my take on the modern day OMB

I was listening to some of the other videos on the right side of the screen.

Gelu Music - ONE MAN BAND, Piano& Keyboard Player, Vocalist/

We seem to be at the point where OMB's now are generic. If you just play an instrument and sing, boom-bang, you're a one-man-band. Even if you just CARRY a keyboard, or a guitar, or a harmonica around, you're considered a one-man-band. If you're an amateur or a home-player, you're considered a one-man-band.

When OMB's first appeared on the scene, they were the cat's meow. Knew their stuff and almost every player was outstanding and unique in their presentation and playing skills. Now it's "one size fits all." Just play and sing and you automatically join the ranks.

That is why the OMB doesn't get the same respect or adulation that he did in the early days when it was novel and a useful tool for professional players to expand on their talents.

Anyone wonder why manufacturers aren't making many professional keyboards now? It's a simple lack of professional players and professionalism in the field itself.

You can tell "Gelu Music - ONE MAN BAND, Piano& Keyboard Player" really hit a nerve in me!!!

Mark

We had a guy in our area by the name Joe Keys. My wife and I don't go out too often but from time to time, we go out to support other trio/duo/single acts in our area. This had to be around 2003. He played MIDI files from a computer and pretended to play along on his "turned down" keyboard. He had a double tier stand (Apex Column Stand) with a keyboard on 1 and the computer on 2. He did put some kind of board to block the audience's view of his "playing" skills.

Funny thing was, every time he played a glissando, and it was a lot, we never heard a glissando.

There are a lot of people who want to be something, but just aren't there yet!

....and yet, if they belong to our own group, no one can summon up the courage to tell them that. I've heard performances on THIS forum that were just as awful as the one referenced above, and yet tons of praise, attaboys, 'great job', etc., were heaped on them. Worst still (for me, anyway) are those that unabashedly heap praise upon THEMSELVES. Few are as good as they THINK they are. And Mark is right (yeah, I actually said it ) in that technology has allowed moderate to NO-talent rank amateurs to dilute the ranks of well trained professionals, OMB's especially.

The thing is, are we wrong to RESPECTFULLY point out serious flaws (or just plain ol' lack of musical skill) in the performances of our own members? Are we so afraid that "no one will risk posting their music" unless we proclaim every performance a masterpiece? Are we really doing people a favor by allowing them to delude themselves into thinking that they're really good enough to be out there playing in public? Truth is, it takes more than just 'getting paid' to make you a true professional (unless we've decided to change the definition of 'professional'). We would not allow a mechanic with the same skill level work on our luxury car or a doctor with the same skill level to operate on us. But somehow, in music we accept people like the guy referenced above (GELU Music), obstensibly because they 'do no harm' (except to our ears and musical sensibilities). Oh well. I guess we've just gotten used to 'alt facts' and 'alt reality'.

On a brighter note, the world will continue to produce good and talented musicians and quality music will continue to be produced. It will NEVER be the most popular because the most popular is usually that which requires the least from the listener. The attitude seems to be, 'if I have to think about it, I don't want it'. Oh well.

Thoughts? (especially yours, Mark ).

chas

That's the way I feel wham I see someone trying to play a Piano with an arranger or synth, etc, inside of a PIANO SHELL talk about camouflage ...your not fooling anyone IMO..

Chas my thoughts?...

“It's not given to people to judge what's right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

I essentially agree with what you say here. The only thing I would add is consider someone (a fictitious individual) who is not that skilled of a musician that uses an arranger. If the person is a decent singer and does the job he/she is hired to do, it could be said that while they are not a good musician, they are still an entertainer. And that is worth something. But I agree, musical skills, as opposed to popularity, are not as valued in the current culture as they ought to be.

Tracy how do you like your Roland EA7?... could you tell us about it?

On a brighter note, the world will continue to produce good and talented musicians and quality music will continue to be produced. It will NEVER be the most popular because the most popular is usually that which requires the least from the listener. The attitude seems to be, 'if I have to think about it, I don't want it'. Oh well.

I couldn't agree more, Chas,

Gary

Donny,

First, my opinions are those of a home player and not a pro so keep that in mind. When I played in nursing homes, I used backing tracks and played rhythm guitar. If I can ever improve my playing which is bad and conquer all my health problems, I might consider going out to nursing homes with it. But right now, I'm a long way from that, so I'm just a home player.

The EA-7 is a good keyboard.

What I like:

Good sounds, a step up from the BK-3 I used to own. I like the performances, or as they are now called UPG. I used to own a Yamaha PSR-S750 and I got rid of it because the registrations were overly complicated and the music finder is not full featured enough IMO. I think the operating system is good to work with. As Fran advised, I just went through the manuals and got up to speed. This will be funny to the better players, but I like the "intelligent" fingering mode. You can park your hand one a C chord and play all the (basic) diatonic chords from C to Am without moving your hand. I'm working on getting my left hand as unconscious as possible. To my knowledge, Yamaha doesn't have this mode, at least not in split mode-it is either one finger or full chord. I like the fact that the octave and transposition are on the left by the joystick-genius move and easy to get at. Also like the 7 assignable switches-very useful.

Being the kind of personality I am, I do have a few complaints:

I think the Yamaha speakers sound better. That is just from memory and I didn't do a side by side comparison. I am into old country and pop stuff and the styles in the Yamaha are better and more plentiful. I still have not found a Roland country waltz that I am happy with. And many of the Roland styles need a lot of repair work, but maybe that is par for the course. I think for $1300 they could have included a sequencer. The sampler is useless to me right now unless I get some more ambition and learn how to use it. They should have content like Yamaha does. I also think they should have included a data wheel, although one knob doubles as an entry device for many functions and I have started using that so that is partly mitigated. I think the guitars are weak compared to the Yamaha but I don't use them too much right now.

Great keyboard, but I will be looking at what the Genos has to offer too. As I mentioned on another forum, if Yamaha gets a system like Korg songbook or Roland UPG, I might look at it. But the Genos would be overkill for me and I would be waiting for the mid-range models so that will be a while. In the meantime, I'll be using the EA-7.

Tracy thanx for the wonderful honest review of the Roland EA7...I can understand your frustrations between both units features one has what the other doesn't, I guess that's how they design them as a marketing strategy....
I also have owned arrangers that didn't have just the right styles and had to either create my own, buy third party, and convert styles to suit my needs if possible,....I played Frans EA7 briefly love the layout, & lightweight and hope they incorporate some of those features in the new TOTL arranger if it ever is to be ........
I wish you luck in your music & health..

take care

Thanks for the kind thoughts Donny. I am slowly but surely working on fixing the country styles downloadable from the Roland Arranger Forum. Those are from older models and the sounds need to be tweaked with the makeup tools. No one board does everything for sure. A bit of a learning curve with the EA-7 for somebody like me since it has 156 buttons or something like that.

Tracy check your email....enjoy

All personal opinions are based on the criteria they are being judged by.

Here on this forum I have made some precious friends; both the exceptionally talented, and those who are not as gifted. I have visited other forums that stay with the keyboard and music subjects to a point of boredom.

My criteria for judging is how respectful is the man who posts. Bragging is OK, so are many other human traits that fall short. If I were looking for perfection on our forum I would be the first person who should leave. Our forum has more different types of personalities and different levels of playing abilities – and that’s what makes it one of the best forum there is. The only thing I would like to see is a bit more humor. Life is so short.

John C.
PS, I do have a comment about those who find flaws with the performance; or tell the performer what he should have done is in a bad area – unless he was asked for the opinion.

Thanks Donny, I really appreciate the styles!

Enjoy