Any ace musicians / music producers here?

[Curious_Ace]

Hello, dear people!

I'm a female musician & music producer looking to connect with ace/gray sexual musicians / composers / music producers.

And while it may sound a bit pretentious, it's not intended to be. It's mainly because I like discussing music a whole lot (not the only thing, but often comes up, of course), and sexual people sometimes make things hard for an asexual person. Like hitting on you in a very harsh way, which makes me shudder. 

And it sometimes feels lonely to be the only asexual in your circle of musicians

[sparklingstars]

I'm an amateur musician.  I play clarinet in a community band, and occasionally for special events (although COVID has put a stop to everything for now, so right now I just play at home).  I'd love to chat with you if you're interested.

[Kindness_Is_Beautiful]

I've been playing alto saxophone for sheesh, has to be about 10 years now! Also love to sing   I'd love to hear who else is a musician on here!

[Oberon Jasper]

I play piano and upright bass. Neither professionally, but I would like to join a jazz band someday!

[senACEay_11]

I play the cello in my school's orchestra, so I don't play professionally, but I would love to talk about music!

[literallylexi]

I play clarinet in my school's symphonic band. I keep taking it for 0 credits because I just love being in a band, and it's also a nice break from all the science classes I'm taking

[LeChat]

 Hi. Yes; there are some musicians, here. (tagging @Mezzo Forte)

 

Here are some thread discussions.

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/165518-asexual-musicians/?tab=comments#comment-1062621982

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/174589-musicians-what-are-you-working-on-today/?tab=comments#comment-1062923984

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/188435-musicians-do-you-name-your-instruments/?tab=comments#comment-1063443092

 

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/186380-musicians-out-there-vocal-tips/?tab=comments#comment-1063371503

 

 

[Loolie]

Over here! Yes I'm a musician, classically trained but moved over to folk as well in my 20's and now here I am washed up at the age of 54, playing almost wholly folk music, although will occasionally indulge in classical piano sessions if home alone. Someone highlighted The Gloaming at work this week, inspiring band from what I can see. Any other folkies out there? Any type, love Eastern European, Klemzer, country, gypsy etc.

[LeChat]

@Loolie Oh! "The Gloaming..." I'm in awe of the main fiddler in the group...so skilled at playing fast!

[Curious_Ace]

Great feedback everyone, thank you!  It would be really nice to hear everyone's musical preferences (songs, artists, composers).

 

One of my favourite musicians is Bob Dylan, especially on a rainy day. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is one of my favourite albums. Great, great poetry and music!

 

This might be weird, but I find Russian folklore so fascinating (I'm not from Russia 😅). I also like Celtic music, classical music (from Mozart to Benjamin Britten) and gregorian chant.

 

@Loolie Loved The Gloaming a lot, so inspiring. Thank you for the insight!

[Loolie]

Ingrid, we have similar musical tastes. I have long enjoyed Gregorian, Taize and plainsong, which I kind of grew up with really hearing the male choral in Wells Cathedral here, without realising how special it was at the time, just a sort of soothing background sound of childhood. 

[Skylord]

I'm a classically trained cellist and self taught pianist, I also dabble in music production, mostly Chiptune, and composition for both solo and ensemble instruments, though nothing professionally (yet). I was hoping to audition this year for the local orchestra group in my town, but auditions were closed due to COVID, so I'll have to wait until next year. 

 

As for musical preferences, I listen to a very wide variety of genres, mostly EDM sub-genres like Synthwave, Electro Swing, House, Chillhop, and Eurobeat, I also have a very large collection of classical music. Leonard Bernstein is probably my favorite modern classical composer. Aside from EDM and Classical, I love Jazz, Folk-Rock, Rock 'n Roll, and a number of others. I Don't much care for Rap, Country, or most Dubstep songs, I personally find them too monotone, though there is the occasional good song. Ambient is usually okay if I'm in the mood to listen to it.

You may be interested to know that Jazztronica, Brostep, and Sovietwave are genres that exist. Why? Because I could list music genres and sub-genres all day... there's over 1,000 of them...

[Curious_Ace]

@LeChat This is great, thank you so much!

[Curious_Ace]

@Loolie Ah, listening to Gregorian Chant while growing up  That's what I would call lucky.

 

Haven't checked out Taize yet, but it's definitely going up my to-do list!

 

[Loolie]

Thanks Skylord, I didn't know anything about music genres until I read your message. I don't know what any of the ones you mentioned are! Except jazz, rock n roll, classical and country. I can guess ambient.You'll have to explain..... Well at least start somewhere. Which, out of the thousand would you explain first?! Perhaps like evolution, you start with the amoeba. Or musical quivalent rather.

