Today I was on the site stumbleupon.com, which is a site that shows you random sites it thinks you will like after you fill out a 'interests' profile. One of my interests is-surprise, surprise- music, and today stumble upon brought me to this site:
http://lifehacker.com/5865032/how-music-affects-the-brain-and-how-you-can-use-it-to-your-advantage%253Fpopular%253Dtrue
Whether it's true or not, I found it interesting and thought I'd let you guys see it.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
The "Blog Album"-An Explanation of the Last Few Blog Posts
So for those of you who are wondering why I didn't posted a lot tonight, I decided that I wanted to end my semester by "releasing" my blogs like they were tracks on an album. I started by "leaking" a blog or releasing a single a few days ago. Then tonight, I "released" the album, and in a few days I will post the video I made a while ago as "bonus features. " I know this isn't a common blogging style, but I thought I'd give it a shot as an interesting end to the semester.
In the end, It's Instinctual.
So why do we continue to listen to music? The styles keep changing, so no matter what you like to hear it's going to be out of fashion in a few years, artists get corrupted by fame and fortune, and lose everything that you liked about them, and even the listening style has changed to a point where music is mostly in the background. (Elevator music used to be unique in that it was the only form of music that was played as something in the background, and not something to actively listen to or dance to.) Despite constant change-something we are designed to hate-we continue to listen to, create, and critique music, whether it's brand new or hundreds of years old. Something inside us tell us that music is good, unifying, and worth our time, even if we only give it a little bit. We, instinctually like music, when it seems like we should hate it.
In "Nostalgia of the Young" Turkle discusses how with todays tethered lifestyle, we are all programmed to instantaneously respond to texts and instant messages we receive, even if the risks are catastrophic. Hundreds, if not thousands of car accidents are caused by texting every year. Students' forgo doing homework assignments in favor of talking to friends online. We all know this is wrong, but we all do it anyway. Something inside of us has told us that we need to do what we know is wrong.
Similarly music, although the consequences are less strict, has also been programmed to be something we like and encourage. It is merely a sign of the passing times. There is no real reason as to why it happened, it just did. Hundreds or even thousands of years ago, our ancestors decided that music was something that would benefit them as a species, and it has continued to grow past its helpful stage to a dangerous stage, yet we still use it. A few decades ago, cell phone were invented to help keep people in contact with each other while away on vacations or business. Today it is one of the highest factors that can get you killed. In another fifty years, who knows what we will be doing that is hurting ourselves, but one thing is for sure. We will still be listening to music and talking on cellphones.
In "Nostalgia of the Young" Turkle discusses how with todays tethered lifestyle, we are all programmed to instantaneously respond to texts and instant messages we receive, even if the risks are catastrophic. Hundreds, if not thousands of car accidents are caused by texting every year. Students' forgo doing homework assignments in favor of talking to friends online. We all know this is wrong, but we all do it anyway. Something inside of us has told us that we need to do what we know is wrong.
Similarly music, although the consequences are less strict, has also been programmed to be something we like and encourage. It is merely a sign of the passing times. There is no real reason as to why it happened, it just did. Hundreds or even thousands of years ago, our ancestors decided that music was something that would benefit them as a species, and it has continued to grow past its helpful stage to a dangerous stage, yet we still use it. A few decades ago, cell phone were invented to help keep people in contact with each other while away on vacations or business. Today it is one of the highest factors that can get you killed. In another fifty years, who knows what we will be doing that is hurting ourselves, but one thing is for sure. We will still be listening to music and talking on cellphones.
That Good Ole' Fashion Groove (or Feel, or Smell, or Sound)
In todays ultra digital world, if one wants to get a song, they go to one of the hundreds of digital downloading sites-legal or *ahem*...anyways-and gets the song they want. Usually while they are there, one is prompted to download the rest of the album or various remixes and mashups of the song, but often these requests get ignored. With apps like Shazam and Soundhound, you can hold your phone to the radio and find out what a song is within seconds, or if you are trying to remember what song you heard in the bathroom at work, you can hum it into the phone's mic and it will identify the track for you. The digital music era has removed the physical aspect of music, but what if that isn't a good thing. People no longer discover new music from friends; they discover it from the internet. Albums are seldom purchased with consumer option for the individual song purchases almost every time. Again, I love the ability to get one track form an album, especially if I'm making a mix and only need one song off of an album to finish it. I just wonder if some of the character behind the musical experience is gone.
In "Growing Up Tethered, " Turkle discusses how growing up completely connected has changed the way people life, and grow up, in todays world. Turkle discusses how people are more focused on their friends lists then their actual friends. At this point, most people would sacrifice an legitimate, personal friendship for 10 new "friends" on Facebook.
Similarly to Turkle's ideas about losing intimacy, the music experience is also losing its intimacy. No longer do people sit around and listen to a whole album. Everyone is plugged into their ipods while running, driving, working, or studying. Music is used as a background noise, not an experience. Yes, music is more available to the public, but at what cost? When was the last time you listened to an album for what it was? or went to a concert? or stopped what you were doing to see if you actually knew the entire song? ..Exactly, the experience has diminished to a level our hippie predecessors would find embarrassing. As a music fan, I say stand up! ...and then sit down, put a CD in your home audio system, and chill on the couch for an hour.
In "Growing Up Tethered, " Turkle discusses how growing up completely connected has changed the way people life, and grow up, in todays world. Turkle discusses how people are more focused on their friends lists then their actual friends. At this point, most people would sacrifice an legitimate, personal friendship for 10 new "friends" on Facebook.
