An Interview with Will (Bill Tong) 9.29.09 by HolleyHall, 29 Sep 2009 06:59 AM

WILL

EZfolk Artist page: http://c1.ezfolk.com/Will/audio.php
EZfolk Radio Station: http://ezfolk.com/audio/Will/radio.php

Instruments: 12-string guitar, 6-string guitar, tenor guitar, autoharp, tenor banjo, mandola, octave mandolin, mandolin, ukulele, lap dulcimer, strumstick, electronic keyboard, organ, melodica.

Will is a very multi-talented folk/blues musician who can play just about instrument he picks up by ear! Now that's talent!!!  He plays in 3 different bands as well as writes his own music.  He has been on EZ Folk for several years and I catch him often on the EZfolk forums always helping others with many different music questions/subjects and sharing his wonderful music!

Thank you Will for the honor of this interview and sharing your back ground with us!

HOLLEY: Tell us about your music background? When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music? What instruments do you play?

WILL: Thank you, Holley. My real name is Bill Tong. This is probably a different kind of an interview than you've done before.  I am more comfortable playing in a group than as a solo performer, so you will be getting the viewpoint of a side man who sings and plays different instruments in different styles with different groups.  I am not the lead singer or even a lead instrumentalist in any of the groups I play with, although I have shared these roles with other band mates on different songs. I especially enjoy singing vocal harmony.  Neither of my parents play any instruments, but my mother's late older brother played the erhu (a Chinese 2-string violin). I have no formal training in music, nor lessons on any musical instrument. The only music class I ever had was mixed chorus in high school.

When I was pre-school age, I played records for hours on a portable phonograph, which included a lot of Chinese folk, pop, and even opera music; we had most children's records, and not many Top 40 pop records in the house.  When I was in first grade, I played my baby sister's wooden toy piano and discovered that I could pick out tunes. I also discovered that I could remember the pitch of a song in my head after learning it from a recording. When I was 9, my grandfather bought me a Magnus chord organ, which was a $30 reed organ with an internal fan and 12 chord buttons. 

During my college years, my dad bought me a used Hammond "Sounder" chord organ, which had a primitive rhythm machine with just 5 drum patterns.  When Casio started selling portable electronic keyboards with a larger number of rhythm patterns, I bought several of them. In 1986, I mail ordered a $3,200 Wersi organ kit that I had to assemble myself (it took 6 weeks; an assembled organ cost twice that price).  After seeing a concert at the Old Town School of Folk Music in 1993, I got a chance to visit their music store and I saw an autoharp in their display case.  I bought my first autoharp a few months later, andbecause it was a chord button instrument, I learned to play it in a few hours. It took about 3 years before I could play melodies well on the autoharp. 

In 1996, the EPA office in Chicago put together a number of in-house bands to celebrate Earth Day.  I joined the folk group (having had no previous band experience), which had no name initially, but eventually became The Earth Tones.  When we played our debut concert, the opening number was "Redwing" which I literally learned to play "on-the-fly." I liked the autoharp, but I really wanted to learn how to play guitar; I learned the baritone ukulele as a stepping stone in 2002. I joined Loose Change & Friends in October 2003, and by that time, I had collected and learned other instruments such as tenor guitar, tenor banjo, and strumstick dulcimer. In January 2005, I bought my first 12-string guitar and within a week, I was playing it at Loose Change concerts. I have recently collected a number of mandolin family instruments (mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin, bouzouki) and learned to play in GDAE tuning. Out of the dozens of instruments that I own, my favorite is the 12-string guitar (I have 4 of them).

THE EARTH TONES: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/337/index.php

Karen Reshkin (vocal, fiddle),
Bill Tong (vocal, tenor banjo, 12-string guitar),
Mary Ann Suero (vocal, guitar),
Ted Smith (vocal guitar)

HOLLEY: Tell us a story about a day in your life.
WILL:  I work full-time at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a geologist in the Water Division.  I moonlight 2 evenings a week teaching earth science as an adjunct faculty member at Oakton Community College (I use my teaching salary to pay for my musical instruments).  In my spare time, I play regularly with two bands, Loose Change & Friends (since 2003), who play mostly on weekends; and A Bunch Of Coconuts (since 2008), who play mostly on a weekday. 

HOLLEY: What artist(s) do you feel you can compare your sound too? How did they influence your music?

