Making Music and Life in the Music Industry

Richard Lainhart - Wonderful Audio Visual Compositions

2012-01-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Richard Lainhart's audio visual work I have been a fan of, ever since I encountered one of my favourite audio visual works, Pneuma. I have already blogged about this work previously. I am very saddened to hear that Richard died on the 30th December, 2011. So as a tribute to him and his wonderful piece Pneuma, I am reposting it here and am very saddened to hear this news.

PNEUMA - Richard Lainhart

http://vimeo.com/1014353

Pneuma from Richard Lainhart on Vimeo.

"Pneuma" is based on growth patterns generated by celluar automata software, processed in Adobe After Effects to create constantly changing structures ranging from the crystalline to the architectural. The soundtrack is a live improvisation on the Buchla 200e analog modular synthesizer, controlled by the Haken Audio Continuum Fingerboard fretless keyboard controller. This HD version was rendered in May, 2008.

Warning: "Pneuma" displays an intense, periodic flicker pattern that some may find uncomfortable. Those subject to seizures should not view this film."

VIDEODROME 2012 - Call For Works

2011-12-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

Call for Submissions: VIDEODROME 2012 April 01 / 2012
Call for Submissions:
VIDEODROME 2012 at The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art
Deadline: April 1st 2012

WEBSITE: http://www.dropframevideo.com/news.html

Now accepting submissions of A/V works under 5 mins.

VIDEODROME is Toronto's foremost event for Visual Music and A/V culture since 2004. Visual Music is video and audio composition made from video edits, simultaneously video AND music where picture matches sound, cut for cut, beat for beat, rhythmic media work where sound and image are equally dominant. See examples here: http://www.dropframevideo.com/videos.html

Based on the Cronenberg concept, VIDEODROME is an exercise in televisionary excess and sensory overload, video screening as party and vice-versa, in the words of dropFRAMEvideo: "bridging the gaps between the sofa, the club, and the gallery."

Works must be complete and received by April 1st by post at 193 Augusta, Toronto, ON, M5T 2L4
Or posted to a file-sharing service such as SENDSPACE.

Proposals for live performances or installations will also be considered.
VIDEODROME is administrated by Jubal Brown, dropFRAMEvideo, and Apocalypse Tomorrow.

VIDEODROME 2012
Spring 2012, at The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto
More info on last years event here:
http://www.mocca.ca/exhibition/videodrome-audiovisual-overdose/

SPECTRAL - CTM Festival 2012

2011-12-20T04:35:00.000-08:00

CTM.12 – SPECTRAL

"// 30 January – 5 February 2012
// Various venues, Berlin

With an extensive program of concerts, discourses and an exhibition space, CTM.12 – Festival for Adventurous Music and Related Arts is appropriating the festival theme SPECTRAL to explore the current reemergence of all things ghostly and dark in experimental music, avant-pop, and art – and to speculate about its possible causes and inherent potentials.

The thirteenth edition of the Festival will be held from 30 January to 5 February 2012. As always, CTM runs parallel to and in cooperation with Berlin’s festival for art and digital culture, transmediale, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2012.

In addition to a comprehensive music program at HAU, Berghain, Passionskirche, Gretchen, Kater Holzig and Horst Krzbrg, a discourse series developed in collaboration with the philosopher, psycho-historian and author Andreas L. Hofbauer will address the festival’s theme by pursuing questions concerning art, theory, and music.

Ghosts Off the Shelf is an exhibit created by the curator, art critic, and architect Thibaut de Ruyter at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, and explores the artistic use of the exponentially growing capacities of technical archives and their “inherent ghosts”. The exhibit opens on 27 January as part of Vorspiel, a comprehensive partner program within which a number of independent Berlin art, music, and media spaces will present their activities.

transmediale and CTM will once again present exciting collaborative projects at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

The full music, discourse and exhibition program will be revealed soon, meanwhile have look on the program preview."

Source: http://www.ctm-festival.de/ctm-festival/ctm12.html

Blues Chord Progressions

2011-12-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

When it comes to popular music, it's hard to overlook the influence of the blues. You can hear it in everything from Led Zepplin to Nora Jones. It has also had a huge effect on jazz, pop and many types of folk music. There are a number of ways that you hear these effects. One of them is on chord progressions used in songs. Most people think that this is simply a matter of the I-IV-V blues form but it goes way beyond that. Today we'll look at some of the other common blues type progressions.

I-bIII-IV

This is the one that's used in all types of music from metal to dance. Some may think that it's a version of a minor chord progression but the main difference is the melody is a major scale played over the progression. A number of scales can be used over this progression; the major, blues and mixolydian scales are all available. This progression is used in two ways. First it's often used as the main idea in a rock song, usually played with a riff or reocurring line. It's also used in sequences where you would use a I-bIII-IV using the I chord and then transpose the entire progression up a fourth to be used over the IV chord. For example a E-G-A progression to a A-C-D progression.

I--IV-bVII-I

This is another progression that seems like it's 'borrowed' from the minor but like the progression above, it's used for major, minor and blues melodies. The bVII is often interjected into diatonic chord progressions but when used in this context it takes on the function of the V chord and pulls the harmony back to the I. Diatonic chords can be used with this progression but you'll often find that the progression on it's own pulls you in a more rock/blues direction.

I7-IV7-V7

You can hear the blues influence in this progression right from the first chord. Unlike a modal progression, all of the chords are dominant 7th which has a somewhat more 'unstable' sound than the straight major I. A number of scales can be used with this progression including blues, minor or major pentatonic, mixolydian, and major. Also, the b7th note in each chord may be used in the melody as a 'blue' note adding more interest. The progression is the core of the blues.

I7#9-bIII-IV

This the famous 'Jimi Hendrix chord'. Although used by many musicians, Jimi was the one that arguably made it famous. Sharp 9 chords are great for blues because they contain the natural 3 (from the harmony) and flat 3 (from the blues scale). Both rock and jazz musicians alike use this chord extensively when playing the blues as it tends to have more of a 'bluesier feel' than straight 9 (and especially b9 which lends more to a minor blues progression). The bIII and IV are added to finish off the progression although the sharp 9 chord will work with any blues progression.

I7-IV7-I-bVI-V7

This an added chord to end of the IV-V. A bVI chord is added to the turnaround to add a bit of spice. All of the chords in this example are major.

Im-IVm-V7(b9)

This the minor blues. There are many variations of this. The minors replace the majors in your standard blues progression. The flat 9 may or may not be used; it simply reinforces the minor sound. Minor 7ths may also be used.

Im-IVm-bVI-V7

Another variation of the minor blues. Often the bVI is added for a little more variety. Jazz musicians often take these progressions and add ii-V's and secondary dominants throughout the progression. Musicians like John Coltrane are famous for making up their own special variation of blues changes.

Just The Beginning

There are numerous variations of the blues. Too many to mention in this post. Any of the progressions listed above may be used in a 12 bar blues format or on their own. Many of these appear in pop, country and jazz tunes. There is no limit to the variations or ways in which you can use them. Take one at a time and explore the possibilities.

Jean Piché - OCÉANES

2011-12-02T05:17:00.000-08:00

Jean Piché
OCÉANES, 2010/2011

Exploring parallels between image and music with particle generated image and granular synthesis generated sound - incredibly beautifully composed.

'A videomusic work by Jean Piché, 'exploring the aesthetic potential of particle based computer generated imagery. Analogous to granular sound processing, particle synthesis allows for the creation and control of complex materials using an large number of very small components. Sound and image coordination does not explicitely use synchresis as a discursive device but aims for an elevated relation based on metaphor and emotional detachment, as if contemplating a field of images from a distant perspective.'
source: http://vimeo.com/25933560

view on vimeo

OCÉANES from Jean Piché on Vimeo.

Online Music Tools

2011-11-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

You don't even need music software on your computer these days it seems. There's a growing number of online sites that offer up all you need to compose music online. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Soundation - app for creating loops, samples and sound effects. It has a sequencer, 11 real time effects, 3 synthesizers, a library of over 400 loops and a drum machine.
Audiotool - online virtual studio featuring 808 and 909 drum machines, TB303 and ToneMatrix synths, and tons of stompbox type effects.
Avairy's Music Creator - a multi-channel drum machine, beat maker. Has beat mode and can edit velocities.
Jam Studio - has a little bit of everything. Create beats and add chords and harmonies.
Drumbot - An online drum machine plus sequencer, metronome and more.

There are also quite a few apps that you can download for free that will help out with all of your audio and composing needs.

Audacity - a free audio editor and recorder with tons of features.There are others out there but this one is arguably the best.
Reaper - while not free, it's extremely cheap. The best thing about this software is it almost does everything all of the top of the line sequencers do at a fraction of the cost. Plus it's extremely efficient even on older machines.

Here are my favorite sites for music theory, business and general info.

artistshouse music - a great site for music business and career advice.
Dolmetsch Online - an older site but tons of info on music theory and composers.
How To Practice - tons of info to make your practice session more productive.
Musictheory.net - another great source for theory. Has tons of lessons.
The Modal-matic - find guitar chords and chord progressionswithin a given mode.
MyMusicTheory - another site with tons of theory lessons.
NorthernSounds Forum - has both the orchestration and jazz course online.
The Orchestra - a basic users manual of the symphony orchestra.
Theta Music Trainer - a music trainer with all sorts of exercises.
IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library - still your best source of online free sheet music and scores.

There you have it. Have fun.

TIME PAINTING by AKITOSENGOKU

2011-11-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

Check out these amazing audio visual performances with live musicians.
The music in this performance I think is really beautiful. Great work.

TIME PAINTING by AKITOSENGOKU
Collaborate with Hugues Vincent, Frantz Loriot & ryotaro

at "Velvet Moon vol.38" -music, dance & Performance night!-
October 19, 2011
UrBANGUILD, Kyoto, Japan

Hugues Vincent, Frantz Loriot, ryotaro & AKITO SENGOKU Live at "Velvet Moon vol.38" UrBANGUILD, Kyoto from AKITO SENGOKU on Vimeo.

Electoluminescence by Sharon Phelan

2011-11-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

Electroluminesence an audiovisual composition composed by Sharon Phelan in 2009 is a very hypnotic and beautiful audio visual piece with a very stylised colour scheme and motion palette. Sharon composed the music to the visuals, a kind of deep seeing and hearing. I saw this again yesterday evening in the ATRL lab, Trinity College, Dublin and it was quite stunning aurally and visually in such a great setting, with high quality projection and audio.

Electroluminescence from Sharon Phelan on Vimeo.

"Audiovisual composition consisting of video feedback.
The music and visuals were informed by each other in an exploration of emergent forms. Slight changes to certain parameters lead to complex results."

How Musicians Can Deal With Stress

2011-11-11T18:30:00.000-08:00

It's not a secret that the life of a musician isn't easy. There are tons of things to deal with, lots of ups and downs and always unexpected things cropping up. The hardest part of all of this is the fact that you're pretty much alone most of the time. You're trying to get things going in your career as well as trying to be creative the rest of the time. It's important that you learn how to deal with the daily grind of trying to get your music career going (as well as keeping it going!). There are a few things that you can do to keep your focus thereby saving yourself some stress.

Your Community

One of the best sources of both information and help is your community of fellow musicians and industry people. While not always free from it's own source of stress (politics and gossip), other musicians can help dealing with problems and finding solutions. It also helps to have a community of like minded people who are pretty much going through the same type of things you are. Just getting together with fellow working musicians on a regular basis can ease some stress and allow you to get some steam off your shoulders.It helps to vocalize your problems even though you may not be actually doing something about it (at the time, hopefully you will do something about it). Other parts of your community include various support groups (not necessarily for musicians), your PRO, musician organizations. musicians' writing and recording groups, forums, various local music interest groups, and any people you have working with your band (agents, managers, lawyers etc.)

Getting Organized

A great way to deal with stress is to eliminate it right from the beginning. Being organized is helps kill stress by not having to worry about missing appointments, knowing that details are taken care of, and that you are following your plan. If anything comes up, you're more likely able to deal with it effectively since you have a system in place. If you have any new ideas or things to do, being organized allows you to deal with it and make sure something gets done. As a working musician, things are going to pop up and you have to be organized to deal with them. Plus, being organized allows you to follow your goals with focus a lot easier. Research some of the 'getting things done' programs. You'll end up tweaking it and making it your own but it has to be something that you do on a regular basis.

Planning

Always take time to plan. It's important that you take time on a regular basis to make plans and just as important, to review these often. Planning eliminates stress because it gives you some control over what direction you're heading; even though this is never clear cut and requires constant updating. If you take the time to plan on a regular basis, you feel good about your career and tend to feel that you are in control and heading in the right direction.

Keeping Notes

Most of the time you'll end up getting the best ideas at the most inopportune time. Always keeping notes helps keep all of these ideas organized. Most musicians have a workbook of some sort (i.e. lyrics, music ideas, career ideas, etc.). It's good to keep all of these in the same place so that you can come back them and reexamine them at a later date. Also, if you have a notebook with all of your ideas, it's easier to come back to them and add notes and develop these further.

Getting Help

If it gets to the point where you're unable to perform effectively, you may want to seek some help. The first place that you may want to go is your music community. Most musicians are aware of and have gone through something similar at one time. They may have first hand experience on how to deal with the problem you're going through. There are also numerous other places that musicians can go for help of all sorts. Most of these may not be music specific but helpful otherwise. There are support groups for public speaking (for performance issues), networking, planning, business practices (all for help with career development), depression, and creativity groups to name a few. Even these don't necessarily deal with musicians specifically, a lot of the problems that you may be having with stress could be helped by one of these groups.

Onstage Jitters

One thing that some performers have a hard time with is onstage jitters. Everybody gets a little nervous before going onstage but for some people, it's a huge deal. Symptoms range from jittery nerves, stomach sickness to debilitating headaches. Even some well-known seasoned, professional performers go through these on a regular basis. There are a couple of ways to deal with this. First off, one of the best ways is to simply be really prepared. It takes a load off your mind when you know that you've done everything you can to make your performance shine through. Make sure you have your set down. If you've gone through the entire set and are familiar with all of the material, then that's one thing that can ease your mind. Another thing that can help is having a pre-performance ritual. A lot of performers have a ritual that they go through before each performance. This would include some breathing exercises, warm-ups and scales, going through a tune or two, and maybe some meditation. Some performers don't like to talk to too many people before a show whereas others don't like eating too soon before a performance. Another big helper is to get to the gig early. Once you've been there a while, it gives time for your nerves to settle down and get into the vibe. Besides getting tons of experience onstage, these are the best for trying to get over your performance jitters.

Bad Practices

There are numerous things that musicians do on a regular basis that creates stress. One of the worst is simply trying to deal with all of your issues by yourself. Musicians spend a lot of time alone and are usually alone in managing their career. Whenever things get tough instead of going deeper inside of yourself, try reaching out and trying to find some solutions elsewhere. It takes a lot of stress off your mind when you know that there are people just like you out there that may be going through the exact same things. Like mentioned before, just talking to someone about these things may ease the stress tremendously. Along the lines of some good practices to do before a show, there are a number that are bad. Of course not being prepared is a big source of tension. Getting to the gig late with no set up time is another source of stress. Not warming up is also a bad idea especially if you're one of these people (like me) that needs a good warm up before they're 100% effective.

Dealing With It

Everybody has to deal with stress. Musicians and artists arguably have their own issues to deal with. Start off right by getting organized and stay organized. This way you have some control over where you are heading. Update and check your plans regularly so you know that you're getting things done and haven't gone off course. Create good practices as far as your work schedule, doing shows and anything else that may be causing you stress. Try to communicate with people on a regular basis. Your music community can be a source of help but just keeping touch with people, family, friends and fans helps keep your head in the right place. Most of all, know that if you're doing all of these things that when you lay your head down at the end of the day, you've done everything you can to move your music career in the right direction. At the end of the day this is music, and it should be fun!

20 Hz - Semiconductor Video

2011-11-09T03:37:00.000-08:00

This piece is quite incredible in the patterns and sense of depth and dimension. It is really beautiful. Semiconductors film 200 Nanowebbers was really brilliant too, but this new work form 2011, is equally as good. Great work semiconductor

20 Hz - A Semiconductor work by Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt.

'05.00 minutes / HD / 2011
HD single channel and HD 3D single channel.
A Semiconductor work by Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt.
Audio Data courtesy of CARISMA, operated by the University of Alberta, funded by the Canadian Space Agency.'"20 Hz observes a geo-magnetic storm occurring in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Working with data collected from the CARISMA radio array and interpreted as audio, we hear tweeting and rumbles caused by incoming solar wind, captured at the frequency of 20 Hertz. Generated directly by the sound, tangible and sculptural forms emerge suggestive of scientific visualisations. As different frequencies interact both visually and aurally, complex patterns emerge to create interference phenomena that probe the limits of our perception,"
Webpage about 20Hz: - http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/20Hz/20Hz.htm

View on Vimeo

20 Hz from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

Tony Brooks Towards New Multisensory Spaces and Environments

2011-11-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

Four Senses Concert, 2002

This important concert that took place in 2002 in the Dorothy Winstone Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand. The four senses concert were a collaboration between Raewyn Turner (NZ) and Tony Brooks (UK).

website: link

"The ‘Four Senses’ 1999, 2002 concerts were to engage and reframe perception of music and to play with subjective experiences and simulated synesthesia. Each sensory element was constructed from information relating to the other elements. The associations and correspondences of the elements made by the audience was according to their own individual and personal experiences.
The investigations include perception, misinterpretation, fictional translations and the sensory worlds of the blind/deaf: of hearing, of breathing in, and of visualizing music.

Tony Brooks utilised sensors, software and projectors to create an interactive system capturing movement from the orchestra and translating it into painting with coloured light. In this way the orchestra conductor was able to “paint” the scene through his gestures within an interactive space. Similarly orchestra members, dancers and a special signing choir for the deaf images were blended into the backdrop in real-time such that their velocity of movement affected the color of image generation and collage composition.
Raewyn Turner interpreted the sound to colour and smell using the correspondences that she made between sound/silence and light/dark. The translations involved intuitive drawing, charts, measurements, referral to the seasonal time of harvest of aromatic plants, and an equation which produces a selection of plants from which to choose smell pitch.

The performances were an improvisation and a real - time translation of sound and the gestures of making that sound, into light and colour, and multiple layers of smell. The light collage thus created was a play of interaction between live video feeds and sensors, and coloured light pre-programmed to an interpretation of sound, each affecting the other in a dynamic visual loop. "

Source: Link to more information and where you can download media files

Article

Tony Brooks Towards New Multisensory Spaces and Environments [198 KB ]

Youtube Excerpt

Silk Chroma - Honouring Prize - Visual Music Award

2011-10-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Silk Chroma a visual music piece that I created in collaboration with the Irish Composer Linda Buckley and closely worked also with Dermot Furlong and Gavin Kearney at the end of 2010 has won an honouring prize at the forthcoming Visual Music Award 2011. I am totally delighted!

Visit website - Visual Music Award 2011

Visual Music Award @ Cocoon Club, Frankfurt Germany
Photographs of the event have been put up by the organisers on their facebook page.
Some photographs of Silk Chroma have been put on this page...what a stunning venue the Cocoon Club.

Visual Music Award Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/VisualMusicAward

Silk Chroma can be seen on vimeo

Silk Chroma from Silk Chroma on Vimeo.

Silk Chroma - the silent version is also showing at the Expanded Abstraction Exhibition, LACMA Museum's Stark Bar, Los Angeles as part of a curated show by the Center for Visual Music, this exhibition will continue until late January 2012 http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Events.htm
Silk Chroma is also being shown at the forthcoming Seeing Sound Symposium at Bath Spa University, Bath Spa, UK http://www.seeingsound.co.uk/
This weekend (22nd October 2011) Silk Chroma is starting the Sonic Pop Up concert as part of Dublin Contemporary. http://www.dublincontemporary.com/home/news/events_this_week1

Intro To Pentatonic Scales

2011-10-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Most musicians are familiar with the pentatonic scales in one way or another. Most of the time it's usually learned early as a preparation for soloing and improvising. There are many pentatonic scales and many ways of using them.

It's Worldwide

Pentatonic scales are used in many types of music all over the world. Many different types of folk music use this scale. If fact most people are familiar with this scale without even knowing it because it's used so often. There's a great clip by Bobby McFerrin who sings a pentatonic melody to an audience and to their surprise, they finish the tune without him! African and European (Celtic, Scottish, Russian) folk music use pentatonics quite frequently.

It's Only 5 Notes

Most beginning musicians are familiar with only the minor pentatonic scale. In fact there are many different types. There is one based on the major scale, one on the minor, and many variations of these two. Basically a pentatonic can be defined as a scale with 5 notes...and that's all. It can be any 5 notes. So you can see how many possible permutations there could be. Also, pentatonic scales can be applied in different ways over different chords to achieve different results. In fact the major and minor pentatonics are the exact same notes applied in different ways over different chord progressions. That said, it's important to think of them in their own right i.e. the C major and A minor and not the C major starting on a different note.(It's important to think of all of your scales in this way i.e. A minor or D dorian and not C major.)

The Basics

Ok, let's start with the basics and go from there. The major pentatonic scale is the major scale without the 4th and 7th notes of the scale. These notes create certain tensions. Some music textbooks call them 'avoid notes' since they can sound 'wrong' when played at the wrong time.* The major pentatonic doesn't have these notes.The major pentatonic has the root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th. That's it! The relative minor uses the same notes but the relationships end up being different. The minor pentatonic has the root, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th, and flat 7th. It's the minor scale without the 2nd and the 6th. (It's interesting to note that it's the 2nd and the 6th that differentiates the natural minor from the dorian and phrygian scales.) The blues scale is built upon this minor pentatonic but adds the flat 5th (the 'blue' note).

* There are no 'wrong' notes in music. There is only the situation where you are playing notes and not getting the desired outcome or sound that you intended.

Uses

The pentatonic scales are used in many ways. Initially they were used mostly in folk music as a basis for the melody and improvisation on that melody. They started to get used in jazz and rock and are used in almost every genre of music these days. The use of the minor pentatonic in rock music has almost become ubiquitous whenever you hear a guitarist going for a solo. Listen to any classic rock and guaranteed it's the scale used for the riff and solos and often the melody itself. Also, both the major and minor may be used in a song. The melody for the song will use the major scale but then the riff or solo may use the minor pentatonic. This happens in everything from country to rock.

Other Uses

There are a couple of other ways the pentatonic scales are used. First of all, since a pentatonic scale is technically any 5 notes, there can be many different possibilities for combinations. There are a number of different pentatonic scales*, quite a few of which have exotic sounds (and names). There is: Balinese, Chinese, Egyptian, as well as variations like the pentatonic Scriabin was famous for (a major pentatonic with a flatted 2nd).

*This is the Dolmetsch music theory site. Enter root note and scale from drop down menus to get the notes from any scale on the list!

Then there are the application of the major and minor pentatonic scales over different chords and keys. For example in the key of C major you could use the C major pentatonic (A minor pentatonic). But you could also use other pentatonics like the E minor pentatonic or B minor pentatonic. Using these you end up playing different extensions over the chord. They can offer up some interesting sounds, especially when used in more elaborate chord progressions.

Start With The Basics

When teaching students how to improvise, I usually start with pentatonics. They're a great leaping off point for learning how to create phrases and exploring the musical thought process. By starting with a pentatonic scale over a basic chord progression, students find that improvising isn't the big mystery that they think it is. It's also easier to talk about (and actually hear) different ideas about phrasing, where to put your phrases and how to make a musical statement. It's easier to explain (and play!) question and answer (call and response) concepts. Once you get into the basics about how we create musical ideas, then you can get into some more advanced concepts such as motives, repetition, development, etc.

Explore The Possibilities

Even though there is only 5 notes, there is a world to explore in pentatonic scales. It's best to take them one at a time and see what can be done. Like everything else in music, it's better to know how to effectively use one scale, than it is to memorize a dozen without having a clue about how to use them. Take your time and explore the possibilities.

FOLDS video installation - Robert Seidal

2011-10-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

FOLDS
Robert Seidel
Lindenau Museum, Altenburg / Germany
18.6.ˆ14.8.2011

FOLDS is a 2-channel video installation with projections on 19th century plaster casts of Kladeos, Kephissos,
Belvedere Torso, Seer and the Three Goddesses from the Bernhard August von Lindenau Collection.
It connects to the fragmentary plaster casts, makes them flow with bygone colors, clothes them and wakes
them for a moment then to be stored as into the sediment of oblivion.

Documentation of the installation
Vimeo // http://www.vimeo.com/robertseidel/folds
Youtube // http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmg3L0ai5Uo
Web // http://www.robertseidel.com/folds.225.0.html
Catalog // http://www.lindenau-museum.de/index.php?id=96
PR // http://robertseidel.com/folds_lindenau-museum_robert-seidel.pdf

Websites:

Studio Robert Seidel
http://www.robertseidel.com
Robert Seidel Vimeo Channel
http://www.vimeo.com/robertseidel/folds

View Folds Documentation on Vimeo

folds | installation documentation | lindenau museum altenburg, germany | robert seidel | 2011 from Robert Seidel on Vimeo.

