"Let The Music...Do The Talking!"

Not only is that the song I'm listening to but it's become my motto as of late. You see, the guy that teaches the Tech classes here at CMC said that he doesn't want any of the techs playing in bands for the next couple of live shows because he wants everyone to learn their stations during the shows and really get comfortable with them. That, I completely understand; however, one of the techs is a drummer, and he played for 3 acts last week, which is how many I played for (1 used another drummer and the other didn't have one). Therefore, I am now taking the reigns and playing for 4 of the 6 acts this week. Therefore, my motto as of late has been to Let My Music Do The Talking because I haven't had too much time for anything else because of rehearsals and stuff. However, it may seem like I'm complaining about this; I'm not. I know this is what I signed up for and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get better at this art and talent that God has enstilled me with. I am working with a wide range of artists this week and exploring all kinds of genres and it's super exciting. I am working with Kylie Campion this week, who's style is very interesting; not bad intersting but stuff I'm not used to so it's a trip for me to learn new stuff. To prepare for these sessions, the guys in the band told me to listen to Mumford and Sons, which I had never listened to before, but that is the style they're going for. However, it's a nice folk-rock sound that I'm really having a lot of fun playing. Then there's good ol' Tavis Grant. Tavis is a big black guy that has a lot of soul, let me tell ya. This boy can sing!! And of course, he is full of the black gospel style, so that's what we're playing. We're all so into it and having so much fun playing this stuff because it's so musical and so active and so different; it is quite possibly my favorite set this week. Then there is Josh Tracy.  Josh is still settling into his style and direction he wants to go in. He is working up some nice Kris Allen and Carrie Underwood covers this week, which I'm a fan of both of those artists and I love playing covers. Last but not least is Luke Schutz. Luke is a rocker guy, so we're playing some very nice hard rock music. Two originals that he wrote and we are rocking those this week. Karissa, one of the girls I played with last week, is coming in and singing harmonies on one song and it sounds awesome. And then there's the anti-war song he wrote called "Bullets and Borders", which I think is an incredible song. So that's my artists for this week and I'm pretty excited. We have Hammer Time again tomorrow at 1 and then it's back in the rehearsal rooms for improvement before Thursday. Again, I'm not really sure what my schedule is at this point but I know it's filled with rehearsals, lol!

Also, before this crazy weekend got underway, me and my two roommates, Dan and Jason, went into Nashville on Friday night to see Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy and Larry The Cable Guy. I was so excited because I had never seen these guys before and had been waiting a very long time to see them. Let me tell you though, they definitely didn't disappoint, especially Larry because there wasn't a moment during his set that we weren't laughing. It was definitely great to get downtown and away from Brentwood for a few hours. I need to do that more often. Other than the excitement of that and rehearsals, I have tried to relax a little on top of writing a paper for History and Fine Arts that I am about halfway through right now. Anyways, I will definitely try to update tomorrow after Hammer Time and keep everyone updated on that!! Hope you are enjoying reading all of this because I'm definitely enjoying keeping you updated!!

We Came...We Saw...and We Kicked Some Tail Tonight!!

Yes...today finally came and it was marvelous!! Although going through a 4 hour soundcheck tonight was a little grueling, it was so worth it!! Despite a few minor hiccups, which were expected the first show, everything went great! I had so much fun playing for Maxine, Karissa and Zach. Once again, I shall apologize to Maxine for the couple of hiccups that I made in her set (Sorry Maxine!!) but every other set went great. It's just because Maxine opened the night and I was worried about making sure that I didn't rush and wanted to settle into the groove and I missed a couple of changes that we made. Oh well, it still went nicely. Karissa's set went great and Zach tore the house down!! We nailed all of the stops but played it a little fast but that's alright. All I could really hear during that set was Tyler's guitar because the amp was turned right in my direction but that's alright because he's a great guitar player. I thought tonight went great but we'll wait until Game Film time tomorrow to get the analyzing and breakdown from Warren, Tom and Rick. However, I am definitely satisfied and relieved that it went as well as it did. I did get a couple of pats on the back and some great jobs and stuff so I feel confident that I did well. But again, we'll wait and see.

