Boredom

Among the many musical access points around the internet are band sites. Pretty much any band name can be typed in to produce a homepage dedicate to the group and their music. There is, however, another form of groups out there that are just as abundant. Amateur groups have been able to record and upload music onto their own sites with the quality of the professionals with the equipment and programs available to the public today.

I say amateur only to differentiate them from those officially under a record label because while they might not be recognized by the music consumer industry many of them contain musicians graduated from high end music academies who's talent rivals and often surpasses those of popular culture bands. On the flip side of that coin however, there are those who, while they love music, would never get anything they ever played or wrote listened to at all without the free-ness provided by the internet. Of course there are all those who are in between the two extremes as well (let us never forget them for I fear it is what I have become).

Even leaving the actual musician's out of the picture, the sites themselves seem to have a much more free range of being. Many of the 'professional' band and group websites seem to follow a basic pattern: Home page with some sort of logo and usually a sample of their most recent song playing upon loading broken up into tabs that will let you buy things (souvenirs or music etc.), listen to things, track their next performance, or comment. The 'amateur' sites, however, become more creative and personal. For example they can be anywhere from extremely serious (people actually looking for someone to discover them) to pure fun where the people involved just post what they love in an attempt to share their passion.

The example that I will give you is a site from the latter of those two example categories and is actually one that I have had some small interaction with. The site is called www.TrumpetBoredom.com and is run by my friend Matt with the amazing talents of both him and my other friends Collin and Joe and their buddy Byron. The four of them (all trumpet players except for Collin on Bari-sax most of the time) play popular songs which Joe arranges by ear and all of them record in one of their homes.

This particular site doesn't have anything to sell but offers all their recordings free for the listening and downloading. The site is for your enjoyment and theirs and while occasionally cracked notes and strange screeches sneak their way into a recording you can really hear their true talent and their love for what their doing show through. (Hey some of the pieces posted were recorded with one mic hanging somewhere in their near vicinity-I'm amazed at the sound quality they got). No digital enhancing-it's just them.

Here is an example of some of their music:

http://www.trumpetboredom.com/sounds/Trumpet%20Boredom%20-%20Gummi%20Bears.mp3

http://www.trumpetboredom.com/sounds/Trumpet%20Boredom%20-%20The%20Office.mp3

http://www.trumpetboredom.com/sounds/Trumpet%20Boredom%20-%20The%20Circle%20of%20Life.mp3

http://www.trumpetboredom.com/sounds/Trumpet%20Boredom%20-%20Come%20On,%20Eileen.mp3

http://www.trumpetboredom.com/sounds/Trumpet%20Boredom%20-%20Now%20I%27m%20a%20Believer%20Demo%20Final.mp3

And if you're up for it here's their theme song sung by Matt and Collin (and one of my personal favorites):
http://www.trumpetboredom.com/sounds/Trumpet%20Boredom%20-%20Rubber%20Duckie%20(lyrics).mp3

Very Punny
I bought a metronome for 20 bucks. You can't beat that price.