I just want to let you know, that Kim Wilson will come for studio session (not sure yet if he 'll tour with Mark) in November 2012 to the British Grove Studio to record next Mark Knopfler CD
Bugger!! I was available too (lots of laugh here)
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Daughter of Hannibal Lecter, also known as "Christelle Berthon"
2) Yes i've been playing in bands (Melody Gardot, plus some other things) but not on tour or anything...And yes it hurts not doing this
I would be thrilled to let down the youtube videos, to tour with musicians, backing up, playing studio session....This is my dream, but I'm just too stupid and an idiot when it comes to know how to play with people
This post is not about business failures like me
Let's go back to the successful players like Kim Wilson shall we? ---------- _________________________________________
Daughter of Hannibal Lecter, also known as "Christelle Berthon"
Last Edited by on Dec 23, 2011 11:41 AM
I'm sorry, I can't help but feel a little annoyed at your comments.
You are a wonderful player and would really bring a benefit to many bands.
I suggested you place ads on your YouTube vids. That's a great way of making money and with the amount of hits you've had, it would supplement your income nicely.
There are many who would kill for your talent. Please stop with the 'failure' comments. Believe in yourself. You are truly an angel with a harp and I believe that you can make money at it.
Christelle, I feel that I have to somewhat agree with the comments made by Stevelegh.
There is no doubt that your playing is at the highest level & you certainly must have worked very diligently and believed in your talents as a musician to get where you are at. You need however to consider what might be your strengths & especially weaknesses that are, in your mind, telling you that you are a business failure.
From my perspective I see what I see of you on Youtube & hear what I read here. I know you are a sensational player who is also very adept at working with modern technology.
You are very well known and highly respected as a player by your Harmonica playing peers however how well known are you in the music industry? A big fish in a little pond?
Some of the really big names in our music industry became noticed whilst busking at Festivals like our Tamworth Country Music Festival held in January. Almost everybody who is anybody in the music industry attends such festivals and if they are as good as you they quickly become noticed. And, at Tamworth, Hohner hold the Australian Harmonica championships which you would easily win.
Don't keep putting yourself down. Life can be very tough and is not always fair. You are successful as a harmonica player and you can be just as successful in other spheres. But, as others have said, believe in yourself.
Cristal, Happy Holidays to you! i wanted to tell you, I have no doubt you play to the quality level of the pros mentioned. if you have a stumbling block it may be just not playing live with others enough. i have spent hours on end at open mic and jam nights, fortunately there have been plenty to attend over many years. i don't work with the pros but am ready if that arises. having been recruited into, and starting, and joining, several bar bands, i also had the benefit of hours gigging with people. to me this was vital since it taught me to be a little looser and in forgiving my band mates' quirks i got a measure of forgiveness my own self. i also had to step out of my comfort zone where everything was predictable. taking chances was and is a true thrill and that place we go is where new thing occur. again, wishing you the nicest of holidays! ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Christelle, it's obviously not the music that's holding you back, it's the business.
I saw an old interview with you on Harpsurgery.com where I believe you said you spent 8 hours a day practicing by yourself. Do you still do that? Playing by yourself that much is a waste of your time!
You are already one of the best harmonica players in the world, and any additional proficiency you gain will have only slim marginal returns. I know you strive for perfection, but only like .1% of the world will even be able to tell the difference between your best performance and your 50th best performance.
The way you're going now, your music is incredibly captivating to a tiny audience - harmonica players. But a regular audience cannot even begin to comprehend your talent. They probably want you to play Blowin in the Wind.
I imagine three potential paths for your career:
1. Target harmonica players: If you prefer to target the audience of harmonica players, I think you should model your business after Adam Gussow and this very website. Sell us video lessons, tabs, and private web lessons. I know it sucks to make tabs, but some people will buy them.
2. Expand your audience: If you want to expand your audience, I think it's VERY important that you play live every chance you get, so you can work with other musicians (or not) and see what audiences respond to and use that to advance your career.
This is a world where Mark Knopfler (apparently?) still sells records and tickets, but you don't. It's definitely not because you're musically inferior to Mark Knopfler. I think it's because he understands that to sell records he needs to play lame dad-rock for the lame dads who still listen to his lame music. (Apologies to Knopfler and his fans.)
3. Screw the business. Keep making beautiful music and stop caring that most people aren't going to appreciate it. Your music is excellent and it doesn't matter that most people have shitty taste and would rather listen to Taylor Swift and Ke$ha.
Merry Christmas! I hope some of this was useful to you as you plan your future.