So what are my plans for the weekend you ask? Oh, well I must tell you...rehearsals!! As expected, I have rehearsals but that isn't all. If you remember me updating before, we have "PJs, Pancakes & That Thing You Do" on Saturday night, which is going to be awesome! Also, my 2 roommates, Dan and Jason, are going to see Larry The Cable Guy, Bill Engvall & Jeff Foxworthy tomorrow night in Nashville, which I am super pumped about!! I have waited quite a while to see these guys; it's going to be great. Aside from that, I have to find time to finish my paper over Leopold Mozart (Mozart's father) for History and Fine Arts this weekend, which I will do and it will be a great paper. Anyways, thanks again for keeping up guys, and feel free to leave comments whenever you would like. I'm having a blast and I hope you are enjoying reading!! Lots of love here from the Music City!

If Tomorrow Never Comes...

Yes I know it's a great Garth Brooks song but it is also the feeling that's in the pit of my stomach right now. Everything that I've worked for in the last couple of months culminates tomorrow night; all the hard work, stress, rehearsal, everything culimates tomorrow night. Why you ask? Because tomorrow night is CMC Live!! I will be on stage 3 times (opening the show, third slot and closing) and it's going to be incredible!! But wait...I'm putting everything into this one but there's just one thing I forgot? There are still more of these through the whole semester!! In fact every Thursday night!! That means Thursdays are insane around this place!! However, this is the first one so we have to make the best impressions possible. So yes, everything still culminates tomorrow night, but it doesn't stop there. Tomorrow night I will open the show with Maxine, come up in the third slot with Karissa and close the show with Zach.

However, in order to prepare for tomorrow night, we've rehearsed like crazy. I've told you about all of the rehearsals and Hammer Time so far but today was it; we had to nail it and in every rehearsal I had today, we nailed it. We were all on the same page, hitting the strong points together and making sure all the parts were tight. There was an incredible vibe around the building today about tomorrow night. Nerves are being shaken, brains rattled but looks of excitement are radiated off of everyone's faces. It's going to be great!! However, before all of the rehearsing today, we had a Critical Listening "Pop" Quiz this morning where Tom played us 60 songs that we need to be familiar with. That 60 included the top radio hits of each genre this week, songs with count-offs (in which we had to identify the song only by the count-off), songs with bass guitar intros, Beatles songs and instrumentals. All of these songs we had to identify within the first 5-7 seconds, which I am normally stellar at but as today showed, I need to brush up on my old school rock music. In the 60 songs, we got 1 point for a correct song title and 1 point for the correct artist, so 120 possible, with some bonuses thrown in here and there; yeah...I only got 44...but the high score was 68 so I wasn't too bad. So that was fun and then we went to our separate track classes where today in Artist Track we listened to songs that have influenced everyone in some way, shape or form; it was very nice to hear everyone's real preference in music and nice to get the background on their song.

So that was before rehearsal today and after rehearsal today, we went to John and Jenny Leininger's house for an "Open House"-type event. John is our RLD and Jenny is the coordinator that keeps this ship running smoothly. Anways, it was very nice to relax with them and get to know them a lot better so that if we ever need someone older and wiser to talk to besides Tom and Warren, we know they are available to all of us. They really are such nice people and really enjoying hanging out with all of these crazy college students that are such music nerds. And why they would want to do that, I'll never know, lol!

So in the last couple of days, all I've really done is rehearsed, went to class, rehearsed some more...oh and worked on History and Fine Arts II assignments because I am taking it online while I'm here so I can graduate on time (thank you Dr. G.). Anyways, my days have been busy but not super long, been quite nice. However, tomorrow is the big night and everything picks up after tomorrow night. After the show tomorrow night we have an After Party which is going to be great. And after that, everyone relaxes for the rest of the night but it's back up Friday morning for Game Film, where Warren and Tom sit down with all of us to review our performances and pick apart what needs to be fixed and what was great about them. After lunch on Friday, all of this madness starts over!! Ahhhh...I love this life!!

