
>1 to 1 teaching rock is ok, but in schools you have to work in groups
>sometimes of up to 4.
>
>This is the killer as one always "hates" the tune you are doing and so
>will not learn it.
Fair enough - I only teach 1 to 1 at the moment, so they don't get
much choice. I think I'm quite good at the motivation side of things
(I was a school teacher previously) so can persuade them of the merit
of learning things they don't necessarily like straight away.
>Also TAB is the worst way to teach , as there is no concept of rhythm.
Agreed. I ignore the tab as much as possible and refer to all the
notes by name, teach them how to read and count the note and rest
lengths, observe ties, tuplets, syncopation, etc.
>The rockschool grades are good for adding a bit of structure/goals (I
>passed my grade 8 with a merit!)
I haven't seen the grade 8 books as yet, I've only recently started
the rockschool stuff and the kids are just doing grades 1 and 2, but
I'm guessing that's quite an impressive feat in itself chops wise.
Wanna sell your old books cheap? :-)
> but there is NO TUTOR BOOK, so the
>teacher has to make his own and this leads to confusion.
>
>Contrast this with a kid doing page 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,etc of your
>classical guitar primer book.
>
>Also a classical kid can do his grade ,3 and play OTHER stuff of say a
>grade 1 level quite quickly with a little help,
>
>However in rock teaching it is ALWAYS "how does this one go?" "can i
>hear the recording?" or they will miss sections of the tune out
>altogether, they also NEVER look at the music/TAB sheet and rote learn
>everything.
I agree that is a recurring problem. But then, learning by ear has its
merits too ...
>I do like rock and have some very cool sheets I did of say- all of
>purple haze on one side of A4 (minus the solo of course) so this is
>nice on a 1 to 1 level but hard for more than that.
>
>I decided that I wanted an easier teaching life and now concentrate on
>primary/middleschool level kids and just do classical , now its a
>simple matter to regroup and demote/promote someone who isnt learning
>or lazy and doing a kids concert is quite easy too.
>
>The kids never ever say "can i do rock?" they just accept it, I do
>show them a bit of rock/pop occasionally however ie today I notated a
>simple quick version of "iron man" (in music) and they were well into
>it!
Showing your age there! ;-)
>
>In conclusion I would say that if trinity rockschool had done some
>rockschool tutor books and not ever used tab then I would probably
>have stuck with them.
>
>Anyway all the best Guy ;)
Thanks Andy.
- guy
>
>
andy...@mailinator.com
sorry bill , i meant G5,G6,G7
here is a link as to what they looklike :
http://www.musicroom.com.au/en-AU/se/ID_No/058967/details.html
tonyde...@gmail.com
> i've recently updated my site a little bit, but yet with the most
> important part (new music...)
>
> myles
Cool Myles, keep it all flowing. Everything is eventually connected.
No man is an island.
-TD
willythepicker
>
> - Show quoted text -
Thanks!
cl...@claymoore.com
> Cool Myles, keep it all flowing. Everything is eventually connected.
> No man is an island.
Except the Isle of Mann
tom walls
4e880b...@l42g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, tonyde...@gmail.com
says...
>
> Cool Myles, keep it all flowing. Everything is eventually connected.
> No man is an island.
>
> -TD
>
>
--
Tom Walls
the guy at the Temple of Zeus
Mark Kleinhaut
You're not really dork, any more than any of the rest of us. I hope
you know I was kidding. I think you are already playing great and
have huge potential- but my impressions from the postings you've done
here are that you're overly concerned with what others think of you-
and the blogging thing plays into that too. It's almost like some
need for approval (which every human has) that can get out of
perspective. My point is that nothing matters but the music and your
own personal journey into the inner space where it happens. You have
to find your own joy in making music and live for that moment. The
more you tap into that the more the channel opens. To the outside
world it can seem like magic- but for you it's just like breathing.
You're already doing it. Just believe in yourself and recognize the
flow when it happens and surrender to it and it will be efforless.
You won't be judging yourself and in music you will find real
happiness. Best of luck!
KenK
they were well into it!"
"Showing your age there! ;-)"
I teach teens and even a few younger kids.
I've got a 9 and 10 yr old who are way into classic 70's rock.
They've asked me to teach them;
Iron Man, Heartbreaker, Black Dog, and
they're deep into Beatles tunes.
Surprisingly, young rockers are into 70's rock.
KenK
paul
too, I've been doing that a lot lately as it's a great way to keep
track of what you've been doing.
andy...@mailinator.com
ditto &
hey Myles thats a hell of a version of "greater love" ,,congrats :)
Mark Guest
Well put, Mark. You should have the paragraph (below) printed onto
refrigerator magnets and sell them! Kind of like Desiderata for the
guitar... I like it!
