Elsen Pro Music
Ted Brathwaite
So I called the Music Connection today and interviewed Dan Elsen, who is a musician, works at Music Connection and teaches drum lessons. While I talked to him on the phone I could hear the enthusiasm and love he has for music bursting through the phone.
Elsen said he started playing guitar too. He is much more passionate about the drums than anything. He said he helps his students understand the intuitive nature of music. He graduated from Chico State with a major in music industry.
Elsen: From the 30th of June to the 16th of July 2023, I had my first extended time performing overseas since the lockdown of 2020-2021. A wonderful trip which reminded me of how different Australia is to other parts of the world, but also the universal collectiveness of musicians and the act of being a musician in these recent years.
Departing Sydney on the 30th of July was quite surreal, it was a small reminder of my first time both being overseas and playing overseas as a 27-year-old in 2016. Wondering about the days ahead and the ever extending unknown is a feeling that I always look forward to in this job, an honest career in music tends to push one into the unknown, either learning new music, playing with new players, performing in new venues, playing in new countries, or simply doing something while having no idea on how it will turn out.
Taking a bass overseas is often a gamble, with those willing to take their own bass overseas often needing quite significant reasons to do so. A serious classical soloist will tend to prefer to take their own instrument, as switching between basses whilst playing difficult music can be impossible to make work. There are exceptions to these rules, as there may be exceptionally good bass luthiers or shops at your travel destinations that could find an instrument that is similar to the one you have (also a big gamble). One experience of my own was playing overseas, with the festival providing me a 30-year-old high school ply bass with 10+ year old factory strings which could not hold a specific pitch, and using a professional bow resulted in it sounding like a suffering animal. In that specific situation, I was lucky enough to be helped by the principal bass of the local orchestra to borrow a pro quality bass just in time.
The NS Design is also a lot smaller than a double bass, and after getting a custom flight case made by Armor Cases, it was quite easy to travel with. Getting around Tokyo via train was extremely easy, especially compared to using a double bass.
As a Sydney-sider since 2008, I know it can be quite silly to compare Sydney with other parts of the world. Sydney has been in a tough place for many years with regard to access to live performance and infrastructure to support live music. Which can seem like a paradox for a working professional musician to admit, though the reality of being a musician in any part of the world is that some cities work best for some people, and other cities work better for others.
One joy I got from Tokyo was the daily lunchtime jazz gigs at Pitt Inn in Shinjuku. Lunchtime jazz gigs are generally non-existent in Sydney, and the idea of there being daily lunchtime gigs is a real change of pace. My Tokyo motel was walking distance from the Pitt Inn, so I managed to go there almost every day during my trip. For approx. $15 AUD including drink, you could watch two sets by incredible jazz musicians in a very listening-friendly venue. The groups I checked out were brilliant modern jazz trio the Setagaya Trio, hard bop group Toshiyuki Sekine Quintet, wild guitar trio Yudo Matsuo Cross Point Trio, the weird and wild DNA, the Yuichiro Aratake Trio, the Mamoru Ishida Trio, modern jazz group Temp and a few others too. I also enjoyed a new way of gig attending: it was quite common to bring a book to read while waiting for a gig to start and between sets. Tokyo is a wonderful place for solitary travel, and this was a wonderful way to spend my time during the day.
After recommendations from Tetsu and Maresuke Okamoto, I went to the Kyugendo bow shop in Ogikubo. A wonderful little shop at the top of an apartment block, the master Tsuruya Kyugendo has a rich variety of bows. What took my fancy were some early 1900s Bazin bows of France and some bows Tsuruya had made. A bow made by Charles Louis Bazin was my favourite. Made around 1930, it was extremely well balanced, quite light, and quite capable of pulling a big sound. Tsuruya also has some basses, cellos, violas, violins, and viol de gambas for sale in the shop. I played an old French bass to try out the bows, the instrument was great, I think it was an 1800s Mirecourt instrument.
I performed with drummer Arata Ogawa, guitarist Wataru Yamashita and guitarist Tomohiro Kanbe. The venue had many wild looking puppets placed throughout the venue, which for me helped set the scene for what I was going to be playing that night. We did sets of quite chaotic music, with some strong rock influences, which emerged very quickly.
