MARCH 9-10, 2023
A FREE, two-day conference providing musicians the tools to succeed.
Created by UAB Alys Stephens Center’s own Eric Essix, MUSE Conference is FREE and created for new, aspiring and seasoned musicians. Attendees will hear from music industry professionals and participate in group discussions sure to inform and inspire. Food trucks will be on-site.
Click here to register now!
EVENT SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MARCH 9
The Musicians Career Guide
10am
Speaker: Ulysses Owens Jr.
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
This workshop will be based on the book “The Musicians Career Guide,” and will cover topics around maximizing your talent, environment, and relationships; coupled with making sure the students possess the necessary career tools that will assist in building a sustainable career.
Creative Entrepreneurship Session
11am
Speaker: Ulysses Owens Jr.
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
This workshop will focus on artists and college students understanding the power of entrepreneurship and how it can be interwoven into their daily pursuits of building their perspective careers. Within this workshop I will also create space for personal and career introspection and how to analyze the strong and challenging points that should be maximized and addressed for a more sustainable career. 50 Minute Session
Lunch & Learn: Protecting Your Hearing
12PM
Speakers: TBD
Location: ASC Lower Lobby
Food Truck: Magic City Eats
Creative Shark Tank
1:30pm
Speaker: Ulysses Owens Jr.
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
5- 10 select students will pitch a creative project (Album, Tour, Book) to the panel and we will determine based on the strength of the proposal and the strongest and most impactful pitch who will win the micro-grant from a prospective sponsor. 60 Minute session
Interview with Meshell Ndegeocello
3pm
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
Inside The Arts
5:30pm
Location: ASC Lower Lobby
Speakers: Ricky Schultz and Eric Essix
A discussion of the merging of hip hop and jazz in the 1990s.
Performance: Meshell Ndegeocello
7pm
Meshell Ndegeocello’s music twists and turns through so many genres – R&B, pop, jazz, hip-hop – that it’s hard to put a finger on just where she wants to take you. Ndegeocello has defied labels throughout her more than 20-year career as one of the brightest and most innovative artists. A 10-time Grammy nominee, Ndegeocello is respected in the industry as a virtuoso on the electric bass guitar and as a composer/producer. Her songs have a rubbery flow rooted in ‘70s funky soul and ‘90s hip-hop culture. Ndegeocello will engage conference attendees in a moderated panel discussion and also give a featured performance.
FRIDAY, MARCH 10
Making It As A Touring Musician
10am
Speakers: John Roberts, West Byrd, and Sean Michael Ray
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
11:15am
Speakers: Ricky Schultz and Eric Essix
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
Lunch & Learn Hand Health
12pm
Speaker: Dr. Joseph Sherrill
Food Truck: Dr. iCantina
Location: ASC Lower Lobby
The Business and Art of Music Production: Beats and Beyond
1pm
Moderator: Eric Essix
Speakers: Grammy Winners Kelvin Wooten and Phil Davis
Location: Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts
2:30pm
Speaker: Chad Leftkowitz
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
4:30pm
Speaker: Victor Wooten
Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall
8pm
Location: Jemison Concert Hall
Victor Wooten is a 5-time Grammy Award winner and a founding member of the supergroup Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. He has been called the most influential bassist of the last 2 decades and was listed as one of the Top Ten Bassists of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine. Wooten was also the winner of Bass Player Magazine’s reader poll 3 times and remains the only person to have won it more than once. Having released multiple solo recordings, he is also the author of the widely read novel The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music.
Steve Bailey is a pioneer of the six-string fretless bass whose techniques are studied around the world. Steve, an avid recording artist with two solo recordings under his belt, currently holds the position of Chair of the Bass Department at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Bailey has played and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, The Rippingtons, Jethro Tull, Paquito D’rivera, Larry Carlton, and Willie Nelson, to name just a few. Bass Player Magazine wrote: “Steve Bailey is to the 6-string fretless bass what Columbus is to America.”
Together, they formed Bass Extremes in 1992, releasing their self-titled debut which remains one of the top-selling musical/instructional bass products of all time. Subsequent DVD and CD releases followed as they toured the world performing clinics and concerts. They are also known and respected as the dynamic teaching duo who continue to teach together at events, colleges, and universities around the world. They were also instrumental in introducing the original “Bass Camp” idea when they ran their first Bass/Nature Camp in Tennessee in the year 2000 and Bass at the Beach in South Carolina a few years later- both intensive camps which attract students from all over the world.
