Forming a Musicians Group -- Need Suggestions!

[Dyne]

I've been thinking about starting a group dedicated to the advancement of musicians of all levels from beginning to professional. In this group, I'd like to include a variety of instruments from guitar to piano to stringed instruments and more. That being said, I was hopeful to either ask about creating a group here on the OCR Forums, or creating a group on Facebook.

What I'm trying to achieve is the following:

-- a weekly meeting of musicians to discuss practice ideas, goals, accomplishments and what not

-- provide help for struggling musicians who are at the beginning/novice level and need help taking their art to a new level

-- form a foundation to help new musicians work towards their goal of creating original music, remixes/rearrangements and more

-- create new friendships and networking through music

I think those are some pretty good goals for the group, and I think a lot of folks will agree with them. Now, obviously there's the viability of such a group on Facebook, but I still think it's worth it to explore at first, and then once we are established, take it further. So, I would like to get everyone's thoughts on said group before I go and create an actual group on Facebook.

I'm hopeful for a lot of feedback, so don't disappoint! Thanks everyone!

Notes, Ideas, and Suggestions

-- Weekly Meetings --

Definitely something for IRC or skype, weekly meetings to discuss where folks are at in their playing and where they want to go. Mainly by specifying objectives and goals a week, a month, three to six months and a year out, to help achieve our goals as musicians. The meetings help reinforce this through motivation, which in turn keeps everyone practicing and improving. The biggest and most important part of this process is creativity of course, and what better place to do that than by participating in One Hour Compo over at ThaSauce.

-- Discussions --

Outside of weekly meetings, with a Facebook group, we can have different discussions on a variety of topics, as well as create new discussions as needed.

-- Live Gatherings --

These kinds of things are reserved for things like MAGFest, Otakon, etc. Where anyone can come out, have a good time, maybe even show off a little, or a lot. This kind of interaction is mainly for full immersion. That works like trying to learn a language, it's easier to learn if you've fully immerse yourself in it, ie: by going to another country (if you're a student, or you're moving there permanently) and you want to learn the language. It's one thing to learn from a book, but since people tend to learn more easily by actually doing something, this is a really great way to learn more by engaging more senses.

-- Decisive Goal Setting --

Nothing too fancy here, but I want to apply some of the techniques I've learned recently from books I've been reading to help enhance the experience for all involved. The biggest and most important part of this is goal setting and objectives. Setting goals, and creating objectives, no matter how small, to be completed on a weekly, or monthly basis. As well as using a three to six month time table for progress. We could even use Google Docs to track our progress. There are plenty of ideas to go around, and I'm constantly thinking of ways to improve this.

-- Suggestions from this Thread --

I'll add suggestions as they come in, and we can then discuss them in this thread until we have a bonified group page via Facebook or what not.

We could use VNC (Windows/Linux - http://www.realvnc.com/) or iChat (Mac) to actually look at one another's desktop to get a clearer idea of production and DAW setups.

-- My Own Personal Goals --

My own personal goals are fairly simple. I want to learn to play guitar so I can perform at JamSpace. Plain and simple. I see so many people have so much fun doing that, and I want a piece of the action and the ability to say, "I did that, I rocked it." That's what I'm about. I also want to remix, and create my own original music as well. I think everyone has goals they want to achieve, and I feel that if we all work together, we can motivate each other, and bring out a massive amount of talent from ourselves.

-- Important Links --

The following are important links to information, the group proper, as well as other items of interest that we find a long the way.

-- Digital Musicians (on Facebook): http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510496788#!/group.php?gid=329781937468&ref=mf

[Diodes]

I think this is a great idea Dyne! I'd like to be involved. I'm a firm believer that having the support of a group can make a dramatic difference in motivation and progress, over working alone.

My background is rooted in playing instruments (piano, guitar, voice, violin, viola, flute) and music theory/composition, and would be happy to help novices with questions in these areas. I personally would like to improve on production, and arrangement in electronic styles.

I would participate here or over on Facebook. Weekly meetings, that sounds like something for IRC? I think the meetings are a great idea too because I'm a big proponent of group challenges with explicit deadlines, like the compos or NaNoWriMo because it gives a way to keep people accountable and let us check on each other's progress so we don't slack.

[Cyril the Wolf]

I think this is a great idea Dyne! I'd like to be involved. I'm a firm believer that having the support of a group can make a dramatic difference in motivation and progress, over working alone.

My background is rooted in playing instruments (piano, guitar, voice, violin, viola, flute) and music theory/composition, and would be happy to help novices with questions in these areas. I personally would like to improve on production, and arrangement in electronic styles.

I would participate here or over on Facebook. Weekly meetings, that sounds like something for IRC? I think the meetings are a great idea too because I'm a big proponent of group challenges with explicit deadlines, like the compos or NaNoWriMo because it gives a way to keep people accountable and let us check on each other's progress so we don't slack.

^

Except for the fact that I play sax and bass guitar more. Also I have a lot of production knowledge somehow too.

[Dyne]

I just edited the first post of the thread. I really like where this is going and can be going. I added my own little thought on gatherings like MAGFest, Otakon, and even meet ups (though I didn't specify meet ups specifically). I'm going to create a Facebook group some time this evening, but I need a name for it. Maybe something like "The Unofficial OCR Musicians Group" or something like that. To be fair, it doesn't have to be necessarily related to OCR, as it's just a group to help everyone anyway, it can be all encompassing.

[Meteo Xavier]

I would be up for this, except I don't use IRC, Skype or MAGfest or anything like that. I prob would not be able to make meetings.

[Bleck]

I would join a thing like this. There is not much opportunity to speak to people more skilled than you at things you want to learn about in a setting that doesn't require you to pay them.

