Christian Howes

Getting your SOUND

2010-03-26T02:51:21Z

What do you know about getting a sound out of your instrument?

If you’re a classically trained string player like I was, then you know how to make a beautiful acoustic sound come out of your violin or cello. It’s about your left hand, right hand, posture, etc… You probably don’t have a clue about getting a sound when you’re playing on stage with a drummer….

It’s a different ball of wax when you’re amplified. It’s all about using the amps, pickups and processing gear as extensions of your instrument. This is such a game- changing thing that most of us never get around to getting a good amplified sound. I’m still frustrated from time to time about my sound, but I know I’ve made lot’s of improvements over the years just from trying things.

One of the cool things about my Creative Strings Workshop is that you’ll get to perform in amplified contexts every night and try out all sorts of gear (you can use my fiddle through my gear if you want- just don’t spill anything on it).

My choices of gear include the Yamaha electric violin, viola, and cello/bass. I also LOVE the Yamaha VNP1 acoustic violin pickup.

RADIAL makes an awesome acoustic instrument preamp, and D’Addario makes great strings for electric violins.
My favorie amplifiers are Acoustic Image and AER , but it really depends on what you’re going for. And my layman’s effects pedal of choie is the BOSS ME-50, accompanied by the Digitech JAMMAN loop pedal.

But whatever, don’t listen to me. Probably the best resource you can go to to deal with sound and gear questions in this industry today is the Electric Violin Shop. When they emerged a few years ago I was skeptical. But I will say, they have impressed me. They know their stuff. Check them out:

Electric Violin Shop (EVS) specialists Blaise Kielar and Duncan Monserud featured a couple of interesting articles in the EVS March 2010 Newsletter.

At last month’s ASTA Conference in Santa Clara, EVS was asked to provide a sound system for several big performances. We partnered with a regional rep from Bose Corporation who graciously donated his time and a couple of the L1 Model II® linear array systems. They were used two ways.

-Blaise Kielar, Amplification vs. Sound Reinforcement

Growing up studying classical music and the violin, I often found myself jealous of the training that jazz students were receiving. It seemed they were taught to be working musicians, capable of picking up their instrument and adding a meaningful part to any musical performance without guidance from a part or score. Meanwhile, classical string pedagogy binds students to the notes written on the page and teaches only the historical common-practice styles of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods.

-Duncan Monserud, The Turning Tide in Strings Education

String Project L.A. is Leading the field of string education

2010-03-08T07:42:43Z

I love this. These guys are gutsy and they’ve hit the nail on the head with what they’re doing. String teachers and programs around the world should take note and learn from what SPLA is doing:

String Project Los Angeles (SPLA) is a group of creative string playing pros dedicated to encourage young string players to create and perform styles of music they are interested in, and not necessarily confined to classical music. They offer year-round classes that foster improvisational skills while encouraging teamwork and creative self-expression. SPLA believes that each student is an artist and strive to offer an innovative and inspiring experience to each one.

Feel their passion in the following interview I recorded when I held a recent master class in their newly expanded space:

They’ve created the Alternative String Group (ASG), a performing ensemble that began meeting in the fall of 2007. Since then they’ve performed all styles of music from Freddie Hubbard and U2 to Dr. Dre and Rage Against the Machine. What i love about this is that they are playing in jazz clubs and other venues throughout the city. This is very much like what happens at my annual Creative Strings Workshop

See their performance below:

String Project LA, ASG performs “Out Of My Mind” by John Mayer. Arranged by Robert Anderson. December 2009 at Actors Gang Theate from Brent Whitfield on Vimeo.

(I’m very proud to note that ALL of the SPLA artist faculty have attended my annual Creative Strings Workshop, and Robert Anderson will be returning June 28-July 4 to teach again this year in 2010.)

String Project L.A. is:

Robert Anderson | Artistic Director, Violin • BIO • robert@stringprojectla.com

Jacob Szekely | Artistic Director, Cello • BIO • jacob@stringprojectla.com

Andrea Whitt | Music Director, Beginning ASG, Viola • andrea@stringprojectla.com

Kathryn Anderson | Marketing Director, Violin • kathryn@stringprojectla.com

Check out their site here: http://www.stringprojectla.com/homepage.html

Keep up the awesome work guys!

what’s what

2010-03-03T04:35:38Z

The following are my candid interview answers to Carol Banks Weber’s article published on February 12, 2010. Carol is the Jazz Music Examiner for the Examiner.Com. You can read her article here.

Jazz violin. That’s not something you see everyday in jazz circles. Did you run up against the same quizzical reaction when you crossed over from classical music?

