Matt Traum: 0:02

Welcome to the Aerophone Academy podcast with me, Matt Traum.

Alistair Parnell: 0:05

And I'm Alistair Parnell. Join us each month as we discuss the wonderful world of wind controllers and you get the very best information and answers to your questions.

Matt Traum: 0:17

The Aerophone Academy podcast is the source for accurate information on wind controllers.

Alistair Parnell: 0:23

So make sure you subscribe to the podcast. And while you're at it, why not check out www.isax.academy and patchmanmusic.com. Welcome, everybody, to episode 18 of the Aerophone Academy podcast. If you're a returning listener, welcome back. And if you're a new listener, a very warm welcome to you also. Please take your time to subscribe to the podcast if you can. We'd really appreciate that and share it with anybody you think might be interested. The Aerophone Academy podcast is where myself and Matt Traum, we talk about everything to do with wind synthesizers and anything that goes along with wind synthesizers all at the same time. So that's our passion. That's what we're into. And if that's what you're into, you're in the right place. So I'm Alistair Parnell coming from Nottingham in the UK. And let's welcome our co-host, Matt Traum. He's over there in Ohio. Is that right, Matt? You're in Ohio.

Matt Traum: 1:29

I am in Ohio in the USA, up by the Lake Erie, about 20 minutes south of the lake, one of the great lakes. Beautiful weather here now. We're into almost the summer, early June. And it's really nice here. How about you?

Alistair Parnell: 1:42

Yeah, we've had some pretty warm weather here for the UK. And, you know, we're not very good over here with warm weather. We just start to melt straight away. We don't have a lot of air conditioning. So we tend to be a bit rubbish with warm weather. We start to flag very, very quickly. So things have just sort of toned down a bit in this last couple of days. So that's okay. We're quite happy with that.

Matt Traum: 2:08

So we thought on this episode 18, we would talk about marketing yourself with a wind controller and ways that you can maybe increase your income, maybe get more work, make a few extra dollars or pounds. shekels whatever you make we thought we'd have some tips from from our experiences at least some ways that you might consider to accomplish that.

Alistair Parnell: 2:28

Yeah and some of those ways might be a little different from other instruments that might come up so we've got a lot to discuss in this episode now before we get into that we thought we might do a little bit of news that's coming up we like to keep a track on things that are happening developments in the wind synth world and of course both myself and Matt. We kind of have our own businesses that are connected to wind synthesizers. Matt, for decades now, has been the best place to go to for wind controller sounds. And in the last five years, I have developed an online business called the iSax Academy, which does a lot to do with teaching you how to play a wind synthesizer. But Matt, let's start with you because I think you've been a busy boy and you've got a lot to tell us about on Patchman Music, yeah?

Matt Traum: 3:41

Yeah, I've been pretty busy. Things are really just keeping me crazy here. I probably have three or four things that we can announce here if you'd like. Sure. So one of the things I recently worked on was the ability to convert an EWI so it would be more like an EVI. Of course, a lot of the EWIs have had EVI fingering mode in them for many years, since the EWI 4000S came out many years ago. But the problem has always been that you have that layout that's a woodwind layout, and there are certain things that EVI players are looking for, in particular the three trill keys, which are quite important when you're in EVI mode, to be able to do some trills and some difficult note transitions. These trill keys really help to greatly aid how you can do those. Instead of having to move five or six fingers at once, you just move one finger to do a certain type of trill. So I developed this trill key modification with my friend Tim King at Windy Synth Music that we can actually physically install onto some of the later EWI models. And this board essentially moves the three trill keys into the right position. So they're right at your fingertips of the first, second, and third valves in the right hand. So it's a really neat thing, it's a little hardware thing it needs to be done in the shop because you have to take apart the instrument and install it and do some soldering and wiring and things but for EVI players out there playing a one of the later model EWIs you might want to check out this board and just you can go to patchmanmusic.com slash repairs and i've got a little entry there that you can see a picture of it and you can always email me at matt at patchmanmusic.com and we can talk about it. And I'd be happy to upgrade your EWIs to that.

Alistair Parnell: 5:25

And Matt, sorry, can I interrupt you? Is that purely on the Akai side of things or is that including some of the other touch-sensitive wind synths or are you just primarily looking at the Akais at the moment?

