Roll Call!
Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 12:44 pm
Our Playground Sessions community has grown so much since we've first created this forum! I'm happy to see so many of you enjoying your time on Playground Sessions and sharing your experiences with one another.
Today I read a post from sw1tch73ch who made the brilliant suggestion of creating a room for everyone to meet one another. So without further ado, allow me to kick this off by introducing myself!
My name is David Sides, and I'm a musician from Oxnard, California. I grew up in a pretty large family (a total of 6 children) filled with musicians - my Dad plays guitar and bass, Mom sings and plays piano, and between my brothers and sisters you have drummers, guitarists, and violinists. As you can imagine, I was introduced to music very early on. My music journey, however, was a bit unorthodox from many as I didn't learn to play the piano through lessons. I actually learned how to play the piano all by ear!
Long story short, back in '94 I received a keyboard for Christmas and for those of you who are old enough to remember, that was the year The Lion King hit theaters. I loved the music from that movie so much that I asked my parents to buy me the soundtrack of that film. That soundtrack was the beginning of my music journey. At the time I was in the 5th grade, and I remember coming home from school, locking myself in my room, finishing my homework and then immediately listening to the songs on that cassette and trying to figure out how to play them, just by listening to them and matching their notes to the notes on my keyboard. Well, before I knew it, I was able to learn practically any song I tried, all by ear!
As I grew older, my skills became more refined by playing the piano at church, accompanying various vocalists. This was always fun, yet challenging because I had to be able to figure out the key of the singer's song, and its chord progression, all within seconds, live in front of the crowd at church! Luckily this too was something I quickly became good at (and luckily any missed notes and back chord changes I made early on were overlooked by the community) and it taught me a lot about different chord progressions and how they work.
Fast forward to my college years, I attended the University of California, Riverside, and studied music. This was my first "formal" experience with music. Studying music in college was very interesting because I didn't really know any of the technical terms and theory behind it, I just knew how to play it. So for me, it was like knowing how to speak a language as a child but then being taught to read, write, and analyze the language once I became an adult.
I graduated in '07, began posting videos of myself playing my piano arrangements of popular songs on YouTube (you can check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/kemlye1), which then led to me playing at shows and weddings around the world, and before I knew it I was meeting other musicians, talented individuals, and the one and only Quincy Jones as part of what has now become Playground Sessions!
Despite being around music my entire life, my musical journey could have easily gone a completely different way. You see, beginning playing the piano at the age of 10, I was told that I was too old to learn it, that most start as young as 3, and if I really wanted to be good I would have had to start 7 years ago. That nearly discouraged me from wanting to play the piano. Looking back to that time in my life, I'm 2000% glad I didn't let my "late start" dialogue prevent me from starting at all, and I hope none of you let it stop you either!
Learning how to play the piano, and sticking with it, has been the best decision of my life and I'm sure you will all look back on your decision to learn how to play it and appreciate the decision as well.
Alright, everyone, that's my introduction. Now it's your turn! I'm looking forward to "meeting" the rest of you here!
Today I read a post from sw1tch73ch who made the brilliant suggestion of creating a room for everyone to meet one another. So without further ado, allow me to kick this off by introducing myself!
My name is David Sides, and I'm a musician from Oxnard, California. I grew up in a pretty large family (a total of 6 children) filled with musicians - my Dad plays guitar and bass, Mom sings and plays piano, and between my brothers and sisters you have drummers, guitarists, and violinists. As you can imagine, I was introduced to music very early on. My music journey, however, was a bit unorthodox from many as I didn't learn to play the piano through lessons. I actually learned how to play the piano all by ear!
Long story short, back in '94 I received a keyboard for Christmas and for those of you who are old enough to remember, that was the year The Lion King hit theaters. I loved the music from that movie so much that I asked my parents to buy me the soundtrack of that film. That soundtrack was the beginning of my music journey. At the time I was in the 5th grade, and I remember coming home from school, locking myself in my room, finishing my homework and then immediately listening to the songs on that cassette and trying to figure out how to play them, just by listening to them and matching their notes to the notes on my keyboard. Well, before I knew it, I was able to learn practically any song I tried, all by ear!
As I grew older, my skills became more refined by playing the piano at church, accompanying various vocalists. This was always fun, yet challenging because I had to be able to figure out the key of the singer's song, and its chord progression, all within seconds, live in front of the crowd at church! Luckily this too was something I quickly became good at (and luckily any missed notes and back chord changes I made early on were overlooked by the community) and it taught me a lot about different chord progressions and how they work.
Fast forward to my college years, I attended the University of California, Riverside, and studied music. This was my first "formal" experience with music. Studying music in college was very interesting because I didn't really know any of the technical terms and theory behind it, I just knew how to play it. So for me, it was like knowing how to speak a language as a child but then being taught to read, write, and analyze the language once I became an adult.
I graduated in '07, began posting videos of myself playing my piano arrangements of popular songs on YouTube (you can check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/kemlye1), which then led to me playing at shows and weddings around the world, and before I knew it I was meeting other musicians, talented individuals, and the one and only Quincy Jones as part of what has now become Playground Sessions!
Despite being around music my entire life, my musical journey could have easily gone a completely different way. You see, beginning playing the piano at the age of 10, I was told that I was too old to learn it, that most start as young as 3, and if I really wanted to be good I would have had to start 7 years ago. That nearly discouraged me from wanting to play the piano. Looking back to that time in my life, I'm 2000% glad I didn't let my "late start" dialogue prevent me from starting at all, and I hope none of you let it stop you either!
Learning how to play the piano, and sticking with it, has been the best decision of my life and I'm sure you will all look back on your decision to learn how to play it and appreciate the decision as well.
Alright, everyone, that's my introduction. Now it's your turn! I'm looking forward to "meeting" the rest of you here!