Who Killed the Contemporary Christian Music Industry?

I read a very interesting article this week entitled Who Killed the Contemporary Christian Music Industry by Tyler Huckabee.  Although I am not a huge fan of the Christian music industry (ironic – since I am a Contemporary Christian artist) I found this article to be very informative.  I decided quote it (via link) as this week’s post. 

 Who Killed the Contemporary 
Christian Music Industry?

You Tube Copyright Infringement

                One of the areas I’ve branched out in lately is creating music instructional videos on You Tube.  My channel is Learning Music With Ray; it contains videos on both music theory and music performance.  One of the struggles I’ve run into is the question of whether or not it is legal to upload an instructional video teaching how to play current popular music.  In my case, I am looking to teach the piano performance of Christian worship songs.  However, this question can be applied to the teaching of any popular song of which the teacher does not own the copyright.    

                You Tube has a video (You Tube Copyright School) that explains the details about copyright infringement when uploading You Tube videos.  According to that explanation, the safest way to ensure avoiding copyright infringement is to include only original content in your videos.  The law does allow for the fair use of copyrighted material under certain circumstances, but it is often difficult to determine if a specific example qualifies legally as fair use.  I am not sure whether or not my demonstration of a popular worship song in a piano instructional video would be considered fair use. 

               You may be thinking, “So why don’t you just make videos teaching how to play your original songs Ray?”  That is what I have done so far.  However, my songs are not exactly at the top of the Christian Contemporary charts right now.  I’m sure people would be much more interested in learning to play the worship songs that are currently on the top of the Christian Contemporary charts.  Teaching these songs would better fill the need of what people are looking to learn and would also probably result in more views.  However, I don’t want to risk copyright infringement in order to achieve these things. 

                This law feels kind of like the speed limit (one of those laws that hardly anyone follows.  A search on You Tube will reveal millions of videos in which people are teaching how to perform songs that they don’t own the copyright of.  However, the existence of these videos does not authenticate the legality of this practice.  In some cases, the owner of copyrighted material will allow a You Tube video to stay up, but exercise his/her right to collect on the monetization of that video (as covered in my previous posts: You Tube Sync Licensing &  You Tube Sync Licensing part 2).  If you are looking to monetize your instructional videos, this process would prevent you from collecting on the monetization (the owner of the copyright on the song would collect) even though you created the instruction.  It is unclear whether the many instructional videos currently uploaded to You Tube are suffering from this monetization issue, going undetected or just illegal. 

               After calling Google and speaking to a customer service representative, I was told to write an email to their legal department.  For those who are interested, the phone number I used to contact Google was (650) 253-0000.  I got through to a customer service representative rather easily, but he was not able to directly answer my question (only refer me elsewhere).  The email address he gave me for the legal department was legal@google.com.  I will write an updated post as soon as I hear back from them.  

I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now

                There are so many things that I know now as a performer, but I didn’t know back when I was younger.  I wish I could go back in time with the knowledge that I have now.  Unfortunately, that is not how things work.  At least I get to pass my knowledge on to my students.

                I just had a really gratifying “pass on to your student” moment this week.  One of my major downfalls as a young performer was my inability to be able to perform (when it counts) at my fullest potential.  I had some amazing practice sessions while preparing for NYSSMA solos and other public performances.  The actual performances would be ok, but they were never quite as good as those magical practice sessions.  My mindset was all wrong, and I didn’t understand the impact that our mindset has on our performance. 

                You see, I was focusing too much on not messing up.  I remember watching the Winter Olympics as a child and seeing a top level figure skater fall in the middle of her big performance.  I was shocked!   Here was a person who practiced way more than I did, and in her big moment she blew it.  From that moment on, I locked into a habit of focusing on “not falling” during a performance. 

At home, while I was practicing alone, I could relax and enjoy the music.  However, on stage I was focused on all the difficult sections of the piece, and hoping that I would make it through them ok.  You could imagine what kind of performance this mindset resulted in.  My creativity and expression was trapped inside a mind of worry.  I was getting through the piece instead of performing and expressing it. 

Now, thank goodness, I am no longer trapped by that terrible habit.  I have learned to focus on all of those wonderful moments during my private practice.  Those were the moments where the expression and passion of the piece were revealed to me.  Those were the moments when I connected with the music.  I string them all together in my mind, and edit them (the way one would edit a video) into a perfect performance.  That is what I focus on while performing.  I aim to recreate that perfect performance that I have edited together in my head.  I realize that it may not all go perfectly, but if I don’t go for it, then there is no chance of it happening.  I might as well shoot for the stars and see what I get.

