Revisiting My Life in Music: Keys to Becoming a Music Writer

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Thinking back. This is a list of qualities/skills I think helped or were essential in becoming a music writer. More important, these qualities/skills will serve well anyone wanting to be a music writier. This list will also help me flesh out my music writing years in future blog posts.

My first professional typewriter. Photo taken in 2014.

My first professional typewriter. Photo taken in 2014.

Listen. Listen. Listen.

A love of music,  drumming, writing, reading, researching, history.

Learning how to type, how to write a business letter, how to speak well on the telephone, how to conduct interviews in-person and by phone.

Fact checking. Patience. Accuracy.

Keep company with people who are doing what you want to do; with people who will encourage you, but also be straight with you.

Avoid negative people: chronic pessimists.

Music is physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. So is creative writing.

Not being afraid to ask questions. Not being afraid to say, “I don’t understand,” or “I don’t know.”

Listen. Listen. Listen. Remember: the story/interview is about them, not me.

Learning how to transcribe interviews recorded with audiocassettes, and later, with digital recorders.

Letting the interviewees fact check stories and interviews before publication.

Learn how to take photos. Knowing when to leave photo shoots in the hands of professional photographers.

Study by reading, listening, and sometimes by playing, all different styles of music, and all different types of instruments.

Some of my best insights into drumming came from musicans other than drummers, and sometimes from non-musicians.

Be reliable. Be honest.

Learn how to put fear in a box, and how to overcome fear.

Listen. Listen. Listen.

To be continued….

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American Revolution: Everything Was Bad if the Drummers Were

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Scott K Fish

VIDEOS: Upper Dublin teacher ‘drums up’ Revolutionary War history
Published: Saturday, March 14, 2015
By Linda Finarelli

Upper Dublin — In the…1770s…listening to the beat of the drum was…a way of life.

That message was brought home to the eighth-graders at Sandy Run Middle School…when music teacher Sean Kennedy demonstrated the role of drummers during the Revolutionary War.

“Snare drums were strictly tools of war” back then, said Kennedy, a professional drummer who “was brought up learning all of the battle signals the drummers used to play in the 1700s and 1800s,” and teaches them to his current students. “Without the battlefield drummers, modern drumming might not exist,” he said.

…Kennedy said…the “single largest employer of musicians today is the U.S. military.”

[T]hat history can be traced back to sunrise April 19, 1775, when John Parker, commander of a 77-member militia company in Lexington, Mass., seeing 700 British troops approach, told company drummer boy William Diamond, 17, to sound “To Arms,” signaling the enemy’s approach and the start of the armed conflict leading to the War of Independence, he said.

Gen. George Washington complained the “music of the army” was “very bad,” and threatened that if the drum and fife majors didn’t improve, their ranks and pay would be reduced.

“Everything was bad if the drummers were,” Kennedy said.

“The Rogue’s March”…was played when a soldier was “drummed out” of the army for misbehavior or for a funeral processional.

“The drummers and signals were life and death,” Kennedy said. “Usually they were teenage boys and usually didn’t get shot at, but it was very dangerous.”

…Kennedy noted, “Everything…played on the drum set today has roots in the Revolutionary War.”

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Ballard and Rainey: Jazz is an Open-Source Code

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Irish Times
Never mind the whiplash, here’s some proper jazz drumming lessons
Don’t believe everything you see at the movies: for great jazz sticksmen Jeff Ballard and Tom Rainey, being mentored was a joy – although Ray Charles was no picnic
Cormac Larkin – Mon, Mar 9, 2015

ballard

Jeff Ballard (Photo credit CultureRadar.com)

Jeff Ballard is best known as one-third of the…Brad Mehldau Trio, and he has also spent extended periods in the drum chair for legends such as Ray Charles and Chick Corea.

Like so many American musicians, his first experience of jazz education was…his own high-school band.

“It was actually a very nurturing environment,” says Ballard. “The director was an old trumpet player from Chicago. He was a very hip guy and he would instil a community feeling in the band. They’d bring in very heavy old-school guys to teach us, and for me the message from the older musicians was that nobody owns this stuff. It’s greater than you, and it deserves to be passed on.”

Tom Rainey (Photo credit jeanloupbertheau.com)

Tom Rainey (Photo credit jeanloupbertheau.com)

Tom Rainey is one of the most creative and innovative drummers on New York’s fertile downtown scene, and a regular with influential band leaders such as saxophonist Tim Berne and pianist Fred Hersch.

The central character in Rainey’s education was…Keith Copeland, who died last month at 68. [Mr. Copeland] was a giant of the drum set.

