In a way — I HOPE NOT!

Welcome back to Facts Of Music® and the facts of life (and indigestion…maybe). It is hoped you had a terrific Thanksgiving (if in America!), and that your days have been and will continue to be filled with much good music! I have been working on too many projects, personal and musical, but it looks like the near-future will be more focused on MUSIC — and I am “Thankful” (grateful) for that!

Personal busy-ness is not bad, but those of us who know and enjoy music (the way I do) LOVE to spend some quality time learning and creating. There is so much excellent technology to make good music these days, but it does take patience and a lot of experimentation to make special and beautiful music come out of us! It’s not as easy as “1,2,3,4” — although a lot of our music starts out just that way!

This is just a quick note of thanks to those of you who visit the site and read/subscribe to this blog. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I will be writing again in the next week or two with the much delayed and promised FOM PDFs to start our journey into the vault of fun stuff we can learn/study in a better, faster way (and get those sought-after “quicker results!”).

Until the next time — keep on thinking musically. It WILL help you in all other things!

Philippe

Wow — it’s been FOUR MONTHS since my last blog here. THE REASON: (can you guess?)… It’s been a very, very busy summer! While many people are busy working a job (or 2, or 3), and many others are really busy looking for one — the rest of us are keeping busy doing BOTH! I’m one of the latter — working constantly — juggling several projects at once and creating more work. Keeping busy is not hard in the field of the arts. Making a living at it is another story. If you want to be a professional in this “business,” it takes more than getting up and going to work (and then going home at the end of the day).

One of the most important things we can do as artists and “business-persons in the arts” is to keep growing, learning, re-learning, investing in ourselves, and in our tools of the trade.

Since it has become more difficult to make a living in any field these days (working longer hours for less pay!), it would help to know some of the things we can do to “diversify our portfolios of assets” — something every artist can do — and I would love to elaborate in the next article on this subject. I’ll also open the door to the FOM vault, and we’ll look at some things from the Facts Of Music® vantage point, and you’ll begin to see why those who have seen it are better for it!

I started out as a guitar player who was very interested in most other instruments, could sing some, and also dabbled with arranging and composing. Little did I know back then (in the 60’s and beyond into the 1980’s) that I would someday have to use all those “skills” and add several more to boot.

Two blogs back (only May 15th, 2010…) — seems like forever ago — I mentioned that I was going to release some time-treasured secrets from the FOM vault. What did this mean?

I am going to start posting some of the materials that make it much easier for most of us to absorb large masses of musical knowledge in a way that is much more organized and therefore easier to master (some of this information is often referred to as “Music Theory” — although this truly is a “misnomer,” and you will soon see what I mean). I am also planning to post Facts Of Music® PDFs and video sessions to pull things together for you, at least in a basic way, hoping that all of this will motivate and encourage you in more ways than one.

Almost two years ago, I started doing live Skype web-cam sessions with students, and these have become valuable ways to work with people anywhere in the world (it also helps that I can communicate these things in languages other than English!).

When we get back together in the next month or so in the next blog, I will introduce the first of many subjects and show you HOW and WHY the “Facts Of Music®” approach is the faster, better and richer way to really put things all together for yourself in music and this crazy world we call “Show Biz.” It’s going to be another busy time now with the holiday season just around the corner (again?!!!) — so you can consider and anticipate this as a “Christmas gift” from Facts Of Music®! Hopefully it will be an “early one,” if I can pull the resources together and get it out to you.

Until then, keep on plugging and stay focused and organized wherever possible, and keep learning and enjoying NEW THINGS — musically and otherwise.

Musically yours,
Philippe Willems

P.S. Remember you can email me with your questions: philippe@factsofmusic.com

Today is June Riddell’s Birthday. What do these two wonderful friends of mine have in common? They are MOST musical and fun to be with — besides the fact they are so SPECIAL! I have had more fun and learned more about music and people with them than I have with most people in my life. One reason is that Scott is a great instructor, and the other is that June is not only my friend Nick (Vincent’s) Mom…but She and Nick are both fabulous musicians (Nick and I decided in Jr. High to go to Music College together)!

