Honk NYC! Featured Musician of the Day
/I was happy to be the Featured Musician of the Day for Honk NYC! on Friday. Check out the interview I did with them and catch PitchBlak's performance for Honk! on Wednesday, October 15 at Littlefield.
FEATURED MUSICIAN OF THE DAY:
We are excited to bring you Ashley Baier: Drummer for PitchBlak Brass Band
Ashley has been in New York City for just over seven years. She moved here for graduate school at Mannes College The New School For Music in 2007, after living in Maryland for the first 22 years of her life.
She says “I started playing with PitchBlak in early 2011. They had been playing together for a few months and needed a drummer to fill in for an upcoming gig. Chanell, the bandleader, was actually one of the first people I ever met in New York, but I do believe this was the first time we had actually played together.”
Brooklyn Bowl is one of her favorite venues to play with PitchBlak in New York City. “We always have such a great time there on and off the stage. They really got everything right with that place. Another place that stands out that we've played is The Bowery Electric. It's a small room, but the way that the stage is set up on the floor allows for a really electric symbiotic relationship between the audience and the band. While PitchBlak hasn't played there yet, the hype of Carnegie Hall is real. The house sounds great, obviously, but you can hear with incredible clarity on the stage, too. Hopefully they'll be interested in presenting PitchBlak one day!”
“This isn't a problem unique to New York City, but one of the biggest challenges facing musicians or any artists, really, is getting paid for your work. I am happy that my favorite thing to do brings people such great joy, but my favorite thing to do is also my job, and I need to bring home some money so I can afford to live in this great city. A lot of people who don't have experience in the arts do not realize how much work and dedication goes into perfecting a craft such as music.”
One of the great things about being a musician: “My career could take me anywhere! I've seen almost the entire United States through music travels. My career has yet to take me to Europe, but I know it someday will, and I would be most excited to explore Amsterdam.”
Ashley’s final thought for us today: “I'm really looking forward to playing HONK NYC! for the second year in a row. It feels good to be a part of such a strong community.”
Support Ashley and our other 195+ musicians here, for only 17 more days!! Please share this, and help us spread the word. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1737928085/its-time-for-the-8th-annual-honk-nyc-festival
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