“It felt like I was hanging out with a friend, basically, like an older brother kind of figure who happened to be an incredibly swinging and beautiful drummer, and also had a real talent for imparting information.”

For both drummers, jazz is an open-source code that they are glad to be able to share.

But check out Ballard and Rainey…. [Y]ou’ll discover…being a jazz drummer is more about communication than being shouted at.

Full Story

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Young Drummer/DJ Says Earplugs Helpful

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Scott K Fish

WSJ.com – YOUR HEALTH
Is Your Music Too Loud? Experts Say It May Be If It Is Louder Than a Microwave’s Beep
To lessen hearing-loss risk, some experts say listen to loud music with earbuds for less than an hour a day
By SUMATHI REDDY – Updated March 9, 2015 5:37 p.m. ET

DSCF0942.e-1024x682

RJ Jaczko

Experts say listening to music at high volumes using earbuds or headphones for more than an hour—and in some cases, as little as a few minutes—could put you at risk for noise-related hearing loss.

Dr. [Brian] Fligor – [a Boston audiologist and chief audiology officer at Lantos Technology, Inc., an audiology device company, who has published numerous studies on personal listening devices] – recommends over-the-counter earplugs for people who regularly attend loud concerts and sporting events. He recommends custom-fitted earplugs or custom in-ear monitors for patients in the music industry.

RJ Jaczko, a 15-year-old.., is one of Dr. Fligor’s patients. A drummer, DJ and concertgoer, RJ hasn’t experienced hearing loss, but began seeing an audiologist because his father, Rob Jaczko, a recording engineer and record producer, and chairman of the music production and engineering department at Berklee College of Music, began suffering from tinnitus, or ringing ears.

Now, RJ says he wears earplugs to concerts, and whenever he drums or DJs. “They’re very helpful,” he says.

Full Story

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Revisiting My Life in Music: First Meeting with MD Founder Ron Spagnardi

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Scott K Fish
47 Harrison St, Nutley, NJ from Google Maps, March 2015 – almost 30-years after my visit.

I first met Modern Drummer founder/publisher Ron Spagnardi probably in the summer of 1978. MD‘s office was the basement of the Spagnardi home at 47 Harrison Street, Nutley, NJ. MD was still a quarterly publication. Nothing fancy about the basement. I remember it as an unfinished basement with desks, tables, and lighting sufficient to produce and ship a magazine. MD Features Editor Karen Larcombe was there. So were Ron’s father, Leo Spagnardi handling shipping and receiving, and Carol Padner and Jean Mazza were responsible for MD‘s circulation.

I don’t remember exactly why I was visiting. It was probably my interest in meeting Ron and seeing the MD operation. My first two feature interviews, Mel Lewis and Carmine Appice, were published in the April 1978 MD. Carmine was the cover story. So Ron and I had corresponded and worked successfully together. Our visit was likely the result of a simple conversation: “I’d love to come out and see the operation.” “Sure. Come on out.” For me it was just over a 100 mile round trip.

The April 1978 Modern Drummer with my first two feature interviews and cover story.

Ron was working on the layout for the October 1978 Steve Gadd cover story on my first visit. We both loved Gadd’s drumming, and talked about how Steve looked very unhealthy in the Aran Wald story photos. We were worried about him! Gadd was very thin with large, dark bags under his eyes. He was in a recording studio playing a five-piece single-headed Ludwig drumset, Evans heads on the toms, a very worn, white-coated head on the snare. Two paper towels taped left/right on snare top head for dampening.

One of Aran Wald’s Steve Gadd photos from the October 1978 Modern Drummer.

Ron didn’t know if Gadd’s drumset was his own, the recording studio’s, a rental – no clue. We were both surprised Steve was playing single-head rack toms. It was so exciting to have that “behind the scenes” look at Steve Gadd photos few people had seen. This was many years before the internet. Photos of any popular drummer were limited to album covers, magazine photos and ads, drum and cymbal catalogs, and maybe music store posters. Ron seemed a bit apprehensive about what I might be thinking of MD‘s office/basement. Perhaps like “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” in the Wizard of Oz. But, I thought it was all great and exciting.

Ron always had a very mild-manner and even disposition. Our meeting was friendly and brief. And when it was over I drove back to my home on Long Island, NY.

In 1980, when I was hired as MD Managing Editor, the magazine had grown to six issues yearly, and about to expand to nine issues per year. MD offices were occupying one floor of a modern office building in Clifton, NJ.

The October 1978 Modern Drummer Ron Spagnardi was working on when we first met.

–end–

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