THE JACKDAZEY BLOGQUARTERS

Old age debate of rap music being classified as music is put to rest.

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:12:39 GMT

Old age debate of rap music being classified as music is put to rest.

Rap music has been around longer than we thought. In the arts everything is recycled(many times stolen and recycled). We have had bell bottoms make a return in fashion, the bringing back of muscle cars on the road, big haired metal bands making come backs in concerts and neo-soul music which is…new soul music. Of course many would say Hip hop music started in the boogie down Bronx in the 70’s but the style or monotonous melody delivery may have been grand fathered even further back. The likes of social movement group such as the The Last Poets rhythmic vocals precedes the combining of lyrics over DJ breaks by delivering a lyrical flow to the beat of an ethnic drum. The style which resembles closely the Def Jam Poetry series or other earlier African American poets is not far off the beat of rap.

Years ago rap music was considered a fad to vanish like the cabbage patch kids. The genre of rap music has thoroughly spread out thru to the entire world and not only reaches, but affects and relates to every culture. Many cultures histories are connected and deeply rooted in some influence of music, and the gap may be bridged closer.

As a graduate from the University of Southern California growing up in Long Island, NY I was a product of the renaissance age of rap music. I grew up along side many earlier influential names of hip hop rap icons such as Rakim, Groove B Chill and Sweety G. My own interest and love for music ironically lead me to study music at U.S.C. as an undergrad taking a few classes in jazz and classical music history. I once had a debate with a professor and chairman of the Jazz studies program who refuses to believe and admit that rap is music. On the other side in classical history, I had just learned that German Sprechstimme, a monotonous chant considered a form of music in which there was no present melody like rap, rather is considered music according to their historical records that dates back to the early and is thoroughly supported to be music so much it was kept record of and taught throughout out the years. “It is always said to know where you are going you must know where you are from. History serves a blueprint that has been laid that we can learn from.”… “When I work with artist, I like to give them a bigger picture of what music is in all of its science and artistic perspective. As of now as I work with 15 year New York Asian teen artist Element 5 (E5), I dig a little bit into her history and navigate how her own past connects with the present state of music now. I provide her with the evolution of music so she can see the direction we are going musically. Music is ever-changing in a cyclic loop.” Does this mean that Germany is the birthplace of rap music? Not quite but it puts an end to the debate for historians. In a world in which music is a huge part of everyone’s life, many cultures are influenced and incorporate rap into their own native language. Billions of profitable dollars have been earned from rap, it is not only grandfathered in as a style of music to last, but worthy of and honorary degree in which the success of hip hop can now afford to buy.

Currently JackDazey is working on The JackDazey Project: Project E5, due to be release early 2009. E5 currently performs throughout Long Island and New York City. He currently develops a website for the empowerment of musician with resources that are helpful to entertainment careers. You can view it for updates and subscribe at www.jackdazey.com

Sight reading Music

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:09:51 GMT

How to Sight Read Music

Sight reading music is one of the most important things you need to know to be any good at your instrument of choice, only beaten by the importance of learning how to actually play the instrument itself. Almost every audition you will ever take part in will include some form or another of sight reading. Most of this sight reading, though, is not really sight reading in its purest form- looking at the music for the very first time while you are playing or singing the notes.(Sightsinging music requires quite a different set of skills in addition to being able to note read). For the vast majority of required sight reading, you are allowed to look at the music for an amount of time between thirty seconds and ten minutes. The method to proper sight reading is not entirely complex, and, assuming you have time for each step, is written below.

[edit] Steps

Breathe. Nervousness causes the most problems in sight reading. It can cause a cracked note, an overkill of vibrato, or a mistaken tempo, and you must avoid those errors at all cost. Relax, take deep breaths, and start to look at the music.
Hope that the title is more helpful than this one!

