Welcome To Accent!
Dear friends,
Over the years that I have been with Dream Theater, one of my interests (besides
jamming on the keyboards) has been developing working relationships with
talented people who have particular skills involving technology,
transcribing, teaching and performing music. At this point I have an incredible
team of people that have much to offer. So much in fact, that I felt it was
really time to do something more for the musical community and offer a totally
online music magazine. The beauty of the online environment is that in the
course of our magazine, you will be able to hear and see the music as well as
read all about it.
In my column for Accent, titled Keyboard Madness Revealed, I will bring you in depth discussions of all types of keyboard playing techniques that will help improve your overall playing, compositional technique, improvisational abiltities as well as your song writing abilities. These will include full transcriptions, as well as MP3 file examples.
Now lets meet our other columnists...
I've chosen writers for Accent that can accurately bring you notation of even
the most complex music out there today! Jordan Baker, for example, can
spot a sixteenth note quintuplet from 3 miles away and transcribe it perfectly.
I met him after he sent a MIDI file recreation of a solo I improvised during a
DT show in New York City. There is not a note or rhythm that goes unaccounted
for when he's at work. Jordan's column, Electric Corner, will bring you
discussions and transcriptions of electric guitar and bass sections of music.
Jordan will also be interviewing many of the performers for their personal
insight on the piece.
Chris Romero and I have been working together on magazine articles, books (Total
Keyboard Wizardry) and the Online Conservatory for years, and he is completely
plugged in to my musical mind. Chris is an exceptional keyboardist/composer
himself, and I always know my compositions are in excellent hands when he is on
the job. Chris' column, The Hidden Key, will include many full score
transcriptions of music I've composed and played on. Often times, his articles
will include Accent-exclusive MP3's of individual instruments solo'ed out from
my tunes.
Anthony Geluso will be bringing you columns about drumming, titled Conundrum.
Besides being a composer in his own right (Anthony writes full symphonies), he
is a great drummer/teacher and overall an immense musical talent. He has also
developed a great course on drumming for the Online Conservatory to premier in
the near future.
We have much more guitar stuff coming your way as well. Ryan Maziarz has been
involved in transcribing Dream Theater guitar scores, provided notation for our
live cover songs/albums (which I used to adapt guitar parts to keyboard), and
has contributed to many transcription books by various publishers. Trust him to
deliver the goods! He is going to be explaining the art of transcribing music in
his column, titled The Art of Transcription.
Marc Shonbrun is an established author of numerous books for guitar and
technology, and we are lucky enough to have him on board. When I met Marc, he
came up to my studio and we jammed for a while. He's a great player and
inspiring educator. He is offering a column on classical guitar geared toward
all you rock players who want to expand your horizons a bit and learn some
valuable techniques to improve your playing, titled High Strung.
I had the great pleasure and shock of hearing Behold the Arctopus, Charlie
Zeleny's band. Charlie is the busiest drummer on the east coast. He has more
energy than all of us put together. Don't let the King
Crimson-meets-Stockhausen-on-steroids atonal music of Arctopus fool you. This
guy can play in 4/4 as well as anybody and can count in 15/16 while doing it!
There is a lot to learn from him. Get ready for his column, Drumset Mastery,
where he will be delving into all aspects of drumming.
My interest in all things electronic brought me to meet my good friend Matt
Moldover. When Dream Theater was getting ready to go into the studio again for
Octavarium, Matt and I worked closely together as he was training me to use and
understand all the Native Instruments software. He is a product specialist for
NI by day and a guitar player/DJ by night. The perfect mix of computer musician
as well as traditional player. He is extremely comfortable with all types of
music (and graphic) technology and has a great perspective on using electronic
instruments to create your own music. With so many different tools out there to
choose from Matt will help shed some light on how to get going and started
making some cool electronic music in his column, Music Technology.
Bert Baldwin came to work for me about 6 years ago when I was getting ready for
the Scenes From a Memory tour. He moved down from Rochester, NY on a day's
notice and was on tour with the band two weeks later. Nothing has ever been the
same for Bert, and he shares his insights into getting wrapped up in the crazy
whirlwind of life on the road with Dream Theater and my solo career. Nobody
knows it like Bert. When he is not on the road or in the studio with me, he
could be on stage singing and playing keys with Neal Morse. Bert's column, On
The Road, will discuss the different aspect of being on tour, off tour, and
everything in between. Don't blink--just read....
Lee Knife is a hot NYC music attorney stationed out of Sanctuary Records. He has
all the experience and insight to cut right to the chase and offer you the kind
of information that you WANT and NEED to know to survive in this business. His column is
titled The Business of Music, and is about just that. I'll be especially reading
these articles as well!
Finally, let's talk about Dani. Dani Koesterich is the reason that you are
reading this. He lives and breathes music and computers. He is my partner in the
Online Conservatory, takes care of my web site, and manages my existence in the
computer world. He also is a fine guitarist and a trained and active recording
engineer. Nothing happens without Dani. Dani's column, Audio Production Tips &
Tricks, will bring you tons of facts and tips for using today's technology to
record music, as well as his personal/creative take on being an audio engineer
in the year 2006.
Remember to send us your tunes and questions because each month I offer a full
review of two subscriber's songs and also field a couple of good questions from
our subscribers.
Accent issues are currently being released bi-monthly, with future plans of
making the releases monthly. Subscribe to receive Accent for just $5 per issue!
Click "Subscribe" above to get started. Please feel free to contact us with any
questions using the "Contact" link above, and clicking "Preview" will give you a
few quick views of the most current issue.
Enjoy!!!
Musically,
Jordan
Check out what people are saying about
Accent:
"The articles in this magazine continue to amaze me with each issue - I'm
learning so much from these talented individuals. I can't wait for the next
one." - David Eisenman, USA
"Hi there! Very nice magazine!!! Finally something that can help people
practice and write better music!
I really like the concept, and all the useful things described throughout the
articles" - Laurent Schleck, Luxemburg
"This is incredible - Thank you so much for all the work you have obviously
put in to make this happen. I look forward to getting a lot out of this
magazine." - Bill Worrell, USA
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