How to survive and thrive in the music business in 2013

How to survive and thrive in the music business in 2013

Many of you have seen the movie about this Joulliard trained musician who then suffered from schizophrenia and became a homeless person. In 2009 he played for the American Music Therapy Association Convention last year (2009) in San Diego, California. I found this video on Youtube that I thought was fascinating. You can see someone who comes alive through the power or music. It presents such a strong connection to the world of reality.

Music as Therapy for the Soul

Music and Emotion Through Time

In my research about how music communicates, I found this great TED talk by Michael Tilson Thomas. It's about 20 minutes, but I think that you will enjoy some of his insights:


Music and emotion through time

Now the question is then, "How does the emotional content within Catholic Music or Contemporary Christian music really communicate with the power of music?" " Is it as effective as it an be or once was?"
Why or why not?

Ave Verum - new arrangement

Finally, I've been moving forward on my new project. This is my latest "world music" piece, developed from Ave Verum by Charles Camille Saint-Saens. Romantic meets the lastest instrumentation and effects!
http://bobmetivier.bandcamp.com/track/ave-verum

A Martyr, A Monk, and Song

Today is the Feast of St. Cecilia. But there is another person in history, the monk who invented the staff and solfege that we should also pay heed to:

http://www.catholicchapterhouse.com/blog/2011/11/22/a-martyr-a-monk-and-some-music/

Without his great effort, or someone later on like him, modern Western music may well have never existed!

Contemporary Christian and Catholic Music

I haven't posted in awhile, but this was just a great article on Contemporary Christian music and Contemporary Catholic music that I could not pass up sending it along! :

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/blackwhiteandgray/2011/11/ccm-contemporary-catholic-music/#comment-253

Spotify

I recently joined Spotify as a free user in the U. S. They are just now rolling out in the States. Apparently, in the next six months, the REAL model (not free) will be pushed even harder. Still not a bad deal. I will have to think about whether this should be a fee based or advertiser based plan. Remember when cable cost, but there were no adertisements. Things do change, don't they? And the music business is the midst of extreme change right now.

I get to witness this from both directions because I'm also an artist on Spotify and rather proud of my 1/10th of a cent spins! :-)
Spotify in US

New Yet Old Drums! Cajon Solo by David Kuckermann

David Kluckermann of  framedrums.net shows his style on this great cajon by Schlagwerk. Imagine this guy doing a drum circle with a group of beginning student players! What an uplifting yet challenging even that would be!

 The cajon is also gaining tremendous traction in percussion for acoustic performance with flamenco, classical and acoustic ensembles.

 

Music Therapies for Cancer

This is still such a new and only dimly explored area of therapy: music therapy for seriously ill patients. I believe that we will find that music plays a significant role also in development and restoration of faculties. What a great potential frontier for both preventative and restorative therapies!

Joining the Choir Invisible

Joining the Choir Invisible

A friend of mine, Matt Gardocki, who is very involved with ministries to Contemporary Catholic Youth and Young Adults sent this to me yesterday. This is  a very powerful explanation of how the Catholic faith expresses itself in the individual and within the Church, ever-present and ever-alive as a community! This is a wonderful article and well worth the read for all  Contemporary Catholics.

Happy New Year - 2011 - The Difference in Cultures

Happy New year 2011 to all! New Year's Eve is a time when most in our culture reflect back on the past year and all of its challenges and outcomes. This is usually with a hope that the new year will bring better and greater opportunities and blessings than the outgoing one.

Often this celebration is accompanied by drinking, dancing, and lots of distraction.

The Contemporary Catholic Church has room for all of this, but its focus is quite different. Each year, on January 1st, the Catholic Church rededicates itself to the care of Mary, the Mother of God and starts the new year with a Mass in honor of her Son.

I've always found the choice of the Psalm (Psalm 67) which is set to a Contemporary Catholic music chant setting below, to be very interesting. In this psalm, we ask that God will bless us in His Mercy. So the focus is God and His Mercy upon us in this new year, a stark contrast to the secular idea of what I'm gaining or missing each year.

