To quote Will Smith, “It’s rewind time!”
I guess should start by apologizing for not really writing anything the last couple of months. My once attainable goal of publishing an article once a week is currently out of the question.
As ever, sometimes it’s just hard for me to come up with anything to talk about. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of recording work with my band, River Mann.
There was also… something else, and as far as recapping the year goes, this was actually the centerpiece. In my last couple of articles, I vaguely mentioned that I was part of a pretty big story in the music world.
Some of you may have caught that Finale was discontinued by its publisher, MakeMusic, after being a part of the music world for ~35 years. As a music notation nerd, you may have wondered why I didn’t comment on it at the time. Well, I was actually working for MakeMusic when it all went down, so I had a front-row seat to all of that. I lived it!
I’ve written a sizable chunk of an article about Finale, but I’m not sure if I will ever share it. I was not part of the decision to end Finale, and I don’t have any spicy insider info to share; it really came down to Finale’s age and the problems that came from its development changing hands a couple of times. This was also exacerbated by the fact that Finale just isn’t as popular as it used to be, and wasn’t selling all that well.
Without a doubt, this came to define most of my 2024 experience. Other scorewriters have come and gone, so even before starting at MakeMusic, I couldn’t help but wonder if Finale’s time would be up someday. Nonetheless, I certainly never expected that I would be privy to something like this.
It was an emotional whirlwind for sure, but I don’t think I have the capacity to share more about it right now, if I ever will. Maybe we’ll just wait for Tantacrul’s long-awaited Finale video; for all I know, I might even be in it, although I did not take up his offer to turn whistleblower!*
As far as good news goes, my new band released a single, and while it’s not much better than a demo in terms of fidelity, we still have a lot of momentum going for us. Hopefully, this EP we’re working on sees the light of day come March, give or take (more likely give).
I don’t really have any concrete plans for increasing my frequency of posting — truth be told, I’ve been thinking more about another redesign of my website. While it’s empowering to build a WordPress theme from scratch, it’s also a pain to be responsible for both content as well as fixing the numerous things that always seem to be broken. So maybe I should get some help. I know plenty to at least futz with the parts of another theme that I don’t like.
Oh, and there was also that election that happened. It’s funny, my first one of these yearly recaps was basically a rant about how badly the US bungled the pandemic, and… here we are again.
I’m certainly not going to try to dissect the election at length here — suffice it to say that the mind of the American voter is harder to understand than ever. It’s comforting to think of the progressive ballot initiatives that were passed… even in red states that still elected a party to the presidency that’s diametrically opposed to all of those things. I know that the typical American voter casts ballots based on vagaries and apparent short-term memory loss, but it still melts your brain.
With the constant collection of catastrophes befalling this planet, I can’t help but feel that what I do as a lowly drummer doesn’t really matter. This past July, I played my first-ever gig on the Fourth, and while it was a lot of fun, it was also a bit surreal. Add in all the athletes that were getting ready/went on to proudly represent the US at the Olympics, and… well…
It’s challenging to feel optimistic about anything, really, but to paraphrase The Boondocks, when you can’t do nothing, and there’s nothing you can do… you do what you can. I’m sure the midterms will be here before we know it — if we all don’t have brain worms by then!
On a more reflective note, it recently dawned on me that it’s been about 10 years since I did my first “real” transcription, so that’s pretty neat. I just need to get more songs on here!
Aside from the tentatively titled All Eyes to The Center EP, I’m also preparing to squeeze the trigger on a new drum set… or two. I’m starting to feel the pressure to do so before Trump crashes the economy!
As far as obituaries go, some of the drummers we lost this year include Artt Frank (Chet Baker), Dennis Bryon (Bee Gees), John Barbata (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jefferson Airplane/Starship), Keith LeBlanc, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Gerry Conway (Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull), and of course Roy Haynes, ostensibly the last great jazz legend who passed at 99 years old. And while he wasn’t much of a drummer, there’s also the monumental Quincy Jones.
Lastly, I guess I’ll share my most-listened-to artists this year:
- Plini (for probably the 4th year in a row)
- Fleet Foxes
- The National
- My Morning Jacket
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Hiromi
- The Who
- Dave Brubeck
- Sungazer
- Chick Corea
* ^ Since I don’t know if I will share them otherwise, here are some articles I collected about Finale for my shelved article, some of them contemporary, others historical:
- “MakeMusic ends development and availability of Finale; partners with Steinberg to sell Dorico directly”, Philip Rothman, Scoring Notes (link)
- “Finale music notation software discontinued; devs embrace Dorico”, Peter Kern, CDM (link)
- “MuseScore Studio is dedicated to supporting Finale users”, Martin Keary, MuseScore Blog (link)
- “Your Favorite Musician’s Favorite App Is About to Disappear”, Nitish Pawa, Slate (link)
- “The End of Finale: Reflections and Advice for Composing in a New Era”, Evan Williams, Jennifer Jolly, Stephanie Ann Boyd, and Yaz Lancaster, I Care If You Listen (link)
- “Finale — The best music program ever?”, Kendall Wrightson, Sound on Sound (part 1, part 2)
- “The Finale Analysis”, Peter Cudmore, Sound On Sound (link)