Musings on Music and other such

2011-10-03T08:34:00.001-07:00

Musings on Music and other such

The Student Teacher Relationship

2011-09-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, if you're looking to improve your skills or just starting out, you may want to seek out a good teacher to help you along. Ultimately becoming a great musician is up to the individual but having a good teacher can really help and speed up the learning process. A good teacher can add a lot to your development, they can keep you focused, help in your creativity and steer you in the right direction. In some cases though, they can unwillingly give you bad advice, bad technique, and send you in the wrong direction. Therefore it's always best to seek out the best teacher you can find.

Great Teachers Vs. Great Players

There are millions of teachers out there. Like mechanics and doctors, there are bad ones, mediocre ones and great ones. You might venture out looking for a teacher and find one right off the bat. More than likely though, you'll end up going through a couple of different teachers before you find one you really like. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since every musician has their own approach and something can usually be gleaned from their experiences. However, when you find the right teacher, you save yourself alot of time (and money) because you focus on the essentials, ans get right to the heart of your particular matter without wasting your time working on things that don't brigng you closer to your goals. As confusing as it may sound, the most successful musicians don't always make the best teachers. Sometimes you'll go out and see a great performer and find that they give lessons only to find that you didn't learn that much from them. Teaching is a whole other skill and just because you find a good player or good performer, that doesn't mean they'll be a great teacher. Being a good teacher is all about communication. It means being able to explain different concepts clearly. It's being able to see what you need and what you don't need. It means paying attention to your development and making sure you're heading in the right direction. Great players don't necessarily always have these skills. Also being a good teacher means being well versed in all aspects of music. Sometimes you'll come across a great (for example) blues musician and want to take lessons from them. That's great if you want to concentrate on playing that specific music. But, if want a more complete program, make sure the musician knows all of the other aspects like good technique, music theory and the fundamentals. It's possible to be able to play many different styles without having a clue about what you're doing.

Background

Teaching in itself is a talent and takes a special kind of person to do it really well. There are a number of things that a teacher must do that aren't part of the normal musician's skill set. Some of these things include 1) putting together a program for each individual student. 2) monitoring the students progress and making sure that the right things are being worked on. 3) figuring out what the student needs and their strengths and weaknesses.4) including all of the necessary fundamentals and not just 'learning tunes' or 'licks'. There are some teachers that go through school and have degrees from accredited colleges. While not a guarantee that they'll turn out to be a great teacher, it's a good indication that they've gone through numerous programs and have a well rounded knowledge of music fundamentals. You can go through private lessons or go down to your local music school and see what they have to offer. Generally, the 'best' teachers will offer private lessons because they've usually been doing it a while and have worked up to making enough money just from private students. However, this isn't always the case. Most teachers I know teach at a school and privately. Many fine teachers can be found at the music schools. Most music schools require that the instructors have a music degree. Make sure ask. Talk to the people at the school about where you are and what you want to learn. If you're more advanced, tell them. Some schools have specific teachers that will take on the more advanced students or students that have specific requirements (e.g classical or jazz guitar).

Know Thyself

It's important to know what you want from the teacher before you even start. Most good teachers will ask about your goals are right off, but now always. Make sure you know what you want and make sure to tell them. Even if you're just starting and don't know exactly what you want, simply state that you want to learn the fundamentals, proper technique and some songs in your favorite style of music. That should be enough to let any teacher know what to do. If you're more advanced, tell the teacher where you are, what to want to learn and what you expect from the lessons. The more information you bring to the teacher, the better. If you've had any bad experiences in the past, let them know that too.

What Can You Do For Me?

Once you've found a teacher, ask them what they teach, how they go about the lessons and if they follow any specific program. Most teachers have a preferred way of teaching. They may not always have a developed program written out but they do have a specific way of teaching. Ask them about this beforehand. Ask them what you'll be doing for the first 6 months. As soon as they see where you are in your development, they should be able to answer this question. Be prepared for any answer they give you. Sometimes I come across a student who wants to learn it all, right away. Once I tell them that it will probably take the better part of a year (and more!!) to learn the skills they want to develop, they don't always react positively.

Never Stop Learning

The biggest advice I can give about finding a teacher is always challenge your teacher and not settle. Don't be afraid to challenge your teacher. Quite often students will go out and just settle with the first teacher they find. You usually end up creating a relationship with that person and will stick with them. This isn't always in your best interest. Once you find someone, make sure that you're learning and heading in the direction you want. Keep your ears and eyes open. If you have a chance to do a lesson with another teacher, do it. See how that lesson goes. Compare it to your current teacher. You'll find that you'll learn something from every musician you come across but then there will be that one that you come across that takes your playing to a whole new level.

Yan Breuleux - Experimental Animation Video - Immersion

2011-09-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

Yan Breuleux's beautiful works are really worth checking out. Based in Montreal, both teaching in the faculty of Music at the University of Montreal and completing a Phd, he has accumulated a large portfolio of works that are documented clearly on his website.
Website: http://www.ybx.ca/

Yan Breuleux's animations are quite beautiful and some of their presentations and installations are quite breathtaking. He collaborates with musicians and composers and creates pieces for multi-screen, panoramic and hemispheric presentations. He is interested in the influence of architecture in audio visual performance and some of these projects are incredible in their scale and drama. An example project has been documented on flickr.
"En préparation de la diffusion de La Tempête pour écran vertical.
Une Nuit en Galilée
spectacles Samedi 23 Juillet à 20:00"
Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanbreuleux/sets/72157627253334252/with/5963100991/

PURFORM

Yan Breuleux also collaborates with composer Alain Thibault as the duo PURFORM to create Immersion Video-Music
http://www.purform.com/

Vimeo Channel

http://www.vimeo.com/purform/videos

Example Project highlighted in this blog post

White Box

"A/V performance for a tryptic of HD video screens and quadraphonic audio.
White Box is a work based on a new way of generating A/V compositions in real time and is a new piece in a cycle that began in 2003 with Black Box. This cycle metaphorically transposes, into sound and images, concepts from systems theory related to black, white and grey boxes.
Visuals: Yan Breuleux
Music: Alain Thibault
Captation video: Christian Pomerleau: gridspace.ca"
Source: http://www.vimeo.com/21591024

PREVIEW White Box

WHITE BOX | PREVIEW from Purform on Vimeo.

Jane Cassidy - Square Ball Insallation

2011-08-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

Jane Cassidy's new visual music piece - Square Ball is an installation piece and its inaugural presentation took place in Dublin, in August 2011 as part of the Glitch Festival 2011 organised by MART.

This was a really beautiful and clever installation that really is something that needs to be seen and sensed, as an audience member one has to face the projector as the most amazing layers of imagery and patterns unfold with great connections to the music.

Video excerpt online courtesy of Red Rua

Visit Jane's Blog
http://janecassidy.net/

Keys To Becoming a Great Musician

2011-07-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to get good at your perspective instrument and achieve some success in the music industry. It usually entails spending many hours in the practice room, going over the fundamentals. Then getting out there and trying to make some money from all of your efforts. Along the way you will find that there are some skills things that are more important than others as far as what it takes to be a musician. In fact, if you practice these essentials, it will be the difference between you being a mediocre musician and a great one.

Rhythm

I'm going to mention one musical skill above all others and that's great rhythm. Great rhythm is critical. Rhythm is is a huge subject which we don't have space to cover completely here but we'll start with some basics. People think that rhythm is simply playing in time. This is a tiny part of rhythm. Rhythm is part of everything you play and if you can play it with great rhythm, you'll be a great musician. Every melody, accompaniment, vocal line, solo...everything has an inherent rhythm. It's too easy to pass this off without making sure that we're playing the rhythm properly and in time. All too often musicians are all over the board when it comes to playing and soloing. You want to be in time or be out of time on purpose. It's important that you really take notice of where exactly you are putting those notes. If you're not sure, try this:

Set up your metronome at a pretty slow pace. Try 60 BPM for now. Now try playing a major scale with quarter notes right on the beat. Try to stay with it and see how long you can go without rushing the notes. After a time, most musicians will start to rush it especially with something that they can perform easily. Next, try playing one of your favorite solos or songs at the same tempo. Are you playing in time?? Not so easy is it?

This simple exercise usually tells us how much we may be missing simply by playing through pieces without thinking too much about exactly where we are placing those notes. The same goes for playing rhythm parts. Take your metronome and try playing straight 8ths. It's important that you practice this on it's own. Its seems like a simple exercise until you see how far you can go off without thinking about it. If you think you're great, try recording your performance with your favorite DAW. Then when you're done, magnify your track so you can align it with the timeline in the sequencer. Now check to see how often you were right on the beat. How often were you early, how often were you late? You'll find that you weren't consistent as you would think. And, (this is critical) can you hear the difference without referencing the sequencer? Practice this, just this on it's own. You'll start to notice and hear the difference in a short time.

Listening

To most this may seem obvious but it's amazing how many musicians fail to listen actively. That means not only to pay particular attention when playing pieces but being able to listen properly when playing in a band. It's important that you listen and try to hear all of the things going on. Are you in time? Are you in tune? Are you too loud, too quiet? The list goes on and on. The same goes for playing live. Are you listening to the drummer? The bassplayer? When you listen properly, you make continual adjustments that makes your performance that much better. You play in time, you are sensitive to the overall dynamic of the band and the song, and the band will just sound better. Everytime you pick up your instrument, make sure your ears are wide open.

Memory

I've written about this in a past post but it needs to be stated again. One thing that musicians must have is a great memory. It's important to remember all of your chords, scales, melodies, licks, fingerings etc and know them like the back of your hand. Charlie Parker was famous for the fact that he could remember and play back hundreds of licks, scales and melodies in all keys. How much of this is entirely your memory? The same goes for writing. Once you've memorized ideas, it's all too easy for them to 'pop up magically' in your songs. It comes from being familiar with the style but that really comes down to the material being internalized and memorized. That's why it's important to write something that you're familiar with because you've more likely memorized many facets of the style without really realizing it.

Consistency

One of the things that musicians are known for is their consistent practice at their art. One of the best and most effective ways to learn and master anything is through consistency. It's important that not only you practice everyday, but you're consistent in that practice. Practicing one thing one day then trying something completely different the next without coming back to original may be fun but it isn't very productive. The best way to internalize ideas, get your muscle memory working and mastering your instrument is practice the same fundamentals consistently.

Diligence

This follows with the consistency factor. It's important that as a musician you have a certain amount of diligence when it comes to learning the craft and especially when trying to achieve some success. It's true that being a musician isn't an easy way to go and you'll need diligence to make it through the rough spots. Other things, like sticking to your practice regimen, practicing stuff that you don't find all that exciting and trying to get something done everyday without much support also come under this topic.

Initiative

One of the other important traits to have is initiative. It's one of the things that's drilled into us since we started out first practice sessions. In fact one of the things that regular practice teaches us is to have the initiative to work on our own and try to keep motivated. It's not just the practice room that needs initiative either. You're going to need to get most things started and keep them going on your own. There is some support in the music industry but not much. You're pretty much going to have to figure most of this stuff out on your own. That includes everything from how to get a gig, to how that next verse is going to go.

Love of the Art

If you want to do this for a living, you're going to have to love it. You're going to have to love it just for what it is. You're going to have to love it, pursue it and try to get better everyday for no other reason other than the fact that you love to do it. Music is just too tough a career choice for anyone who isn't right into it. Even people who work in the music industry, who are in supporting roles have this attitude. Second, it's this love that will push you to do all of the things that you're going to have to do to become great at your art. It's a long journey and there needs to be that internal motivator for you to push through and become a great artist.

Christina McPhee - bird of paradise / channel three

2011-07-22T03:59:00.000-07:00

Christina McPhee's three channel video triptych, Bird of Paradise (Christina McPhee 2011) is a stunning silent visual music work, with such visual harmony and balance - a very beautiful work.

Bird of Paradise three channels / 10 minutes / HD video /silent / 2011

bird of paradise / channel three from Christina McPhee on Vimeo.

It will premiere in a program curated by the Center for Visual Music at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), in late July. The program will screen at LACMA through January 2012. Location: Stark Bar, central plaza (new design by Renzo Piano), LACMA.

Check out many of Christina's work on her vimeo channel (to date 39 uploaded)
http://vimeo.com/christinamcphee/videos

Christina's website:
http://www.christinamcphee.net/

About Christina
"Christina McPhee’s visual art, media and writings consider site as landscape and language. She develops film and media works that montage remote landscape footage at high – tech energy installations, and in ecosystems where biosphere meets human intervention in ‘kairotic’ spaces. Her drawing practice moves into critical spatial practice in media arts and writing."
Source: http:/www.christinamcphee.net/about-2/

Expanded Abstraction: CVM Program, Los Angeles

2011-07-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

Opening late July,2011, Los Angeles:
Expanded Abstraction:
A special 3-screen program from CVM featuring Scott Draves' Generation 244, plus work by Robert Seidel, Baerbel Neubauer, Christina McPhee, Maura McDonnell and Charles Dockum. Curated by Cindy Keefer. LA County Museum of Art, central plaza, Stark Bar. On view beginning July 28, evenings through January, 2012. Images courtesy Scott Draves and the Electric Sheep. PREVIEW of McPhee's Bird of Paradise video triptych.

(re posted from CVM events page: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Events.htm

OPENING NIGHT - Thursday, July 28

Please join CVM at LACMA at Stark Bar - Thursday, July 28

CVM's new *Expanded Abstraction* 3-screen program begins in LACMA's Stark
Bar (central plaza, next to main entrance) at 8 pm...that's the same night
as Marclay's THE CLOCK 24 hour screening in Bing Theatre...so please join us while taking a break from The CLOCK, as Stark Bar will be open until 2am screening the CVM program. Or come just to see abstract film/digital work curated by CVM.

*Expanded Abstraction* features *Scott Draves*' *Generation 244* (2010),
plus triptych work by *Christina McPhee, Robert Seidel, Baerbel Neubauer,
Maura McDonnell, Charles Dockum* and more. Runs through January 2012,
evenings only.

How To Find Your Musical Goals

2011-07-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

There was a comment recently about tips for trying to figure out your goals. This seems to be a tough thing for most people, especially musicians. There are tons of articles out there about how to get things done and succeed. They start off with you making a list of your goals and then move on from there. Unfortunately, figuring out your goals is usually difficult and timing consuming. Some people go through their entire life not knowing what they're goals are. Yet you're supposed to figure this out in a short time and then move on from there. Figuring out what your goals are like asking you what your favorite color is. It's all personal and one person's answers are going to be different than another. The key to figuring out what your goals are is all about asking questions; tons of them. Once you start asking yourself the right questions it will become easier figuring out what direction you should take.

Where Am I?

This should be your first question because all of the others stem from this. If you're just starting out, in the middle of your career, changing directions or trying to look for something new., this will impact all of your other decisions. For example if you're just starting out, you will have tons of options as far as where to start but be limited by your experience whereas if you're in the middle or your career, you will have different priorities. Part of this question relates to other things going on in your life. If you're in your 20's, you'll have different responsibilities than if you were in your 40's. You will have different resources available and different opportunities. For example; you might be in your early 20's, just out of school, not much money but no responsibilities. You are willing to travel and don't need much to get by. Your goals would be different than somebody who was in their 30's who may have experience touring and teaching, newly married and thinking about staring a family. You can see that their goals would be different just based on these few factors. It's important to start here is because any decisions you make are going to affect the rest of your life in some way. Looking at all of the variables allows you to make better informed decisions.

The first step in figuring out your goals is to brainstorm. It's important that for this first session you just let it all go and not think too much about details or even if the goal is realistic or not. It's all about just seeing what moves you and what you want out of life.

The Big List

We're going to start with the big list. We're just going to let it all out here. One exercise that I did when I was going to college was a 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' paper. I still remember what I wrote and to this day most of what was on that paper applies. I was thinking in general terms of all of the things that I wanted to do with music and wasn't worried about being realistic or even succinct. I put down everything that I wanted to do. I'm amazed at to this day how accurate this list was. The only thing that was off was my timing...I was only off about a decade.

Just start writing. Don't worry about how or even why, just write. You may find yourself not believing what you're writing but do it anyway. There are no limits here. Start with your biggest dreams and aspirations and go from there. Don't leave anything out.

You may find that when reviewing this list that it's all over the place. Some of the goals seem to go in a completely different direction than others. While others seem very doable and achievable others seem impossible. Let it go, don't dismiss anything yet.

Long Term Vs. Short Term

There are two sets of goals that you have to create and they all depend on the size and importance of the goal. Generally, the bigger the goal, the longer it will take to accomplish that goal. Also, once you have decided on a big, long term goal, you will have to break it down into smaller, more manageable goals. One important note, think big. Decide what you really want. These will usually be big dreams and that's perfect for our initial session. We do this because we want to make sure we're aiming for something that we really want and not something that we're willing to settle for. All too often we base our goals on smaller things that we assume will be easier and much more realistic. There are two problems with this; first of all things are rarely as simple as they seem and two, we may end up spending a lot of time and reaching a goal that we weren't all that crazy about in the first place. If you're worried about being realistic and creating manageable goals, wait until the next part of this process.

Keep Em Separated

There's a famous story about Walt Disney who used to keep all of the 'creative' people (artists, writers etc) separate from the 'realistic' (managers, accountants, lawyers etc) people. He would let the creative people roam freely with their ideas and creative output. He would later put the ideas through the administrative people to see what was possible. You want to do the same with your goals. When deciding what you want to do, wait until later before you work out the details. After all you're a musician, it's all about possibilities. Once you've got a good idea of the direction you want to head, then you can sit down and see what's realistically possible in the next year or so.

Direction

You may notice that throughout this post I've used the word direction when describing your goals and career. That's because being a musician is about trying different things, taking different routes and figuring out what to do next. A musician's career is rarely straightforward and simple. You should get used to this process because you're going to have to do it on a regular basis. There are going to be wrong turns, great runs and a lot of not knowing what to do next. Get used to it.

Reality Check

Ok, it's about that time. Time to go over your list and make some decisions. These are usually tough because we're bent on making the right ones first. Let me tell you straight off...you won't make all the right decisions. In fact some of your decisions are going to be completely wrong. But of course, you won't know that until you've actually done them, so don't worry about it.

Keeping Track

It's a good idea to just get started. It's a bad idea to keep doing something just because you started and made some personal investment. It's important that you step back periodically and see if you're happy with the way things are going. Are you getting any results from your actions? Is this something that you feel that you should keep on pursuing? People are really reluctant to give something up once they're put enough time and energy into it...no matter how fruitless the endeavour seems to be. Once again I'm speaking from experience here. I don't know how many times I've stuck with a band simply because I've made such a huge investment in time and effort. It's really important that you step back on a regular basis and take stock at where you are.

There's A Fork In The Road

We do all of this is to give our career some sort of direction. You will want to stick with your decisions and see if they're working. If you've made an effort and see that there's another direction you want to take, then do it. Remember to go through the same process so you don't end up waving all over the place, doing a million things without really getting anything done. Some musicians are guilty of trying to keep all of their options open thinking that this will increase their opportunity for success. In fact, your chances are much better when you have focus and specific direction. Mostly because you're not being pulled in a million directions and not really accomplishing anything. There will come a time however when something unexpected springs up. This happens more when you're doing things right than wrong. For example you may be doing really well with your band when you get approached by another band to do a major tour. This is when your lists really come in handy. What do you do; stick with your band or take the risk and join the other? Of course this a completely personal decision but if you've been regularly checking your goals and making conscious decisions about your career, the decision may be easier to make. If touring is really high on your list your decision would be different if you were bent on getting a new CD released with your current band.

Not A Clue

At this point if you're sitting there and still don't have a clue what you're going to do don't worry, you're not alone. Even with all of this information it still may not be clear to us what direction to take. Either you have too many things you want to do (typical) or no idea whatsoever. The long and short of it is; you're going to have to do something. It's better to do something and get started than to do nothing. Sometimes you may want to put it off and try and figure it out later. There's nothing wrong with wanting to figure out what exactly it is you want to do but you don't want to wait too long. If it's been a couple of months and you're still trying to make out your lists and figuring out the perfect thing to do next is...then stop. Pick something and do it. If you're worried about wasting time heading in the wrong direction don't, remember you just wasted a couple of months not coming up with any ideas of what to do next.

On Your Mark...

This is just the beginning. It's also one step in many. It's important to get into the mindset of figuring out what it is you want to do and how to get there. This list will change. That's typical, especially for musicians. Don't worry about making the perfect moves and decisions. It won't happen. Pick something that you believe in a get going. Stick with it and see if you're getting the results you want. If you aren't, re-examine and start again. Repeat until you get there.

Music Theory For Rock Musicians

2011-06-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

During the times that I played in various rock bands one thing that always amazed me was how proud rock musicians were about the fact that they 'knew nothing' about music. It was like knowing something about the theory of music was a bad thing. There was the feeling that real rock musicians didn't know anything about music theory and that was good. There are many reasons why some musicians feel that learning theory is a bad thing that I talked about in a past post. One of the reasons why rock musicians feel that theory isn't useful to them is because they think that it just doesn't apply to what they're playing. There is in fact lots to learn about rock music that is easily explained and easy to learn.

Rock Theory

Whenever I teach, I always ask the student what kind of music they listen to. If they're into rock I will take a different approach than if they were into jazz. The problem with music theory is that it's a huge subject. It's too big to tackle for most people. There are so many facets to theory that it's hard to even apply it to your music. That's why I find out what style of music they're into and apply the theory to that. There are things that are done over and over in rock music that can easiily be taught and explained. There are other things in music theory that happen in other genres that are interesting but don't apply to rock music.

Scales

Most of us start off with learning some scales. Usually you'll try to learn a couple, see how fast you can play them, and it'll end at that. Learning scales is just the first step. You must learn how they apply. You must learn how they apply to rock. Although it doesn't sound like it, rock uses the same basic scales that all other popular music does. First of all, the melody that the singer is singing is a scale. Rock doesn't go too far with this. It's either major, minor or pentatonic. It doesn't sound like a scale to us because we're used to hearing scales played up and down literally. Most (not all) rock melodies are quite simple and don't jump aroung much. Most of the time a single note is repeated before going on to another. There is also tons of inflections, slides and bends that we naturally do when we sing. Scales really come into play when we study guitar solos. Most of the time the guitar player will use one scale to solo over the entire song.

Chords

Chords follow the same general direction as scales. Rock music usually try to keep things simple. They will change chords on a regular basis throughout the song. Once they establish a rhythm pattern, they will usually stick quite close to it. Most rock music will rarely go beyond the major and minor chords. Rock likes to use added 2nds, 4ths and 6ths along with a few dominant 7th chords. Most of the time they love to use power chords (which is just a 5th i.e. no third). You'll also find that different styles will use the same chord progressions over and over. Rock loves using blues progressions and progressions based on the minor scale. Some metal goes into modes and other territory but rock and pop will usually stick to diatonic chord progressions. The ubiquitous IV-V-I is still as popular as ever.

So What

At this point you may be asking yourself so what? Well getting to know some of these tools will help in the creative process and make learning songs a lot easier. The fact is that most rock musicians know theory. They just don't have the technical terms for what they're doing. They learn things by trail and error (not always a bad thing) and then go about applying to their music. All of their theory comes in slowly from learning songs, solos, and some basic theory (usually passed on from another musician or band member).

The List

Here is a starter list of things your should be practicing and going over on a regular basis along with new tunes and songs from your band.

Major, minor and pentatonic scales in all keys. Rock musicians will use the pentatonic to improvise and create solos and licks. The same goes from the major and minor scales. You must learn which scale to use and when. Classic rock uses pentatonics, punk will usually stick to the major. Most of the time it's a matter of figuring out which one applies to the song you're working on and using that.
All major and minor chords in various positions and inversions. Just knowing one or two may be enough for rock but learning these will take your playing to a whole new level. If there are more than one guitar players or a guitar and keyboard in your band you will end using these trying to make your parts work together better. If one guitar player is playing the chords in one position, the other should be playing them somewhere else on the neck.
Chord extensions and substitutions. This is an extension of the previous but takes it one step further. Sometimes just playing a C chord is perfect for the song. Sometimes adding an extension (a 2nd, 4th, 6th or 7th) may make it infinitely more interesting. There are also chord substitutions to consider; is a C the right chord here or is a Am or Em better? Substitutions come in handy when developing ideas within a song.
The scales harmonized in 6ths and 3rds. Rock uses 6ths and 3rds to embellish a melody and create an interesting background for songs. All scales can be harmonized this way; including the pentatonic. These are also used in creating background harmonies for the lead vocal. There are other intervals but these are the first you should learn.
Chord progressions in various keys. Often rock and pop will stick to chord progressions within a certain key. It's important to learn all of the chords within each key. You'll notice that once you've done this, you've covered thousands of progessions and songs. These are used over and over. The key of C is given as an example:
C: I ii iii IV V vi (bVII)
C Dm Em F G Am (Bb)

Counterpoint, Voice Leading etc.

