Forming a Musicians Group -- Need Suggestions!

[The Pezman]

Yeah. I had wanted to mention something to this effect, but wasn't sure how it would go over. But Irwin's point is a good one. Therefore, I think everyone should be prepared to contribute a tutorial or assistance of some kind. Otherwise, it could easily turn into the same few people contributing knowledge, while others come just long enough to soak it up.

This would also motivate members to potentially do some learning outside of the group in order to ensure they're competent in something to talk about. No matter how well the group functions, we will all probably need to do this in order to accomplish our goals. So we might as well be obligated to the group to do so.

[Nabeel Ansari]

*ahem*

http://wave.google.com

I realize this doesn't allow for screen sharing, but I'm just tossing this idea out there.

[Arcana]

Yeah. I had wanted to mention something to this effect, but wasn't sure how it would go over. But Irwin's point is a good one. Therefore, I think everyone should be prepared to contribute a tutorial or assistance of some kind. Otherwise, it could easily turn into the same few people contributing knowledge, while others come just long enough to soak it up.

I suggested a format that is similar to one that I've experienced in Victoria, a local "software project manager's round table" group. You get a bunch of people who use the opportunity to not only learn but to also network with local software managers in the area. Every 6 weeks someone sets up a presentation that is of interest to the group and is intended to stir up discussions.

After the meeting the managers work on "choosing the next topic" usually from a list of "hot topics" and then get someone to volunteer for it. Usually the presentations end up running for about an hour, possibly with a dinner break in between, and business minutes run for about half an hour.

It would be up to the presenter to decide how much interaction he or she wants to provide to the others.

Livestream is a broadcasting/screen-sharing service that you might want to look at for supporting screen sharing. Procaster and UStream appear to be similar services.

[Dyne]

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.

Actually, I wanted to address things like these in the group. I think there are specific things that people want to accomplish in their own way, with their own means and instruments and what not. And each of us brings something to the table that others would like to learn.

That said, I'm going to make the group, and set up some discussion within it, and get the ball rolling. There's so many sites and technical things we can look at and use that we might end up going overboard if we're not careful. I want to take things one step at a time, as it's easier that way, and that we don't end up disbanding the group after a certain amount of time.

I will have the group up by tomorrow as I'm starting to wear out for the night. Until then, rest easy and know that all will be addressed soon enough.