The Music Blog

The term “New Music” is a term that was lost in the music world many years ago. During the 70’s this term was the description of analog synthesizer compositions that were written up with their own score. This was a new scoring method that included dial settings, and patch cable patches so that another person, using your score; could perform your electronic piece.

While I was attending SIU in the study of music under music professor Dr. Heidi Vongutten, I was one of only a few people who had access to the electronic music lab. During that time it was one of the best in the USA. It had a serge synthesizer as well as a Moog Modular V, and an ARP 2600; both analog synthesizer. There were many times where I would go in the lab and work for 10 hours straight as I had a key to both the lab and the building and could use it any time day or night, with the exception of the afternoon during weekdays. During that time I managed to catalog thousands of sounds on reel to reel tape and got in over 500 hrs on the Moog Modular V, figuring out patches as well as creating some compositions. (one that was aired all over the country during the late 70’s was my composition created on the Moog called “Windfrost”).

I have always wanted a Moog Modular V, but during that time they were very expensive and now almost impossible to find. However, thanks to Arturia I finally have one in reach! Most of the analog synths of yesterday have been reproduced exactly by a digital counterpart. The entire ARP 2600 and the Moog Modular V for example, has been reproduced by Arturia. The add feature is that you can save your own presets. (whereas in the past you had to write down all of your patch cords and where they went to).

I am really excited as I recently purchased the Moog Modular V and Arp 2600 virtual instrument by Arturia which now means that all the compositions I had done in the 70’s can now be brought back to life and I will now have access to create even more. I will be adding organic sounds (also known as concrete sounds) to future compositions as well.

My goal is to create a whole new line of music albums for people to practice Tai Chi Chuan, Meditate as well as other disciplines…..

I must get contacted weekly from a new web site that claims to host Musicians Web sites for free. They seem to be a dime a dozen and what many do (Not all), is offer it for free; then after you have spent all the work to set it up; they then say they are going to start charging.
Not all sites listed here are hosting sites.

I put all the links to the right of the main page of the blog. I did this so you could click on them to go to them….

dst

Here is what I have discovered:

The Indie Bible:
Great for where to send away for press reviews, radio stations and places that will help you sell your music
For the most part no venues are listed. If you don’t need a review this is a waste of money in my opinion.

The Musicians Atlas:
http://www.musiciansatlas.com
It comes in book form once per year but if you have a subscription they give you online access to their database that is constantly being updated. This one is great for venues, but also lists festivals. etc…
(Billboard magazine has a very similar one to this one)

The Music Phone Book:
http://www.musicphonebook.com/
This one comes out in 4 or 5 different areas of the USA. I have their midwest edition and it lists a lot of venues there were not listed in the Musicians Atlas.

So, I basically recommend getting both the Musicians Atlas AND the Music Phone Book Midwest edition.
I get both of these every year, but I only get the Indie Bible every 3 years or so.
I try to perform in other states is why I get both. If your only going to perform in the midwest area then you could get by with just the midwest edition of the Music Phone Book.