I Stream, You Stream, We All Stream

Last night I was playing guitar and I decided on the spur of the moment that I wanted to hear myself to check out my progress. I didn't want to spend an eternity setting up a mic and running some cables and opening up recording software and going through all that. I had my webcam set up from talking on Skype earlier in the evening, so I turned it on and went to the Facebook video page where you can just hit record. Quick and simple. So I did that. And I played a song or two. And I listened back. And I hated it! I hated everything. I thought that I was singing with as much emotion as I could, you know, impassioned. But I was wrong; it just sounded strained and mostly out of tune. It was a disaster. I wonder: did I sound that bad at McGinnis a few weeks ago? God, I hope not. I got discouraged, posted a pretty negative status update, and went to bed.

Well, I didn't quite make it to bed. I was thinking about that webcam. I got the idea to do live streams of some sort, somehow involving my music, and I wound up making a profile on Ustream. I played around with it a bit, set it up to push Facebook updates when I start a broadcoast, and then finally went to bed.

I woke up this morning and figured I'd give it a whirl by just having it on the whole time I was playing anything whatsoever. I figure in the long run I wouldn't have it on all the time, so I can have a bit of privacy when writing new material or when learning a new song. But in the meantime I thought it'd be fun to see what happens today.

It turns out, not much happened. A few anonymous people dropped by. One or two said something in chat, but by their usernames I could tell that they weren't friends of mine, so I wonder if they just happened upon my broadcast through some randomized link on the Ustream site. I started off doing my warm-ups: scales, arpeggios, finger exercises, etc. Then I took a long break and came back to run through all the jazz stuff I know, which isn't much. After another break, I ran through all the pop/rock songs in the little songbook I've been keeping recently; it's where I write down any song I learn that I'd like to play again, as well as a few songs I've written that I feel are worthy of inclusion. One or two people poked their heads in for a few seconds at a time. Right near the end, with about two songs left to go, someone dropped by and didn't leave until the end. Thanks to the anonymity of the internet, I have no idea who it was, but I have to say thanks for listening and I hope you enjoyed it!

I recorded the whole pop/rock bit and just got done watching it, and I have to say I'm much happier today than I was last night. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was a good deal better. I got a little nervous when I realized someone was sticking around, but that's part of what I enjoy about doing this. Ever since I "got back into it", I get so nervous when I start to play in front of anyone. After watching the video last night, I realized some of the things I'm doing with my voice right now (e.g. straining) that result in such a disastrous sound, and I'm pretty sure that it's only made worse when I know I'm being recorded or when someone's watching. Today I tried consciously to take it easy on my voice. It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot better than what I heard last night. I've been exploring the lower register of my voice recently, and I'm inspired by Nick Drake's sound, so maybe it's something I should take a closer look at. I just don't feel like I can sing stuff like "Eleven Thirty Fifty" anymore. Oh well.

I don't really think it's worth coming up with anything resembling a schedule. I'll probably just use it on a whim when I feel like it. When I do, Ustream will push an update to Facebook, so if you're at your computer you might know. That's about all the notice I can really give. For now. Anyway, here's the link: Songs from a Basement.

And now, thanks to the title I came up with, I have a very serious craving for ice cream. And when I get a craving for ice cream, it's a very serious thing.

"It's been a while since I could remember when..."