Similarly to Turkle's ideas about losing intimacy, the music experience is also losing its intimacy. No longer do people sit around and listen to a whole album. Everyone is plugged into their ipods while running, driving, working, or studying. Music is used as a background noise, not an experience. Yes, music is more available to the public, but at what cost? When was the last time you listened to an album for what it was? or went to a concert? or stopped what you were doing to see if you actually knew the entire song? ..Exactly, the experience has diminished to a level our hippie predecessors would find embarrassing. As a music fan, I say stand up! ...and then sit down, put a CD in your home audio system, and chill on the couch for an hour.
Physical Instruments a Thing of the Past?
As many of you are aware, technology is growing at an alarming rate. Some of you may even be reading this on your phone, mp3 player, net book, or tablet. As these devices grow more popular, so do the numbers of music apps available to use on them. Now a days, with the tap of a finger you can have a piano, guitar, drum kit, synth machine, or professional recording studio. This is great for making many kinds of music available to all, but it also changes the way music is played. Gone are the days spent squeezing your fingers onto a fret board, trying to push down one string without touching another. The countless hours spent hunched over a piano, or trying to get the sound of a saxophone have been replaced by "iGrandpanio" and "Mr. Saxoman for Iphone."
As stated in the google doctrine, the internet is a truly amazing tool for improving life all over the world, but it also has a negative effect. Just as the internet spread rumors about the "twitter revolution" of Iran, so too does the internt provide a false sense of virtuoso to computer geeks all over the world. I'm not saying I'm against digital music (Im a DJ for christ-sake) Im just throwing out the idea that maybe physical ability shouldn't be left in the dark for too long, or it will be lost.
The future is unknown. Some say we are going to eventually become one with machines. Others predict the machines taking over and making us their tools and toys. Others still believe that we are doomed to crash into the sun or an astriod or some other natural disaster. The prediction that should be the most alarming to both techies and digital musicians is the theory that nature is going to "revolt" against the digital era and release some sort of magnetic pulse that will render all technology useless. If this happens, it doesn't matter how good you are at tap-tap pro or guitar hero, unless you can actually pick up the 6 stringed beast and play, you may as well have never even downloaded the app. I know it's a scary process, but it's worth thinking about the next time you're about to download a trumpet app instead of playing your dad's old horn.
As stated in the google doctrine, the internet is a truly amazing tool for improving life all over the world, but it also has a negative effect. Just as the internet spread rumors about the "twitter revolution" of Iran, so too does the internt provide a false sense of virtuoso to computer geeks all over the world. I'm not saying I'm against digital music (Im a DJ for christ-sake) Im just throwing out the idea that maybe physical ability shouldn't be left in the dark for too long, or it will be lost.
The future is unknown. Some say we are going to eventually become one with machines. Others predict the machines taking over and making us their tools and toys. Others still believe that we are doomed to crash into the sun or an astriod or some other natural disaster. The prediction that should be the most alarming to both techies and digital musicians is the theory that nature is going to "revolt" against the digital era and release some sort of magnetic pulse that will render all technology useless. If this happens, it doesn't matter how good you are at tap-tap pro or guitar hero, unless you can actually pick up the 6 stringed beast and play, you may as well have never even downloaded the app. I know it's a scary process, but it's worth thinking about the next time you're about to download a trumpet app instead of playing your dad's old horn.
Musical Myths?
One of the amazing things about music is that no two songs are the same. Each one has its own sound, feeling, and texture. No two stories tell the same story. Two rappers may rap about how they both came out of the same hood, worked for the same drug dealer, and dated the same women in high school, but their songs tell different stories. Non-lyrical works-like classical, instrumental, and electronic music-tell an even more abstract and unique story. So it would make sense that every time you listen to a new song, you are hearing a new story. However, according to myth theory, all stories are the same, so while you may think that you are hearing a new story, you are really listening to the same story over and over again.
Myth theory is the idea that every story follows the same pattern. To summarize it (and I'm skipping some of the steps) There is a hero-the main character-who lives in a troubled world. The character receives a call to fix a problem in sed world. At first he resists, but then he accepts the challenge. The hero then meets his allies and enemies. He faces challenges and then overcomes them, often with the help of a special power or weapon. The hero then dies, but is reborn and the story ends. Now it is fairly easy to apply this to written stories, both fictional and non-fictional, but does it apply to music and the story(-ies?) it tells?
Lets look at two pieces of music, one with lyrics one without. In the song "Shots" by Lil' John and LMFAO, the artists talk about drinking extreme amounts of alcohol. They never declare a hero and at the end of the song, the listeners are supposed to so drunk that they cannot actually say words. If we are to assume that the subject(s) of the song are the hero, and they answer the call to drink, then they die at the end, but are not reborn. Because of this, I believe that some-not all, but some- lyrical music does not follow myth theory. Non-lyrical songs are much less likely to follow myth theory. In the Classical piece "the four seasons" the composer has four pieces, each one representing one season. The pieces don't tell a collective story, about a central character, rather just how things change and flow from one season to the next in a continuous circle. Nothing broken, nothing needs fixing, and no hero is even present. This also proves that non-lyrical music is very unlikely to follow myth theory. With no words, non-lyrical music tends to be about feeling, which never follows a set pattern.
Myth theory is the idea that every story follows the same pattern. To summarize it (and I'm skipping some of the steps) There is a hero-the main character-who lives in a troubled world. The character receives a call to fix a problem in sed world. At first he resists, but then he accepts the challenge. The hero then meets his allies and enemies. He faces challenges and then overcomes them, often with the help of a special power or weapon. The hero then dies, but is reborn and the story ends. Now it is fairly easy to apply this to written stories, both fictional and non-fictional, but does it apply to music and the story(-ies?) it tells?