Read the title of the piece. This may not sound like it will help you actually playing the piece, but it really does -- after all, the title summarizes the entire piece into a few descriptive words. If you do not read the title, then you are losing a key advantage into the mood of the piece, and the emotion you should put into playing it. Provided that there is a title given, you should always read it before looking at the music. You may also look at the composer of the piece, to get an idea of the time frame in which the piece was written and the style of the composer, but this is slightly less important most of the time.
Look at the tempo. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the tempo will be given to you, and woe upon the sight reader that does not look at it. Sometimes the provided tempo will be more vague, such as simply saying "Slow" or "Jazzy", and sometimes it will be much more exact, such as saying "Moderately slow with a slight upbeat swing feel to it, quarter note equals seventy-two". No matter what the given tempo is, you must try your absolute hardest to follow it. Some room is normally given for slowing it down or speeding it up to give the absolute best emotion or feel to the piece that you can, but when you play or sing the piece, you need to make sure that the people listening to you realize that you did, in fact, look at the tempo.
Check out the time signature. This is a basic- always look at the time signature no matter if it's your first time looking at a piece, or your thousandth. There is a huge difference between, say, six-eight time and common time, and if you happen to not look at the time signature, and play the piece in common time, the people listening may think that you don't actually know how to play in six-eight time, which is worse than thinking you didn't look at the time signature.
Check out the key signature Another basic. Playing the wrong key signature will make the piece sound discordant and make it seem like you can't read a key signature.
Look for changes. Is there a new key signature introduced halfway through the piece? What about time? Is there an accelerando or a ritard? Pay special attention to those, and be sure to note all of them. If you are allowed to keep the music, which is not likely, but just in case, you should underline them on the music. If you are not the only person who will be sight reading that particular piece, never make marks to it. You do not want anyone else to have the advantage of changes marked on their music when others did not.There may be places where you can get faster or slower, softer or louder to fit the style of the piece. These may not marked in the music. Add these little changes as long as it fits the style, because the people listening will realize that you know when to change things around a bit to make the piece sound nicer.
Check out the dynamics. It's very important to start off at a forte if the piece says to, and not a piano, because then the piece will probably ask you to get quieter, and if you are already at piano, then there's not much further to go until you aren't even audible any longer. Inversely, if the piece asks you to start off at a piano, don't start off louder! If the piece asks for a specific dynamic, you can be quite sure that that's meant to be very obvious. If there is no marking in the beginning, look ahead to see what is going to happen later, and decide based on that. If there are no dynamics in the whole piece, which is very rare, then the best bet is to start off mezzo-forte and get louder and softer when it should.
Look over the beginning. Pay especially close attention to the first few measures of the music -- go over them at least three times before proceeding on. A solid beginning is the key to making sure the music sounds right, and, oftentimes, the opening line will repeat itself throughout the piece, so it's crucial to understand it before moving on. You can also sing the first line or so in your head. This helps you get the style of the music easier than if you just read the music.
Skim over the easier bits. If you know you can play one rhythm, just slide over it. If it's a rhythm you saw earlier in the piece, though, you may want to compare the two. It's a common error to see two similar rhythms and play them the same, when actually, the composer made a change in one of the notes, which is also extremely common.
Read the very last line. This is the conclusion of the piece, and it is normally quite different from the rest of the piece, or it is purposefully harder than the rest, with a final element added in to the piece to make for a dramatic finish. The beginning and the end are vital- the beginning gets the music off to a good start, and the end makes sure the listener is left with a solid final impression. Speaking of the beginning..
Read the beginning again. After looking through the whole piece, you have a dozen rhythms in your head, and probably hundreds of notes. It is a silly thought to think that you remember all of that, and the first thing you will forget will be the very first thing you looked at- the beginning. If you forget the beginning so quickly, you may ask, then why look over it so much at first? Simply put, the last look over the beginning will be a refresher of sorts- you will just need a bit of mind-jogging, if you will, to remember all that work you put into figuring it out at first. Once you get started, your mind will already be in a "refresher" mode of sorts, meaning it is remembering the notes and rhythms just as you are playing them, since you already started the refreshing by looking at the beginning a final time.
Start playing. If your instrument is one, such as the Horn in F, that has pitch problems, pay careful attention to your starting partial. It's not uncommon for inexperienced sight readers to start off on a partial above or below the written one, and continue on in that partial, playing incorrect notes, for a portion or even all of the piece. If you do start off on the wrong note, correct this immediately.
If you mess up, keep going! Don't completely stop or get discouraged. Try to correct what you did wrong the next time it comes up. Learn from your mistakes!

[edit] Tips

Focus on getting rhythms correct first. There are an infinte combination of rhythms but there are only 12 notes.
If you play a brass instrument, you will want to oil your valves shortly, but not immediately, before sight reading.
Brass players, empty your spit valves before sight reading; reed players, get the spit out of your reeds in advance.
If you play a clarinet or saxophone, check your reed constantly before sight reading. Squeaking at any time is bad, but squeaking during sight reading can kill what may have been a pretty decent audition, even if it isn't your fault.
Tune, tune, tune! Though most people cannot tell between an in tune note and a slightly out of tune one, keeping your instrument in tune is important. Your instrument is designed to produce its best tone when it is properly tuned. If you are playing with an ensemble it is especially painful for listeners if you are out of tune with the other players.
Though many instruments only play in one, check out the clef of the music. It's not entirely impossible that the piece you are looking at is in treble and you're reading it as if it were in bass, or is in bass when you're used to treble.
Practice sight reading everything you can get your hands on. Many music stores sell books available in a variety of difficulties to suit your needs. These are excellent for practicing as you can work through a page a day.
Most musicians are perfectionists; when sightreading you should be happy with 85-90%. There is no time for corrections or stopping!
French horn players, (especially at orchestra auditions), check the key! Transposition is an important skill to have, and it would be very bad to play a piece in the key of F when it is supposed to be in the key of C.
Look for patterns. Does the piece go in arpeggios or center around one note? Are there repetitive rhythms?
In an audition, smile and be friendly and polite to the auditors.