Somehow Survived The First One...

For starters, today was an incredibly busy but rewarding day. First of all, we had our first Artist Track class "Intro to Songwriting" with Rick Elias. In case you didn't read my first post on here, let me tell you about Rick Elias. Rick wrote all of the music for the movies "That Thing You Do" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as well as performed in Rich Mullins's band in the 90s. So we had our first class today and it's going to be great. I'm not a very expressive person and even when I am, I really don't have a rhythm or a flow to it, which is why I'm pursuing this track to learn how to do that and to be able to write songs to add another dimension to my abilities. I do believe that this class will be able to help me get some of that energy out into words, which will be very nice. After class I had to eat quickly and head back to the building for Hammer Time. Hammer Time is a time where the artists that are playing CMC Live will play for Warren and Tom to get criticism on how to make their song better for that week and things like that. I had to play for 3 of the artists and I was worried about remembering all of the songs; we didn't even make it through both songs for either of the 3 artists. Actually, Maxine was the only one that we actually made it to the second song. Anyways, Maxine led off and we started playing her songs and I received one of the greatest pieces of instruction I've ever had. After asking me a few things about where I've played drums and stuff like that, Warren said, "Just pound it! Play louder! It's okay!" I didn't think I would ever hear anyone to tell me to play louder! I've always been the loudest drummer and people have always told me to play quiter but never louder...interesting. I was also told that everyone is supposed to follow me. I somehow knew that but I hate being the one to lead people. Yes I keep the beat of the song and yes I am the backbone of the band but I don't want to run off and leave everyone. I definitely don't want to be the center of attention, which is not what he was saying at all. But at the same time, he is just making sure that I provide a nice, solid foundation for the groove of the song. Other than all of that, Maxine's stuff is great. She has this Kelly Clarkson sound about her that I really like. Her stuff is very catchy and can get stuck in your head, which makes it a lot of fun to play. One of the songs today, we were trying to give it a style and the guitar player said, "An Americana feel, sorta like Tom Petty," and I said, "Yeah, Tom Petty meets Taylor Swift!" It wasn't meant anything bad at all towards Maxine; she's a great artist and can only get better. So after Maxine, I played with Karissa in the third spot. Again, I was told to play louder. Warren showed me some nice was to be able to attack the snare to get a better sound (which I can already hear) and as I have always been told, playing harder on the bass drum; give it some more attack!! Oh well, that still needs work. Overall though, I love playing Karissa's music. Warren asked if she was going for the Evanescence feel, which is about right. Her vocals are incredible and her piano playing is so enticing and just so easy to play for. Plus the musicians in that band are just rocking and everything we are doing is fitting together so nicely. Lastly, in the last spot on Hammer Time, I played for Zach. We did a rockin' Foo Fighters style song that I think Warren really liked, he just had to make some minor tweaks with again, how I was attacking the drums and the guitar tones. Zach is so much fun to work with because he has so much energy about him and expresses that not only in his playing but his singing. He's just awesome to work with.

After Hammer Time, we continued rehearsals to improve on what Tom and Warren told us. I rehearsed with Maxine and Karissa and then we had our first Community Dinner followed by a Community Meeting. Our Community Meetings are our veg-out time, just allows us to express what we're feeling both inside of the CMC and out. After all, it's like John said tonight, there is life outside of the CMC and that is our time to talk about it and confide in people if we need it. So we did that for about an hour and it was a lot of fun because we talked about what we are nervous about this semester and what we expect and things like that. Then we had some announcements which included our "PJs, Pancakes and That Thing You Do" Party on Saturday night which will be a lot of fun. Also, we are taking a trip as a group to the Smokies in Gatlinburg and staying in a cabin on Sunday February 27 and Monday February 28th. Yes, all 32 of us, plus John and his wife Jenny, and Jill and Kate, who performed the first night, are also coming with us. The cabin has 2 hot tubs, a pool table, 2 classic arcades, an air hockey table, a movie room and other sorts of gagets. It's going to be a blast to be able to take a break from all of the hussle and bussle of CMC and relax with our CMC family and just have fun!!