I had the privilege of explaining this concept to one of my band students the other week while helping her to prepare for her own NYSSMA solo.  She had experienced her own magical moments while preparing her piece, and I didn’t want to see her experience the same disappointment that I had in the past.  Thankfully, she understood what I was explaining and took it to heart.  I just received her NYSSMA results today, and she received a perfect score.  I may not have a time machine, but I can help others to save time.  Moments like that make teaching a rewarding experience.    

Why I Music Education Beneficial?

I’ve written many posts about how to practice, how to play, how to record and how to do many other things related to music.  It occurred to me, I’ve haven’t written much about why we should study music.  I guess I took for granted the fact that my audience is mostly composed of musicians who already love studying music.  However, there may be some readers out there who are considering taking up an instrument (or vocal studies), or some people who are just not sure if this is worth it.

Today I wanted to speak to the benefits of music education by quoting a post made by NAME (the National Association for Music Education).  In it, they list 20 benefits of music in our schools.  Although this post is primarily geared toward music education in schools, it is applicable to all aspects of music education. 

Check it out at this link: http://www.nafme.org/20-important-benefits-of-music-in-our-schools/  

What Does It Mean to Become a Musician?

                There is an interesting metamorphosis that occurs when examining the answer to this question at different points along our development.  As beginners, our goals are to learn to read music and to find the correct pitches on our instrument.  At this point our definition of reading music is not even 100% accurate.  Most students first view reading music as reading pitches (at least this is what we focus on).  If we know how to read the letter on the page, locate the same letter on our instrument and play it, we are a musician.

                Later on we realize that rhythm and beat are also components in reading and playing music.  We begin to read pitch and rhythm simultaneously, while feeling a steady beat in our body.  Even the point of getting the steady beat inside our body can be a gradual development.  We start with this device (a metronome) that externally maintains the beat for us.  Gradually the sense of beat becomes ingrained within us.  We learn to line up the rhythms we are reading with the beat that we are feeling.  We learn how to accomplish this task without sacrificing the accuracy of our pitch reading.

                Next we learn that there is more to music than just beat, rhythm and pitch.  We become aware of our tone, and try to develop a pleasing tone quality.  We become aware of variations in dynamics and articulation, and we begin to incorporate these things into our playing.  Slowly, as we add more elements, we progress from playing notes to playing music.

                However, there is one more stage that needs to take place.  We need to realize that this instrument we are playing is a machine.  We manipulate this machine in order to recreate the musical sounds that the composer originally envisioned.  There may be moments within the piece where we know what the intended sound should be, that that is not what comes out of our instrument.  When this happens, the piece is revealing an inadequacy in our technique that needs development.  We have not yet learned to manipulate our instrument well enough to produce the desired sound for that type of situation. 

This is the final level of musicianship that students must achieve.  We must learn to focus beyond learning to read a play the markings on the page.  Our new focus must be using the markings on the page to hear the sound that composer intended in our minds.  Listening to recordings of professional performances can help us to get to this point.  The recordings help us to connect what we see with what we hear.  Eventually, we learn to hear by just seeing (with no recording).  Then we must learn to create the sound that we hear in our minds on our instrument.  True musicians learn to master this process.   

What’s Inside Of You

                Everybody says that performing music is about connecting with the audience.  We need to be vulnerable, and be willing to let them in.  We need to really understand the lyric and impart a piece of ourselves into the performance.  Those special moments are what the audience comes out to experience.

                Everybody also says that if we want to be musical artists we have to have drive.  We have to want it more than anything.  We have to be willing to sleep in our car, eat Ramen noodles and never sleep.  If we have a plan “B” we might as well just do that, because the only people who make it in this industry are the ones who can’t see themselves doing anything else. 

                These concepts are all very inspiring, but they kind of contradict each other.  If the most important thing in our lives in making it, then doesn’t that mean we care more about our career than we do about our fans?  By definition, can’t there only be one most important thing?  If what is inside of us is an unquenchable desire to pursue a music career, and we truly wish to be open and vulnerable in our performances, then shouldn’t we be conveying this desire to our audience?  How can we be expressing genuine outward passion and connection to our fans during a performance while inside we are actually craving success, power and attention? 