Most rock musicians will attest not knowing what counterpoint and voice leading is let alone the fact that they may be incorporating it into their songs. Voice leading is simply moving the different voices in a chord in the smoothest manner possible. Most of the time rock music flies right in the face of this and will move all over the place. Counterpoint is just having two separate lines moving independent from one another. Rock music uses these in various ways. Voice leading is used a lot in playing arpeggios and creating interesting progressions under the lead vocal. It's also used a lot in leads were the guitarists will play ascending and descending lines and arpeggios connecting them seamlessly together (the solo to 'Hotel California is a great example of this). Other times rock musicians will play a melody or line with the vocal instead of strumming chords. Other techniques rock uses are: modulation, pedal tones, vamps, polyrhythms, polychords and modal harmony (to name a few).

It's All There

If you're reading this and wondering what half of this stuff is, if you're wondering if you actually do any of this, then you know you have some homework to do. Without getting a degree in music theory it's a good idea to knnow what some of these tools are how and you can use them in your music. You may be using most of them already and not know it. Giving a name and explaination of these techniques allow you to isolate the various tools and use them in new and interesting ways. Most of all, your other band mates may be wondering where you've come up with all of these great new ideas. Don't tell them you learned some theory though, you may end up being 'the theory guy' in the band.

Fast Forward: Conversations with Machines

2011-06-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

Fast Forward: Conversations with machines

From camera obscura to cybernetics: filmmaker Joost Rekveld outlines experimental cinema from its hidden past to a distant future.

By Joost Rekveld

Essay

Quote from essay
"In this essay I want to develop my thoughts about possible futures for what is now referred to as experimental cinema, inspired by some of the ideas behind expanded cinema. Experimental cinema is a marginal cinema, not in the sense that its purpose is to remain obscure forever, but in the sense that those filmmakers are called experimental who challenge the categories of mainstream cinema. These same artists often cross over from or into other disciplines, so in order not to lose ourselves in speculations concerning the future of everything, we will have to rewind until we find a starting point from which we can can try and extrapolate. "

View online at:
http://preview.instantcinema.org/essays/852/Fast-Forward-Conversations-with-machines

Joost Rekveld website: http://www.lumen.nu/rekveld/wp/index.php

RUSSIAN PIONEERS OF SOUND ART AND MUSICAL TECHNOLOGY IN 1910-1930

2011-06-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

GENERATION Z
RUSSIAN PIONEERS OF SOUND ART AND MUSICAL TECHNOLOGY IN 1910-1930

June 9 - July 20, 2011

OSA Archivum and the authors of GENERATION Z exhibition cordially invite you to the opening which will take place on 9th of June at 6:00 p.m. The exhibition will run at OSA Archivum, Budapest from June 9 till July 20, 2011.

ADDRESS: 1051 BUDAPEST, ARANY J. U. 32.
http://www.osaarchivum.org/
exhibition details at http://bit.ly/lSXejp

Variophone, theremin terpsitone, rhythmicon, emiriton, ekvodin, graphical sound – just to mention a few of the amazing innovations of the beginning of the 20th century in Soviet Russia, a country and time turbulent with revolutions, wars and totalitarian dictatorship.
While the history of Russian post-revolutionary avant-garde art and music is fairly well documented, the inventions and discoveries, names and fates of researchers of sound, creators of musical machines and noise orchestras, founders of new musical technologies have been largely forgotten except, perhaps, Leon Theremin, inventor of the first electronic musical instrument, the theremin.

This community of creators, however, was inherently incompatible with the totalitarian state. By the late 1930s it became effectively written out of histories, wiped out from text books.

Many of their ideas and inventions, considered as utopian at that time, were decades later rein vented abroad. We still use them today not knowing their origin.

This exhibition is an attempt at reconstructing and understanding the Russian artistic utopia.

The exhibition runs from June 9 till July 20.

June 24, 2011, on the Night of Museums, 10:00 p.m.:

Multimedia theremin concert: Najmányi László, visual artist, performer, theremin specialist.

Thanks to CVM for original post: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/

Oskar Fischinger Painting Exhibition - Santa Fe, New Mexico

2011-06-07T01:56:00.000-07:00

Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967) Major Painting Exhibition at the Peyton Wright Gallery - Santa Fe, New Mexico
Opening July 2011

Oskar Fischinger - Layers of Sound

Oskar Fischinger's paintings are being exhibited at the art dealers gallery - Peyton Wright Gallery. These paintings are a real treat to view. Peyton Wright Gallery have put many of Oskar Fischinger's paintings online, many of these have probably not been seen before, as they have not been put online before.

Some of these paintings have strong musical themes. There are several that I really like and a beautiful one for me is, Layers of Sound. However, there are many others and Fischinger's very distinct artistic and aesthetic style is really apparent. A great treat to be able to view these paintings online via the Peyton Wright Gallery, and if you are lucky enough to be near Sante Fe, a treat to see in reality.

View Paintings online at:
http://www.peytonwright.com/art/main.php?g2_itemId=9200

Harmonic Elaboration

2011-06-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

So you've written a memorable hook, or a nice little melody. You put together some chords to go with your creation and that's it. What a lot of musicians don't seem to realize is that with any given set of notes, there are a ton of different ways to harmonize it. If you've ever heard some of the mash-ups of well known songs put on top of other tracks, you can see how there are many things you can do with the background.

The Basics

Whenever you've written a melody, there are a set of chords or harmonies that we may 'automatically' hear. For example if it's a simple melody that doesn't move around much or have any weird leaps and accidentals, we will probably hear a basic I IV V I. Since we hear these progressions so often, we may automatically hear them in our head. That doesn't mean that we have to use them, or even that they're 'right'. For example if you have a simple melody you may want to use other chords because you want a different 'feel' for the song. Or, you want to invoke some surprise, or you want to change it into a different genre, or you just may want to make the song 'more interesting'.

Substitutes

I had an interesting thing happen when teaching recently. A student came in with a well known song and a sheet of the chord changes. The chord changes in fact turned out to be wrong but they also fit. When correcting the changes, the song was infinitely better but both sets of chords could have been used. The 'wrong' chords were your basic I IV V whereas the correct ones used substitutes instead. Substitutes are chords that are familiar to the chord they're replacing but not exactly the same. These chords function in the same way as the original chord. A substitution that is used a lot is the vi chord replacing the I. For example an Am would go where you would expect a C chord to go. If you want to hear how this sounds, write a simple melody over a F G C progression. Play the progression a couple of times but the last time, put the Am in place of the C. Make sure you don't change the melody, See how this chord fits but 'changes' the melody even though we're using the same notes. The iii chord is also another substitution for a I chord.

The ~~Wrong~~ Right Chord

One thing substitutions do is create an element of surprise because you're expecting one thing but get another. The way to do this is to replace the expected chord with non-diatonic chord. If you were writing the song in the example given above, and were looking for a substitute for a C chord, you could replace the chord with another that has the melody note in it. For example if the melody note was an E, you could replace the C chord with an A, E, or C#m. You could even go up to the 7th and try an FMaj7 or F#7. All of these chords have an E in them. If the note was a G, you would have different options. You could replace the C major with a Cm because that critical 3rd, isn't in the melody. But, you could also use Eb, Gm, A7, or AbMaj7. Remember these are ideas just using the melody note as an anchor. The possibilities and endless...

Simplfy

Since we're talking about substitutions, we have to talk about changing the harmonic background completely. Moby did well with his Play album by taking old blues songs and placing them on electronic beats and different chord progressions. Just becuase the original had a chord change every bar, doesn't mean you need to. Dance music does this all the time. Instead of having the regular changes, remixers will simply place the melody over their 'static' harmony*. Jazz and blues musicians also do this regularly. They will take the basic form of a blues and embellish the chords and changes. Sometimes this is done to extremes as in the case of John Coltrane who created his own version of 'blues changes'. Their are many more artists that have done this. Sometimes, in the case of many pop songs, entire changes can be replaced with a single chord or vamp.

*I use the word static here because most dance music relies on a constant underlying groove and harmony. It doesn't have to be this way but remixers will usually replace any harmony with their own.

Elaborate

Of course if the harmony can be simplified, it can also be made much more elaborate. This is pretty much the standard for jazz standards. Jazz musicians will usually take the given chord changes and replace them with their own. The best musicians pride themselves on having the coolest changes. They often do this without changing the melody*. This isn't just a jazz thing though. Musicians love taking songs and changing the chords and voicings. A folk musician might add some 2nds and 4ths. A pop musician might add the same as well as some dominant and minor 7th chords. Instrumentalists might go even further to add some interest to their instrumental versions.

*Jazz musicians will often change the rhythm and paraphrase the melody but will usually try to keep it close to the original. Of course a Dixieland band will play the melody completely different than a Bebop combo.

Written In Stone

As you can see, the chords you choose for your compositions is a personal one. There is never just one solution to which changes will go to any given melody. It really is up to the writer. Once you get to know this, you will spend more time thinking about this different changes that you have in your composition toolbox and hopefully make your music infinitely more exciting.

'Raumlichtmusik' - Early 20th Century Abstract Cinema Immersive Environments.

2011-05-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

"'Raumlichtmusik' - Early 20th Century Abstract Cinema Immersive Environments."
Essay by Cindy Keefer (Director Center for Visual Music)

"Leonardo Electronic Almanac, Creative Data Special Issue. Leonardo: The International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, and MIT Press. October 2009."

This is an important historical visual music essay on Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson's early experiments in creating abstract cinema for immersive projection environments. It traces the origins in their work of what is more common today - the immersive multimedia environment. Information about plans Fischinger had to present a multimedia performance for the Farblichtmusik shows (started by László) has been researched and documented in this essay and is very exciting information to check out for the scholar interested in accurately tracing the origins of visual music and in particular, its links to contemporary multimedia performance. The vortex concerts, are discussed in detail. These concerts are important to check out for both historical visual music but also in relation to tracing the origins of using projected visuals alongside electronic music, which is so common today, in relation to video projection with electroacoustic music. This article traces these connections and provides an introduction to its history. Do go and read.

Abstract

"Filmmakers Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson created cinematic multimedia experiments from 1926 to 1959; three of these events are predecessors to immersive environments: (A) Beginning in 1926, Fischinger's multiple projector shows combining abstract films, colored light projections, and painted slides; (B) Fischinger's 1944 (unrealized) concept for a dome theatre with center film projectors filling the sphere, creating "endless space without perspective" and (c) Belson and Henry Jacobs’ 1950s Vortex Concerts at Morrison Planetarium, utilizing multiple projectors and 38 speakers, with
“no separation of audience and stage or screen; the entire domed area becomes a living theater of sound and light."

Article can be read online at:
http://www.leonardo.info/LEA/CreativeData/CD_Keefer.pdf

Visit CVM Library Page for more resources in relation to visual music.
http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Library.html

Andrew Hill - Flux

2011-05-24T02:12:00.000-07:00

I have been coming across Andrew Hill's name in relation to visual music quite frequently recently. An up and coming artist and researcher in the audio-visual artwork genre. Flux is quite beautiful in its sound and image relationships - ordered, synaesthetic, gorgeous.

More info on Andrew Hill

"Andrew Hill is a composer from the UK. He studied electroacoustic music and music technology at Keele and De Montfort Universities electing to focus his studies upon audio-visual composition. He is currently conducting PhD research investigating audience reception of electroacoustic audio-visual artworks with Leigh Landy and Bret Battey at De Montfort University."
Source: http://vimeo.com/andrewhill

Flux

Flux from Andrew Hill on Vimeo.

"An audiovisual piece inspired by cyclic patterns, exploring sound and image relationships."
Source: http://vimeo.com/20174827

See also: http://visualmusic.ning.com/profile/AndrewHill

Understanding Visual Music 2011 - Conference - Call for Works

2011-05-20T05:55:00.000-07:00

Call for works

Understanding VISUAL Music 2011

Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies
in collaboration with the Department of Music
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
Montreal - Canada
August 26th and 27th, 2011
Website for more information: http://uvm2011.hexagram.ca/index.html

INFORMATION ABOUT CALL FOR WORK AND SUBMISSIONS

CALL FOR PAPERS AND CREATIVE WORKS

*_DESCRIPTION_*

A two-day conference focused on developing an understanding of the
practice of visual music, its definition, related creative and
perceptual considerations, current trends, technological innovation, and
possible future directions.

The event will take place on *Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th of
August 2011* and will include paper sessions, roundtable discussions,
and creative works presentations.

We are inviting researchers to present studies that address visual
music's multiple definitions and dimensions, questions around visual
music aesthetics and meaning, hierarchy and correlation of sound and
image in this context, and the audience's perception thereof. Artists
are also invited to propose visual music presentations -- both live and
fixed. Attendance is required in both cases.

*_SUBMISSION PROCEDURES_*

*Paper presentation*: please use the *online submission engine *at
http://uvm2011.hexagram.ca/ to send: [1] an *abstract* (250 words or
less)**and [2] a *short biography *ready for printing (250 words or
less). Additionally send [3] *a 3-page CV as a PDF file *to
uvm2011.concordia@gmail.com .

*Visual music presentation*: please use the *online submission engine
*at http://uvm2011.hexagram.ca/ to send: [1] the title of your *piece,
duration*, indication whether the presentation will be *live or fixed*,
[2] a *short description* of the proposed piece (250 words or less), [3]
a *short biography *ready for printing (250 words or less), and [4]
*detailed technical needs*. Also include [5] *links to audiovisual
sample material* hosted in a *non-expiring URL* (for this reason, please
do not send your audio-visual material using /yousendit/ or any similar
applications, and do NOT send your audio-visual material by email) and
[6] send a *3-page CV as a PDF file* to uvm2011.concordia@gmail.com
.

*_SESSION FORMATS_*

*Paper presentations*: each paper will be presented in person by the
author for approx. 20 minutes followed by 5-10 minutes of discussion.

*Visual music presentations*: creative works presentations will take
place in a visual music show that will conclude the colloquium and
between paper sessions throughout the day.

*Roundtable discussion[s]*: an hour-long open discussion on key issues
related to the main theme of the colloquium.

*_DATES_*

- *Deadline *for reception of proposals: *June 18th, 2011*

- *Notification* of acceptance: *June 30th, 2011*

- *Confirmation of attendance* by artist/researchers: *July 20th, 2011*

- *Colloquium* UVM2011: *August 26th-27th, 2011*

*_UVM-2011 ORGANIZERS _*

Ricardo Dal Farra (co-director)

Eldad Tsabary (co-director)

Luigi Allemano (collaborator)

*_CONTACT, INFORMATION and ABSTRACTS:_*

Email: uvm2011.concordia@gmail.com

UVM2011 website: http://uvm2011.hexagram.ca/

*Understanding**V**I**S**U**AL Music 2011*

Radio Dada by Rosa Menkman

2011-05-17T22:56:00.000-07:00

Rosa Menkman's work is beautiful in how it works with glitch and artifact images in her video work.

"Every technology possess its own inherent accidents. ЯOSΛ MEИKMΛN is a Dutch visualist who focuses on visual artifacts created by accidents in digital media. The visuals she makes are the result of glitches, compressions, feedback and other forms of noise. Although many people perceive these accidents as negative experiences, Rosa emphasizes their positive consequences."
Source of quote: http://aboutrosamenkman.blogspot.com/

Radio Dada by Rosa Menkman
Video: Rosa Menkman
Music: Extraboy

Radio Dada from Rosa Menkman on Vimeo.

"The video-images are constructed out of nothing but the image created by feedback (I turned a high-end camera on a screen that was showing, in real time, what I was filming, creating a feedback loop). Then I glitched the video by changing its format and subsequently exporting it into animated gifs. I (minimalistically) edited the video in Quicktime. Then I sent the file to Extraboy, who composed music for the video. The composing process started with a hand held world radio. Extraboy scanned through frequencies and experimented with holding the radio in different parts of the room while touching different objects. Eventually he got the radio to oscillate noise in the tempo that he perceived in the video. The added synthesizer sounds were played live to further build on the non-digital sound and rhythm. This was later contrasted with drums which were digitally synthesized and processed through effects with a very digital sound to them. Just like with the video, the digital and analogue media and aesthetics of sound are mixed into one coherent whole."
Source: http://vimeo.com/2321833

Rosa's website is a homage to her aesthetic - wow! (with audio too and flickering favicon)

Website: http://rosa-menkman.blogspot.com/

CCRMA Stage - Light Dreams: Visual Music by Vibeke Sorensen

2011-05-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Light Dreams: Visual Music by Vibeke Sorensen

Date: Mon, 05/16/2011 - 8:00pm - 9:45pm
Location: CCRMA Stage, The Knoll, Stanford University, USA
Event Type: Concert

"a retrospective of works by the renowned visual music artist and scholar Vibeke Sorensen. The concert will include a world premiere of Green Space, a new work in stereoscopic 3D."

Website with more information:
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/events/light-dreams-visual-music-vibeke-sorensen

Call for Works - MuVi3. International exhibition of video and moving image on synesthesia and visual music

2011-05-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

"MuVi3. International exhibition of video and moving image on synesthesia
and visual music"
Palacio de los Condes de Gabia (Granada, Spain) and Almeria University
16 th -19 th of February 2012

MuVi3, invites artists, musicians, designers and performers, also
professors and university students, to submit proposals of kinetic works to
be part of a public exhibition, with performances and discussions.
The event is organized by the Foundation of Artecittà (Granada), the
Politecnico di Milano, the University of Granada and the University of
Almeria.

Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2011
Fee of submission: Free
For informations:
http://muvi-visualmusic.tumblr.com/

Download of the Text and Forms of the Call in:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7288487/CallMuVi3%20%2812apr11%29.zip
Contact: info@sinestesie.it and info@artecitta.es

Audiovisuelle Rauminstallation fear:love by Gerrit Kress

2011-05-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

This is a very fascinating audio visual work - emulating human emotion - those of love and fear, and how wonderful this piece is. The introduction is like the audiovisual elements breathe together.... a beautiful artwork.

Audiovisuelle Rauminstallation fear:love from Institut Fuer Musik Und Medien on Vimeo.

"fear: love is an audiovisual installation by Gerrit Kress, which deals with the two emotions fear and love. It shows the center of human emotion: an inner core that contains the particular emotion, grown in a system of transmitting and receiving arms that allow communication with the body and mind."[google translate from German]
Source: vimeo link: http://vimeo.com/23318809

CVM Lecture And Screening - At ZKM Germany - May 11, 2011

2011-05-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

CVM at Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany May 11.

For more information on this event, visit
http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/stories/storyReader$7532

Cindy Keefer, Director of the Center for Visual Music Los Angeles, will discuss and screen work by pioneers of kinetic art and pre-digital cinema from CVM's archives... Keefer will screen work from CVM's archives including Dockum's “Mobilcolor Projections,” Bute's “Abstronics” (an early oscilloscope film), a short Bute documentary, the Fischinger “Lumigraph Film,” and more. She will discuss CVM's work with the Fischinger legacy, current preservation work, and “Raumlichtkunst,” the new restoration of his 1920s multiple-projector performances.

Followed by the screening “Films Sacred and Profane” by Jordan Belson

Visit: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Events.htm
for more information on Center For Visual Music and visual music related events and news

Cadences for the Rest Of Us

2011-05-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

While studying theory and composition at university, one of the first things they talked to us about was voice leading. Voice leading is simply trying to find the best way of connecting the different voices in your harmony. You would start with a Cantus Firmus (fixed song) and work at writing counterpoint to that melody.

A big part of voice leading and counterpoint are cadences. Cadences are simply a way of ending musical phrases and ideas. There are a number of different cadences that happen in music. These are still just as relevant today although not used in exactly the same way. Today we're going to look at the different 'classical' cadences and see how they are used in today's music.

Following the Rules

When classical (i.e. classical, romantic, baroque etc.) musicians sat down to compose, there was a huge emphasis placed on voice leading and counterpoint. Classical musicians were preoccupied with the importance of the various independent lines, maintaining the voices and making sure there were no holes in their part writing (e.g. parallel 5ths and octaves). There were (still are) a whole set of rules that musicians would follow to make sure all of these things were taken care of. There were also other rules, like certain intervals (e.g. dim. 5th) and leaps that were to be avoided. Since the 20th century counterpoint has fallen out in place for more block and parallel lines. Most of the rules that were made for writing for band in the classical tradition were thrown out in the jazz era. Jazz musicians focused more on parallel lines, 'dissonant'* harmonies and swing. Voice leading though, is still an important part of writing and arranging in various styles.

*What at one time was considered dissonant (unpleasant, tense) may later be considered consonant (pleasing, no tension). It often happens that once people hear a dissonant interval or harmony often enough, it no longer is considered dissonant. Other general practices, (like always having to resolve suspended sonorities or ending on the I chord) no longer become particularly necessary. One of the trademarks of a innovator is someone who takes well known conventions and throws them out the window. Of course it helps if they do it in a musical and interesting way, instead of going against the grain just to be different.

The Perfect Cadence

With voice leading, it's important that the individual voices move in the proper way. There are predetermined ways to end phrases and pieces. For example classical musicians would always end a piece with a perfect cadence (i.e. a V-I progression in root position). This had an element of finality to it that was the norm and part of the style. When writing out a V-I, there are a number of ways to arrange the four voices*. If it was in the middle of a piece, the cadence had to be voiced a certain way, if it was the end of the piece, it had to be voiced another way. If you're wondering why most of the symphonies you hear end in the same way (the big repeating V to I), this is why. Beyond the theory with the individual voices, to most of us a perfect cadence is simply a V-I chord progression. This is considered the strongest progression in music simply because as soon as we hear that V chord, we immediately want to go back to the I.

*Classical musicians would often write out their voice leading in four voices (separate lines). This was a convention that started early in Western Music and is still done today, even though we often hear sonorities made up of more than 4 voices.

The Plagal Cadence

Beyond the V-I cadence, the other most used progression is the IV-I. This is referred to as the plagal cadence. Of course the voice leading rules that applied to the perfect cadence also applied to these. Whereas the perfect cadence had a finality to it, the IV-I progression isn't quite as strong. Where the perfect cadence felt more like a period, the plagal cadence was more like a comma. The IV almost feels like it could go anywhere; it doesn't have the strong desire to go back to the I. In this way the IV-I would often be used in the first part of a phrase letting the listener know that you weren't quite completely done.

The Imperfect Cadence

Whereas the perfect and plagal cadences both returned to the I, this cadence ends on the V. This cadence has much more of 'suspended' feeling. You are literally left hanging and seem to be waiting to hear the rest of the musical idea. It mostly stems from the strong urge of the V to return to the I. But in this case, it doesn't resolve.

Beyond the Basics

If you've studied music theory, you'll notice that these cadences are still the backbone of most of our music. There are books filled with 3 chord songs that use these progressions only. Don't be fooled by their simplicity, they're still very effective. If you're just beginning on your writing journey, don't be afraid to fully explore these basic progressions. They're effective because they work. Once you've gotten used to using these, you'll be able to use them in your own creations at will. Also, after using these for an extended period of time, you should be able to pick them out immediately in a song. Try listening to a song that has one of these basic progressions and see if you can tell what the chords are without your instrument.

So What??

So how can we use this in our writing? By knowing some of these conventions, we can use them (and go against them) at will. For example, try writing a short 4 bar phrase and end it with either a plagal or imperfect cadence. Notice how the music seems to begging for another phrase. Now write another phrase and this time end with a perfect cadence. See how the whole 8 bar phrase now seems like a logical sentence. Now that you know this, you can use this or go against convention on purpose. Try writing the piece but don't use any perfect cadences until your chorus. In fact try not to use the V chord at all. You'll notice that the cadence may have a different effect if it's only used once at a pivotal point (like at the end of the chorus) in the song.

Binary Opposition - by Edgar Barroso

2011-05-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

"Binary Opposition" for Video and Electronics by Edgar Barroso

Edgar Barroso
"Born in Mexico in 1977, Edgar Barroso is a PhD Candidate in Music Composition at Harvard University where he works with Hans Tutschku, Brian Ferneyhough, Helmut Lachenmann, Michael Gandolfi and Chaya Czernowin. "
Source: http://edgarbarroso.net/?page_id=12

This is a stunningly beautiful audiovisual work, that seems to reduce both aural and visual material to one thing, which is then used as material to craft a unified work that consists of aural and visual material. What I love about this piece, is its incredible sense of structure and development with visual and aural elements evolving over time into a variety of similar and dissimilar transformations - really engrossing work from start to finish.

View on vimeo

"Binary Opposition" for Video and Electronics by Edgar Barroso from Edgar Barroso on Vimeo.

"Binary opposition is a piece that explores the interaction of stable and unstable materials that interact producing a set of possibilities that goes beyond the limited nature of their own. They are all affected by each other, and are also “invaded” by a disruptive characteristic of the frame space that speeds up the materials, similar to wind that provokes acceleration. Metaphorically: The actual weather of the frame. "
source: http://vimeo.com/17512592

Website: http://edgarbarroso.net/

Vessel - Alba G. Corral and Jon Hopkins

2011-05-07T01:57:00.000-07:00

Vessel - Alba G. Corral and Jon Hopkins

The visuals in this piece are just beautiful.

Vessel - Jon Hopkins from Alba G. Corral on Vimeo.

Collaboration between Jon Hopkins and Alba G. Corral in L.E.V. 2011

Website: Alba G. Corral

"Alba G. Corral (Madrid, 1977), based in Barcelona, use the code to create visual tools to give life real-time digital abstract landscapes. Develops programming
visual generative art and live performances in the live context cinema.

