Okay, so I discovered SMF (Standard Midi Files) today and have really enjoyed them. There sure is a difference between them! I was doing some testing using the song Kokomo and they varied from incredible to terrible!

So I was thinking, it's 11:00 pm and little Sally would like to hear the Macarena for all of her friends to dance to and you don't know it - but you have the midifile. Do you fake it? It seems WAY too easy just to let it play and fake it. It's a little harder as an accordionist because everybody can see your keyboard, but you keyboard players on the other hand......

Well...

I don´t use midifiles a lot and when I do I usually don´t try to cover it, but...

Once, when I played on a wedding, the bride kept asking for tunes I didn´t know (but had several of them as SMF:s) and she and other guests praised my playing skills. So when I played midifiles I turned "lokal off" and get lose on the keyboard.

No one suspected anything - and everybody thought I was ingenious - but I had a little sour taste in my mouth afterwards. But the crowd were happy...

Regards, Michael

My two cents: Who cares! As long as it sounds good and the customer is happy, they dont care.

Most of the time a customer wants to hear the song, not caring whether you are playing the lead or the rhythm. But you cant fake the singing that you must do!!!!

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MusicJohn

There's actually quite a contraversy brewing here in New York regarding musicians who perform for Stage Shows. Some of the Broadway productions are actually using MIDI backing tracks to replace the musicians.

The musicians union in turn is planning a strike and most of the Broadway plays are planning on replacing the live music with either MIDI or Recorded tracks. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I for one cannot imagine going to a Broadway show knowing there are recorded tracks playing (if I could tell the difference, that is!).

hmmmmmm.

Al G

We've actually been down this road before... My take: I am hired as an entertainer... as long as I am entertaining the client that's what matters... I could be playing the kb, plugging in a midi, or spinning a CD ...Do I prefer playing and singing myself? ABSOLUTELY!!! ... but if there's a tune or two I don't know and play a midi instead, I have no problem with it ... On some of the 'specialty' stuff ie Macarena, Hot, Hot, Hot, etc. I will turn the kb to 'drums' and do a percussion thing while the midi is playing ...
Some months ago a client called me 2 nights before the gig and requested about 30 songs for a special skit she was planning for her husband's birthday party .. most I had never played before, and there was no way I was going to get the music and learn them in time... did I spend a lot of time on the net downloading midis? ... you bet... and I had to put in more time finding the good ones, changing the keys for singing, tweaking the sounds, etc.
t.

No - absolutely no faking, even it if goes against my fellow performer's opinions. At my most regular house gig, I puzzle enough people as it is and they walk right up to the side of the stage and watch me play - especially parents with small kids who may never have seen a real keyboardist before. The lounge at this place is situated to the right of the stage and elevated so everyone up there can see my hands all the time. I want them to see me play. It's so easy to fake things these days that it's expected that I'm faking something, and people are really impressed when they find I'm not. In an era where pop singers seem to rule the stage while their bands are hidden in black attire, I like to shine.

As to the Macarena: I don't play it. That's only a problem at weddings and private parties. Instead, I learned from one of the bands I work with to keep an MP3 player handy with all the cheeziest, lame dance music ever conceived on it. Whatever stupid song they want, they get just as soon as I take my break.

This is all baskwash from the dreaded evil ......................... Karaoke.
Kids today all see their favorite entertainers (?) just singing (or LIPSYNCING!!!) to some "faceless" track of "hidden" band. The emphasis is only on the front person(s). This is a sad time to be a male musician in modern pop. We're a definate minority in the newest material.

Don't fake it ...... play OVER it. Use your ears, and lay a string line on top or play an organ lead till you learn the song. if it's a one time request ...... just play the darn thing and walk away from the instruments with a wireless - the crowd is SO used to that scene .... it's more the norm than the exception.

Bottom line ...... don't fake it. USE the trax to YOUR advantage, and either learn the tune or bag it, but don't get lazy and just forget about WHY we learned to play in the first place. As an entertainer ... you have more responsibility to the outcome of the party than to your accordian peers, so treat an isolated song as such .... it's just 4 munites out of your life. Play it - sing it and move on.

Karaoke is the devil.

Like most, I try to avoid midi files like the plague--but we're entertainers and that's what the folks that hired us are paying for--entertainment. I also had occasions where at the last minute someone wants a particular song that I had never played. At that point, ya' go on the web, download a good midi, and run with it. Most of the time, however, I've at least heard the song and can merely download the lyrics, pick out an appropriate style file and do the song with little or no difficulty.

Midi files are great tools for learning new songs. There have been times when a song crawls out of the cobwebs of my mind that I just gotta' play! Download a midi file, learn the chord changes, download the lyrics from http://ntl.matrix.com.br/pfilho/html/main_index/index.html and again, select an appropriate style file. In most instances, if I download the style file also, I'll rename the style file with the song name--which works great with most keyboards. As for faking it--only when I have a headache!

Cheers,

Gary

On the Broadway thing, I just read a Wall Street Journal article on this yesterday. In fact they HAVE been using canned synth music ("MIDI") for some time now, especially with the road shows of plays. The issue is not WHETHER they will do this, the issue is negotiating with the unions on how many live musicians (the "minimum number") they MUST use. Whether they can use the synths is not the issue.

The last time I faked it , it was with my wife !