1051 replies to this topic

[Tenri]

Youngblood, on 10 December 2012 - 09:27 AM, said:

Cue the handsome half-naked black guy smiling and nodding!

-Cues the handsome half-naked black guy smiling and nodding!-

[Parnage Winters]

Oh my..well that was easy enough.

[Tenri]

Parnage, on 10 December 2012 - 03:32 PM, said:

Oh my..well that was easy enough.

Grats on passing the rigorous interview, now you need to pass Cirno's math class

[Parnage Winters]

What is, ran over with a bus that doesn't actually exist?

[MBison8888]

Tenri, on 10 December 2012 - 03:50 PM, said:

Grats on passing the rigorous interview, now you need to pass Cirno's math class

well i'm glad I joined before this test is implemented in the trials XD

[Hayashi]

Sorry, very busy IRL, will get back soon.

I've my first solo concert on Friday, so I need to mix and rehearse 8(+1) tracks. =P

[Yanoshiku]

Thats great news!
We are cheering on you!
Im pretty curious how your new songs will sound like.

がんばって！

Edited by Yanoshiku, 11 December 2012 - 10:33 PM.

[Parnage Winters]

I am sure you'll do amazing!

[Blank Mage]

I'm paying attention! Totally am.

[Tenri]

Gensokyo is not on the first page!

バンプです。

[Reisen Udongein Inaba]

Hayashi, on 11 December 2012 - 07:42 PM, said:

Sorry, very busy IRL, will get back soon.

I've my first solo concert on Friday, so I need to mix and rehearse 8(+1) tracks. =P

Good luck with that!
But maybe I'm a bit too late...^^Uu

Tenri, on 13 December 2012 - 02:04 PM, said:

Gensokyo is not on the first page!

バンプです。

And still isn't. ^^U

[Hayashi]

Well, the PM came down to support me.

Not Prime Minister, I mean Papa+Mama. >.>

And aside from that, 4 audience members from my music composition group - not even half the group. All the other people who promised to turn up didn't. So it's probably an indication that my friends completely cannot be depended upon for support of any kind.

However, the music made a couple of random people buying coffee stop halfway on the way out the door of Starbucks, turn around and make a beeline for the audience seats. So I take that as a compliment.

---

I'll link the songs here after uploading them. You've already heard the remixed form of 東方天界, but aside from that I've completely reworked the mixing of all of the other tracks, so all of the ones I've already played before sound clearly superior to the originals. Also, played a couple of tracks that have never actually been performed before.

Tracklist for concert: St.ART

---

1. 歩いてる - 'Walking' - Theme of cats walking. Dedicated to cats and cat lovers, because I like cats, but am allergic to them so I can't touch them, raise them or even be in the same room as them without wearing a mask. Performed live with keyboards. Genre: Pop/Rock?
2. 東方天界 - 'Eastern Paradise' - Theme of Touhou Project, massive mashup of 23 songs from ZUN into a single track. Performed live with a drum machine. Genre: Multiple.
3. Devil's Lair - Theme of... evil. Dedicated to those with an overarching concern of an imperious authority dominating their lives. Performed live with an electric guitar. Genre: Metal.
4. Flamberge - The flame-edged bladed longsword/greatsword of the medieval ages. Dedicated to those who put their lives on the line to serve as a deterrent, so that everyone else may live in peace. Performed live with an electric guitar. Genre: Metal.
5. Chill - Dedicated to my gaming clan 'Chill Mates' from RuneScape, who, in a way, inspired me to start this group here in the first place for people who want to just relax and chill out. Performed live with keyboards. Genre: Chillout/Easy Listening.
6. さようなら - Dedicated to goodbyes with people you love but must part with for one reason or another. The descending melodies are representative of the tears, mixed with rain/snow falling from the sky, in a time when letting go is the hardest. Performed live with keyboards. Genre: Musicbox/Minimalistic.
7. Appleseed - A remix of Apogee Games' Raptor, one of the games I loved the most from my childhood (and incidentally, a forerunner of 東方 Project together with Tyrian for being top-down shooters with extremely nice music). Performed live with keyboards. Genre: Electronic/Game.
8. Reflection - The theme of the setting sun on a tropical beach. Dedicated to warmth, summer, fun, holidays and the idea of a tropical paradise. Notably, one of the only songs in existence in which the melody is in a minor key but the basslines and supporting elements are in a major key, played simultaneously, and yet never clash. I've never been able to replicate the effect on any other song since then. Perfomed live with electric guitar. Genre: Beach/Party.

Total concert length: 1 hour.
Drum machine play length: 15 minutes.
Electric guitar play length: 15 minutes.
Keyboards play length: 20 minutes.
Microphone MC-ing and introducing songs, etc: 10 minutes.

I tried to vary the genres and instrument usage as much as possible so as to give the largest possible variety I could come up with so as not to bore the audience to hell. After all, when you are playing alone, you can't afford to do the same thing too many times before people start walking out.

