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About 10 of you guys did the mini concerts. That's great for us to come together like that. It feels a little like we performed together. So....

What if we pick a tune and all study it together with goals each week. It could even be beginner, intermediate and advanced goals. The point is we all practice together and post our work as if it's a lesson. Which it sort of is right?

What do you guys think?

http://www.garyburton.com/news/this-is-it-gary-announces-his-retirement…

That's sad!!!!

How people handle their musical material is always interesting to me. As you guys know I talk with lots of students about solo playing. I believe you should spend a lot of time (in your mind) walking on stage and playing a piece or two as if there is an audience. The best way I know of to simulate that is to record your performance. video is best. Then you have to look at yourself!

On facebook I asked for a list of solo cd favs. Here's the list I got:

I was talking to a student today. This student is nervous about getting out to play. This would be the students first jam session. The student is very talented and needs to get over this hump. If the student played about 5 or 6 jam sessions that would be it, they'd be fine and could get up to play with ease.

We have to play in public. This is really how we get better! And there's no excuse for not doing it. Learn tunes and get out there. People are cool and anyone who says anything negative to you is an A-hole, so don't worry about it :-).

The thing I think about premiere is that there are not a lot of them in the states. so it might be tricky to fix them.

i play premiere's in ireland. they're ok, decent vibes. they're a little noisier than even the musser. they are smaller than mussier, yamaha, or malletech.

what's the price? they're premiere right?

i can get you a used omega for about 3800 (i have to check so don't quote me). it's in great shape. not sure what you're price range is.

are they graduated bars?? if they're not graduated bars, then i say definitely no to them.

Do you know what a Mini concert is? (A concert here at VW where you play at least 2 songs without stopping and recording them and present them to us) Kind of feels like you're doing a concert.

I love this stuff. Finding ways to play for each other. I hope many of you will post Feb 25th for Mini Concert day.

My favorite and frustrating part is preparing for the recording.

Who do I play 2 songs by myself without stopping? That's the question I ask.

I think this is an interesting Buddy Montgomery recording for a couple of reasons. (Scroll down for the video)

First it's swinging!!!!!!!

Next Buddy is using soft mallets. The problem with soft mallets is they make noise on the instrument. I think because they are softer so you hit them louder. On this recording you hear lots of instrument noise.

The decision on what mallets to use is ALWAYS your decision. But it's nice to know the pros and cons when recording.

Anybody, just curious. Anyone have anything to add? i have more lessons going up.

I wonder what you're thoughts are????

We need another day of mini concerts from our members. Remember what a mini concert is? you play 2 or 3 tunes in a row without stopping as if you're on stage. Audio or video.

Then we pick a day and upload the night before. Then everyone else comes on the site and watches the videos.

In fact if everyone sent me the video, I could make the whole concert in one video. That would be nice, it would feel like an evening of vibes!

You guys interested? Any takers? I'm in for two tunes.

Hello everyone!
It's been awhile since I've posted anything on the site, but I'm finding time to be a vibraphonist at least a little while school consumes my life...

Last weekend I attended the first Vibes Bootcamp at Tony's house in Philadelphia. He wants to make it a recurring event, so I figured I'd give a little recap:

The boot camp was an intensive two days of studying vibes in an intimate yet relaxed setting; there were only five of us, plus Tony and Anthony Smith as our instructors. Randy Sutin also stopped by to hang and offer playing tips.