Universal knowledge for success

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:42:31 GMT

We all hope to achieve success in many areas of our lives, but
sometimes the road to success seems to be paved with difficulties
and events that we hadn't planned for.

Most people want everything fast, including success in the music
industry,
but a microwave mentality is not the way to success.
In order to be successful in the music business and in life in
general,
you need to be in it for the long haul.

The following steps will
help you to clearly define what it is that you hope to achieve in
the music business and in life as well,
so that you can make your goals and make your dreams become a
reality.

Things You'll Need:

* A sound mind to realize that you are changing for the better
and increasing your finances/prosperity for the rest of your life.

Step1
Take small steps
Walking a mile takes about 2,000 steps and you want to be sure to
tackle
them one at a time. There are no short cuts. And
every one of those steps is a tiny success that brings you closer
to your goal. The same thing is true of any other big goal. Your
goals need to be broken down into tiny steps. Plan your short term
goals so you have something within reach to shoot for. Don't make
light of little victories. Small successes breed large ones.
Ask yourself, what small steps can you take now, that will help you
to
overcome the huge successes that you wish to see for yourself in the
music industry?

Laugh at setbacks

One of the big differences between successful and unsuccessful
people is how they respond to setbacks. Successful people are able
to laugh off setbacks and get back on track. Having a bad day does
not mean you have a bad life. Remind yourself that 10 days forward
and one day back still gets you to your goal, so if you have a bad
day at
the studio, recording or writing that next hit song, shake it off
and keep on moving.

Step2
Make it Fun
You will keep doing things if you enjoy them. try and only do the
things that match your passion and that you like to do it.

If it's something you hate and have to make yourself do,
it wont last long term, no matter how much money you make.
The goal is to develop a life of spiritual and
emotional joy, and that should be part of the payoff along the way.

Make it Convenient
If you are a busy person- which I am. you will have to make success
convenient. And there is no downside to convenience because it isn't
how hard you try; it's the results that matter. For instance,
choose to only write songs that make you feel good about
yourself and what you are contributing.

Step3
Reward Yourself

Don't estimate the power of rewards. Treating yourself to that new
pair of shoes you've wanted may be an appropriate reward that keeps
you striving to reach your first short-term goal. Keep the rewards
for meeting your main goals and smaller tokens for your daily
positive reinforcements. And remember, it pleases God when you take
care of yourself.

Step 4
Communication

Communicate effectively. This isn't a one man show, so knowing how
to be clear and kind when dealing with others is a skill that will
greatly serve you on your path to success.

Step 5
Be a person that DOES!!

One of the most important steps in reaching your goals is to
simply take action! Nothing big is ever gained without taking action.

Creativity

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:45:05 GMT

When it comes to songwriting, we’re creating something. When it comes to producing a song, we’re creating something. When it comes to singing out an improvised melody, we’re creating something. When it comes to teaching music, we’re creating something. When it comes to writing a post on a subject - we’re creating something.

I do all the above - and sometimes, creating something (ANYTHING) is mighty tough when you’ve got other issue’s in your life to deal with.

Sometimes I feel that I should use these emotions to create something else. A song, a piece, an arrangement - or even a story. But the truth is, whatever’s bugging you often finds it’s way to cut through your intellect to actually make the decision to create. Am I not right?

How else are you supposed to justify all the wasted hours we spend on useless, worrisome things? Sorry if this sounds like a rant, it’s just that sometimes (and believe me, this *very rarely* happens) I can’t help but think of things that bother worry me - even if they are small and petty. And as I mentioned, time goes by so quickly, it’s not even funny.

Sometimes, being a creative soul means that you are sensitive to your pain just a little but more then perhaps your friends. You find it hard to think logically when perhaps if you do, then the creativity might diminish.

This post is now going to end here.

I just had to say something…

Get up and get, get, get down

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:33:54 GMT

Movin on up to the East side. Have some fun and show your stuff off in the premier Music Supper Club in Uptown Manhattan. Shot Specials all night with a pack happy hour from 5-8pm. Yes Yes, Lets do this!

