I recorded a demo today to submit to various competitions and festivals. I always have problems when I’m preparing material for competitions. If you’ve ever experienced a pre-screening process, you may know what I’m talking about.

First of all, competitions are useless to the advancement of a career unless you can get past pre-screening. If that happens, then can you can start cultivating relationships, perform live for your peers and maybe even walk away with some money!

So when preparing for pre-screening, there’s a struggle. You really want to make it to the next round and so your demo has got to be bold. You want to make it clear to the judges in the first 30 seconds that you can play fast, groove hard, be creative, acknowledge tradition, retain interest and attract an audience. The problem, considering all of these things is that it’s very difficult to make an honest statement that represents you and your musicality. Should you play for the judges, or should you just play?

Competitions are unpredictable. The most deserving doesn’t always win. Sometimes it’s the person who’s the most commercial, or the person with a touching story. Maybe it’s the person who’s the best looking. The point is that you’re never going to know what judges want. I’ve come to realize that you’re best shot is to stop thinking about it, find the zone and do what you do best.

Welcome!

I thought I’d start blogging. I think It’s important for artists to be transparent with their ideas and experience, and blogging can be an effective tool for enhancing relationships. The only problem is that it’s going to be a hard habit to start, although, there isn’t a shortage of topics to reflect on. A quick list I made:

Music: The Piano, Improvisation, Composition, Composers, Learning, Bad Habits, Theory, Musicians, Recordings, Teaching, Performing, Practicing, Technique

Business: Marketing/Promotion, Relationships, Booking, Economy, The Internet, People, Websites, Blogs, The News, Making Money, Teaching, School

Aesthetics: Good/Bad Music, Purpose of Art, Purpose of Artists, Creation vs. Recreation, Art and Culture, Ownership, Genre,

Stay tuned, hope you enjoy!

Hello Friends!

An exciting new website update I'd like to share with you:

First, I've joined the blog bandwagon (www.chrisdonnellymusic.com/Blog/blog.html) where I will be regularly sharing news, thoughts and ideas.  Feel free to subscribe to the RSS Feed and leave comments!

Also, I've added another page called POST (www.chrisdonnellymusic.com/Post/Post.html) where you can easily access photo albums, audio clips, videos and transcriptions.  I've just posted transcriptions (in PDF form) of some Doug Riley solos.  More to come, hope you enjoy!

All the best!

Chris