Lets look at two pieces of music, one with lyrics one without. In the song "Shots" by Lil' John and LMFAO, the artists talk about drinking extreme amounts of alcohol. They never declare a hero and at the end of the song, the listeners are supposed to so drunk that they cannot actually say words. If we are to assume that the subject(s) of the song are the hero, and they answer the call to drink, then they die at the end, but are not reborn. Because of this, I believe that some-not all, but some- lyrical music does not follow myth theory. Non-lyrical songs are much less likely to follow myth theory. In the Classical piece "the four seasons" the composer has four pieces, each one representing one season. The pieces don't tell a collective story, about a central character, rather just how things change and flow from one season to the next in a continuous circle. Nothing broken, nothing needs fixing, and no hero is even present. This also proves that non-lyrical music is very unlikely to follow myth theory. With no words, non-lyrical music tends to be about feeling, which never follows a set pattern.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Instinctual Update
Im aware that this is a short update, but I'm listening to a new playlist of house/trance/dubstep music I got through my local dj club, and in one of the songs, something just happened that made me just feel the music. Not the subject matter of the music (its electronic, so there are no lyrics) just the music itself. The rise and fall of the pitch and tempo, the intensity of the beat, the womp of the bass, and the drop as one tracks sequens perfectly into the next, it's literally something indescribable with words. ITs just a feeling, more of an instinct really, but I felt that I had to express this feeling to someone, so I chose all of you. For those of you who are interested in this music, message me and I'll send you the sites the music is featured on. Thats all for now, happy jamming, head banging, and all that good stuff you do.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
It's not the Destination, but the Journey
For one night every year, the world used to stop and listen to an awards show that would present-among other awards- the best album, song, and artist of the year. It was a huge event and people everywhere dreamed about being on that stage. Today things have changed. Although the Grammys are still a very big deal, other award shows, like the country music awards, the spike TV music awards, MTV Video Music Awards (the VMA's), and the European VMA's have given young people and artists all over the world many more dreams of being number one, or even being number one multiple times; a dream some will stop at nothing to accomplish. But with all the fame and fortune, the whole purpose of music can be lost.
"It is not the destination, but the Journey." A quote that I grew up hearing at sunday school. I feel that it applies to nothing as strongly as it applies to music. The best musicians in life today sing about true life feelings, hardships and overcoming them, roadblocks and distractions. However, once you make it to the top, your life complete changes and that inspiration is all but gone. Instead of singing about hoping you get a gig here or have enough money to not get kicked out of your home, your singing about how much money you have, how the women/men of your dreams flock to you, and deciding which car to buy. Similarly to how one needs good voice in writing too keep the audience interested in their work, if one's music doesn't tell a good story, then they will lose their audience as well.
So it comes down to "How do I keep my songs inspiration and subject matter to things my fans can relate to and will keep then interested? Well, rather then sing about all the new things you have, sing about the things that, rich or poor, tall or short, fat or skinny, we all go through. Love, loss, relationships, and experience are all things that everyone can relate to. Talk about the things that made you who you are today, recount your difficulties you talked about on previous tracks, but as long as you focus on the journey, your fans will keep on rocking.
"It is not the destination, but the Journey." A quote that I grew up hearing at sunday school. I feel that it applies to nothing as strongly as it applies to music. The best musicians in life today sing about true life feelings, hardships and overcoming them, roadblocks and distractions. However, once you make it to the top, your life complete changes and that inspiration is all but gone. Instead of singing about hoping you get a gig here or have enough money to not get kicked out of your home, your singing about how much money you have, how the women/men of your dreams flock to you, and deciding which car to buy. Similarly to how one needs good voice in writing too keep the audience interested in their work, if one's music doesn't tell a good story, then they will lose their audience as well.
So it comes down to "How do I keep my songs inspiration and subject matter to things my fans can relate to and will keep then interested? Well, rather then sing about all the new things you have, sing about the things that, rich or poor, tall or short, fat or skinny, we all go through. Love, loss, relationships, and experience are all things that everyone can relate to. Talk about the things that made you who you are today, recount your difficulties you talked about on previous tracks, but as long as you focus on the journey, your fans will keep on rocking.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Musical Therapy, Release, and Healing
Sometimes, honestly, despite the fact that nothing bad has happened, you can have a horrible day. Other times, despite being at the happiest moment in your life, where you're finally in control of your life and feeling good and free, a few things from your old life can come back and haunt you, ruining your day, weekend, or week. I've been stuck in one of the ruts for a few days now. It was celebration weekend this past weekend at my school, and I had a great time seeing my parents and hanging out, but I couldn't get over this depression feeling inside of me. The week before, I went home for a few days for my fathers birthday. During that time, I returned to the hospital, where I had an internship last year. It was great to see my old advisors and co-workers, but I ran into a co-worker who I hadn't seen since his sons-my teammates-funeral this past summer. He acted well, but it was pretty clear that life was pretty tough for him. We caught up, and afterwords I couldn't get rid of the pit in my stomach. A few days later, another friend from home-who's father passed away in a tragic car accident 100 yards from my house-went on a rant about how bad life was and how he was sick of society. Needless to say, it's been a rough week. My usual techniques for getting over this sort of thing haven't been working too well. I'll workout or go running, but after a few hours I'm back in my slump. Then, tonight, I remembered a video a friend of mine made about venting through his guitar. I listened to the song once, and started to feel better. I've been listening to music constantly since, and have been feeling exponentially better.