Combines form and technique, getting narratives that create atmospheres express sensitivity and taste for color. Has come a long way always related to visual manipulations. Improvisation different atmospheres digital sound and language become
abstract organic sensations in their creations take shape Processing carried out with the tool.

Regularly collaborates with musicians of the Barcelona scene as Miguel Marín, Stendhal Syndrome, or Nikka Aneas Iris, co which is the audiovisual project The Space in Between."
Translated with google translate
Original text:
http://blog.albagcorral.com/bio/

How To Learn Music

2011-05-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

As we went through school, we realized that there were good ways to learn and bad ways to learn. We discovered some shortcuts and methods that helped us through the rough spots. As we get older and leave school we forget some of these and the effectiveness in learning. We're going to look at the different ways we learn and how we use certain techniques to improve our progress.

Beginner's Mind

When growing up and learning new skills, most children just usually dive right in. They don't think too much about the whys or what-fors, and just get into absorbing the new skill. (They're also usually excited which is another great advantage). As adults we learn that not everything that is placed in front of us is great, so we question a lot. We have a lot more internal dialogue going on. And, most of all, we have more bad habits and well defined patterns of thinking. These are useful in most situations but when learning something completely new, it's better to have what's called a 'beginner's mind'. A beginner's mind is to start with a completely open and empty mind; which is a lot harder than it seems. First of all, you have to be willing to make mistakes. You have to have the mindset that you know nothing. Even though you may want to build on your current knowledge, it's better to come into each learning session with an open, empty mind. It also means to be relaxed and pliable. For example when you learn a new music style, just try to absorb as much as you can without making too many judgements or evaluations. Just try to listen and absorb. There many be part of the style that doesn't make sense to you and having an open mind will help alleviate that.

There's a story about 2 martial artists that we taking part in learning a completely new form of martial art. They both we champions in their own style but this was something completely new. One of the martial artists was quite proud of his accomplishments and made no secret of his skill. The other martial artist was the opposite; in fact most of the other students didn't know that he was a champion at all. The first martial artist had a hard time learning the new style and eventually dropped out. The other martial artist became quite skilled at the new art. It wasn't until graduation that the martial artist let the others know about his other skills by going through an impressive set. The first martial artist relied on his previous training and when it became obvious that it was getting in the way, he couldn't 'drop it' to learn the new skill.

Patience

When you first started learning, you had an incredible amount of patience with yourself. When I teach children I'm always amazed at how much they'll work at it and not get discouraged. As adults we learn that if we don't get something within a reasonable amount of time, we probably won't get it at all. When students come in to me and want to learn certain skills, I already know how much time that will take. I know that if a student wants to learn skill 'x' it may take a year or so. Most things in music take longer to master than we usually think. I also know that it will take that amount of time if the student practices and sticks to the program. You're going to have to have patience when learning. It's not only good to have patience in the long run but in the short too. When I teach a new strumming pattern or a new finger exercise, I tell the student to have patience and practice slowly. I know that this rarely happens but I can't stress enough how important this is. If you learn a new exercise and practice it slowly until you can do it without mistakes, your progress will be much, much quicker.

Be Engaging

One of the things that you will notice when learning, that small details usually make a huge difference. This is just as true in music. When learning new skills you will find that there are always small details that come up. It can get to the point where you may feel that you're getting nit-picky. It's not really being picky as it is being thoughtful and concise. That means that whenever you learn something new, try and engage the mind as much as possible. You will find that when you really get into the process, all other thoughts will drift away. You'll absorb much more than usual and the new ideas will be assimilated much easier. It's the same thing when practicing, really think about what you're doing.

Mimicking

This is the primary way we pretty much learned to do everything for the first part of our lives. It's effectiveness can not be understated. Yet as we age, we feel that we must do things our own way. We feel that mimicking or emulating somebody else is cheating or just wrong. This in fact, is a great way to learn any skill, not just music. If you want to learn a new style, a new move, or get a new sound, one of the best ways to start is by mimicking somebody else who already does what you want to do. There are many advantages to this. First of all, they've probably done most of the homework for you. They've found what works for that particular situation. Second, by emulating them, you will automatically pick up subtle information and nuances that can't be gleaned from normal techniques. Most of all, your getting straight into what you want to learn and how you want to sound. If you want to get that blues sound, go right to the source. Then, once you have it, take it to the next level...

Taking It Too Far

For a lot of musicians, the last paragraph may be a big no-no because so often in music, musicians get so enamored with certain artists and styles that they become carbon copies. They exhibit no originality or creative thought. This is a familiar pattern to fall into but easy to avoid. The best way to avoid it is to do what I tell all of my students to do; I tell them; learn this stuff cold, then rip it apart. If you learn new techniques and go one step further and try to incorporate some creativity you end up with a musician who sort of sounds like this but still has something all their own. That way you impart the style and sound that you were looking for, but still have your own individual sound and voice. Not only do you develop you own sound, you may take the style to a whole new level. This is a long used tradition in blues and jazz, not to mention whole schools of music. The other way to avoid becoming a carbon copy is to learn the style of many different artists. Learn the styles of many artists in your genre but also include other related genres. Try to apply all of the different things you learned and develop them into your own style. Of course if you're a composer, an improviser and a gigging musician, you're going to have to be able to do both. You'll have to be able to fit into a certain category, make it sound authentic without straying too far, and still have your own voice.

One Day At A Time

Music is a huge and wonderful world. It takes a while to grasp all of it's subtleties but can be enjoyed the second you pick up the instrument. It takes constant and concentrated effort. It's not hard, it just doesn't happen overnight. Take your music lessons and practice sessions like a daily meditation. Forget the world and focus on what's in front of you. Use all of the tricks and things you learned when you were young and trying to get through school. Music is a life long learning experience, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Visual Music - Supporting Programme

2011-05-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

VISUAL MUSIC PROGRAMME at 18th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film

The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, May 2011 presented a Visual Music supporting programme at the festival.

http://www.itfs.de/en/

CVM (Center for Visual Music) presented two historical programs of abstract animated films by Oskar Fischinger, including preserved prints and rarely-screened films.
Title of Program: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective, May 7, 2011

Cornelia and Holger Lund presented contemporary visual music
Title of Programme: Visual Music: Contemporary, May 8, 2011.

A programme was put together on Norman McLaren
Title of Programme: The animator as musician, May 6, 2011

See: http://www.itfs.de/en/programmes/supporting-programme/visual-music.html

Visit CVM Events page for up to date information on Visual Music Events
http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Events.htm

Advanced Beauty - 18 Sound Sculptors

2011-05-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Advanced Beauty - 18 Sound Sculptors - 2009
Curated by Universal Everything
Soundtracks by Freefarm

A DVD was created and there are links to purchase the DVD on their website. The website created to support the collection is excellent with links to the artists whose work is documented online, with video clips online on their website and on their vimeo channel, so all can be seen online which is a great resource.

"Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound, an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, musicians, animators and architects.

The first collection is a series of audio-reactive 'video sound sculptures'. Inspired by synasthesia, the rare, sensory experience of seeing sound or tasting colours, these videos are physical manifestations of sound, sculpted by volume, pitch or structure of the soundtrack.

The films embrace unusual video making processes, the visual programming language Processing, high-end audio analysis and fluid dynamic simulations alongside intuitive responses in traditional cell animation. Each artist was given the same set of parameters to work within; to start, finish and exist within a white space, creating a seamless coherence, all sculptures sharing the same white environment.

Using 1920 HD format, with 5:1 surround sound, the films transform the screen into a digital canvas, how the minimalism of a single, floating pixel can be as engaging as the maximalism of an intense multicoloured explosion.

Curated by Universal Everything and musician Freeform, Advanced Beauty is an international collaboration, taking in a family of artists from London, Russia, New York, Japan, Buenos Aires, Glasgow to San Francisco."
http://advancedbeauty.org/blog/about

PREVIEW VIDEOS

http://advancedbeauty.org/blog/archives/category/previews

http://www.vimeo.com/universal/videos/

Clinker - Gary James Joynes - Live Cinema

2011-05-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

"GARY JAMES JOYNES is a sound artist, composer and visual artist from Edmonton, Canada...As CLINKER, his work explores meditative spaces and the kinesthetic and synesthetic effects of sound and visuals...Recent work includes "On the Other Side..." a Live Cinema piece commissioned by the 2008 INTERNATIONAL LEONARD COHEN FESTIVAL"
Source: http://www.clinkersound.com/bio-cv/bio-cv.htm

Clinker Live Cinema

Really beautiful work by Clinker in Live Cinema performance. He provides a really useful and interesting definition of Live Cinema on his website's live cinema page.

"LIVE CINEMA | AV PERFORMANCE - MANDATE

CLINKER’s Live Cinema creates a live synchresis between audio-visual events which reside in the moment. No computer or MIDI synching is used in the genesis of these events.

All A/V “connections” are live and are made possible organically through the use of live layering / phasing / triggering techniques.

Clinker’s interest is focused on the creation of a truly unique experience for each audience member using the brains natural ability to “connect the dots.”

All vocals and harmonies are performed and layered live in concert.

_________________________________________________________

LIVE CINEMA | DEFINITION by Clinker

The term “Live Cinema“ has hitherto been used primarily to describe the live musical accompaniment of silent movies. But that was yesterday. “Live Cinema“ today stands for the simultaneous creation of sound and image in real time by sonic and visual artists who collaborate to elaborate concepts on equal terms. The traditional parameters of narrative cinema are expanded by a much broader conception of cinematographic space, the focus of which is no longer the photographic construction of reality as seen by the camera’s eye, or linear forms of narration. The term “Cinema” is now to be understood as embracing all forms of configuring moving images, beginning with the animation of painted or synthetic images."
Source: http://www.clinkersound.com/live-cinema-av/live-cinema-av.htm

VIEW VECTOR RAILS | Temporal Extinction Event 2011 Live AV Performance
Click image or link to view on vimeo

http://vimeo.com/23139454

VIEW DOCUMENTARY OF FREQUENCY PAINTING: 12 TONES

FREQUENCY PAINTING: 12 TONES (THE PROCESS | A 2-YEAR JOURNEY INTO THE VISUALIZATION OF SOUND) from Gary James Joynes | Clinker on Vimeo.

Filter - Issue 66 - Synchresis

2011-05-04T01:19:00.000-07:00

Filter Magazine Issue 66 / Synchresis
Explored:
Australian Sound Artists working at the spontaneous weld between sounds and image.
December 2007.

http://filter.anat.org.au/category/issue-66/

Articles:
Monster and Maps by Mitchell Whitelaw

Synchresis DVD

"The Synchresis DVD, curated by Mitchell Whitelaw brought together ten Australian sound artists:
Gordon Monro,
Wade Marynowsky,
Peter Newman,
Jean Poole,
BotBorg,
Julian Oliver & Steven Pickles,
Robin Fox,
Andrew Gadow and
Abject Leader.

3000 copies were circulated in Filter Issue 66 nationally and internationally and the DVD was launched at the Chauvel Cinema Sydney with live performances by Robin Fox, Peter Newman and Ian Andrews."
http://www.anat.org.au/2010/06/synchresis/

Synchresis DVD vimeo channel

The Synchresis DVD works can be seen on ANAT’s Vimeo Channel.
http://www.vimeo.com/anat/videos

Example highlighted here: - PRINCIPLE 4 (excerpt) by Botborg

ANAT, Filter Issue 66 Synchresis, 2007 - PRINCIPLE 4 (excerpt) by Botborg from ANAT on Vimeo.

Filter
"First published as the ANAT (Australian Network for Art and Technology) Bulletin in July 1988, Filter has been informing and inspiring a global network of artists, designers, curators, researchers, writers, educators and creative and research organisations for over two decades. Each issue thematically investigates an area of emerging practice or art form of the future; exploring the new creativities which are occurring across community, culture and industry."
http://filter.anat.org.au/about-filter/

Event - The New Flesh - May 2011

2011-05-04T01:06:00.000-07:00

Event - The New Flesh - May 12, 2011 - Toronto, Canada.
"Experiments in audio video performance exceeding all reason! avant garde video in the omega age"

Thursday May 12, 2011
The Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, ON, M6R 2M9. Details and updates available on the facebook event page here.

"The New Flesh
Experiments in audio video performance exceeding all reason! Avant garde video in the omega age.

Featuring Performances by:
Botborg (Germany / Australia)
Nohista (France)
Rybn (France)
Rko (France)
Skeeter (Canada)
Mandelbrut (Canada)
The Nod (Canada)
Tasman Richardson (Canada)"

Website: http://www.tasmanrichardson.com/

Schematic as Score by Derek Holzer

2011-05-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

Vague Terrain 19: Schematic as Score: Uses and Abuses of the (In)Deterministic Possibilities of Sound Technology.

Interesting article on synthesising images and sound and looking back to electronic video and music pioneers to provide a context for more informed contemporary work that synthesise video and sound.

View article: http://vagueterrain.net/journal19

Optical Glasses Installation

2011-05-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have just come across this very interesting audiovisual project installation, based in Russia. The glasses are illuminated to the music. It consists of hardware and software to realise the illumination.

A video clip of the installation is available on youtube or at the website documenting the project
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13l3pPUmBtg&feature=player_embedded
Website: http://habrahabr.ru/blogs/sound_and_music/118618/

Bart Vegter - Nacht-Licht - 1993

2011-05-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Bart Vegter, Nacht-Licht, Netherlands, 1993, 13 min. 16mm

View Nacht-Licht on the EYE channel at Preview Instant Cinema
http://preview.instantcinema.org/eye/422

"Vegters first film made with the use of handwritten image generating computer programmes. Each of the three parts in the film has its own, formal starting-point. On this formal basis, variations are executed by gradual changes in position, direction, movement, velocity and colour of the elements."

Kurt Laurenz Theinert - Visual Piano

2011-05-02T00:33:00.000-07:00

Light Installation Artist - Kurt Laurenz Theinert - Visual Piano

Kurt Laurenz Theinert is a photographer and light artist, who develops, performs and installs incredible light installations. The following is a summary of his visual piano instrument.

"The visual piano is an instrument which makes it possible to create moving images in a space. It is unique and was conceived and developed by the photographer and light installation artist Kurt Laurenz Theinert in collaboration with the software designers Roland Blach and Philip Rahlenbeck.

Using a MIDI-keyboard it is possible to generate varying graphic patterns which can be digitally projected onto one or more screens. These dynamic and immediate drawings in light are not (as with VJ soft-and Hardware) generated by pre-recorded clips, but every moment of the performance is being played and modulated live and in real time via the keyboard and pedals."

Source from website [Text: Winfried Stürzl]
http://www.theinert-lichtkunst.de/klt_eng_start.html

Visit his website for more information on his work, installations, collaborations and performances.

The visual piano has been used in installations and in audiovisual concerts.

"Over several years the pianist Martin Stortz and Kurt Laurenz Theinert have been exploring the relationship between pianosounds and graphic patterns generated in realtime by using the visual piano. Sound an image interact in a very sensitiv dialogue - creating an audivisual concert."
source: Link

on the link above, there is a link to a quicktime video clip excerpt

Website: http://www.theinert-lichtkunst.de/klt_eng_start.html

Youtube embed: Light Concert
marienkirche stuttgart, nikola lutz, saxofon, kurt laurenz theinert, visual piano

CVM - Charles Dockum - Mobilcolor

2011-05-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

Historical Resource

The Center for Visual Music (CVM) has a really useful research page on the Charles Dockum, the inventor of the mobilcolor projector - a projection device for performing abstract colour imagery.

Visit website: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Dockum/

Call for Visual Music Works - VISUAL MUSIC AWARD

2011-05-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

VISUAL MUSIC AWARD

Call for Entries 2011

"The avant-garde-artists of the “Absolute Film” movement worked on visionary film experiments. They created visual symphonies from animated images which they composed on film according to their perception as artists. These were called “paintings in time”, ”visual music”, “symphonies of light and sound”, “cinematic paintings”, “color light music” or “space light art”.

Target Groups:

The “Visual Music Award 2011” is again an international call for proposals addressing young talents. Invited for participation are young independent creative artists and designers as well as students for example in the disciplines of new media art, experimental film and music video and allied disciplines.

In the year 2011, for the third time, we invite video jockeys (VJs or DJs) and "live-performance" artists to participate with their formats in the catagory "visual music live contest"!"
More information: http://visualmusicaward.de/index.cfm?siteid=7

An Evening of Visual Music with Dennis Miller

2011-05-01T02:56:00.000-07:00

CCRMA - An Evening of Visual Music with Dennis Miller
[CCRMA = Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University, US]

A concert of visual music works presented by Dennis Miller at Stanford University - 5th May, 2011

An Evening of Visual Music with Dennis Miller
Date: Tue, 05/03/2011 - 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: CCRMA Stage, The Knoll, Stanford University
Event Type: Concert

"Dennis Miller, a visual music artist and scholar curates an evening of selections from Northeastern’s Visual Music Special Collection.

Come to see works by: Stephanie Maxwell, Vishal Shah/Adam Stansbie, Harvey Goldman/ James Bohn, Jim Ellis/Aksak Maboul, Damir Cucic/Erich Maria Strom, Betsy Kopmar/ The Headroom Project (Andreas Ecker), Bret Battey, Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman & Joseph Gerhardt), Brian Evans, Tina Frank/General Magic, Jean Detheux/Michael Oesterle, Bum Lee/Erik Satie, Karl Lemieux/Olivier Borzei, Gerhard Daurer, Eva M. Toth/Gyorgy Kurtag Sr., Gyorgy Kurtag Jr. and Dennis H. Miller."

website: https://ccrma.stanford.edu/events/evening-of-visual-music-with-dennis-miller-1

CAMP Festival - Festival for Visual Music

2011-05-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

CAMP Festival - Festival for Visual Music - June 2011

CAMP 2011 international festival for klangkunst and visual arts

performances june 11 and 12 at 9 pm / pogon, Zagreb
symposium visual music, lectures, rehearsals:
june 6 - 9 at 10am - 10pm, free access
CAMP festival party june 11 starts at midnight

"The CAMP Festival was founded in 1999 by Prof. Fried Dähn and Thomas Maos. Since 2003, it has been organized and run and coordinated by CAMP e.V. (Thomas Maos, Fried Dähn, Stefan Hartmaier, and Martin Mangold) .

The festival in Zagreb is a cooperation between CAMP e.V. Kirchentellinsfurt and KONTEJNER Zagreb, Croatia.
Concept

"Developement of new forms of audiovisual art. Research. Cooperation and communication. Intercultural and intermedial exchange between artists."

"The international Festival CAMP (Creative Arts and Music Project) is characteristically marked by experimental and electronic music in convergence with visual disciplines. For several days a selected group of artists, who belong to the international avantgarde in their field, work in a “laboratory of time” on audio – visual projects which will be presented to the public at the final performances."

"It is an innovative platform and interactive research lab for sound artists, musicians, and artists in the areas of video, installation, projection and new media. It focuses on new, experimental music in conjunction with light, projection and media art. In what is effectively a laboratory created for a defined period, artists – all of them recognized members of the international avant garde in their respective fields – collaborate for several days on new forms of audio-visual art, presentation techniques and live performances. The results are showcased to the public in concerts, installations, and performances held alongside the event. Moreover, various topics and aspects are presented and developed in accompanying lectures and workshops."

http://www.camp-festival.de/de/festival.html

Space Light Art - by Cindy Keefer

2011-04-30T02:32:00.000-07:00

"Space Light Art" - Early Abstract Cinema and Multimedia, 1900-1959 by Cindy Keefer

Article online at: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/CKSLAexc.htm

How To Sing Harmonies

2011-04-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Harmonies. They almost seem to be invisible on some tracks, yet on others, they seem to make the whole song. Most music you hear on the radio (pop/rock/MOR) is filled with harmonies. Sometimes it's obvious, usually it isn't. A great harmony can take a track to the next level. Yet, there seems to be lots of confusion about how to do these or where to put them.

They're Out There

If you listen closely to the vocal tracks on most pop songs, you'll find tons of harmonies. You'll not only hear them on the chorus but peppered throughout the rest of the track too. Most vocalists like to stick a harmony on a couple of lines throughout the song, not just the chorus. A lot of the time, it's layered in the background, just lifting the line without making it too obvious. Sometimes the vocal will be doubled, sometimes it's the lead an octave above or below, and of course the traditional 3rd above is always popular. Doubling and singing the same line an octave above or below is also vary effective in bringing something extra to the line without having a full blown harmony there. Some artists will almost always double their vocal line.

Different Strokes

What people don't realize is that each style of music has it's own way of dealing with harmonies and vocals. Some styles (like metal) generally don't like 3 part harmonies unless it's for a special effect. Other genres (like country) use harmonies so much, that it's pretty much part of the style. Jazz of course has it's more complicated harmonies, but usually used more in vocal groups (versus the intimate trio setting). Certain types of rock and indie rock also use different harmonies to create different moods (Alice In Chains is a great example of unique harmonies being part of their style). RnB harmonies also can go beyond the typical intervals to great effect.

Some Of The Rules

Straight ahead harmonies follow simple rules that can be used as a starting point (as well as ending point) for some of your songs. Most harmonies will follow the chord or 'harmony' behind the vocal line. Depending on your melody, your harmony will usually be a third (or fourth) above (or below) that. For example if your chord is a C major and your vocal melody starts of an E note, goes up to an F, and returns to and E, your harmony line will be a third above that (i.e. G, to A, back to G). However, if your vocal melody line starts on a G, goes up to an A and back to a G, your harmony line will be a fourth above that (i.e a C, to a D, back to a C). It doesn't always work exactly this way because your melody doesn't always start on a convenient note, but it's a good starting point. Also, depending on the genre, different harmonies will apply. If you're singing harmony on a blues song, or a reggae song, different harmonies will apply. Still, a third is a great way to start.

Get It Going

The best way to get started in using harmonies is to just get started. Don't worry about too much of the technical stuff to begin with. Just try singing along with songs and try doing the harmonies. We'll go into some exercises that will help you along the way but it's best to just get going. A lot of vocalists I've worked with didn't work on harmonies as much because they were a mystery and had trouble at the beginning. Try working on these and see how far you get. The best harmony singers I've ever used had a great ear and would come up with the best harmonies. There are two ways to go about figuring out and working on harmonies; a) strictly technical (following the line exactly) and b) experimentation (not following the line). These both occur in music for different reasons. Most of the time when signers are in 3 (or more) part harmony, you have to be a bit more strict about the lines because you don't want the different harmony lines tripping over each other. The second happens a lot with just one line of harmony where the harmony line won't follow the melody line exactly. Examples of this is where the melody will move but the harmony will stay on one note (or move around very little).

Strictly Technical

Start by playing a chord on the piano. Keep it simple to start. With your right hand play a simple melody. Start with using chord tones only. The example listed above is a great example to start with. Play a C chord. Play the melody above that: C to D back to C. Now you're going to sing the harmony. Play the E to F just above the C to D you just played. Hear those notes in your head. Sing them and try to remember them. Now play the chord with your left hand, the melody notes C and D with your right hand and sing the harmony notes E and F all at the same time. It's important when you work on this that you get your pitch right. Once you get your notes right, try and hear the notes you're singing with the original notes of the melody. This is the most important part; you need to hear both parts at once. This is where most vocalists fall behind. The reason for this is because whenever you sing harmonies, you're always singing with another person. That other person is usually the lead. Your line must meld with theirs seamlessly. That can't happen if you aren't listening carefully to what they're doing. This listening has to be done as soon as you start practicing harmonies. The best harmony singers I've ever heard didn't just have great pitch, they had great timing, and most of all they had great ears.

A Little Experimentation

The other way to get some harmonies going is to simply start singing and see if you can 'hear' another line, it doesn't matter if the line is 'technically' correct i.e. a correct harmony line moving in perfect parallel with the lead vocal. It just matters that you try and start to 'hear' these things. Again start with a simple line and then start singing lines above (or below) that line. Try to stay above or below the melody; harmony lines as a general rule don't cross the melody. Try as many variations as you can. Remember to try lines below as well as above your original. The value in this is that after you become used to singing harmonies, this is the best way to come up with interesting lines. Line made up are almost always better than lines carefully constructed (this may not be the case in strict harmonies or really involved arrangements) . If used in conjunction with the technical method, you'll find you're on your way to becoming a great harmony singer.

One Liners

Because some melodies just around a lot, or don't stick to chord tones, a 3rd or fourth line won't work. Sometimes, because the chords are moving and your line doesn't or vice-versa a moving line won't work. Sometimes when nothing else fails, singing a single note over the entire phrase is best. Not only is it a good idea in some cases, in some genres (like indie rock) a single note above or below the melody will actually sound better (or cooler to your ears). Other styles of rock also like to use one liners like an octave below to a line to thicken it and make it sound darker.

