Session Musician
Welcome back!
If you didn't catch my last post, I looked into the career of artist management. Included in that post is an interview I was fortunate enough to conduct with a professional, full-time artist manager. He offered a lot of invaluable insight to me, and I highly encourage you to read it if you didn't get the chance.
Tonight, I'm going to be discussing the career of session musician. This is a career that I have a strong personal interest in, and it is one that I have had some experience in as well. I will again be looking at careersinmusic.com to see what their take on the job is. I will then compare what they have to say to the experiences that I have had with it.
The following is how the website defines the position:
This definition highlights a couple of key components of session playing, the first and foremost being the idea of sight reading (which is the ability to look at a piece of music for the first time and then immediately being able to play it), and having a high level of musicianship in general. In my (and most other aspiring session player's) case, I would need years and years of experience to be at a level where I'd be in some professional's "Rolodex" as a worthy session player. There are thousands of players around the country that are always looking for this kind of work and to set yourself apart, you may not need to be the very best at your instrument, but you do have to be pretty damn close!
Sight reading is something that I am familiar with, to an extent. As I worked my way through high school and college, I have primarily been involved in music as a singer (classical and choral), and sight "singing" has been an integral part of many of those groups. Instrumental music is something that I've been involved with in some capacity since middle school (generally through learning bass guitar and guitar in my free time), but as time went on, it became something I focused on more and more. When I became a worship leader and joined my first band (both happening to roughly coincide with each other), I finally had an outlet to play my guitar in a professional setting. It was with my band that I got my first taste of what it's like to be a session player.
The band that I am fortunate enough to play for is the Harrisonburg, VA-based pop-punk band Kick the Aquarium. You can find more information about us at our website, here: https://www.kicktheaquarium.com/.
Towards the end of the summer of 2016, we had enough shows and material under our belts that we came to a big decision: we wanted to get into the studio to record a professionally-cut album. Our lead guitarist and singer, Lex, happened to have connections at Blue Sprocket Sound, located right here in Harrisonburg, VA, and was able to get us a hefty discount. Ecstatic at the prospect of getting into the studio for the first time in my life, I drove down to Virginia from Connecticut to join them and get started.
The first few days were the textbook definition of a grind. We had the studio booked for two sessions, and we had about three days of lead time before those sessions to get ourselves ready. Our only rehearsal space was Lex's house, which was ill-equipped at best to handle us. Not only was the room we were in (his living room) far too small for our four-piece band to comfortably set up in, it was also without air conditioning, and it was just getting into August.
We rehearsed all day for each of those three days. By the end of it we were tired, smelly, and grumpy, but miraculously were able to retain our excitement for the days to come in the studio.
When we finally arrived at the studio, we immediately got to work. Due to Lex's fortunate connections with the staff at Blue Sprocket, the deal was that we could arrive in the morning and stay as late as we needed. After three days of grueling practice, I think we all underestimated the time we'd actually need in the studio.
For every session we were there, we stayed well past 1 AM. It was an endless cycle of doing a take of a song, one (or a couple) of us missing something, and then needing to start the entire song over for another pass at it. Sometimes the errors were insignificant enough that we were able to do just one part over or even leave it to be "fixed in the mix" later on, but more often than not, one of us would be unsatisfied with the take and we'd start from scratch.
We felt (and looked) about the same way after those sessions as we did after practicing: tired, smelly, and grumpy. There was something else as well, however: we felt a profound sense of accomplishment. To put in the work we did and then to be presented with a product that exhibits that work is an indescribably blissful feeling, and one that I have not felt as strongly anywhere else.
I know that often times a session player plays in bands that aren't their own, but I do think that my experience mimics at least some of what a session player's job is like. While in this particular instance I didn't have to do any sight reading, I did have to have the music down cold before getting to the studio. While I was in the studio, I also had to absolutely rely on the skills I've developed over many years of practice as a musician to adjust to my band mates in an unfamiliar environment. While it was at best tedious and at worst filled with anxiety over whether or not I was good enough, I would still say that it was an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. Getting to work as hard as I did and then seeing that work immediately presented back to me in something that I was proud of was truly a rewarding experience, and one that makes the position of session musician look that much more appealing to me.
If you're interested in the music of Kick the Aquarium, you can find it under most major streaming services below:
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/
Apple Music: https://itun.es/us/NWEuhb
Google Play: https://play.google.com/
If you didn't catch my last post, I looked into the career of artist management. Included in that post is an interview I was fortunate enough to conduct with a professional, full-time artist manager. He offered a lot of invaluable insight to me, and I highly encourage you to read it if you didn't get the chance.