Matt Traum: 5:37

At the moment, yes, the Akais. And in fact, certain Akais. I think we can do all the Akais. You can't do the first model. The EWI1000 is a little bit different. But all the later ones, the EWI4000, the EWI USB, The EWI Solo and the EWI5000 can all be used with this Trill key board. And with some additional circuit modifications, I can even install it into the Akai EWI3020 and EWI3000 controllers. And yeah, there may be some other ones coming too, but they would have to be designed specifically for the other models because of the physical layout of the keys. Great. That sounds great. Yeah, so that's one thing. Some other big news is that Patchman Music is now an authorized dealer for the Robkoo line of wind controllers. And I have found that these Robkoo instruments are actually quite good. And the two models that they have out now have EVI fingering in them also. So that's a great thing for us trumpet players. And they have great sounds. And so if you're in the U.S. and you're looking for a Robkoo Clarii Mini or Clarii Pro, shoot me an email and we'll talk. And we're going to also carry the accessories, mouthpieces, mouthpiece caps, and also repairs, too. So if you have one of these instruments and you buy it from Patchman Music, I'll be able to repair them here in the U.S. And you won't have to go and ship it to China and have to deal with all that, you know, the tariffs and the customs and things, shipping. So that's a real big deal. So look on the website, patchmanmusic.com. And just on the left, you'll see a button for Robkoo, R-O-B-K-O-O. And that'll get you all the information you need if you'd like to buy one of those. And Alistair and I were talking about very soon we'd like to do an episode dedicated to the Robkoo line of instruments too and kind of talk about them and the advantages and what they're all about and maybe even have someone come on from the company and talk about the design. What do you think?

Alistair Parnell: 7:28

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure a lot of the listeners have probably become aware of Robkoo, but Matt and I just recently have got hold of a couple of these instruments. And yes, we've both been pretty impressed by what they can do. And they're a pretty reasonable price as well. And yeah, things are really moving forward in that line. And we're both very interested. And I think the listeners will be interested to hear what we have to say about those as well. So Robkoo is great. And we look forward to doing a presentation on that in the near future.

Matt Traum: 8:08

If you are enjoying this Aerophone Academy podcast, please consider visiting patchmanmusic.com for your next wind controller related purchase. Patchman Music offers the largest library of highly expressive, professional quality, breath controlled sounds for numerous synths and soft synths. The popular Patchman Music Turbo VL upgrade chip for the Yamaha VL70M sound module, developed over 20 years ago, is still a staple with wind controller players worldwide. Patchman Music has worked with the very best in the field, including Tom Scott, Michael Brecker, Judd Miller, Bob Mintzer, Jeff Kashiwa, and Wix Wickens, keyboardist and music director for Paul McCartney. And we are happy to help you make your wind controller experience as fun and productive as possible. In addition to our wind controller sound libraries, Patchman Music is also the leading dealer in the US for new and used wind controller hardware products, including the Roland Aerophone series, the Akai EWI series, the Berglund series of instruments including the NuRAD and NuEVI, the Yamaha YDS series, and the complete series of Audio Modeling SWAM virtual instruments for Mac and PC. If you are looking to purchase a new or used wind controller, need a repair, or are looking for some world-class expressive sounds to take your wind controller experience to the top, why not support this Aerophone Academy podcast and visit patchmanmusic.com for your next wind controller-related purchase. Thank you.

Alistair Parnell: 9:38

Now, I'll just pop in my little bit of news now, if that's okay with you, Matt. The iSax Academy We have been growing steadily, what, in the last four or five years. Now, you know, we do occasionally have some sales going on, but the new adition for this month, this is we're talking June of 2026. I'm now offering the chance you can buy one of the courses. You don't have to pay the full amount up front. I appreciate that the courses take a huge amount of time to put together and record. So it's a little investment to buy one of my courses. But now what you can do is, as from June 1st, which is the day we're actually recording this podcast, it's now available on all the courses that you can buy one of the courses and sort of separate the price of those into three payments, which makes it quite a lot easier. There's no interest. You just pay one payment each month for three months at a time. So that makes things a little bit easier, hopefully, on your pocket. And that applies to any of the courses at www.isax.academy. So if you're interested in improving your wind synth playing or learning right from scratch, there's a course there for you. Now, Matt, you've got another area to mention, have you not?

Matt Traum: 11:10

Yeah, so finally, in my news, I can finally announce the release of a new sound bank for wind controller players. And this one is supporting the Roland Cloud XV-5080 SoftSynth. Now, as you know, I've had for many years had an XV sound bank out there. Actually, two sound banks for the XV hardware synthesizers. One was a wind controller bank, and the second one is for keyboard players. So this one has been ported over to the XV-5080 SoftSynth. You can get it through the Roland Cloud. There's different methods of obtaining the SoftSynth, first of all. You can get just the SoftSynth, the XV SoftSynth, or you can get a package that has multiple synthesizers in it that you subscribe to. I believe you can also just purchase the XV SoftSynth outright and then just own it indefinitely. So there's various ways to do that. And the other announcement is that Patchman Music is also a dealer for all the Roland Cloud soft synths. So if you want to support Patchman Music, I can get you that same software or same price that you would get on Roland's website. And it'll help me keep going. So I can sell you the soft synth, but also the sound bank for it. And the sound bank is a set of 128 great sounds, super expressive, designed for breath control or wind control or control. based off of the XV sound bank and in fact it's pretty much the same sounds but unfortunately I had to do quite a bit of programming to port them into the soft synth it took me I would say I worked on this on and off for at least two years not you know not every day but yeah it was just a lot of work and I just going repetitioning through the the bank and every time I'd go through I discovered another way to kind of improve it a little notch or two so it's finally out and it's available it's on the Patchman Music website just when you're on there just click on the roll and button that you'll see along the left side and then click on the sound banks and you'll you'll see it and I must say that Alistair so expertly and generously recorded the audio demo for this sound bank and he went through every single sound in this bank 128 sounds and went way beyond the call and so there's a 30 minute audio demo of every sound in the bank played by Alistair and I think Alistair you said you were playing the Berglund NuRAD on this demo is that

