Please add a link to a song that you like Barry.
Being a trained musician myself, I prefer listening to other trained artists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fj29LPAVw
SV: I have seen you play several times and I notice how much you love it when children are in the audience. You encourage it. What are your thoughts regarding children and music?
CB: Well, it’s one thing that I can talk about non-stop. I don’t have any kids of my own. I have nieces and nephews and I have a great amount of concern for what’s happening in our society with kids. Parents are under so much pressure these days, not only to do their job and keep the income coming into the family, but to keep their kids constantly entertained. Parents are running their kids ragged from ballet to soccer to skiing to whatever.
I remember having a discussion with Jeff Lorber, who I think is one of the most, not only talented, but intellectually cool guys that I’ve met in the music industry. He and I were having a candid discussion about when we were growing up. We had many, many hours a day to do nothing. The main staple of my childhood was the phrase I’m going outside to play. It’s sad. I think it would be fun to do a little interview process with a Spielberg or anyone who is highly creative and ask what made you creative. What made you that way? I think that not having a bunch of options, and actually having to make up things in your brain, to daydream, to do nothing. Or, in the case of myself or Jeff Lorber, to practice your instrument. Because there was nothing going on in Oregon, where I grew up, I would just literally just sit there hour after hour after hour and play my instrument. And that’s what led me to be sitting here speaking with you!
By the time a young kid gets to be the age of 16 or 17, if they’re interested in music, it’s over. The bad news is it’s over. I go out to talk to kids at high schools and colleges all the time, and I say your decision to become a musician is from ages 9 – 14. You can be a rock musician and be older, but if you want to be a ballet dancer, or a violinist, or a drummer, or a trumpet player, you’ve got to be really dedicated as a young kid, and know in your gut that you’re in it for the long haul. That element can be brought on… you can get passion by a few things. Seeing live music and seeing live musicians and being enamored with musicians are the things that will light that initial fire, and then obviously practice.
I remember going to see Doc Severinsen as a kid, and I got to go backstage and he was so nice. Even took a picture with me. I sent Chuck Mangione a letter when I was a kid in junior high school. And he wrote back to me, a handwritten letter. I invited Chuck Mangione to dinner at my Italian grandmother’s house… just silly stuff. And this guy who’s got a busy schedule, met me and thanked my grandmother for the invitation. I always remember stuff like that, and now when young trumpet players write to me, I try to get back to them. I try to listen to demo tapes and always encourage young musicians to take the leap of faith and play instruments. That stuff with the internet and
American Idol is being lost, because the fans of
American Idol, they’re not necessarily interested in practicing. They want to go from 0-60 overnight. They want to be pop stars overnight and jazz music, saxophone and trumpet, is not about overnight. It’s about many, many years, and then maybe you become something. People say, “What’s it like to be an overnight sensation?” and I say, "First of all, I am 42 and secondly, this overnight has been long coming!!" (both laughing)
SV: And also the schools are hindering a lot of kids with budget cuts. Music departments or music classes just aren’t what they were when we were kids.
CB: Absolutely right. You are so right on the nose. Music programs are somehow being confused with cheerleading for football teams. Marching band is not the greatest thing for music. Music is music. Cheerleading for football teams in the middle of winter in Oregon, with kids with braces and their mouthpieces bouncing up and down on these little faces, that’s something else. I’m mainly interested with getting kids excited about music and musicians and sitting there watching Yo-Yo Ma playing cello and thinking, "Oh my God, my life has changed." That’s what excites me, and that’s why I keep trying to get parents to leave the babysitter at home and bring the kids out and see live music.
http://www.smoothviews.com/interviews/chrisbotti0305.htm
