MathOfInsects

Holy cow. We're all on this board because we have one (1) thing in common: an interest in keyboards. Beyond that, we're all different people, with different backgrounds and different preferences. Ultimately this is a DISCUSSION board. People are free and encouraged to mention why they do or don't like things. It's literally the entire concept behind the existence of these boards (which are a form of social media) and (spoiler alert) behind real-life discussions. If you like Beato's videos, that's great. Go watch them and enjoy! Come here and tell us why. If you don't, that's great too. No one's obligated to like something just because other people like it. Tell us "why" about that, too. Let's not be self-important enough to imagine that our opinion on this board means a single thing. If you post that you like Beato's videos, that isn't going to be the thing that really makes his career take off. Same as if you post that you don't. There is a mountain of self-denial going on, here. Post after post trolling "the haters" or some new technology that scares you, IS hate--and it's far more personal, IMO, than someone saying "Oh, I don't like that guy's videos." Just like what you like and accept that there are people in the world with opinions that are different from yours. Ideally, you'll seek those opinions out so you don't get too cozy in the echo chamber of agreement and validation. But either way, let's not delude ourselves that just because we think something, anyone who thinks something different is somehow suspect or vindictive. We're all a little long in the teeth here for that kind of magical thinking.

Get it, George!

I don't think a single person who has said that the content is not for them, has implied anything negative about the craft or effort involved in it. That part is fact. The response to the result is opinion. Those two elements always co-exist, and are in no way contradictory or mutually negating.

It's curry all the way down.

I mean, it's a joke, but also not. As GenX, I am confused by how mature and self-regulating my kids' generation is. They don't even care about getting their driver's licenses, and not because they can't be bothered, but because "who wants to be driving on the same road as a bunch of other teenagers?" I'm like..."but what will you get drunk in and drive around knocking over mailboxes and breaking porchlights with a baseball bat???"

I think we're already in the post-youtube era. My kids use it disproportionately for the "commercial" side--artists' lyric vids or official videos. Sometimes they go down a rabbit hole looking for instructions or transcriptions, but they don't have any real relationship with it as an influencer- or America's Funniest Home Videos-type site. I don't think we're too long away from a more overt subscription model that kills its original version forever. I don't know what's next, though. Tik-Tok is already in the mainstream and shifting up to Millennials instead of Gen Z. Neither of my kids have it or care about it. I suspect Twitch will morph into the next Whatever Is Next.

As usual @Adan gets at the crux of it. Lots of tools are available to educators; whatever it takes to get through to as many people, using as many modalities as possible, is fair game. I use the LOL (Canadian humor show/troupe) clip of the sound engineer using real-time autotune all the time. But it would be inaccurate to claim that therefore the clip is educational or the actors are educators. I'm the educator in that context, and I'm using the clip educationally. But it's not educational. Rick Beato creates a lot of content with a lot of first-hand sources. I can see some of those videos being helpful depending on what you're teaching. For me, he is not keyed in enough to how certain topics are taught these days, to be useful for my purposes. He's essentially an "influencer," not an educator. But if he helps someone get some idea across to their students, more power to them!

But that difference is solely and entirely within your own construct and invention. It is a means of justifying criticizing fellow forum members as lofty somehow. The implication is that you are entirely qualified to read and condemn the minds of your brethren and sistren, but anyone with a negative opinion of something you like is just jealous or petty or otherwise unqualified to render judgment. This is not a terribly respectful posture. I hope we can be kinder to one another while exchanging differing (valid) points of view about the same topics or people.

I continue to be amazed at how often people who take the position that no one should express a negative opinion about a famous person, freely condemn their fellow forumites in the most demeaning of terms. We've run the Beato topic into the ground here, but at this point it should surprise no one here that some of our brethren and sistren have something that vaguely, gently pushes somewhere in the vicinity of something that might best be described as, "Appreciative but not adoring."

Spent some time with the Legend (not Soul) yesterday, because it's been on my radar. I was glad I had a chance to lay hands on. I loved the raw organ sound. The action was not for me. Too stiff--even stiffer than my NS3C, in its way. The internal sim was also not really believable to me. I did like the tonewheel model options (Option 2, the "50," sounded particularly nice to me.) Crosstalk setting was nice. Keyclick seemed hard to get really popping, even at full engagement. The build/fit/finish was stellar. I'm curious to check out the Soul and see what Joey D did with that raw material.

I think "keyboards" and "rock" have become increasingly contradictory. Maybe that's why so many mentioned here are so "seasoned." The C. Leavell, B. Tench, and maybe S. Nieve contingent can all be talked about for changing the sound and scope of the songs they played on in ways that make the keyboard an indispensable part of their groups' sound. I think a separate crew of N. Hopkins, B. Powell, maybe G. Allman can be talked about for finding the perfect way to add keyboards to groups that weren't really about them. Earlier innovators like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and maybe Fats Domino deserve credit for crafting entire rock (n roll) sounds around the piano. The prog world obviously had plenty of virtuosos, but it's hard for me to think of that as "rock" per se. Today? I think most of the great keyboard playing is in the funk, jazz, or prog realms. I'd really have to think about who in "rock" world is having the same kinds of influence as those earlier guys did.

