It is always good fun jamming with people and every now and again I get chance to play with people that as a boy I listened to and admired.
Yesterday I was jamming with Chas Hodges and was able to sit and interview him for the Bluescampuk website. Chas has been down to us for the last three years and every year is an event because he brings something special to the time that he is there.
What I like about Chaz is his ability to just get stuck in and play and that is so refreshing, no pretence just play and have some fun which is something I cannot say about some of the things that I have to do for music and music teaching!
After a day of enjoyable playing I come back to check my emails to see that I have to correct a number of reports that I wrote for the last batch of examinations, however within the errors were some that included words deemed to be subjective like ‘good’ where I needed to use the words ‘secure’ or ‘effective’ I am not sure about this but where I have written ‘good’ it was because I was fed up with ‘secure’ and I think those things are also subjective because it is still my opinion.
I have done less and less examining over the years and when I do some I then realise why I generally do not bother agreeing to do them in the first place. In my mind candidates are only taking guitar exams as a target for their practise nothing more; really for a musician it is about going out and playing because walking out on stage saying ‘hey look at how clever I am’ and waving a certificate, whether that is for grade one or for a licentiate diploma will illicit the response once shouted at Frank Zappa of ‘shut up and play your guitar’.
Chaz does not have a single certificate for his playing but he does have an allotment.
Vic
check out Bluescampuk for next year
www.bluescampuk.co.uk
Yesterday I was jamming with Chas Hodges and was able to sit and interview him for the Bluescampuk website. Chas has been down to us for the last three years and every year is an event because he brings something special to the time that he is there.
What I like about Chaz is his ability to just get stuck in and play and that is so refreshing, no pretence just play and have some fun which is something I cannot say about some of the things that I have to do for music and music teaching!
After a day of enjoyable playing I come back to check my emails to see that I have to correct a number of reports that I wrote for the last batch of examinations, however within the errors were some that included words deemed to be subjective like ‘good’ where I needed to use the words ‘secure’ or ‘effective’ I am not sure about this but where I have written ‘good’ it was because I was fed up with ‘secure’ and I think those things are also subjective because it is still my opinion.
I have done less and less examining over the years and when I do some I then realise why I generally do not bother agreeing to do them in the first place. In my mind candidates are only taking guitar exams as a target for their practise nothing more; really for a musician it is about going out and playing because walking out on stage saying ‘hey look at how clever I am’ and waving a certificate, whether that is for grade one or for a licentiate diploma will illicit the response once shouted at Frank Zappa of ‘shut up and play your guitar’.
Chaz does not have a single certificate for his playing but he does have an allotment.
Vic
check out Bluescampuk for next year
www.bluescampuk.co.uk
