Where does the time go? I was just spreading the word about the Make Music PDX (MMPDX) program and I realized that it’s been 5 years since my first trip down that particular road. A lot has happened in my musical career since then, and much of it was made possible by my experiences in this class.

What It Is

Make Music PDX is a class where participants form bands and work for 10 weeks to play a show in front of an audience of friends & family. During that time, each band does everything you need to do a show: selecting songs, building arrangements, choosing a name, even working on costuming and stage presentation. It’s the only way I know of where folks can learn what it’s like to be in a band without the long-term commitment of actually being in one. Each band is assigned a mentor–an experienced musician who helps take notes during rehearsals, answers musical questions, and provides a more-or-less objective ear when the band isn’t sure how well a song is working.

For those in the Portland metro area, fall 2015 registration is now open. Learn more & sign up here.

The First Time – March 2010

Five years ago, I had been playing in jams for just a few months. I don’t even remember where I heard about MMPDX, but I signed up and went to the first meeting. At that time, they pooled all the participants and the mentors went through some pre-class questionnaires to try build bands that would be compatible musically, and to mix the skill levels. I was feeling like a complete newbie sitting in a room with musicians who had been in actual bands and played gigs and even some who had written their own songs. To say the least, I was really nervous.

After they had divided up most of the group there were a bunch of folks left over, including me. We all got lumped together into what was basically a random band. We talked about our musical experience, and I learned that there were others who had never performed live before. That made me feel a little better, because I had experience both in theatre and as a juggler. “Okay,” I thought to myself, “I might be the worst musician here, but at leats I can add something.” It turns out I wasn’t the worst musician there, because others were about at my skill level. And to the credit of the more experienced musicians, they were very patient with us newbies and gave us some good advice.

After 10 weeks of hard work, Dyssband played its first show in December of 2010. It was my first public performance as a musician and while there were rough spots, the show went pretty well. I remember one particular song where I was working with a guitar mic that kept slipping out of position, so I ended up playing my big solo with my knees bent about haflway to the floor. Ah, the joys of show biz!

This performance gave me a lot of confidence and showed me how much fun it is not only to play before an audience, but also to play with other musicians. Without their encouragement, I might still be stuck noodling around in my bedroom.

The Elvis Affair – March, 2011

Talk about confidence…

My band for this term, Rose & The Thorntones, had come together pretty well. But one thing we never ended up discussing was what to wear on stage. I’d tried to bring up the subject for a while, but nobody seemed interested. So I decided if they weren’t going to care what they wore, I would do something crazy and fun. So off Debbie & I went to the local costume shop to find inspiration. We looked at everything from zoot suits to pimp outfits to Santa suits, until Debbie spotted a full-on Elvis outfit from the latter part of his career. White jumpsuit, cape, platforms, the whole thing. And it was even in my size.

Now, there’s more to this story. When we got married, we went to Vegas and got married by an Elvis impersonator. Yes, in the latter-period jumpsuit outfit. So there was no way I could pass up the chance to channel my inner Elvis!

If you want to be an Elvis, here’s a handy tip: practice walking in platform shoes. I spent the whole concert thinking, “Don’t let me fall off my shoes…don’t let me fall off my shoes…” I didn’t fall off my shoes, but it was pretty hard to do much Elvis-like gyrating in them.

My bandmates were all surprised, and to their credit nobody appeared to be overly upset by my wardrobe choice. Whether they cursed me in private, I’ll never know. But they took it in stride and we played a good show. As much fun as it was, I don’t think I’ll be doing the Elvis thing again anytime soon. At least, I don’t plan to.

Gettin’ Down With The Fish

Anyone who’s ever been to a jam session knows this scenario: there are 20 people in the room. 18 of them play guitar, one person sings, and one person plays something like harmonica or sousaphone or something. While there can be variety in MMPDX lineups, this paradigm is still quite common. After having played in a number of MMPDX bands, I felt pretty fearless about trying something new. So when one band had too many guitars and no bass, I ended up borrowing a bass from someone and taking that role. Since then, I have embraced the bass and really enjoy it. Besides being fun, playing bass has also helped make me a better musician in general and a better guitarist in particular. it’s worked so well that one of my current gigs is playing bass with The Imperfect Strangers, an MMPDX band that decided to stay together after the class ended. During the past 2 years as a bassist I’ve learned a lot and have gotten to play with a couple of good drummers, which is where the real fun is when playing bass. I’ve taken those skills and even done some beat-style poetry accompaniment on bass. At my last recording session I started to think about multi-tracking a song where I play all the instruments, we’ll see how that turns out.

One of the greatest parts of MMPDX is that everyone is encouraged to stretch themselves. To try a different instrument, sing some backup, or play in a new genre. Everything I learn to do makes me better at everything else I know how to do, and helps new ideas flow from many different directions. I try to bring this idea to the classes and workshops that I teach, and I am sometimes surprised at how reluctant people are to try new things. But then I’m pleasantly surprised at how quickly they will embrace something new once they get past the fear.

The Future – Fall 2015

After a 2-year hiatus, I will be taking this class again to see what new directions I can discover. Stay tuned for developments!