                When you think about it, the music industry is designed to turn artists into self-centered, lying hypocrites.  Reducing ourselves to this is the only way to achieve true success (according to all the professional advice out there).  We learn to put on a fake display of emotional connection on stage in order to con people into loving and supporting us.  We act as if we are connected to the fans, when really we are connected to their money and loyalty. 

                I guess this means I am not cut out for the music industry.  I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to sustain that type of existence.  I love music, but I love God even more.  Every day I strive to cultivate more of Him in me.  When I sing and play, my goal is to have Him flow through me and out to the audience.  The more of Him I have inside, the more flows out.  If that leads people to want to come to my events or purchase my music, so be it.  If instead that leads people to want to study the Word more or spend more time in worship, that’s an even better outcome.  If people’s lives were somehow changed for the good by having a personal experience with the one true God, then I’m happy.  That is my reason for writing, singing, playing and leading Bible studies.  It is my reason for living. 

                How do I know this is true?  I can honestly say that there has been a serious change in my life.  A while back, my wife asked me if I would be willing to quit music if God requested it of me.  Sadly, that question was very difficult for me to answer.  Based on my knowledge of the Bible, I knew what my answer should be.  However, that wasn’t the answer that I felt in my heart.  Now my heart has changed.  Now I can honestly say that without Him everything else is meaningless to me.  If He asked I would give up music in a heartbeat.  He is my only source.  He is my reason for making music.  Without Him, I am nothing.  He is what’s inside of me!

Effective Musical Practice Tips

I put this post up on my Learning Music with Ray blog two weeks ago, and I thought it would be good information to post here as well.  

              The truth is that there is no quick fix to instrumental or vocal performance.  I spent most of my childhood assuming that I did not possess the ability to achieve mastery on my instruments.  I loved music, but my ability to understand theory seemed to far exceed my physical ability to perform.  It wasn’t until I grew older that a realized the level of practice I was investing was not equal to the result I was hoping to achieve.

Time Management

               This leads me to the first secret to effective practice which is to set realistic and reachable goals.  We are not all professional musicians, but this does not mean we cannot pursue musical performance as a hobby.  We just need to set realistic goals for what we want to achieve.  Many top level professionals practice 4-8 hours every day.  Many public school music students practice 15-30 minutes a week (out of those who even practice).  Where do you fall within that range?  How much time do you have to devote to the study of musical performance?  What level do you wish to achieve?  If you answer these questions honestly, it will help you to set more realistic and achievable practice goals. 

              Once we have set our practice goals, there are ways to ensure that we achieve them in the most efficient and effective manner.  One is to regulate the amount of time spent in any one sitting.  Studies have shown that we retain information most effectively during the first and last ten minutes of any study session or lecture.  Some practice technicians use this information to suggest that the most effective form of practice is to break one’s time into twenty minute segments throughout the day.  A lower “hobby” level musician may have just one twenty minute session per day.  More serious musician will have multiple practice sessions per day.

             I have personally experienced practice sessions that have extended beyond twenty minutes in which I was totally engrossed in the task at hand.  For this reason I do not apply this twenty minuet concept as a hard and fast rule, but I do use it as a guideline.  If I am in the middle of a very productive practice session, I will continue until the current thought has concluded.  However, even during productive moments I do find it helpful to stop for a brief water break and relax my mind.  We must learn to both focus on our practice material and be mindful of our state of mental fatigue.  Eventually it becomes easier to judge when to continue and when to take a break. 

Have A Plan      

                It is easy to get lost in minutes or hours of meaningless practice when we approach our sessions without a plan.  A practice plan usually is centered around a musical piece (or pieces) that we are studying and the concepts that we are currently striving to master within that piece.  We should start with warm-ups that develop tone, dexterity and flexibility.  Incorporating warm-ups that are related to the difficult concepts of the main piece helps to center our practice.  Finding warm-ups that relate to the focus concepts of the piece is surprisingly easy, but implementing that focus while playing the warm-ups is often difficult to remember.

                Scales, for example, can be used to reinforce tone, intonation, knowledge of key signature, dexterity and many other skills.  However, scales can easily turn into rote exercises that we run through thoughtlessly.  To maintain effectiveness we must concentrate on the desired skill and deliberately develop it while playing the scales. 

