A Band of One
On the 4th of July weekend I set up for my steady afternoon gig in the lobby of a local resort hotel. I play the hammered dulcimer for 2 hours in the afternoon during check in time to set the mood as guests arrive. I’m perfectly happy playing alone but recently had the opportunity to observe how another musician handles the same job using his steel drum and accompaniment tracks on his MP3 player. Quite a few musicians use accompaniment tracks, but the goal is to have the most natural sounding backup you can get. This chance meeting motivated me to run home and try out his ideas for my own music.
Tracy Thornton, steel pannist, came up to introduce himself when I finished playing that day. He was scheduled to play after me and gave me one of his CDs. We talked about the similarities and contrasts between our instruments and I decided to pack up and spend some time listening to him play.
Tracy Thorton
The steelpans, more commonly known as steeldrums, have captivated audiences around the world, and their distinct Caribbean sound has become synonymous with “the islands.” Internationally acclaimed steepannist Tracy Thornton, a former heavy metal drummer, African percussionist, songwriter and composer, is taking steelpan music to a whole new level by merging the steelpan with other popular music genres, such as rock-n-roll and punk, to create a unique and innovative sound that is shaking up people’s perception of what is true “heavy metal.”
On meeting Tracy
It was interesting to think about the similarities and differences between our percussion instruments. A good performer’s hammered dulcimer can be around $5000 and a beginner’s kit with dulcimer, stand, case and hammers is around $1000. Unfortunately, the dulcimer doesn’t stay in tune anywhere near as well. I’d love to tune once a year instead of every 10 minutes. My 4 ½ octave dulcimer has about 80 strings to tune with a wrench and electronic tuner. No hammers involved with this part of the process!
By the time I got back Tracy was set up with his “pan” mounted on it’s tripod stand, a good sized powered JBL amp and an MP3 player for accompaniment tracks. Here’s a photo of his slightly larger set up on his website.
Tracy just picks up the conveniently mounted MP3 player and selects a song. Once it starts coming through the amp he takes off, smoothly circling around the pan, tapping his mallets within smaller circles for the specific notes. Here’s a page from one of the instrument builders with a few tuning charts. Tracy tells me the better instruments are coming from Trinidad, the country of origin for the instrument. Steel drums are also referred to as “pans”.
Once you stand next to one of these and listen you are going to want one! Tracy tells me a good performer’s instrument will run around $5000 with a decent student instrument priced around $1500. (Like all instruments, there are many poor quality versions for sale so you need to know what to look for.) It takes a qualified technician to tune these periodically. (They actually use real hammer strikes on the pan to stretch and shape each note until it produces the required number of cycles or tone.)
Accompaniment Tracks
Tracy gets his accompaniment tracks from a variety of sources. He buys MIDI files and Karaoke MP3s from a few websites. He records some accompaniment himself and also has a friend who does expert work with MIDI tracks. Tracy commented that many MIDI tracks sound pretty awful and he puts a good deal of effort into compiling the most realistic sounding tracks he can get. Some of his favorite sites for accompaniment tracks are Midi-Hits.com and Karaoke-Version.com.
Creating Your Own Accompaniment Tracks
After meeting Tracy I was motivated to go home and try to develop some new accompaniment tracks for myself. Since I wanted to try some Caribbean music I found a number of classic tunes in both MIDI and MP3 file formats. As far as the MIDIs go, I imported them into my recording software and then spent a good bit of time changing the instruments to make them sound more realistic. There is usually little to no dynamic range in the MIDI tracks so I’ve been working on volume changes within sections of each track.
I also recorded some simple audio tracks to mix in with the MIDIs in order to make it sound more realistic. For example, I recorded a simple track of guitar chords and kept the volume slightly higher for that track than the MIDI instruments. This is pretty obvious, but you’ll find you need some empty space at the beginning and end of any accompaniment track you use. You need time to deal with the MP3 player and then get set up to play your instrument. You also need empty space at the end of the track so it doesn’t forward to the next song while you are still taking a bow!
Here’s a page on my website where I placed some of my working files. You can hear the difference between a studio recording, the background track I will use, and a final recording with my lead instrument playing along with the background tracks.
Tip: If you have the opportunity to spend some time in a studio making a quality recording, be sure to ask the recording engineer to make some tracks for you to use as backup in the future. Just pull up a few tracks of something like bass and guitar and mute your voice or lead instrument.
Steel Drum Sheet Music for Bands and Solo Work
Tracy and others have published music for steel drum for sale through Coyle Drums. These include originals, Latin, rock and even classical themes.