Do you have many friends that are musical? I think it’s a great way to grow musically, because you will spend a certain amount of your time together getting into musical situations and conversations (not to mention many musical experiences of various types such as going to concerts, listening to all kinds of music, et al.). So, today’s blog is just a quick thank you to those two friends, and to let them know how much it means to me — having spent time with them, and all the things we did together and talked about over the years! I am grateful and the better for it!

I hope you too will find these kinds of friends to grow with, and enjoy all kinds of music! Until the next time…

PW

Well, it was Armed Services Day yesterday, and considering it’s been 6 weeks since I’ve posted on this blog — I guess I’m only a “day late” (at least it’s not “and a dollar short” too!).

The musical aspect to this is the military loves a parade. There’s always music at the parade right? So there! Now, we’ve gotten past that, so let’s get on to what’s new with FACTS OF MUSIC®!

Something NEW is about to happen on this site: inclusion of data from the FOM vault!!!

I have been in meetings with several key people over the past month or two, and there seems to be a consensus that NOW is as good a time as ever to post some of the details that make Facts Of Music® a unique and beneficial approach, maybe even a better approach to learning musical concepts than most other methods extant. Everyone interested in learning as much as possible, as quickly as possible and as thoroughly as possible about music needs to “hang on to their hats.”

For years (even decades), there have been those who swear by the approach and presentation of the Facts Of Music® system. Unfortunately, the word has not been getting out that the system is “from” Facts Of Music®. That’s not so much the problem. The real problem is the word just isn’t getting out — that means most people are working “harder” not “smarter” at learning all the “facts” as we have come to know them in the FOM system.

I have decided to start posting much of the information, in a necessary “order” a little bit at the time, so that more people can start seeing the FOM system (and eventually seeing how FOM is a faster, easier and RICHER way to approach the material of music and instruments). Doing this will not be too difficult, but it still stands to reason that most interested students would be better served by having a certified FOM instructor to help them with the learning of these materials (you learn better and quicker with the help of a mentor who KNOWS the material!).

So, get ready to start seeing some of this fantastic approach to learning music and instruments (especially guitar and piano) in the coming weeks and months. I hope you will take advantage of this information, and if you need help — contact me either by sending a note to this website, or calling me directly (in the CONUS) on our toll-free number: (888) 244-6312.

If you get voice-mail, just leave your contact info, and someone will return your call within 2-3 business days.

This is just the beginning, but I hope you will soon see what a great beginning it is! Watch for the upcoming details and data/information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Musically,

Philippe

Facts Of Music® Productions is NOT producing as much/enough – at the present time – because of the current full-plate of learning curve activities.

It’s important to keep producing, while in the midst of learning new things, but it’s not always possible to do a lot of both AT THE SAME TIME. So, what’s being learned? And for that matter, what else is…UP?

Glad you asked (again April Fool’s – a day late, of course). Seriously, the new MacBook Pro 17″ is in the air. You say, “hey, wait a minute, you already have one of those!” TRUE. This is another one, a new one (yes, the 3rd!), and it’s in Anchorage, AK right now – going through customs. It should arrive at my doorstep on Monday morning (a bit of a late PRESENT from the Easter Bunny!).

There have been some repeated technical issues, and as a result, APPLE keeps sending me a new one (usually bigger, better and faster!) every month, lately. This is one reason for the slowdown in productivity. Never fear, the projects keep on being “cranked out” with the 8-core studio computer. So, as soon as I can get the new machine loaded with over 160 GBs of software…the real productivity will continue – at the screaming pace of…all things “APPLE FAST!”

Back to the question…”What’s being learned?”

Speaking of APPLE, on top of the other activities, FOM Productions is adding APPLE’s LOGIC PRO to the roster of offerings, and Philippe is hands-full/hands-on at the computer getting the feet wet with all the plug-ins and parameters of the highly acclaimed music recording Monster APP. The new Logic Pro is really something, and yes, DP (Digital Performer, by MOTU) is still in full swing at the studio. Now, we’ll be offering the best of both worlds…and that will be an advantage to all who care to partake!