Ah, yes..! It has always been a little like being on an island, I suppose. Classical players don’t really get the jazz thing, and jazz players don’t get the violin thing. It’s changed quite a bit in the past ten years or so and I find more people really appreciating it. Jazz has had a chance to catch on more in general to listeners, and the world of musicians is evolving in the direction it should (in my opinion). In other words, i think musicians are seeing the value in understanding composition and improvisation. The “culture of education” has been changing slowly as well, especially in light of the trend of multi-culturalism. Twenty years ago it was more common to expect to teach a narrow “canon” of ideas, for example, a strictly Western European canon of books, artwork, etc… Now academia has recognized the need to value other traditions of thought as they pertain to art, music, medicine, philosophy, etc..

This was in part what drew me to jazz, i.e., it’s cultural difference. I didn’t understand it necessarily, but I felt it especially in the context of performing in church services. The dynamic in an African American church is something altogether different than what i grew up experiencing, and the music is a reflection of this difference in many ways.

A lot of jazz piano players got their start learning music and chords by playing violin first. What made you stick with violin instead of veering towards one of the more accepted jazz instruments, like piano, or horns?

Really? I’m surprised by that. Normally no one learns “chords” on the violin, since it’s more often utilized as a melodic instrument. Maybe what you mean is that musicians are trained “formally” (i.e., classically) on violin and later turn to jazz on other instruments. It would be natural to assume that young musicians got their training in a more classical scenario since, again, this is the “culture of education” I referred to, in which “serious” training was only implemented in accordance with rigid Western European musical values. Then, of course, the players found jazz on the streets, sort of like me. I did play some guitar and bass in rock bands in high school, which helped a lot.

How hard of a transition is it to go from playing classical to jazz? Very few to my knowledge have done this well (this year’s two-time Grammy nominee Paquito D’Rivera is one of them).

It takes a lot of commitment, first of all because a well-trained classical musician, by the time they’re 18 or so, has typically put in 14 years of study and pretty stuck in their ways. Also, it;s very difficult to restart at zero musically. in other words, a prodigious classical player will have a hard time becoming a musical novice at jazz. It just feels incongruous, and messes with your ego! I was used to feeling in control of the music, capable of affecting the audience, as a classical musician When i began jazz i had no idea what was going on! That’s a very vulnerable place to stay in as one persists to develop an understanding of jazz, which can take several years.

Unless you’re a big name (and even then, you better be bigger than Lady Gaga in her pop genre) in jazz and oftentimes, able to cross over to mainstream music, it’s generally tough to convert a love of playing into a lucrative career. What have you done to succeed in this business?

I tell most people that playing is the easy part. It’s the business that is really work. My parents ran a small business, selling life insurance. My mom and dad explained what it takes to sell, how important it is to develop relationships, and the need to deliver to people. Every gig is a chance to develop a new relationship and bring value, however I can, wherever i can, and through that, continue to grow. This includes connecting with fans, press, labels, manufacturers, producers, venues, etc… It’s all about working hard, constantly hustling up work, and always trying to deliver what you promise to people.

What do you have to do to produce jazz on the violin that’s maybe different or harder than playing it on the piano or the sax?

Well, I believe that playing JAZZ should be no different on any instrument (again, this perceived disparity is a product of the “culture of music education”).

However, one could make the argument that certain matters of sound production are more involved on the violin. Let’s compare the violin to the piano, just for argument’s sake.

When it comes to producing a sound, consider what it takes to produce a sound on the piano.

Touch a key with a finger and you pretty much get a “good” sounding note. it;s in tune, it has a pleasant tone color. It has a clear beginning and ending.

Consider the same task on a violin: You have to put your left hand finger in the right place so it’s in tune (move your finger one millimeter and it changes the tuning). You have to draw the bow at the same time, finding the perfect mix of downward pressure, horizontal velocity, angle of the bow relative to the strings, and straightness of the path of the bow, all while managing to hold the violin AND bow without dropping them or giving yourself a backache!

it can take years to produce one good sounding note on the violin. It takes a moment to do so on the piano.

What got you on the road to jazz in the first place?

