Mo, I realy agree with your assessment of the problems playing with a person who has specialized in playing a piano single. I do 4-5 jobs a month with a lady who is a long-time friend. We worked together for years at a local hotel-she on single piano in the dining room and me with a trio in the lounge. Now, we do a upright bass-piano duo or trio, adding a drummer for state government functions. Man, is timing a issue.

Tom, you nailed it...after years of sitting too close to a hi-hat I can tell the difference.

Chas and others...when my long-time partner and I added a drum machine in the early 70's, it almost drove Tommy nuts. He always had a rushing problem and came close to throwing the machine in the pool, before he was comfortable with it.

My trumpet playing friend that just died, could play the note created when a fly landed on a score-it would just be in the wrong spot. He had a really hard time working until he got a sequencer, and then he was always playing catch up to the track. Several others in this area are playing to sequences, and bill themselves as "live" jazz acts. That bothers me a little, since neither one could get a real job with a jazz group because of timing problems. As it is, they can't trip up the sequencer like they do other players.

A great rythem section is a real thing of beauty!


Russ

Apparently this aging thing only affects men. When my wife and I got married, I was 5 years older than she (alledgedly), and now, 40 years later, somehow I'm 10 years older. Go figure.

chas

You're only as old as the woman you feel.

[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 10-01-2007).]

What a great subject! Not too many on here I care to respond to anymore.

I feel I'm the best I've ever been, at 64. Not that that's saying a whole lot, but I can't see any fall off in vocal ability or playing keyboard. The recordings tell me I'm on key better than when I was younger, and the rides and style selection are more suitable for the situation.

Arthritis in the right wrist will be a bigger problem as more time passes, and I can't play a real, weighted piano action. But then I never did anyway.

My back doesn't bother me nearly as much as when I was younger and that may because my equipment is lighter and I'm more careful moving it.

I must set my my e.q. early in the night, because by the end of a few hours I don't hear things the same and it doesn't sound as good as when I started. I've come to realize that it's that my hearing changes during the night, even though I mostly use the Bose and it is not that loud. So I trust my settings more. I must MAKE myself take a few breaks, not because I'm tired but so my hearing re-adjusts. Does this make sense?

I am very much more selective about where I work. No more smoke-filled venues. None.
I never smoked and it always bothered me a lot, and I don't have to take it anymore!
I always made it a point to never drink alcohol when I work. You won't see many old drunks making a living as entertainers, unless they were at the top and are now just holding on.

I have also gotten a little less dumb. I have raised my price so that the jobs I get are top quality. I expected the number of jobs to fall off, but the opposite has been the case. I suppose it's a case of perceived value--if they have to pay more to get me, I must be better than the guys who work cheap!

I've also had the benefit of working with quite a few world class players, and have been careful to listen, not only to what they say, but to what they play. It's not the number of notes that count, it's when you play them. Being accepted by this type of musician gives me more confidence in my ability, and that confidence enhances my performance. That confidence wasn't always there, and it was hard-earned!

Having said all this, there isn't a night that I've ever worked that I haven't learned something. I almost always record myself and I am my own most harsh critic. Over the years, I have have gotten to the point where I can stand to listen to most of it without feeling embarrassed.

On another note, my golf game is better than it's ever been, at least most of the time. I've lost a little distance, but experience and self control have more than overcome that. I feel much of the same thing happening with the music.

Last week I was playing golf, on a five-man team. We were all stinking it up pretty bad, and one guy said, "Oh well the worst day on the golf course is better than the best day at work." I looked at him and said, "Maybe for you, but for me, when I to to work, I get to play music and sing. People try to buy me drinks, give me money and tell me how great I am. Women flirt with me. (O.k., now they are OLD women). You guys have the wrong jobs!".

