Jerry’s Story:

Hi, I’m Jerry Kramskoy. I founded MusicIncite, Ltd., in 2013.  I came up with the emuso™ concept a while back and have recently been able to bring it to life with the help of my buddies inside and outside of MusicIncite. What you need to know about my background … I am an ex-pro guitarist, theory expert, and software expert.  I am friends with some of the top players and music teachers in the UK and have been able to work, write, record with, and learn from them. Music is and always has been a huge part of my life. I play many styles, ranging from Metal to Jazz.  I had virtuoso technique up until serious hand injuries.  Now recovering, emuso is a big part of helping me rebuild my mechanical technique; I use it to create demanding practice sessions.  I also use emuso for rhythmic exploration … there are so many ideas for tunes, licks, and so on, that can be triggered by rhythm, phrasing, and structure in time.  It fascinates me.

Please feel free to add your own story by commenting.

My Pain Learning Music

At age 10, my initial experience with a guitar teacher was deadly dull and unmusical.  He tried to force me to read music on the first lesson,  “every good boy deserves fun”.  Sadly, that irony was lost on him.  A few lessons later, he had an epileptic fit.  That wasn’t dull but I never saw him again.   Moving along to my early twenties, I was a pretty good guitarist and intensely curious musically.  I tried teaching myself theory from an old book on harmony by Walter Piston.  I couldn’t sight read, so 5 seconds of music notation written for piano could take me 15 minutes to decode if the rhythm was complicated. Without hearing the examples properly, I resorted to the words. The jargon!

Guess what happened next …  I gave up.  I knew so many musicians in the same boat.

Eventually, I came back to theory in my early thirties after being severely embarrassed in a couple of musical situations.  I wasn’t having that again… ever.  I was lucky enough to meet with an amazing player and teacher, Shaun Baxter, who opened my mind and ears to a world of new sounds and ideas.  I realized that the theory could be learned quickly.  The principles are simple!   It’s the ability to take these tools taught by theory and use them musically in your genre(s) which takes time.   Then working these in with your mechanical skills and developing rhythmic phrasing to go with it.

Summary

Our team believes musical communications occur when improvisation becomes second nature and composition is de-mystified, allowing free expression (in whatever musical format that might be).  Our business is to show the world a better way to learn and enjoy music.  Our mission is to give everyone a better-than-fighting chance of succeeding, to the level they want, without getting bogged down in the usual academic jargon and notation.  Everyone deserves a “voice” in the global conversation that is music!