I can share these insights from a going on 45 years of music being my life. It is a journey like any journey. As time goes on I am realizing more and more what music success means to me instead of societies image of what makes ones music a success. For most of my years making a living at it meant I was doing what I wanted and a success. Today that is not true. It wasn't true then either really but I had to figure that out on my own through a lot of pain and depression. Eventually the true meaning of musical success came to me. Now I am at the point in the journey that tells me to simply enjoy the music that is in me. There are no depressions over what is "not happening" career wise, no projections of what could happen, no anger over things not being where I think they should be. The gift of music, for me, is to keep me out of depression and in joy. It does a wonderful job. My only advice is stay true to your heart and you will always be on the right journey even though at many points it feels all messed up. If you stay with it, it will all work out in ways you never imagined possible. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Chirstelle, the only thing wrong with you is your self esteem. Here's a motto I try to live by: "No matter what I try to do in life, someone dumber than me and without as much talent has already done it. There's no reason I can't do it, too."
There's lots of harp players making a living who don't have your tone, technique, or stage presence. You can do it.
G'day Christelle, I have been watching your videos since you put your first one on Utube, I think it was F***Love Blues and I thought it was some of the finest harp playing I had ever heard, but that was years ago and in a different part of the world. Now you are one of ours, (an Aussie) and I am happy that you seem happy and contented being here. I think Aussiesucker has the right idea to get some exposure here in Australia. Tamworth would be worth a go, get some blues and country songs worked out and maybe hook up with a guitar player and do the busking gig. Personally I would simplify the playing somewhat as the main audience at Tamworth is Country and the normal country audience would not appreciate the advanced technique of overblows. If you got to gig with some good blues players you could use all your armaments as they and their audience are more savvy into advanced harp techniques. There are many blues and roots festivals around Australia which you should go to and get some exposure. Even doing the hard yards like Adam Gussow on the streets busking and going to jams around Sydney. I am sure your talent would soon be recognised, so get out there and see some of this new country of yours, Heck I would come and pay good money to see you perform if you ever came to Adelaide, regards Neil
Christelle> Tamworth is only a short distance North of Sydney ca 4 - 5 hours drive. The following website gives details of the Hohner Golden Harmonica championships as well as info about the Festival.
To get your entry into the championships contact Lawrie Minson on 0418523490. Lawrie is a great harmonica player who has his own group but also plays harp & guitar with Lee Kernaghan who is our top country artist/group.
I went in the contest a few years back but my playing was not at a level to gain interest but it was a great experience & I had lots of fun.
If you were to decide to busk then 3 cav 84a raises good points re keeping it at a simpler level. However in the Championships don't hold back as the judges will recognise your incredible skills. Just getting known is a big thing & the word about good artists spreads fast. There are some 2000( I think) acts during the 10 day Festival & the opportunity for players of your standard to be invited up on stage are endless.
At this stage it would be close on impossible to get accommodation other than camping at Riverside. Its a great fun location & only a short stroll into town across the river. I think ca 10,000+ people including struggling performers camp at Riverside. ---------- HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
I would make an entirely different suggestion. I love Melody Gardot, and it is clear you can play jazz. Not sure how to do this, but if you could get your foot in the door for studio work, that would be the ticket. For that you just need to be known by record producers etc. Not many people know who Mark OConner is, but he is one of the most technically proficient fiddlers and sought after studio musicians in the world of country. He got his foot in the door with the old guard in Nashville.
Not necessary any more to travel to do studio work, the tracks are just recorded where you are in a pro studio.. So the trick would be to get the word out that you are a complete pro and can play almost any type of music to record producers that work with the top names. Maybe find your very best youtube work, or higher quality recordings and simply email these people the links?
Honestly, I don't think busking will get you very far.. maybe eventually land a coffee shop gig that pays $100 for two to split for 6 hours of work, including travel setup and tear down? Maybe a jazz combo would be a better route, then you could take full advantage of your melodic strenghts
Cristal I think any band you would get you would be the featured performer. Remember harmonica players at your level are few and far between. Your youtube presence is huge so you have lots of fans. The only thing at this point is keeping your health together that is NO.1. ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
How well do you get along with other people in general?
Sometimes it isn't a matter of talent, but human interaction skills that may keep one secluded when so much talent is there to offer.... ---------- The Iceman
Christal - jdblues makes 3 suggestions for career ‘paths’, but the most important consideration is NOT technical ability, but what you FEEL comfortable with.
A lady here in the UK, who is well respected folk singer (fantastic voice) and great player (mainly piano accordion), had a day job managing a music shop. She has also appeared on numerous recordings, and teaches music in her spare time. I was buying some guitar strings and she commented that she was not herself today, on the account of having a gig that evening. She sighed and said ‘I don’t know why I allowed myself to get talked into this (gig)!’ before say explaining she thought there are two types of musicians – those who got increasingly excited as a gig came nearer, and those who became increasingly nervous as the time grew close (she put herself into the second category).
