Music - For the Retired and Not-Yet Retired

[Tkydon]

In the ' So who's actually retired in Japan? ' thread, several people mentioned an interest in playing music, so I started this thread to keep the music discussion a little separate from the general discussion.

I (try to) play drums, and have been playing with some friends virtually for the past year of lockdown.

I would be interested to know if anyone would be interested to participate in an on-line Jam / Retirement & Investment Discussion community?

If so, I'd be interested too.

I've been using a package called Jamulus - It's Free

The Jamulus team - Volker Fischer - has done a great job of reducing the delays to the absolute minimum.
It's a pretty mature package now. I've been using it for about a year. Install is easy on Windows, MAC, Linux, and includes the Server and the Client.
You need a device to run the software, and an Audio Interface, a Microphone and maybe an instrument...

My group has been using Zoom for Video only and Jamulus for the Audio. The Video and Audio are out of sync, but it is the audio that matters when trying to play together.

See:
https://jamulus.io/

Software Download here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/llcon/

If anyone is interested, I can set up a Server and we can discuss timeslots....

[Tkydon]

Guess not.

[hbd]

Just found the new thread! Thankyou for setting it up.

Certainly interested. Just to explore feasibility etc., what styles/repertory/songs are we talking about? Or are you a free improviser a la late Coltrane and beyond??

Jamulus: What kind(s) of device to run the software do you recommend?

H

[captainspoke]

I had a look a jamulus, and it seems to run on anything, or at least what I have (older MacBook pro).

I do have a guitar that plugs in, and it can run headphones so using it as a source should be okay. But once that is plugged in, how does voice then work? If the laptop built-in mic can be used while the guitar-as-source is plugged in, fine. But if it can't then I guess I'd need something to blend a mic along with guitar so I could be heard? (Questions, or directions for playing something--I'm not a singer.) I guess I'd need an audio interface and a mic besides the guitar.

I'd also wonder about styles and repertoire. I play acoustic, and more nylon than steel string. Maybe you'd call it folk, or fingerstyle, and I never play with a pick, no lead lines. More of a rhythm style? Does that seem like it'd blend with what you do?

I do play up the neck, not just first position/cowboy chords. I know the 'grammar' of music--how chords and scales interrelate (I-IV-V and the like)--but am not 'fluent' or able to bounce around and use it on-the-fly, and I guess I'm limited to guitar-friendly keys.

Is there a mic/audio interface combo that you might recommend?

[hbd]

Sorry, it was a bit rude of me to ask about styles but say nothing about my own playing. Well, I too play both nylon and steel-string (these days a battered but bright-toned Ovation I found down in Shibuya). Stylistically it's been anything from Bert Jansch to Bach, with some rock when that particular spirit moved. John Martyn's a figure who once inspired me, and Richard Thompson continues to. And then there was Planxty with all those wonderful Irish and Scots tunes. I don't sing all that well, but am always happy to have a go -- and anyway these last 9 years in Japan the only person listening when I sing has been my son (my wife seems to make an effort not to hear it ... ), who loves nothing so much as a song from his parents or carers.

Having said that, I'm open to just about any styles; for me just about any music can become enjoyable if played attentively with others. I even enjoyed playing group renditions of 'Time after Time' and 'Stand by Me' at a wedding back in the pre-Covid world.