This is not my first time running into musical therapy, but I haven't needed it to this extent in a long time. I have always been one to support musical therapy, but it wasn't until the end of my sophomore year that I discovered the true power of musical therapy. To make a long story short, a family member suffering from a mental breakdown ended up accidentally burning half of my house down. To say music saved not only my academic standing but possibly my life is an understatement. Despite meeting with a psychologist, increasing my physical activity, and getting extra help in classes, I felt like my life was closing in around me. My family was suddenly at war with each other, pointing fingers, making accusations, and splitting us in two. I had no idea how to deal with this sudden turn of events, especially since-as the only person in my family under 25 at the time-I felt my opinion was often overlooked or ignored. Only music, and its ability to slip you into your own little world, kept my head above the waves of accusation flooding my house. My personal discovery of Vevo, music on youtube, soundcloud, and my re-introduction with Pandora were the difference. Whenever I came home, the headphones went in. Doing homework, studying for a test washing the dishes or reading a book for pleasure, if I did it with music, it was done on time an efficiently, if I couldn't have music, things never got done. With time, like all things, the situation resolved itself, and my family is back together, but I have never forgotten what music did for me, and I have always suggested it to my friends when they are in need.
Simply put, music is free medicine; it can always fit your mood, and you can use it to gradually calm yourself down or pick yourself up. In my english class, we talked about the definition of words, and how definitions can be outdated, limiting, or just downright wrong. Medicine, as defined by western terms, means the act of healing or preserving health with a physical remedy, be it drugs or physical procedure. But music literally saved my life, so shouldn't it too be a medicine? Yeah, it's not something you can hold, inject, or prescribe, but where therapy failed, music picked up the slack and finished the job. Shouldn't something that heals, physical or not, complex or simple, be considered medicine? Consider a terminally ill cancer patient. Her radiation therapy is extremely painful and she seems to be at the end of her rope. Then a 2nd party person, be it a friend, family member, or anonymous supporter, give her tickets to see her favorite band live at their big concert. The excitement of the show blocks the pain, and the show is so good that she is singing along with the crowd and happier then she has been since getting diagnosed. The ecstasy of the show carries for a few more days before the gradually returns to her original state of painful treatment. However, she never gets quite as bad as she was before the show, because purely by experiencing that momentary high, she is better off for the rest of her life. (For happiness sake, lets say that miraculously the new treatment is successful and she lives cancer free into old age). Now, yes, the doctor can't just go in and say "your dying, go to a music concert," but how can one music show make this cancer patient go painfree for a week, and then you turn around and tell me music isn't medicine? It just doesn't make sense. If something makes a bad situation better-or even just not get any worse- it's a medicine. Prescription drug, chicken soup, or an internet connection and a pair of headphones all fit this criteria, and therefore are medicines. If you disagree, hire a children's' comedian to entertain the terminal kids in the pediatric center of the hospital for 1/2 a day. I guarantee it makes a bigger impact then any "real medicine" they are taking.
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I got the missing string for my guitar today. Next post will be a musical update, thanks for waiting guys; I just had to get this off my chest. If anyone has any questions about this post or wants more details about my personal story, message me and I'll be happy to respond.
This is not my first time running into musical therapy, but I haven't needed it to this extent in a long time. I have always been one to support musical therapy, but it wasn't until the end of my sophomore year that I discovered the true power of musical therapy. To make a long story short, a family member suffering from a mental breakdown ended up accidentally burning half of my house down. To say music saved not only my academic standing but possibly my life is an understatement. Despite meeting with a psychologist, increasing my physical activity, and getting extra help in classes, I felt like my life was closing in around me. My family was suddenly at war with each other, pointing fingers, making accusations, and splitting us in two. I had no idea how to deal with this sudden turn of events, especially since-as the only person in my family under 25 at the time-I felt my opinion was often overlooked or ignored. Only music, and its ability to slip you into your own little world, kept my head above the waves of accusation flooding my house. My personal discovery of Vevo, music on youtube, soundcloud, and my re-introduction with Pandora were the difference. Whenever I came home, the headphones went in. Doing homework, studying for a test washing the dishes or reading a book for pleasure, if I did it with music, it was done on time an efficiently, if I couldn't have music, things never got done. With time, like all things, the situation resolved itself, and my family is back together, but I have never forgotten what music did for me, and I have always suggested it to my friends when they are in need.
Simply put, music is free medicine; it can always fit your mood, and you can use it to gradually calm yourself down or pick yourself up. In my english class, we talked about the definition of words, and how definitions can be outdated, limiting, or just downright wrong. Medicine, as defined by western terms, means the act of healing or preserving health with a physical remedy, be it drugs or physical procedure. But music literally saved my life, so shouldn't it too be a medicine? Yeah, it's not something you can hold, inject, or prescribe, but where therapy failed, music picked up the slack and finished the job. Shouldn't something that heals, physical or not, complex or simple, be considered medicine? Consider a terminally ill cancer patient. Her radiation therapy is extremely painful and she seems to be at the end of her rope. Then a 2nd party person, be it a friend, family member, or anonymous supporter, give her tickets to see her favorite band live at their big concert. The excitement of the show blocks the pain, and the show is so good that she is singing along with the crowd and happier then she has been since getting diagnosed. The ecstasy of the show carries for a few more days before the gradually returns to her original state of painful treatment. However, she never gets quite as bad as she was before the show, because purely by experiencing that momentary high, she is better off for the rest of her life. (For happiness sake, lets say that miraculously the new treatment is successful and she lives cancer free into old age). Now, yes, the doctor can't just go in and say "your dying, go to a music concert," but how can one music show make this cancer patient go painfree for a week, and then you turn around and tell me music isn't medicine? It just doesn't make sense. If something makes a bad situation better-or even just not get any worse- it's a medicine. Prescription drug, chicken soup, or an internet connection and a pair of headphones all fit this criteria, and therefore are medicines. If you disagree, hire a children's' comedian to entertain the terminal kids in the pediatric center of the hospital for 1/2 a day. I guarantee it makes a bigger impact then any "real medicine" they are taking.