I was a big fish in a small pond in college studying classical violin. Didn’t know what to do with myself so I played bass and guitar in blues and rock bands with guys much older. Got caught up in a very unfortunate situation involving drugs and ended up spending my 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th birthdays in prison. While there I was inspired by the street musicians I met, playing with whomever I could, often which included playing in the gospel church services. This, in effect, introduced me to African American music and culture, which I found completely inspiring and different, because it provided a new window onto the world and onto music. Being incarcerated during such a formative time in my life while studying philosophy (which I later got my degree in), also made me question my role as a musician, and question what music means to me and to society in general. In prison, I experienced music happening in the most organic settings: in solitary confinement, on the yard, in church, in the common areas. Music would erupt totally naturally, without the involvement of commerce. People made music as totally authentic social humans. They needed to come together, they needed to express their humanity. In an atmosphere full of violence and fear, lacking the human qualities of freedom, intimacy, trust, love, music filled that void when it could. I saw that music is a human thing, a necessary thing, and that there should be nothing holding me back from finding ways to be a musician once I was free. Music also helped me survive in prison. It opened doors to friendships with people of different age, race, etc… I could play bluegrass with the aryans and jazz with the black muslims, hip hop with the young urban blacks and classic rock with young urban whites. Alliances with members of all these groups allowed me a certain freedom to roam among different populations, which is otherwise difficult, considering the animosity and cliques…. But I came to see this “culture of education” as something that was leaving out people just as i;d been left out. I came to feel that people in our culture don’t get the full story, and that if they got the full story they would be more enlightened in their lives. I felt enlightened by coming to know so many different sorts of people, (whether they were “criminals” or not is besides the point-they were all people with stories and the difference between “criminals” and “regular people” is at worst a complete figment of people’s imagination and at worst not clear cut). I had no idea, as a young white middle class kid, that people’s lives could be so rough. And i had no idea that other cultures could offer such new and meaningful illuminations onto the problems we all face every day and the questions we all ask about ourselves and our lives. That’s what meeting so many men in prison did for me. it made me question and search for deeper answers to the big questions about who we are, what we know, what is a good life, what is beautiful, how do I lead meaningful relationships, etc…

The violin, it occurred to me, was in some ways a reflection of this state of our culture, i.e., the violin is sort of an archetypal symbol, if you will, of the exclusive virtue of the Western European canon and everything it has represented.: high art”, “high class” “reason” “the rational good”, etc… VIolins perform in concert halls and saxophones are in dirty bars, this kind of thing…. I thought that if i could celebrate the music of jazz, or African American culture, on the violin, it would make a deeper statement on some subliminal level. And I think this is part of the “rubs you the wrong way” feeling people get when they hear “jazz violin”, because without realizing it, they’re hearing “white violin/black music” and it doesn’t seem to go together. The reason it doesn’t seem to fit, is because the music education world is a bastion of self-segregation, no different than blacks and whites sitting in different parts of the room during meals in the prison cafeteria. Of course, like much of the phenomenon of racism in our society, it’s not intentional or malicious; It’s systemic. It takes getting “rubbed the wrong way” to sort of oppose it. I could go on and on with this subject, but I’ll leave it at that for now.

Who are some of your influences in jazz?

So many. John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Garrett, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, it goes on… but also Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Cat Stevens Led Zeppelin, Brahms, Bartok, etc…

When you get up onstage and bust out your violin, how have you been received by the other players on gigs?

Always at first with incredible skepticism, and hopefully, afterwards with a little surprise and eventually acceptance.

Do you have any secrets to share for aspiring musicians (who either play conventionally known instruments or go unconventional) on success in jazz?

It’s important to write your own music, otherwise it’s hard to allow people to distinguish your “voice” on your instrument. Also, you’ve got put it out there-hard, all the time. get out and play with people. Don’t stay shut up in your enclave. the more you can mix it up playing with people different than you, the more experience you’ll get and confidence with it.

Tell me more about the upcoming LUCID, Seattle, WA gig. Are you gigging solo or with a group?

I’m playing with a great group of young local players including: Mack Grout and two others. Also performing with Chris Morton (piano), Nathan Parker (bass), and Ed Littlefield (drums).

building the jazz scene in Cincinatti, day by day, blog by blog

2010-02-27T21:12:41Z

Aubrey Johnson, the founder of The Jazz Half and contributor for The Examiner covering Cincinnati Jazz Scene, features Christian in his February 1 article and also makes Christian’s performance at The Blue Wisp tomorrow, February 27th, the featured event of February in The Jazz Half.

Aubrey describes Christian as having “made his footprint in the world of jazz. His playing style is one of emotion and controlled intensity, the very attributes of a jazz musician. His sound is crisp and pronounced.”

In the interview, Christian talks about his music and the upcoming Creative Strings Workshop. Read Aubrey’s article here or follow this link to listen to the interview.

But, Christian also turned the table on Aubrey and shot a short interview of him. Two men joined by their passion for jazz, chatting over a cup of coffee on life and music, and how jazz, in particular, has impacted their lives.

Watch Aubrey’s take on Jazz and his work keeping it alive in Cincinnati.

