henrebotha
My name is Henré Botha. I am soon to be 21 years of age, and a Stellenbosch resident all my life. I play mostly guitar and keys, and of late have been teaching myself the vocal arts. I can also hold my own on a bass or a sax.
I've been playing music since taking up classical piano almost 13 years ago. I briefly studied BMus at UCT, but dropped out in favour of studying sound engineering at City Varsity this year.
I am a fan of several genres of music across many different traditions, but I suppose if it had to come down to a single genre it would be progressive rock. As a guitarist, I'm a decent funk and rock player (though much better at rhythm than lead), and I'm teaching myself some BROOTAL METALZ to jack up my playing, and I'm working on learning proper, un-cheesy lead. As a keyboardist, I mostly play classical stuff - my chops are really basic for someone who's been studying the instrument for over a decade, and for that reason anything more difficult than a (slow!) Bach fugue is out of my reach (for now, anyway). My singing is rock all the way - I recently discovered that Trent Reznor and I have similar ranges, so I especially enjoy belting out Nine Inch Nails. I've also tried to learn a bit of Tuvan throat-singing. ?
I am an aspiring composer, especially in the vein of modern art music - this is partly why I am studying sound, as I feel that aspects such as timbre and tempo are as important to a composer as note choice and rhythm.
I don't really have pics of my gear as such, but a list will suffice:
- Fender Standard Stratocaster with Lace Sensor Golds
- Gibson L-48 with P-90 (unplayable - in complete disrepair ☹)
- Roland JC-80 Jazz Chorus
- Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi Russian Reissue
- Yamaha P-90 stage piano
- Alesis io|2 USB MIDI/Audio interface
- Shure SM57 & SM58
- a brand new Sennheiser HD 280 - love it! ?
Beyond music, my interests include philosophy, literature (especially science fiction of the smarter variety), film, TV series (such as Heroes, Lost, and the odd anime like Soul Eater or Trigun) mathematics, science, history, and the occasional Johnny Walker Red Label, on the rocks.
So yeah, hi.
AlanRatcliffe
Hi Henré. Classical, rock, funk, metal and throat singing? Now that's eclectic! ?
I'm glad you list Scifi as "literature" - a lot of people don't, and it's about the only fiction I read these days (particularly the classics and the modern "hard" science fiction writers).
Welcome to the forum!
henrebotha
Cheers Alan. I think eclectic is pretty much the name of the game. ? As I said, I fancy myself to be a composer, and in today's post-modernist art world I feel knowing what's out there is key to creating something powerful.
And I hear you on the science fiction front... What with the whole green movement today, more people should be reading stuff like Dune. There are some powerful lessons to be learned from that vein of writing. Granted, though, Star Wars-esque lightsaber-swinging laser-blasting adventure novel action does not appeal to me at all (well, it does, but I'm not going to waste several hours of my life reading crap like that - I'd rather watch it and be impressed by Hollywood fight choreography). I want my SF to have substance.
CDee
Welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay!
Wizard
Dune is great !!
A pivotal book.
I remember the expression "fear is the mind-killer"
Hi and welcome !!
?
Heath
hi and welcome we really starting to get some people here .enjoy
henrebotha
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I followed an ad on facebook to get here.
Bene Gesserit litany against fear wrote:I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Now that's what I call badass. ?
edit: Alan - this forum needs some better smileys, man! I mean, there's not even a devil horns one. How am I supposed to express THE METAL?! ?
Riaan
Welcome Henre! Enjoy the forum!
AlanRatcliffe
henrebotha wrote:
edit: Alan - this forum needs some better smileys, man! I mean, there's not even a devil horns one.
I know - I'm seriously missing an evil grin of some type. I've got a few for Norio to add and a few others too.
How am I supposed to express THE METAL?! ?
With your guitar man, with your guitar... (preferably a spikey one, with EMGs and Dimebag Darrell's signature on it somewhere). Also, you must make sure to wear only black clothing, grow some facial hair (if you can) - preferably something which does not suit the shape of your face or features. Then have some metal face furniture installed and make yourself unemployable by getting a few tatoos placed in prominent positions where they cannot be hidden by clothing.
(Do you see what I mean about needing an evil grin?)
[deleted]
Welcome; like your choice in anime. I'm also a "formally" trained musician, but find that it's a bit outdated; material and teaching style. I'm with you on keeping up with what's out there, but to be fair there is still a lot to be learned from the classics. Enjoy the forum!
henrebotha
Viccy: I don't really feel there is anything less to be gained from studying Western classical music than other musical traditions. However, upon my entering university, I had already been steeped in classical training for a decade. I think it was silly of me to think that I would be stimulated and inspired by a further four years of the same, when I could be learning other styles of music and thereby broaden my scope.
Plus, the students and lecturers there were incredibly closed-minded - there was this pervading concept of "I only listen to Western classical music because it is the bestest and the biggest and the richest and the oldest and the importantest and the onlyest music." This continued even after our Worlds of Music course, which aimed specifically to destroy that concept and teach us that Western classical is only a drop in the bucket of world music history, and that every culture of music has a rich history and tradition.
I also couldn't cope with the fact that composition majors like myself were seen as secondary to the performance majors.
FatBoy
Welcome aboard man!
Squonk
Welcome
You seem to have achieved a lot to be only 21. It must be the Cape air ?
Guy-Onraet
Henré, howzit!
andrewjbryson
Rule : If you got a strat you must post pics of it !
Only Kidding ?
welcome to the Jungle
henrebotha
Squonk wrote:
Welcome
You seem to have achieved a lot to be only 21. It must be the Cape air ?
Irony: I haven't achieved anything. My skill at my instruments is
nothing considering that I dedicate my life to music. And I'm only just beginning to learn anything about sound engineering.
EDIT: Haven't composed anything either. Sure, have written a handful of half-songs on Guitar Pro, but generally only as jokes. And as much as I want to write my own lyrics, I haven't been able to do that either.
Carmen
Hey Henre, welcome!
I also like Heroes... ? 8)
Sean
Hey, welcome Henre, interesting intro, thanks. Hope you enjoy the forum ?