Music!

Hi. My name is Catfish. And I am a musician.

"Hi Catfish!"

I play in a band called Who Hit John?. We are a five piece acoustic string band including, but not limited to, banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle and upright bass. I play banjo and resonator guitar. We've recorded two albums and are writing for the third. We are a working band and usually play at least four gigs a month. My dream is to one day be a full time musician. You can download live shows and watch full length videos here if you are so inclined ;)

My personal influences include: The Old Crow Medicine Show, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Daniel Kahn, The Red Sea Pedestrians, David Holt, Ry Cooder, The Red Clay Ramblers and many many more.

Any other folkies out there?

Lub,
Catfish
 
Nice sound!

I like all sorts of music, mostly..., blues, folk, jazz, rock, pop..., even some bluegrass, certainly the music of the world, India, China, Cuba, South America, Africa... pretty much everywhere. I'm not much into classical and have no appreciation for opera. "Country-Western" is pretty much out, too -- though I do like some bluegrass, as I said.

I especially like music that is rooted in tradition while also being wildly innovative!
 
I played drums and was lead singer in a rock band in high school. I also "play at" a six string acoustical guitar. That's an on again, off again, kind of thing. I can't read a lick of music. Wish I could. I love the blues, some jazz and classical. Pink Floyd, Shawn Phillips, George Benson and the Moody Blues were all one time favorites.

Barry
 
I am a guitar player, mostly acoustic, but also have an electric. I like classic rock, some country, medieval music, renaissance music, classical music, and generally anything that will sound good on an acoustic. I am mainly a fingerstyle player.

My wife sings (and very well might I add), and she is learning to play bass. I am also teaching her to play the acoustic guitar.

Besides playing, I also like to arrange music. Right know I'm having fun making guitar arrangements of old video game music and movie music. I also repair guitars.
 
Professional musician here :) I've been lucky to have been able to make a living in music for most of my professional life (up until a couple of years ago when I started a day job teaching autistic kids). I have a bit of a broad and scenic career, but I'll try to get as much of it as I can in here...

(Oh yeah, and I have to plug GreenEarthAl and his music...he is an AMAZING performer and must be seen live if you have the chance!)

Anyhoo...here goes:

Flute playing:
I did an undergrad degree in flute and voice and was gigging pretty well and got onto the sub rosters of a couple of decent orchestras when I fell on my hand and couldn't play for a couple of years. Other things developed during that hiatus and even though the flute career kinda took a detour, I can play again and do weddings and such, but not as much as I used to. Would love to step that up again.

Singing:
I studied singing in college and continued to build a career when my flute playing had to stop. I've worked in professional operas and musical theaters. After I was doing these opera and musical gigs for some time, I realized it might be good to get more training so I went and got a masters in musical theater. I also gig at churches and weddings, sang in a jazz group for a while and did some backup vocals for an Afro-pop band for a bit.

Conducting:
When I fell on my hand and couldn't play, I started getting more involved in conducting. I directed some community concert bands and then started directing and conducting musicals and operas for a while. These days it's more focused on choir conducting. I've done some church choir directing and was directing a fun community choir back in London.

Teaching:
I got my certification and spent some years teaching in the public schools. I've directed everything from marching band to school choirs and everything in between. These days I do more private instruction in flute and singing. I also do a lot of singing workshops for community groups. I *love* community songleading and love it when people connect through their singing. I also teach performance master classes whenever I get those gigs.

Composing:
I worked in the theater education department for a big music theater for a while and did a lot of composing of kids shows while I was there. I've done a lot of arranging for other people or setting other people's stuff to music and a small bit of film soundtrack work, but would love to try more. Just before I left London, I was working with a contemporary dance company as their composer and had just had some music of mine performed in a pretty significant venue..that was awesome!

Misc:
I studied African percussion with a guy from Guinea for a while and played in his Afro-pop band. As I've been working more teaching kids with autism it's been fun exploring how music can help with their language and general connections. I play a bit of guitar and a lot of piano, but consider myself a good faker more than skilled at it. Sometimes I just write songs for the fun of it. Maybe I'll pursue that more someday, but my plate is pretty full :)
 
I was composing songs since the age 9. I studied classical music for 4 years and then jazz for 8 years.

I was very big into the jazz scene until I became deafblind. People used to jokingly call me Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder (not that I'm of either their caliber but just because I was a blind jazz musician and supposedly share some of their body language. Wink.)

Now I am looking into other ways of experiencing music, such as through vibrations. I can't hear most of the types of music I used to enjoy so much before, such as jazz, folk, and classical, but I am entering new worlds and new tastes, thanks to my deafness. I met a metal-jazz fusion artist the other day and was able to enjoy his music with the volume cranked up.

Anyway, I have several of my songs recorded on YouTube under the username nikamirovak if you're interested. As much as I would love to hear everyone else's music, I can't -- unless your music is very loud to begin with, then I'll give it a whirl. I love listening to music really loud so I can feel the vibrations and feel it resonating through my ribcage and the objects around me.

nim
 
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I am a guitar player, mostly acoustic, but also have an electric. I like classic rock, some country, medieval music, renaissance music, classical music, and generally anything that will sound good on an acoustic. I am mainly a fingerstyle player.

My wife sings (and very well might I add), and she is learning to play bass. I am also teaching her to play the acoustic guitar.

Besides playing, I also like to arrange music. Right know I'm having fun making guitar arrangements of old video game music and movie music. I also repair guitars.

I love fingerstyle guitar playing. It holds a special place in my heart.

Are you planning on forming a band with your wife someday? Sounds like you guys would be great together. Smile.

nim
 
Ceoli said:
I did an undergrad degree in flute and voice and was gigging pretty well and got onto the sub rosters of a couple of decent orchestras when I fell on my hand and couldn't play for a couple of years. Other things developed during that hiatus and even though the flute career kinda took a detour, I can play again and do weddings and such, but not as much as I used to. Would love to step that up again.

I hope you'll be able to come back 100% one of these days!
 
I hope you'll be able to come back 100% one of these days!

Thanks for that, though the definition of the whole pie has changed, so I couldn't even tell ya what 100% looks like. I'm happy to just be involved in creative music and performance projects whatever form they take.

I've always sucked at self promotion, but I should work on that...so for anyone else interested, here's a couple of things I did back in London...

This was a collaboration I did with an electronica artist, he wrote the tracks, I wrote the melody and lyrics. These are rough demos that we were planning on producing at some point:

http://www.myspace.com/blueiceofficial

And here's a snippit of a recital I joined in on just before leaving London:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUVTzqLYJpI
 
That Blue Ice Stuff is Awesome! 2 songs in so far.

Aww...shucks...thanks! Alas, he's moving to Greece soon so he won't be in London when I return. We may try to complete these projects remotely, but that depends on technology. We'll see, I guess.
 
Changing subject slightly, but I was led to this video by Storm Large and it really is great and kinda fitting in a poly way. ;)

8 Miles Wide

Warning! Do not listen to this at work or in a public place unless you have headphones!

Warning! This has a very catchy chorus as well.
 
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