by Dave Agee
Hey drum fiends,
I’ll be assembling weekly Spotify playlists for the drummers (and friends of drummers!) who are looking for some material-specific direction in their practice. Feel free to use these tracks to supplement your own practice goals – here are things to look for in each track…
To Our Altered Stage Family
As we settle in for at least another month at home, I wanted to take a minute to thank our instructors, our members, and our community of Altered Stage friends for your continued support. We created the club to unite people through their love of music. While the world is living in separation, we’ve become even closer in many ways.
You have been amazing throughout all of this. I’ve gotten several emails thanking me for helping to keep some connectivity to the world and to people who share a passion for music. I sincerely appreciate the kind words, but I honestly can’t take credit. The real thanks goes to the team. The speed at which they brought the essence of the club – bringing people together – online with quality programming deserves magnitudes of thanks. I know I’ll carry my gratitude toward Jason, Nick, Cristina, Bree, Jerry, Vinny, and Chris Medici forever.
by Jerry Cusack
Last Thursday night Chris Medici hosted a chat about “Top 3 Concerts”. I was teaching a lesson with one of our members at the time so I couldn’t make it but wanted to share one of mine.
Somewhere around 1995 or ’96 I saw Roberta Flack was playing at an outdoor summer music series at a park in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The great jazz guitarist Larry Coryell was opening for her with a trio, whose playing and energy I always loved so I decided to go. The venue was a typical temporary outdoor stage set up with a large tent with rows of chairs for maybe 500 people and the rest could set up on the lawn picnic style with a little vino and listen through the sound system. I purchased a seat under the tent and got a seat close enough to the stage to check out Larry’s playing. From what I remember Larry was his typical self. He always put together an interesting set of tunes to improvise over and let it all hang out. As an improviser he was never afraid to walk the razor’s edge and that is what I admired.
[..]by Jason Steele
This is Dedicated to the Ones I Love
As I spend most of my days cooped up inside unable to see your faces (at least in person) I found myself reflecting on the last 6 years with Altered Stage. It’s hard to believe how far it’s come and how much great music has been made! I tell the story all the time, but I remember being concerned that doing 1 gig every 3 months would be too aggressive and that members would not feel comfortable playing so often when we started out. Guessing that we have done well past 50 gigs since the beginning, so I am glad to have been wrong on that one. I also tell someone who comes to the space for the first time that Altered Stage is “member run” and truly I feel like it’s all about YOU. You are the ones that have made Altered Stage so special and I first want to say that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!
With all of that in mind, I decided to make a mix-tape for you. It’s a sappy love song mix-tape to express how much I love you, but more than that it’s a solid representation of songs that allow me to drop deeper into my heart every time I listen to them. And true to the tradition of making a “mix-tape” I’ve paid close attention to the order in which the songs are played. It’s a big ask to hope that you listen to my tape and get the same feelings I do but I would never ask you to do that because music is so personal. Just as you listen I hope you hear me saying how much all of you mean to me. I also hope that you discover some new music that you’ve never heard before because that’s what most of you have been doing for me for the last 6 years. I thank you for that and hope you feel connected in this isolated time.
Love, Jason
by Nick Kabat
Hey everyone! I wanted to share one thing I’ve been doing consistently during quarantine. I decided over three weeks ago now to begin a series called “well-tempered quarantine.” It stemmed from my love of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote a famous book of piano pieces known collectively as the “Well-Tempered Clavier”.
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