I mentioned in the post about my newborn daughter Suzy (directly below this post) that I did a clinic at McNally-Smith School of Music this past Friday. It was actually a “seminar” led by my friend Cory Wong, the guitarist I played with at the AQ a few weeks ago. I was simply sitting in with his quartet for the seminar, and then I answered some questions from the students and whatever. It was super fun though. I love the opportunities to try and answer questions from younger musicians, just because I remember how hungry for any/all insight I was back when I began to get serious about being a musician.
Anyway, I came across this video as I was cleaning off my hard drive to make room for Suzy footage. This is Cory’s quartet at the AQ, but I forget the name of the tune we’re playing. Cory, if you’re reading this, remind me what this track is called!
PS. I was sight-reading the tune, so forgive me for having my face buried in the chart!
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November 2, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Bill R
Nice clip. You did a great job trading 4’s. Fun stuff.
November 3, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Travis F
Cool Video. For a Quartet, I thought the set up was very interesting. It seems like the piano player is on the other side of the state…. haha.
What are you thoughts on McNally Smith ?
November 4, 2009 at 12:15 am
stevegoold
Trav… I feel about McNally the same as any other music school. So much of the music game cannot be taught in a classroom. The degree to which McNally avoids classrooms and provides one on one and hands-on instruction would be the way to assess the value of the school. I’ve never gone there, so I can’t say. I have friends who teach there though, so I can vouch for them.
Just seems to me like the whole idea of “graduating” from a music school is BS when it comes to producing actual skill on an instrument. Art is such a fickle thing. You don’t graduate from it.
My opinion.
November 4, 2009 at 4:12 pm
McNally Smith
I’m an alumni of McNally Smith, and am currently an employee, and I would have to agree that the hands on and “real world” you get from McNally Smith is the best part of the program. I also really liked going to school with people I would essentially be working with in the future.
I was glad I went to music college, even though many of the things you can learn from doing or in a book, I found the faculty stories and hints to be very valuable. I also realized that left to my own devices I probably wouldn’t know all that I know today.
November 4, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Travis F
I know a sax. teacher there and he enjoys teach at McNally, along with a couple friends who are there for recording. I just don’t know what I would do with a performance degree. I’m currently going for my Music Education degree.
But at the same time, you don’t need a degree to say you can play or teach…..
November 12, 2009 at 8:51 am
cory wong
cool. i still dont really have an official name for that tune, its the one i wrote the day before the gig….for the time being, i call it “SVU”….for obvious reasons