So what have I been up to?

Well I’ve been keeping busy. My career status as a freelance professional trumpeter continues. Last year I was hired by the countries top tribute act for a certain band. It was fun working for them to start with. I transcribed all the horn parts that they needed, got a horn section together, rehearsed them and started playing shows with them. It was going really well before they realised that we cost too much. They took my deps at a reduced fee (just saxophones and trombone) and gave the rest of us the boot. So that was fun.

Thankfully I had our agreement down in writing and so I got some compensation but for those out there who are going through a similar period of employment make sure that you call up the Musicians Union and ask them to send you out some contract templates. These are bullet proof and leave little wiggle room. My compensation took months of physical and emotional pounding before we got a compromise. Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law work for one of the big London law firms and helped me out a lot through this as did the musicians union. Even so it was a long drawn out affair that left me very frustrated.

So since then I’ve been, how to put it? Less than proactive on the gig front. They still come in but from the networks I set up previously.

I thought it was important to try and take some of the pressure off playing for a while. Those who know me know I can be very tough on myself and I wanted to make sure that playing the trumpet was still something that I was enjoying. Have you ever got to that point in something where you just keep on working at it, and working at it and eventually years of training and hard work pass and you think: “Am I actually having any fun doing this?”

It turns out that I’m having more fun playing now than I have in the past few years. So I guess I just have to find the right balance between playing for work and fun for myself.

My teaching continues to be brilliant. More trophies, awards, scholarships, a total of 4 successful students getting into the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. Three 11 year olds and one 10 year old looking at grade 5. Another 11 year old looking at grade 6. And my first ever student (now in 6th form) is looking at music colleges and conservatoires. Needless to say they make me very proud.

And whilst I was taking some time away from pushing for gigs I put my drive behind photography. I’ve done a couple of pro gigs, been on a number of courses and now taking bookings for my new small business that I’m running with my friend and colleague from the conservatoire, David Livesey. More on that to follow. Most recently I was approached to shoot some canvases for a new Performing Arts Centre recently opened by The Royal Family. I’m sure I will post these soon.

I also find very the parallels between the trumpet and photography interesting. One of the many that I’ve found is that on a basic level the trumpet is all about manipulating air and photography is all about manipulating light. If you can work on mastering that very basic premis it shows in your work very quickly.

My old tutor, Ashley Morgan, always told me that being a freelance musician was all about having several irons in the fire. You never know which will bring you the work at what time. So I figure that having an extra fire can’t hurt. It’s something different enough yet still creative that keeps me in check and will make sure I don’t flame out on the playing side of my career.

So that’s what’s been going on.

I’ll make sure to update my site when I have something to say. I’ve given up on the daily post thing. I found it very hard work and I often bored myself with some of the lame posts I came up with. I’ll post when I think the information might be useful to those of you starting out in your music career, those who like trumpet stuff and jst general points of interest. Such as:

Have you seen the App iREAL.

It’s like a real book accompaniment (bass,keys and kit) in your pocket. You have a choice of pre-made patterns but can also write your own changes, put them in what ever key you like, for what ever transposing instrument you have, set the time, the style and loads more. I find it a really useful tool for personal playing and for teaching. It’s got a reasonable price tag of around £5.49 (add ons are also available). It really is worth checking out!

I hope everyone in my small, but loyal audience is doing well and having fun!

Because if you’re not having fun playing, then you have to ask; why are you doing it?

The Series 2 Finale!!
See our voyage back to Britain, say good-bye to the flash and hello to more antics in Covent Garden. A Golden Man, a Magician & President and a look back over this series… plus a little something extra...

Watch this and more in the finale of Eurobusk ’08

We hope you enjoyed watching this series as much as we enjoyed making it. Please continue to leave your comments as we appreciate your thoughts and feedback and if you’d like to learn bore about Eurobusk go to our page on this site or click on the video category to bring up the entire Eurobusk Collection.

Last night whilst preparing for this years journey I came across a missing disc from 08, so keep your eye out for a directors cut of episode IV next year!!

Merry Christmas, from The Quart Tones and mattrobertsmusic.com

In this, the penultimate episode, watch Lydon lose his mind, rob freak out and Birch Tackle his Final Two, yes TWO!! Birchy Busking Challenges as Matt enjoys the royal treatment with the Royal Family of Luxembourg after a cold and snowy Salzburg.

There IS SO MUCH all packed into this episode. So sit back and enjoy Episode V of Eurobusk 08:

The Final Episode will be released THIS Sunday 13th at 6pm. Just before we leave for Eurobusk 09. Please get your comments in before then and tell us what you’d like to see in our next series!! You could feature in next years Eurobusk!!

