Blog

If anyone is interested, this is an article I wrote for PAS's periodical. I geared it towards a college student who is a percussion performance/education major, but the hardcore jazzer can get just as much out of it (I hope). Some of the musical spelling in the examples got botched (Fb is supposed to be E natural). Hopefully you guys like it.

-Drew

http://publications.pas.org/Archive/July12/1207.22-25.pdf

My First Jazz Gig

So...I don't usually write blog entries, but I figured I'd share some insight from my first-ever jazz gig in the community last week. I know some of you are old pros at gigging, but for those who aren't, here is one example of what it might be like. Of course every gig is different, so remember this is just one experience. Hopefully there are more to come!

Any vibe players around Tuesday night August 14th? We're trying to start an all night vibe night at Chris' Jazz Cafe here in Philly. 7-10 will feature myself, Behn Gillece and Randy Sutin. 10-2 opens the Jam Session.

Hope some of you can come out!

...or something like that, is what Tony said as he decided which of us would get the three Mike Balter t-shirts at the 2012 UDel Vibes Workshop. I guess he was right because when I wore my shirt for the first time today, the cashier at the grocery store asked "So who is Mike Balter?". Aha, a golden opportunity to enlighten another poor soul missing out on the wonderful world of vibraphone!

I just attended my first workshop (Jazz improv on the vibes) with Tony Miceli, Benh Gillece and David Friedman in Delaware. As a relative newcomer to the instrument I wasn't quite sure whether the workshop was for me. That doubt was removed within the first few minutes of meeting everyone and working with the group. There was a wide variety of talent and interests, yet it seemed to work for everyone. All of the masters made sure no one gets left behind, and while I can't speak for the very advanced players, I think they also got a lot out of the week.

http://www.livestream.com/musicroom

We'll stream live some of the classes this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So Check in!

I spent a week here in Ireland and we had a great time. I worked with some hard working players and we really dug into the vibes. I learned a lot from hanging and working with these guys!

So off the Delaware. Another 21 players studying acoustic and electronic vibes! It's always pretty amazing to me to see all these players who love this instrument and want to work so hard on it.

Ireland was incredible! We worked 5 days, from morning until night on the instrument. All the players Played the vibe hang and did a concert last night. So this was a great week!

Just a little advanced notice that we'll have an open house on thursday August 2nd, at the University of Delaware during our vibesworkshop workshop.

So if you're around plan on coming down and meeting everyone and hanging with us. Dave Friedman will be there, as will Bob Becker and some other players. Maybe some guys like Randy Sutin, Or Behn will show. All are welcome!!

(@Bruce Wells - the date i'm pretty sure is correct! I didn't screw this on up)

Any ideas on what to study next? What to study?

I was thinking of spending some time on solo playing. Really working out chord melody stuff, lines, but from the aspect of playing solo.

I really believe that great players can all play solo. They can play something with no accompaniment, even if playing solo is not their forte. That means they know how it all works and how to work it on the instrument.

So that's one idea. Any others??

I have been working my butt off. Lots of work which is good. You know I've made a transition over the last few years. I used to do tons of corporate stuff $$$$, but that has died. There are a bunch of good lookin' guys (like Behn) around who are hustling. Not just vibe players but also piano players and guitar players.

That's cool with me, I do think there's enough work to go around for all who are actively seeking it and all that know how to play their instruments. That's way it should be and I think that's the way it is.