Fooling the concert violinist
This is one of those musician's moments.
I play a wind synthesizer (a Yamaha WX7, usually connected to a Yamaha VL1-m) in our church band on Sunday mornings. I mainly play emulative patches -- sounds that attempt to imitate non-electronic instruments, like saxes, trumpets, etc. Using a wind synth in this gig is ideal, since I never know what kind of wind instrument will be needed until I show up on Sunday morning -- and, more often than not, the charts call for instruments I don't play/don't have. So emulative synthesis fills the needs of this band.
The band is led by Rex, the lead guitarist and arranger for Disney On Ice. In addition to leading the band, he also writes music for the band to play during the greeting portion of the service. Typically, Rex's arrangements are hymns that have been written into a jazz, R&B or rock groove.
Two weeks ago, Rex pulled out an arrangement of "The Love of God" that he'd just put together. The chart had a very strong Count Basie feel and featured me playing a trumpet sound layered on top saxes (played by Shawn, our keyboard synth man, on a Kurzweil K2600.) Of course, having a Basie feel, there was a lot of piano filler by our pianist througout the piece.
This was a very tight swing chart, and by the second service, Shawn and I had gotten a super-tight sound. (This was achieved by my watching his hands as we played, ensuring that we articulated the music together.) I was really pleased with how it turned out and Rex was gushing afterward about how the tune sounded just like what he'd heard in his head when he'd arranged it.
Last week, we had a guest musician in the band -- a concert violinist who plays first violin with the Little Rock Symphony. Her parents go to our church and so she sits in with the band a few times a year. This gal can play. She gets an absolutely beautiful sound out of her violin, and was playing moderately difficult charts on the first read without a hitch.
Between services, she came up to me and introduced herself. She then immediately asked "were you the one playing the trumpet last week? I kept looking for the trumpet player until I figured out it was you. It sounded so real."
As an emulative synthesist, who has battled both the legit and synth-only camps of the musical community for years, that comment made my week.
When I can fool a symphony musician into looking for the trumpet player, I've done my job.
* smile *
I play a wind synthesizer (a Yamaha WX7, usually connected to a Yamaha VL1-m) in our church band on Sunday mornings. I mainly play emulative patches -- sounds that attempt to imitate non-electronic instruments, like saxes, trumpets, etc. Using a wind synth in this gig is ideal, since I never know what kind of wind instrument will be needed until I show up on Sunday morning -- and, more often than not, the charts call for instruments I don't play/don't have. So emulative synthesis fills the needs of this band.
The band is led by Rex, the lead guitarist and arranger for Disney On Ice. In addition to leading the band, he also writes music for the band to play during the greeting portion of the service. Typically, Rex's arrangements are hymns that have been written into a jazz, R&B or rock groove.
Two weeks ago, Rex pulled out an arrangement of "The Love of God" that he'd just put together. The chart had a very strong Count Basie feel and featured me playing a trumpet sound layered on top saxes (played by Shawn, our keyboard synth man, on a Kurzweil K2600.) Of course, having a Basie feel, there was a lot of piano filler by our pianist througout the piece.
This was a very tight swing chart, and by the second service, Shawn and I had gotten a super-tight sound. (This was achieved by my watching his hands as we played, ensuring that we articulated the music together.) I was really pleased with how it turned out and Rex was gushing afterward about how the tune sounded just like what he'd heard in his head when he'd arranged it.
Last week, we had a guest musician in the band -- a concert violinist who plays first violin with the Little Rock Symphony. Her parents go to our church and so she sits in with the band a few times a year. This gal can play. She gets an absolutely beautiful sound out of her violin, and was playing moderately difficult charts on the first read without a hitch.
Between services, she came up to me and introduced herself. She then immediately asked "were you the one playing the trumpet last week? I kept looking for the trumpet player until I figured out it was you. It sounded so real."
As an emulative synthesist, who has battled both the legit and synth-only camps of the musical community for years, that comment made my week.
When I can fool a symphony musician into looking for the trumpet player, I've done my job.
* smile *
posted by Cold Justice at
1:09 PM
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