Alistair Parnell: 13:34

Right yes yeah so the listeners might be interested yes Matt very kindly suggested I could give the sound bank a try a test which I was very happy to to go ahead with I can remember I did actually have a XV-2020 with your sound bank in it Matt I guess we're talking oh 10 years ago or something maybe more i i use that quite a bit and so i was very pleased to to have a go at this new sound set and i got the 5080 player yeah and i did i did all those demos on the Berglund NuRAD, which I've been getting into quite a bit just recently. But the thing is, Matt, I think, intended that I would just maybe do a few demos for this podcast. And you'll hear some of my demos throughout this podcast. We'll drop them in as little musical interludes as we go. You'll recognise some of our general little linking music that we have, but you'll also hear some of these demos of that new sound bank. And, you know, it's one of those things you start to play and you can tell when a sound bank is good because you kind of can't put it down. It's like reading a good book. You've got to turn the next page. You've got to have a look at the next sound and the next sound and the next sound. And that's absolutely what happened with me with this sound bank. You know, it's such a nicely programmed set of sounds. It just plays so easily. Everything is very smooth. Everything feels like it's coming from the same instrument. There are no kind of wild changes in volume or the response. Everything is very uniform in that respect. So you can just switch on to the next sound and get into playing it. And yeah, I really enjoyed it. I got a bit carried away and ended up doing all 128 sounds. But there's so much in that sound bank and it's such a great value for what you're getting in that sound bank. So, yeah, well done, Matt. It's really great. And it's actually replaced quite a few of my sounds in my setup. I use Mainstage at the moment mostly. And I've got several of those sounds now in my main setup that I just switch on and enjoy playing. So it's really great.

Matt Traum: 15:58

Well, thank you so much. Thanks again for the long extended demo. and it's like I say it's almost like listening to an album of Alistair Parnell solo but yeah it's just sit back and enjoy and he goes through every sound in order numerical order so it's a lot of fun to listen to I will say one thing though the soft synth version of the XV-5080 is only patches they didn't incorporate a way to have the performance mode sounds of the hardware synths so it's the 128 sounds are their patches although each patch can have four sounds layered or even eight it's it's crazy so they're quite full sounding as they are but remember with the soft synth you can pull up multiple instances of the same soft synth you could bring up the XV-5080 four times or eight times on your computer if you have the power on the computer and you could have a different sound on each instance and you can pan them and then you could save that whole setup up as a there's different ways to do it and depending on the host that you're using so you can get incredibly huge sounds and of course you can also layer it with other types of soft synths like the swarm instruments or you know the mono poly banks that I did and then save that as a conglomeration of you know just a layered beautiful big sound so yeah it's really kind of cool to have those sounds in a soft synth format so I'm really really happy to have them out finally and that's There's more to come, let's just say..

Alistair Parnell: 19:00

As we often say, we live in exciting times. There's a lot happening in the wind controller world. You know, it's so good because every podcast, there's something new that's coming up. So like I've said in the introduction, make sure you subscribe to the podcast because we'll try and keep you up to date. And hopefully you'll hear it first here on the Aerophone Academy podcast. Okay so let's get into the meat of it shall we now we we thought it would be interesting to have a little informal chat between Matt and I about ways you can make a little money for yourself using a wind synthesizer and of course there are lots of different things you can do. We thought what we might do is perhaps start talking about, you know, the musician that goes out and performs in various places and the ways that a wind synthesizer could be very useful for that. A lot of flexibility in all sorts of ways. So we thought we'd mention a few of these things. It might just give you some ideas about ways that you could expand your use of the wind controller and who knows, maybe even make a few more pounds or dollars along the way. And of course, you'll be having great fun as well. So, Matt, what do you think? I mean, in terms of going out and performing with a wind synthesizer, of course, it's something we've both done quite a bit. What do you think you would say was perhaps, let's start with what you personally have done the most in terms of using wind synth out there in the big bad world?

