Quote:

Make a living from music...never gonna happen for me. There's nothing that anyone would pay to hear when its just me, alone, at night sitting at a dimly lit keyboard. But, must admit, that music is what I'm living for....



Boy, that lesson waa driven home real hard to me when I was still but a teenager and my father took me to a show in Pittsburgh that featured Ray Charles all by himself with just a Grand Piano and an old Wurlitzer Electric Piano, the original with the tube amp in it.

The audience was enraptured the entire time. Not only was it a rather intimate performance, it was one of the strongest performances I have ever seen in my life.

There is another thread here recently about Tommy Emmanuel. Same thing IMO.

The one common denominator I've noticed about these kind of performers, who can entertain audiences all night long all by themselves and never lose that keen audience interest, is that they always, always, KEEP PERFECT TIME while they are performing. Watch their feet, as that is their internal clock. Then govern your practice time accordingly.

Over the years I've learned that you don't have to attempt to play *everything* when accompanying your own singing or otherwise playing your instrument by yourself like that, but you absolutely MUST be able to keep good time.

One of my old private teachers used to say, "You can play a wrong note at the right time and most won't notice, but you cannot play a right note at the wrong time!"

Of course, there is more to it than that, intonation, etc. are also extremely important things, but that "good timing" directive is likely the single most important aspect of performance that I often find to be missing when viewing live acts today. And far too many will prefer to argue about that and make what I think are excuses rather than take the advice seriously and then do what it takes to correct same.

Tommy Emmanuel was a DRUMMER at one point in his life -- and he keeps impeccable time when he plays those pieces that knock everybody out.

Just something to think about,


--Mac

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