Musically it will be mostly rock, with a couple of acoustic and/or piano songs just for a change of pace.  Some of the works will be instrumental;  some will be songs with lyrics. 

Of course “rock” is an overall category, divided into numerous sub-genres and sub-sub-genres.  I like several of these sub-genres, so it will vary.  You might hear a little metal, a little psychedelic rock, a little Sonic Youth noise, a little Neil Young with Crazy Horse, a little 80’s Police and U2, a little 90’s Indie Rock, a little Americana.  It will be mixtures and hybrids of all the above.  Furthermore, I want to introduce instruments not normally heard in rock music,  the violin in particular.  Put it all in the pot, stir it up, and maybe I’ll have a new sound. 

The main works will be connected by short transitional pieces.  These transitional pieces will vary from guitar noise, to pseudo-classical piano compositions, to acoustic or classical guitar pieces.  These transitional pieces will only be 30 to 60 seconds long.  They will serve to connect one major composition to the next and help the album flow.  It won’t be a concept album, but neither will it just be a collection of unrelated singles.  It will be something in between.

I have a ton of musical ideas that I’ve come up with over the past several years.  Now I’m at work turning some of those into the first draft of a work, something with structure. 

I also have a ton of lyrical writing I’ve done over the years.  And I plan to do more this summer. 

But I plan to have a first draft of the music– including melodies– with demos recorded at home– before I write lyrics for anything.  I want the music to be good enough to stand on its own without lyrics.  Then I can choose whether or not I write lyrics for each piece.

Once I have recorded demos, I will then have to make a decision on which of two paths to follow:

1.  Choose a producer and studio, bring in studio musicians, tweak the arrangements with the producer and the other musicians, and make a Rob Roper record.  Or…

2.  Find some good, creative musicians who like the demos, form a band, and develop the arrangements as a band, in practice and gigs.  Then record the album as a band.

I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.  The first step is to get the music together.  But there’s one problem:  I’m not a good enough guitar player, piano player or music composer to compose all the ideas that are part of this vision.  So I’m taking lessons and practicing to get better, while recording what I’m able now.

I am very excited about this. 

Rob

From 2010 through 2012 I’ve been focused on recording, gigging and promoting my music.  My focus for the next year is improving my musicianship and composing new music.

I’ve got a ton of music and lyrical ideas that need to be developed into songs.  However, there are things I want to do on guitar, piano, and with my voice that I can’t do right now.  There is music that I want to compose that I don’t have the theoretical knowledge to do.  So I’m taking regular piano and music theory lessons, and mostly working on my own to improve guitar and voice.

In the process of recording my last two records, it became painfully obvious that there was a big gap between my level of musicianship, and the level of the professional musicians that were brought in to play on my records.  I may never get to that level, but I’d like to close the gap significantly.  The key to that is no mystery– it’s practice.  I’ve never been disciplined about practice, and that’s why my musicianship is not at the level I’d like it to be.  I’m trying to learn discipline.  It’s hard for me.  But I’m determined to achieve it.

Hence the decision to cut back on promotion and gigging.  Music doesn’t pay the  bills so I have to work a day job.  There are only so many hours in the day.  Every hour I spend on the computer promoting my (previously-recorded) music is an hour I’m not practicing.  I have to set priorities.

I haven’t been blogging in a long time.  That’s because this blog was mostly for my songwriting, and I haven’t been songwriting.  Well, I’m back.  I plan to document this new chapter of my musical life here.  Subscribe to the blog if you’re interested. 

Next blog:  photos of some of the books I’m using for my study.

Another upcoming blog:  the type of music I am composing now.

Imagine my surprise when I logged into Facebook recently and saw a notification that I had 13 new “Friends”.  I hadn’t sent any friend requests to anyone, and hadn’t approved any friend requests.  So how could I have 13 new “Friends”?

These friend requests were somehow generated by Facebook.  Some were to people who actually were friends, but others were to people I didn’t even know.    Some where people who weren’t friends, but associated with companies for whom I work on my day job.  And the friend requests were approved.  Pretty creepy.
 
I simply can’t tolerate Facebook sending friend requests from me to whomever it thinks should be my friend.  Call me nit-picky, but that seems like a serious security violation.

I filed a bug report with Facebook.  You’d think this would go to the top of the bug list, and evoke serious concern in Facebook management and software developers.  Obviously not.  I never heard from them.  And a couple weeks later it happened again. 

So I deactivated my account.

Around this time I heard stories of prosecutors using Facebook posts as evidence in court of your location at a certain date and time.  A musician friend told me of police showing up at their gig and arresting one of the band members for outstanding traffic tickets, based on his publicizing the gig on Facebook.

People enable GPS and Facebook on their “smart” phones, and their location is posted in Facebook as “checking in”.  I find this very creepy.

As a songwriter, singer and musician, I naturally want to promote my music.  Facebook can be one of many tools for doing that.  But is it worth the price you pay?

I’ve decided it’s not.