Anton DeFade

Last year, I had the pleasure of taking a class taught by Hal...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:06:00 -0400

Last year, I had the pleasure of taking a class taught by Hal Galper. Little did I know that this class would a life changing experience. Hal Galper has been one of my favorite teachers from the very first time I met him. Hal is so different from any other teacher I’ve ever met. He is brutally honest and really focuses on music performance and the psychological aspects of playing music rather than analyzing music. I’ve learned so much from him and I haven’t internalized even a fourth of what he talked about last year (luckily I have recordings of every class.)

I’ve attached a video of one of my favorite master classes that I’ve seen online. Hal Galper talks about “the illusion of an instrument” and claims that YOU are the instrument and everything you play is totally an internal process. For me, the thing that hit me the hardest was when Hal explained that WE DON’T HAVE PROBLEMS PLAYING WHAT WE HEAR, WE PLAY EXACTLY HOW WE HEAR, THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT OUR AURAL IMAGINATION IS NOT VIVID ENOUGH. This really resonated with me because I feel that so much of playing and practicing music takes place in our own minds. It is something that just needs to be developed and worked on just like anything else.

Any way check the video out and please let me know your thoughts.

-Anton

p.s. visit Hal’s website www.halgalper.com, he’s got tons of articles and other learning material on there. It’s definitely worth spending some time on his site.

Here’s a video from this past weekend at the Monterey Next...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:26:29 -0400

Here’s a video from this past weekend at the Monterey Next Generation Festival. We won 1st place in the “Open-Combo Division” and Brett & George both took Outstanding Soloist Awards. This was our finale, “HeartlE.S.S.” which I composed as a response to my friend Jordan Miles being beaten by three police officers as an act of racial profiling. The officers were forced to take a paid leave of absence, but that is all. The “E.S.S.” in the title stands for the three officers’ last names; Ewing, Sisak, and Saldutte. As of now the situation is still unresolved. We are all hopeful and waiting on justice.

Personel:
Brett Williams - Piano
George Heid III - Drums
Michael Stephenson - Tenor Sax
Benny Benack III - Trumpet
Anton DeFade - Bass

This past weekend was such an incredible experience for me. Coming back from last year, when we took 2nd place, we had to aim even higher. Last year there was so much anxiety caused by over-preparation, different inputs, and a lack of knowledge as to how things were run. This year however, everything was so relaxed and we all just trusted each other to come through. We wore suits rather than jeans, and overall gave no excuses as to why we should not win.

I want to thank my brothers in the band; George, Brett, Mike, and Benny. It’s always a great experience when we can all get together and play. You all are such an inspiration for me. I can’t wait to go back with you guys for the real Monterey Jazz Festival in September. Also, I’d like to thank Pastor Tim Smith, Peter Chace, Terry Levels, and the whole organization of Center Of Life. Without you guys we would not have been able to do any of this. Lastly, I’d like to thank George Heid Sr., Jim Heid, Julz, Isaiah, Tim jr., Wesley, and Rashaud. Thank you for coming with us on the trip, helping out in any way you could, and just generally being supportive & very entertaining.

Anyways, Hope you enjoy our finale. As always, comments are welcomed and recommended.

Thanks,
Anton

"Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple."

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:33:36 -0400

“Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.”

- -Charles Mingus

In preparation for Monterey Next Generation Festival...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:19:20 -0400

C.O.L. Jazz Band in Monterey last year

The Monterey Next Generation Festival is coming up at the end of the month, and the Center of Life Jazz Band will be competing for the second time. Last year we took second place in the open-combo division. This year we will be competing in the same division and shooting a little higher.

The group will consist of the following musicians:
Benny Benack III - Trumpet
Michael Stephenson - Tenor Sax
Brett Williams - Piano/Keys
George Heid III - Drums
Anton DeFade - Bass

As a whole we have been preparing for the festival by discussing what we did wrong last year, what we could do better, and have been (and will continue) to rehearse and perform back in Pittsburgh.

For the performance, we have 20 minutes to perform. We are planning on doing three original compositions which we haven’t totally decided upon yet. All I will say is that we will do a diverse set, and we will definitely bring the East Coast vibe. Oh, also we’re going to look nice this year. Last year we were a bit sloppy, to say the least.

As far as what I have been working on for myself to prepare, I’ve been working on my mindset and perception of music. I try to focus on really listening to what role the bass plays in different styles of music and then try to figure out what I can do to make the music feel as good as it possibly can. Other than that and my regular technical upkeep exercises, I’ve been working on some of the possible tunes that we may play and also working on my uptempo walking (because, one of our selections will be a burner)

Overall, I’m just really excited to go to California with my bros. It’s going to be really fun even if we don’t bring home first place (although I think we have a great chance, and we are definitely playing to win.) We’ll just go do our thing and make some good music.

I’ll be posting more about the festival in the upcoming weeks, so keep checking in.

Wish us luck,

-Anton

Russell Miller "The Dance Eternal: The Dance of Life"

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:54:00 -0500

Russell Miller "The Dance Eternal: The Dance of Life":

Back in November when I was home in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to record an album with the Saxophonist/Flutist, Russell Miller. Russ lives in Detroit and teaches at Wayne State University. He is a great musician/composer, and he decided to call Brett Williams, George Heid III, James Moore, and myself to record his latest album.

When the day came to record, I was a little nervous because I had never met Russ before and it is always interesting playing with someone for the first time. As usual, we played for a few minutes and everything felt great so my mind was at ease. Everything went smoothly throughout the whole session and we got everything in just a couple takes. A couple weeks later Russ came back to Pittsburgh to record and redo a couple songs. Dwayne Dolphin came in to record for that session since I was back in New York already and before I knew it the album was complete and on the market.

