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Ravi Shankar

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Ravi Shankar

I’m generally not one to name drop. But for several of us teacher’s up here, our most successful classmate is Norah Jones. It is such a thrill to see what great music she has made over the past 10 years and mind boggling that she has sold over 100 million records. They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and in her case this is true.

Her father was Ravi Shankar, Indian musician and composer who played the sitar. The sitar is a plucked, acoustical string instrument much like a guitar only the frets are deeply scalloped which enables the musican to make vocal bends and vibratos with ease.

The music that Ravi Shankar played is Indian Classical music. Which has well over 300 different scales that are used, and play in meters that are genearlly unheard of in Western Culture. The most common meter that Ravi played in was Jhaptal which is a five count. Dave Brubeck who past a week ago made his impact on music playing in 5 as well.

Notable students of Ravi Shankar that you may be familiar with are George Harrison(beatles) and John Coltrane. This video is from “The Concert for Bangladesh” which was a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was to raise awareness and fund relief for the refugees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYKPEQ1fRi8

Creative artists play and record their own music at local studio

| Press

The Southlake Journal
Wednesday, August 8th 2012

Kids from 6 to 17 recorded two CDs of original music professionally recorded and mixed by two local musicians.

by Nicholas Sakelaris

SOUTHLAKE – Rather than simply covering Taylor Swift songs, Emma Hinkley says she finds that same artist’s inspiration and writes material based on her own life experiences.

The 14-year-old plays guitar, piano and sings on ‘You Are’ & ‘Summer Rose’ with a voice that echoes the honesty and innocence of Swift. But she said sh needed more elements to make her songs complete.

That’s where Hall Music Productions in Southlake comes in.   (more…)

Southlake Style – October 2012

| Press

Homegrown Music Gets Second Helping

Following up last year’s successful release of its first ever student-produced CD Hall Music Productions of Southlake unveiled their second student-produced CD, Homegrown Volume 2. Having sold over 1,000 copies of their first volume both locally and on iTunes studio owner David Hall once again showcases his many talented students who range in age from six to adult.

With the release of Homegrown Volume 2 the students are back with even more variety on 18 tracks of inspired entertainment. As the CD plays, listeners will hear songs from many genres of music, ranging from pop to country, solos to bands, movie soundtracks to dubstep, female and-male vocals. The creativity behind each track is the work of the students, nurtured and enhanced by their instructors for an added touch.

With countless hours of practice and lessons under their belt, paired with the creative outlet of Hall Music Productions, they are thrilled to be a part of this exciting new CD release. Homegrown Volume 2 is available for $15 at hallmusicproductions.com, local Southlake businesses and on iTunes. All of the proceeds from the sales of this CD will be used to produce future student recordings.

Bernard Wright

| Teachers

Bernard Wright is an American funk and jazz keyboardist who began his career as a session musician and later released several solo albums in the 1980s. Toured with Lenny White when he was 13, and he played with Tom Browne at age 16. GRP Records signed him in 1981 and released his debut LP, ‘Nard, tracks from which have been prominently sampled by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Skee-Lo,and LL Cool J among countless others. He followed with Funky Beat on Arista and Mr. Wright on EMI. The latter of these albums included his biggest R&B hit, “Who Do You Love” for which a video was made. Wright has also appeared on recordings by musicians such as Cameo, Bobby Brown, Pieces of a Dream, Charles Earland, Roberta Flack, Roy Hargrove, Stanley Jordan, Chaka Khan, Marcus Miller and Miles Davis.

Brandon Arthur

| Teachers

Growing up in a musical family in Denton, Texas, where his dad played country pedal steel guitar, Brandon learned to play the classical guitar and other instruments while playing in bands and orchestras. He is currently finishing his B.A. in Music at U.N.T. and gigging with a reggae/funk group called Afro Deexy Axe. He has taught at HMPS for 4 years.

Instruments Taught: guitar, violin, piano

Teaching Philosophy: Improv or reading focus, depending on the direction of the student

Jessie Frye

| Teachers

Jessie has lived in Denton for the past 5 years and has been teaching music since she was 18. She was homeschooled, had voice lessons from the age of 8, and was classically trained for piano by a Russian teacher in the Russian School of Music. Her passion for writing and performing music led her to create the Jessie Frye Band, which has made a name for itself in DFW, regularly playing festivals and clubs.

Jessie has shared the stage with Pat Benatar, the Avett Brothers and more, and won a fan-voted competition to play Edgefest in 2014. She even met with Tori Amos backstage for an article in the Dallas Observer.

www.jessiefryeband.com

Teaching philosophy: Encourage individuality, work hard with each student to bring out the best of them in a way that feels natural and comfortable

Lessons Taught: piano, voice, guitar and songwriting

Interesting Fact: Tori Amos said of Jessie, “I know I’m going to be hearing about you. I’ve done this a long time, honey, and you’re a superstar.”

Matt Thompson

| Teachers

Proudly from New Jersey, Matt has lived in Texas for 20 years. He received a B.A. in Jazz Performance from U.N.T. and currently lives in Denton with his happy family of 6. He has been a performer, clinician and educator since 1989. A two-time Grammy-nominated artist, Matt has played with various international hard rock acts and been an invited drum clinician in Croatia, Denmark, New Zealand and locally. Impressively, he has played with over 100 groups in over 40 countries.

www.mattthompsondrums.com

Teaching Philosophy: Try to understand the student and what his/her needs are; push as hard as I can while still being positive and complimentary

Instruments Taught: drums, piano, guitar

Interesting fact: Matt is an avid fan and collector of all things Futurama, and his favorite literature is sci-fi short story.