I remembered this story when reading some of the advice above, and realise we are all different and need to find our own niche, not to confirm to stereotypes dreamt up by others!
So, follow YOUR instincts and what you feel most happy with. For my money, you seem to be happy with jdblues 1st suggestion, but what do I know?
First, regarding the point of the original post ....... I think it's KILLER that Mark Knopfler is hiring Kim for a session. Both are extremely soulful musicians (though Mark has far greater range in terms of genres, IMO). Can't wait to hear the result.
As to reaching a wider audience via session work: If I had the chops, and the contacts, and the body of "clips" (i.e. a bunch of impressive youtube clips), I'd e-mail every studio I could find a contact for, and offer to do session work for free. I know Mickey Raphael has done a ton of session work as a guest via his laptop while on the road with Willie Nelson. From a technical point of view, it's easy. Getting a foot in the door is the hard part (unless your name is Mickey Raphael or Kim Wilson). Offering to do a session for free just might be the ticket.
'Course if anyone takes this advice to heart and ends up making big bucks down the line, I get a 10% cut, okay?
@ wakterharp: yes I've even been invited to play with Melody Gardot that was already more than 2 years ago: the video is here;
.It has worked because, she loves France and the fact that I was invited was more the creation of a little surprise for the french public that night, in order to make her look good....I've been in contact with her a couple of weeks after this concert, then nothing....And I've been polite, nice, and very from being obnoxious.... That's was really a one shot thing. In addition I don't live in the USA where things are happening a lot and no hope to make it in your country.
@ 3 cav 84a and Aussiesucker: thank you so much for all the informations you've provided to me about Tamworth festival, but I've measured with my second place at the world harmonica championship, that in fact these type of competition doesn't lead anywhere, beside a sort of recognition within the harmonica community which is very narrow and this is something I've already in a way (besides the usual haters). But you're right having a visibility in these kind of events is very important and I'll most certainly take care of this next year...
@JdBlues: you're 3 points make complete sense and I'm taking all of them as complementary elements of a "career". The question is how to put that all together and this is something else.
@Iceman: I think that is MAY BE the issue. I feel insecure most of the time...I'm a loner I've always been, when I was working as a hi fi seller or Apple Computer attendant , I had to develop communication skills oriented to the sells, but I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SELL MYSELF and reassuring people around me....
SPAH 09 on that regards WAS a disaster...I still don't know what has really happen in my head, I was honoured and felt overwhelmed but I've fuck it up...I felt that I was not welcomed that I didn't have my place, I mean not yet...The contradiction of that point but at the same time wanting to satisfied everyone, with a sort of pretentious behaviour since I was SO INSECURE.... Less than 3 years of serious work on the harmonica and already invited and featured to the major convention....I WAS NOT READY
In fact I measure that this issue will go on, as long as I'll not make the shift between the way to deal with the music world and my former job...
In fact I DON'T HAVE A CLUE on how to sell what I've got in my hands...
On a side note I felt it was important to answer you honestly but this thread was REALLY about Kim Wilson, the fact that he gets the gig with Mark Knopfler is deserve I mean come on this is Kim Wilson...But yes in the back of my mind and as PRETENTIOUS as it may sounds, I know I could have done a good job, opening many possibilities since I'm a modern player
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Daughter of Hannibal Lecter, also known as "Christelle Berthon"
Last Edited by on Dec 26, 2011 2:31 PM
To sort of take this thread on a slightly different direction, I sometimes get the feeling that most artists who don't normally include harp on their recordings, when they bring someone in for a session, they just want to inject a certain stereotypical feeling or mood. I'd be willing to bet a kidney that, for every 100 calls a top session guy gets, 99 fall into one of these four categories:
* "We need some Little Walter-sounding Chicago harp here." * "We need some old timey harmonica here, someone like Sonny Terry." * "We need some country licks here like Charlie McCoy does." * "We need some Stevie Wonder-sounding licks here."
@Harmonicanick: I've never said the opposite it seems obvious that there's many high quality people all over the world, including UK....I was JUST saying, since I'm a Mark Knopfler fan from 1981 -, I mean come on! We all have our dream, our idol...Mark is mine _________________________________________
Daughter of Hannibal Lecter, also known as "Christelle Berthon"
MN I disagree with you on one issue. They do not know the names of the harp players. They may say, "Can you play amplified blues, more down home, country or melodic?"
Have heard Knopfler approach blues, but he did it somewhat lite - his interpretation was very good because of his musicianship. If he called on Kim for a session, it was mostly likely to have Kim do what Kim does - therefore, I feel Mark is going to go more for the gut blues wise - whether this is for 1 cut or the whole project remains to be seen. ---------- The Iceman