Lucky you're a cellist, beautiful instrument. Maybe I should go back to our county orchestra after the pandemic. You made me think. Perhaps it's possible. Perhaps I shouldn't be hanging up that violin just yet.

A lucky childhood @Ingrid yes. Not a religious background at all. Just a lot of my musical upbringing was centred around the cathedral school, it's music school and environs. Taize I think is French, monastic.

[Curious_Ace]

@Skylord26 Nice! Cello is a really difficult instrument to play, from what I hear  Wow, Chiptune is seriously fun stuff to listen to! Nice!

Goodluck with the audition, when the restriction lifts.

 

Hey, Leonard Bernstein also sits in my top list! Such a fine composer - can sound like anything - from Duke Ellington to Debussy to just plain Leonard Bernstein  

 

Nice musical styles listing in there, will take a look at them all. I definitely did not know about Sovietwave, haha. Checked it out and it sounds promising, thank you for the insight!

 

 

[Mezzo Forte]

On 10/2/2020 at 4:47 PM, LeChat said:

 Hi. Yes; there are some musicians, here. (tagging @Mezzo Forte)

 

 

I find it quite flattering that I get directly summoned whenever musician threads go around  

 

While I have moved toward the music research world as of late, I am a classically-trained percussionist who has also spent quite some time studying Brazilian and Cuban percussion, and I have some basics from a number of other traditions outside of the West. Keyboard percussion is my favorite though, and I recently saved up enough money to buy my very own vibraphone, so I’m pretty happy about that.  

 

Now that I’ve turned music scholar, I can’t say I spent as much time making music as much as I used to. That said, my work brought me into the world of transgender musician advocacy, and the experience has been very rewarding so far. I never thought I’d get involved with the vocal world, but I’ve been having a lot of fun working with trans vocalists and really engaging with my relationship to my own voice in ways I always shied away from because of my history with dysphoria.

[LeChat]

2 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

I find it quite flattering that I get directly summoned whenever musician threads go around  ...

I hope that's alright; I thought you seemed to enjoy talking about/discussing music with other musicians, music teachers, giving music majors advice, etc. You definitely took it farther than me, since you decided to major in music, became a music teacher, etc. I didn't, and I haven't played an instrument in years, so I don't feel qualified or that I can give much advice to anyone when they ask about music, whether to major in music, or whether or not to become a music teacher.

 

I used to play in school orchestras, but I wasn't as into music enough to want to major in it; I saw how much more skilled and advanced my other classmates were in 12th grade, and I just didn't feel I was good, anymore. I wasn't earning an "A" in orchestra, anymore, in that advanced orchestra class, among all the other students who'd had private tutors for years.

 

Playing music suddenly didn't feel fun, anymore, and it upset me a lot, realizing that I wasn't as good as I'd thought I was (I'd been one of top players in the class, but I guess the lower-income area schools I went to were lower level orchestra classes or something, compared to the wealthier school, because my other music classmates in those schools didn't have private tutors, either).

[Mezzo Forte]

On 10/7/2020 at 6:38 PM, LeChat said:

I hope that's alright; I thought you seemed to enjoy talking about/discussing music with other musicians, music teachers, giving music majors advice, etc. You definitely took it farther than me, since you decided to major in music, became a music teacher, etc. I didn't, and I haven't played an instrument in years, so I don't feel qualified or that I can give much advice to anyone when they ask about music, whether to major in music, or whether or not to become a music teacher.

 

I used to play in school orchestras, but I wasn't as into music enough to want to major in it; I saw how much more skilled and advanced my other classmates were in 12th grade, and I just didn't feel I was good, anymore. I wasn't earning an "A" in orchestra, anymore, in that advanced orchestra class, among all the other students who'd had private tutors for years.

 

Playing music suddenly didn't feel fun, anymore, and it upset me a lot, realizing that I wasn't as good as I'd thought I was (I'd been one of top players in the class, but I guess the lower-income area schools I went to were lower level orchestra classes or something, compared to the wealthier school, because my other music classmates in those schools didn't have private tutors, either).

Oh, it’s absolutely alright! I’m always excited to talk music and nerd out to anyone who will listen. I imagine that the unintentional ramble I wrote below will be evidence enough of that! 

 

Honestly, your experiences actually resonate with me quite a bit, since I burned out of the music performance world pretty hard, and I honestly get jaded when folks act like Western art music is a true meritocracy, especially because of how much socioeconomic status factors into success. Band directors at rich schools look like they’re God’s gift to music, but the reality is that most the students have hired private teachers, and that takes a lot of the teaching load off the director’s back. Plus, being able to afford good instruments can definitely make a different with intonation and tone quality.

