From: |
Preston
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Sent on: |
Thursday, September 2, 2010, 4:30 PM
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Hey everybody,
There is lots of news about the New York Composers Meetup.
BUT FIRST, mark your calendar for these three upcoming dates:
1) Friday, September 24, our first meetup of the fall season at the Tada! Theater
2) Friday, October 22, Emmy-nominated film composer Peter Calandra will show his latest work and take your questions at the Tada! Theater
3) Friday, November 5, we will have a NY Composers Meetup Concert at The Cell Theater in Chelsea. (Start thinking about what you want to do!)
NEXT, fall 2010 is here and the New York Composers Meetup starts a new season of activity. I have been receiving your emails, speaking with many of you, and reading your online suggestions about possible meetup activities. And, guess what? You guys want a lot of stuff! ; )
As a result, we will be trying some new initiatives this fall in addition to our regular meetups.
All these ideas have come from you. So, check them out below and give me your input.
1. Meetup CONCERT, Friday, November 5 at the Cell Theater in Chelsea!
Peter, and many others of you, have been patiently bugging me about a NY Composers Meetup Concert. Okay, you got it!
We have recently struck a deal with The Cell Theater (23rd St. between 8th & 9th Ave in Chelsea), so we will be doing more events there as a result. (We?ve done events there in the past with great success.)
The Cell is a small but very cool theater with a full schedule. (It seats about 65 people.) So, this is an excellent development.
For those of you who want to perform, email me and I?ll put you on the list?first come, first served. Remember, this is for live performers, or video performance art (they have a big screen). You can also use playback to accompany your live act. At this point we will not program strictly audio playback unless there is a live performance with it. Email me if you want to be on the performance list and/or have questions.
2. Tech Meetups and Lecture/Demos: I can?t count all the suggestions you have made for tech meetups. You want to know more about software (ProTools, Logic, GarageBand, CueBase), song-writing method, technical analysis of music, film & video, notation (Finale v. Sibelius, etc.), in-home recording, form and function, and so on. The Tech Meetups will take on these issues and more. Keep me posted on your needs, and I will do my best to address the subjects. We may take a poll to see how many people are interested in a particular subject and who will sign up for these seminars.
Lecture/Demonstrations with experts are also being requested. It can be very helpful to hear what an industry pro has to say about their field of experience. We have had a few ?luminaries? talk to us in the past (Jimmy Webb, and most recently, Grammy nominated violinist/composer Gregor Huebner). So, we will try to do more of these meetups to give you an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and grow from the experience.
3. Individual Study/Coaching: After 3-plus years of observing these meetups and your music, I?ve seen a lot of common problems. I know that many of you want, and can use an objective point of view regarding your approach to music?coaching that deals with your individual needs and strengths. Rarely is songwriting or compositional ?method? discussed and/or understood. And yet, this is an area in which many of you need help. As a composition teacher, it is an area in which I specialize. Since a number of you have expressed an interest to me, it makes sense to offer one-on-one, or small group coaching sessions to help take you to the next level of knowledge and execution of your music. I know there is a core-group of you who are interested in this subject. So, we will make this available. Just drop me an email if you have questions.
4. Podcast!
Bjorn (and others) suggested that our regular meetup would make a great radio show! (I did not see this one coming!) Maybe not radio? but a podcast is do-able, and the first step to a ?radio-type? show.
Here?s what?s interesting about this idea:
? First, it gets your music out to the web so more people can hear and find out about you.
? Second, it lets other folks learn from our mutual meetup experience.
? Third, it gives those of you who could not make it to a particular meetup the opportunity to ?catch up??to hear or re-visit some of the works you missed?sort of like Tivo for radio!
? Fourth, let?s face it, you get the opportunity to plug your gigs, websites and recordings to a wider audience.
These are all really good things, so we?ll give it a try.
For those of you who want to play your music only for our Meetup group, but don?t want to be in a podcast on the ?world-wide web,? that?s totally cool. I understand. You can participate in our regular meetup, and I?ll edit you out of the podcast if you like. That?s totally fine.
So, we will try podcasting these meetups in some way. But, bear with me, please! I know there will be a learning curve (needless to say).
Note: If any of you have experience in podcasting, please let me know right away. I can use the input.
Reality check, please! Finally, there is clearly a supply and demand factor here. If enough of you want something, (and if we can make the financial numbers work), then we?ll go for it. Otherwise, it may not be possible to afford some of these activities?the old supply and demand law.
I look forward to your comments about all of the above. Again, these are the top four ideas that you all have asked me about. They reflect your issues and needs. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Preston