Hey Scott! I'm writing a college research paper about "The evolution of keyboards and synths". I was wondering if you wouldn't mind.., could I use your name as an example of an experienced and well educated keyboard player.

How long have you been playing?
What degrees do you have and from where?
What is your instrument of choice?
How long have you been singing?

Anything you could provide would be great.

Thanks,
Squeak

What happened to Scott?
I noticed he didn't respond to other posts as well. I always value his opinion.
Has anyone seen him?



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drdalet

From the list of questions, I think he's still working on his answer

zuki

I Think Scott is on tour

Yeah I haven't heard from him yet. Hope he's ok. He's a frequent poster to this site.

Squeak

Scott is out of town and away from the internet.

Here are the answers to your questions. I spoke with him briefly:

How long have you been playing?
Ever since breakfast.
What degrees do you have and from where?
A Phd. from The University of Outer Mongolia. He attended the Gengis Khan College of Obscure Music. His thesis, "Increase in Scatological Trends in Weird Al Yankovich's New CD" has been the talk of academia.
What is your instrument of choice?
Scalpel. Musically speaking, he spends hours finding new ways to approach the triangle.
How long have you been singing?
Ever since he woke up.

As our cell phone connection was kind of garbled, perhaps you should wait until he responds directly to your thread, Squeak.

Beakybird

Beaky....shame on you...



Funny

Bill

What's funny is he asked a guy that does shows with a keyboard, has a web site full of keyboards, has a CD of keyboard stuff for sale, and posts about keyboard things all the time.

"What is your instrument of choice?"

Alone,
I asked about instrument of choice because there are several of us here who play multiple instruments. I wanted to know if Scott played other instruments as well as the piano.

Squeak

Hi Squeak & all,

Sorry for the delayed response. As Larry pointed out, I've been away for the Thanksgiving holidays speaking at a symposium in Tibet where I promoted the benefits of an expanded diet of rootless vegetables & chords too. I've returned home to find a back log of work which includes spending my free time preparing new material for my upcoming fully booked holiday show schedule. This includes integrating the use of a new 'Midi Solutions' Footswitch Box:
http://midisolutions.com/prodfsw.htm

that I recently purchased from Beakybird (btw: the checks in the mail Larry ), which allows me to now utilize all pedals on my 4 pedal foot pedal unit (Technote FC2):



instead of just 3 pedals (maxiumum supported by the Tyros alone).

I had originally hoped to be able to program the new footswitch controller box to trigger Tyros arranger 'system exclusive' functions (break, endings, glide, etc) but for some reason, even though I think I successfully programmed the associated sysex messages outlined in the Tyros Data List Manual into the controller box, I couldn't get it to work. On the other hand, I was able to successfully program the footswitch controller to trigger the sustain pedal function (CC#64), which leaves the other three pedals free for direct Tyros keyboard assignment: . Fill Self; Vocal Harmony on/off; and the remaining pedal for other assignments: Glide (for steel guitar emulation) or Break Fill, etc. I really value the ability to trigger arranger & mod/pitch wheel functions to a footswitch as the type of arranger playing I do doesn't allow me much opportunity to take either of my hands off the keys to perform other functions, especially since I still have never figured out the trick to operating the pitchbend/mod with the left hand while concurrently having to play left hand chord changes at the same time, especially when bended notes typically occur right on the chord changes. Don Mason, perhaps you can record a video demo showing just how you're able to do this when performing in autoaccompaniment mode.

Ok, back to Squeaks original questions:



OMG: Sounds like questions on a job interview!
Squeak: What are you hiring me for, and how much are ya offering?

Seriously though, a lot (most?) pro entertainers today actually choose not to advertise that they've had much (if any) formal music training, but instead prefer to give the impression that they were simply born musically gifted. In reality though, most all real PRO musicians have had a lot MORE musical training (and/or coaching) than they let on. Though formal music training (both music theory, and musicianship) are certainly an important musical foundation, REAL music education begins when you gig, and learn (on the job) from seasoned professional musicians. You pick up things 'on the job' that you will never learn in a classroom. A music degree may make you a music scholar, but this alone doesn't prepare you to become a performing musician.

That said, I've been playing the keyboard & singing since I was 4, and in addition to piano & voice, I also studied (abeit briefly): the guitar, clarinet & violin. For more details : http://scottyee.com and go to biography page.

Though I took a lot of music classes in college (1988-92), I never received a specific degree in music, but a Bachelor of Fine Arts instead. Most of the important music education I got was from the elder musician statesmen & coaches I had the priviledge of studying, working and gigging with over the years, and I hope to pass what I learned from them, down to future generations as well. This remains the great tradition of musicians throughout the ages.

Ok gang, I'm glad to be back here at SZ. Unfortunately, during the next few weeks till Christmas, like many other gigging musicians here, I won't have as much time as I'd like to check in here and participate, but I'll try to answer any questions as quickly as possibly none the less. Happy holidays to all.

Scott



Sure, good publicity never hurt anybody.