Arrangers are for experienced musicians

I taught at a local high school(ages 15 plus) today....a school I teach at two days or more a week. The last 20 minutes of the last class were slow. One of the students, a talented girl, asked if she could play guitar. I said sure and found her an acoustic from the music room.

She entertained us all with her pretty voice and basic acoustic guitar skills. She shared some songs she was writing. She did a great job and reminded me of songs I wrote years ago.

If she stays in music, I’m guessing she will be a part of many different bands and styles of music over the years.

It may take her a few years and lots of experience to actually ARRANGE her music.

That’s the thing with Arrangers. It takes skill and a few years of experience to actually arrange music to play for an audience.

For inexperienced(and some experienced) musicians, performing with an arranger is a challenge...because the performer has to arrange music and know what he/she wants.

It ain’t about the latest gimiky sounds...it’s about folks learnin* how to use, and having the experience to use an arranger.

One other thing...

Performing with an arranger....

It’s really about how well the musician arranges and performs the music.

We know it, but unfortunately, the audience mainly thinks it a jukebox, and many pros look down at them as cheesy. I, for one, who has many years with arrangers, applauds your post.

Well said and with friends who share music with me, I see the lack
of ability to arrange a piece of music. I believe that some people
have that ability naturally and others who do not have a tough
time doing this. Lloyd

The arranger keyboard is a tool. How you use the tool and to what depth you go is up to the individual. Where ever you are in your ability is more than acceptable.

In almost every area of our lives where we become experienced it is by trial, error and reading. The amount of desire is a determining factor. Will we all reach the same level? No. The desire to understand (how it works) is different in all of us.

Having said all of that it makes no difference where you are in your learning curve. How much are you enjoying your trip with the keyboard is by far a better question. We cannot all be the best, but we can enjoy.

Playing jobs: Ability plays a large roll here; but learning, application, and desire play an equal part. Our audiences fall into the same categories – Supper critical to “I could care less” Which means there is an audience for every one of us.

OK, off my soap box, John C.

Your point is valid if an Arranger Keyboard is being used for performances. On the other hand, an Arranger is a Godsend for a songwriter with arthritic hands. Being able to "emulate" the melody and generate the "handshake" required to marry a lyric to a melody and create a song... whether intended to be orchestral or only a small country band or jazz ensemble is the best kept secret in the songwriting community today. I would be lost without mine.

On the other hand, if asked to perform in public, I would probably melt into the woodwork or faint immediately.

As I've said many times before, my admiration for performing Arranger Players who make a living and sound so great is an amazing thing. Don Mason is a legend in the Shreveport, LA area.

Regards,

Dave Rice

True, I'm a Legend in my own mind!
But thanks Dave, wish you lived a little closer!

I was, before I lost mine..

Nah, a few lead sheets and/or fake books and some practice...you can play tons of songs and sound pretty good. That's what the styles are for.

Of course that's not like writing your own music.

A lot of us home players (probably 90% of arranger sales) came from 2 or 3 manual home organs, with pedal boards and not a lot of style type things...mostly what we called drum machines...with a little percussion added in as needed.

Of course the better musician you are the better the performances.....

Nah, I know some really bad musicians that are great entertainers and they have more work than they can handle. I was never a good musician, just a hack, but I knew how to WOW and audience - worked for me!

All the best,

Gary

From a point of education...

If you want to learn play keyboards..
Start with a piano...
Preferably a good digital piano...
With good sound and keyboard...

And then add the bells and whistles over time..

Sorry Bachus you made it sound like work; although you are speaking wisdom.
For me the keyboard has always been fun – very much like a new toy. After performing with a band for many years I turned to becoming a OMB when I moved to Florida in 1984. I was back to having a full band again ---I loved it.

Bachus I did practice scales and arps. in the middle of enjoying and having fun.

Nice post, John C.

Lugging around big organs for years has paid off. I stayed with the instrument, long enough to enjoy the arranger.

What a great tool (arranger) to allow me to be part of someone's life, for a short time.