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I got the missing string for my guitar today. Next post will be a musical update, thanks for waiting guys; I just had to get this off my chest. If anyone has any questions about this post or wants more details about my personal story, message me and I'll be happy to respond.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Quick Update
Today my roommate asked me to play a slow, sad song, and I picked the song "Only Time" by Enya. To me, the song is a reminder of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 because the first time I watched a video of the attacks on youtube (as a young adult-I had seen the attacks before, but as a child who didn't really know what was going on), the video was to this song. I remember balling after it, and discussing it with my friends who were similarly upset by it. To my surprise, my roommate reacted with extreme excitement and pleasure. He told me that his mother used to play this song when he was going to sleep as a very small child, and he was getting lots of memories from his very early childhood he thought he had forgotten.
I was struck as to how this song could bring up such terrible memories of death for one person, but at the same time bring back extremely happy memories of childhood for another person; just another example of the obscene power of music.
I was struck as to how this song could bring up such terrible memories of death for one person, but at the same time bring back extremely happy memories of childhood for another person; just another example of the obscene power of music.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
"They Shut Off the Power" and Other Problems musicians Run Into
So, in true new-musican fashion, I started off thinking that I was going to be bad, but be able to pull something together eventually. Just as Turkle describes the new generation's need to respond to a text immediately, I felt that I needed immediately understand and be able to play chords on the guitar and use Live. 6 hours later, I stared at my broken guitar and computer running some software that is way to complicated for me to figure out alone, and a random 'instrument' I made while my computer freaked out for the uptenth time. It was suddenly 2:30am, and all I had accomplished was ensuring that I would be doing the majority of my work the following day, after an early morning practice. Here's a summery of my first night as a struggling musician.
Maybe the most common and readily available, yet the most complicated and impressive instrument, the guitar entered my life as my tool for the first time in a LONG time. As a young kid (6 years ago), I took guitar lessons for a few weeks, but after learning how to play a few green day songs from their new album, I ended up dropping guitar to continue my saxophone lessons. I had borrowed my brother's electric guitar for those lessons, but I have since fallen in love with the acoustic guitar. The ability to play without any electronics is fascinating, and playing chords and scales instead of random tabs and power chords is a huge step up. Rather then go out and spend hundreds of dollars, I went home and ended up borrowing my mother's old guitar from her childhood. My brother's acoustic was also at home, but it only had five strings so I went with mom's nylon guitar (there are two types of guitar strings, nylon and steel. Steel are more rugged and have a harder should, but hurt your fingers when you are starting out, causing blisters and eventually calluses. Nylon strings do not hurt your fingers, but sound and feel softer and quieter.) Anyway, I returned to school with a guitar and a chord book. I thought it would be a good idea to quickly run through all the chords before I went in and learned each one in depth. Three chords in (it was a C chord), for whatever reason, I managed to break a string. Now I thought about going on without the string, but even though I'm new to music, I know a bad sound when I hear one. I decided to put guitar on hold until I made it into town to get new strings.
Next I opened Ableton Live in an attempt to maybe make a very basic mashup or an extremely simple house song. I know the basics of ableton, but once it came to editing, beat matching, play delay, semi-continuous loops, and cueing, I suddenly realized I was WAY over my head. I spent the next 5 1/2 hours searching for a way to make a vocal track come in 7.3.2 measures late, or how to match up a new beat with a random lady gaga vocal track that has a similar bpm (beats per minute). Long story short, I ended up with many loops repeating, no real song, and a realization that this was going to be extremely difficult. Fortunately, a few of my friends are DJs who use Live regularly, so I'm going to get a few pointers from them before I attempt another mashup.
At some point during the night-I'm not really sure when-I decided to clean up my desk and throw away some of the junk on my desk. This included the old keyboard from my laptop that was replaced because Apple used faulty plastic. As I was going to throw it in the trash, my hand happened to flick a springy piece of metal on the underside of the keyboard. It vibrated, creating a sound and sparking my imagination. I took the keyboard back, and re-bent all of the pieces of springy metal so they were easier to flick. I then proceeded to "play" this new instrument until my roommate told me it sounded like crap and wasn't really that cool. While I understand it sounding rather bad, I personally think that it is really cool to take random objects, and use them in a way they were not intended to be used, thereby creating music. I'm going to try to keep this up, and see what the most creative instrument I can come up with is.
