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RUBY MY LOVE

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Ruby was the first Indigenous woman to be signed to a major record label, no small feat for a woman who was forcibly removed from her family at the age of eight. A strong Ngarrindjeri woman, Ruby was born in 1955 on the banks of the Murray River in South Australia. After meeting her soul mate, she went on to travel the world singing alongside musical greats such as Tracy Chapman, Paul Kelly and Bob Dylan.

Her first album, Thoughts Within, was released in 1994. She was nominated for two ARIA Awards for best Indigenous release and best blues and roots album.

In 2004 Archie and Australian music legend Paul Grabowsky decided to honour Ruby’s life and collaborated with her to produce Ruby’s Story – a musical documenting her life and featuring the Australian Art Orchestra. The show went on to win the Deadly Award for Excellence in Film and Theatrical Score.

A respected and much loved role model in the Indigenous community, Ruby also won a Deadly in 2000 for female artist of the year and the prestigious Deadly for Outstanding Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music in 2003.

Ruby had been due to perform with Archie at the Adelaide Festival. Sadly on February 17, she died at home in Victoria's western district after she reportedly suffered a heart attack.

Archie’s first performance since her passing was at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, where he paid tribute to the woman who had meant so much to him and accepted the festival’s Artist of the Year Award to a standing ovation. He recalled how Ruby was largely responsible for him pursuing a music career saying that when he told her he didn’t want to do be a professional musician, she said, ''Now Archie Roach, it's not only about you.''

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You should always make a habit of notifying whoever is hiring you of the terms under which you agree to be hired particularly if you suspect that an award may not apply. These terms should include a minimum cancellation period (this could be greater than the award minimum). It is always good to put these things in writing, and even better to have them signed by both parties. This is because it is easier to prove the existence of an agreement if you have some evidence. Agencies usually have a cancellation clause in their worksheets, if yours does not then ask why.

Uncle Terry

Dear Uncle Terry,

We have some originals recorded and want to get them onto iTunes. How do we do it?

Dianne

Dear Dianne,

Access to the big sites such as iTunes is done through what are called “aggregators”. These are businesses that act as intermediaries between independent artists and the sites. There a quite a lot of them. Rather than recommend a particular aggregator I will suggest an approach which should help you in your choice.

Check out as many aggregators as you can (they all seem to have websites). Examine each aggregator’s contract carefully. I suggest you avoid ones that want a percentage of your income and go for one with a modest flat fee. Also absolutely avoid any that want to own a piece of your copyright (either as a composer or a “maker”). Also avoid any deals that tie you down or are “exclusive”.

There is an excellent piece by Moses Avalon dealing with this topic, you can find it at:
http://www.eqmag.com/article/the-future-music/Sep-06/22874

Look for the section headed “Digital Distribution”. This article is a few years old now but I feel it still captures the essence of what you need to look out for.

One final point, do not expect significant sales on any of these sites unless you have a significant profile. Merely getting on the site guarantees absolutely nothing. No one will find you unless you are pointing them there from your gigs. I am extremely wary of the effectiveness of the various schemes that many of the sites have to raise your profile by putting you higher up on lists etc. I would strongly recommend that you not bother with any of these that involve payment.

Uncle Terry

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F (add9)
The letter F tells us that we need the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the F major scale. We don’t have a 9 yet so the added instruction to “add 9” means exactly that, add the 9! This gives us:
1, 3, 5, 9 of the F major scale.
Or:
F A C G

Notice that this is different to a 9th chord since it does not have a b7 between the 5 and the 9. [The b7 is why we call the 9th chord an “extended dominant”, remember that 7th chords have b7’s and are also called “dominant 7ths”]

OK let’s move it along a bit more quickly with just a few comments.

Bb9(#11)
The bracketed bit tells us to add a # 11 or, if you like, to add an 11 and then sharpen it.
So:
1, 3, 5, b7, 9, #11 of the Bb major scale
Or:
Bb, D, F, Ab, C, E

Eb13(b5,#5)
What a monster! Take it easy, it’s actually quite straight forward. Simply alter the 5 by flattening it AND sharpening it. This produces two notes where there was one:
1, 3, b5, #5, b7, 9, 11, 13
Or:
Eb, G, A, B, Db, F, Ab, C

Remember that the 11 is a problem child and is usually not used in any chord which contains a major 3rd. If it is used it is almost invariably the #11. This produces an interesting situation in this chord since the #11 (A) is the same as the b5! This means we could quite legitimately call this chord Eb13(#5,#11) and if we did, we wouldn’t have to worry about the 11 because it would already be there! Don’t fret, you will gradually come to feel comfortable with the fact that a note can be described in more than one way (Question: what, for example, is a b13 the same as?).

Let’s try to move on a bit more quickly.

Ab7(#9)
1, 3, 5, b7, #9 of the Ab major scale.
Or;
Ab, C, Eb, Gb, B

Db7(b9)
1, 3, 5, b7, b9 of the Db major scale
Or:
Db, F, Ab, B, D

F#min7(b5)
1, b3, b5, b7 of the F# major scale.
Or:
F#, A, C, E
Note: we have already met this chord by its other name: the “half diminished”

B7(#11,b13)
1, 3, 5, b7, #11, b13 of the B major scale
Or:
B, D#, F#, A, F, G
Note: the inclusion of the 9 would make this a complete extended altered dominant. To be clear that we wanted this we would express the chord: B9(#11,b13)

E9(b5, #5,b9,#9, #11)
1, 3, b5, #5, b7, b9, #9, #11 of the E major scale
Or:
E, G#,Bb, C, D, F, G, A#

Here they all are in musical notation:

Go over these very carefully and make sure you understand them all. If you have any questions remember you can always email me musosunion@aol.com.

More next time…

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