So anyways, that was my day and it was incredible. Playing for all of these people and getting to sit down with everyone and just talk has made me realize for sure that God knew what He was doing when He made me change my major so that I could end up here. These people are going to be lifelong friends and I'm super excited. Not only that, but today has helped me realize that I love what I am doing so much and don't know that I could ever be fully satisfied doing anything else. I get so much pleasure and excitement out of playing drums that it's ridiculous. I know it sounds cliche and corny but it is so true; playing drums is my passion and I just can't see myself doing anything else. And that is that!!

3 Down...A Zillion To Go!!

...Rehearsals that is. And when I say a zillion, I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating. This week at CMC Live on Thursday night, 8 artists will get a band together (or some form of accompaniment other than themselves) and perform for the first CMC Live of the semester!! I am playing with 3 of the artists (Maxine Peters, Karissa Klauser & Zach Wolfe), which I'm pretty sure is my limit, lol. I had an impromtu rehearsal with Zach on Friday night that lasted until midnight, lol. However, we did get one of his songs down pretty good. It has an awesome Foo Fighters feel to it, so I'm pretty excited to get to rock out!! Then I had my first rehearsal with Maxine yesterday morning at 10. She has a very unique style, which is very good, trying to set herself apart from others. Definitely going to be very fun working with her style...speaking of that, we have a rehearsal with her at 1 today. Then I got a text from Karissa's manager asking if I could play for her, so I agreed and we have rehearsal today at 3. My third rehearsal of the year was with Zach last night; we rehearsed his song "Educated Fools", which has a killer  6/8 feel with some nice drum and piano licks thrown in. He asked Mike, who is another one of the artists, to play keys on the song and it brought a whole new dimension to what we were playing. It is an absolute laid back song but so groovy and awesome at the same time. So this all brings me to the present time, in which I have rehearsal with Maxine at 1, Karissa at 3 and Zach at 8. Also, the NFL Playoffs are today and John, our RLD, is throwing a little party in the student lounge so we can all watch the games, so I will try to sneak those into my day as well.

However, last night we had our first real "Guys Night" of the semester. Like the music dorks we are, we started the night at the Guitar Center downtown. It was awesome to see all of the pictures signed by artists that they had in there (Yes they had Keith Urban!!), as well as the massive amount of guitars in there. They had guitars ranging from $150 to $42,000!!!Insane!! They did have a guitar signed by Slash in there for sale for almost $20,000!! Those numbers are just insane; I could buy a new car with that!! Anyways, after that we went to Corky's BBQ Restaurant, which was awesome!! I had some kind of BBQ Burger with Onion Rings on it, and it was pretty awesome!! Then we came back to the apartment and played a couple of rousing games of Sequence!! So much fun!!

So my schedule for the week looks like this:
Rehearsals Today: 1, 3, 8; Hammer Time tomorrw @ 1, Rehearsal @ 3 & 5; Rehearsal Tuesday @ 8; Rehearsal Wednesday @ 7 & 8; Soundchecks all day Thursday & CMC Live Thursday Night @ 7:30; Game Film Friday @ 11 and the rehearsals start all over again for next Thursday!! On top of that, we start actual classes Monday so we will have stuff during the day on top of the rehearsals!! Ah, the life I live for the passion I have!! Keep checking back for updates!!

Welcome To My World!!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, CB Productions proudly presents...well I don't really have a title...well I guess that screws that up!! Anyways, Welcome To My World!! I thought it would be nice for me to start this blog since so many people want to know what's going on in my life now that I'm in Brentwood, Tennessee at the Contemporary Music Center. However, in order to fully understand where I am coming from in what I say, you must first learn how I got here.