WILL:  I'm influenced by the music of The Kingston Trio, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce, and James Taylor.  The groups that I play with have their own unique sound, which are unlike any other existing groups, in my opinion.

HOLLEY: Can you tell us about any special playing techiniques you implement in your music? your preferences and how do they differ from other techniques you have tried?

WILL:  I have always played instruments by ear, and I have never had formal lessons.  So, as far as technique, I am probably not playing any instrument in the orthodox manner.  On keyboards, I don't have the left hand independence to play piano well; I'm better at playing the organ, where the left hand plays more steady chords, and the bass notes are played on foot pedals.  Perhaps because I learned to play on an autoharp (a chord instrument), I am a chord-melody style player on ukulele, guitar, and mandolin-family instruments.  I have no idea what individual notes I am playing on a keyboard or on a string instrument; I just have an idea of what chords to play to get the melody and accompaniment heard.  I still cannot read music and I can barely read tabulature.  I have found playing with a Herco thumbflat pick (worn on the thumb) to be the best way for me to play guitar. I have to rely on "guesswork-on-the-fly" and instinct to play a song I haven't played before, but having many years of music jamming experience has helped me.  For years, I have sang to my son (he's 10 years old now) before he goes to sleep; in a darkened room, singing and playing guitar softly without a pick and not being able to see the guitar neck. Believe it or not, playing this way, by "feel" has actually been very good practice for me.

LOOSE CHANGE & FRIENDS: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/245/blog.php
Marcy Novit (lead vocal, guitar)

Ron Novit (banjo)
John Daugherty (mandolin)
Bruce Sedloff (fiddle),
Bill Tong (vocal, autoharp, 12-string guitar, various other instruments),
Lee Mishkin (bass),
Doris Lee Dutton (vocal, clog dancing)

HOLLEY: Do you write your own songs or do you prefer to play traditional music?
WILL: I play mostly traditional music and pop music from the 1950s through 1970s.  I do not compose music, but I have written over 1,400 song parodies during the past 14 years, mostly by twisting the rhymes in established classic rock and pop songs (look up "William Tong" on Amiright.com).  My parodies are 99% political and often very partisan, however, so I have seldom ever performed them, at least not in public.

HOLLEY: When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it?
WILL:  My last parody was a send-off to George W. Bush, a parody of The Carpenters' "Goodbye To Love" that I called "Goodbye To Shrub."

HOLLEY: Do you have any particular songs that you play (cover or original music) you consider your favorites?
WILL:  Drift Away (Dobie Gray), Ventura Highway (America), Rocky Mountain High (John Denver), Wildfire (Michael Martin Murphy), Greenback Dollar (Kingston Trio), Paradise (John Prine), Today (New Christy Minstrels), and Nowhere In A Hurry Blues (Steve Goodman) are favorite songs of mine that I often play at jams.
 
HOLLEY: In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived), affect the music you create, or your taste in music?

WILL: I've lived in the Chicago area all of my life, so the folk singers who played here, such as John Prine and Steve Goodman, are influences.  I also like Chicago and Delta blues.

HOLLEY: Do you prefer to play music as a profession or a hobby?

WILL: I play it as a hobby.

HOLLEY: What are your musical goals?
WILL: I'm learning to play more instruments on my own, but it takes a lot of time.  Right now, I'm trying to learn to play the electric bass guitar.  I've had an electric lap steel guitar for a while, but I haven't really learned to play it well, as yet.

HOLLEY: What live performance experience have you had? (feel free to include any specific experiences/memories you had enjoyed etc.)

WILL: I've played with the Earth Tones since 1996 (we usually play one concert a year), I've been singer and instrumental accompanist for The Metcalfe Carolers (an in-house Christmas carolers group at EPA) since 1998, I've played over 125 concerts with Loose Change & Friends, and over a dozen concerts with A Bunch Of Coconuts.

HOLLEY: Do you have CD’s/Audio files for sale? If so, where can they be purchased?
WILL: As a solo player, I have not made any CDs.  Loose Change & Friends and The Earth Tones have tunes posted on EZFolk, and we make small batches of CDs to sell locally to audience members at our concerts, but not on-line.  A Bunch Of Coconuts play covers, and we do not have CDs for sale, but we have YouTube videos posted.

