GREG HENRY WATERS NEWSLETTER

Happy Holidays from Greg Henry Waters and Family:

New York, Wisconsin, Mexico and China

http://greghenrywaters.com/mp3/ocayfaith.mp3

Well, we had a conversation last week in a restaurant about the ego and music. The comment was I am now playing egoless music. What a great comment and idea this is. In the Holiday Season when it is the time of giving to others it is the time for egoless music. However, this is very seldom the case egoless music.

To move from ego playing to egoless playing is a gift and talent. I believe the great musicians understand this concept and the humble musicians. Most musicians play music for money, and not for the ideal in art or to create a new form of music to give to the world. Because performing is so close to the ego it is very hard to separate the two or to understand the sensitive nature or this situation. Most musicians perform music to please their boss or to please the audience not to please music. Especially I find this in popular music it is all about pleasing the public nothing about pleasing the music. Pleasing the creative side of music is a very difficult thing to do because most people do not have the will to do this. A person must stand-alone and create the music in a vacuum.

Another thing is everybody has such strong opinions about their music and what is right. I find musicians can play rock or pop music or swing or Dixie or fusion or cool music or whatever. The goal for me is to perform music that is balanced with the laws of music in it. And, not with the ideas of the public or the record company mentality.

This act of giving to your fellow musicians and awareness of each other is a real problem because in our time we really do not have time to rehearse or work things out to make music that is really justified to stand next to the great artists before us. Who wants to invest in such a situation certainly not a Hotel or Club. So we musicians have to do this on our own if we want to try to create something.

When I was in Acapulco I ended up creating music with my computer, piano, wave files from the internet and my Saxophones. I could not find musicians to create a new band with so I ended up creating music in my home. In New York City, I could find a band to create music. (for awhile a really had a good band (the Count Basie band use to come and listen to my band when they were in NYC); The comment was, “I learned all that music in school”; and that I wasn’t a real artist, but they came to listen every week) but my problem there was I could not get the musicians I really wanted to get the music to sound right all the time. The band was successful for a while, but because of my divorce I kind of lost my foot hold on it. Plus, the musicians even accused me of getting grant money from the government and not giving it to them when I was using my own money to support my creative output. I got tired of dealing with the musicians and stopped the band. And my personal life got to crazy at that time. My music is now in the University of North Texas Music Library.

Jazz music is when you change the musician the sound of the band changes. (Not so in popular music or classical music)

This is why it is so important to have the right musician. It is a collective art form in many cases. The big bands are more like symphony orchestras where the sound of the band does not change with the sound of the musician. Therefore, it all comes down to support and money to create some new music. In the business world, they call it research and development. The problem with most jazz bands is that they do not approach their music the same way as a classical music group would to get it right.

Here in China I am not doing much except learning about the culture and what is here. I am not allowed to contribute to this society because of the work permit situation that societies have created to discriminate against each other. I think they call it tariffs in the business world. I experienced the same thing in Mexico.

I was invited here to teach at the local symphony in Shenzhen but that was all make believe. I was invited to teach at the Shenzhen Dance Company which I did for a while but a local official closed down the dance company. I was suppose to be the jazz manager at the True Color Bar but the owner was some kind of local businessman which turned out to be the biggest business comedy of my career. I have a job at the Landmark Hotel but the local booking agent told me to move back to the States. I asked the school I was working at in HK to help me get a working permit and they let me go. I ask you what am I going too do? I do not feel very welcomed here when it comes to working. In fact, it almost seems like I am some kind of criminal for wanting to live here.

I have made few close friends and I have a great personal life here for the most part.

It seems that the business of music is setup to create problems for musicians not help them create. The goal is egoless music. I hope we all can work towards that goal.

My friend Jason Cheng has a great professional website where he develops and creates websites for local business and is a bi-language or multi-language website developer. Please visit his site at http://www.hodfords-production.com and send business his way. Write him at Jason@hodfords.com He is in Singapore now at a multi-media convention. I wish him good luck in this project. He played a great solo last week at Gecko’s on the tune Misty.

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Need a VCD made at your next event. I can produce them for you just let me know. greg@cmporg.org

Objective: This newsletter came out of my experiences dealing in a new culture and a new history. The purpose of the newsletter is to provoke serious thought about musical art. What is it? Where should it be going? In addition, what is going on in China? I write about my personal experiences and my thoughts about them.

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CCETI Degrees: Dr. Michael Fletcher Director

Michael is expanding his university list to include Russia. Let your friends know about these programs to expand their knowledge.

Education: Undergraduate, Master and PHD Degrees: Many find programs that you can enter for business development here in China, Hong Kong, Australia, England and other countries. Degree programs are as follows: Business Law Economics Finance Marketing: You are invited to an interview in Hong Kong, by appointment only. Written and Spoken English a requirement: Please send me a request: greg@cmporg.org

Greg Henry Waters

Shenzhen, China (86 755) 8353 2883 Mobile Phone 13510896962

HK Cell 60875590 Call Anytime

E-mail greg@greghenrywaters.com

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