First of all, my life has been consumed with music ever since I was little. Travis Tritt became my biggest inspiration. I basically learned how to read because I would memorize the words to his songs and then match them with the lyrics in the liner of the cassette; talk about strange, I know! So I followed music all of my life, spreading to different genres and many different artists. I knew that God had called me to pursue music as a career and I knew in order for me to do that the way he would want me to, I would need to attend Kentucky Christian University. I already knew about KCU's reputation of being an incredible music school, so I thought that would be the best bet for me. However, I struggled and struggled while I was there but managed to make it through. I gained much knowledge while taking classes there and many experiences along the way. I got to perform twice with the KCU Concert Choir in New York City (Carneige Hall and Lincoln Center) as well as getting to experience the madness of the Feast of Christmas. It was so much work putting that show together but it was so worth it getting to perform all week long for wonderful audiences. However, as much as I loved those things as well as performing in chapel services and various projects, the experience that I will always rank number one is being out on the road with Destiny. Destiny is a traveling ministry group/band that ministers to high school kids and when I say travel, I mean we traveled. Michigan City, Indiana; Versailles, Kentucky; Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania; and those are just some of the places!! Anyways, the memories and the relationships formed from that year I will forever take away and treasure. However, it was time to move on from that because I have to graduate; but before I do, I had one more task to complete and that was to go through the CMC. And that brings us to the present.

Since moving in this past Saturday, it has been phenominal to be here with all of these great people. So many talented people in one place makes for an amazing semester to come. I honestly could not have picked 8 better people to share these troubles and trials with; not only the 8 other people in my apartment but the 31 other people in the program get along so well. We are all truly bonding already and we've only been here 5 days. On Saturday Night, to kickoff the semester, there was an open concert to the public, which featured JillandKate (CMC Alumni) and Rick Elias (our songwriting teacher). JillandKate are actually back-up singers for Kelly Clarkson and Rick Elias wrote all the music for the movie "That Thing You Do", "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and toured with Rich Mullins in the 90s. JillandKate performed first and after two songs in, they brought Kelly Clarkson on stage to sing with them!! Holy Cow!! On Sunday and Monday we did some orientation stuff, which wasn't all that bad. Tuesday we began our 3 day tour of Music City. We visited Reggie Hamm, who wrote the song "The Time of Your Life", which was recorded by David Cook when he won American Idol. From there we visited Nathan Lee, who is a local singer/songwriter but absolutely incredible. He lives in a warehouse that also acts as his studio. I was totally blown away with his abilities and knowledge of the business but just hasn't had the luck that some people have had. We also visited SESAC, which is a company that handles the revenues for songwriters each time their song is played/performed. Wednesday we visited Steve Liewiki, who is one of the many people in this town with a studio in their house. Steve is not only a successful producer, engineer, mixer and studio owner but a successful session guitar player. We then visited Jason Halbert, who is the musical director/band leader for Kelly Clarkson. His visit was my favorite because it was just so insightful to hear from someone who has been that successful for so long. In fact, when he was 19, he toured with dc Talk for the "Jesus Freak" album. We then visited eMack Studios, which is partially owned by tobyMac. We got to see all the great songwriters and engineers there as well as Toby's personal room with all of his awards; man that was a sight!! Also got to see Ariel Hanna, who finished the CMC program last semester and was also in Destiny with me back at KCU. She is now working as an Assistant Road Manager on this tobyMac tour. Finally today we visited BlackBird Studios, which is one of the most famous studios in the country!! AMAZING!! Nuff said...then we visited the Grammys Chapter here in Nashville where we heard from a CMC Alumni who now works there.

So my first week in Nashville has been well worth it. I could go home now and be super happy!! However, the semester hasn't even really began yet. The hard work is still ahead of us and I can't wait!! I will try to keep this as updated as possible, but whenever you need info about how I'm doing this semester or what has happened, visit me here or on facebook!!