In The Mix

Most of the time a harmony line will play second role to the melody. This usually works the best and like mentioned, it's a great way to bring out that melody. When it comes to having more than one harmony part, you're going to have to go in and do some tweaking to make it sound right. Depending on your harmonies and how many people you have singing any one part, the harmonies are going to have to be mixed right. It's not always all completely even. We tend to like the higher harmony parts better, so they're usually mixed a little higher, or at least heard better. If it's a three (or more) part harmony, be careful with the inner voices. If one of these sticks out too much, it'll sound weird to our ears. Our ear naturally pick up three things. First, we hear the lead and for a lot of people, that's all they really notice. Second, we'll hear the highest harmony, third we'll hear the lowest note and finally we're able to discern the inner voices. To most people those inner voices are almost invisible. A lot of musicians try and pull those inner voices out to make their music more interesting. The point is that unless it's something you want to do on purpose, it'll sound strange to our ears if those middle lines are the most prominent.

The Double

Once a special effect, it's now standard for artists to double their vocal line. This is used in every genre of music from pop to rap. There's something special that happens when a vocal line is doubled. Keep in mind that the line has to be sung twice and not just copied and pasted. The latter results in a chorus/phase type effect (or even make the line completely disappear) whereas doubling the vocal will thicken it. Some artists do this numerous times. While effective to bring out a vocal line, it also takes away from the intimacy of a single vocal; the idiosyncrasies and special inflections of the original vocal may get lost. One effect that a lot rock artists like to use is to keep the verse a single vocal line and then double it at the chorus. This really makes the chorus stand out and keeps the intimacy of the verse intact. Remember too that often the harmonies are doubled just as much as the lead. This has the same effect making the harmonies sound bigger (and somewhat smoother) than just the one line. Remember to make the double as close to the original line as possible or you'll end up with a useless mess.

Start Your Harmony Engines

There are so many ways to treat a vocal line. Harmonies are one of the best ways to really pull out a line. Plus, people just love the sound of multiple voices. It's a powerful tool. Try some of the other things mentioned in this article: doubling, octave doubling, alternate lines etc. Even if your genre doesn't generally use a lot of harmonies, you may start something that changes everything. At the very least, you'll create your own unique voice.

The Cirlce Of Fifths: Other Applications

2011-04-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

We've talked about the circle of fifths and the different ways that songwriters you can use it. Today we're going to talk about a couple more ways that the circle applies to different aspects of music theory. Other uses include chord progressions, key modulation, improvisation and composition.

Modulate What?

When it comes to modulating to different keys within the same song, there are ones that are more fluid than others. For example a modulation from the major to it's relative minor is a very fluid modulation whereas the modulation from C major to F# major is more abrupt. The further away the modulating key from the original in the circle, the more obvious and abrupt* the change will be. In most forms of classical music, there is a modulation as part of the form. For example the second movement is usually in a different key. You'll find that the composer would often follow the circle when choosing a key to modulate to. If they chose a key further away, if was often on purpose and for a good reason. So in effect, the simplest modulation would be from a major key to it's relative minor. One movement to the left or right would be the next easiest movement. The only exception to this would be the modulation to the major's parallel minor. For example going from C major to minor. Even though their key signatures are different, we hear this modulation so much, that it doesn't seem intrusive to us at all.

*Of course 'abrupt' here is subjective since accomplished composers can make the most unusual key changes seamless...or the most obvious change seem intrusive.

This not only applies to composition but to improvisation as well. If' you're DJing you'll find the same thing happens when you mix songs. The further away the keys, the more obvious the transition will be.

Improvisation

The use of the circle is also a great vehicle for improvisation. Go through some theory books or jazz courses (the Aebersold series is a great example here), and you'll find that they'll often suggest going through the circle of fifths as an exercise. There are two reasons for this. First it's a great way to get the circle second nature in your mind. After going through the circle a million times with your scales, it becomes like your second name. Second, like mentioned above, a lot of modulations follow the circle so you're in effect practicing something that's going to come up in real world situations.

Try this: When practicing your scales, go through the circle. Play the C major scale up and down and then move to the right (or left) of the circle and keep going. You'll end up going through all keys in a very musical way. Try playing a pattern and doing the same thing. Next, try doing the same thing with chord progressions (e.g. a ii V I ). Since keys often modulate a fifth away, you're practicing things that will definitely come up. You'll find that the entire progression (a ii V I progression is all fifths) is just one movement of fifths after another.

Chord Progressions

We covered the circle and how it applies to chord progression before. Chords will often move in fifths. For example the famous 'Rhythm Changes' is just a chord progression going through the circle of fifths. Just like modulations, the movement of a fifth in chord progressions is a very pleasing sound to us. You'll find that the most well known ( and used) chord progressions (e.g. ii V I, IV I, V I, vi ii V I, etc.) are all just movements of fifths. At the same time, if you want to make things difficult, modulate across the circle. Start at C, then go to Gb, then to G, then to B, etc. If you look at notoriously difficult songs, (e.g. Coltrane's 'Giant Steps') you'll find that it follows these guidelines. Also, when improvising on changes in jazz or blues, it's common to add a V or ii V in the middle of the progression (again, just more fifths). These need to be on your fingertips.

Composition

Of course, all of this leads us to composition. Key modulation and effective chord movement and progressions are part of the craft. Knowing where to go, (or at least knowing where you want to go) is a huge part of effective writing. If you start off in the key of F and want to make a couple of modulations, what are your choices? Or, you're right in the middle of writing a beautiful melody and are trying to find a great way to harmonize that line, what are your chord choices? One of the things that you should be looking at in both examples is the circle of fifths. The 'smoothest' modulations are the ones that are closest to your home key on the circle. If you're right in the middle of writing a song and can't figure out the next chord, if it's not the root chord, try one a fifth away, you'll be surprised at how effective this is. This can also work in reverse. If you want to jump all over the place, if you want more angular changes or intrusive modulations, use the circle to pick the oddest modulation.

It's There, Use It

As you can see, there are tons of uses for the circle of fifths. It's best to have the circle on the edge of your fingertips. You'll be amazed how often you'll use it.

Pierre Hebert - Fraction Part2 - Improvised image and music

2011-04-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

Fraction et Pierre Hébert en concert à la Maison de la culture d'Amiens, 29 janvier 2011, partie-2
Extract of the live performance of Pierre Hebert & Fraction@Amiens, France. 20/01/2011. Image and music are improvised.

Fraction - Part Two

Part One and Three are also online at youtube
Part One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCn96-U5Gs0&feature=related
Part Three - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z45oEETTjq4&feature=related

Live Visual Music Event

2011-04-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

USC School of Cinematic Arts Event - Rhythms and Visions: Expanded and Live!

The USC School of Cinematic Arts and Visions and Voices: The USC Arts & Humanities Initiative invite you to experience a live visual music sensation on Friday, April 22nd!

"The School of Cinematic Arts Complex will be taken over and transformed by Rhythms and Visions: Expanded and Live! a spectacular outdoor live-cinema event merging animation and visual media with live acoustic and electronic music.

Exciting and innovative UK audio-visual collective D-Fuse and Los Angeles artist Scott Pagano will perform to music by notable musicians Brian King, Trifonic, Brian LeBarton and MB Gordy. These cutting-edge performances will span animation, experimental documentary and abstract visual music. The School of Cinema Arts complex will come alive with large animation and 3-D stereoscopic projections by faculty and students. 3-D glasses will be provided."

More info:http://cinema.usc.edu/events/event.cfm?id=11705

Georges Schwizgebel - Fugue (1998)

2011-04-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Beautiful use of sound and image and animation and narrative and structure. Had to share it.

"Director: Georges Schwizgebel
Year: 1998
Music:
Michèle Bokanowski - Composition
Gerard Frémy - Piano
Olivier Bokanowski - Piano
Virginie Simonean - Harp"

Jane Cassidy - Visual Music Piece

2011-04-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

Jane Cassidy's visual music piece "The Night After I Kicked it" is a stunningly beautiful well structured visual music composition. Jane composed the visuals and music.

Having watched closely as Jane composed this piece, it was really a pleasure to see and hear this wonderful work unfold over a period of months. I love this piece.
It is now on vimeo - but to see it in full quality with surround sound audio is the best way to experience this piece. However for its visual music genius, great to watch on vimeo.

The Night After I Kicked It from Jane Cassidy on Vimeo.

luminokinetika /// trailer

2011-04-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

Davor Sanvincenti / b.1979 / is a International multimedia artist from Croatia, also known by monikers such asMessmatik and Gurtjo Ningmor

International multimedia artist from Croatia, specifically interested in a field of audiovisual research and anthropology of visual culture, particularly focused on the conditions and forms of human senses and perceptions.
His work plays with the concept of illusion, exploring the possible boundaries of perception and the construction of experience.
He is recipient of the Radoslav Putar Award 2010 for the best Croatian artist under 35.

Website: http://www.messmatik.net/

Hauntingly Beautiful Piece

luminokinetika /// trailer from messmatik on Vimeo.

see also:
http://www.messmatik.net/

Rectangle & Rectangles (1984) - Réné Jodoin

2011-04-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is a didactic film in disguise. A progression of brilliant geometric shapes bombard the screen to the insistent beat of drums. The filmmaker programmed a computer to coordinate a highly complex operation involving an electronic beam of light, color filters and a camera. This animation film, without words, is designed to expose the power of the cinematic medium, and to illustrate the abstract nature of time.

-- DESCRIPTION FROM THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA

website url: http://www.onf.ca/film/rectangle_et_rectangles

More information on the filmmaker on the NFB website

http://www3.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/filmmakers/Rene-Jodoin/overview.php

Silk Chroma - Visual Music Piece

2011-04-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

I was lucky to be involved in the creation of the visual music visuals for a collaborative work entitled "Silk Chroma". Working as a collaborative team to create this work was a wonderful experience. The Irish composer Linda Buckley was a pleasure to work with and the electro-acoustic composition that she composed is beautiful. Linda and I worked closely together to realise the ideas for the work, interestingly Linda described much of the music she would like to create in visual terms that really appealed to me and inspired the visuals. Similarly some visuals and still images that I created inspired sounds and timbres for Linda. Good stuff.

Silk Chroma is an audio-visual work that is inspired by the novella Silk by Alessandro Baricco as a conceptual framework for the creation of a Visual Music colour presentation, with an accompanying electro-acoustic musical composition using synthesized timbres and a surround sound presentation.

Silk Chroma was created by staff teaching on the Music and Media Technologies (MMT) postgraduate programme at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and University of York, UK. MMT silk chroma team: Dr. Dermot Furlong, Dr. Linda Buckley, Maura McDonnell and University of York: Dr. Gavin Kearney.

screengrab from scene 1 - Silk Chroma

The premiere presentation of Silk Chroma as audio-visual installation took place in the Printing House in Trinity College, Dublin as part of the Innovation Dublin 2010 on November 11th and 12th, 2010.

Visual Music: Maura McDonnell
Music Composition: Linda Buckley
Surround Sound Composition: Gavin Kearney
Concept: Dermot Furlong

Website Links:
MMT music and media technologies course, TCD, Dublin - Link
vimeo website - Link

VIEW ON VIMEO
The video is for viewing on vimeo in three sections.

Section 1 - Water flow over his body

Silk Chroma - Section 1 - Water Flow Over His Body from Silk Chroma on Vimeo.

Section 2 - Silk threads stopped time

Silk Chroma - Section 2 - Silk Threads Stopped Time from Silk Chroma on Vimeo.

Section 3 - Birds in flight

Silk Chroma - Section 3 - Birds in Flight from Silk Chroma on Vimeo.

Purform - WHITE BOX | Excerpts

2011-04-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

"A/V performance for a tryptic of HD video screens and quadraphonic audio White Box is a work based on a new way of generating A/V compositions in real time and is a new piece in a cycle that began in 2003 with Black Box."

VIEW ON VIMEO

WHITE BOX | Excerpts from Purform on Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/21573910

The Other Circle Of Fifths: Thirds

2011-03-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

We've talked about the circle of fifths and it's many uses here before. There is another circle that exists in music that you need to be aware of. It's the answer to many other questions in music as well as the answer to any chord in music. It's the circle of thirds and it's so important that it needs to memorized.

Here it is: C E G B D F A ( C E G etc.)

That's it. Memorize it. It's very simple yet it contains all of the chords used in music. It's also the foundation of every arpeggio and scale that you'll come across. It also contains every other chord progression that isn't covered by the circle of fifths. If fact there are only three movements in music: a second (or seventh), a third (or sixth), or a fifth (or fourth). These can all be chromatic or diatonic.

Chord Chemistry 101

Ok, "How is this every chord known to man?" you may be asking. Well all chords are constructed from thirds. There are chords built on fourths and some with 'added' notes but we'll come to that. Every chord is initially built from thirds and then altered from there. To know what the notes are in any given chord, simply start with that note and go in thirds. Of course you're going to have to take into account the key you're in. For example, if you're in the key of E, the E chord will be E G# B D# F# A C#. That's it. If you want to change any of the notes, change it, then make that part of your chord name (e.g. EMaj7#11 = E G# B D# F# A#). So you start on the root and climb in thirds. In the E example above we're looking at the root, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth. They all work this way. Not all chords will have all of these notes in it*, but this is the basic foundation.

*Not all notes need to be in the chord; some are 'more important' than others. For example, you usually include the 3rd and 7th since these really define the chord (i.e. major/minor, dominant 7th/major 7th) and the altered extensions. Some extensions, like the 11th in dominant chords is usually left out; others like the 3rd and 7th mentioned above, may be the only notes played. Remember, these aren't hard and fast rules, and can be changed at any time. These are just guidelines.

A Scale Is Just A Linear Arpeggio

One thing that may be a be a bit of a mind bend (at first) is that a scale is just a linear way of looking at a chord. You will come to see that scales and chords are interchangeable and different ways at looking at the same thing. If you look at the notes in a CMaj7 chord and then you look at the C major scale, you'll see that they are almost identical. Improvisers will look at a scale and see the target notes (i.e. notes of the chord) and passing notes (auxiliary notes not found in the chord). Some music (like bebop) was founded on the idea that you could improvise on the upper extensions of the chord and not on the chord tones themselves. A game changing idea at the time.

So What About Those Fourths?

Even though there are chords built in fourths, and others with a fourth or second added, they're still built from this basic chord chemistry. That is, the basic chord is still a C major or D minor (or whatever) but then instead of voicing the chord in thirds, you voice it in fourths. You still name the chord the conventional way (i.e. according to the method listed above). Therefore a chord built on fourths will still be named according to the traditional way. Other chords, like added and suspended chords work in the same way. In fact, once you know the chemistry behind how these chords are built, you can come up with a ton of varieties of your own. The best thing about this is once you've come up with some great chords, you'll know how to name them properly. Again, just use the circle of thirds to figure out what your chord is called, then name it appropriately.

Advanced Arpeggios

Since the circle of thirds is great for chords, the same holds true for arpeggios. Arpeggios are made up of the thirds that we mentioned but once you get into some extended harmonies and altered chords, those arpeggios can get quite hairy. This is where our circle of thirds comes in again. Instead of trying to play all of the notes of the chord, try building the whole thing in thirds. That is, start with the triad and continue climbing from there. You'll find that you end up playing other triads over top of the original triad. This is where polychords come from. Polychords seem really confusing at first but once you've done this exercise a couple of times, you'll see who effective they are. Once you see that for example playing a D major chord over a C major triad automatically becomes a Maj 13 with a sharp 4, trying to incorporate one of these chords into your playing won't be such a problem. This works on many levels. Just go up the arpeggio and see how many triads pop up. Get to know these. Some players rely on these when it comes to altered and extended harmonies because you end up playing new harmonies based on basic triads that you've been playing for years. Don't forget that when improvising, playing around with these extended triads may bring a whole new level to your playing.

Chord Progressions in Thirds

Remember we talked about the ways that chords move. Aside from the fifth movement which we talked about before, there is the second and third. Once you get used to the sound of roots moving in certain intervals, it becomes a lot easier to discern chord progressions and even single lines. When listening to a chord progression, listen to the roots and try to guess which interval they're moving in. Is it seconds (stepwise)? or is it fifths? If it isn't one of the these, it will be our thirds. Some famous chord progressions move in thirds. Anytime the root moves to it's relative minor, it's a third movement. Anytime you hear the famous rock I to bIII, it's a third movement.

E to G is used in millions of rock and blues songs.
So is the E to C (down an third) movement.
Any I to vi or iii is a third movement.
A C#m G Bm is a famous pop progression.

Just to Start

As you can see from the examples, we've just got started on thirds and third movements in chords. The same goes for the chord theory mentioned above. Memorize this circle just like you've memorized the circle of fifths. You'll see these coming up again and again in many things you do. When you have them on the tip of your tongue, it becomes easy to rifle off chord tones, progressions and arpeggios without much thought at all. And that's what we want; we want it to all become automatic.

Sensorium 1 - Dublin - March 11th, 2011

2011-03-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

S E N S O R I U M was a weeklong festival of new music from Irish and international artists featuring workshops, talks and a series of concerts. It included everything from electro-acoustic works and audio visual displays to improvisation, performance art and contemporary dance. The goal of Sensorium "is to show co-creative musical works in a structured curation intended to stimulate multiple senses and challenge the audience’s attention through changing aesthetics and perceptions".
see: http://www.projectartscentre.ie/programme/whats-on/1191-sensorium for the programme for the week

Sensorium was curated by Judith Ring, Angie Atmadjaja and Emily Kalies

I attended the Sensorium 1 night on friday, March 11th and really enjoyed the variety of works that were presented. This was a really well produced show. It was a show that did indeed challenge ones attention as the works were adventurous in content and in placement in the performance space. I was really looking forward to this show, as I was very taken with the aims of the festival to present to audiences works that stimulated multiple senses and with works that challenged aesthetics and perception. I was not dissapointed.

The placement of the musicians in the middle of the space and the audience on each side was great. The space was for the musicians and it meant the audience had a more intimate view of the musicians at work. There were a variety of music works and audio visual works and each work tied really well thematically with the next. From body percussion, performance, audio visual works to electroacoustic tape pieces and interactive electronic improvisation, there were many flavours of pieces presented.

There appeared to be a common thread amongst some pieces as they pushed the boundaries of a music instruments timbre (MATT POSTLE – Extended A440 improvisation (10min, circular breathing) + Saliva Piece – Trumpet improvisation) or where electronic music competed and blended with real instruments (Judith Ring – “My one’s bigger than yours” for double bass (Malachy Robinson) and cello (Kate Ellis) was as visually interesting as it was aurally, an interesting diagonal placement of the two musicians, the piece was really absorbing as cello and double bass timbres merged with samples of the instruments to create a riveting electronic track . A piece that I really liked was ENDA BATES – new piece for Hexaphonic guitar + two percussionists (Enrico Bertelli and Simon Roth) - the placement of guitartist in the middle of the space and the drummers to each end meant the music and musician fully filled the space. I enjoyed the repetitive rock riff as it played out in time. I was struck that I like to repeat pieces of a tune I like and listen again and again - so to hear a rhythmic riff play out for a long duration I enjoyed. The incredible composition that was created via interactive technology and live improvisation by Jonathan Nangle was beautiful (JONATHAN NANGLE – ipad interactive electronic improvisation), hard to believe that this piece is crafted in real-time and each time he plays the system he built with the ipad, the piece will be different and never be the same. To create such beauty with such chance procedures is incredible.

My visual music work, a collaboration with composer Linda Buckley - Silk Chroma was presented as an audio visual work - it was great to see it played out in this concert, even though there were no live performances, I felt strangely nervous as the visuals played out on screen to Linda's incredible evocative sound track. Two other video works were shown - EMILY KALIES – “noitcelfeRReflection” - voice (Suzanne Fatta) and visuals. The impact of closeup shots of the singers face in various poses was striking. A really beautiful section about that is not a flattering angle with cut ups of shots of leg poses was really clever. Theo Burt's “Colour Projections” – a live interactive audio-visual piece was a treat. The structure of the work was clever as was the interaction of sound with events taking place on the screen. The simple use of orange and white was really refreshing.

My husband Cyril and daughter Bébhinn really enjoyed the show too, they came with me. Even though, this would have been a quite challenging show for them, we talked about some of the pieces for days after - and Bébhinn in particular was very taken with how one can play sound from an instrument that is not what you would expect. For me this was nothing new but for her it was a revelation. Cyril had some interesting philosophical observations, that I meant to write down, but should get him to write down for me. He discussed the composing of time and how at work with most of the pieces was this grapple or fight with time. Interesting!

I came away from the concert thoroughly refreshed and looking forward to the next sensorium next year!!!

The full list of artists works shown on the friday Sensorium 1performance can be seen at:
http://www.projectartscentre.ie/programme/whats-on/1216-sensorium-1 and at
http://www.the-link-project.com/

The Musician's Most Important Skill

2011-03-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

All too often we talk about how to practice and perform. You might think that the most important skill a musician could have is great dexterity or, a great imagination, or maybe even great creativity. Where these are important, that there is one skill that is the foundation of all that a musician must do. It's our memory. Memory isn't just used by musicians to remember tons of songs; it's used in every aspect (improvising, composing, performing). Musicians must remember songs, chord progressions, fingerings, lyrics, scales, idioms (licks), performance notes (dynamics, inflections, phrasing, breathing, etc), recording techniques, engineering facts, song forms, theory, stage moves, gear settings, recording settings, software applications, etc. And this is just the musical applications! This doesn't include any of the marketing, PR, business activities that we have to do on a daily basis. Memory even comes into play in our ear training because ultimately, the ear is using our memory as reference point for all of those chords, intervals and sounds.

It's All In The Repetition

As a musician, the same exercises and drills are repeated over and over again throughout your lifetime. There's a good reason for this. Repetition is simply one of the best (if not the best) way that to learn. Of course all musicians know this, since this principle is shoved down our throats from our first lesson...Did you practice? Did you go over all of the stuff we talked about? Did you do your scales for the millionth time? Did you practice your rhythms (that you've memorized)? We all know that practice makes perfect and the essence of practice is repetition. For some reason though, we don't apply this principle to other areas when we know how effective it is. For example, a lot of musicians will work on music theory, different styles, new chords, new scales etc. but they don't apply this repetition technique. The best way to retain a new scale/chord/technique is to repeat it over and over until it's second nature. There is the proper application of new material which we've talked about before but, for simple retention, repetition can be one of your most effective weapons. Use it daily. One of the most effective things about teaching is the fact that I can enforce this simple technique every week when I see the student. If you're practicing on your own, you're going to have to reinforce this on yourself. Ask yourself what you did the last time you picked up your instrument. What did you do last practice? Did you practice what you had started? Did you do a little everyday or did you just go through it once? Make sure you do this every time you sit down to practice.

The Four Point Review Method

Once you've learned a new skill, read a book or had a lesson, one of the worst things you can do is just go home and forget about it. Even leaving it until the next day isn't a good idea. There is a method of reviewing material that will go a long way in absorbing and memorizing new ideas. Every time you come across something that you want to retain and use in the future, go through this learning regimen.

Step 1 - Input: Like mentioned before, it's not enough to simply read or scan the information that is presented. You must engage the mind immediately. Get into the mindset that you're going to immerse yourself in the task at hand. It's the same with learning almost any new skill, the more your mind is engaged in the technique, the easier it will be to retain and use that information. You engage the mind by asking questions, repeating important facts out loud, making notes, circling and highlighting important points, and most of all, summarizing what you've just learned. Let's look at a couple of those in detail.

Engage First

The most important thing about trying to remember facts and ideas is to engage the mind in the first place. This may seem obvious but you have to be working the brain a certain way right from the beginning to make sure that the facts are retained. It's like trying to remember somebody's name when first being introduced. It's important that you go through a couple of simple steps or you may end up paying attention to the color of their shirt instead of remembering their name. Simply reading something or passively skimming over it is ineffective in retaining information. Reading and skimming over material are only effective when you've engaged the mind in the right way. It's all too easy to just read over something without remembering anything. How many times have you ended up reading the same paragraph over and over because your mind was elsewhere? This happens more often than you think. Try this: read over some material, or a couple of blogs or a couple of articles like normal. Just read them like you normally would, don't do anything different. (You might try harder to retain info this time because you know whats coming next). Now close whatever material that you had open and try to remember what you've just read. How much can you remember? If you've read a dozen blog posts, how many do you remember? Do you even remember the titles? How about the pictures? How many of those do you remember? Because we consume so much information in a day, we start to consume our reading material like our television; as a casual observer.

The Non-Casual Observer

Now we're going to take the same material but this time we're going to engage our mind. Keep in mind that this isn't something that we usually do automatically so we're going to have to make a conscious effort. There are a number of ways to retain information, to learn and to be able to recall it at will. Numerous books have been written on the many ways of doing this. There are ways to retain lists, physical surroundings, technical information, graphical information etc. Most involve using all of your senses in one way or another. Others try and figure out how you process information and use that to your advantage. Do some research on these and try them out. You may find one works better for you than others. The way you learn is usually a personal thing and one method doesn't apply to everyone. We'll look at just one way to help us retain all that we read.