Behold the birth of the ULTIMATE BUSKCAM, we play Good King Wenceslas in the best place on the planet.
As we play in old town we run into some trouble with the POLICE yet are supported by the PEOPLE. Birch finds his replacement in the Quarter Tones but not for another Birchy Busking Challenge!! Rob takes us round the shot locations of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and we find out that Salzburg hates the Flash.

Watch this and more in Episode IV of Eurobusk ‘08

Watch this and more in Episode III of Eurobusk ’08

Release Dates:

EPIDODE IV out THIS SUNDAY (6th) !!!

EPIDODE V – WEDNESDAY 9th

and the Finale

EPIDODE VI – Sunday 13th

Watch this and more in Episode II of Eurobusk ’08

Please leave us a comment!!

Watch how 4 young musicians navigate their way through Europe armed with 2 video cameras, the instruments on their back, a pad full of Christmas tunes and their trusty steed; The Flash.

This years tour route sees the young Quarter Tones Brass Quartet travel to Berlin, Prague, Slazburg, Luxembourg and London.

Episode 1 Begins with controversy in London’s Covent Garden, the Flash’s race against time to the ferry, the first of a BRAND NEW FEATURE and an interesting journey to Berlin. All in all not a great start to the trip for us but an entertaining first Episode for you.

So enjoy Episode I of Series II

If you enjoyed this episode please leave me a comment, we love to hear what you think!

Episode II – Released Next Week (27/11/09)

This boldly titled post, which has proved to be one of my most controversial, takes a slightly satirical poke at the trumpets made by Taylor. This particular post discusses my views, opinions and experiences of this particular make of trumpet and is written in a pretty light hearted manner in order to promote discussion. Which I’m very pleased to say it has and did.

Which left me a little surprised when I received the following email from Mr Andy Taylor himself.

Dear Matt.

Mind telling me where you get off on all this personal slagging off stuff??

I read your rant with interest. Pity you didn’t have the good grace to pick up the phone and address this to me. What is it with some players who think ‘all’ instrument makers are fair game to be insulted at will? We are a small band of guys who pretty much all know each other, so this is not new, or big, or useful. We exchange stories and sometimes have a good laugh about them, and sometimes not. Believe me there are number of players out there who some would like to see put against a wall for far less!

Next time, face your accuser and stop hiding behind the blog veneer. You are obviously still young and relatively inexperienced, so I shall put your rudeness down to that and hope you learn some humility in time.

Kindest regards.

Andy Taylor.

First of all I’d like to say what a shame it is that you have taken this so personally Andy. But I’d like to answer some of the issues you’ve brought up in your email.

I don’t appreciate you’re opening line as that seems to start off your email as a ‘rant’ and as a personal attack on me, however, that aside I’m glad that you read my post and I hope you enjoyed the rest of my site. I’d like to say that I have plenty of good grace thank you but if I picked up the phone and laid into all the manufacturers and service providers that I wasn’t a fan of I think it’d waste a lot of time and come over as quite rude.

However I would like to say that I am sorry if my post insulted you personally. If you carried on to read the many comments you’ll see that I’ve tried to be fair and state over and over again that these are my opinions. You are clearly very proud of your work to be so passionate and respond in the way you have. That’s great! Unfortunately it doesn’t change the way I feel about your trumpets. But then again, what do I know? I can’t make a trumpet! But I can play one. And I know what makes a good trumpet for me. Let me restate that last point; I know what makes a good trumpet FOR ME.

As for your final unfounded statement…

Next time, face your accuser and stop hiding behind the blog veneer

I’m not sure of whom my “accuser” is but I’d like to point out that if you continued to read the post you could have seen the comments of pro-Taylor players. Some were quite forceful with their views but following a post like this one I can understand why. That’s why the least I could do was write back. Please take time to read the comments and see that I am not hiding in any way. If I was I wouldn’t have put up the post in the first place.

I hope that this addresses the issues that you brought up in your email.

I think you might be right in saying that you can forget there are people who create these trumpets who might read a post like this and feel a certain amount of resentment and hurt. I hope you understand a little more now that my post isn’t a personal attack. It was perhaps a little insensitive but by the same token you can see that there are a fair few pro-Taylor comments there too. That should make you feel better about the debate.

I hope that you will leave your own comment on the post (providing that it’s not too rude or confrontational so that you can put your own views across in the right context. All the best Mr Taylor!!

Back to regular blogging; I hope to find the time to write a post on what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks over the weekend although things have been and are very busy with gigs. I’ll try my best to get something online soon!!