Keeping A Journal

                Keeping a journal is a huge aid in maintaining focus.  Seeing the warm-ups and practice goals written down helps us to remember what we did last session and what we should do now.  We can monitor progress in each area of practice and easily determine when a concept is mastered.  Within the piece, we can remember which sections we were focusing on last time and keep a record of further progress.

Work In Sections

                Breaking the piece into sections gives us a logical format for progressing to completion.  The human brain retains small chunks of information much more effectively than large strings of data.  This is the reason why we separate seven digit phone numbers into a group of three and a group of four digits.  Separating a musical piece into sections aids us in developing a clear practice strategy for mastering the piece.  The progress within each section can be monitored within one's journal.  Smaller sections can be eventually combined into larger sections until the piece is finally performed as a whole. 

                When studying a piece of music in this way it is important to understand the form and musical patterns contained within the music.  All music is composed of patterns.  This is the fundamental element that causes music to be so memorable.  Breaking the piece into sections that correspond to the musical patterns will aid us in understanding, learning and remembering the music.  While practicing this way we will often find patterns that repeat throughout the music.  Identifying these repeated patterns will further aid in efficiency.      

Tempo 

               Another key to effective practice is the careful monitoring of tempo.  We will perform whatever we practice.  Many people (including myself at times) practice difficult passages at a tempo that is too fast.  This prevents them from achieving true mastery of the passage.  It is important to practice difficult passages at a slow enough tempo to allow yourself to achieve mastery of the passage.  It is easier to play the pitches, rhythms, dynamics, articulations, etc. correctly at a slow tempo and then gradually increase the tempo.  Once those other elements are practiced incorrectly, the mistake becomes ingrained in our mind and is difficult to remove.  Journaling metronome settings helps us to achieve this gradual increase. 

Section Size      

                The other variable (beside tempo) that can be manipulated while practicing is section size.  Difficult passages are already examples of this, since they are isolated sections within a larger section of the piece.  Isolating these passages in our practice helps to gain mastery more efficiently since repetition is not wasted on measures that we have already mastered.  Breaking these passages down into smaller sections can make them more accessible (or digestible).  Once mastered, these smaller sections can be combined into larger ones, and then the entire passage.  The correct combination of tempo variation and section size can make any passage learnable. 

Be Willing To Vary The Routine

With any activity (working out, studying, practicing) repeating the same routine over and over can become counter productive.  Rehearsing the same material in a different way can keep you interested, alert and more effective in your practice.  Here are some suggestions for varying your routine.  If you worked in sections from the top down last time, try starting at the end of the piece and moving backward in sections today.  If you worked in smaller sections with a faster tempo last time, try working in larger sections with a slower tempo today.  Also, you can vary your warm-up and warm-down material.

Balancing Practice And Performance

                Many of the things mentioned above (sectional work, tempo, ...) pertain to learning new pieces of music.  We must also practice performing in order to become good performers.  Once we have learned the sections of a piece of music, brought them up to performance tempo and combined them, we need to practice performing the piece straight through.  This step is where most beginning students start.  They play through every piece without breaking it up and employing the practice strategies we have discussed.  However, one can also error on the other side of things and get caught up with focusing only on sectional work.  It is important to work toward an end goal and take the time to apply the final polish to our performance.  Playing through a piece (after it has been correctly rehearsed) presents its own problems of flow, continuity and endurance.  Once these elements are mastered, the piece is ready for public performance.

Balancing Work And Fun

                This topic is somewhat related to the last one since performance is usually the fun element of our studies.  The feeling one gets when comfortably and expressively performing a beautiful piece of music in front of an audience is extremely rewarding.  This reward is what pushes us through the daily grind of diligent practice.  Maintaining a balance between the grind and the reward is important.  If our schedule consists of mostly performance and little practice we will not advance in our skill (and my even lose some skill).  If our schedule is skewed in the opposite direction, we may become burnt out.  To quote The Shining, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  One way to prevent this is to mix the review of finished pieces in with the study of new ones.  Another is to look for an ample amount of opportunities for public performance (even if it is house concerts for friends and family).  Finally, work some straight fun time into your musical schedule.  This could consist of fooling around and exploring sounds on your instrument.  It could also be playing along with recordings of your favorite songs, or getting together with some friends or family members and jamming.  These are the moments that inspire us to continue in our practice.     

This Learning Music With Ray video discusses some tips for effective musical practice.  We have all had unproductive practice sessions where we lose track of what we are doing and feel that we haven’t gained much in the end.  These tips are meant to help us stay focused and get the most out of each practice session.