HOLLEY: Have you recorded any previous CDs or posted any audio files on the Internet? (What type of recording process did you use? Who produced your recording?)
WILL: I also play the role of audio recording technician with the bands I have played with.  I have used a Sony Mini-disc recorder (since retired), a Zoom H4 digital recorder, and occasionally, a Canon High Definition digital camcorder to make audio and video recordings (some are posted at ezFolk and others on YouTube).  I do all of the editing using computer audio software (Audio Cleaning Lab and Cakewalk Pyro) and video software (Pinnacle Studio 12). 

HOLLEY: Where do you have your music posted online?
WILL: My solo performances are all recorded at home or at jams with friends, and a number of them are at my solo ezFolk URL, listed above.  I have not performed "live" very often as a soloist, except at a few open mike events.  I have a recent video clip of myself performing at The Tiki Terrace "Kanikapila IV Live Band Karaoke" at this URL:

LEI PAKALANA & TRADEWINDS, by BILL TONG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJp9BVq6Edk

HOLLEY: Any Music Videos? If so, what are they about?
WILL: There are concert clips (but not produced music videos) of Loose Change & Friends, A Bunch Of Coconuts, and The Earth Tones posted on YouTube.

 HOLLEY: Name a band or musician, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and think more people should be listening to. What's one of your all-time favorite recordings by this band/musician?

WILL: I have always loved John Denver's music, and I think his musical legacy is underrated by the music business and will stand the test of time.  My favorite album of his is "I Want To Live" from 1978; his song, "Tradewinds" is the song that I performed in the above YouTube clip.

HOLLEY: Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? (Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours?)
WILL:  I like mostly old music from the 1960s and 1970s, in almost any musical style.

HOLLEY: When is your next live performance? (if possible, please select a date that is several weeks out so it will still be current once posted)
WILL:  Loose Change & Friends will be playing for the first time at the Lake Barrington Barn Stomp on Saturday, October 10, 2009, from 4:30 to 6:30 PM in Lake Barrington, IL.  Loose Change & Friends will play the Wheaton Public Library on Sunday, October 18, at 2:00 PM.  A Bunch Of Coconuts generally plays at The Tiki Terrace in Des Plaines, IL, on the third Wednesday evening of the month at 7:30 PM, so the next concert date is likely to be October 21. 

HOLLEY: How do you promote your band and shows?
WILL:  I am also the webmaster who designed and updates the web sites for Loose Change & Friends, The Earth Tones, and A Bunch Of Coconuts. I edit and post audio files on ezFolk, and video files on YouTube.

HOLLEY: Describe your show, visual and musically.

WILL:  Loose Change & Friends has developed a number of theme concerts during recent years, such as "Music Of The Hills" which focuses on old-time country (mountain) music, played in a darkened room while a DVD of public domain images of past life in Appalachia are projected on a view screen. We also have a show called "Music America Grew Up With," which is a mixture of American folk songs and old-time string band tunes.  During the past two years, as the 200th birthday anniversary of President Lincoln has been celebrated at libraries across the U.S., Loose Change & Friends has played a program called "Lincoln & Liberty," consisting of old-time and folk music played during Abraham Lincoln's life time. Doris Dutton, our clog dancer, was born in West Virginia, and really catches that audience's attention when she dances.  A Bunch Of Coconuts plays a mixture of Hawaiian, tropical, and island songs, with a focus on having fun while we perform; most of us play ukulele, but I play 12-string guitar, while another plays bass, and another plays steel guitar.  We open and close our concerts with "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts."

HOLLEY: What are some of your pet peeves?
WILL: People (usually non-musicians) who consider playing music to be frivolous and/or an expensive hobby can really annoy me; unfortunately, this includes a few family members, whom I shall not name. :-)
    
HOLLEY: What have you/your band found to be your biggest obstacle. How did you work through it?
WILL: I have to learn new songs by ear, either through repetition, or through a recording.  (I can't do much with a piece of sheet music that someone may hand to me, except learn the lyrics and chord progression.)  I will often record practice sessions, so that I can learn the song on my own after the practice session is over.

HOLLEY: Do you have any advice/experience you would like to share with fellow artists you think would be helpful?
WILL:  It's never too late in life to learn to play a musical instrument.  I taught myself to play guitar at age 46, about 30 years later than some of my musical friends.  If you have the gift of being able to play by ear, by all means, make good use of it - you will never run out of songs to play and try out.  Ensemble playing is a worthwhile challenge that helps you to develop good timing and the ability to balance and blend your playing in a group setting.

CC: Forums http://ezfolk.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=7764&forum_id=36&jump_to=47019#p47019