Early Rock

Putting the final touches on my lecture tomorrow on early Rock. I'm startled by two things:

Firstly the song to preceed the 1955 Rock Around the Clock as #1 on the charts was Perez Prado's Cherry Pink, a song daily butchered by trumpeters all over the world.

Secondly, that the song to succeed it, after eight weeks was Yellow Rose of Texas by the Mitch Miller Singers. That's a song from the mid-19th Century!

And I was annoyed at the 3rd years today, none of whom had the good sense to show up to their
Vocal workshop. But enough on that.

Still, it's good learning stuff from different people - the main reason I'm a teacher. Today I got a simile from Clare MacLeod, the senior vocal tutor. She said being a successful musician is about three gates.

The first gate is labeled "Are you good enough?", and it's a big one. A lot of people aren't. The talent is a big thing. A lot of people don't make it through that first gate. They have the passion, but not the talent.

The second is labeled "Are you tough enough?" That's a big question too. It's a damned tough industry this one of ours. Are you tough enough to get back up when you've fallen down, to pick up the phone after the millionth rejection, to call the venue back? To give sass back to a drunken punter?

The third is labeled "Do you want it enough?" And a lot of people falter here as well. You've got to want it more than anything.

And I'm not talking about the arenas here. I'm talking about the people doing the small gigs as well as the big.

It made me think.

A lazy Monday afternoon... it doesn't sound quite right, but let's go with it.

Well, here's 2009. Well into it, in fact. Finally got a little time to myself, due to Labour day (god help us when we get Liberal day!) so I'm finally getting around to patching up the old website, making a few changes and ... well ... you're reading the result.

The Big Move happened a month ago or so. I arrived in Melbourne, and set about finding new staff for JMC Music in Melbourne. And may I say, I have managed, with much help, to find the absolute dream team of lecturers this year. Passionate, hard-working and scholarly musicians every single one of them and I am exceptionally lucky.

The only problem, of course, is finding time for my own projects. This weekend is the first one I've managed to take off since I've been down (except for one where my folks visited). And mostly it's been about recovering. I'm trusting that once the semester is up and running again, I can get back to my arranging and recording. I guess it's a common problem for teachers of music, finding the time to do what you want. The balancing act between being an inspiring teacher and being an inspiring performer is a tough one, and one that's going to need a lot of work.

I actually went bush and went horse-riding, courtesy of an old friend, Helen, who lives in the area with her husband. The last time I was horseriding was in 1987 with this girl in Coonabarrabran, and managed to fall off in quite a spectacular fashion. This time, I again, managed to fall off in quite a spectacular fashion. Fortunately, when you're as clumsy as I am, you get quite used to falling over (as many people will testify) and I didn't hurt myself. Helen also posesses the smallest horse in the world (see photo).

So the light is at the end of the tunnel, and you can expect to start seeing some new musical items being posted here soon.