Mindset

When you first get the material, give it a quick once over. That means if you have a book or even a chapter of a book, go over the entire thing at once. Go to the end and see what you're supposed to learn. If it's a scale or theory, look at the final examples to see what the point is. By doing this, you're getting an idea of the overall thought process right from the beginning. You'll notice that in some books, there is a summary at the beginning of each chapter as well as one at the end detailing all that was covered in a couple of sentences. You should be doing the same thing when you start with any new material. Second, get rid of any other things that may be on your mind. It's a standard thing to close your door and turn off any distractions when really getting down to work. There's a good reason for this. You want to do this every time you sit down to learn. Except don't stop at just that. Try and shut off your mind too. Empty your mind of any other thoughts if possible. That's why it's good to get an overall view of all of the material when you start, it gets your mind into the task at hand. Try and keep this focus. We lose concentration easily and quite consistently. Keeping focus is a skill that must be learned and worked on. Third, keep an internal dialogue about the material at hand going on. Why is don't like this and not that? Why do this at all? Is there another way? How do I do these things? By keeping your mind engaged with this dialogue, it'll be easier to keep focused.

Step 2 - Organization

We've talked about having a separate method of collecting ideas and putting things together for your practice sessions. I use a binder that I put all of my notes in, reference material and practice schedules. When learning new material, it's important to have a place where you can make notes but also be able to come back to. Remember the review is going to be really important. Get together a notebook or use your favorite method be it a laptop or anything else you use. It's important that you have some organization to your notes. That way, when you come back to them, it's simply a matter of going through a quick review. Looking for notes, forgetting where you put something, or not understanding what you've written will just get in the way. You can make notes any way you like, just make sure you do them. This is something that we lose after we leave school. Notes are great for organizing things in our mind and reviewing what we've learned. Retention is difficult without these. Also, try and make time for a review everyday. After a while the reviews will be less often but it's important that you're consistent with this. We know that the best way to learn is by repetition. Make it so the repetition is effortless. You simply go to the material everyday, and review. I'm not just talking about organizing the written material but organizing your time.

Notes and Mind Maps

One great way to engage the mind and try organizing things in your head is to create notes and mind maps. Mind maps can be used for anything...even music. It's about how you put it together. Once you learn some new facts, put them together in a mind map and see how they all connect and make sense. Mind maps are really just another way to make notes. Instead of having lists though, we have a graphical representation. This is more like our brain functions so it's more effective than long lists and straight text. Mind maps also use keywords which are another great learning tool. I find that any type of graphical reference always helps. Mind maps have a standard way they are put together. I follow this but also have tons of other notes and diagrams I make to understand. Tests have shown that material is retained much better when it is written by hand as opposed to typing or other input.

Repetition

Like mentioned above, it's important that the material is reviewed consistently. This is one of the most important parts of learning. It's the reason why I'll go over the same material again and again with my students. That means having a schedule and going over all of the material everyday. It's important to go through these steps every time you open your notes.

Step 3 - Review

Of course there is no retention without review. That means not just going over the material but going over it consistently and making sure that you understand what you're learning. Go through the same mental processes that you went through when you first learned the material. The consistency of review is important also. When you first learn something new, it's important that you do a review almost immediately after learning. That means if you've learned something is a classroom, do a review that day when you get home. This is the most important review of all of them. Just doing this will increase your retention and understanding tenfold. Go over all of the material you learned that day. This doesn't have to take hours, a half hour will do. Just make sure that you engage your mind like you did when you first learned the material. Once you've done the first review, you can wait until the next day before you do another. Do this review like the first. Once you've done these first two reviews, you're well on your way to retaining the info. You can wait a couple of days before doing another review but don't wait longer than that. After doing all of these reviews the first week, you can just do a review once a week for the next month, you should be able to retain all of the information this way. Once you've done the first month, you should only need to do a review once a month. I try and go over all of the material once a year. If you have tons of songs and an extended repertoire, you may have to tweak your review methods depending how much material there is. Remember that if material isn't reviewed often enough, it will have to be relearned when the time comes.

Don't Just Regurgitate

It's usual for most people to review material simply by reading over it again. There are more effective ways to remember. One is the mind map method mentioned earlier. Another effective method is to create quizzes and/or try to recreate what you've learned. This means taking the ideas learned and try to write down and explain all that's been covered. Once you've gone over the material, go back over it in your head. What's the general point? What was learned? Are there new definitions and terms to know? Did you understand what you read? Is there something that you didn't understand? If there was, write it down. You can come back to that later. Once you've gone over the material, close everything, take a short break and then give yourself a small test. All you need to do is write down, play and explain what you just learned. By putting it in your own words, it will help with not only your retention but your understanding also. Music can be confusing, by putting things into your own words, it helps create your own understanding of the material. You'll find most musicians have their own opinion about quite a few things in music. This is because we've all taken the same concepts and organized them and made them our own.

Focus and Engage

You can see that once again we've just touched the surface of what we can do to use our memory better. There are a couple of techniques here that you'll want to use again and again. The better you get at retaining information, the better you'll get at remembering songs, fingerings, scales, chords etc. This sort of technique will permeate all of your playing and make you a better musician overall.

Nocci Composer

2011-03-02T01:59:00.000-08:00

Experimental Audio Visual Live Performance

Nocci Composer - Website Works Page

Website
http://www.noccicomposer.com/
Manifesto
http://www.noccicomposer.com/news/blog.html

Work - Night of Experimental Avant Garde Music, New York

Nocci F 02 from visualicious on Vimeo.

See also: www.monkeytownhq.com
Nocci | Chika Live Set, Music Composer Nocci, Visual by Chika

How Not To Practice

2011-02-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

There are many times when we set out to accomplish our goals but it either takes too long or doesn't happen at all. When it comes to music, we all know how important it is to practice. Yet, there are many things that we do that undermines our ability to get better, grow and learn. This things may not seem all that important at first but their effect over time can be monumental.

Practicing Quickly

We know what we want to do. We have a basic idea of what it is and how to go about it. So we try the exercise a couple of times slowly and then plow ahead and see how quickly we can pick it up. It's not perfect but it's close. The speed is almost there but there are a couple of problem areas. So we keep plowing ahead and forcing it to work. This is in fact contrary to what we want to do. Every time we practice something, it gets reinforced in our brain. Practicing something at a fast tempo, incorrectly, over and over again just reinforces the bad technique. That's why it's important to practice slowly. When you practice slowly and deliberately, you are reinforcing good technique (i.e. the neural pathways in your mind). The tempo doesn't matter; it just matters that you are doing it correctly. Practice slowly and get faster gradually. Ironically, if you practice this way, you'll get better sooner.

Practicing Mistakes

The biggest problem by far that people do on a constant basis is to practice their mistakes. Once you've practiced something a couple of times, it becomes a pattern in your brain. If you keep practicing it the same way, that new 'wrong' habit is going to be reinforced again and again. There are many things that can happen when we learn something new. Sometimes we go with what 'feels' right or comfortable. It's important that when you practice, like working out, that your form is correct. Practicing bad form can produce all sorts of bad side effects; from slow development to even injury. Just going with the flow isn't always the best idea. Sometimes our bodies do the wrong things and we have to take the time and make sure we're doing it correctly. This goes hand in hand with practicing slowly. But it also goes with being focused and making sure that you're thinking about what you're doing. It's all too easy to get comfortable with what you're doing and not think about it. It's easy to get into some bad habits and bad technique simply by not paying attention to what you're doing.

Being Inconsistent

We need to practice a new skill many times before in becomes ingrained in our minds and our muscle memory. It's been said that you need to practice something for 10,000 hours before it becomes part of your muscle memory. Whether or not the number is correct, we all know that a new skill must be repeated numerous times before it becomes second nature. Yet when we practice, we aren't as consistent and we know we should be. There is a general method of review that ensures that when you learn something, it is remembered. The biggest part of remembering something is doing it over and over. The same goes with learning a new skill, it must be done consistently over and over. It's important to do a review every time you sit down to practice. What did you work on yesterday? Do a review. Whenever it comes to a new skill, this is going to have to be done consistently for an extended period of time before it becomes second nature.

Not Setting Goals

This is something else we've talked a lot about here. It's pretty hard to be consistent when you don't have an idea of what you're trying to accomplish. It's important to think about these things first. Even if you are consistent, are you being consistent with your goals? If not you're going to have to change either your methods or your goals. Once you establish what it is you want to accomplish it's easier to be consistent. It's easier to stay the course and gauge any progress.

Not Having Any Patience

When learning a new skill, it's important that you are patient with yourself. If you take the time, following these guidelines will be a lot easier. If you learn the proper technique and practice slowly, your progress will be greater. This does take some initial patience because our natural inclination is to push it as soon as we can. It's always, 'if I can do it this fast, I could do it a lot faster'. Or, 'I can almost do it this fast'. Have patience with yourself and practice at a good tempo for an extended period. Also, the more you want accomplish, the more patience you're going to have. Music takes a long time to learn and master. There are many things to take in and work on. If you have the patience to see it through, people will be amazed with your talent whereas you'll know how much time and effort you had to put in to make it seem that way.

Little By Little

Are you starting to see a trend here? All of these things seem to go hand in hand. Practicing slowly and deliberately, while staying consistent with your goals. These are pretty much a standard in all music schools yet it's something that's easy to forget or overlook. It takes a bit more effort to make sure that you're doing these things every time you pick up your instrument. It takes discipline on a daily basis. The next time you pick up your instrument, before you play a single note, think about these things. It'll make your time with your instrument that much more productive.

Practicing On Purpose

2011-02-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

We seem to set out with the best of intentions. We try and practice everyday. We make sure we're covering the basics. We're trying to improve. Like we've talked about here before, it's important that you set apart some time to try and assess what your goals are. You try to figure out what you want to accomplish on your instrument and what you want to accomplish with music overall. But there's so much to learn. So much to practice. Every new skill seems to take forever to master. How do you know what you're supposed to practice and what not to? Of course having a great teacher is invaluable for this because that should be a prime consideration of theirs every time they see you. But how to do you figure this out on your own? How do you practice with purpose?

Narrowing It Down

When I teach, the first thing I ask is what kind of music the student listens to. I ask this before I even ask any of their goals because their answer to this question lets me know what direction to take in their lessons. If they say they love metal, I will take a different approach as opposed to if they say they love jazz. I then ask them what they want to accomplish with music. Usually it's mostly just about getting better and learning to play songs. But there's more to it than that. I ask them if they play in a band, if they ever perform live or if they ever do any recording or writing. The reason for this is because doing one of these type of activities will have an effect on what their course of action will be. If a student wants to learn metal and is in a band, part of their practice should be directed as what's happening with the band. If they ever book a show, or start doing some recording, this should have a direct effect on what they're practicing.

Why Bother?

You might be thinking 'why bother'. Why not just try and practice really hard each day and go through your regular regimented program? There's two reasons for this. First and foremost, music is an incredibly vast subject. There are simply too many avenues for any person to tackle all at once. Most artists and musicians (even veterans) will usually choose one particular avenue to explore at any one time. Just look at some releases of great artists. They will usually release an album exploring a certain style or sound. Check out the albums of some of the great jazz artists and you'll notice that they go through certain periods where they'll focus on one area. It may not always work out but I find it's the mark of a great artist who always strives to reach further with their art. Secondly, choosing a particular path makes it easier to improve in your development since your not scattered trying to learn too many things at once. It keeps you motivated since you can see your progress and it's not too overwhelming. For example, if you're in a metal band and recording a new CD, learning to write 4 part harmony shouldn't be your prime focus. Not at this time, maybe later.

Pinpoint Focus

If you want to keep your practice sessions interesting, it's good to have some variety, but don't lose track of the primary reason you're there. Make sure that when you sit down to practice you're clear about what you want to do. It's all too easy to pick up your instrument and 'just start jamming'. This is fine once it a while, these sessions can produce some interesting results. But, don't forget about the reason you're there. If you started something yesterday, review it, go back and make sure that it's ingrained in your playing. At the same time, if you have more than one project going, you're going to have to set priorities and keep them. If the projects or your interests collide, you're going to have to stick with one...for the time being at least. For example you're in a band and you're gigging regularly, but you also want to become a film composer. Both are quite time consuming so somewhere along the line, you might have to make a decision to go one way or the other. At the very least, there are going to be times and situations where you're going to have to focus on one more than the other. Essentially, once you decide on a course of action, some things are going to be mandatory to focus on, and others will be extras that you could try to fit in when possible.

The Projects Scenario

Really busy musicians usually have one or more (usually quite a few) projects going at the same time. How do you manage this? How do you fit it all in? It's all about organization. You'll find that accomplished musicians are not just really hard working but organized. Organization and management aren't things that are usually discussed in music class. The more projects you have going, the more things you want to accomplish, the more organized you're going to have to be. There is no other way. If you aren't organized, the projects will suffer...sometimes all at once. Either you keep your projects to a minimum, or get organized.

Getting Organized

What does this mean? It means planning, deadlines, taking notes, making decisions, finances, and time management. All of those boring things that seem to get in the way. In fact it's the opposite. The more organized you are, the easier it is to be creative. When you know exactly what you want to do at any given time, it makes it easier to get it done. Instead of wasting the time away not knowing what to do, or what you did yesterday, you can get right to work. We've talked a lot about this in here before but here's a summary.

Plan. This always goes first. The further along you are in the project, the more detailed your to-do list should be.Always be planning. There are the initial steps of development, but planning should be done consistently since things change often.

Deadline. There needs to be sort of time-line. This isn't cut and dried...especially with music; but you need to put some sort of time-line together with a deadline. Try and stick to this. Projects get done more often when there's some cut off and urgency to them. The last 10 yards are often the hardest.

Notes. While this may not be intuitive, it's really important that you take notes. The better you are at this, the easier it will be to stay on top of things. Always make notes as you go along. Ideas and problems always pop up.Make notes on what you've done, what you want to do, any problems, and how you did certain things. If you've gone through a certain process once, writing it down will make it easier to remember for the next time.

Decision Making. This in a category of it's own because there will come a time to make some decisions. Set this time apart and look at the overall picture. Let the ideas stew for a while. Put all of the ideas together and make some decisions. If it's a tough call, sleep on it. You'll find you get the best ideas at the weirdest time. If not sure, just set a course for action and see what happens. You'll make mistakes along the way, learn as you go. Don't stop or hesitate for too long. A little step in the wrong direction is better than none at all.

Finances. This is another one that needs its own category. This needs to be a separate planning session. It's not easy to put this together but the more upfront you are about how much it's all going to cost, the easier it is to make crucial decisions. Money is a crucial decision.Not thinking about it or not dealing with it won't make it go away. Planning in this area helps eliminate those nasty surprises that come out of nowhere and you aren't prepared to deal with.

Time management. Of course this is the one that everybody thinks of when talking about organization. As you can see though, if you've taken care of the other areas, time management becomes a little easier. If you know what you have to do, and how much time you have to do it, it's easier to make it part of your schedule. This also includes taking things off your list and delegating if at all possible.Time management at this point is really making sure something gets done everyday and that you stick to the items on your lists. Of course you also must be diligent about not wasting time on anything that doesn't fit into your plans. All of the things on your list are time consuming, so you have to be diligent about your time.

The Details

So once you've decided what your goal is, what should you practice? Let's look at the metal band scenario. Unlike the film composer who will be working on their composing, music theory and learning different styles of music, you're going to be focusing on just the one. Secondly, whereas the jazz musician may start out learning a dozen variations on the blues, you'll be focusing on your scales, arpeggios, chord progressions, alternate tunings and learning your tunes (cold). In short, you are now practicing on purpose. You're practicing with a specific purpose with a specific set of goals, with a specific set of exercises. Another caveat, even if you know what you want to accomplish, don't try to learn everything about your style of music all at once. There are some lesson books that go into 8 and 12 hour guitar practice sessions but this isn't practical most of the time. You should still be focusing on the things specific to your goals.

For Example...

For example, in the metal band example, you'll want to spend a portion of your practice working on arpeggios (using alternating picking and sweep picking). Unfortunately there are a million different arpeggios with a million different fingerings. You should focus on the ones that are used the most and grow from there. That way you'll have the 'basics' down before getting into anything to esoteric. You know you'll be using and applying these almost immediately; when they come up in songs, you'll be prepared. How do you figure out which are the ones to learn first? Two ways: first is by learning songs in your genre. There are chord progressions, scales and/or idioms specific to your style. Once you've learned a dozen or so songs, you'll start to notice some similarities. You'll notice the same scales, chords and arpeggios popping up again and again. It's what makes the style of music sound like it does. You may have to spend some time looking for and analyzing these things, but they're always there. Look for books, videos and other learning materials on your style, in the (specific) subject you're interested in. It doesn't matter what you're trying to learn, the info is out there! In the metal example from above, even though there are a ton of arpeggios and fingering available on the guitar, there are a couple that metal guitarists love to use over and over; mostly because they sound great. Learn and memorize these ones first. Then when you have time, go into things that aren't usually used in your style and try to apply that. It may set you apart from all the other bands in your genre.

Going With It

Whatever you decide on what it is you want to do, your course of action will be slightly different than everybody else's. Even two people in the same band may have a different set of goals. It's all very personal when it comes to artists managing their careers. The more organized you are, the more you plan and make notes, the easier it will be to get things done. The easier it will be to track your success and see where you are heading. The easier it will be to achieve what you want to achieve. Above all, the more rewarding it will be when you look back and see how it's all coming together, and how it's all going exactly the way you want it to go.

BORIS CHIMP 504 - Audiovisual real time performance

2011-02-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

Extracted from live performance at Festival MAU-2010, camera by Joao Silva

BORIS CHIMP 504 // MISSION TO THE MOON from visiophone on Vimeo.
BORIS CHIMP 504 it’s an Audiovisual real time performance that emphasizes audio synthesis and graphical languages in a futuristic Sci-Fi aesthetics. It´s a real time interactive/reactive system between the audio and the image, between the man and the machine.

[extracted from live performance at Festival MAU-2010, camera by Joao Silva]

.................................

In 1969 the Chimp Cosmonaut Boris 504 was sent in a mission to the moon.He never came back...

His last communication was from the moon surface on the 7th of July of 1969.

Cause of Death: Reportedly died on the lunar surface aboard Luna 15, surviving for a time after the landing..

* MISSION TO THE MOON is based on the article "Details of the Soviet Primate Lunar Landing Program" by Dwayne Allen Day

................................................

myspace.com/borischimp504

More information

visiophone-lab.com
Multidisciplinary visual designer, new media artist & researcher. Interested in the synergies between sound, movement and image.

Rodrigo is also the visual side of the audiovisual real-time performance Boris Chimp 504
myspace.com/borischimp504

twitter.com/visiophone_lab

The Real Life Of A Musician

2011-01-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

I read a great quote a long time ago that said ‘a musician doesn’t do just one thing, a musician does many things’. Great words of wisdom. Unless you’re lucky and hook onto something immediately, you’re going to end up doing a lot of things to make ends meet and ultimately become successful in your career. Instead of just going out there and just getting 'any job to pay the bills', it may be in your best interest to really think about what you want to do and how to go about getting there. Something that you should take into consideration when trying to figure out how to get into the industry is (oddly enough) 'industry related' jobs. These are better than your regular run-of-mill jobs because a) in some cases be a greater source of income than your standard part-time wage b) it may be something you're already skilled at, and most importantly, c ) it may create excellent opportunities that take your music career to the next level.

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

For example, you may start out in a band and end up becoming the ‘go to’ sound person when setting up the PA. You may end up being the most knowledgeable when it comes to recording and mixing. Or, you may be the person who takes care of all of the PR and social media chores. You may end up being the web person; taking care of all of the updates and coding. Whatever it is, these can all be potential sources of income. Gaining some expertise in these areas and using them in the music industry is a great way to get a foothold in the industry. Once this happens, you automatically become surrounded by other musicians and industry people. I don’t know how many musicians I’ve met who had they’re big break by knowing the right person in the industry; often through the oddest circumstances (e.g. I helped this guy with his website and his uncle happened to be in the industry). There have been many composers who got the gig because they were ‘already there’ e.g. working at the company at another position (that's why becoming an intern can be so valuable). Or, getting to know industry people from just getting another job (e.g one of aforementioned skills) within the industry. You get a job somewhere in the industry and suddenly, you’re there right in the middle of it all.

The List

Here are just a few of the things that you can do to make some money and may help get your foot in the door:

Teacher / Educator

One of the best things that I’ve done is teach. Not only is teaching rewarding, it can be financially rewarding. You can make much more money teaching than most part time (or even some full time) jobs. It also helps in your own development, because trying to explain a concept to someone else really helps clarify the concept in your own mind. Teaching can be a great (and usually reliable) source of income. You can work for a while, go on the road (or whatever) and return at almost anytime. It''s also a great source of networking within your own community. Working at a local school or college, you learn about all of the extra community affairs and shows going on. It's easy to get involved and meet tons of people. Most musicians I know have taught at one time or another.

Performer

I firmly believe that every musician should go on the road, or at least perform on a regular basis. As far as musicianship goes; nothing is better for your development than performing with a band. Performing is beneficial for all musicians no matter what else you may be doing. If you're teaching on the side, this is a great way to get new students and to showcase your talents. Nothing gets students more excited than seeing their own teacher up there showcasing their skills. Performing is also one of the best ways to network. Everybody wants to be part of something cool, and shows are cool. If you're performing on a regular basis, always let anybody you come in contact with about your shows. There are so many musicians out there; having a great live show is a great plus and sets you apart from all of the 'non-performers' out there.

DJ / Remixer / Laptop Musician

I got into this unexpectedly and was very grateful for the experience. It added a whole new dimension to my music career.There are many facets: DJ'ing, VJ'ing, remixing, laptop musicians, MC'ing etc. Of course DJing is a great source of income and may be a way to showcase your own tracks (some DJ"s feel that it's poor taste to play your own tracks) and network within that community. Most DJ's develop their own style and sound. Remixing has become part of the skill set; adding another dimension to their career and another potential source of income. DJ's also become producers in their own right. Some DJ's are more laptop musicians with a whole new generation of 'Ableton Live' specialists gigging out there. The digital music scene has become another whole section of the music industry.

Studio Work

While not the same as before the home studio revolution, studio work can be another source of income. There are tons of people with music software wanting to create tracks, but then finding their 'VST guitar simulator' just isn't cutting it. If you work with a lot of musicians, and money is scarce, you can parlay your musician skills into getting them to do some of your work too. Like we've talked about here, musicians are usually well versed in a number of areas. Find out what the other person is skilled at and see if you can trade your musician skills for their internet/mixing/whatever skills. Beware; be absolutely clear about these things before you go in. It'll save you headaches, misunderstandings and arguments later.

Mixer / Engineer

Like mentioned above one thing that is widely available to most musicians is recording software. What most musicians don’t take into account is the learning curve involved in using that software. Not only is there the learning curve for the software, there is the engineering and mixing. Anyone how has spent anytime in a studio knows how hard it is to get your demo sounding great. There are some many facets that need to be taken care of. If you’re good at mixing it may be a great source of income. Most musicians need a good engineer and/or mixer. Again, be clear about your fees and what you're responsible for up front. Most people like to come back numerous times, with numerous changes and revisions, asking you to redo it/touch it up without paying you any extra for your time.

Professional sound

If you’re spent any time on the road, you’ll know all of the trials and tribulations of live sound. Being knowledgeable in this area can be another area of potential income. Look into local live venues that have live music on a regular basis, there always seems to be a need for someone in this area.

Music Sales

Another standard for a lot of musicians. This is another source where you may be a pro in this and not even know it. Music sales is also a great source of networking because you eventually get to know almost every musician and industry professional in your area. It's a great way to network with other musicians because you literally meet tons everyday. It doesn't take much time before you know have a dozen like minded musicians that may be potential band-mates or a source of gigs..

Songwriter / Composer

This is something I generally do all the time depending on the other things that are going on in my life. Depending on what you want to accomplish, this is something that you would be doing on a constant basis anyway. Always think about how to use these skills to make money. It probably won't be your sole source of income for a while, but it has to be maintained and updated/revised constantly.

Producer

This goes along with the writing but in this case, it's writing specifically for an artist. This also involves getting the right songs and right sound. It involves all of the aspects of business. This is another aspect that will take some time to get steady work going. The key is to start working with other artists and start producing as soon as you feel you're ready. It's a learning process like any other and will take some time to learn all of the ins-and-outs of the job. Be patient, and try to get work and your name out there whenever you can.

Marketing/PR

Like many musicians I know, this is something that I’ve never been very good at; yet it’s one of the most important things you can do as a musician. If you think that this is just for artists releasing material, you’re wrong. We’re all in a constant state of working and looking for more work. Whether you’re a gigging musician, songwriter, teacher, or a band on tour, it’s always important that you are connecting with other people. This is something that most musicians don’t take seriously enough yet it’s one of the greatest resources of getting ahead in your career and making money. If you're good at this, the industry always needs these kinds of people. There are always positions opening up for outgoing knowledgeable people to help with marketing and PR. A lot of them may be internships or low pay but now always. Either way, it's a great way to meet tons of people in the industry.

Music business/Management

This is a something a little different than the marketing. This means taking care of the business and administration. One of the great things a publisher does is take care of most of the administration for musicians. These things can be quite involved and time consuming. There are copyrights, correspondence, and a million other things that must be taken care of on a regular basis. This (along with marketing) is arguably where musicians suffer the most in terms of skills. Like marketing skills, if you've got 'em use them. I know a few people in the industry that do this type of work and they always seem to be working. Like every other area of the industry, companies are always looking for hard working, outgoing people.