Maybe the most common and readily available, yet the most complicated and impressive instrument, the guitar entered my life as my tool for the first time in a LONG time. As a young kid (6 years ago), I took guitar lessons for a few weeks, but after learning how to play a few green day songs from their new album, I ended up dropping guitar to continue my saxophone lessons. I had borrowed my brother's electric guitar for those lessons, but I have since fallen in love with the acoustic guitar. The ability to play without any electronics is fascinating, and playing chords and scales instead of random tabs and power chords is a huge step up. Rather then go out and spend hundreds of dollars, I went home and ended up borrowing my mother's old guitar from her childhood. My brother's acoustic was also at home, but it only had five strings so I went with mom's nylon guitar (there are two types of guitar strings, nylon and steel. Steel are more rugged and have a harder should, but hurt your fingers when you are starting out, causing blisters and eventually calluses. Nylon strings do not hurt your fingers, but sound and feel softer and quieter.) Anyway, I returned to school with a guitar and a chord book. I thought it would be a good idea to quickly run through all the chords before I went in and learned each one in depth. Three chords in (it was a C chord), for whatever reason, I managed to break a string. Now I thought about going on without the string, but even though I'm new to music, I know a bad sound when I hear one. I decided to put guitar on hold until I made it into town to get new strings.
Next I opened Ableton Live in an attempt to maybe make a very basic mashup or an extremely simple house song. I know the basics of ableton, but once it came to editing, beat matching, play delay, semi-continuous loops, and cueing, I suddenly realized I was WAY over my head. I spent the next 5 1/2 hours searching for a way to make a vocal track come in 7.3.2 measures late, or how to match up a new beat with a random lady gaga vocal track that has a similar bpm (beats per minute). Long story short, I ended up with many loops repeating, no real song, and a realization that this was going to be extremely difficult. Fortunately, a few of my friends are DJs who use Live regularly, so I'm going to get a few pointers from them before I attempt another mashup.
At some point during the night-I'm not really sure when-I decided to clean up my desk and throw away some of the junk on my desk. This included the old keyboard from my laptop that was replaced because Apple used faulty plastic. As I was going to throw it in the trash, my hand happened to flick a springy piece of metal on the underside of the keyboard. It vibrated, creating a sound and sparking my imagination. I took the keyboard back, and re-bent all of the pieces of springy metal so they were easier to flick. I then proceeded to "play" this new instrument until my roommate told me it sounded like crap and wasn't really that cool. While I understand it sounding rather bad, I personally think that it is really cool to take random objects, and use them in a way they were not intended to be used, thereby creating music. I'm going to try to keep this up, and see what the most creative instrument I can come up with is.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Dual Personalities?
First off, as a side note, I'd like to mention that I finally recieved my copy of Ableton Live, so I will start playing around with music production and recording soon, and I'm going home this weekend and I hope to return on sunday with a guitar.
Who are musicians? I don't mean the band or the performer, but who are they really? I've had the privilege of knowing many musicians, some world wide famous others just locals who love to play, but they all have two personalities; the person they are on stage and they person they are in normal life. I've always been interested in how the two are similar and different, and how they live together.
As far as I can tell, the men and women of music off stage are pretty normal. They usually have some strange habits-like locking themselves in their practice rooms for hours on end, or listening to pieces of music they hope to play on repeat endlessly so that if/when they do play it, they already know it-and can occasionally be a bit awkward in social situations. Sometimes the awkwardness is due to the fact that everyone wants to be their friend, but sometimes it is just due to them being a bit awkward. There are two examples in my life that I feel demonstrate this very well.
First, there is my friend from back home, Simon*. Simon has been the all-state jazz first trombonist since he was in 5th grade. He had devoted his entire life to music. When he's not playing, his headphones are in his ears, or he has his head deep in a music theory book. The only time he isn't actively engaging in music is when he is sleeping. He prefers to stay in the background and focus on his music, rather then grab the spotlight. When he is on stage, however, he is a different person entirely. When he stands up for his solo, you know a few things: 1. this concert is about to get a lot better. 2. the energy in the place was just cranked a few notches...or a lot of notches, and 3. Simon is literally about to blow your mind. The things he can achieve on (literally) a piece of bent plumbing are incredible. He's a class-A performer, who engages, reads, and entertains the crowd, and he lives up to the extremely high standard he sets for himself. Simon lives for his music, and his ability is a gift both to him and to all those who experience his performance, yet unless he is performing, he stays in the background and lets things happen as they will.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have James Taylor. I've grown up listening to James Taylor my entire life, but I had no idea of how big he was until he decided to send his kids to the same school I attended. At one of the first school functions that year, all of the teachers were extremely excited about something, but-due to both a request by James and by common courtsey-they weren't acting on it. As time went on, and we all adjusted to James being around, it became very clear that this was someone looking for a normal life outside of his profession. James loves his job, but when he's not performing or on tour, he doesn't want to be swamped with followers asking for autographs and pictures; he wants to enjoy time with his kids and his close friends. While I was never extremely close with him, I did have the opportunity to hang out with James while his kids played after school and I waited for my mother to pack up her room for the day (she teaches at the school). I actually got to baby sit the kids for a few hours one day when their parents were at school conferences, something I later learned was apparently much bigger deal then just helping a friend out. Because this was my first interaction with a rock star, I figured it was always this way, but I was wrong. A few years later, my mother and I were invited to participate in a shoot that was part of James' new movie One Man Band. I figured that it wasn't that big of a deal, but when we arrived at the theater, there were people lined up from the parking lot to the stage door waiting to see James, get a picture, or maybe an autograph. Even more shocking to me was that he was completely willing to do so (I'm not saying James isn't nice, just that the James I knew never held himself on a different level then myself, but here he was god to these fans.) It struck me that, even though this was clearly the same man, this was also a completely different person.
I never got the opportunity to ask him about this topic, but when we were discussing in class how people can get so involved in their online selves that they prefer them to their real selves, I couldn't help but wonder if it was the same with musicians, and-more importantly-if James preferred to be James my friend, or James Taylor the rock star.
