Technophassa

I'm definitely interested in checking out the jazz combo's group on Thursday night, first to see what all is played and the variety that will undoubtedly be showcased, but second to see the reactions of the rest of the audience. I think it's fair to say that many types of music are birthed from improvisation or thinking (playing) outside the box, such as jazz. It's interesting to me that once these new genres and styles of music are established, they then tend to become rigid in their definitions of what is and isn't classified as part of that experience. This could range from saying that something that the jazz combo plays is not jazz because it lacks a classic jazz form, to saying that if something doesn't have melody, it's not music. At the same time, as I'm sure the jazz combo has found, it can be extremely hard to play together in an effective manner without the imposed rules of certain genres, styles, tempo, meter, etc, let alone in a way that is appealing for others to listen to, experience, and relate to. Is there a right way? How open should our minds be when it comes to trying to define something as music?

Another one bites the dust...

Weeeell I've got my notation project completed, though it could probably use a little cleaning up. The composer of the piece Signals Intelligence added some extra parts to the original score by hand and mailed a copy to me. Certain pages are a little cluttered by the sheer number of notes, so I thought for my project I would just put the whole thing in Finale in order to clean it up and make it easier to read. Turns out that it's still a lot to take in, and possibly more difficult to read in Finale than my original copy after all anyway. However, I think the project itself still served its purpose in that I once again became familiar with the workings of Finale. Maybe I'll return to it and find a better way to make it more legible at some point, maybe not. It was an interesting experience, one that turned out differently than what I initially expected, much like most of the things we've done in this class. It's consistently challenging my views and expectations, and I like that.

Huzzah

Alright, here is my one minute of...music technology! Admittedly, most of it sounds pretty random until I start adding a little structure towards the end, but whatevs. I'd be interested in returning to this project and doing things a little differently sometime in the future. Both the process and end result ended up as things that I wasn't expecting. Anyway, enjoy (or don't!):

http://www.box.net/shared/iy1nq93qz9

Milk makes your bones grow!

I have to admit, keeping up with a blog is new for me, and I'm not very good at it yet. On one hand, being a percussionist has kept me on the cutting edge of many new technologies, whether it's audio effects on a piece I'm playing, or playing over Internet 2. However, I've been purposely slow to adopting certain other technologies, such as the whole MySpace/Facebook thing, and as a result, writing blogs.

Excuses aside, I've been having a great deal of fun in the Music Technology class, and feel like my mind and perceptions have been stretched in our discussions and work. I'm really excited to start mangling and warping that heinous toy guitar that I picked up at Value Village (for only $1.99!). Oh the potential...

In other news, my 10 Sounds project along with all of my other files and projects that I've had on this computer over the last four years or so (and everyone else's things as well) have all mysteriously disappeared, along with Logic and a few other random things. I suppose it's my fault for not having fully completed my 10 Sounds project by Tuesday this week (the date I myself suggested the previous week), but it doesn't make it less frustrating. Thankfully, I had already sent my ten sounds themselves to Dr. Cee, (and have a record of said email in my own account) so I don't have to go through the process of making ten more. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have re-completed my "song," and have it posted on my blogspot. Hopefully it won't disappoint...

Popping my blogging cherry

This is my first blog. I don't have much to say except that I'm hungry, and excited for this class and semester.

PS Brandon is a percussion jock.