If you're on the fence about the Rally...

[VanderBoegh]

I just wanted to write a message specially for Taxi members who are undecided on attending the Rally, or have decided not to, or don't know much about it. Here's the short message:

GO TO THE ROAD RALLY. GO.

Five years ago (2011) I went to my very first Road Rally. I had been a Taxi member for a few years already, but I had been doing Taxi the "wrong" way (not that there's really a "wrong" way... but I was writing music with no brief or guidelines, paying for studio time to produce it, then trying to force that music into various Taxi listings.... I got nothing but returns doing it this way. The whole "square peg / round hole" thing). But after my first Rally, I decided I'd try writing TV music and learn how to produce it on my own.

The next year (2012), I couldn't attend the Rally because of factors slightly beyond my control. Dumb mistake. I should have found a way to go, but alas...

In 2013 I went to my 2nd Rally. On the very first night, I met two people who would change my life. Literally. Those people were Chuck Henry (you may recognize him from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k2WTlTaKUY) and John Fulford (you may recognize him from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVHv0gwdvQk, and this https://www.youtube.com/user/MusicSyncLicensing). I met Chuck in the bar, while ordering an $8 beer and watching college football. Turns out we were both college football junkies, and within minutes we hit it off. Chuck introduced me to John, and after that weekend, I'd built two solid friendships with two freakin' cool dudes. To this day, we all still call, text, and email each other. When not discussing music, we're commiserating our football team's recent losses or celebrating their wins. Oh, and we're making thousands of dollars together every quarter.

But I digress...

That Road Rally was such a turning point for me. Chuck taught me so much about music composition in the 45 minutes it took to listen to the CD I'd brought. It was a music education full of information I'd never received in college. And from that point onward, I've incorporated his lessons into nearly every cue that I've made.

Where else could you get that, but at the Taxi Road Rally? Certainly, I could never get it in my hometown of Boise Idaho. The college music courses at Boise State never teach this stuff. And you're certainly not surrounded by thousands of people that are all so incredibly supportive and like-minded in college or in your own local cutthroat music scene. Really, the only place that you can get face-to-face lessons with industry pros (I'm talking about the one-on-one mentor sessions), or face-to-face random music lessons over beers in the lobby, or personal introductions to highly successful library owners, or production lessons from Grammy winners, and be in the company of thousands of composers and musicians, is the Road Rally.

Is it worth it? Hell yeah. Oh heeeeelllllll yeah. It can change your life.

I know the room charges can add up. So can airfare. But do whatever you can to make it. Sell some stuff on Craigslist. Sell your plasma at the plasma center. Have a yard sale. Do whatever you can to make it to the Rally.

This will be my fifth. And every year I look forward to it like a kid at Christmas.

~~Matt

[Paulie]

Matt ::Drops the mic:: !

[WeWillWriteUaSong]

Super souped!!