As part of Portland Parks & Recreation, Make Music PDX is warming up again

By John Foyston, The Oregonian  Published: Friday, December 10, 2010, 2:52 PM    

If you've ever tried to form a band, if you've ever dealt with the frustrating business of meshing personalities, schedules, egos, tastes and skill levels, then Make Music PDX makes immediate and perfect sense.

The program, now a part of Portland Parks and Recreation, matches nonprofessional musicians with other would-be band members of like interest to create impromptu bands. Those bands practice under the tutelage of mentors such as Dale Turnbull, a bass player of three decades' experience, and over several weeks work up a set of songs to play at a community concert featuring all the bands in the program.

The idea has helped many a Portland musician out of the living room and onto the stage, but after six years, Make Music PDX has been running out of steam. At its peak, the program attracted about 125 aspiring musicians, who were evaluated and grouped together in different bands -- blues, jazz, acoustic, depending on what participants wanted.

The session just now ending included only enough musicians to form one band, the Extra Ordinaries, which will play its concert today. To revive interest in Make Music PDX, organizers have arranged for three of four alumni bands that have stayed active on their own -- bands created during Make Music sessions -- to also play today.

Those bands are Kat and the Tonix, 2nd Time Through and Still Kickin', Turnbull says, and that they stuck together after the program is the strongest testament to Make Music PDX. Gregory Dubay, director of the Community Music Center, where the concert will be held, says the alumni bands are the perfect result of Make Music PDX.

"It's a wonderful program with great potential," he says. "I think there are a lot of adults out there who'd love to get into a band, and there are a lot of seasoned musicians who'd be great as mentors, and the Community Music Center is the perfect group to put them together."

Things have fallen off in the past couple years since the city took over from the volunteers who created Make Music PDX. But Dubay says it still fulfills the role that he and its originators envisioned, just on a smaller scale. Besides, the past couple of years have provided time to refine elements of the program.

Glen Michtom will play in one of the alumni bands today, and he qualifies as a true alum because he's been through Make Music PDX six times. He's been playing piano and guitar for 45 years, but Make Music PDX helped him to the next level, he says.

"It gives musicians a chance to do what is very difficult to arrange otherwise -- play with a group," he says. "It gives us a chance to focus our music and an opportunity to perform, which is pretty uncommon for adults. My kids get recitals, but I don't. Plus, focusing on a set of songs and an upcoming show gives direction to what is often otherwise just musical wandering.

"Each band has been a very different experience," Michtom says, "not only in the personalities, but the music styles and general sound. When we rehearse, I don't want to stop. When we do a show, I want play all night," he continues. "There's just something about being in a band that is more satisfying than playing alone at home -- hearing the various parts come together to make a song, seeing that I can make a valuable contribution, knowing that I'm entertaining the audience, having the chance to be in the spotlight and play rock 'n' roll star ... you can't do that solo."

Karl Ockert remembers his time in the program fondly. Ockert was BridgePort's brewmaster for years before working for the Master Brewers Association. But he always kept a guitar in his office, and Make Music PDX offered him the opportunity to play in a band and later mentor other musicians.

"I had a great time with both experiences," he says. "As a performer I was able to come out of my living room and play with a band for the first time. In fact I was able to perform in front of a crowd, and it was a blast. I had not been playing all that long or have any great musical talent, but playing in a band was pure magic, and I learned a huge amount from my bandmates in each session.

"I still get together with my Make Music friends and jam as often as we can," he says. "Make Music PDX is a great way for the amateur musician to get out of the home and into a band, have some fun making great music."

-- John Foyston

John Foyston is a freelance Portland writer and a former pop music critic for The Oregonian:

503-805-0637

johnfoyston@comcast.net

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