[Dyne]

I would be up for this, except I don't use IRC, Skype or MAGfest or anything like that. I prob would not be able to make meetings.

You could just listen in with Skype and use Skype chat to instant message responses. And if you have Facebook, assuming I get enough support for this idea, there will be a group.

[Malkyre]

This could be interesting... How about jamming together with NINJAM? That's something I've been wanting to do, but, uh, I've still got a lot of practicing to do.

[Dyne]

Didn't even know about NINJAM. Sounds like an interesting concept. Something that could worked in somehow. I'm opened to any avenue that promotes the collective creativity of all involved, and helps everyone learn more than they previously knew going into the group.

That said, I'm going to wait until Friday. On Friday, I'm going to create a Facebook group for the purpose of collective learning. Between now and then, I hope that I get more input from the community.

And by the way, this isn't open to just established members of the community, ReMixers, musicians in general. It's open to the larger community; listeners, hobbyists, etc... My hope is that it grows beyond the scope of what it's intended to be and takes on a life of it's own. But hey, I'm just thinking big.

[Broken]

I would participate in something like this. It sounds like a great idea. Currently, I'm unable to skype, but I could definitely do IRC meetings.

[The Pezman]

I'd like to participate when my life is a little more stable. But I'm definitely down.

[Salluz]

I might consider it. PM?

[relyanCe]

sounds interesting! I'd have to see more on scheduling before i commit to participating, but it definitely would be something i'd do.

[Dj Mokram]

If it's open to people who don't play 'real' instruments, i.e. are making music on a computer mostly, why not.

Though my participation will be sporadic due to schedule, I'll be happy to contribute however and whenever possible.

[Dissidia]

I like your idea, I can see myself joining this group.

[Sir_Downunder]

This seems like a really good idea, and it's be something I'd definitely consider doing. The most difficult thing for me would be time via the time zone difference as I'm in Australia.

[LuketheXjesse]

I guess I could do this as well. It'd be fun.

[Dyne]

I want to note, that this is open to everyone. And, by proxy, it's open to all forms of music making, not just instrument playing musicians. Doesn't matter if you use defaults in FL Studio, or rock the guitar or mandolin or anything in between. You are most definitely welcome!

[Nabeel Ansari]

I'd like to get involved with this.

[JH Sounds]

I totally love this idea.

[GSO]

this sounds like a great idea. right now i'm(struggling through) learning the violin. any help would be much appreciated

[The Pezman]

Oh, RE: Suggestions.

We could use VNC (Windows/Linux - http://www.realvnc.com/) or iChat (Mac) to actually look at one another's desktop to get a clearer idea of production and DAW setups.

[Dyne]

Oh, RE: Suggestions.

We could use VNC (Windows/Linux - http://www.realvnc.com/) or iChat (Mac) to actually look at one another's desktop to get a clearer idea of production and DAW setups.

I like this! I'm going to look at the site momentarily, but my big question/concern is, is it secure so that we don't have to worry about being hacked by anyone that isn't involved with what we're doing?

Edit

I just answered my own question, as well as edited the first post quoting Pez, and adding some more content.

[Rugal]

(Semi-noob to the OCR forums here, but those of you that hang out in #magfest should know who I am) ANYWAYS, I think this is quite the novel idea, and i'm completely down for this. I'd love to share some of my own playing knowledge (guitar, bass, some vocals) and learn a few things for the betterment of all our musicianship. One of the goals I have is getting better at my production/mixing skills, cause even though i've been playing and had the correct equipment for years, I never really got heavily into recording/sequencing/mixing, etc. until now, lol.

[Arcana]

I hate to be the downer, but I am concerned about the actual format of the meetings and how this will work differently than what we already do.

What will make this focus on music, instead of "random gossip this week"? What will we be doing in these meetings - will it be lecture/presentation style, where someone presents for 20m and then takes questions? Will it be a discussion about "guitar playing techniques"? Is it going to involve exercises? Or are we going to do all of these and it depends on whoever's presenting? Maybe we'll get a volunteer each week to do a presentation and people who are interested will come out? If we do it like that, how would it be different doing it live than if we just made this an online podcast? Or, is Dyne going to sit down and organize information and teach everyone in the format of an online course? How are many of us going to learn if we don't have guitars/drums/violins/flutes/FLStudio?

How is it going to be different from the "Workshop" threads that we see right now? What will the benefit be of a Facebook group? I've never, ever had a discussion on Facebook in which I've learned something useful. Also, while talking on IRC is useful it's only useful to a point and it's easy to get carried away in the "talk" aspect and not put into the "music" aspect. If we come out ot this I think we would be disappointed if most of it was just spent "chatting" as we normally do. Also, many of us already do online "practices" in the form of One-hour Compos and other similar exercises. How will this compliment those kinds of activities?

I think it's a good idea, but I'm also curious about what we each are going to get out of this especially if the group gets really, really big. The current structure is unclear so I would like to see some stronger ideas of what everyone will do together. The more structured this is, the more success everyone will get out of it, especially if a group gets very big.

Personally I recommend a presentation/discussion format, where someone volunteers every meeting to set up some kind of demonstration on how to do some particular thing, using some online collaborative software (Skype screen sharing, VNC, StickAm, etc) and then teaches or leads a discussion about a particular issue that affects musicians. The meeting idea is posted in advance and then those who are interested in it can decide to come out. That way you get to include people who are actually interested about the topic and want to learn. So, if meeting #1 is a tutorial on FLStudio, then someone can skip it if he doesn't like FLStudio. Meeting #2 might be done by someone about "synth design". Meeting #3 about "how to play advanced guitar". And so forth.