Member Since:	Tuesday, April 03 2007 @ 04:40 AM CDT
Contact:	Send a Note
Homepage:	http://www.brianweiland.com
Location:	Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts USA
Song Comments:	126
Song Votes:	30
Forum Posts:	92
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Total Points:	886.95

Date		Title	Rating	Hits	Genre	Last Comment	Status
06.12.07		The Gentle Maiden/Planxty Fanny Powers	9.15 (17)	1657 (69)	Celtic	08.07.08	Active
04.04.07		Rainbow Sandwich	8.69 (9)	1540 (41)	Children's Music	08.19.08	Active

Starting from when I was a child, I have never been able to look at a musical instrument without NEEDING to play it. After a gloriously misspent youth playing every kind of music there is on every instrument I could get my hands on with anyone who would let me, in 1988 I bought one of the first commercially available consumer level multitrack machines, and it CHANGED MY LIFE! "Twas made by Clarion, must've weighed nearly 100 pounds, and recorded 4 - count 'em, 4 - tracks onto a cassette. I spent the early 90s gigging and touring, making (sort of) a living but certainly not getting famous, writing acoustic folk rock songs which there was absolutely no market for. Many tragi-hilarious events later, I ended up at music school, where I studied classical percussion and trained to be a high school band director. Instead I got hired at a K-8 school where I teach general music and I LOVE it! In addition to all my work with school music, I currently play in several bands, including a classic rock cover band and an original music country band, I regularly play in pit orchestras for musical theater productions, I do occasional session work, and I'm currently working on a Celtic music CD with a friend of mine, and trying to find time to work on a children's music CD.

Guitar, Drums, Marimba/Xylophone/Vibraphone, Hammered Dulcimer, Piano

My wife hates this, but I honestly do not know how many guitars I own! Some are hanging on my walls, some are in my basement, some are in my music classroom, some are loaned to friends and students... I only have a few nice ones, though: 2 (yep, 2!) unbelivably beautiful James Goodall acoustics, an Alvarez-Yairi 12-string, a Music Man fretless bass, and my main live electric, a funky old Danelectro with a screaming sparkle blue metal flake finish (can you call it a "finish" when it's really Formica?) and those sideways lipstick pickups- it sounds just AMAZING through an overdriven tube amp! Other favorite musical toys are my trusty Tama Artstar drum kit, a couple of beautiful hammered dulcimers (a big chromatic one from Dusty Strings and a smaller diatonic one with impeccable woodworking made by Jim Miller), a gorgeous Kurzweil electric keyboard, a cheap Yamaha PSR-530 keyboard whose sounds I absolutely LOVE, a steel drum, and my newest favorite toy, a handmade penny whistle I bought last year in Dublin for $50 - and it was worth every penny!

A couple of years ago I actually sprung for Digital Performer 4.5 with a MOTU 828 front end, which has been great, but I actually right now find myself using Garageband more! Partially that's because I don't have my whole MOTU rig at school where I do a lot of my work, but also, it just works great without needing a 996-page manual to explain the functions I'll never use! I actually just wrote an entire musical theater production using Garageband and a $99 controller!

guitar, fretless, bass, marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, vibes, dulcimer, hammer, hammered, childrens, children's, kids, kid's, folk, rock, acoustic, reggae, carribean, peace,