Getting musicians/singers together for folk/acoustic/chamber project

San Francisco CA

Description

Hey there, I'm a songwriter and composer in SF. I've had a few long term bands/projects that took a back seat the last few years as I finished grad school for composition, but I think I'm ready to start playing some music again, thinking about live performances and especially just about making music again with other people. I've really missed the social aspect of rehearsals, figuring parts out, making songs better, arranging voices, I love all of that. I think after quarantine and the last year and a half we've all had, I've been thinking about how I want to be with people again, if that makes sense, and making music together is still one of my favorites. So I've had this folk/acoustic/chamber project called All My Pretty Ones for many many years, and it's always been changing membership, as we've all had our own commitments. There's an emphasis on careful arrangement and harmonies, my songwriting is influenced by Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Pentangle, Comus, Leonard Cohen, McGarrigle Sisters, the Roches, but we've gone into some different territory like chamber, bossanova, wherever. I think I'm ultimately an eclectic songwriter, so it's all fair game. This project is really only acoustic instrumentation, but that's really it for criteria. Just got this composition degree, and I think my music has been moving towards progressive and more experimental, but still grounded in a folk music, I think. So if you're an acoustic musician (truly anything from upright bass, guitar, mandolin, accordion, to any orchestral, it's all pretty open, including percussion and more mellow drums) and want to pick up a weekly evening rehearsal (probably like a 7pm-9pm thing on weeknight or weekend afternoon thing) in SF with some people and learn/make some music, maybe sing together, it would be great to meet you and see if it's a fit. If all goes well, I'm open to playing shows in the Bay Area and I know AMPO has some good contacts if/when it gets there. Here's some music links to get a sense of what we've done in the past, and that I always want to move it forward. https://allmyprettyones.bandcamp.com/ https://soundcloud.com/allmyprettyones www.derekschmidtmusic.com