Psalm 67 - May God bless us in his mercy

4th Sunday of Advent

In Contemporary Catholic Circles we try very hard to keep Advent where it should be, a wonderful preparation for the coming of Christ. Catholic music for Advent was much more extensive in the past than it seems to be today. The Chabanel psalms, while Contemporary Catholic songs, draw from the rich past of both Hebrew and Catholic tradition.

So, in that spirit, as it is the the 4th Week of Advent still, I have left in my recording of the psalm for this  week, but I've followed it up here with the Psalms for the Christmas Midnight Mass. I hope that you might listen to each one in its time ! :-)

4th Sunday of Advent Cycle A - Psalm 24

Christmas - Psalm 96

4th Sunday of Advent

 Let the Lord Enter; He is King of Glory!

Advent is a wonderful time to celebrate the wonderful chant found in both traditional and contemporary Catholic music!
Please give me your feedback of this Catholic music video! and have  a Blessed Advent!

4th Sunday of Advent Cycle A - Psalm 24

Sing to the Lord a New Song!

"Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds." The responsorial psalm for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is sung by Robert Metivier, with photos by Terry Modica, for Good News Ministries (http://gnm.org) in connection with podcasts of the Good News Reflections.

Immaculate Conception - Psalm 98

Have a blessed Advent!

Here is my version of the Chabanel Psalm for the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Advent is a very special time for Catholic music, distinct from Christmas, but in preparation for it.

2nd Sunday of Advent Cycle A - Psalm 72

Scattered Monkeys - “An Insiders Perspective on the Evolving Music Industry”

The premise of this blog is that the landscape of the music industry has fundamentally and permanently changed. Christina sees musicians metaphorically as wolves who were accustomed to an environment where the means of survival (the prey so to speak, for lack of a better word) is gone and new potential "prey" abound, which we are incapable of catching alone. The new paradigm (sorry: 90's word there! :-) is to group together rather than being "lone wolves", to develop new niche markets in common with one another. Here is the article. You will enjoy it.

If you are Contemporary Christian or Contemporary Catholic musician and would like to see new ways of achieving this, please respond to this post! That's a good first start.

The Future of the Church

The future of the Church has a great bearing on the future of liturgical music, but also on life and culture at large in our 21st Century! As a voice of God's presence in the world, the Catholic Church needs greatly to stay the course and finish the race

This particular sermon recently given by Fr. Thomas Rosica, (the CEO of Salt and Light Catholic media) on vocations so powerfully speaks to the future of the Church, the future of Catholic music, and on pastoral leadership. This is a full homily, so it is a bit long, but well worth the read!

James MacMillan and the new music for the Pope's visit

Recently the Pope visited the British Isles. For this visit Scottish composer James MacMillan was commissioned to write the setting for a new Mass for celebration with the Pope. This is no minor event to be asked to compose for. Below is his story of the trials and tribulations of such an effort. It shows us some of the realities that we are currently dealing with in the Church and its understanding of how we move forward:

James McMillan

Mixing and Mastering

I love this saying by Bob Katz, one of the best audio mastering experts in the music business. This is so true!

In an answer to a question on proper use of balance and reverb, Bob states: "Do I realize how much work it is? For sure, for sure---the last 10% of the job takes 90% of the time, all the time. So, if you think you're 90% done in your recording/mixing job, book almost the same amount of time to get it done if you want it to sound "good enough"! It's the basic principle of any artistic/perfectionist profession. Welcome to the club." So, when you hear that not quite optimized piece of music that is "90%", know what that final bit costs in effort!

InsideCatholic.com | Crash Call | Feature | Articles

Among all the things, I decided to take a "forced" personal retreat at my home yesterday and today. The future of Contemporary Catholic music can wait for a day or two :). I don't think that it will fail without me! :-)

So, I'm sitting back after watering plants and flowers and I find this article. Hmmm.... maybe God really is trying to tell me something, and I really DO have to LISTEN. It's so ironic that Listen is the first song on my first CD, yet I have to constantly remind myself that this is where it all begins.

InsideCatholic.com | Crash Call | Feature | Articles

And listening does change perspective.