MauMau Music sells Play Along charts with the melody in sheet music form and accompanying MP3s for both practice and performance.
And you have to see Tracy’s Pan for Punks video. He plays all the instruments himself in a tribute to the Ramones.
There is something about Caribbean music that makes you feel great. There was Tracy in his island shirt and me in my more formal black and white on a sunny 4th of July weekend. Visit his website and check out the sound!
About the Hammered Dulcimer
The hammered dulcimer is a trapezoid shaped, wooden instrument strung with piano wire of different gauges. It is possible to pluck the strings but most players use wooden mallets or “hammers”. We have a world class hammered dulcimer builder here in Asheville, North Carolina and this is where I first learned the instrument.
To see a video of a hammered dulcimer up close, here’s a video of my performance of “Kesh Jig“. It also gives you an idea of what it’s like to pack up a hammered dulcimer and harp for a gig!
Other Hammered Dulcimer Links:
About the author
I understand that these are hard times for musicians, and that places that once hired trios, now hire duos, and the backing track seems like a good idea. But basically this is a proud article whose subtext is that MIDItracks can somehow replace an entire backup band. What you are doing is karaoke, not music. Music is what happens when musicians get together and create together. Music is a communication between musicians. Playing with backing tracks not only puts other musicians out of work, but it is always a lame and faint echo of what might have been. This is not the same argument that horn players used against the organ, or that the player piano and radio will replace live music. There is no replacement for the interaction and surprise that comes with live music.
7/26/2009
Hi David,
Thanks for your comments. I’ve lost a number of weddings this year to MP3 players and someone’s cousin who knows the chords to the Paul Stookey Wedding Song. One of the local organists won’t let the bride book a trumpet player since he has a trumpet stop on his organ. But what I am talking about is having a variety of options to offer a client.
This hotel is probably the largest employer of contract musicians in our town. My friends that play in the house band have had that gig for over 20 years. They play 5 nights a week (4-5 musicians), their singer/guitarist plays solo (with backing tracks) on Sunday and Monday nights. On Sunday mornings the hotel has a classical guitar duo. I have my solo gig on Fridays and they book duos or trios on Saturday afternoons. My trio plays for the big holiday buffets. Tracy comes in on special occasions when they want something different. Plus there are an assortment of other bands and DJs in and out for weddings and corporate events. For Christmas season there are a variety of special groups and choirs. Piano players in the restaurants and the lobby…
Of course, it does have a lot to do with the budget. The entertainment director will call me and ask for something specific, a trio, a duo or just state what some group’s budget is and ask what we can offer. I learned a lot from the first serious band I worked with when I came to this town. It was a 5 person ensemble that booked anything from solo to the full band. They could be a classical trio, a jazz quartet or send me out as a solo classical harpist. My instruments can stand alone for solo jobs pretty well, but I think it will be fun to have some tracks to work with, particularly for the really noisy gigs where I can’t book another musician. I just don’t want to see that day job again!
7/26/2009
I think it would also depend on the couple’s budget. True, one musician and his MIDI-track backup band is not the same as say…a full-out string quartet or jazz band with actual musicians. Even with negotiating a price, not every couple might be able to afford it. Therefore, I’d try to be optimistic and think that there is at least one musician providing live music for everyone to hear, whether with or without MIDI.
11/2/2009
funny thing but this is the busiest that I have been in a long time, averaging 11 to 13 days or gigs if you prefer a week. I have a show band also that can go from duo to 20 or what ever the client can afford. The club I work for has music 7 days a week and 2 shifts a day since the mid 90′s and is still going strong, my second job is at another club a few blocks away with another 4 days work. The gigs overlap a lot on the weekend and thats how, I get to pull doubles, triples and sometimes there is a 4th I play what I can then call other musicians to help cover.
Tracks or live ? well tracks work for the clubs I am at now cause they are nation wide and thats the way its been since the first one opened and they demand tracks. I sometimes do weddings and old folks homes that call for just an accoustic, thats what I will do. I don’t believe using tracks makes you less of a musician cause even with my band backing me my part is still the same and the 3 or 4 guys behind me become the live tracks (more fun though !). In the very late 70′s early 80s before midi and tracks I was using a drum machine, old organ paddle bass, Rhodes,Moog source,guitar and cymbals to play one man band and feed the family, I eventually got an auto Orchestra with paddle bass kinda made life a little easier thats why I have no problem with tracks or a Roland MC 909 . Supply and demand try something different if current does not work the one that get the booking is the right one!!! good luck fellow misicians and rock !! on
3/18/2010
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