South Haven Baptist Church pianist workshop and recording

Filed in News on September 07, 2010



Sorry again for the low posting here lately.  Things will get back to normal soon but probably not within the next 10 days for sure.

Here are some things coming up of interest:

1) Piano workshop in Nashville on 10/11.  This is at South Haven Baptist Church starting at 8:00 am.  You can register at the church for either a general option or an advanced option.  I am covering congregational accompanying, playing soft music, and accompanying in the general session and various improvisational techniques in the afternoon session.  If you want to play and get some help, there will be a time for that as well.  Contact me or the church if you plan on playing.

I will be doing a concert at South Haven on Sunday night at 5:30.  After that, I will be heading downtown to get a good night's sleep before...

2) Recording next week.  I will be in the studio all next week recording my two new projects.  That is the main reason I have not been posting.  I will talk more about that in a minute, but here is a quick update.  I had planned on streaming the studio online.  I am going to have to back off that plan however due to a number of reasons.  It is going to be grind anyway and not very interesting to most of you, so I don't think you will really be missing anything.

Because of the recording, I am practicing about 8 hours/day this week and still feel like that is not enough.  Recording is a draining experience emotionally.  There are always times before recording and during the mixing process where I decide that my music is junk unworthy to release to the public. 

Yesterday was one of those times.  I was recording myself on some songs and playing it back, and I was shocked by how bad it sounded rhythmically.  One of the biggest realizations that I have come to over the past year is that playing the right notes are not enough.  You have to play them at the right time too, and nailing down that concept is very nebulous.  It goes far beyond the idea that a quarter note is one beat, etc.

Rhythm is a huge factor in how music feels.  If you play the rhythm too precisely, your music sounds stiff.  If you play too loosely, you have another problem. 

I have gotten to the point where bad rhythm grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.  But unfortunately, my understanding what good rhythm is does not exactly translate to good rhythm when I play.  It is incredibly difficult to play the right notes at exactly the right time.


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Daniel Blomdahl
9/7/2010 5:19:44 PM

I have done home reocrding, nothing close to the scale you do, but I understand all the pressures of recording. Some days I wonder why I'm a music major because what I'm playing sounds so bad. But I'm praying for you and I know whatever you put out will be amazing!

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