Tim Davidson wrote:2010 was also a good year for me at Ripple Effect Music, if that adds anything to the picture of recording here in the city and the studio is my main source of income.
I'm glad to see you doing well. You obviously take your craft seriously, and I have a lot of respect for your work. I hope that 2011 is a great year for you too.
Tim Davidson wrote:It is good to know that there is that much music going on. It would be great to see the music community in general get some more support so that Saint John is not the place people leave in order to do their music.
That support will come I think. We just need to keep pushing ourselves to always improve and to never stay stagnant. My goals are to improve my abilities all around so that I can do my part in showing the rest of the world that Saint John has more to offer than they might have thought.
Tim Davidson wrote:I know ultimately a music career will take people to bigger centers but it would be nice to see more encouragement at street level for music around SJ.
The first part of your statement may not necessarily be true, but I know that in the past it certainly has been.
I think what may drive people to that is that since bigger centers have a larger population, there's the perceived notion that there is a greater number of people working at a high level. The same thing happens in any field of work though, whether it be musician, accountant, lawyer, doctor, ect. The perception is that all the good ones go to big cities because the populations are so large that it increases the chance of success.
I was presented with that very fork in the road about 4 years ago. I was made an offer to move to Toronto and study with arguably one of the greatest drummers I'd ever encountered. The proposition was very tempting but ultimately I chose to stay here and study with his teacher. I figured even from studying with a really well known figure in the Canadian (and by now International) market, the reality is that it wasn't going to change anything. I'm still me and I can be
me anywhere.
The only drawback is that so many good musicians have left Saint John since then to go to Halifax, or other places. That was the only thing that made me question my decision about moving to Toronto, or even Halifax. The fact that so many great players exist in those places at a higher frequency. They still have terrible players in Toronto, but I can also see great players just about any night of the week.
It's really easy to get lost in the mix in large cities like that too. Not to mention cost of living and a whole other host of things that make me happy with my decision.
The bottom line is that the only thing I can do to help improve the situation is to not join the mass exodus myself, and to still strive to improve on my abilities and professionalism.
If there is hope in our cause it will be well rooted in the select few that stay here and make a stand, even though they are more than capable in competing in any market anywhere in the world.
Sorry for the rant, I just came across something that I didn't know what to make of...
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/554666-moving-germany-canada-2.html#post6246566
I can see where he's coming from to an extent, but the generalizations that he's making are rather harsh and come from a perspective that's clearly unable to see beyond the scope of his own hype.
It got me thinking about this area in general though... I don't think we're as bad off as he makes it out to be though. But who knows... I never heard of him before this, so maybe I'm the one who's perspective needs adjustment.
Either way, his points about having facilities that are not built with the freelancer in mind are bang on, in my humble opinion. But I'm working on improving that particular issue... at least in Saint John.