(This blog contributed by April Orola)

all in a day’s work

2010-02-21T09:10:45Z

Who said gigging would slow down for me once I started spending more time in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio? Even when I’m not traveling, it can get pretty busy.
On this long day of gigging I started with a pair of rock and roll church services at the Heritage Church, followed by an hour of solo playing at an artsy event held at the local Cafe Brioso, , followed by a rehearsal and performance as soloist with the Westerville Symphony Orchestra. (Still get to pull out those classical chops every once in a while and it’s so much fun when I do since I hardly ever have to…) Westerville had me playing Vivaldi “Winter” and Piazolla “Winter”. I got the call five days before the gig to sub for my friend Erin Gillilland, who had a last minute injury to her arm. (Thanks for the call, Erin! )

five western cities this and next week

2010-02-26T05:09:22Z

this was taken from one of our concerts during the 2nd annual Creative Strings Workshop, in 2006

This and the next week promises to be fast-paced. I’ll be in five cities in the next 7 days with clinics, concerts, conventions, working with different bands in each city.

Feb 16 Tucson – Mountain View High School,Night Clinic/Master Class at 7:00 p.m. and Concert at 8:00pm

Feb 17 San Francisco, CA – CODA, 9:00 p.m. with Wil Blades and Scott Amendola.

Feb 18-20 American String Teachers Association Annual Convention in Santa Clara- Feb 18 I have been invited to present masterclasses for the finalists in the Alternative Styles youth strings competition

Feb 21 Seattle, WA – Lucid Jazz Lounge, with Chris Morton Trio. Sets at 8pm and 10pm.

Feb 23 Albuquerque - Clinic at University of New Mexico

In the middle of it all will be two days in Santa CLara for the American String Teachers Association annual convention

I try to make it to ASTA every year, but this is my second year with my own exhibitor’s booth. I’ll be promoting the Creative Strings Workshop along with my suite of services and products related to Creative String Playing. And, of course, just making the hang with cool folks who make it out to the conference. Hopefully there will be a bit of jamming.

In fact, I believe I volunteered to help coordinate some sort of official jam at the conference.

I always have fun hanging with my friends from Yamaha Strings, D’Adddario, String Project Los Angeles, and of course cool cats like Jeremy Cohen, Jeremy Kittel, Bert Ligon, Renata Bratt, Martin Norgaard, Scott Laird,i.e., the creative string players who have been doing it all along, even before it was recognized as a “legitimate” trend among the string education community at large. Congratulations to all these friends of mine for staying the course.

I think all of us share the belief that Jazz is not just a “style” of music. Classical musical training is a wonderful thing, but it leaves musicians incomplete and unfulfilled for three reasons:

It doesn’t develop an understanding of how music is constructed. When I played classical violin I never had any idea what the chords were going on underneath all the melodies I played.
It doesn’t encourage personal creativity. Ok, someone will argue that “classical musicians are creative”. Of course, they’re creative to a point. But there’s a HUGE difference in the kind of creativity that goes on if you’re interpreting the Vivaldi Four Seasons vs. writing your own piece of music, or improvising a solo.
It doesn’t offer a broad cultural frame of reference. Classical music is stuck within the Western European Canon, more or less. What about all the other cultures of the world and the paradigms for understanding they offer? What about they’re music?

Slowly but steadily, the string education community is coming around. I’m grateful for the growing community of folks who assure me that what I’m doing has given meaning to them in their pursuit of their art. And I’m grateful for colleagues that have been around like me, and longer, fighting for this movement that we wondered whether it would ever catch on.

It will be good to see you guys at ASTA! If anyone is looking for a badge and/or room for the convention, give me a heads up at chris@christianhowes.com

A Christian Among Jews

2010-02-07T05:58:02Z

I’ve always said that if you give me $1,000 I’ll stand naked in the middle of Times Square. Why not? It takes money, in part, to make the world go around, and, especially if you’re a creative musician, money can help you produce your art.

So many musicians just don’t get it. And I’m not talking about the ones who are HAPPY starving, playing in their bedrooms to noone. If that’s you, and you dig it, cool.

But if you really want to make your music and get it out there, I suggest you find ways to generate cash to keep your engine going. It’s cash that enables you to buy an amp, produce a record, book a rehearsal studio, etc…

Playing weddings is a great niche for string players who can stroll, play styles like jazz, funk, folk, world music, and anyone with a pick-up or electric violin will have a huge advantage when fitting into loud groups that play big rooms. I can tell you for sure that in NYC alone there are several agencies specializing in performing for Orthodox Jewish weddings, and they will pay a premium to get a violinist 1)with a pick-up and some effects 2) who can read 3)who can improvise and rock out a bit.
Google “wedding bands” or “booking agencies” in your town, call them all and email them all telling them that you’re able to stroll, amplify, fit into different styles, improvise, etc…. You will never have to worry about cash anymore, and by working two nights a week to make some quick money, you’ll have the ability to focus the rest of the time on your creative art.