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
thanks andy...that's a couple years old. i'm going to do some more
mp3s along those lines in the near future and put them up someplace.
myles
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
thanks paul...i'm not into the whole blogging thing (despite the fact
that i have one now!), so i had to look up what an rss reader even
was! regarding putting the workout stuff on there, at first i was
hesitant since it's not music related, but i had initially planned to
just make a private electronic journal of stuff i was working on
(which would mean 98% music, but occasional other stuff as well), but
then i figured i'd just stick everything on there and if anybody wants
to read it, they can...if not, i've got it divided out so it's easy
to look for the music stuff. i'm not trying to get super buff or
anything like that (pretty sure i don't have the genes for that even
if i tried), but i've definitely found that i have more energy and am
more positive (hmmm...make that less negative) when i'm working out
regularly, and that all kind of relates to music in a roundabout way,
so it's on there...
anyway, thanks for checking it out.
myles
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
> here are that you're overly concerned with what others think of you-
maybe 3-4 years ago, but not at this point...at least not a random
group of people on the internet. there are some people here whose
opinions i respect, so i ask for comments and criticism from time to
time, but i also play music in the real world...away from my computer.
> and the blogging thing plays into that too.
not really...i'm simply sharing my thoughts with whoever wants to read
them. if 500 people read my blog, that's cool. if nobody reads it,
that's cool. it's there for me to journal my progress b/c i've found
that if i'm not writing stuff down, i just noodle over an aebersold
for a few hours and say i've practiced. but, like i said, having it
out in the open...even if nobody is reading it, motivates me. it's
easy to say, "i'm going to practice ____ for ____ hours a day." then
not do it. now i've got people watching over my shoulder even if
they're only in my mind. plus, i don't like the idea practicing all
this stuff all alone...i like to share what i'm doing and this is an
easy way.
and i've already received emails from people thanking me for putting
that up b/c it's motivational for them too. not to mention that if
people watch close enough for a while, they're bound to see some
information that i've gotten from studying with some very heavy
players (the real kind...not the ones on the internet).
myles
Mark Kleinhaut
If you say so:) All I was getting at is that it's a whole lot of
words and talk ain't music- it's just talk.
andy...@mailinator.com
and do you design your own website?
I'm all for the blog btw...i may do a simple one myself in the future
rather than writing stuff on paper and then losing my notes or
thowing it out!
I guess this is the future way of organisation.
my...@mylesgorhammusic.com
> Hi myles 2 questions for you did you use a click to do "greater love"
nope...i'm sure if you tried to put a click to the whole thing it
wouldn't synch up all the way through.
> and do you design your own website?
i use dynamod which is very simple to use. it's closer to putting
together a myspace page than designing a site. basically, you just
choose a template and put in text, pics, media, etc. initial set up
probably took me a few hours, but now pretty much any change or update
i make takes 10 minutes.
i used to design my own, but it just took too much time. dynamod has
less flexibility and they all look the same (and more and more people
are using them!), but the ease of use makes up for that. i'd imagine
more companies will eventually come along with a similar idea...or
maybe dynamod will come up with some more ways to make the design a
bit more flexible.
myles
> I'm all for the blog btw...i may do a simple one myself in the future
> rather than writing stuff on paper and then losing my notes or
> thowing it out!
i used blogger.com. setup was probably 30 minutes. very simple to
use.
> I guess this is the future way of organisation.
i tried doing something like this privately using word processing
programs, but the blog way just works better for me. and this works
much better for me than pen and paper. of course you have to be ok
with the fact that anybody can read your stuff at any time...there may
be some kind of private way to do the same thing though.
myles
andy...@mailinator.com
daveyjazz
> cheers :)
Talking about music is great if it points your ears or fingers in the
right direction. When I have been in the studio doing guitar tracks
for uptight songwriters who try to "explain" what they want, I am
reminded of a quote attributed(I think) to Frank Zappa: "Talking about
music is like dancing about poetry"
I used this once on an uptight writer - we rolled the take and he was
amazed I gave him "just what I wanted" after I used the above quote as
a joking way of getting him to be quiet and let me just play.....
Keep Blogging!!
Kid Kool
> why, you ask? because I've started a blog. my plan is to update it
>
> anyway, you can get to it by going to my website atwww.mylesgorhammusic.com
> and clicking on "musings" or by going tohttp://mylesgorham.blogspot.com/.
> i've recently updated my site a little bit, but yet with the most
> important part (new music...)
>
> myles
I've been a dork ever since I tried to pick up a babe at Grossman's,
and she said - the words are seared, seared, I tell you! on my memory-
"Why don't you fuck off, you little dork?" I've often wondered what
she meant by that ... But I have a blog, too, as an easy place to
store miscellaneous thoughts, a blog being, simply, a diary. Nice
playing, too. Very nice.