DonM

Chas,
a long time ago I tried to tell my clarinet teacher that I play better ( in time ) when I tap my foot. He responded:
"What controls your foot?" If the passage is too difficult for your fingers, your brain will slow down your hands AND your feet! Tapping does not help keep time. If you "feel" the music - great! Tapp all you want, but don' kid yourself into thinking that you have a sparate metronome just for extremities !

Dave, sorry, but that's just facile pseudologic. Try playing with the drum track, then take 4 and 8-bar breaks not keeping rhythm with any body part. If you are right on the money every time, congrats--you are among the very few. Next, try, tapping your foot and do the same thing..ahaaaaaaah!!!!

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Miami Mo

Zuki mentioned playing everything by memory. I do the same. When I was a teenager and just starting out with my music career, I was lucky enough to have met a fellow who gave me great advice. I could play well but I had to read everything. This he advised me was not a good idea, as you can't connect with an audience (or the other group members) while you're "reading." He said to learn ONE song a day by memory and at the end of the year you'll have 365 songs in your repertoire. I did that, but didn't stop there. I kept going, as by now, I had developed many memorization tricks. Not only did I memorize the music but also the words. The reason being, this same gentleman said, that by singing the words to yourself while you're playing the song, it comes out more legitimate with every note where it should be. Also, you can put more feeling into a song when you know what the words are trying to say.

So here I am years later with a few thousand songs under my belt that I can play and sing out of my head. At one time I was going to contact the Guinness Book of Records and see how long I could play without repeating a song twice. Sorry I never did it when I had the drive. Now the only way I could do it would be with Viagra!

But what I was leading up to is that memorizing songs is not as difficult as you might think. It just takes awareness of how the mind works best to absorb material. It's like the great bodybuilders....they don't just "throw the weights around," they use their mind to concentrate and focus on muscle growth. An old Metaphysics saying: "everything starts in the mind!"

That said....kudo's to Zuki. It's still not an easy task by any means!

25 years ago I couln't remember the lyrics to a single song--at least not all of the lyrics to a song. Sure, the chorus may have been wandering around in the cobwebs of my mind, but the remaining lyrics had to be read from loose-leaf binders that continued to grow both in size and number. This kept me going until about 8 years ago, a point where I had 8 books that I lugged around to each job.

After swapping off the books for a laptop things began to change. For some strange reason the words to all those songs, plus some that I never regularly performed, mysteriously came to the front of my brain and I had no trouble remembering them. The chords, melody, style, tempo, etc.. were always floating around in my head. That's probably why I got into this business--the damned songs just woulnd't go away, and they still don't!

When audience members ask how I remember the words to all those songs, I smile and tell them I only play what the voices in my head tell me to play.

One of the neat things about keeping all this stuff on the laptop is you are only a mouse click away from the lyrics, and they're displayed in a font size that even onld guys like me can still read. You can bump them up to a larger size, set the computer to automatically scroll downt the page, lots of neat stuff. The best part is when you get to the point in a song where your memory hits a snag,(also known in the medical world as a brain fart), you can merely glance at the laptop and keep on truckin'.

One of the things I've noticed lately is that age tends to rob you of muscular strength. (What the hell, they had to eventually go bad along with the other body parts.) In order to slow this process a bit I've been working out on a weight bench and treadmill, both of which provide great exercises. Additionally, the treadmill will help keep your both your cardiovascular and pulmonary functions in better physical condition. The better you can breath, the better your vocal control. It works for me!

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Gary......
I still remember the day you came on stage and looked at my rig & when you saw the laptop in use in a live situation a warm happy feeling came over you & changed your musical life forever, compared to what you used to have.



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-02-2007).]

Try playing with the drum track,
then take 4 and 8-bar breaks not keeping rhythm with any body part. Next, try, tapping your foot and do the same thing
[/B][/QUOTE]

Sorry .... there's no way that moving mny body changes my tempo attention. I can feel the pulse in my head..in my hands...and in my heart. My body .... not so much !
I'm not a dancer and I only move on command...not impulse.