Honestly, the culture Western art music can get pretty toxic, as folks romanticize practicing until you’re injured, really trying to live up to that Beethoven-esque “suffer for your art” aesthetic. What burned me out the most was the rigidity, where everything you did had to be justified by historical precedent instead of your own creative interpretation of the music.  At the school I attend now, so many of the performers are nearly religious in their fervor, to the point of being elitist about it. When grading their writing assignments, I usually have to push back against their use of a Western art lens to judge other music cultures, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to explain why “music is a universal language” sentiments are not only ethnocentric, but outright incorrect. It’s sad because there is a hyper-individualism to this supposedly communal tradition that makes everyone so cutthroat. Most of them don’t even chat with each other before class starts, and it honestly feels disquieting to watch.

 

It’s always so hard to figure out what happened to my relationship with my music, as so many things happened at once that made me lose my “practice 7 hours a day because it’s fun” level of enthusiasm by the end of my Master’s program. Maybe it was the upswing in difficulty when I started grad school? Maybe it was the stress of doctoral auditions that showed me just how rigid the art world could be? Maybe it was the severe dysphoria-fueled depression that I struggled with at the time? Maybe taking testosterone made focusing during long practice sessions harder and therefore more frustrating? It honestly feels kind of embarrassing as someone who was so passionately in love with percussion, but I’m still working on repairing my relationship to my music after basically leaving the performance world behind in 2017. Lately, I’ve been finding joy in really emphasizing the “play” element of playing an instrument, and I’ve found that there is so much more human connection to improvising together with friends compared to my experiences playing chamber works in concert settings.

Still, I suppose my love of music simply ended up morphing into more of a scholarly love, and I’ll talk the ears off of anyone who will listen. Plus, I’ve found a bit more fulfillment going the advocacy route, as it’s helped me better connect to my own communities and help my fellow trans musicians. Heck, I recently guest-lectured for a music and gender class, and the experience was so amazing! The students all read a work of mine regarding trans singing voices, and the discussions ended up super lively and interesting. What really made the experience special though was seeing how much the trans students in the class radiated enthusiasm. A few personally thanked me for my work, and I always feel so humbled when my nerding out can actually benefit fellow trans folks.  

[gothmulder]

It's nice to see so many ace musicians in this thread! I went to a conservatory and am a performer but I'm considering dropping out permanently. It was a path that was decided for me as a child, and pretty much my entire life revolved around the practice room. I've done a lot of difficult self-reflection over the past few years and found out that I don't enjoy it much at all, unfortunately, and I just wasn't mature enough to fully understand my choice to pursue it/stand up to family members pushing me or threatening me. I enjoy teaching, though. 

 

Quote

 I’m still working on repairing my relationship to my music after basically leaving the performance world behind in 2017.

Pretty much the same for me. I didn't practice for months at a time after getting my Master's. It's surprisingly refreshing to have this clear-minded freedom to pick up your instrument after so long, knowing that nothing matters, you can play however you want, and there's no pressure. But my relationship with my instrument isn't close to what it was before. I don't like how the muscles in my fingers have atrophied, for lack of a better word. 

[Lambu]

On 10/2/2020 at 2:47 PM, Ingrid. said:

Hello, dear people!

I'm a female musician & music producer looking to connect with ace/gray sexual musicians / composers / music producers.

And while it may sound a bit pretentious, it's not intended to be. It's mainly because I like discussing music a whole lot (not the only thing, but often comes up, of course), and sexual people sometimes make things hard for an asexual person. Like hitting on you in a very harsh way, which makes me shudder. 

And it sometimes feels lonely to be the only asexual in your circle of musicians

 

On 10/2/2020 at 2:47 PM, Ingrid. said:

Hello, dear people!

I'm a female musician & music producer looking to connect with ace/gray sexual musicians / composers / music producers.

And while it may sound a bit pretentious, it's not intended to be. It's mainly because I like discussing music a whole lot (not the only thing, but often comes up, of course), and sexual people sometimes make things hard for an asexual person. Like hitting on you in a very harsh way, which makes me shudder. 

And it sometimes feels lonely to be the only asexual in your circle of musicians

Hi Ingrid. Im a guitar player ( Rock/pop/ classic rock ) semi professional and work with bands all over London and beyond. Love Hendrix, Clapton, The Beetles, Stones , The Doors , Neil Young etc.