Ahoy! I’ve been performing as a bassist for more than a decade. I’ve performed with groups of all sizes and even done several solo gigs. I could rattle off a list of many favorites and the ones that have meant the most to me. Instead, for your benefit, I’m going to tell you about one of the worst. Aside from being a bass player, I have a substantial background in guitar, even studying classical guitar as my major instrument as an undergrad. There was a time I could literally play any Dave Matthews song you named on guitar. An off shoot of playing so much guitar was that I started writing lots of songs. They were simple, but they were my creative outlet none-the-less. I did some really low budget recordings in Audacity and played for family and friends occasionally. Eventually the idea came up of putting on a solo show. I booked a venue, borrowed the pieces of gear I didn’t own, rehearsed like crazy and awaited the day to arrive for the gig. And then no one showed up. I ...

Ahoy! You may have noticed a sharp decline in my posts so far in 2018. In fact, I have yet to post. Thankfully the Wonderfish has kept things rolling for me as I have been in the last semester of graduate school. The work load was intense and I unfortunately could not keep up with school work and the usual blog schedule. However, with my comprehensive exams and masters recital now finished you can expect your usual Monday post from Yours Truly. Here’s a sneak peak at what I’ll be discussing over the next few months: 1) I had the chance to work with artists Miguel Zenon and Maria Schneider and I’ll detail those experiences to give you an inside look into playing with them and preparing their music. 2)    I wrote and arranged all the music for my recital and will talk about the compositional process, the coordination of musicians, and the scheduling of rehearsals. 3)    Despite my recital being part of my degree requirement, I didn’t treat this ...

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish. Do certain songs give you goosebumps? Or might they give you the sensation of having goosebumps without the goosebumps actually forming on your skin? Or perhaps a song causes a chill to run up your spine? Did you know there is a French word for this sensation? Could I start a post with more questions? The term is frisson, which means "aesthetic chills". We pronounce it as "free-sawn" and when a song gives you goosebumps, this is what you are experiencing. Why shouldn't music be powerful enough to give us goosebumps, or something of the like? Music is a universal force! We connect to it, study it, and consume it generation after generation. There was a drum circle session at an education conference I recently attended and I jumped at the chance to learn more about drumming. One of my fellow participants discussed how drumbeats hold significance for us because they remind us of hearing our mother...