Lecturer / Industry Pro

This is a bit different from teaching in that you become a lecturer or a ‘expert’ in a particular area. While this isn’t something that you would start out doing, you may find yourself being knowledgeable in a certain area and may use that to help other musicians. There are many of these 'self proclaimed experts' online so setting yourself apart from the wannabees is something valuable. You don't have to be an 'industry veteran' either. Lecturing on software (e.g. how to use Ableton Live) and/or gear, music styles, are other areas where this may apply. A successful blog, is also a great outlet for this. I know of other musicians who work for various music supply companies, traveling the world, promoting certain products.

Web Stuff

This is a huge subject. It has all of the website/coding/etc issues but also all of the other things that go along with maintaining an internet presence. A couple have been mentioned before: social networks, marketing, website creation/maintenance, graphics, video, etc. All of these need to be created and maintained on a regular basis. These days they're also incredibly invaluable because it's something that every musician needs and pretty much has to do. Sure, all of the tools are out there but there's a learning curve and keeping it all updated and relevant is an ongoing task.

It's All There

Yes, there are a ton of things on this list and there are tons more! It's easy to get too wrapped up in it all and lose sight of why you're here in the first place. You may to do a majority of things on this list at one time or another. Pick the ones you're best at. The ones that you can do without taking too much time away from your primary goal. If there are things on this list that you need but are unskilled at or reluctant to do, try and find a way to outsource that skill. It's the best of both worlds where you can spend the majority of your time working on the things you love best and are most important to you, while letting others take care of the rest.

Which DAW Should I Use?

2011-01-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

When it comes to music software, there are a ton of different options out there. While it seems like there's a mountain of software to learn, most applications actually follow the same type methodology. Most DAW's operate basically the same with variations in functions and features. Then there are other types of software that don't fit our definition of a DAW but 'specialize' in specific approaches and functions. We've talked about the basics before here. Today we're going to discuss the similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses of the various applications.

Most of the time we refer to music applications as DAW's but this can misleading, and in some cases just wrong. Some of the software is geared more toward either working with loops, with soft-synths, and/or just creating 'beats' ('beats' implies not only the beat but the instrumentation (and basic harmony). Some work specifically with score, while others are meant to provide backing and play-along tracks.

What's A DAW?

The official title is 'Digital Audio Workstation'. There are a few things that make the difference between a software program and a DAW. First of all, it has to be able to record audio and MIDI. It has a built mixer and various forms of connectivity through the program. Most (if not all) DAW's now come with built in VST instruments and plug-ins to varying degrees. They all now include automation, group channels, MIDI channels, FX sends and returns, audio and MIDI editors, and various built audio processing. Some software programs (like Reason, FL Studio, Band-In-A-Box and others) don't follow these criteria; even though they have other features not found in 'regular' DAW's. Other programs (like Ableton Live, Sony Acid) started out just working with loops but have developed into much more. Some producers now use these as their primary DAW.

Workflow

It's really just a question of work-flow. The thing that differentiates all music software is the features and how the interface is laid out. Reason can't record audio; which you would think would be a big drawback but it has a very intuitive interface which is great at creating beats, and trying out ideas.. Ableton had the same thing going for it when it started. It now has a ton more features but it's still very easy to get going on a track; just drag and drop. DAW's on the other hand are usually quite complicated. People complain about this but it's pretty much the point; you want your DAW to do a ton of things for you, and to make all of these features work the program needs to have some depth. That said, they're usually all laid out in exactly the same manner. You have a track window that has all of your tracks laid out vertically showing all of the activity and basic track info. There's also another mixer window that has the traditional mixer laid out showing all of your tracks in horizontal rows. 'Loop' programs (like Ableton and Acid) forgo the mixer layout and focus more on different track views. Reason and FL Studio have the mixer and track view but not exactly the same 'two window format' as the traditional DAW.

Which One For Me?

So which do I want to use? You know that there's learning curve with any software so you're hoping to pick the right package right from the get-go. While there are differences, each one has it's own strengths and weaknesses. Some are better suited for certain applications than others. Here are a couple of standards that you should know and then you can pick from there.

The Standards

The standards are of the 'regular' DAW's that we all familiar with. The most well known ones would be Logic, Cubase (or Nuendo), Sonar, Reaper, Digital Performer, Audition, Propellerhead Record, and Samplitude. Logic is the standard on the Mac. That along with Digital Performer are only available on that OS. It's also extremely popular throughout Europe. Pro Tools is the defacto standard for post-audio, and professional studios. Programs like Cubase and Sonar are popular with different groups of producers in all types of styles. The difference between Logic, Cubase et al. is really in the various features and extras included into the work-flow. For most, it's really just a matter of personal preference. For example Logic has more plug-ins right out of the box than any other program. Digital Performer is great manipulating different tempo maps into your work-flow. Nuendo has great post production features. Sonar has recently come out with a new upgrade that includes many new features. Reaper has almost all of the features of the major players yet at a fraction of the cost (incredible value for your money). It also takes very little CPU compared to the others. Pro Tools has arguably the best plug-ins and connect-ability but comes at a high price. However, Pro Tools now works with virtually any soundcard; proprietary hardware is no longer needed (a big plus).There are also now a ton of other programs available (like Traktion, Studio One) that are on the market. Some of these come packaged when you purchase the manufacturer's hardware so there's no need to spend extra on a DAW.

The Rebels

The rebels would be the ones that don't neatly fit into our definition of a DAW. These would include programs like Ableton Live, Sony Acid, FL Studio (aka Fruity Loops), Propellerheads Reason, and Garageband. These programs are really popular with DJ's, dance and hiphop producers because they meld into their work-flow quite nicely. Most have all that is needed (tons of sounds, synths, drum machines, loops, presets) to create a finished track from scratch, without the need for any other plug-ins or instruments. Garageband has become standard for a lot of users because it's built right into the Mac OS. Ableton Live is popular with sound designers and composers because it's very effective at manipulating audio. It has so many levels of automation that you can pretty much automate anything. These programs usually have functions and features which aren't found in your typical DAW.

Notation Programs

Another type of DAW is the notation programs. These are used by composers who are used to the score layout more than the typical piano roll. The two best known are Sibelius and Finale. While most DAW's have built in score capability, they don't compare in depth and features as much as these. Notation programs make it easy to see your whole arrangement like you would on a printed score. Some of them have extra features like 'auto arrange' which will take a basic piano arrangement and turn it into a string quartet or a full blown symphony if you like. Although very useful once you get to know the program, most of these suffer from having a huge learning curve. They also suffer from some limitations as far as plug-ins, recording and mixing features.

We're Jamming

Another type of software program is 'jamming' or play-along software. The most notable of these is Band-In-A-Box but there are others. These have built in styles and templates that mimic different genres of music. For example; want to jam some blues? There are a number of built in styles and songs to jam to. It's very easy to change the key, tempo or arrangement. You can even create your own styles and use them over different chord progressions. Since these have to change so many parameters, the tracks are all MIDI generated. There now includes various loops to make your track more realistic but most of the tracks use your built MIDI sounds.

Which Ones Do I Prefer?

Over the years I've pretty much tried every one of these products (except Digital Performer) at one time or another. I like using dedicated DAWs like Logic, Cubase and Sonar because they're easy to work with (once you get over the initial learning curve) and pretty much have all I need. Each of these have their little niggles (and features) that I've hated (or missed) when trying out another.While Pro Tools has great connectability and is pretty much the industry standard, I find the other DAWs more intuitive when putting tracks together. At the same time, I find the other programs irreplaceable in their own ways. I use Ableton for quickly putting together ideas, manipulating audio and creating beats. I find I come up with completely different ideas than I would have using my regular DAW. I use Reason in the same way. I also love using jamming software. Taking a standard blues progression/jazz tune/whatever and putting my own changes in makes a great starting track in no time. I always end up importing these files into my dedicated DAW, ripping it apart until I come up with something that I like. I always end up importing the files from these programs into my dedicated DAW. I try to keep all of the different files together but having it all imported into my DAW, it can be archived properly. The same goes for notation software. For creating symphonies, there's nothing like seeing the printed score right in front of you. If you're working this way, then go to a DAW and try the same thing, you may be disappointed in the results. Because of the limitations of the program (plug-ins, instruments etc.) I always have to export it into my DAW to polish off the arrangement. While this may seem like too many steps for most, I find that it's the best of both (...many worlds).

The More The Merrier?

The truth is that most producers I know have gone through a couple of different programs in their professional life. Sometimes, you'll start with one program and migrate to another. Some people I know started out with one program and have pretty much stick with it. I've found that it's best to use one DAW a majority of the time. This way you get used to the program and use it without thinking too much. This lets you get down to the business of making music and not spending your days trying to tweak software. I also find that when trying out other software programs, new ideas and sounds just pop up. It's always good to have a couple of different tools at your disposal. Also when working in different genres (eg a dance track as opposed to a guitar/vocal track, versus a full blown symphony) I use different programs.

In The End

In the end it really becomes a personal choice. It comes down to what style of music you create, what your work habits are and what you want to accomplish. One good way to see the problems with any program is to go on the various forums (just do a search 'your DAW' forums) and see what people are talking about. You'll see some issues that people are having on a regular basis as well as some features that you may not know about. Many users will go into detail about how one DAW is better than the other; just do your research and make your own decisions. Also, if you work with a group of musicians, it's usually best to get the same DAW so projects can be exchanged with little effort. There is an exchange format but it's still unreliable; some setting will get lost. One major drawback with most DAW's (that they never seem to address) is the fact that they're not backwards compatible. That is, if your friend started a project in the newest version of your DAW of choice, odds are you won't be able to open up the file (in your older version) until you've updated your software too. Another caveat, is updates. Most users will tell you to always update your software. While this is a good idea for small updates, I find it's not always best when dealing with major updates. New versions usually have great new features but they will often take features away (that you found irreplaceable), and the new version (with all of it's bells and whistles) will usually tax your system more. If you have an older computer, you might want to keep working with the DAW you have until you can upgrade your entire system. It's always a let down when you see your old projects (which worked fine on the old version), now max out your machine. Also, there are always some bugs with every new version. Above all, find something you like, then get to work!

*Disclaimer: These are all just personal views. I have no affiliation and receive no compensation from any software provider.

How to Listen

2010-12-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

One of the most important traits a musician can have is how to listen effectively. Yet it's something that doesn't seem to happen often enough. It's mentioned but it's rarely taught or discussed. Listening is important for playing well in a group. It's important in figuring out (and enjoying) music. It's important in creativity.

Listen Up!

Arguably, one thing that makes great players great isn't so much their playing as it is their hearing. When listening to great players, they always seem to have a great sense of rhythm. They seem to be able to play what's 'appropriate' or 'interesting'. This comes from listening. Having great chops is one thing, knowing when to play what is another. All of this comes from listening. When playing with other players, no matter what kind of music you play, it's vitally important that you listen. You can always tell the tightest bands because the members make sure that they listen to each other. When playing with others, you should be listening to only about 40% of yourself, the rest should be everybody else. Of course the number is arbitrary, but you get the idea.

Easy Listening

There are many ways to listen. All of them are important to musicians. The first is the way you first started to listen and that's simply for enjoyment. There isn't much right brain activity, it's mostly about feeling the rhythm and melody. Beyond feeling the music, there may be some right brain activity involved in sorting out the various parts of the song and listening to the lyrics. But, you're mostly just enjoying the music without too much brain activity. This is important because this is how music is consumed a lot of the time. It's also useful when writing or listening back to your own creations. Sometimes when we write and record we get lost in the details too much and forget to just listen. This is what happens when you're right in the middle of recording. You listen back to the track but you're no longer completely separated. You're hearing the part you just recorded, your ears may be fatigued, or you may be listening to the mix. Whenever you do a lot of work on a specific track, I always suggest time to leave it. Once you've left it for a while, you come back with fresh ears. With fresh ears, you begin once again to listen like this. You hear the song, the rhythm and feel all in one instead of the separate parts. This is like the critical listening, without the actual 'technical' part.

Critical Listening Part I

This is sort of listening you do when working on tracks and recording yourself. This involves taking your performance apart and making sure it all works. This is critical in a musician's development. You must be able to sit down and critically assess your own performance. This involves pitch, timing, feel and dynamics. If you can hear the problems in your own performance, you're more likely able to fix them. It also works when writing and improvising. It means listening to your track and being able to assess if you've created the right message; to assess if it's 'working' or not. This means the lyric, the chords/harmony, phrasing, rhythm, etc. It's listening creatively to see if you're getting your message across. This is also critical in developing your own voice and style. It means listening to your dialogue and tweaking it until you're saying what you want to say.

Critical Listening Part II

This is another level of listening. This is the listening that goes on when actually playing and performing. It's the sort of listening I encourage all of my students to do. I start with playing to a metronome. Playing with a metronome isn't just about playing rhythms, it's about listening. I usually start with just practicing rhythms in 8th notes. I don't make the metronome very loud at all. This way the student has to really listen to make sure they're in time. Too often we get lost in listening to ourselves and lose track with the rest of the band. Playing with a metronome forces you to use a huge portion of your focus away from yourself. This has two outcomes. First of all, you get into the habit of not just listening to yourself but trying to 'meld in' with a group. You have to play with the metronome, not against it. So often you hear performers who seem to be in their own little world. They're in time (sort of) but they seem removed from the band and the song. This is because they're only listening to themselves and not the rest of the band, It's important that your listen to everybody else and become part of that sound, instead of simply sitting on top. Secondly, you get really sympathetic with other sounds besides your own instrument. It means you can hear any sound that you choose to focus on. It helps you isolate the kick or hi-hat when the rest of the band is playing at full boar. It makes you aware of all of the sounds going on a one time. It's great when playing with a band, you can pretty much hear what everybody else is doing (even to the point of picking out bad notes from other band members). It's almost like listening in 3D.

Combining the Difference

As you can see, there are many ways of listening. There are others but they are mostly variations of the ones listed above. Each one is valuable in it's own way. You should be able to go between each of these at will. When practicing, you want to have your 'critical listening II' going on. Making sure you're listening to everything that's going on. Making sure your rhythm and phrasing is in time. After practice, turn on your 'critical listening I' and see how your performance went. Where you in the pocket or playing ahead? Are there some interesting ideas there, or are just rambling on? After finishing up some initial takes and/or tracks, you may want to kick back and do some basic listening, seeing if it all works together. Is the message and vibe getting across, or did you make it too complicated? Make it too jazzy and not bluesy enough (or whatever you set out to do in the first place)?

Working On Your Ears

Whenever you sit down to practice, some ear training exercises should be part of your regular practice session. That means listening to and evaluating rhythms, pitches, scales, chords etc. Once you get your ear in motion and work at it everyday, a whole new world will open up for you.

Musician's Top 10 Getting It Done List

2010-12-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

Being a working musician is tough. You're pretty much on your own. You have to take care of all of the business, networking and finances. On top of that you have to find time after a busy day to try and be creative and make some great art. Here are a list of things to help you keep focused and on track.

1. Move away from abstract ideas to actionable goals - There was a study done with two groups of people. Both groups where given a set of tasks to complete. Group A's tasks where clear and concise (like go pickup this, go here etc.); whereas Group B's tasks where a little more abstract (like having to pick out 'interesting items'). Group A completed all of the tasks whereas Group B had trouble completing the list. It's much easier for us to complete concrete, measurable goals. This especially applies to musicians because so much of what we do is abstract. For example your goal maybe to write a song. That's not well enough defined and also may not be something you can complete in one go. A better goal would be to finish a first draft of a pop song or ballad. This applies to everything; your writing, business and practice sessions.

2. Work backwards with the end in mind - This is another well known technique that is hard for musicians to convert to their art. If you're creating art, you can't start with the end in mind because you usually don't know what the end is. This works better for career goals and band/marketing/business tasks but like noted above can be helpful in your writing and practicing. For example you have a band and don't know where you want to go. You decide that you want to release a 6 song professionally done CD in 6 months. That's starting with the end in mind. Now when you get together you can start planning for that end.

3. Create and/or get involved in a community/network - One of the worst mistakes I see artists doing is working in a vacuum. Not only does networking and being in a large community help with your creativity, it helps get gigs, make money and keeps you in touch with what's going on. It also helps in the learning curve since so much can be gained from others' experience and mistakes.

4. Take note of your successes - It's easy to get carried away with trying to get stuff done that you don't take notice of what you've accomplished. This is also very important in another aspect; if you take note of your successes, you'll slowly start to learn what works and what doesn't. Most of the time musicians have to fly by the seat of their pants. If you come across something that works, take note and use it again. It doesn't matter if it goes against the grain or not, if it works for you, it works.

5. Review plans and goals often - This goes along with the previous. It's too easy to get carried away in creating music and playing without taking note of why you're doing it or if it's line with your goals. One of the great things about music is that it is literally never ending. It's too easy to go in a hundred different directions at once and in the end not get anything done at all. Make sure what you're doing stays in line with your goals. Review your goals often; edit and change when you feel the need.

6. Create time-lines and deadlines - I've known musicians how have worked on the same song for years. It's important that for every goal you write down, you create a time-line and more importantly a deadline. Try as hard as you can to adhere to these if you can. If you've put something on your list, it has to have importance to it and it has to be done. This is one of the best ways of getting things done.

7. Simplify - There are a million things that you have to do. More now than ever, a musician has to be effective in tons of areas. The best way to make sure things are getting done is to simplify. Simplify your entire life if you can. That means sometimes saying no to new projects because you must finish the ones you're on. That means using the gear you have and not needing every new piece that comes along. It means saying no to other activities to open up time for your music. Or, leaving off some new musical ventures and techniques because you have to prepare for your next gig. You must be ruthless in this area. If you are effective in this, you may actually find time opening up for all of those other things that you want to do.

8. Create working hours - It's too easy to just try and fit your musical activities into your 'free' time and hope to get it all done. The most effective way to make sure that you're getting something done everyday is to assign certain times of the day for work and practice. I separate the two; music business, and music practice. Music business can be done at almost anytime of the day although I find it's best to do it first; that way I know that it's getting done. The first thing you should do during your 'office hours' is go through your goals and planner and see what needs to be done. That way you're always on course and not likely to waste time on things that aren't on your list. Secondly, always schedule practice and writing time into your day. You may find that certain times work better for this than others. Maybe you're more creative at night therefore you would schedule your time for that. Schedule in a certain amount of time (I like to work in half hour increments) and always make sure you do at least that.

9. Be diligent - Getting stuff done on your own takes a lot of discipline. It's important that you stay focused, practice discipline (it's a muscle, not a talent), and always finish important projects. It's easy to get discouraged and let things go. It takes diligence to make it.

10. Always make time for your art - Being a musician is a 24 hour a day lifestyle. Although it may not seem like it, this list is to free your mind so you can get that all important work done. When you have a community that you are a part of, if you're taking care of the business side, if you're staying disciplined and on course, it becomes a lot easier to get more done. You'll be amazed at how much more you enjoy the process, even though there's a ton of stuff going on. Most of all, it leaves time in everyday to be creative and just enjoy being a musician.

Try and Try Again

The idea of getting things done isn't new. Most of these are tried and true techniques. Musicians and artists seem to have issues all of their own. It's important that you address these and find work-arounds. It's tough enough trying to create great art in the first place, never mind having to deal with the million other things in your life. Simplify, work hard and stay focused and you'll soon find yourself enjoying the process all that much more.

AV Clash - Tag Mash

2010-11-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

Edit of screen captures from live sessions using AV Clash:
avclash.com

AV Clash (2010) is a project by Video Jack (http://www.videojackstudios.com/) for creating audiovisual compositions, consisting of combinations of sound and audio-reactive animation loops. The sounds are retrieved from freesound.org.
More info:
http://www.videojackstudios.com/projects/avclash/
Credits:
André Carrilho (visuals); Nuno Coreia (interaction); Gokce Taskan (coding); Freesound.org and community (sounds)

AV Clash - Tag Mash from Video Jack on Vimeo.

OPEN CALL FOR VIDEO ART

2010-11-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Aural/Visual Synthesis project
Call For Video Art: Aural/Visual Synthesis To Soundlers By Hoop Dreams

OPEN CALL FOR VIDEO ART: AN INSTALLATION OF AURAL/VISUAL SYNTHESIS
AT MMMICROFESTIVAL — AN EVENING OF MUSIC, MOVEMENT, AND MULTIMEDIA

On December 8th, 2010, REDEFINE magazine and InterArts will be curating MMMicroFestival – An Evening of Music, Movement, and Multimedia – at Holocene in Portland, Oregon. The inventive evening will feature cross-disciplinary projects and performances, including four musical acts, three performance pieces, and one video installation. (Complete event details here.)

A community-rooted project of aural and visual synthesis, the side room installation will feature an open call for video art. Portland/Seattle-based musical trio Hoop Dreams will be offering forth “Spirit Momentum,” a track from their forthcoming debut album. Artists of all disciplines and persuasions are invited to submit their video interpretations of the track, which, at one-minute-and-thirteen-seconds long, is chock full of visual fodder. Watery beats, ghostly vocals, and glitched-out sound effects float in and out without commitment, giving plenty of audio cues for artists to interpret to their liking.

Visit website for more information and for application details:
http://www.redefinemag.com/film/hoop-dreams-spirit-momentum-call-for-art

You can download the song at the above link for the project

HOOP DREAMS is a project featuring Aaron Chapman and John Bowers, of the indie psych-pop band Nurses (Dead Oceans), and Rhubarb Jackson, and is essentially the result of three multi-instrumentalists loosening their reins on traditional songwriting. Dub-influenced beats, layered vocals spanning multiple octaves of harmony, and mysterious electronic noises evoke vaguely familiar feelings of nostalgia. Despite their short durations, Hoop Dreams tracks sit densely upon the human psyche.

Musician's Top 10 Guide to Learning Music Theory

2010-11-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

You've decided that you want to learn some theory or some new concepts on your instrument. You may start out reading a book or checking out something online but then lose interest quickly. It's kind of dry and nothing you read seems to have anything to do with what you're doing on your instrument. Here are some things to help you out and make your time learning theory a lot more effective.

1. Apply it to your instrument - Most of the time when we learn theory it's an abstact idea. It may be written down or explained to you. The most important thing you can do is apply any new ideas right to your instrument. That means if it's a new scale, chord then apply it to your instrument. Even if it's something like an abstract idea, there are ways that you can apply it so it makes sense on your instrument.

2. Commit it to memory - Learning music is accumulative. It's important that you internalize one concept because other concepts will likely stem from that. For example when learning scales, commit these to memory because that knowledge is useful in so many other areas.

3. Make learning theory a regular part of your practice sessions - There are many areas and facets to theory. Most of it isn't tough to learn but does take time. If you make learning theory part of your regular practice regimen, the cumulative effects start to add up rather quickly.

4. Always do exercises from textbooks and learning materials - Learning about music theory without doing the exercises is like learning to cook without entering the kitchen. If you've taken the time to get and read through a book on theory, go through all of the exercises. Not doing so is a waste of your time.

5. Learn piano - One of the best ways to make sense of music theory is to learn to play the piano. We're not talking about being a virtuoso here, just a working knowledge of the instrument will do. The piano is laid out in such a way that it makes perfect sense when learning things like scales, intervals, chord construction etc. It's also one of the best instruments to compose and arrange on since it's relatively easy to write a melody and accompaniment at the same time.

6. Apply it to the real world - I really started to get to know theory inside out when I had to show students how what we were learning applied to the music that they were listening to. I had to apply conventional theory to dance/club music, pop, metal and everything in between. All theory applies in one way or another. Once you get your head around what's going on in any song, it makes it a lot easier to compose, improvise and memorize.

7. Learn the fundamentals first - When I studied music at university, I wanted to start writing symphonies right away. But there were quite a few pre-requisite courses that you had to go through first. All of these pre-requisites helped in putting my compositions together later because there were so many principles involved. Make sure if you're just starting out to learn the fundamentals. It might be boring and it may nor be obvious how it applies at first, but have patience, it will.

8. Sing and play all exercises - This is another way of putting the idea of making sure everything you learn is applied. If you're reading about a new scale or chord progression or whatever, it's important that you turn it into sound; play it and turn it into sound. The best way of making sure that the sound gets into your head is to sing it. Every musician should sing. Singing puts the sound in your head like nothing else. If you've written some counterpoint, a new melody, a new chord progression, sing it and play it. You'll soon start to recognize chords and intervals without any need for an instrument.

9. Apply the theory you learn to your style of music - Again with the application. If you're a metal guitarist and are just starting to learn modes, try and apply them to metal and the specific style of music you're into. Also, go back into the songs you know and see if you can find some examples of what you're learning. This helps in getting to know a style really well and will help in your writing and your ears.

10. Don't use theory for theory's sake - Some musicians get into the trap of writing with their textbooks open. They revel in the fact that they've been very clever in using all of the latest hip voicings and scales. This is why I stress making sure you listen and turn everything into sound. It's great to push the envelope as far as sounds are concerned, but make sure you're doing it to express yourself and convey some emotion, not to impress other theorists and fellow musicians.