Tonight, I'm going to be discussing the career of session musician. This is a career that I have a strong personal interest in, and it is one that I have had some experience in as well. I will again be looking at careersinmusic.com to see what their take on the job is. I will then compare what they have to say to the experiences that I have had with it.
The following is how the website defines the position:
"A Session Musician backs another artist during live performances or in the studio. He or she must be able [to] sight read and to perform several different genres. Session Musicians are self-employed, so when not performing, they have day-to-day administrative tasks like basic accounting, staying in contact with other musicians about projects, and of course, practicing. Session Musicians work with Producers, Bandleaders, Recording Artists and other musicians" (careersinmusic.com).
This definition highlights a couple of key components of session playing, the first and foremost being the idea of sight reading (which is the ability to look at a piece of music for the first time and then immediately being able to play it), and having a high level of musicianship in general. In my (and most other aspiring session player's) case, I would need years and years of experience to be at a level where I'd be in some professional's "Rolodex" as a worthy session player. There are thousands of players around the country that are always looking for this kind of work and to set yourself apart, you may not need to be the very best at your instrument, but you do have to be pretty damn close!
Sight reading is something that I am familiar with, to an extent. As I worked my way through high school and college, I have primarily been involved in music as a singer (classical and choral), and sight "singing" has been an integral part of many of those groups. Instrumental music is something that I've been involved with in some capacity since middle school (generally through learning bass guitar and guitar in my free time), but as time went on, it became something I focused on more and more. When I became a worship leader and joined my first band (both happening to roughly coincide with each other), I finally had an outlet to play my guitar in a professional setting. It was with my band that I got my first taste of what it's like to be a session player.
The band that I am fortunate enough to play for is the Harrisonburg, VA-based pop-punk band Kick the Aquarium. You can find more information about us at our website, here: https://www.kicktheaquarium.com/.
Kick the Aquarium's inaugural show at The Camel in Richmond, VA (April, 2016)
Towards the end of the summer of 2016, we had enough shows and material under our belts that we came to a big decision: we wanted to get into the studio to record a professionally-cut album. Our lead guitarist and singer, Lex, happened to have connections at Blue Sprocket Sound, located right here in Harrisonburg, VA, and was able to get us a hefty discount. Ecstatic at the prospect of getting into the studio for the first time in my life, I drove down to Virginia from Connecticut to join them and get started.
The first few days were the textbook definition of a grind. We had the studio booked for two sessions, and we had about three days of lead time before those sessions to get ourselves ready. Our only rehearsal space was Lex's house, which was ill-equipped at best to handle us. Not only was the room we were in (his living room) far too small for our four-piece band to comfortably set up in, it was also without air conditioning, and it was just getting into August.
We rehearsed all day for each of those three days. By the end of it we were tired, smelly, and grumpy, but miraculously were able to retain our excitement for the days to come in the studio.
When we finally arrived at the studio, we immediately got to work. Due to Lex's fortunate connections with the staff at Blue Sprocket, the deal was that we could arrive in the morning and stay as late as we needed. After three days of grueling practice, I think we all underestimated the time we'd actually need in the studio.
A shot I took just past 2:00 AM from the control room of Blue Sprocket Sound
We felt (and looked) about the same way after those sessions as we did after practicing: tired, smelly, and grumpy. There was something else as well, however: we felt a profound sense of accomplishment. To put in the work we did and then to be presented with a product that exhibits that work is an indescribably blissful feeling, and one that I have not felt as strongly anywhere else.
The fruit of our Blue Sprocket labors: The cover to our first album, "Keep It Together"
I know that often times a session player plays in bands that aren't their own, but I do think that my experience mimics at least some of what a session player's job is like. While in this particular instance I didn't have to do any sight reading, I did have to have the music down cold before getting to the studio. While I was in the studio, I also had to absolutely rely on the skills I've developed over many years of practice as a musician to adjust to my band mates in an unfamiliar environment. While it was at best tedious and at worst filled with anxiety over whether or not I was good enough, I would still say that it was an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. Getting to work as hard as I did and then seeing that work immediately presented back to me in something that I was proud of was truly a rewarding experience, and one that makes the position of session musician look that much more appealing to me.
If you're interested in the music of Kick the Aquarium, you can find it under most major streaming services below:
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/
Apple Music: https://itun.es/us/NWEuhb
Google Play: https://play.google.com/
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