Number of people invited: 279
Number of people refused with reason: 5.
Number of people who promised to come: 3.
Number of people who promised and came: 0.
Number of people who ignored invite: 271.
Number of people from musical group who showed up to help with setup/sound checks: 2.
Number of people from musical group who showed up to help with tear-down: 2+1 (the earlier 2).
Number of people from musical group who showed up but only as audience: 1.
Number of people outside musical group who showed on invite: 2 (parents)
Number of members of the public who listened to the concert without prior invite: 14.
Number of Starbucks baristas: 3.
Total audience for the concert: 2+1+1+2+14+3 = 23.
Total performers: 1.

St.ART stands for Street Art actually - the idea of unregulated creativity appearing in spite of a dominant authority crushing creativity and freedom of expression - and being all the more impassioned due to said regulation. It will be the name of my first album when I get it printed... so far, since starting to write 1 year ago, I've about 13 complete tracks and 2 incomplete ones for a total runtime of ~80 minutes (complete only) - so there's already enough material for one full album at this point.

---

It's kind of discouraging sometimes though. I write 13 songs, perform a total of 11 of them so far in different concerts, and usually get very good response from the audience about them - Reflection in particular was the single most popular track in a past guitar ensemble concert among the audience, from the feedback. However, I'm also one of the least popular musicians within the musical group, with not even 1/4 the number of supporters as another group, that has played only 2 songs to date in the past year - and played a particular one in 5 different concerts with zero difference in mixing or execution. I'm no good at PR or marketing really, and it's only when you don't have good publicity that you see just how important that role is to music. Without people knowing about you, without people ever getting to hear you, they'll never find out whether your music is good or bad.

Also, musicians here don't get paid very much, and often don't actually get paid. I'm training now and reserving songs for now since the country I live in is extremely hostile to local musicians. To put it another way, it's basically impossible to make a living here with music unless you are 1. a music teacher 2. a DJ 3. a resident conductor of some ensemble. When the time comes that I can finally move to Japan, I can try there. Sure, I'm up against incredibly skilled composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Akira Yamaoka, Junya Ota, Joe Hisaishi and Yuichi Tajika, but very low chances of success are much better than zero chances over here, and finding skilled collaborators/active audience who will support your music are going to be much easier than here, going by my experiences with street musicians in both Osaka and Kyoto.

Edited by Hayashi, 14 December 2012 - 07:44 AM.

[Reisen Udongein Inaba]

It's a shame that all that people rejected to show at your concert... but it's their fault and they surely missed a one time chance. =P
On the good side, I guess that everyone who was there really enjoyed a your performance and music.
You're willing to share your music with everyone, and that's a good thing to, the more people who enjoys your music, the best.
Just be sure to remember the ones who are giving you their support and those who turned their backs at you.
Keep looking forward! ^^

[Youngblood]

You played your own song, and got people to listen. That's the best thing that could happen, and no else could have contributed to that quite in the same way you did. Be proud!

[Stingz]

Music is really interesting, different people...different places around the world...create, and enjoy different of music. Just because you have a low amount of followers doesn't mean your music is bad, just not many people have heard it yet.

Put some of your music online if you haven't already, people from around the world can listen to some that way. From what I have heard Japan in general is usually in a rush, not much time to sit down an listen to music.

Don't forget: ゆっくりしていってね。





Something I like to have playing while in my fast mechs.

Edited by Stingz, 14 December 2012 - 06:54 PM.

[Hayashi]

Oh don't worry, the pace of life in Japan, even in Osaka (the #1 fastest walking speed of people in the country) is about 1/2-1/3 the speed of people here. And when Misaki performed in Yodoyabashi she managed to stop basically 50-70 people, including me, even though she had little to no exposure - so the people there do appreciate street music.

Over here it's a bit different. You need a license to play music on the street (!?), and if you don't have one you can be fined or sent to jail (!?).

P.S. Playing the drum machine while Ableton is playing the rest of your track with the drums muted is a very interesting experience. You know Drum Hero? This is the nicer sounding version of drum hero.

Concert or no, I might just do this a bit more often to train rhythmic sense. =P

P.P.S. I still do get discouraged when preparing for so long and getting this kind of non-response, but I'm more or less better adapted to it now. I actually had a bit of a breakdown last year the first time I got abandoned on this scale, but the tutor in our music group helped me realign my priorities a bit. That doesn't mean I don't still feel let down when people who profess to be an ally/friend who have an interest in music don't show up, but it does mean I won't stop writing just because of them.

P.P.P.S. I failed Cirno's math class. I thought there'd be 1.5 people left - the driver and Youmu's mortal half.

Edited by Hayashi, 14 December 2012 - 09:14 PM.

[Atlai]

I did not know you played the guitar Hayashi, thats cool id like to listen to your songs.

[Youngblood]

We're off the first page again. I'm on C3 right now and nobody's on. With all the finals some of us are having, is our Corps taking it too easy to be relevant anymore? ; _ ;

[Zanathan]

You take that back Youngblood! *runs off to corner and cries*

Seriously though it is leading up to the holiday season and it's not surprising many are off on a break. Also I believe some are just taking a break and waiting for more content/patches?

[Tenri]

At work and can't play , but I'll be on 5 hours ^^...