*Name changed for safety reasons.
Who are musicians? I don't mean the band or the performer, but who are they really? I've had the privilege of knowing many musicians, some world wide famous others just locals who love to play, but they all have two personalities; the person they are on stage and they person they are in normal life. I've always been interested in how the two are similar and different, and how they live together.
As far as I can tell, the men and women of music off stage are pretty normal. They usually have some strange habits-like locking themselves in their practice rooms for hours on end, or listening to pieces of music they hope to play on repeat endlessly so that if/when they do play it, they already know it-and can occasionally be a bit awkward in social situations. Sometimes the awkwardness is due to the fact that everyone wants to be their friend, but sometimes it is just due to them being a bit awkward. There are two examples in my life that I feel demonstrate this very well.
First, there is my friend from back home, Simon*. Simon has been the all-state jazz first trombonist since he was in 5th grade. He had devoted his entire life to music. When he's not playing, his headphones are in his ears, or he has his head deep in a music theory book. The only time he isn't actively engaging in music is when he is sleeping. He prefers to stay in the background and focus on his music, rather then grab the spotlight. When he is on stage, however, he is a different person entirely. When he stands up for his solo, you know a few things: 1. this concert is about to get a lot better. 2. the energy in the place was just cranked a few notches...or a lot of notches, and 3. Simon is literally about to blow your mind. The things he can achieve on (literally) a piece of bent plumbing are incredible. He's a class-A performer, who engages, reads, and entertains the crowd, and he lives up to the extremely high standard he sets for himself. Simon lives for his music, and his ability is a gift both to him and to all those who experience his performance, yet unless he is performing, he stays in the background and lets things happen as they will.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have James Taylor. I've grown up listening to James Taylor my entire life, but I had no idea of how big he was until he decided to send his kids to the same school I attended. At one of the first school functions that year, all of the teachers were extremely excited about something, but-due to both a request by James and by common courtsey-they weren't acting on it. As time went on, and we all adjusted to James being around, it became very clear that this was someone looking for a normal life outside of his profession. James loves his job, but when he's not performing or on tour, he doesn't want to be swamped with followers asking for autographs and pictures; he wants to enjoy time with his kids and his close friends. While I was never extremely close with him, I did have the opportunity to hang out with James while his kids played after school and I waited for my mother to pack up her room for the day (she teaches at the school). I actually got to baby sit the kids for a few hours one day when their parents were at school conferences, something I later learned was apparently much bigger deal then just helping a friend out. Because this was my first interaction with a rock star, I figured it was always this way, but I was wrong. A few years later, my mother and I were invited to participate in a shoot that was part of James' new movie One Man Band. I figured that it wasn't that big of a deal, but when we arrived at the theater, there were people lined up from the parking lot to the stage door waiting to see James, get a picture, or maybe an autograph. Even more shocking to me was that he was completely willing to do so (I'm not saying James isn't nice, just that the James I knew never held himself on a different level then myself, but here he was god to these fans.) It struck me that, even though this was clearly the same man, this was also a completely different person.
I never got the opportunity to ask him about this topic, but when we were discussing in class how people can get so involved in their online selves that they prefer them to their real selves, I couldn't help but wonder if it was the same with musicians, and-more importantly-if James preferred to be James my friend, or James Taylor the rock star.
*Name changed for safety reasons.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Digital Revolution on the Brink of a huge breakthrough
Recently I wrote a paper on the digital music revolution, starting with how, a few years ago, ipods and mp3 players completely changed the music game and how we are moving to the next phase of the digital music movement, which I believe will be occurring sometime in the near future. The main focus of this paper was on the concept of "cloud storage", a new idea generated by the internet, first sampled by pandora, and finally being fully utilized by both Spotify and iCloud.
You're probably wondering, what exactly this "cloud storage" concept is, so let me tell you. Until recently, if you wanted a song, you went to the record/tape/CD store and purchased the album with the song you wanted. You then put that physical copy of music into a device that read it and played it. Recently, with the invention of the mp3, physical copies have become much less popular, but if you want to have a song on your mp3 player, you had to download it from somewhere (itunes, the internet, or rip it from a physical CD) to your computer, and then sync your mp3 player with your computer. The "cloud storage" concept demotes the role of the computer to that of the mp3 device, so that when you buy a song from any device (be it your phone, computer, or ipad), it gets "bumped" or loaded into the cloud, and then "pushed" to all of your devices. This means that all your music is stored in the cloud, and copies of everything you listen to are put on all your devices. This also opens up the door for subscription music. What this means is that, for what was formally the price of an album, you can pay a company-like Spotify- and then tap into their music database of billions of songs, download the ones you want to your devices, and stream the rest, all for one low monthly price.
So what does all that mean? Well, for starters, the way music is made is going to change. For decades the constant form of music has been the album. A band goes to the studio, records ~12 songs, and puts them out for sale. Now with subscription music, people are only going to listen to the 1 or 2 songs they want to from the album, making the remaining 10 songs obsolete. How are artists going to deal with this? Most likely, we are witnessing the end of the album era. In 2008, the band Smashing Pumpkins announced that they were done with making albums and were going to only be releasing singles from now on. They have since announced a new album release date, but the idea is out there, and once subscription music-only recently introduced to the US-become the norm, I don't expect albums to last. Many of the "music purists" hate the invention of cloud storage, saying it's bad for the music and ruins the experience, but when the internet was first invented, many people were against it and tried to shut various aspects of it down. When that ultimately failed, Justin Hall had these words to say, "you can't make people shut up. they will wind a way to say what they want to, if they really need to. that's what's wonderful about the internet. they can say it, and you don't have to read it." (29, Say Everything). Similary, even if you believe that the cloud storage, subscription based music experience is inferior to the traditional album experience, the majority of the population will prefer to spend less money for more music, so your attempts to shut down streaming are futile. Instead, just keep buying physical albums, as long as they are being made (you still have some time), and let those of us who are happy to get many billion songs for free to enjoy our music.