Practicing Your Rhythms Effectively

2010-11-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

Most of the time when we talk about practicing we talk about scales, chords, technique and songs. But there's little talk of rhythm. In most of the music we listen today, rhythm is perhaps the most important aspect of the music. Yet most musicians spend very little time focused on just rhythm. There are a couple of things that should be included into your practice regimen that makes sure you're getting your rhythms and timing rock solid.

The Metronome

Always practice with a metronome. It's great at working one your scales, rhythms and phrasing. Some say that practicing with a metronome is bad because it will become a crutch. You'll get so used to it being there, that you won't be able to keep a straight rhythm on your own. I disagree. Metronomes are very useful for getting your timing better, especially in the initial stages of learning. That said, it's important that you practice with a metronome but also incorporate other exercises to help with your timing. Also, always make an effort to play with other musicians. This will help your rhythm (and ears) immensely.

Different Times

Play everything you practice at different tempos using the metronome. Most things are harder to play at slower tempos, not faster. If you're working on speed, this makes it easy to measure exactly where you are and how well you're doing. Don't get carried away with this though. Speed is nothing without phrasing, dynamics and feel. These are things we want to incorporate when practicing our rhythms. For example, don't just play through a scale over and over. Try dynamics on different notes and phrases. First, start of with accenting just one note (or chord) every bar. Start with 8ths and accent the first 8th note in each bar. Then accent the second 8th note etc. This really brings scales and phrases alive. It's something that we usually do automatically we strumming chords or copying solos but it helps when we break it down and do it on purpose. Next, try playing using different rhythmic patterns. Aim for controlled dynamics and smooth legato notes.

On The 2 and 4

When practicing with the metronome you'll want to try using it at different settings. For example, try setting the metronome at a slow tempo and pretend that that is the 1 and 3. Now practice your rhythms. This gets harder the slower you go. Of course most of our music uses the back beat so it's really useful to practice with the metronome on the 2 and 4. Also, try different rhythmic values like 3 on 4. Quarter note triplets and 5 notes to the beat are also interesting things to try.

On Your Own

Now try your rhythms without a metronome (or drum beat). This is something I usually don't have to tell people since it's something that most musicians do all the time. The difference here is you really want you to focus on your rhythm, That means just playing a basic rhythm or phrase over and over. No variation, no jamming. What you're trying to do is get your timing as solid as possible by just focusing on that and not on what chord or note to play next. For this exercise it's best to actually start with a metronome because we'll use that to keep track of our tempos. Start of with a very basic rhythm at a slow tempo. Start your metronome at the slow tempo to gauge the speed. Now, turn off the metronome and start playing the rhythm. Focus on keeping the tempo. Feel it in your head. Don't force it because that will make you want to speed up. Play the rhythm for a while, then go back and check your tempo on the metronome. How did you do? Yours won't be exact but you can gauge how fast or slow you were compared to the original. Try this at different speeds. It usually helps if you actually hear and play the rhythm in your head first, before you touch the instrument. Always take half a second to internalize the speed and rhythm. Record your practice and see how it feels on playback.

Sequence This

One of the great things I love about sequencers is how many ways you can come up with (and twist) loops and grooves. If you've used any sequencers you'll know about quantization. This effectively lets you control the amount of feel on any drum beat you have. :Let's look at a couple of ways you can use this to tighten up your timing.

Swingin'

As we talked about in the effective practicing post, it's a good idea to practice your scales (and chords, songs, etc) to a drum beat. By setting up a basic drum beat, you can play along and practice getting a good feel. What you want to start out with is a basic swing beat. I usually start with the bare minimum: the kick is on the 1 and 3, the snare is on the 2 and 4, and the ride is doing (strict*) swing 8ths. Using this basic beat makes me focus on the swing 8th note. I then start at a slow tempo and go through the various exercises. Start with scales, using different rhythm variations. Then try various licks and phrases. Got through some chord progressions, keeping the rhythm relatively easy, focusing on placing the chords at the exact place you want. Some sequencers allow you to vary the amount of swing. Again, set up a basic beat like the one listed above. This time though, sequence in (strict) straight 8th notes. Again go through the exercises we talked about: scales, chords, licks. Now, go back and try varying the amount of swing. Try 25% and see how it feels. Before playing a note, stop and really listed to the beat. Notice the difference between that and the straight one. Don't skip this step, it's really important. Once you stop and start really taking notice of the variations in rhythms, your ear will become sensitive to hearing these things.

*That means I go in and manually enter the groove.Yes it's mechanical and boring but for our purposes here, it's what we want.

Playing It Straight

Another thing that's great to do with sequencers is practice your rhythms with a straight beat. Set up a basic beat with no humanizing or variations. It helps our exercise if the beat is straight and boring. Again it's just a basic beat with the hi-hats doing 8ths. Now we're going to play a strict 8th rhythm and record it. Listen and lock in with the hi-hats. Once you've recorded your take, go back in and listen to your performance. First, listen to your track with the beat. How did you do? Is it in the pocket or does it go in and out? The best way to tell is to edit your take. Zoom in until you can see your rhythm track against the time-line. Do the transients of your rhythm track line up with the beats on the time-line? You'll find that most of the time you're either constantly early or constantly late. Most people are early, especially with slower tempos. Now go back to your track and move it back and forward a 64th. Does it sound better or worst. Were you early, late or right on. Fix the timing of your track until it's almost perfectly straight. Now listen to the track. If you can, compare that track to your initial take. Always listen back and take note. This is how you'll get better.

With the Band

Like I mentioned earlier, it really important that all musicians practice with other musicians. I can't stress this enough. I can't tell you how many times I've met musicians who can play the snot out of any scale and not have any feel at all. I've always found that musicians who had the best time, were the ones with the most experience playing with other musicians. When you do get a chance to get together with other musicians, take the time to practice just getting the groove. You'll find that grooves need a bit of settling. You'll start playing a groove and after a little time, it will just seem to lock (hopefully). This comes from settling into the groove, relaxing, and not worrying about what chord (or note) comes next. It's important that the rhythm section just works on the basic groove. No extras, no solos, no vocals. Just play the groove over and over. Work on listening to each other. Listen to each other and each part of the drummer's kit: listen to the hi-hats, then the kick, then the snare. Try to match what the drummer is doing. Great grooves come from knowing your instrument, your parts and listening to each other.

Doing It By Feel

After you've been working on your rhythms for a while, you'll just try to settle in and get the feel without thinking too much. This is great when you're playing with other musicians, recording, or just having fun. But you also want to dissect rhythms, practice variations, and incorporate new things into your playing. Try and incorporate some rhythm exercises into every practice session. While sometimes it may feel like you're not getting anywhere, these rhythm exercises will start creeping into your playing. You may notice that your playing gets better, and feels better. Always remember; the rhythm is paramount.

Forms in Music for Songwriters

2010-10-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

We talked about working on arranging as part of developing your writing skills in a past post. This time we're going to go into more detail about the different forms in music. Going through all of the different forms is too much for one article, so we're going to focus on forms used in popular music. If you're an aspiring songwriter, you should be familiar with all of these forms. It's a good idea to know about the different forms, be able to hear the form in music, and be able to apply them to your own work.

The Ubiquitous Verse-Chorus

Pretty much the de-facto standard for today is the verse-chorus form. Most of the hits you hear on the radio follow this form. It's basically an intro, followed by a verse-chorus.
There is generally a bridge just before the last chorus out but may be omitted. There are a number of ways that the bridge is handled. It's usually lyrically and harmonically different than the rest of the song. It can bring a new point of view or another side to the story. In most rock/pop songs there used to be the ubiquitous guitar solo but. since the 90's the solo has been replaced by a rap in pop music. The intro is usually pretty short, the second verse may be shorter than the first, and the final chorus will be repeated on the outro. There are many variations of this including a pre-chorus, a little section that sets you up for the chorus. If you're new to songwriting, this would be the form to start with.

a) intro - verse - chorus - verse - chorus - bridge - chorus

b) intro - verse - pre-chorus - chorus - verse - pre-chorus - chorus - bridge - chorus

AABA

Every decade of pop music has had a specific form that was used more than others. One style stays popular for a while and then slowly loses favor to another form. For example, in the 30's when jazz was the most popular music going, the AABA form (also known as the 32 bar form) was the one that was used the most. To this day, jazz standards use this form more than any other. So, if you were setting out to write the newest jazz standard, this would be a good place to start. The 'A' section would have the basic storyline and 'hook' of the song where the 'B' section would be contrasting to the first section. The last 'A' section may end slightly different than the first, using a turnaround to bring you back to the beginning of the form.

A1 - A1 - B - A2

The Refrain

A song form made popular by folk singers is the verse-refrain. This consists of a verse followed by a short one or two sentence refrain. While not used as frequently it's still a viable form that can be used to great effect. Dylan would use this form a lot. Artists like Bruce Springsteen still use this in a number of their songs.While not nearly as popular as the verse-chorus, this form can be effective in bringing a short memorable idea.

verse - refrain - verse - refrain - etc.

The Blues

Not only is the blues a style of music, it's also a very popular form that has been used in all styles of music. The basic blues consists of a 12 bar chord progression that is repeated over and over. At the end of the 12 bars there is a turn-around that brings you back to the beginning. There are other forms as far as the length; from 8 bars to 32. There are also tons of variations on the chords but the basic I-IV-V remains.The entire song repeats this form over and over. There is also an underlying form in the phrasing. It's closer to the refrain style mentioned earlier in that each verse has a single idea (usually repeated in 4 bar phrases) with a refrain at the end. The blues is used in tons of jazz standards as well as rock and pop songs. It pretty much dominated rock in the 70's. There have been many variations on this including using the verse-chorus form over a basic blues progression. Masters this style of rock would be Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top.

||: I | | | | IV | | I | | V | IV | I | V :||

Dance Music

Dance and club songs have a form of their own. It stems from the importance of the build and breakdown. Whereas pop music likes to get to the song right away, dance remixes take their time getting to the lyric; mostly because establishing the groove is extremely important There is an opening groove that sets the song up. Then there is a small breakdown before the song and main lyric actually start. It may follow the verse chorus form or sometimes it's just a repeated phrase (usually with effects or spliced up). Then there is a big build up, followed by another breakdown and then finally the last section of the song. The groove is usually kept up until the end of the song where the producer will usually take out most of the elements, just leaving the groove. This makes it easy for DJ's to beat match and mix songs seamlessly.DJ's like David Guetta have started to dominate the charts with variations of this form.

intro (beat) - melody (riff) - breakdown - build - lyric - build - breakdown - build - lyric - out (beat)

Metal

Metal also has a form all its own. Some may argue that there is no from but it usually follows some rules. The form follows a basic verse-chorus form but makes changes along the way. A classic example would be Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man'. It starts with an opening lick that is usually (but not always) the general theme of the song. That would be repeated a number of times and then another section, with a different riff would be introduced. That would be repeated a number of times and then the 'chorus' of the song would be repeated. Then, another section would be introduced which may have something to do with the earlier sections, but may be a completely new idea. The 'chorus' would then be repeated again. There would usually be at least one guitar solo and there sometimes be a section that was in half time or double time. The general form would look something like this:

intro - A1 - B (Chorus) - A2 - B - A3 -B - C (half or double time) - B

This form is pretty much the way metal songs are written even to this day. Of course there are many variations but these are the essential elements.

New Trends

As with all arts, songwriting is constantly evolving*. There are always current trends in the way songs are written and especially the way they are arranged and produced. There is the aforementioned guitar solo being replaced by a rap in pop songs. But there have been other developments that have been showing themselves more often. One thing that has gained more popularity is songs starting off immediately with the chorus. While this has been around for some time (think of 'She Loves You' by the Beatles) it's being used more and more. It's mostly used in hiphop but has been gaining ground in other styles. Dance and club music has also had an affect on pop music.There are songs on the charts now that use the basic (verse-chorus) build-breakdown that is standard in dance. Likewise, there are 'heavier' pop songs that have used ideas from metal. There are 'metal' bands that have a poppier sound that use the forms found in metal. In this way, much like the rock from the 70's, the riff becomes a huge part of the success of the song.

*Art evolves but doesn't necessarily get better. It's mostly a reflection of society at the time.

Getting Creative

In some songwriting circles. getting creative with song structures is considered a bad idea. There's a general consensus that if you're an aspiring songwriter, it's best to stick with the tried and true verse-chorus format. While there are arguments made that it's better to get right to the chorus, it's not always that black and white. If you're writing songs and submitting them to publishers, it's better to keep it simple. That doesn't mean that you have to write one way only, but you do have to keep it simple. If they ask for something specific, give them what they want. They don't have time to listen to extended mixes and want to hear your best stuff immediately. If you're an artist, or if you're just trying to improve your craft, trying the different forms can be beneficial to your writing skills. Artists are always looking for something that will stand them out from others. Having a great song with a memorable hook and interesting form, may set you apart from all of the standard stuff.

Songwriting and Beyond

As you can see, we've barely touched the surface here. A couple of these forms have been around forever and are pretty much 'need to know' if you want to become a songwriter. Then there are variations and new forms based on different styles of music. It's a good idea to take note of the form in any music if you plan on doing any writing in that style. In some styles, like dance and metal, it's hard to separate the production (and instruments) from the songwriting. But, even with these styles it's still important to write a good line and lyric (appropriate for the style of course) so you have something of value to build upon. Happy writing.

POINT LINE CLOUD

2010-10-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

POINT LINE CLOUD

"POINT LINE CLOUD is a collection of audio and video collaborations between Curtis Roads and Stephen O'Reilly, it has been a ever shifting project over the years which constantly continues to evolve. The first performance of the materials that grew into the project was in 2001 at a concert with Autechre and Russell Haswell in Los Angeles. Since then it has been performed in many diverse venus around the world."

Point Line Cloud (selections) from Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo.
From Vimeo - description
"Beneath the level of the note lies the realm of sound particles. Each particle is a pinpoint of sound. Recent advances let us probe and manipulate this microacoustical world. Sound particles dissolve the rigid bricks of musical composition-the notes and their intervals-into more fluid and supple materials. The sensations of point, pulse (series of points), line (tone), and surface (texture) emerge as the density of particles increases. Sparse emissions produce rhythmic figures. By lining up the particles in rapid succession, one can induce an illusion of tone continuity or pitch. As the particles meander, they flow into liquid-like streams and rivulets. Dense agglomerations of particles form clouds of sound whose shapes evolve over time." -Curtis Roads
POINT LINE CLOUD is a collection of audio and video collaborations between Curtis Roads and myself, it has been a ever shifting project over the years which constantly continues to evolve. The first performance of the materials that grew into the project was in 2001 at a concert with Autechre and Russell Haswell in Los Angeles. Since then it has been performed in many diverse venus around the world.
The three excerpts presented are:
Fluxon
This work contains in part visual source materials provided by Matthew Marsden that were further layered and processed using various digital softwares.
Volt air pt. 3
The source material was generated using the analog video synthesizer the Sandin Image Processor located at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Thank you to Brett Williams and Edward Rankus who at the time helped me dig deeper into the IP.
Half life pt. 1 Sonal atoms
Was created using only a few seconds of footage that was then edited, layered, processed and re-processed to create the basis for the work. Curtis' book MICROSOUND had a profound influence on the conception of how to edit and construct this work, at times editing the video to the sound on a frame by frame level.

"When forms collapse, the resulting remains expose layered bits containing infinite possibilities. The inner workings of these fragments make up the foundation of Brian O'Reilly's videos, not unlike microsonic music composition, to which O'Reilly's oeuvre has a great affinity. This type of sound making employs sonic events shorter than musical notes creating a music of vestiges. In these works intervals of visual information are isolated and reworked in order to compose the visualizations for a particular piece. Assemblage art also infiltrates itself a great deal into the videos, albeit in an opposite direction. While assemblage utilizes found scraps to create a new object, these videos degrade original footage in order to unearth the weathered layers in these moving images. Both approaches employ as source material peripheries that would otherwise go unnoticed. By placing a "magnifying glass" onto these materials, a whole visual environment is constructed. This augmented space is precisely what O'Reilly's makes tangible." - Marcella Faustini from "An Aesthetic of Collapse: Brian O'Reilly's Cinema of Fragmentized Failure"

The Art of Arrangement: Bass

2010-10-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

When it comes down to arranging music (any type of music), one of your prime considerations is the bass. In most styles of music, the bass plays a major role. In other styles it plays a simple supporting role; supporting, but just as important never the less. The bass makes up 1/2 of the major support in modern music, the drums being the other. It defines the groove, the feel and the underlying harmony.

The History of the Bassline

The bass line has always had a huge impact on Western Music. At one time, all a composer had to do was write the melody and bass line. They wouldn't even fill in the accompaniment.
They would use a numbering system (called 'figured bass') to let the accompanists know what to play. Around the time of Bach, when counterpoint was the way that composers wrote, writing a good bass line was an education in it's own right. In fact, Bach wrote down the 'rules' to writing a good bass line that are just as valid to this day.

Just the Root

Most of the time in popular music, the bass player is relegated to simply playing the roots of the chords.While effective most of the time, there are tons of ways to make the bassline more interesting. First of all there is the falling or climbing bass line. This is where the bass will play a scalar or chromatic line against a number of changes. These are usually pretty effective in bringing out a harmony or part without taking too much away from the melody or other parts. These go a long way in making an interesting bass line, using more linear lines instead of the usual jumping form root to root. The use of these type of bass lines usually result in slash chords written for the rest of the band. Slash chords are usually other notes in the chord (e.g. the 3rd, 5th, or 7th) moved to the bass, but don't it doesn't have to be. Any note can go with any chord, as long it's right for the song.

Harmony used with descending bass line:
regular harmony:                            C G Am F G C Dm
bass line:                                       C B A G F E D
harmony with bass line:                  C G/B Am F G C/E Dm*

*This line is a bit long in the tooth but you get the idea.

Jazz Cats

One style of music where the bass is paramount is jazz. If it's straight forward traditional jazz, the bass player will typically be carrying the beat with a steady bass. They will usually play quarters with some embellishment added for variety. There are many things involved in playing bass in a jazz band, one of them being improvisation and having a 'dialogue' with the other players. If you're writing out a jazz arrangement for bass, most of the time you'll just indicate the chords and let the player be. If there are special notes in your arrangement as far as bass notes, you'll want to include them in the chord names to let all of the musicians (especially the bass) know what's happening at that particular time. Let the bass player choose the notes, you just indicate the harmony. If there is a specific line that is part of the head, then you'll want to indicate that. One other thing to note is that if there are any special shots, you just have to indicate them in the score. Jazz bass players will use the fifth and octave (see below), but also use other chord tones and chromatic notes to create interesting, moving bass lines. Unless you're a bass player, leave these to the pros.

I Go Out Walking

One thing that a bass player will do is walk. Walking is simply taking steps (either chromatic or scalar) between roots. This is done in almost every style of music. Jazz players walk consistently between the changes. Certain styles of rock and country will do it between certain chord changes. To make your bass line more interesting, you'll want to incorporate some walking. How much depends on the style of music and the effectiveness of the line. Sometimes a couple of notes connecting two chords at the right time is just enough for it to be effective. Just try it a couple of times throughout the arrangement. Listen back and then add or take away accordingly. (I usually find myself taking away). Try chromatic just as much as scalar patterns. Be careful in that if you sit on one of these notes long enough, or put enough of an accent on it, that passing note will then become part of your harmony. That is, since you've put so much 'emphasis' on it, the rest of the players will probably want to make a change at that spot. That means putting these walking notes on weak beats (stay away from the 1st and 3rd beat) and not letting them ring out too long (short note values).

Pedal on the Vamp

One thing that will get almost any dance tune going is a repeated bass line. This is where the bass will stay on one note or play a vamp while the other players continue with the chord changes. These can be used for a couple of changes or for a whole song Pedals are used all the time in almost every genre of music. These are used for great effect in dance music since it reinforces the constant groove. In traditional theory it's referred to as a pedal, in jazz it's known as a vamp. Bach would use pedals in his music; usually the root or 5th on the 'pedal' (lowest notes) on an organ while running a moving harmony over top. In pop, dance and jazz it's a repeating bass line over and over while the rest of the band will play the different changes. This isn't just used in dance music though, rock players do this all of the time. In fact, if you have a set of chord changes in a pop or rock tune, try a single repeating bass line instead of just following the roots. Or have a vamp over the verse and then change the bass line with the harmony in the chorus.

The Fifth/Fourth/Octave

Another thing that bass players do is the use of the fifth and the octave. Sometimes if a chord is held for a long time or the bass player wants to add some notes to a given harmony, they'll add the fifth (or fourth below, i.e. same note) or the octave. Sometimes this procedure is used so much, it becomes a part of the style of music. Bass lines in bluegrass and country use this alteration so much so that it has become an essential part of the style. Some other types of music (especially various types of folk music) relies on this same device. But this isn't relagated to just country, it's used all over the place. From metal to dance and everything in between, the bass player will often go to the fifth when playing a bass line. The way it is used varies from style to style of course. A metal player will never alternate between the root and the fifth in straight quarters. But they will play the root, followed by the fifth in various rhythms and repetitions. The same goes for the use of the octave. One of the defining elements of disco was the alternating octave bass line. Funk slap bass and various styles of dance music use this figure a lot. Bass players love the fifth and the octave because it leaves the harmony wide open for the rest of the band; i.e. it doesn't define the chord (major, minor, 7th) other than the fact that it doesn't have a flat fifth.

Get Real

If you're going to take your arrangement and try to put it down on record, you may want to save yourself some hassle and get a real player to do it for you. Not only does this save you time, it will make your recording that much better and can be a great learning experience. If you're doing an RnB remix of one of your songs and know somebody who plays that style, try and get them in on the recording session. The player will add two things that you probably can't. One is feel. Every style has its own feel. Players in various styles just play a certain way that adds authenticity to the track. A jazz drummer doesn't hit like a rock drummer and vice versa. It's the same for bass. The player well versed in the style will have a certain feel that would be hard to replicate; no matter how great your sequencing chops. The other thing a player will bring is knowledge of the style. If you've written a basic bass line for them to follow, they may notice things that aren't obvious to someone not as well versed with the style. For example, if you've written just roots for the bass all the way through, they may suggest some alternate bass lines that may be more effective than your own. RnB bass players love to use inversions and alternate notes for the bass. Likewise if it was a metal tune, the player might notice if your changes sounded a little dated or clichéd. If a player makes some suggestions, take note and consider them. It makes the whole experience better for you and for them. If you leave your ego at the door, you may be surprised at how much you learn. Also, everybody likes to be part of the process and be heard. If a player's suggestions are seriously considered, they usually will feel better about the session and look forward to working with you more.

Bass Sounds

In certain styles of music, the actual bass sound is critical to the authenticity of the style. Some styles of dance music are defined by the sounds of the drums (especially the kick) and bass. There is a difference not only the notes played but the sound of the instrument. The same goes for certain styles of rock and pop. Reggae bass has a different sound than funk. Jazz uses the stand up bass but not always. Different genres of rock have different bass sounds. Sometimes it's the full bottom bass we're used to but in other styles it may be more mid-rangey with some distortion added for effect. The different genres of dance music rely heavily on the bass. A house bass line is completely different than a techno bass line. Not only is the bass line different, the actual sound of the bass will be different. Some genres of dance music rely more on synth lines. The actual variation of different synth bass sounds used in dance music is another post in itself. Suffice to say (particularly for dance music), pay as much attention to the sound used, as the lines used.

Recording The Bass

If you've ever spend any time mixing, you'll know the trials and tribulations of trying to mix the bass properly. This is another element of the style. How much room does the bass take up in that style? It's not just a matter of making the bass sound big. While you may think that there isn't much variation, there is. The bass in RnB takes much more room than it does in most rock. Even though the bass is of huge importance in jazz, it's usually mixed quite conservatively (i.e. in terms of how 'big' it is) compared to RnB or rock. Just put in a hip-hop song and then follow it immediately with a jazz ensemble and you'll see what I mean. (The jazz tune will probably be mixed much quieter also...part of the style.) Even between different artists within the same genre of music, there is a huge difference in how 'big' or how much room the bass takes up. Some rock artists want the big bass, but others want to make sure that the guitars take up just as much space. Remember, not everything is going to be huge. Something has to take precedence over the other. You can't have a big bassy kick, with a thick bass and bottom heavy guitars. There are too many things fighting for the same space and things are just going to get messy. If you're recording as well as arranging, these are things that you're going to have to consider when putting it all together. If you're doing any recording or mixing of bass, remember how important it is to the music: make room for it. If needed, try adding a boost around 1-2kHz or so (depending on the bass sound). It will help bring out the bass line, especially on smaller systems. Also check your mixes in a variety of situations, that's the only way you'll know for sure if it translates well.

Take The Time

When composing or arranging songs, always take time to consider the bass. Even if it doesn't take a leading role in the style of music you're arranging, it's always an important part. For every style of music, there are conventions and 'rules' that apply to that style. Make sure to take the time and learn the style and try to get the best possible 'bottom line' that you can. If at all possible, try different bass lines and different bass sounds. Try each in a mix and see how they fit. Back in Bach's time, composers were encouraged to make the best bass line they could. It didn't have to just carry the harmony, it also had to be as interesting and singable as the melody. This is something we should all still aspire to.