Matt Traum: 20:45

Well, let's say personally for me, it was with a jazz trio that I had. And the trio, I was just playing wind controller, EVI wind controller. I didn't play my trumpet at all. And so I was able to play all the lead sounds. And we had a keyboard player who played keyboards and left-hand bass. So he's covering two instruments. And then we had a drummer. I would say that the trio was the most popular of the groups. I had a scaled-down duo that I would go out with sometimes with the keyboardist, and then a four-piece also with a singer we would bring in. As far as what I did most, that would be the situation. I've also played it in larger groups, and I've had friends who played wind controllers in my group where I was playing bass. I was not the horn player in the group, but he played, wow, way back in the late 80s, early 90s, we were doing gigs where he played, a WX wind controller and would play some string lines and a harmonica part and he was the sax player in the group. So it just added some versatility to the group and we had a wider timbral palette to use, made a sound a little bit bigger than we were. And so the employer, the person hiring the group essentially got more than they were paying for. You know, they were getting a five-piece group, but it sounded like a seven or eight-piece group, I guess you could think of it that way. Yeah. And same way with the trio too. You know, the trio we had, I would play a little, I might have a synth lead or I might have a flute or a flugelhorn sound or a sax sound. And I could just, I could be, you know, covering the parts of three different instrumentalists, I suppose. And it wasn't like I was putting people out of work because there just wasn't the money there to hire a larger group. So it was a way that I could compete with groups.

Alistair Parnell: 22:29

Yeah.

Matt Traum: 22:29

And get the gigs, whereas we might not have gotten the gigs if I had just played trumpet. Yes. And so as far as your situation, is it similar when you went out with groups?

Alistair Parnell: 22:40

Yes, yes. I mean, I actually ended up doing, well, I mean, also it's like you doing a bit of kind of function band, as we would call it over here for weddings and kind of corporate things. playing for music while people were having, you know, cheese and wine or whatever they have on these things. And likewise, the wind synth just offers quite a lot of, you know, versatility in terms of the instrument. I usually did mine alongside acoustic saxophone. Mostly I play alto and soprano sax, but then mixing in some of the wind synth was always a thing. And we've discussed this before, how very often that's the instrument people come up to. They've seen a saxophone before, they've seen a trumpet before, but what is that thing you're playing? And that sounds amazing. And people just can't believe it. So that's always a nice experience when you're playing a wind synth out and about. But no, as Matt was saying, I think two important points to make here that we never like to think of a wind synth kind of doing anybody out of work, because that would certainly not be the thing. The truth of the matter is that, you know, money is a thing. If a venue can pay for three musicians and get that kind of added value by having more different sounds, that's one thing. But the other thing I find increasingly is, you know, the room that's available, certainly if you're playing in a hotel or a restaurant or whatever, you know, sometimes it's fairly limited for room. And I mean, I've even done jobs where I'm just a solo player, I mean, backing tracks and, you know, a venue might expect you to be in a very small space. You hardly got enough room to set up your instruments. And sometimes they just don't quite think forwards enough to think, well, you know, somebody's going to need a little bit of room. So we certainly don't want to lose any business for anybody. But, you know, the truth of the fact the truth of the matter is if you've got a wind synthesizer you've got quite a unique instrument there that that has a huge amount to offer and this is something we think can be very attractive in all sorts of live performances so yeah i've i've done everything from musical theater stuff played it in kind of ensembles like saxophone ensembles and and then done jazz trios that kind of thing as well. And also, you know, solo gigs with backing tracks. So all of those are very useful positions or pl aces to be, you know, chances to perform. Now, there are some other places, Matt, that we have been discussing, you know, perhaps not quite the regular sort of restaurants or hotels or whatever. But there, of course, there are quite a few other places that musicians can go out and perform and again the wind synthesizer is is a good opportunity you've got got some ideas about that?

Matt Traum: 25:49

Well yeah so if we get into like weddings you know and we I know we were talking about playing out for dances and stuff like that but let's say let's say actual wedding ceremonies so I would go out with my trio yes and we might do a two-piece like the the piano and myself we would do the ceremony so we'd be we'd be up there in the church and I could do a flute sound and he could play a classical acoustic guitar sound and you know we could play soft music and it was appropriate to the the ceremony so it's the same group you know or it's a subset of the group so we would do the ceremonies and then we'd go in and play for the the cocktail hour or a dinner with this with the jazz group and so there's a whole other market right there now now you can play the ceremonies too in addition to dances or or a jazz situation something like that cocktail

Alistair Parnell: 26:41

Yes, absolutely. Yes, I've done a lot of weddings. And again, you know, a wedding, I think I would have to say, in my experience, weddings are generally probably some of the best paid playing work I do. And that includes, you know, I've worked in Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and played, you know, the sax lines in stuff like, you know, Bolero and, you know, Mussorgsky and all this kind of thing. This is pretty high level stuff, right? I mean, you know, there aren't, I'm not going to, excuse me saying this, I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but you know, there aren't that many people that could do that kind of thing in a professional orchestra like that. But, you know, that doesn't actually pay that well. And it means I have to do a lot of rehearsals and a lot of travelling. And when you can go down the road, you know, somewhere within a few miles of your house and play for a wedding. And generally speaking, you know, they are the best paid gigs that I do anyway. So it's certainly worth looking into. Lots of people put together little websites or little demos or whatever to get some work that way. So, yeah, for sure, weddings are very useful. And Matt, you touched on this just a moment ago. It's something we perhaps haven't spelt out quite so clearly yet. And that is the idea that, of course, the wind synth is highly controllable in terms of volume.