You're probably wondering, what exactly this "cloud storage" concept is, so let me tell you. Until recently, if you wanted a song, you went to the record/tape/CD store and purchased the album with the song you wanted. You then put that physical copy of music into a device that read it and played it. Recently, with the invention of the mp3, physical copies have become much less popular, but if you want to have a song on your mp3 player, you had to download it from somewhere (itunes, the internet, or rip it from a physical CD) to your computer, and then sync your mp3 player with your computer. The "cloud storage" concept demotes the role of the computer to that of the mp3 device, so that when you buy a song from any device (be it your phone, computer, or ipad), it gets "bumped" or loaded into the cloud, and then "pushed" to all of your devices. This means that all your music is stored in the cloud, and copies of everything you listen to are put on all your devices. This also opens up the door for subscription music. What this means is that, for what was formally the price of an album, you can pay a company-like Spotify- and then tap into their music database of billions of songs, download the ones you want to your devices, and stream the rest, all for one low monthly price.
So what does all that mean? Well, for starters, the way music is made is going to change. For decades the constant form of music has been the album. A band goes to the studio, records ~12 songs, and puts them out for sale. Now with subscription music, people are only going to listen to the 1 or 2 songs they want to from the album, making the remaining 10 songs obsolete. How are artists going to deal with this? Most likely, we are witnessing the end of the album era. In 2008, the band Smashing Pumpkins announced that they were done with making albums and were going to only be releasing singles from now on. They have since announced a new album release date, but the idea is out there, and once subscription music-only recently introduced to the US-become the norm, I don't expect albums to last. Many of the "music purists" hate the invention of cloud storage, saying it's bad for the music and ruins the experience, but when the internet was first invented, many people were against it and tried to shut various aspects of it down. When that ultimately failed, Justin Hall had these words to say, "you can't make people shut up. they will wind a way to say what they want to, if they really need to. that's what's wonderful about the internet. they can say it, and you don't have to read it." (29, Say Everything). Similary, even if you believe that the cloud storage, subscription based music experience is inferior to the traditional album experience, the majority of the population will prefer to spend less money for more music, so your attempts to shut down streaming are futile. Instead, just keep buying physical albums, as long as they are being made (you still have some time), and let those of us who are happy to get many billion songs for free to enjoy our music.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Huge Development in Digital Music
I recently watched the apple keynote presentation on Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud. The presentation on iCloud is extremely impressive (it starts at 79:00.00) and part of it discusses the future of itunes (its one of the later things discussed. I highly recommend watching it; Apple has once again taken the bar, thrown it out, and created an entirely new standard for digital music.
http://www.apple.com/apple-events/wwdc-2011/
http://www.apple.com/apple-events/wwdc-2011/
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Music has been called the universal language of the world, the ultimate form of expression, the strongest form of mind control, and many other extravagant things. This has not been my experience. To me, music has always been a thing in the background. As a small child, I learned how to play the piano, and then the saxophone. I took mandatory music and chorus classes through middle school, but dropped everything I could once I entered junior high, and sports became more demanding. I continued to play in the school band to complete my art credit, but my saxophone entered the school building on the first day of classes and didn't leave until summer break. I've always been interested in music, from the way it makes one feel to the enjoyment of playing it, to remixing it and "distributing" it to others, but I've never really had the opportunity to pursue it. Needless to say, I'm no virtuoso. Yet.
I've grown up listening to music, whether it's my mother practicing for a concert, driving in the car, or a pump up mix before a game. I've experienced the power of second hand music, and I'm excited to finally take the plunge and fully immerse myself in music. I've talked to friends who are very intensive musicians, and the say the feeling they experience from playing music is like nothing else in the world. I hope to finally reach this level and record it. Second hand stories are great, but nothing is like experiencing something for yourself. Athletes get old and retire, actors and actresses mature and start to do fewer and fewer films. Only musicians regularly continue to perform and perfect their craft until they are physically unable to continue, or they pass on.
I now have the opportunity to explore various branches of music that previously I couldn't even think about trying. This blog will follow my journey through the world of music, attempting to discover what music has to offer and experience the true power it has. Like professional bands who sample their music on "Second Life," I will be sampling all forms of music that interest me, and accepting any comments, critiques, and suggestions you have to offer.
I've grown up listening to music, whether it's my mother practicing for a concert, driving in the car, or a pump up mix before a game. I've experienced the power of second hand music, and I'm excited to finally take the plunge and fully immerse myself in music. I've talked to friends who are very intensive musicians, and the say the feeling they experience from playing music is like nothing else in the world. I hope to finally reach this level and record it. Second hand stories are great, but nothing is like experiencing something for yourself. Athletes get old and retire, actors and actresses mature and start to do fewer and fewer films. Only musicians regularly continue to perform and perfect their craft until they are physically unable to continue, or they pass on.
I now have the opportunity to explore various branches of music that previously I couldn't even think about trying. This blog will follow my journey through the world of music, attempting to discover what music has to offer and experience the true power it has. Like professional bands who sample their music on "Second Life," I will be sampling all forms of music that interest me, and accepting any comments, critiques, and suggestions you have to offer.
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