Earl's Music Room (EMR) is both an actual room in Earl Cahill's actual home and a virtual room that could be anywhere in the world. The vision is that musicians come to EMR to perform and talk about music. EMR is also a YouTube channel where the
videos can be viewed. At least to start, EMR will focus on piano music.
Goals
Here are some goals of EMR in no particular order
provide performers with awesome recordings that they can use to help get exposure and performing opportunities
give Earl an opportunity to perform and talk about music
humanize music, showing that music is produced and consumed by humans
get to meet awesome musicians from around the world
visit some awesome locales
generally broaden the audience for classical music
Performances
you can have as many takes as you want and you can pick your favorite. For example, if you play a three movement sonata, you could play each movement several times, pick your favorite take for each movement and those favorite takes would end up in EMR.
I want the granularity to be a piece. I don't want to try and splice in single notes or record a coda or the like separately and then edit it in later
performances will be recorded with Earl's best equipment is generally among the best prosumer equipment available
video recorded with up to eight cameras
entire performance filming process might be streamed as bandwidth and circumstances permit
conservatively, I would plan on about three or four hours to record an hour of music
for performances where audio will be released independently, the hope would be that longer takes would form the foundation of the recordings with the understanding that smaller sections will likely need to be recorded to clean things up
Terms
Some few terms
generally, Earl Cahill will cover his own expenses and not be paid by the artist for his time
the artist will not be paid for his / her time
Earl (through Skepteon Media) will own all raw and produced photos, audio and video
artist is not permitted to post Earl’s Music Room audio and video on their own accounts
artist is encouraged to share opinions and collaborate, with Earl having final cut on both audio and video
Earl will plan on taking still photos of the artist to be used to aid video thumbnails. The artist may use said stills as they wish as long as Earl Cahill is credited
as time and circumstances permit, Earl will interview the artist and public the interviews
if the artist feels his or her performance is of an unacceptable level and requests that a majority (in minutes) of performances not be made public, it would be expected that Earl Cahill be reimbursed for associated expenses and time spent
Notes
Some few notes
all published performances will appear on the EMR channel which currently has 1140 subscribers :)
artist is permitted and encouraged to link to and share any content that Skepteon Media and Earl Cahill has made public
at the artist's request, Earl will make pieces from a single camera available for auditions, etc.
Earl will add playlists for the artist's performances and interviews
Earl will include provided artist bios and would be happy to link to the artist's site in the YouTube videos
Earl will publicize awesome piano videos through his various social media accounts
eventually YouTube ads will aim to recoup Earl's expenses. Before EMR gets 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 playback hours, Earl won't make a dime from YouTube ad revenue
artists are encouraged to publicize their videos through their various social media accounts
artists are encouraged to subscribe to the EMR channel :)
Performer preparation
Ideally, the performer would just show up and play, but I am convinced that to have success, we need to do more than that. There are a few things that the performer may likely do just for the purposes of EMR, but the hope is that such effort will pay off.
be patient and be a good sport. Even very talented jerks aren't really welcome in EMR :) Making great recordings takes time
have an thirty or more minutes worth of music. Generally I like the idea of this being a recital, i.e., pieces that fit well together. If the performer has other pieces to play we could record those as well. Or, a performer could record the start of the week,
take a few days to prepare more and record towards the end of the week as well
have your music to the level where you would perform it in a competition or professional recital
be prepared to speak about what you love about your music, for example
how did you become acquainted with the piece
why did you choose to learn it
how long have you worked on the piece
what are some parts of the piece that were difficult to learn
what are some parts of the piece you love
what are some interesting circumstances surrounding the composition of the piece
keep in mind that a channel consisting solely of performances will not likely be amazingly interesting or sticky
keep in mind that your non-performance videos may (ironically) lead to more fame and opportunities than the performances themselves
a "popular" piece(s) (see below)
a timelapse piece (see below)
it might be good to bring a music confidant that you trust that would listen to the performances and give feedback. Earl will give feedback but he will also be managing the recording
have places around your city in mind for backdrops when talking about music
opinions - just like a Bach Partita wouldn't be very interesting if every note was given equal value, saying that you like all composers or each moment of your program equally isn't super interesting :) I understand the desire for exactness, but
fight through it and say something
"Popular" pieces
If EMR is going to have success folks need to find it and what better way to find it than by having pieces that folks are looking for. Just because a piece is "popular" does not mean it is bad music. It isn't the piece's fault that folks like it :) It is important
that everything you perform for EMR is something you love, including this piece. I am open to other pieces, but some examples
Bach · Aria from Goldberg Variations, Inventions Nos. 4, 8, 13, Prelude in C major, BWV 846
Beethoven · 'Appassionata' Sonata, 'Moonlight' Sonata, 'Pathetique' Sonata, Fur Elise
Brahms · Intermezzo in B-flat Minor Op. 117, No. 2, Intermezzo in A Major Op. 118, No. 2
Chopin · Fantaisie-Impromptu, 'Heroic' Polonaise, 'Raindrop' Prelude, March Funebre, Minute Waltz, Nocturne in E-flat Major Op. 9, No. 2
Debussy · Clair de Lune, Deux arabesques, Pagodes from Estampes, Reverie
Dvorak · Humoresque
Liszt · Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, La Campanella, Un Sospiro
Mozart · Rondo alla Turca
Ravel · Pavane pour une infante defunte
Rimsky-Korsakov · Flight of the Bumblebee
Satie · Gymnopedie No. 1
Schumann · Arabeske, Op. 18 (performed by Anna Han)
Wild-Gershwin · Seven Virtuoso Etudes
a timelapse piece
Earl is a big fan of shooting timelapses and would like to put music to timelapses, kind of like he did here. The piece will likely just be selected from the performer's normal repertoire.
Generally, these pieces would be fast and under two minutes, but I am open to suggestions. The timelapse video would likely have to be completed after leaving the locale. The Hong Kong timelapses were shot over parts of, I believe, three or four
days and nights.
The timelapse piece would include some shots of the performer, not just timelapses :)
Desired programs
Here are a few programs that I would be pretty thrilled to film
Beethoven · Opp. 109, 110, 111 - is there a more desired solo piano program? Not for EMR :)
Bach · Partita No. 6, Beethoven · Op. 110, Chopin · Ballade No. 4 - one my favorite piano recitals ever
Bach's Goldberg Variations
Beethoven · - 'Moonlight', 'Pathetique', 'Appassionata' Sonatas - one of the classical music gateway albums from my youth
Prokofiev Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 and 8
Chopin Ballades and Scherzos
EMR comes to you
I would be thrilled if a group of excellent pianists reached out to have me to have me come record them. Here's a few things I would need
A recording venue. It takes a good three or four hours to get everything ready so it would be great to have a place for multiple days where I could at least leave up the cabling and the like
Perhaps some universities would invite me out and provide a recital hall for a few days
An interesting location. Rome anyone? Prague, London, Beijing, Vienna, Tokyo, Sao Paolo, Seoul? Los Angeles?
Would be great to have an audio engineer that knows the venue and can help record and produce the audio
A local assistant to help setup and put away camera equipment