Matt Traum: 28:08

Yeah, yeah, that's I was just gonna say that's another big selling point and musicians need to realize that when there's an employer out there- there's a perhaps a parent and there or the bride and groom they're looking to hire somebody But you know, we don't want it really loud, you know, because I read all these weddings I go to I can't there's no conversation is too loud. There's loud drums and the trumpet players blasting and it's like no with the wind controller I can be as quiet as you want. I could turn it down to zero, you know I mean the guys on Spinal Tap they go to 11 well we can go down to zero or minus one if you really want it so we have full control of the volume yeah I really pushed that when somebody would call me looking for a group I would say look I can don't worry about it you know I don't mind playing quietly if that's what you want we can do that because I'm not playing a trumpet and you know you can only play a trumpet so so quietly it just has to speak you know and the saxophone's the same way I suppose to get any sound you have to put some air through it so yeah that's a big selling point and I think yeah that should be kept in mind for musicians looking to expand their their income and their work possibilities also you mentioned a little bit about the size of the group too so having a smaller group and still being able to have the sound of a six-piece group and you only have a three-piece group yes yes yes stage size that's all often a problem at these these venues you know we just we don't have a big stage and we can put you back in the corner and there's one power outlet there, hey, no problem. Easy to do. So I think it's really important for musicians to understand these positives and maybe keep a list. And if you're out there gigging actively, promote these things. Because most people don't know what a wind controller is. So you tell them the advantages. Keep the volume down. It's small. I can give you all these different sounds. You're hiring one musician and you're getting the sound of 10. I used to say that.

Alistair Parnell: 29:59

You know so yeah it's a really good selling point and as we touched on you know doing those kind of solo little gigs also is is pretty good very often you know I can go out with actually just an iPad and you know saxophone quite often but but always with the wind synth as well and it's a very small compact setup so bear in mind sometimes if you're doing things like weddings you can get to a venue and then you might suddenly be told, oh, we'd like you to play outside for 40 minutes. And then we'd like you to move inside and play while they're having the drink reception. And then we'd like you to move over to the wedding breakfast room where they're having the wedding. And, you know, in a lot of places that would just be impossible if you were, you know, a lot of musicians with drum kit and everything, you know, it's just too much hassle. So you can have a set up, you know, with a wind synth, with a backing track, if you want to go that way. And, you know, pretty decent speakers now, pretty small portable speakers, even speakers that will run. You don't have to have them plugged into the power outlet. And so with something like an iPad, you know, you can run a Swam sound or something if you want to. You can have your music all on there on something like Fourscore. It can be a really compact setup. And if you do come across those times where, you know, you do get asked to move because people don't realize that's a bit of a hassle. It's actually, it's not impossible. You can do it. And if that makes people's day go that little bit better, then you're there. You can fulfill that role. You'll get the job. That's great.

Matt Traum: 31:40

Yep. I had that happen many, many times to me in my career playing out where they, well, no, can you set up over here? No, we're going to change it. We're going to go over here. Okay. You know, it wasn't such a big deal for us. So yeah, it's a good thing. The other thing I want to mention about wind controllers is that you can sell it also. You can say, look, you're going to get an authentic sound. When we're playing, and let's say there's a harmonica song, a Stevie Wonder song, Isn't She Lovely or something. We don't have a harmonica player in here, but we have a wind controller player in the band. And so when we play that song, it's going to sound like Stevie Wonder playing that song. It's going to be an authentic arrangement. So that was another selling point, I would say. Because of the versatility of the instrument, we can select the proper sounds. you'll just get a better sounding product. And I think people appreciate that too. Their guests will appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 32:30

Yeah, yeah. Every single sound so wholesome and rich from lush paths to leads. He's the one that you pitch. Got the world buzzing like bees on a train when Patchman's in the mix. It's the pop and the game. Synthesizer royalty. They vouch for his craft in every masterpiece. You feel that Patchman draft with honesty and fairness. He sets the tone in a sea of fakes. He stands all alone. Patchman vibes, he's the sound magician. Preparing the past with a current vision. Honest and fair, he's the one you can trust in the world of sound. Patchman's a master. Patchman vibes, he's the sound magician. Preparing the past with a current vision. Honest and fair, he's the one you can trust in the world of sound. Patchman's a master. So next time you jam, remember the name. Patchman designs in the Hall of Fame. For decades he's crafting with heart and with soul. Creating the vibes that make the world whole. Yeah, Patchman, we're hooked on your art. Design so fresh, man, they captivate the heart.

