Melissa, Heh. I wont, after I talked to that prof the other day, I went and learned three new tunes that day. I hate saying things like this but: I've only been playing for like 8 months or so, and I'm already better at it than any other instrument i've played in my life. I play trumpet in wind ensemble, and have been playing trumpet since i was 11 or 12, and im miles ahead of my trumpet playing. I'm not exactly sure that any of the professors know just how much time I put into HG. not including the nightly dreams and everything else. If it turns out that i dont have the money or those things to move right away, my goal is going to be to do things to spite him. He is the audio prod. teacher, and he mostly expects us to do commercial-style music. I'll just make a deal with my music history teacher and record a bunch of harpsichord and organ stuff ^.^ ( I think i want to record specifically early music stuff in a professional setting, when i graduate.)
On the performance note, so how did you play it? did you just kind of BS your way about it? thats how i play difficult trumpet parts =P ? My bass instructor paid me to play in his highschool's (he's the conductor) and i played 4 tunes. i think i was on stage like, 10 min. max, but that was my first ever paid gig, and i was in a band for 3 years playing bass, and we played a ton of shows, never got paid. it was exciting! please forgive the typos and whatnot, Michael Opp Ps. Like Melissa the loud?! On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 10:03 AM, Melissa Kacalanos <[email protected]> wrote: > Michael, > > Don't let closed-minded professors get you down. Just play whatever > instrument you like, and you'll be happier than if you're playing something > just because you think the money will be better. > > Those professors are wrong anyway. I'd bet that a higher percentage of hg > players make money at their instrument than, say, guitarists or violinists. > Yes, there are more gigs for guitarists, but how many guitarist wannabees > are competing to fill those slots? There's much less competition for hg > gigs, which might explain why hg players tend to be friendly and helpful to > each other. > > If you want actual anecdotes: a composer, Jeanine Tesori, needed a hg for a > play. The best one she could find was me, which was remarkable considering I > had only been playing for a few years, had no music degree, had no > experience playing in orchestras, and wasn't even a member of the musician's > union. I was totally outclassed by everyone else in the orchestra. But there > I was, being paid good money to play music in a play starring Meryl Streep > and Kevin Kline. Questions of my talent for hg proved to be moot, since the > music she wrote was completely unplayable by me or anyone on any hg, but > whatever, I got paid anyway. > > Melissa > > --- On *Thu, 4/30/09, [email protected] <[email protected]>*wrote: > > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: [HG-new] Schools? and a first time poster. > To: "hurdygurdy" <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 3:50 PM > > > Hey there. > I'm fairly new to the instrument, (last September) and this is my > first post so, hello! I'm from Jamestown North Dakota, but I currently > live in Fargo, ND, attending university in Moorhead Minnesota. I am > majoring in music/audio production. The purpose of this email is to > see if anyone knows of any schools ( that aren't super expensive) that > have an audio production program but also has something of a more > accepting, or even any early music scene around. There is no place for > my instrument here. I've been told by multiple professors that; 'yeah > the gurdy is cool, but its really not that important. Also that I > should concentrate on an instrument that will make me money.' Not > liking it is one thing, but these guys are starting to bug me, and its > time to go somewhere else. - Sorry about the rambling, but I thought > that I would give some back story.- > > If anyone has any advice that would be cool, also if there is anyone > around the area... like 200-ish mile radius that would like to play, > I'm up for traveling. I'm getting anxious to play with other people. > > > Thanks, guys! > > Michael Opp > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
