Issue
15 Volume 1
April 2008
April 2008
Page 3
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15 Volume 1
April 2008
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Jim Kelly: fire and fusion
“The obvious change that happens to a lot of people is that the job becomes more and more administrative. I’ve always considered myself to be a player first and foremost, I’ve practiced a lot and music is the foundation of my existence,” says Kelly. “I didn’t put in all that effort to be a person standing at a photocopying machine.” However it wasn’t just the perils of paperwork that drew him away from institutionalised teaching; it was in fact, his perception that there has been a drop in the basic standard of the next generation of guitarists. “I had a fairly naive viewpoint that there would always be an upward curve of improvement – that as you educate people you would get better at doing it, the place would get a good reputation, which it did, and the standard of students would get higher,” says Kelly. “But I hadn’t factored in society’s perception of music. If you look back at the past ten years you can see a generational trend happening and what I’ve found is that even though we keep getting better at teaching music, the students who are applying are getting weaker.” This drop in standards, according to Kelly, can be attributed to a combination of options overload brought about by technology and some misleading media influences. “There is so much now that you can google up, myspace up or youtube up that it’s like there’s an option anxiety. It’s like saying to somebody, ‘I’m going to play this chord progression and you can play any note that you want against the chord.’ People become freaked out by that and can’t really play anything because there’s too much choice,” explains Kelly. “But if you said to them, ‘only use three notes’, then they could play something. One of the biggest pitfalls from a guitar playing viewpoint is that thing called tablature. It’s kind of buggered guitar playing – I call them tab-casualties - they’ve all learnt to play in the early stages of their career using their eyes rather than learning to play by their ears. That’s had a huge impact on the general standard of people that turn up to audition for music courses.” The competitive nature of reality TV programmes, such as Australian Idol, have also played their part in producing falling standards, according to Kelly. “Everything now on TV is some sort of competition,” he says. “We don’t have those shows any more where people that are talented just stand up and do their thing and that gives people a weird perception of the industry. Don’t get me wrong; there are certain things about it that are fabulous, it’s a great gig for the musicians that are backing those people and the contestants are learning some great stuff too, so I would never say its all negative,” admits Kelly. “But pitting people against each other in a negative sense isn’t what music making is about. Those young people haven’t got there on the basis of a strong track record of experience and so there’s been no nurturing of that talent in a natural progression. It’s just bigger, faster, louder.” Despite his disillusionment with certain elements of the industry, Jim says that teaching will always be a part of his life and he continues to teach part-time at Southern Cross University as well as privately. For now however, he is concentrating on his latest album, the first to be released from Nashville Road Recording Studio in Booyong - a brand spanking studio co-owned by Jim and two business partners. His new offering, Onwards and Sidewards, is a guitar duo album with Kelly’s former student Matt Smith. The collaboration is an inspired one, but perhaps for people like Kelly, teaching everything you know to your students isn’t the smartest idea when your pupils end up vying for the same gigs that you are.
“Matt Smith, the young fella that I play with on the first recording out of the Nashville studio, is a killing player and I do lose gigs to him now but I like it,” laughs Kelly. “As a teacher I’ve never had a competitive bone in my body - I don’t hold anything back.” An independent release, Onwards and Sideways showcases Kelly’s ever-evolving style which in more recent years has embraced a marked move away from his electric-guitar playing to a more acoustic-based sound featuring steel and nylon string guitar. “I just fell in love with the challenge of playing the steel string guitar, an instrument I’d never spent a lot of time on, then I quickly befriended some Australian guitar makers who live in this area (Northern Rivers NSW) and I started to get instruments built for me. I did that for a couple of years then I got bitten by the nylon string bug as well. It’s just opened up a whole new kind of world for me.” Apart from the move from electric guitar to acoustic, there has also been a noticeable jazz influence creeping into Kelly’s playing. “What happened was, as the fusion thing petered out I just started to turn my ears and my hands and my sensibilities to more jazz playing. I applied myself to that sound on the electric and then the acoustic and now it’s just some hodge-podge of all of it,” laughs Kelly. “You have to please yourself first but I won’t downplay the audience’s role in it. If they’re not understanding what you’re doing then I think you might be doing something that’s not worth understanding. The bulk of most audiences aren’t musicians, they’re just listeners and you have to be able to talk to them with your music.” The album, which Kelly laughs is being released as soon as the courier arrives, is available through his myspace site.
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What's in a name? Dear Uncle Terry, Our band is just starting to get some gigs and we want to make sure we are doing everything the right way. So:
Liam Dear Liam, Uncle Terry has been asked some of these questions before, here’s where you can find his answers: Question 1: Question 2: Question 3: Uncle Terry
Cover my ass Dear Uncle Terry, A couple of venues are asking us to provide Public Liability insurance. Do we have to pay this, and if so, any suggestions about how much it is and where to get it? Sharna Dear Sharna, Unfortunately most venues are reducing their own insurance bill by only allowing liability-insured performers to play. Uncle Terry does not formally recommend any insurer but for your information the following two companies give discounts to financial Musicians' Union members. Check out the discount, it might save you money to join the Union, not to mention the other benefits of membership. Marsh Insurance - 1800 882 317 Also there is a collective called Duck
for Cover which has very competitive PL Insurance. Uncle Terry
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The
respected lecturer’s move away from teaching was largely based on
what he described as the changes that had gone on at the coalface of the
teaching experience.