Granted, it might be a “schlep”, but I was able to pay off a month’s mortgage with this gig!

Farewell Kenny Banks Jr.!

2010-02-05T23:06:26Z

21 year-old Kenny Banks Jr. is one of my favorite pianists. I’ve had the immense pleasure of working with him alongside Cedric Easton (drums) and Hamilton Hardin (keys), every Wednesday at Dick’s Den for the past couple months. This next Wednesday, February 10, will be his last regular appearance in Columbus before he leaves town to start fresh in Atlanta.

Those familiar with the Columbus jazz scene will remember the name because Kenny Banks Sr. used to play around Columbus before moving to Atlanta roughly 10 or so years ago. Kenny Banks Jr. shares the soulfulness in the playing of his father, with the boundless energy and guts of youth.

Come on out to wish him good luck and hear this amazing talent one last time in Columbus, at least for a while. We play 9-1.

This video below was shot at Dick’s Den in December, 09, and features Kenny in a piano solo following my violin solo on an arrangement of Paganini’s 24th Caprice for violin.

Christian Howes Strings Production Go Platinum!

2010-01-30T04:11:51Z

Recently, we had the opportunity to contribute to the Platinum selling UK supergroup Westlife in the production of their new album Where We Are. Released in November 2009 in the UK, it placed #28 on the 2009 UK Year-end Album Chart with 427,000 sales. To date, the group has sold over 45 million records worldwide with seven of their singles having topped the UK charts.

We worked with Jesse Astin and Scott Cutler’s studio in L.A., contributing over 40 string tracks to their song “The Difference”. This song is the 7th track in their newest album and was written and produced by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Brian Kennedy Seals.

Big thanks to the brilliant young producer, Jesse Astin, for recommending us on this project! As always, props to the fabulous and dedicated arrangers and players on our team, which on this song included Christopher Marion, violin, and Catherine Bent, cello.

Here’s a sample of the strings track we contributed to the song:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Video) NYC creative string stars play Motian poetry w Joel Harrison

2010-01-16T20:38:54Z

Feels like coming home whenever I get to play with a group like this, featuring today’s loosely compiled “downtown” NY string quartet. Joel Harrison composes all kinds of music, but he’s distinguished as one of the hippest composers/bandleaders to persistently seek out string players , along with modern jazz rhythm sections, to play his music. He’s settled on this particular combination for the recording we’re doing this weekend of music by Paul Motian arranged for “string choir”, i.e. two guitars and string quartet. We perform Saturday evening, Jan 16 (tomorrow) at Cornelia Street Cafe.

In the 90’s Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander dominated the NYC string improvisers scene, especially when it came to music that was improvised but not-necessarily”jazz” (think John Zorn, for example). Those guys presumably are busy with bigger and better things than taking every little gig in NYC these days, and they have both inspired and left an opening for a younger generation to fill and/or augment.

These video excerpts from our concert at Jalopy in Brooklyn last fall include Choi Fairbanks on cello. Speaking of fighting for your art, I don’t know anyone who’s done more than Choi. She came from South Korea with barely any English skills close to 10 years ago with the single goal of learning to play jazz on the cello and has made a place for herself among the top creative string players in NYC.
The rest of the band in the video is:

Sam Bardfeld, vln- In addition to his book on Latin violin, his Stuff Smith tribute trio, his work with numerous downtown groups, his other conceptual solo projects, Sam also plays in the Bruce Springsteen band for the Pete Seeger project.
Mat Maneri, viola- Sometimes microtonal, sometimes downtown, sometimes jazz, “I’m happy to play in ANY scene” for sure one of the reigning creative voices on viola in NY.
Liberty Ellman, gtr- Liberty has worked w Greg Osby and dozens of top leaders in NYC.
Joel Harrison, gtr/arrangements- This project of Joel’s is just the tip of the iceberg-he is probably the most prolific composer I know, and his range is ridiculously broad, from songwriter stuff to modern classical, downtown, and everywhere in between.

Also, tomorrow at Cornelia Street Cafe we’re going to be joined by the super rock star cellist Dana Leong! Dana is basically taking over the world with his Milk and Jade band, featuring his hip hop-to-jazz compositions with keys, drums, rapper, and Dana on cello and trombone. He prefers a laptop to a guitar pedal. If you’re a string player and you don’t know about Dana yet, you must be sleeping under a rock.

: Sam and Chris take a solo together