As always it was such a great experience for me to play with George and Brett. I think this CD is a great marker of where we are at right now and an example of how all of us are constantly improving (individually and together.) I am very grateful to have these wonderful opportunities with these tremendous musicians.

I would like to conclude by saying that it is such a great honor to be on the same album as Dwayne Dolphin. One of my earliest childhood memories is watching Dwayne play with my father and as I’ve mentioned before he’s a huge inspiration for me. Needless to say, having my discography start with this album with Dwayne on it is such a great feeling.

Check out the album, let me know what you think!
(you can go to the CDbaby page by clicking the title)

Until next time,

Anton

"Once the water is deep enough that you must swim to stay afloat, does it really matter how deep the..."

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:54:17 -0500

“Once the water is deep enough that you must swim to stay afloat, does it really matter how deep the pool is?”

- -Seth Godin

Structured Procrastination

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:35:29 -0500

Structured Procrastination :

I ran across this concept of “Structured Procrastination” (click the the title) when I was researching laziness not too long ago. I think it’s an absolutely fascinating concept and I feel that I have implemented this by accident in the past. Specifically, my junior and senior years of high school. I had so much going on during those two years of my life. I was preparing for college auditions, gigging constantly, practicing, and all the regular high school work (which was a pretty low priority since I never particularly cared for school.) I was overwhelmed but somehow I managed all of it and managed it surprisingly well. As I mentioned, I think I got all this done by accidentally using this concept of “Structured Procrastination.”

Essentially, the concept is that you take the “negative” trait of procrastination and turn it into a “positive” trait that helps you get things done. This is done by prioritizing all of your tasks and getting the tasks that are lower down on the list in order to avoid the other ones. Eventually you cycle through all the tasks by avoiding the other ones and you have accomplished a lot.

Those last two years of high school I had so much work to do. So I think I subconsciously put off what was the scariest or ugliest piece of work at the moment and I would do other work. For instance, college essays were very tedious for me so I would work on my regular school work. Then finals came around and everything else seemed more appealing. And so on and so on. As tasks fluctuated in the priority list, they would all eventually get done. I am very proud of my accomplishments those two years of my life. I got into all the colleges I was really interested in, I got into the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, I had a lot of great gigs, maintained a 4.0 GPA in high school, and I still had time to spend with my friends and whatnot.

So, I guess the next step for me is to think about it and consciously implement “Structured Procrastination” into the practicing, business, and maybe even performance aspects of music. I’ll let you know how it goes. If anyone has had some success with this concept I’d love to hear about it.

Visit the link above (click the title) to read the article about “Structured Procrastination.” John Perry explains his concept better than I do. Apparently he won an Ig Nobel Prize for this concept.

Let me know what you think about this,

-Anton

"A chimpanzee could learn to do what I do physically, but it goes way beyond that. When you play, you..."

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:55:51 -0500

“A chimpanzee could learn to do what I do physically, but it goes way beyond that. When you play, you play life.”

- -Jaco Pastorius

Dwayne Dolphin Article

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:30:09 -0500

Dwayne Dolphin Article:

^ Dwayne on tour with Geri Allen ^

This is a great article (click the title) about an all time great, Dwayne Dolphin. He is a crucial part of the Pittsburgh music scene and he is a constant inspiration to many, myself included.

Dwayne is the type of guy who will tell you exactly how he feels and he does not beat around the bush (i.e. if you’re messin something up, he’s going to let you know!) Somehow he always knows exactly what to say at precisely the right moments to get his point heard and understood (a characteristic of his playing as well!)

If you don’t know him, look into him. He’s got a bunch of videos on YouTube playing in various settings. Also, if you live in Pittsburgh then go see him play on Thursday nights at CJ’s in the Strip District with Roger Humphries. I promise you won’t regret it. Anyhow, check out the article (again, click the title). It’s very nice to see the local media giving Dwayne the much deserved attention.

Until next time,

-Anton

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is..."

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:18:00 -0500

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”

- -Michelangelo

Welcome!

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:57:08 -0500

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my blog! If you don’t know me, my name is Anton DeFade. I am a young upright and electric bassist living in New York City. I am from Pittsburgh, PA and I go back there quite frequently. I have aspirations of being truly great, and I’m always working on something.

I have created this blog so I can share my experiences and thoughts as a young musician today. I feel like right now is a very a different and interesting time to be coming up as an artist. No one can really predict even the near future and while we can learn a whole lot from the past, we must approach things differently in order to succeed.

What I hope to accomplish with this blog is:

- Have people learn from my experiences; the successes, the mistakes, everything

- Help organize my own thoughts and think about things I normally wouldn’t on a day to day basis.

- Receive feedback from readers; the more communication there is, the easier it is to help each other.

- Get myself writing more.

- Document my growth; as a musician, as a composer, as a writer, and as a person.

- This may be reiterating, but I want to help out anyone that I can. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have a solid group of people who support me and help me out. I’d like to pass that on somehow. I am by no means a seasoned master with a wealth of wisdom, but I feel that I can offer something.

I hope you enjoy my blog. Please give feedback! I really want to hear from you and I cannot stress that enough. If there’s something you dislike, let me know and tell me why. If there’s something you like, let me know and tell me why. If there’s something you are having problems with, let me know. I experience a whole lot of different issues all the time so maybe we can help each other. If there’s anything you think I can help you with, let me know. I just want as much communication as possible.

Also, I’d like to note that this blog is not only for musicians. It’s primarily going to be focused on music but many things are universal and I’m hoping non-musicians will be able to get something out of this blog too.

Thank you for visiting, I’ll talk to you soon

-Anton