You know who else used to say that? HITLER.

Off-topic, but has anyone seen that youtube of Rick Beato interviewing that Brad Mehldau thread? Amazing. He interviews the best threads.

The point he makes is indisputable. The fact that he’s making it on social media, as a generational indictment, instead of directly to his students in a meaningful and enforceable way that helps them develop as artists and people—and even more, seems to expect them just all to be doing every part of it already—that’s the part that feels out of the lane. Sure, we all need to vent. But the tone of this vent sounded like giving up on an entire generation, which is the opposite of teaching IMO. You have to meet people where they are. Anyone who’s seen those clips of Miles D just destroying young teenage musicians knows that greatness in one area does not always mean greatness in all areas. There’s a “flipside” example too, but I won’t start that particular shitstorm.

Interesting. I wonder why they don't just give them to Henley. He's got more than enough $ to buy them back and the story notes that he's done as much before. That guy Sanders's story shifting over and over doesn't bode well for them, and I guess explains why the prosecutors felt confident enough to bring the case.

In NY, if you're on time, you're late. Here in CA, if you're on time, you're early. I'm chronically early to everything professional. I'd rather have time to kill at the end destination than along the way. Airports too. If I'm going to sit anywhere, I'd rather it be in the one place I know I have to be, than anywhere else along the way. It's a form of anti-anxiety "medication," I think.

Prezactly. There is an asterisk, though. Student ratings of professors figure prominently into your reviews for promotions and progression through the ranks (including pay). As such, it's a primary factor in the very real "grade inflation" issue. If you fail half your class, you not only invite a whole bunch of crappy ratings, you also invite professional scrutiny from your department or college, since most courses have a general "expected grade" range. So the two options are just ignore some outlying behaviors and "reward" bad behavior, or TEACH your way around the problem by very clearly laying out your expectations and then enforcing those expectations. It's amazing what a well-written and thorough syllabus will do for you, if the time comes for a grade dispute or the like. It's also amazing what a compassionate and realistic view of the differences in student life in 2024, vs 1980 or whatever, will do for you as an instructor. These changes aren't the death of civilization, they are just the march of time and in many ways a chance for students to access way more knowledge and opportunities than we ever had. Also, I don't know the program at Juilliard very well. It's entirely possible that GK's class is required but filled with a bunch of classical-heads who could give a golden shit about jazz in any way. If that's the case, he needs to teach as if that's the case, and not rely on being GK to carry the bulk of the load. Safe to say he's not the most famous professor there, and might even be a let down for some of those students.

Yeah. If you're going to dismiss every disappointment as generational, you have to be prepared to have your complaint dismissed as such, too. One way or another I've spent at least 25 years of my life in university classrooms. There certainly are a subset of instructors who take the, "Behold and be grateful for the magical contents of my brilliant mind, foolish worms!" approach. But the best professors see themselves as conduits to students' future selves in one way or another, either professionally or intellectually. You never know what's going on for people--in both directions. GK sounds burned out. Flip side, he is dealing with students who are just getting their feet back on the ground after high school experiences that were turned on their heads with COVID, and for whom the classroom is not the only site of learning anymore. Safe to say in "his day," no such thing had been in the mix. The onus is always on us to adjust, lead, and teach better, not on people to be how we want them to be. This same conversation occurs around the use of AI. The horse has left the barn. The way forward is not to say, "Don't." I mean, you can say it, but it's going to happen either way. The way forward is to craft your courses in a way where doing so would result in work that would not sufficiently complete the assignment. The problem is that personalized work like that is harder to grade. It's an "us" problem, not a student problem.

Not to mention...if students were responsible back then, what in the world was the "tough love" about? Your class, your rules. If students are walking all over him, that's not about the students. And it's certainly not about ALL people of the same generation, everywhere. He just sounds burned out to me. Understandable, but folks shouldn't use it as some kind of affirmation that they occupied the last worthy generation.

I saw that too, but had a very different response. You’re there to teach, they’re there to learn. Don’t expect them to already know the stuff you’re supposed to be teaching them. Model and lead the behaviors they will need to succeed later, don’t just throw your hands up and condemn a whole generation.

If that were the case we'd all be gluing guitars or saxophones to the backs of our keyboards.

Very cool!

You posted a picture of the thing he said he's ok with. As I am. As a logo-coverer or non-wearer, I can tell you that I don't care about my car showing the manufacturer's logo or the car's model. I also would NOT allow the side of my car to be used for advertising--by the manufacturer or others--without getting $ for it. Anyway, this discussion always goes the same way. I'm not sure why so many go to "hypocrisy" when it's just preference or idiosyncrasy. I'm not telling anyone else to cover their logos, or staking out some position of principle that I demand others follow. It's just my own preference and practice. I gaffe-tape all audience-facing logos and other writing on my boards, so all that shows is the black panel. If they were smaller, I might never have started to do it. (I can't remember why I started. I think it was for some promo video that couldn't show brand names.) Now I do it basically the day I unbox a board. FWIW I also cover my Mac logo for stage use. It might be one of those things, too, where once you do it once, not doing it starts to feel weird. Like heroin.