My Musical Journey
Have you ever considered how many notes are simultaneously played at any given point in a song? What if each note was played and individually recorded one at a time? That is the reality of my music. Let me explain....
I'm Jon Weems and I've been playing music for most of my life. As a young child and throughout my school years, I learned to play the keyboard, guitar, bass guitar, trumpet, baritone, and snare drum through both lessons and various school bands. After graduation, I continued to play guitar and keyboard. It was then that I began co-writing with a drummer/lyricist friend. We wrote and recorded several original songs together.
During that time, I was injured in a diving accident that left me paralyzed from the neck down. I am now a level C6 quadriplegic, which means I do have most of the use of my arms, but not my hands or fingers.
"How do you play music without the use of your fingers?" I'm glad you asked! I have typing sticks that fit over each hand which I use to play my keyboard, a Yamaha MOX6. The sticks work well, but allow me to play only one note at a time. If you are familiar with sequencers, you know you can play a one-note melody for any amount of measures and then go back and continue to add on with rhythm, counter melodies, etc. That would be one sequence. My keyboard sequencer allows up to 80 sequences which all fit together like a puzzle to make a song. This process takes a very long time for me, but it's a good feeling to listen to a song knowing I wrote, played, sang and recorded every note.
I have enjoyed speaking to others and performing my music at churches, festivals, Ms. Wheelchair VA Galas, coffee houses and other venues.
I hope you find my story inspirational. I encourage everyone, disabled or not, to find a way to be involved in enjoyable activities; especially if you can find a creative outlet to help express feelings.
Thank you for stopping by!
My Instrument
