THAT is good. Hope you don't mind if I steal that line.
Eddie

Knock yourself out Eddie!!
DonM

Yep, that is good, Don...I must remember that one.

Ian

Ok!
Let me clarify some things from the post.

1. Maybe I wasnt careful enough when using the word "cheaters" The intent wasn't to lash out, cry or act as if I have a chip on my shoulder.

How I should have worded the opening paragraph was .... I get the impression some posters from the KB forums on the net seem to feel that people who couldnt sit at a piano or workstation and put on a performance were fudging their way around using an arranger to make up for their lack of keyboard talent and performing gigs making the music biz look bad.

I wasn't trying to single anyone out. I wasn't trying to put anyone down.

Some posted as if I were writing as if it was from personal experience and had thin skin. No one has ever put my skills down. I'm very comfortable with my ability and my very busy schedule. I was speaking for all arranger players in general.

I meant that from a gigging standpoint entertainment was the key not who knows the most chords and who plays the best LeftHand runs. I think everyone should strive to get better and learn as much as they can about their instrument.

This post was just to give my honest opinion and read it with an open mind.

I love this forum and appreaciate the input and comments from everyone. I've learned so much about arrangers on here.

Thanks to all of you who spent countless hours with me on the phone or skype or by email giving me pointers to make the arranger work best for me and sharing styles,midis etc.

Hope I clarified some of that Post.



------------------
God Bless,
Mikey

www.mikeymaestro.com
www.myspace.com/kidconcert
www.balloonanimal.com
www.1000colorcards.com

Good post, Mikey.

I am more impressed by what feeling a player gives to the audience than by a technical display of their keyboard skills.

And, contrary to the belief of some forumites, the arranger keyboard can convey many emotions.

All you have to do is look at the kid's faces in your videos...that's proof enough for me.

Ian

I was enjoying a youtube vid the other day of Pat Metheny with Herbie Hancock and Jack Dejohnette. Incredible players. From another room, my girlfriend asked "What's the weather today?". She thought I was watching the Weather Channel! Different ears.

While I personally find it excruciating to sit and listen to some guy rock out on an arppegiator all night long, he's got every right to do that. Earn a living doing it? Why not! The level of variety in music is incredible. Snobbism is a drag.

Well said and welcome to the forum

Someone asked “What’s wrong with playing MIDI files? I’m surprised no one responded to that? What I find wrong with them is they strip you of your creativity (if you’re one of the lucky ones who possesses “creativity”). The arranger doesn’t entertain the audience…the player does. The music doesn’t emanate from the keyboard…it comes from inside the player. The MIDI file doesn’t identify an artist…the playing style does!

I’ve been resisting using MIDI files for that very reason (though I can see the day where that will eventually change). What distinguishes each one of us, to the audience/listener, is our musical individuality. I’m trying to retain mine and not fall into the convenience of pre-recorded material. Sure I can give my audience a bigger, fatter sound but I’d rather give them ME and what I consider to be true emotionally charged and improvisational music.

At home, for practice, I often take a song and try and play it 20 different ways: different key, different tempo, style (ex: play any 4/4 as a tango, bossa, swing, even a waltz, etc)....I’m sure you get my drift. I do this to keep my mind active, creative and searching for new ideas. I bring that to my performance and could never do this with a MIDI file.

Which brings me to my second point. I play everything “out of my head.” I’ve memorized everything I do. Hence, I’ll change direction in the middle of a song in accordance to where the arrangement in my mind is taking me. Maybe I’d like to tack on a different ending? Or maybe the folks are still dancing to the current tune? Maybe I want to do a medley of songs? Quite often I’ll do theme’s as I feel it (patriotic..holidays…different countries). MIDI files would limit me severely in that context.

Again, this is MY choice and what works best for me. But I like to consider myself not just a musician but a THINKING musician.

As for arrangers being “intimidating,” they are analogous to computers (which they actually are) and just about anything technological. All electronics (TV remote, garage door opener, dashboard radio, etc) look intimidating until you LEARN them. If you view them as complicated and never open the manual, they will remain that way.

What helps a lot is to learn and understand how computers work. With that knowledge behind you, everything you then encounter you will have a head start on, including...ARRANGERS!

I couldn’t end without saying what particularly irks me. Those arranger artists who leave the thing running while they sing. They don’t bother to play an instrumental “ride” in between, and NEVER concern themselves with fill-ins, breaks, playing “around” the break, “silent” breaks, pitch bending or modulation for instrument realism, changing styles in the middle of a song. In short, many OMB’s I listen to just…….leave it running!

Lucky

Careful, Lucky... That last paragraph has been labeled 'arranger bashing' many a time.

But, primarily, by folks that think it comes a little uncomfortably close to what they admit to themselves they actually do...

You might also consider that SMF's, now they can be tagged with Markers that you can Jump to spontaneously, allow a certain freedom that never used to exist. It's easy to fall into old habits of thought, but technology moves along, whether we follow it or not... Dual, synced sequencers, Mark/Jump points, on the fly Part soloing an muting, synced sequencers AND arranger sections. Many TOTL and lower arrangers allow this flexibility...

'But why would we use this when the arranger section is so capable?' you might ask? Well, as I've been trying to point out for a while, there are almost as many things you CAN'T do in arranger mode, as things you CAN'T do when using an SMF. Both systems have their shortcomings... One of which, as you mentioned the bender, you must have already run into. If you use the lever (only way to bend up AND down, AFAIK) you CANNOT do a bend when you have to play a chord on the same beat. And a LOT of really juicy bend techniques happen ACROSS chord boundaries, not after them or before.

That's just ONE thing. There are many others. This is why I don't go all purist, and play EVERYTHING in one mode. The SONG and the music calls you to do things... Sometimes, only arranger mode gives you the freedom to do it. Sometimes only SMFs gives you the ability. Sometimes a combination of BOTH... Railroad yourself into any one arbitrary system, and you limit your potential.

Let the MUSIC dictate how something gets played, rather than some kind of philosophy...

Even worse...they walk away from the keyboard whilst singing or playing another instrument....very tacky...reeks of Karaoke.

Ian