AP European History with Jack H.

I grew up in a musical family, where every type of music was played and adored. From Bach, to Beethoven, Brahms to Beatles, Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton, Hank Williams to Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson’s. And on to the present. My music studies started at age 8 on the piano. My first teacher was an issue because she always wreaked of bourbon, which was a foreign fragrance to me. As for guitars, I’m self taught since age eleven, and curiously, have developed better as a guitarist than pianist. Perhaps because I studied so much Beethoven, which is typically extremely difficult. I’ve toured with bands, played every kind of venue with bands and/or solo, from dive bars to beautiful churches. I’ve performed rock, blues, country, rockabilly, gospel, folk, and R&B music. My preferred guitar is the Gretsch G6120RHH, followed immediately by the Gretsch Country Gentlemen, 1962 Reissue. I play through a Fender Blues DeVile amp; and use a Spark practice amp. I wrote a rock opera for my church at age 17-18. It was successful enough that we made a complete 16 track recording of it, and produced a television version. The songs were typically binary pop-rock style. As for education, I studied music theory and composition at the university level, along with three years of private piano instruction. The hours equate to a minor in music theory, Most of my compositions were in a polytonal quasi-jazz idiom, or 12 tone atonal structure. With the latter I typically used jazz based rhythms, and vague but defined tonal centers outside the major- minor framework. As for audiences, they’ve varied from about 2,000 down to 3-4 patrons. I signed my first autograph at age 15, lol. Received a recording contract offer from London Records. But it fizzled before I could sign, because the producer was fired! Conversation starters: I played Jimi Hendrix’s Gibson Flying V, and Jeff Beck’s first guitar (1953 Fender Esquire) at the Hard Rock Cafe in London, and have the pictures to prove it. And I sat next to Paul McCartney at Carnegie Hall for the US premier of his classical oratorio, Ecce Cour Meum. I do not have the photos to prove that. Hopefully you’ll find something interesting enough here to give me a shout. I look forward to a fun and productive musical relationship. Thanks for reading this, Jack Hudson