Now is the right time to become an American Federation of Musicians member. From ragtime to rap, from the early phonograph to today's digital recordings, the AFM has been there for its members. And now there are more benefits available to AFM members than ever before, including a multi-million dollar pension fund, excellent contract protection, instrument and travelers insurance, work referral programs and access to licensed booking agents to keep you working.
As an AFM member, you are part of a membership of more than 80,000 musicians. Experience has proven that collective activity on behalf of individuals with similar interests is the most effective way to achieve a goal. The AFM can negotiate agreements and administer contracts, procure valuable benefits and achieve legislative goals. A single musician has no such power.
The AFM has a proud history of managing change rather than being victimized by it. We find strength in adversity, and when the going gets tough, we get creative - all on your behalf.
Like the industry, the AFM is also changing and evolving, and its policies and programs will move in new directions dictated by its members. As a member, you will determine these directions through your interest and involvement. Your membership card will be your key to participation in governing your union, keeping it responsive to your needs and enabling it to serve you better. To become a member now, visit www.afm.org/join.
Now that it’s the outdoor performance season, musicians are challenged with finding a way to clip their music to their stands on breezy days. Musicmaide Stand Clips and Portfolio are simple, hassle-free solutions to this problem. They firmly secure sheet music and books against the wind, while allowing for fast song transitions and easy page turns. You can see the clips in action on a demonstration video at www.musicmaide.com. All Musicmaide products are made in the US.
The Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 digital reverb pedal features 11 reverbs—Hall, Spring, Plate, Revrs, Echo, Trem, Mod, Dyna, Auto-Inf, Shim, and Poly—and with its mode button users can select up to three variations of many of them. A Secondary Knob Mode yields access to “hidden” parameters for even greater control of effects. An internal Tails switch lets you choose between having reverb effects fade out naturally or stop immediately. Oceans 11 comes with a power supply and a street price under $150.
The Epiphone Limited Edition Jason Hook M-4 Explorer features deep cutaway body for easy access to its 22 super jumbo-sized frets and an angled scarf across the top to provide a comfortable armrest. The neck has a Custom SlimTaper profile, granadilla fingerboard with 12-inch radius, and pearloid dot inlays. Hook chose Seymour Duncan pickups with SH-1 Vintage ’59 Humbucker in the neck position and SH-4 “JB” Humbucker in the bridge position. The guitar’s pure white finish has Hook’s signature M-4 “Sherman” graphics.
A semi-modular analog synthesizer with built-in arpeggiator, sequencer, and spring reverb tank, Grandmother harks back to Moog’s modular roots. While capable of highly complex sounds and modulation, it requires no patching. The endlessly reconfigurable front panel provides an infinite sonic playground. Grandmother is also an ideal analog audio processor for external sound sources, and a powerful keyboard front end for expanding a Mother-32, DFAM, or Eurorack modular system.
In a step-by-step fun method, Rhythm First! builds up the student’s library of rhythmic figures and has them playing along with the accompanying CD to get the sound and feel of jazz soloing under their fingers. The book starts with playing simple rhythmic figures on any note and progresses to show how and when to use three kinds of blues scales. The book is available in C, Bb, Eb, and bass clef versions.
Rhythm First! A Beginner’s Guide to Jazz Improvisation, by Tom Kamp, Sher Music Co., www.shermusic.com.
Spanning the band’s entire career, each chapter of Pearl Jam FAQ explores a different aspect of the band’s history. It covers members’ successes, failures, and tragedies, from their pre-Pearl Jam days to today. Each of their albums are analyzed as the book explores how the band has adapted to changing media as well as its socio-political activism.
Pearl Jam FAQ: All that’s Left to Know About Seattle’s Most Enduring Band, by Thomas Edward Harkins and Bernard M. Corbett, Backbeat Books, www.backbeatbooks.com.
Kalmen Opperman is remembered for his dedication to teaching. This biography explores his story, from self-taught musician to a 50-year career playing in orchestra pits for Broadway musicals and ballets. The book includes interviews with former students and reflections from those closest to Opperman. Author Denise Gainey, his longtime student and research colleague, explores his pedagogy and countless contributions to the clarinet’s canon.
Kalmen Opperman: A Legacy of Excellence, Passing on the Flame,
by Denise A. Gainey, Carl Fischer, www.carlfischer.com.
Taken from the blogs of the renowned jazz composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator, Local 802 (New York City) member David Berger tells readers what it’s like to be a jazz musician and arranger. He describes his work from how he transcribes jazz recordings to triumphs with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to success with his own big band.
Life in Db: A Jazz Journal, by David Berger, Such Sweet Thunder,
www.suchsweetthundermusic.com.
The second workbook in this series, each of which can be used alone, An Approach to Comping: Advanced Concepts and Techniques delves deeper into some of the topics covered in the first volume, The Essentials, and offers new approaches. The books address comping language as practiced by 13 pianists with 25 complete comping transcriptions, accompanied by more than 100 comping exercises. Included is a comp-along CD with piano-less tracks that correspond to the comping transcriptions in the workbook.
An Approach to Comping, Volume 2, Advanced Concepts and Techniques, by Jeb Patton, Sher Music Co., www.shermusic.com.
Steinberg’s UR-RT2 (four inputs/two outputs) and UR-RT4 (six inputs/four outputs) interfaces offer a production studio solution for any situation. Featuring durable full-metal casing and quality components, including Rupert Neve Designs transformers and studio-grade Yamaha D-PRE preamps, both offer USB 2.0 and MIDI connectivity and a range of input/output options for laptop and iPad, as well as provide DSP-powered effects for zero-latency monitoring. Included is Cubase AI DAW software download version for Mac and PC and Cubasis LE DAW app for iPad.
