My music background

Here are the instruments I play and musical experiences I've had:

Singing: I've sung for as long as I can remember, from a very young age.
- Middle school chorus: I was in chorus class and the honors extracurricular chorus at Rhodes Junior High in the 1970s, and this is where I first learned the fundamentals about singing with good form.
- Barbershop quartet and chorus: For about 5 years in the late 1980s to early 1990s I sang baritone in a barbershop chorus (the Scottsdale Copperstatesmen) and in a barbershop quartet. Interesting experiences included: our quartet strolling through a Laughlin casino singing for an 1890s weekend event, competing with the chorus and quartet in regional barbershop competitions and singing in front of an audience of 6000 at the contest, and singing at many fundraisers, variety shows, and 50th wedding anniversaries, including singing on stage at the Herberger Theatre, and the Sun City Sun Dome.
- Tempe Community Chorus: I am currently singing bass in a large SATB community chorus, the Tempe Community Chorus which is a resident company of the Tempe Center for the Arts, where we rehearse and have concerts twice a year.
- Acapella small groups: With other members from this chorus, I also sing bass in an SATB acapella group called A-Choired Taste, and I sing baritone in a doo-wop acapella group called Freddy and the Jets.
Piano: I've played piano consistently since age 7 - it is my main instrument other than singing. My skill level goes up and down depending upon how much time I spend on it compared to other instruments and singing.
- Piano Lessons: From age 7-9, I took lessons from an introductory teacher, then transitioned to a classical preparatory teacher from age 9-10, but discontinued lessons when I decided, at age 10, not to pursue classical music as a career. But because of this training, I play piano mostly by sightreading written music.
- Worship pianist at a small church: For 25 years I played piano accompanying congregational singing during Sunday worship services at a small church.
Guitar/Bass Guitar/Ukelele: I play a variety of guitar and similar instruments.
- Ukelele: My extended family was very musical and my dad taught me how to play chords on a ukelele at age 4 so I could play along with the bluegrass, country, and old American standards music jam sessions that my grandmother, dad, uncles, and cousins would have late into the evenings at my grandmother's house. I credit this early exposure to musical playing with helping me develop an intuitive understanding of song structure, harmony and other music theory elements.
- Electric Bass Guitar: At age 15, I picked up my dad's old hollow-body electric bass guitar and taught myself to play bass by playing along with records. Because I'm self-taught by listening, I play all guitars by ear, rather than by written music.
- Electric/Acoustic Guitar: Later, I taught myself electric guitar and acoustic guitar, and played lead electric guitar in a rock band during high school (Van Halen, Rush, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc.) We were not very good, though, so we really didn't do anything other than rehearse :)
- Performance with acoustic guitar: The one instrument I've done a fair amount of public performances with other than piano and singing is acoustic guitar. I frequently led worship service music with guitar and singing, especially for services which were out of doors (and sometimes joined by my daughter, whom I also taught to play guitar :)
Other instruments: I've 'dabbled' in a few other instruments, but would not say I'm particularly proficient in any of these.
- Drums: I bought an electronic drum kit and got good enough to play along with things like 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica, 'This is Why' by Paramore, and 'Fly as Me' by Silk Sonic.
- Saxophone: My wife gave me a saxophone one year for my birthday, and I got to where I could play simple things, but have not devoted the time needed to make a consistently good sound.
- Synthesizer: In the 1970s, I spent some of my time obsessed with early electronic music pioneers like Jean Michel Jarre, Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream, and Synergy and I still have my old Yamaha CS-40 two-voice analog synthesizer. I used to experiment with multi-track recording with this synthesizer back in the day, but didn't save any of the recordings, unfortunately.
- Electric organ: I inherited a large electronic organ from my grandfather - two manuals plus a 2-octave pedal board, but got rid of that fairly quickly because it took up so much space in the house. I did play the organ publically one time, though, at a funeral for a friend's father who had specifically requested organ music at their memorial service.

Mr. Felling's Music Videos

My music background