That’s all for now (back to work)…remember to keep on playing, plugging, and plodding. To be continued…

Musically, Philippe Willems

Well, it’s Monday, it’s March 1st, and there’s a lot of water under the bridge (and everywhere in general, actually)! It’s been a while since my last post…very busy, yet lots of time to work on extraneous details and PLAY. YES, some of that meant playing (as in MUSIC!), as well as playing around.

I hope life has been similarly good to you in those ways, and I encourage you to keep on attempting/attacking toward that end. CARPE DIEM is the catch phrase most often used to describe that effort.

HOW CAN WE DO OR ACHIEVE THIS? I’ve noticed that by rotating my interests (switching back and forth from one type of activity to another…), I have been able to integrate various disciplines and continue to GROW in more areas.

We are in this “intense information age” of everything coming at us at once…and it can be so overwhelming, so we need to get a GOOD PERSPECTIVE on it! Let me illustrate my idea:

In a sentence…I’ve got musical instruments to play, computers and programs to work on and figure out, magazines and books to read…and music and videos to listen and watch. Then, …what (…I need to get a part for my car?!!!)…

TRY THIS…write down 5 things you want to do in the next 8 hours…allot time-frames for each, and then ATTACK! It’s amazing how much you can accomplish (thanks to that “little plan!”). AMERICA can become great again…maybe. But, it will take this kind of efficiency and efficacious attention to detail to get us there…and most definitely the GRACE OF GOD!

Check it out, and GO FOR IT (I always encourage you – knowing you CAN!)… All the best to you until…….

Well, it’s time for the University of North Texas’s GRAMMY NOMINEES (Steve and the One O’clock Lab Band, BOTH!) to show up…with the hopes of walking away with the coveted prize, but as Lab Band director Steve Wiest put it…he felt like he won already!

Even if neither he nor the band “takes one home tonight” (each is nominated for best jazz composition, and best large jazz ensemble, respectively) – the awesomeness of the nominations are as UNT’s President Bataille stated – (paraphrased) “it puts them in the enviable position held by UNT alone, of being the only Music College in America (and the world!) to have ANY Grammy nominations” – they have 6 – COUNT ‘EM…that’s 1975, 1976…then again in 1989 and 1991…and now 2 in one year!!! CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER TO EVERYONE INVOLVED!

It was pleasure this morning to re-connect with several people I’ve known and played with over the years, and make some new friends…and share the excitement with everyone – of hearing the band live in the intimate Gold Room at the Biltmore Millennium Hotel. It was quite a spectacle to behold. WOW! The band was on fire, and they’re off to the races (I hope you win one this time…now that would be a singularly spectacular highlight of it all – and if not, well…back to what Steve said!).

You guys are all going to have incredible careers…and already do! KUDOS, again, and thanks for having me be a part of it! Cheers to everyone at UNT!

I hope some of you reading this had the opportunity to see the show…or at least attend some of the concert events and parties in the area! The energy was infectious, and it was a good sign that some exciting things are coming to our industry this year. If you are optimistic about your music/work…then being at NAMM was quite an encouragement even above that!

Anyone who believes in their project(s) should be reassured that 2010 is going to present some great opportunities. Also, if you wonder what you can do to make it a great year…something I saw over and over again, and had the occasion to hear from others…is that we have more going for us now than ever before. The reality that technology has brought us to a new independent “know-how” and “capability” is already a done-deal. JUST DO IT. If you don’t have a “rig” yet, put one together, and GET IT TOGETHER. Produce to your heart’s content, and get the content out there! There is no excuse (not to), just apathy (laziness)! Let’s GO (or as was said on 9-11…let’s roll) – and to borrow and further that idea, in our case: LET’S ROCK ‘N ROLL – and all other styles, of course

Hope to cross paths with you soon, …and keep modulating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!