On the 13th of July I performed at Nakano Pignose, a beautiful little venue in Nakano run by Miho Ohhashi. Miho makes food for the audience that attends and operates it fully from a one-person kitchen. I performed with Shinichiro Mochizuki, a brilliant piano player who had developed his own hardware and software for interactive digital performance.
We both played solo sets to start the night off and ended with a duo performance. Just before we played our duo, a phone went off with a vibration that was a C#, so we started in the key and developed the music from there. The music we played together was very much in the realms of music that sounded like it had been rehearsed many times, despite us meeting just that night. These are special moments for musicians as much as audiences, as when you a playing with someone who you quickly realise is listening and operating in the same headspace as you, it instantly creates a feeling of familiarity, and a sense of gravity, despite being 8000 kms away from where you live. Mochi also has many brilliant recordings available, highly recommended for those who like good music!
On the 14th of July I travelled to the coffee roasting business that was operated by Takuto Sakaibara, the wonderful musician I played with on the 2nd of July at Permian. The place is called Coffee Wrights in Kuramae. Takuto had started this roaster after wanting to create coffee that was better than large chain coffee. They offer many diverse types of coffee, with me grabbing a bag of beans grown in Ethiopia which had been grown by one of the best growers in the country. Takuto had travelled to Ethiopia to specially to source the beans for his business and the coffee that is made from them is amazing.
I performed at Asagaya Ten that night, a wonderful vibrant venue in Asagaya which had all the hall marks of a place which welcomed chaos. Two other groups played that night. One was a collaboration of Kuniyoshi Yamada and Tamayura Hitode.;Kuniyoshi was an incredible drummer who had been around the Tokyo scene for many decades, Tamayura played biwa, a traditional Japanese instrument, which she used in an experimental way. Their duo was energy filled and incredible. After them was a prog rock band called Sea Star, amazing both with their performance and that they could fit and play in such a small venue. With my solo performance, I collaborated with dancer Yumiko Nishikaji. Yumiko collaborated with me at my performance at 810 Outfit Caf, so we decided we would play together again at this performance.
Asagaya is a suburb which is chock full of hole in the wall bars and restaurants, with constant foot traffic 24/7. This performance was rewarded by a lovely intensity from the audience and musicians, showing the wonderful and enriched small communities of people who live and thrive in the huge metropolis of Tokyo.
On the 15th of July I was performing at the venue Otooto in Setagaya city. I had seen on their advertising that international solo experimental drumming legend Ryosuke Kiyasu was performing at lunchtime there before my performance there that night. Seeing Kiyasu play was an otherworldly experience. He been doing almost daily solo drum gigs throughout Asia, USA, and Europe for many years, and in all my wisdom I asked him if he gets tired of it. The answer was of course was a no; he loves it. Kiyasu has many viral videos on the internet to check out, though seeing him in person is the best way to hear, embrace and understand the storm in a cup of his music.
There are many people to thank for this trip: Simeon Bartholomew for the power converter, Brendan Clarke for referring Armor Cases, Richard Greenup of The Bass Shop Sydney for putting me onto NS Design basses, Drew Dedman of Bass Workshop Melbourne for selling me the NS Design, Tomoki Yokoyama at Knuttle House, Takuto Sakaibara, Takashi Masubuchi at Permian, Nakao Kanji, Maresuke Okamoto, Arata Ogawa, Wataru Yamashita, Tomohiro Kanbe, Miho Ohhashi, Shinichiro Mochizuki, Cixa Sono at Asagaya Ten, Yumiko Nishikaji, Hiromi and Seiji Kimura at Otooto, Misaki Motofuji, Tetsu Suzuki, Tsuruya Kyugendo, Jim Ellender, Digitech Pedals, All Nippon Airways and Toyoko Inn Tokyo.
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We are 3 children, 3 spouses & 10 grand children. Most of us play one or more instruments. Our ambition was to create a masterpiece in which everyone plays at least one instrument and sings. If you were wondering: this is technically impossible in a live performance as one can't play marimba & drums simultaneously, neither can you play the flute & sing at the same time.
We delivered timely & smooth. Very smooth, even. This is even more impressive if you know that several more professional musicians did not pursue a similar project because it was too complicated and they could not figure out how to get it done. In this article, I explain how we achieved our goal. I also link our way of working to a few concepts I coach and train as an Agile Coach.
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