Family Music

As my studio has shrunk and consolidated, it has got to the point that it's pretty much a laptop and a small keyboard:  With a little work that single keyboard and laptop can sound a heck of a lot better than my whole room full of synths ever did back in the 1990s, but there has been a compromise.  The compromise is spontaneity and immediacy.  In order to make a note of music, I need to park my laptop, launch a program, hook up some USB cables, find an audio cable, find the keyboard somewhere, and then I'm ready...  it is five minutes in the best case, over 15 in the worst.

As Bella has been learning the guitar (a fantastic instrument that can be picked up and played with really no prep time at all, save for the occasional tuning), she's wanted me to play along, to accompany her on keyboards.  Something about both of us playing really seems to make her happy, and truth be told, it makes ME happy too.  But the aforementioned issues with getting a playable instrument up and running led to me sort of limping along playing accompaniment on the iPad:  Not a BAD sounding thing, but not really the most inspiring instrument...  

Add to this all that last christmas, I splurged and got an electronic drum set:  I put it up on the 3rd floor, and in the past year, have seen it used fewer than a dozen times for a pretty obvious reason:  Having a kick drum on the 3rd floor, even if it's being played through headphones, is still a shared experience with the whole rest of the house - WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP!  This was not an instrument for naptime, nighttime, morning...  really it was a Saturday afternoon instrument at best.  As such, it wound up pushed into the corner and not used all that much.

So last weekend with Pamela out of town, I decided to address all three issues.  I created a family music corner in the basement.  I moved the drum kit to the basement, along with an amp, mixer, and speakers.  I laid my hands on an inexpensive piano-synth (something that has its own sounds, doesn't require a computer, but sounds pretty good), and I hooked it all together, with a stool and music stand for Bella.  Keys, Drums, Guitar, all together.

I declared it the family music zone - the speakers will be on, the drums and keys can be played by anyone at any time.  Headphones if you want them, or speakers for immediate enjoyment.  And in the past week, we've had 4-5 good family jams down there:  Bella loves playing the keyboard, Isaac loves the drums, and somehow by default I've been playing guitar.  We mix it up - Bella guitar, me drums, Isaac keys...  when it's the three of us, it's a bit atonal, but I can see that developing.

But aside from Family time, having it all up and running has actually been really good for... me.  Tonight I had 15 min to kill while Isaac finished up a Star Wars show before bed, and I went down to play the drums.  After his show, Isaac came down, dialed up a big fat synth sound, and played crazy notes to my drumming.  We laughed, and then he dragged me upstairs for bedtime.  After everyone went to bed, I went back down and dialed up a piano, and played "Somebody" by Depeche Mode, followed by a strangely rousing version of Oh Suzannah, and a little "Happy Farmer".  I'm feeling a bit more connected to music, and am being drawn to performing instead of just arranging.  I haven't "performed" since 1990 - everything since then was sequenced and arranged.  But the idea of playing a piano for christmas carols, it's been something I've sort of wished to be able to do for years.

For writing music and producing songs, I'm still loving my laptop studio - when my inspiration hits, I have the tools.  But it's not an environment for PLAYING, for creating a shared experience.  For that,  it's just nice to have instruments at the ready.  I'm hoping that this might be something we keep going as a family.  Oh, and I'll get Pamela a tambourine and microphone.  The girl has GOT to be the B-Reay Family lead vocalist.