I remember you

SAI@JACKDAZEY.COM (SAI) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:32:12 GMT

I remember you

I distinctly recall, the hair the flesh that smile

    and it took me a while to step, though not my style

so the God's intervened, too much distance between

eliminate, and fate, same time same place

though i knew you were out there, felt your presence

    for many years, sun and moon movin so damn fast,

    I kept on missin your ass

right was not the time then, so we both engaged

    others, but deep inside what was missin, kept us

    hope, prayin and wishin

that this day eventually, would come and we would

    meet, bring end to the misery our hearts and

    minds felt to some degree

and i say this to you because, we both know just

    how it was, to share your world with someone,

only to have it undone

then suspicious we kind of become, misjudgin

    everyone, trying to protect ourselves, from the

    pain and hurt we felt

Yet hopeless romantics we are, kept longin for lucky

    stars, not using out eyes but hearts, to guide

    us thru times so hard

Hang on baby, we're not too far, this might be the

    hardest part, by the clock much we haven't

    spent, don't matter this 'here' is heaven sent

and it was known from day number one, from first sight

    I was overcome, even you said you came undone, and

    now exhaling in unison

souls are ready but work to do, I've got mine

    girl and so do you, take some time make sure

    all is right

when i get back gonna hold you tight, staring

    deeply into your eyes, trying my best baby not

    to cry, cause finally it is you and I

with you this man will spend all his life,

    have you laughin until you cry, walkin talkin

    til late at night, kissin huggin and doin it

    right

that's exactly how it will be, together raisin

    our family, girl I know you're feelin my

    energy, cause you return it exponentially

so apart we are comfortably, anxious soon

     to finally, have love unconditionally...

      I remember you, remember me

By SAI

The JackDazey project is now on CDBaby...baby!!!

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:23:28 GMT

cdbaby.com/cd/jackdazey

The JackDazey Project Vol. 1 is available for a special exclusive pre-release on CD Baby. Those of you who are still rockin portable c.d. players or who like to blast it up on your home or car stereo systems, go get it now for special order at cdbaby.com/cd/jackdazey. Let it be written Let it be done!! Thanks for your support!

JackDazey

URBAN-HIP-POP

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:49:04 GMT

IS THE UNIQUE SOUND AND STYLE CREATION OF

PRODUCER/SONGWRITER JACKDAZEY. THE DEBUT COMPILATION "THE

JACKDAZEY PROJECT" IS A BLEND OF HOT CHARTING TRACKS

COMPRISED OF SELECT SINGLES OF MOVING MUSIC FROM MANY

GENRES WITH A FOUNDATION OF EASTCOAST/WESTCOAST HIPHOP

INFLUENCE. BE PREPARED TO DANCE, BOB YOUR HEAD AND THEN

COOL OFF AND RELAX TO INNOVATIVE SOUNDS OF HIP HOP, R&B,

POP, AND DANCE ALL WITH A JACK DAZEY TWIST! IF YOU DO NOT

LIKE THE SOUNDS OF PRODUCERS DR. DRE, TIMBALAND, KANYE WEST,

BABYFACE, OR JERMAIN DUPREE THEN THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!!!

You remember Motown...

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:49:04 GMT

You remember Motown...

...That was a company bac in the day which took, catered to and developed black artist.They would just step in like a good uncle or godfather and bless an artist and invest all they to secure a vision.. Well those days are over and record companies are like investment banks. They want a return. they want to see that u are making money before they decide to really fuck wit ya. What u got to do (and take a lesson from Cash Money Click(birdman, lil wayne etc) u got to do the work, u got to push and hustle, when they see u makin money they will step in and try to make more money wit ya. key things to do 1st perform and be seen anywhere and everywhere free or paid. This is the first step Big labels will do wit ya if they signed u anyway for one whole year before u blow up..(it is not a overnight Cinderella story) and now wit Myspace everybody and they f@#*in grandma think they are hot artist because someone bullshits them wit a comment. these days there is more junk to filter through to find the real shit.. exposure, exposure, exposure! Let the people decide!

A difference

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:49:04 GMT

music starts within one's soul.. the key to being different and unique is to take whats within your own heart and mind and discuss and put it on paper or in our inner art form..you alone walk in your footsteps, you alone create a path, you alone can tell that story like no other, this is where there origins of originality and uniqueness stems from.

A Lonely Path

JACKDAZEY@JACKDAZEY.COM (JACKDAZEY) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:49:04 GMT

it was once written that bill gates only had 6 days of vacation from 1984 to 1989...this is the ethic that is necessary to put one over the edge and to the top..this is core sacrifice and selfishness..for the inner beauty and meaning we all seek within our selves to understand ourselves and our mission here.. it is time consuming perfecting our craft to be the greatest that we can possibly be...thousand of hours spent isolated to share with the world what we have inside, a unique beauty and gift..in manifesting our souls, blessing, and destiny our passion and love we do walk a lonely path to the top.