Alistair Parnell: 33:41

Now, the other area, Matt, that we mentioned in the kind of preparation for this podcast, You know, we talked about things like retirement homes. Now, I think, did you say you've done a bit of that? I've certainly done quite a bit of that stuff.

Matt Traum: 33:57

Yeah, I've done only a few. Right. But I have friends who, lots of people that I know that do this. In fact, there's a guy out in California, a fellow EVI player. Now, I don't know if he's still doing it because I haven't heard from him in several years now. But at one point, he told me, you're not going to believe this. He played over a thousand gigs in a year. wow yeah a thousand gigs and then he was disappointed when it went down to 800 gigs in one year I said oh I said hi so what he's doing is he has a very small compact system that he wheels in on a you know like a little dolly a very small dolly the amp is on there his sound system yep his playback tracks he goes in by himself it's a solo thing and he plays he's got hundreds of songs on his playlist minus the lead parts yeah so he just goes in and He'll play at a retirement home for an hour and wheel it out. You know, within five to ten minutes, he's probably out in the car and he goes to the next one. I assume, you know, doing a thousand gigs a year. What is that? What is that? Yeah, it's got to be at least three a day or something, isn't it? It's a lot, isn't it? That's 20 gigs a week. Yeah. 20 gigs a week. So five days a week. That means he's probably doing on average four gigs a day. So he would probably go in and play for an hour and go to the next one, play for an hour. And so he plays for four hours maybe in a day. and then there's travel time. Yes. And he's, I assume, making pretty good money. And a lot of these gigs are regular type things where you go in every week on a Thursday at two o'clock after lunch, or you go in once a month, or whatever the situation is. But that can be a big market there for solo musicians, and especially wind controller players. And hey, if you sing a little bit, and if you can talk a little bit to entertain between the songs, that's as important as the music itself. Absolutely. I think these people are just, you know, they just want to listen to the story and enjoy the moment. Yeah. So, yeah, you want to be entertaining and positive, uplifting music, not too many down songs, you know. Yeah. So, make it a positive experience for them and get to know the person that hires the entertainment. Yes. Every single city in the world, or at least in civilized countries, they have these places. They're all over the cities, and you can go around and get to know the person that hires entertainment coordinators. And yeah, I think that the other thing we should mention is it's incredibly rewarding and satisfying to play for these people. They are there, and you could probably do anything, and they would love you. So it's really to know you're doing something positive to really help make these folks feel good for a brief time is really rewarding.

Alistair Parnell: 36:52

Well, it's that power of music thing has gained, isn't it? You know, when I was at music college, there was a charity. I don't know if it's still going yet. It was actually set up by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. And it was his idea to get big corporations to donate money. And basically what happened was the Live Music Now, they operated in a sort of middleman, as it were, and they would hire music college students to go into play in places that wouldn't normally get the opportunity to have live music. And so you had to audition. And just like you've been saying, Matt, part of your audition was you had to present, you had to talk. If there were four of you in the group, you all four had to do some talking to make sure you communicated well with an audience. And then, yeah, we got into all sorts of places, retirement homes, mentally and physically handicapped homes. We even did things like prisons, high security prisons. And we did village halls and all sorts of places. And you're absolutely right. Some of the most rewarding gigs that we did were some of those gigs we did for those people that wouldn't normally get live music. And to see the faces lighting up. I mean, I played several times for my father-in-law's retirement home. He struggled very badly with dementia for maybe eight or ten years at the end of his life. And I'm sure you've probably heard similar before. You know, we've seen this sometimes, you know, in social media and things. I would sometimes go and even if I just went in and played the piano just for half an hour or something, my father-in-law was incapable of really stringing a couple of words together, you know, towards the end. Now, if I went in and played some of the old time songs or maybe Christmas carols or whatever, you could see that he was mouthing entire verses and choruses of these songs. These were things that he would not be able to speak out aloud on his own. But when it came to the inspiration of music, this can go very much more deeply into the mind. And he was able to really enjoy it. And it's great. The whole place used to be, you know, tons of people used to be gathered around the piano. And likewise, the caring staff really enjoyed it as well. So it really brought a tremendous amount of joy to everybody in the home. And it's a really great thing to do. And like you say, same with a wind synthesizer. You know, if you can play a nice kind of old time tune on a trumpet sound or something, switch to a sax, do a little bit of flute for something, I don't know, maybe folk song or something. There's a tremendous amount there that you can present for one of those gigs. They are very useful, by the way. If you haven't done much playing in performances before, they're a great stepping stone as well. So before you go and offer your wares, as it were, as a solo player, if you want to have some practice sessions, retirement homes is a great place to do that. Also schools. I've been into quite a lot of schools played for kids in assemblies and things. And they're always very fascinated as well. Also, it's a very appreciative audience in those sort of things. So plenty of opportunity there. And the wind synth is such a kind of unusual new instrument. Most people have not seen one very much, if at all. And so it's a real talking point and it can be a real inspiration.

