Young Musicians

I'm Aleks, I'm 19 years old, I teach piano and host piano clinics, I'm an ex-piano bar pianist and I'm a part time pit musician for musical theatre productions I'm also moving onto Leeds College of Music to study Jazz full-time in September.

Here's what I sound like:




And the obligatory Keith Emerson cover ...



And here is what the music in my head sounds like...



As far as what my aspirations are, I'm open minded. I've a great interest in musical theatre so I'd either like to be a pit musician, compose or MD. Session playing would be nice but the competition is so tight lately it's almost unrealistic... Same with being in a successful band.

Epignosis wrote: I'm not young anymore.

You have a young spirit.

I'm 22, I have a prog band since two years but never had a gig. Why? Because all the time we could play one somebody gets out of the band because they have their two other bands that give them easier success than a prog band. Sucks! I guess the real prog, I mean that kind of weird music, not that easy listening stuff like Porcupine Tree or Dream Theater (though both are good bands), is dead or at least made dead by these people. Anybody who has shared my experiences?

By the way, I play guitar and flute.

Oh ha I just found a really old clip of probably the first time I played in a gig

thehallway wrote: topographicbroadways wrote: I'm 17 at the moment. I've played guitar for a long time (maybe 6 years?) and feel i'm pretty competent at the moment, though I struggle to get any originality into my playing. And i've been playing bass guitar and keyboards for about 2 years, both of which i need to improve on. I don't plan to make a living out of playing but I study audio engineering and production at college at the moment and definitely want to work in that area.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ghYzsEbk-g&feature=channel_video_title A cover I made a few months back. Love it! ....But a little slow?

I'm 17 at the moment. I've played guitar for a long time (maybe 6 years?) and feel i'm pretty competent at the moment, though I struggle to get any originality into my playing. And i've been playing bass guitar and keyboards for about 2 years, both of which i need to improve on. I don't plan to make a living out of playing but I study audio engineering and production at college at the moment and definitely want to work in that area. 

I'm 20 and I've been playing guitar for about 9 years. I have a tremendous ego and people generally don't like to play with me.

Been playing bass for 5 years, guitar for 3, piano for 2 and violin for 1 year. I'm not particulary good at any of the intruments, but I mainly use them to write music. As I rather view myself as a songwriter than a musician. If I feel that I need to have some intrument to reach my "goal". I will try to learn it to the extent that I can use it in my songs. I'm gonna try to upload some of my stuff later on, my music could be viewed as... Singer/Songwriter music with proggy leanings, much like Crossover Prog.

popeyethecat wrote: Hi! I am 19 and a musician on the side, as it were, being an illustration student first and foremost (can I plug it here? Might as well, hope you don't mind! http://eleanorwinter.blogspot.com/ ). I play Classical guitar, hammered dulcimer, and oud. I play the guitar to a reasonable competent standard, and the other two well enough to play in the World Music Ensemble at my uni (which, by the way, is really fun!!). I am also trying to learn bagpipes. Ha. In the future, I want to be an illustrator (and possibly maths tutor), but I really enjoy playing these instruments and want to continue playing. I like the idea of recording things for people - I have already recorded some hammered dulcimer for a friend's demo! But as for professional stuff...well...I don't hold out any hope of making a living from my playing, I doubt I'll ever be good enough anyway. Good luck with your plan, it sounds great! Studying composition sounds fascinating. What kind of compositional career do you aspire for? Writing for film? Your own band? I hope it goes well!

Whatever comes!

I'd be happy doing session work to get myself noticed but I would be comfortable in film/television, classical music... anything involving a bit of creativity. I guess my biggest dream would be to have a touring band, playing music that's fresh and progressive (not necessarily "prog" as we know it though).

Had to google oud..... looks like an amazing instrument to play! I've just started teaching myself kalimba (yeah... really I just wanna play the intro to Larks' Tongues in Aspic on it......). Thumbs up for exotic instruments 

I'm no musician myself but i do actually know a band in which all the members are very young :)

The band is called Ankara, they're from my region, they call their music ''instrumental prog''.

This is a cover of Porcupine Tree's Wedding Nails (they were only 12 years old when this was recorded, it was 2 years ago)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC-u7rN3kJ4&feature=related