Do-It-Yourself Ravinia

The "Do-It-Yourself" concept in music has its roots in the garage bands of the 1960s and the punk movement of the 1970s. Bands would create their own look and sound, and then tour relentlessly, relying on self-promotion to make it big (or not.) Whenever musicians get together to make something special without the help of large organizational structures or corporate sponsorships, they celebrate this DIY ethic. Here is a great story on NPR about underground concert promoter Todd P that gives you an idea of what I mean.

I had a personal connection with this type of musical gathering a couple weeks ago when a friend of mine invited me to his annual backyard music festival. For several years now, he and his wife have been staging a full evening of musical acts on their backyard stage for an appreciative audience of about 100 friends, picnicking under the stars and enjoying the sounds. He first called me because he wanted to add horns to his "hootenanny" band, which consists of two guitars, keyboards, bass, accordion, drums, three lead vocalists, two background vocalists, and dobro (click here, scroll down to "dobro" and roll over the picture). So, I wrote out some horn charts for alto sax (me), trumpet (my brother), and trombone (another friend). We played on a flamenco version of "Hotel California," Billy Joel's "River of Dreams," and Neil Young's "Long May You Run." It turns out that we were only a small portion of the evening's festivities.

The opening act consisted of two of my friend's neighbors, one of whom ran sound for the evening. They played guitar and sang some old favorites like "I'm a Believer" in a delightfully ragged manner. They were followed by the contemporary worship pastor from our church who sang a solo acoustic set of his own music. Then, leading American operatic baritone, Robert Orth (who just happens to sing in our church choir), performed a set of opera, show tunes, and other numbers. He is an amazing performer and a wonderful guy to know.

The fourth act was also a treat, the Dave Ness Trio. This acoustic jazz group features guitar, bass, and drums/percussion. They play music that is full of interesting nuances and subtle details, reveling in quiet textures and silences. The drummer enjoys playing the Cuban cajon, a wooden box that the player sits on and plays by tapping and slapping the various surfaces. Here's an example of one in action.

Finally sometime after nine, the hootenanny band came on, playing folk, country, and country rock numbers. Towards the end of the set, we horn players joined the group for the grand finale. It's been a long time since I've had this much fun making music without waving a baton, and it was especially great to play alongside my brother again. In high school and college, we got to do this a lot more, but it's become too infrequent as the responsibilities of family and career tend to crowd out recreational music making. I've always admired his trumpet playing, and hearing him up close again was a blast.

Afterwards, a folk music sing-along lasted until midnight. It was an incredibly full evening celebrating the talents of a lot of outstanding musicians. Playing with people who can sing harmony parts by ear or who can play a tasty blues solo on dobro is a real kick. And the amazing thing was that it all came about because my friend wanted to get some like-minded people together to make a little music. Moral of the story: keep practicing and never stop playing! You can still enjoy your instrument well beyond your time at DHS.