Matt Traum: 40:53

Yeah, I agree. It is unique. And I think that, like, say, a bride and a groom, they're hiring a little trio to play. And, oh, we've got this guy and he plays this really cool instrument. And wait till you see it, you know. And they're going to be talking about it. And it's unique. And not every, very few bands can offer this, at least nowadays. And hopefully it'll get better in the future. But it's still considered very unique. And most people have never seen one. It's a little bragging rights type thing where they can say, yeah, we got this. Wait till you see it. And also, like you say, at the homes that you play at and things, people are going to talk about it all week. And I, oh, when's he coming back? You know? Yeah. So it's just an incredibly great marketing tool. And so use this. Use this, musicians. I tell you, you don't know what you have when you have one of these in your hands. You can really jump ahead of the crowd..T

Speaker 5: 43:21

In a world where notes take flight, Alistair Parnell brings the joy of light. Online courses with wisdom to share On the Roland Aerophone he shows he cares From professionals to amateurs alike In the warmth of his guidance we all unite iSax Academy, the place to be Where melodies dance and souls are free Breathe in the notes, let the music flow With Alistair guiding, we're ready to go From the UK shores to the world's grand stage He opens doors with wisdom and grace Coast of the Aerophone Academy With Matt Traum they create a symphony Blowing kisses to the wind in harmony Together they teach, it's pure euphony Conductor and teacher, composer at heart

Alistair Parnell: 45:10

Now Matt, I remember you had an idea, it's not something I'd thought of before But you had the idea, you know, of for something like that, having a backing track. Now, the potential to possibly have this done as an internal feature of a wind synthesizer. I think you said you had this idea that you thought that that would be an interesting addition, right?

Matt Traum: 45:35

I've been pushing for it for years with the various companies that I talked to. And, you know, why not put it in there? You can go on AliExpress and buy an MP3 player for like $5, you know, and a little electronic circuit that completely works. So, you know, it can't cost more than $5 to put one of these inside of a wind controller. I would like to see it built in and in the display. You've got your song list, you call up your song, and you push a button to hit play. And so all the audio comes out of the horn. You've got your playing that's coming out of the horn, but also the stereo backing tracks. It could be a wireless audio system that you hook up and then you hook it up to your amp. Having it all built in would save on wiring and hassle of having to get your phone and hook up a charger and then an adapter to go into your amp. Yes. I mean, yes, you can use your phone or your iPad and everybody's got a phone now and they've got iTunes. I think having it in a wind controller would be a great thing. They're starting to put drum loops. What is it? The Greaton series of wind controllers. I think they have some drum loops in there. But it's super basic. I mean, you're never going to use that for anything serious at the moment. But it has the capability, let's put it that way, and it can be done. I would like to see a nice 4 gigabytes or 8 gigabytes, a nice large library there where I can have my MP3s and decent quality. And great for practicing as well as going out and playing. There you go. I mean, backing tracks, you could have just drum loops, you could have a 12-bar blues for practicing and all keys. There's all kinds of other possibilities too. But it'd be nice to have it built in. And I think it's just a matter of time before these manufacturers wake up and say, yeah, that is a good idea. Because the reason I say this is there's a lot of solo musicians here, at least in the U.S. There isn't a whole lot of money for live music these days, it seems. So if you can go out by yourself, you can at least make a little bit of money and beyond free drinks, you know. So, yeah, there's a lot of solo musicians that are going out and even busking. They'll go out on the streets in the cities and set up an amp and play with their wind controllers.

Alistair Parnell: 47:42

Yeah.

Matt Traum: 47:43

And there can be money and busking out there in the streets. A few hundred bucks, I would say, for a few hours of work if you're lucky and you're good. Yeah, pick a good spot.

Alistair Parnell: 47:53

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Matt Traum: 47:54

I've never done it myself, but I have friends that do it, and they seem to be paying their rent.

Alistair Parnell: 47:59

Yeah.

Matt Traum: 48:00

And, you know, buying their groceries.

