Posts Tagged Marc Bosserman

Buttwinick Musical Services Update

Apr 8

Posted by Marty Buttwinick in Music and Life | No Comments

 

Hello!

I hope this post finds you in a magnificent frame of mind! (If it doesn’t, contact me and let’s fix that!)

Here is a short update of happenings in my areas. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you or someone you know. OK?


Teaching

Teaching moves a long nicely. Each student’s lesson is a little different, very different actually. Though the subject matter and skills are the same, the individual focus and goals are as varied as each individual. You can click on my Student Bulletin Board and see what my current roster is doing, or my Student Comments for more specifics. (I have room for a few more students if you know of someone who should come study with me.)

I’ve also started an online “Glossary of Musical Terms“. It contains the basic terms anyone who plays or studies should know. I’ve worked on these definitions for years and they seem to be excellent entry-level definitions. (If you are an old-hat in music you most likely do not need these. I just started the project and it should take about two or three months to complete. Check it out and let me know what you think! Leave me a comment as well. OK?


Upcoming Lecture Series

I’m designing a series of free, one-hour lectures on various aspects of gigging, as well as the in’s and out’s of reading “sheet music”. (It’s amazing how many people never fully got what all those squiggly lines on music paper mean!) They are designed for “The beginner or the Confused!”. It should be great fun and a free, useful service at the same time. You’ll hear more about this soon.


Gigs

I’m mainly concentrating on writing and teaching, but am gigging a bit. Some gigs with the Marvelous “Marc Bosserman Trio“. We are available for bookings, so please check out the link to see what we do! Also, I’ve recently started playing with Steel Drum man, Nate Middleton. It’s a cool trio with steel drums, guitar, bass and drum tracks. If you don’t know what steel drums are, clink on this link and check them out. They are very cool! (Also called “pans.”) (No musicals so far this year.)


Publishing

The “Musicians’ How-To Series” website is almost open for business. The site has fifteen down-loadable booklets of my published works about various technical aspects of the music-playing business. (That’s a word I coined for “Guitar Player” magazine a few handfuls of years ago.) I’ll let you know when the site is released. (Lot’s of helpful information there!) I’m also trucking ahead with my various notation books and continue to pilot them on my students. So far so good. They should complete and on the market by summer.


Chart Writing

I also continue doing “copywork” for my regular clients. Yesterday I transcribed a cool piano piece for a new client. The piece is “Capture the Moment” by David London. Gotta love it. (Look in my glossary if you don’t know what “transcribing” is. :-) One of my regular clients is the fabulous Filipina Jazz Vocalist, Charmaine Clamor. Fun gal to work with. (I did all the charts for the albums you hear at her site.)

That’s all for now!

Thanks for reading this, and drop me a line anytime…

Marty B.

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Marty Buttwinick
(818)242-7551

http://buttwinickmusic.com

 

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Improvisation in Music and Film

Aug 16

Posted by Marty Buttwinick in Music and Life | 2 Comments

Tanna Gig_Marc

I played for an awesome birthday party tonight for actress Tanna Frederick, held at the home of film director Henry Jaglom.

I recently attended the opening night of Henry’s recent movie, “Irene in time,” and stayed for the question and answer with the cast after the film. A point of interest was a few of the scenes were totally improvised. As the cast grew into their roles they “became” the parts so completely that a few scenes ended up being more effective when improvised then when following the script. The actors knew the story line, purpose of the film and just lived the parts. It was so “real” that it superseded the script and became part of the film. (Or something new evolved and was added–I don’t remember which.) I recall a few “4077 M.A.S.H.” episodes that were totally improvised as well.

 

Film: Topic ~ Story Line ~ Actors ~ Script ~ Improv

Music: Song ~ Song Style ~ Musicians ~ Melody ~ Improv

 

In the early part of the gig we played a lot of jazz. We’d pick a song, play it in whatever style we did, then improvise on it. The song stated the main idea, concept and form, then we would play around with it–making it our own creation. That’s what I like about jazz!

A “commercial” song has a set format and arrangement; verses are so long, a solo goes in a certain spot, etc. Though jazz can be that way, it lends itself to being more spontaneous. We’ll shift through whatever sections we want at which ever moments feel the best.

As the cast in a film can interact improvisationally once the characters are fully established, the more comfortable the musicians are with each others style and feel, the more fluid the improv is.

All art forms have similarities and it’s cool to inspect them. I’ve had a few enlightening conversations with my artist brother, Ed, about the similarities between art and music.

Any views on this topic to share?

Marty B.
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Cell phone photo courtesy of Doctor Fun aka Herbie Katz, who is an awesome harmonica player. Doctor Fun is available for sessions and live gigs. Check him out! (Dr. Fun was in “Irene in Time” playing with Harriet Schock, whose music was featured.)

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