As time permits, I love to listen to the residents' stories and of course they need someone to listen!

It is the only job that has totally fulfilled me in every way.

Bachus, I think accordion was perfect to learn keyboard..
By design you have circle of 4ths going down and circle of 5ths going up on the bass buttons..
All accordion students learn theory, I cannot say the same for typical piano students..
Also accordion players have a strong foundation to play chords and understand the voicings and intervals... Piano students not so much..

I also believe that accordion students can adapt to left hand bass easier than piano students..

Both develop strong reading skills.. with slightly different bass cleft side of things..

BTW: some of the best all around keyboard players I know are mostly trained accordionist..

I would say the top three players I know are accordion players first, and excel on keyboard, organ, and piano too

Jim, (Zuki) one of the stories I heard that sent chills down my spine was from a resident in a Jewish retirement community near Owings Mills, Maryland. I played for his 97th through 100th birthdays, he was always very pleasant, had a very strong accent that at first I could not place. He was from Romania and during WWII he was a Colonial in the Romanian Army. He was captured by the Nazis, sent to Buchenwald where he was tattooed on his forearm with a number, then sent to a slave labor camp, where he spent the next two years. When he was liberated by the US Army, he was one day away from being sent to the gas chamber. He said during those two years of imprisonment he lost nearly 80 pounds and only weighed 75 pounds when he was liberated. He lost his entire family while he was incarcerated, both parents, his brother and sister, and his wife and child. They were all executed by the SS because he was Jewish. I felt very fortunate to know him, and to hear his life's story, which brought tears to my eyes. He was a very compassionate individual and attended every performance during my decade of playing at that facility. He passed away just prior to his 101st birthday.

Fran, write this on your calendar - I FULLY AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT ACCORDION PLAYERS BEING THE BEST ARRANGER KEYBOARD PLAYERS. Piano players, especially those that are trained, are often quite good, but for the most part, they can't hold a candle to a good, trained accordion player, at least that has been my experience.

Cheers,

Gary

. WOW ... I was raised on the accordion, I love the instrument, and through my accordion teacher who was very much involved in the American Accordionists Association, I got to know many of the great Accordionists, but I could never agree with the above statement ... Obviously there are talented piano and accordion players of all levels, but to say that a good trained piano player could "not hold a candle" to a good accordion player is really going off the deep end ...
I love ya, Gary, BUT ...

With some people you have to put some balance to their answers to find what they really are trying to say...

Obviously Fran is a Roland player that was trained on Accordions. And probably he thinks the same way about both. Which is offcourse his opinion.

But i think he just wants to say, that ROland makes great instruments, and accordeon training can be a very good way to start ones musical career. Which are both very correct statements.

(OT) Tony, please see the "Hey Tony" post from last week about the Jazz book in circulation. "Inquiring minds want to know...".


R.

Tony, I was referring to their ability to play an arranger keyboard - not play piano or accordion. Now, Joe Ayala was a great piano player, and he played one hell of a keyboard as well. Ray Bastianolli was a fantastic accordion player, and was also an incredible arranger keyboard player, as is the case with you, DNJ,Eddie Shoemaker, Don Mason, Steve, and and lots of others on this forum and those that I know personally in the Baltimore Metro area. Not too many piano players around anymore, but there are a lot of ex accordion players that are still out there (in the trenches as Donny would say) and working as much or as little as they wish. Jerry Burns was a great, Peabody trained pianist, but he was a lousy keyboard player. It wasn't that he could not play, but he never learned the intricacies of the OS of any arranger keyboard he ever owned. Consequently, his dead time between songs was horrendous and he was unable to transition through a song using the variations and associated voices. However, when he used his PSR-3000 as a piano, he sounded fantastic.

Gary

I was a trumpet player in a former life. Never played piano or accordion. Bought an organ my senior year in college because the band needed an organ player! I pretty much learned everything I know on stage. I suppose that's why it has taken 50 plus years so far.

I forgot you played an organ and not an accordion. But, I guess an organ is nothing more than an oversized accordion. (sorry Chas.)

Gary