I am a musician .....

[donnbaumgartner]

Ya know .... I am a musician .... I love music of all kinds.

I am well versed and educated in music and it's theory.

Over the years I developed a saying:

"I love every thing from the Carpenters to Led Zeppelin."

and that is the truth about me. I just love music. Life offers a variiety of emotion and music shoudl be free to express the entire range.

From a true musician, a comment about the former (the Carpenter's that is):

"The two of them together were nothing short of genius."

Karen understood that "less was more", and Richard knew (knows) so much about chord and melody theory that he is nearly unsurpassed in the application of music theory to modern music. His use of "the 13th cord" 1-3-5-7-9-11-13, is legendary and a trademark.

I hope he knows that many see this and appreciate his genius. If any of you know him, please relay his message to him.

In the 70's the Carpenters was the "group" that every one was listening to, but no one would admit it.

Listening to this music was (and is) wonderful .... the "not admitting it" part was a true shame.

The music of the Carpenter's is truly timeless.

Among my stack of favorite CDs that includes, Jimmy Hedrix, Arron Copeland, Bach, and the Beatles .... is The Carpenters

And that is a stack that they belong in.

[Rick Henry]

Hello Donna welcome to the Carpenters Online and thank you for such an inspiring message.

I am also a musician or vocalist anyway. In the late 80's and early 90's I took several years of vocal training. My vocal coach was grooming me to sing in a range similar to Steve Perry of Journey. I had formed an alt-rock group named GreenHouse which evolved into Thunder Lizards, I was lead vocalist and songwriter. I also sang in a few church choirs, including a Gospel choir. I'm not in a band or choir anymore and it's been about 6 years since, but I still have a keen ear for vocal production. And Karen is one of the finest vocalists of all-time. She possesses all the qualities of a great singer, timing, pitch, range, style, etc.

It's funny that you say you like everything from Carpenters to Led Zeppelin, I had for a very long time said the exact same thing. I agree it's a shame that we all were listening and loving the Carpenters, but never admitted it. I am guilty myself. I was one of the millions of closet Carpenters fans. It's really a strange phenomena and maybe this is just another aspect that adds to the mystery and legacy of Karen and the music of the Carpenters.

[JIM]

Hey guys!
I am also a musician.I play
college level sax, and also have
spent some time on vocal training.
My vocal instructor said my voice
is similar to James Taylor but I
have never performed professionally. My partner is a
professional Sax player and usually
gives me a hard time about my love
for the CarpenerS. He thouht they
were a manufactured type band until
he saw Karen playing drums and singing on the CarpenterS 2000
video during a live performance.
He now respects the sh...t out of
there work and his band covers
a few C tunes.
I am currently taking private lessons in chord theory for keyboards and can see even more
of the genius in Richards arranging
techniques. My goal is write music.
Some day I will work up the nerve
to step up to the mike and sing.

[Moe]

Thanks for sharing more insite to Karen and Richard's talents. I played in the band during my middle school and high school days, but didn't care for it and haven't played my clarinet in 20 + years. I can't sing, either! If I was younger, I could go audition for American Idol! LOL!! (scat girl cracked me up!) I just appreciate good music and an unbelievable voice.

take care-