Alistair Parnell: 48:03

And, you know, just before we leave the kind of live performing bit, it's worth just, we've kind of touched on it. But of course, the kind of musical theatre thing is, I think, you know, really quite an important, again, this is an area where sadly, money wise, a lot of venues can't afford, you know, 10, 12, 14 musicians. And for so long, it's been the kind of domain of the synth, the keyboard player who, you know, might put in the French horn line or a little bit of a string line or something. And that's great. But in my opinion, it's the wind synthesizer will do a far better job of those solo lines. Anything that's woodwind, brass, strings and obviously anything synthesizer in terms of solo lines is so much more expressive on a wind synthesizer. And I'm glad to see that is becoming a little bit more used, widely used now. And instead of having another synthesizer player, you know, having somebody in that can play the wind synth is really great. And we've seen people, haven't we, Matt, doing, you know, tremendous jobs on these things where they've obviously put a part together where, you know, it's maybe eight bars of clarinet. And then they switch straight away to two or three bars of trumpet. And then they're going on to a flute line. I mean, it's incredible. I'm not saying it's easy, but these people are making a really great job of, you know, pretty much sounding like an orchestra, not all at the same time, but the variety of sounds and the speed of which they can change. You wouldn't be able to do that with acoustic instruments. There is not enough time to swap them over and pick them up and get them warmed up and get them in tune. But on a wind synthesizer, you can switch pretty quickly, especially if you've got it rigged up to some kind of foot pedal or something, you can instantly switch. And I really think that is an area worth pushing forward on. It's a case of, in some cases, making sure that some of the MDs, the musical directors of these shows, realise that this is an opportunity. And if you can be that person to deliver the goods, I'm pretty sure there's quite a lot of opportunities out there in the musical theatre world.

Matt Traum: 50:27

I think so. I think it's starting to come in there. I can't remember who I was talking to, but there was actually a book written for a wind controller player in one of the shows that came around. And they were expected to have these certain sounds on their wind controller. And so one person was expected to cover several sounds on this one book. I can't remember which show it was. Have you heard anything about that? I don't remember anything about this. Nope. So it's nice to see, and it's starting to be incorporated, and people are starting to expect some expressive playing out of electronics. Yes. And maybe skipping over an auxiliary keyboard player and then actually hiring a wind controller wind musician. Absolutely. Instead of a keyboard player to do these lines. Yeah.

Alistair Parnell: 51:12

You've got an AeroPhone, but you could do with some help. Getting information from the internet or finding a great teacher just isn't happening. and you know how important it is to make the best possible start. Let me introduce you to the Aerophone Basics course from the iSax Academy, a brand new online course for the beginner to intermediate player. After you've learned how to set up the instrument, we'll look at hand position, breathing, articulation and sound selection. There are 20 videos to help you learn every note on the instrument plus the alternatives, with detailed explanations and playing tips on how to get the best from each sound. There are sessions on improvisation and help with reading music, downloadable PDFs and backing tracks for each lesson. Start playing great tunes from day one and see great results in just 90 days. Regular live webinars with me, Alistair Parnell, to get your questions answered and join a whole community of players. Visit isax.academy for more information. So we've we've said a fair few things there about sort of playing at live playing out live what about kind of things slightly more if you like almost working from home or or in the studio now obviously you know the wind synth offers a huge amount of versatility in the studio and I'm thinking perhaps things that even could be done from home so I'm thinking about i mean obviously I'm very much into the teaching side of of wind synthesizers you know this is something that I was pretty much born into because my parents were both music teachers I suppose I take some of this for granted in that I literally grew up with it and and sort of learned the ropes just absolutely, by being part of my family. But, you know, it's, again, something that can be very rewarding. People do appreciate some help. Of course, you know, you're playing a wind synth, you could get quite a lot of help maybe from your saxophone teacher, perhaps, but that'll only go a certain amount of the way. If you want somebody to really show you, you know, what a wind synthesizer can do, you need somebody that can play a wind synthesizer. And, you know, there are quite a lot of exercises you can do, of course, understanding how your instrument works to get the very best out of it. As I've already said, you know, I have the iSax Academy. You can go and buy a course and just do that in your own time. But you can also take private lessons. I offer private lessons as well in wind synthesizer playing over Zoom. So, you know, you can teach anybody anywhere in the world rather than just your area. For quite a long time, I had an airline pilot that was having lessons with me on Zoom. He used to call me from all over the world and he could put the wind synthesizer into his luggage and go, you know, and practice in his hotel room quietly, silently. And he could even have a lesson silently as well over Zoom.

Alistair Parnell: 54:36

And, you know, this is an area worth thinking about. If you are yourself a teacher, you've had some experience in teaching, then don't forget that maybe using your teaching skills in the wind synthesizer world might also be something you could look into.

Alistair Parnell: 55:00

Well, Matt, it seems like this is a really interesting topic of conversation. And in fact, we are going to leave this episode here at this point. But do join Matt and I for the next episode where we will be carrying on this very interesting discussion. And don't forget, if you'd like to join in the conversation, you can leave us a message. Just look at the podcast notes down below where you get your podcast from. And you can leave us a message, even leave us a voice message there as well. We'd love to have you join in and we will see you next time in podcast 19. Bye for now. Thanks, Matt.

Matt Traum: 55:41

Bye bye, Alistair. And thanks so much and everybody for listening. We'll see you all again in the next episode.