Lucky 13

Skill. Luck. You need both, plain and simple. Without skill, any luck you have will turn bad eventually. Any skill you have needs a little luck or nothing happens. I find that most bands who have a lot of skill may seem like they don't need a lot of luck but I'm sure that they do/did. Take Metallica, they have been around for a long time and they will always have a mass of fans, but think back to when they first started. They probably needed to be lucky finding people that liked what they did. Vice versa for bands bands like Pussycat Dolls, they had a lot of luck to end up where they are today, but without some cetain amount of skill they wouldn't have made it at all.

For almost all bands(ex. Hardcore metal bands) they are all lucky that they had the band Death pave the way for them, or else they might not exist today. MIGHT being the oprative word. I'm sure some band would have made it but it sure would have been harder nowadays. The same thing goes for a lot of rockbands and pop bands. Their genre wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for jazz bands back in the day. So thats a lucky break for them. So, in my opinion if your gonna be great you do need a certain degree of luck, but without skill, well lets just say there is such a thing as bad luck to. And those are my thoughts on luck and skill in the music industry.

The Second Slap On The Snare

This rant may sound a lot like Caitlin's but I really need to get this out of me and into the atmosphere. People who say certain music sucks. I have a few choice words for those people and I'm going to say them in the most school and age appropriate way I can right now. You motherf$#* sons of #&%* a#@holes can go f$#* yourself with your conservative a#@hole attitude and inconsiderate regards and comments. Just because you don't enjoy that music does not mean that you have the right to verbally bash it in front of someone who enjoys it. If you want to sit at home and mutter to yourself about how much you hate it go right ahead, in fact I encourage it, it's healthy to vent that stuff out. That doesn't mean that you should go ahead and say it in public in front of people who might actually enjoy it. For example, I like listening to Goo Goo Dolls. I like listening to their music and I like their sound. Then someone comes along and says, " Wow , what is this $h!%, turn it off". Being the person I am, I'll turn it off but it really hurts when someone says that one of the things I love most in this world is $h!% (not saying I love Goo Goo Dolls the most in the world) It really hurts and I don't think that it's cool to hurt people. There are exemptions to that statement but I won't get into that. And that's my rant. It was a little shorter than the last one but I did swear a lot more in this one so it compensates.

More Thoughts on Music Technology

Alright then, what has it been? 4 months in this class? Time for me to spill the beans about it guess. To start off, since the last time I wrote a blog about music tech, my attitude has changed a bit, which might skew the results but that's the way it goes. When the bell rings for lunch to end and everybody (everybody being people who care about their education) scurries off to their 4th block class. If it weren't for the fact that I'm already in the classroom I would be the one scurrying to class. In otherwords, I like music tech. It's fun, interesting, I learn new things each day and I get to hang out with the coolest people ever..except Janel :P. JK Janel, your cool. For the first bit of the class it was kinda lame always setting up the PA bands and then sitting there for half the class checking their sound to make sure they sound good. But ever since the PA bands have been working on their original music it hasn't been so bad.

The one new thing I really like about class right now is the lack of disturbance. It's nice to be able to sit down at the computer and master a track without people coming in and bouncing off the walls like they're on some kind of substance. I feel better now about cubase since the last time I wrote this style blog. I've got more acquainted with it. I know some more stuff about it and I feel comfortable with it. The computer on the other hand...well we just won't speak of that which shall not be spoken of. But otherwise I like working in the office.

These blogs are still pretty fun to, the trouble I have with writing them is I have trouble getting started. I usually try to sit down at the computer and do them but then I'll get distracted and walk away, but when I do get into them there's no distracting me. The newest assignment that we have is the Myspace page for each band. I don't mind making the page, it's pretty fun. The thing I don't like is Myspace itself. It's hard to work with when you've never used it before. Otherwise I like it. Our first concert was pretty good too. Somethings didn't go as planned but that's the thing about a concert, things never go the way you want them to. I still wish people would have been more into it and not so "cool" but there's not much you can do about that. It's almost entirly up to the musicians to get people active. The lights were well done by Logan. The guitars sounded well tuned as far as I know and made well more convient because of Janel. The sound was incredible thanks to Caitlin, especially since she hadn't worked with 3 of the bands since that day, and I think I did an alright job with managing the stage. I probably could have done better but oh well. The bands pretty much knew what to do without my help anyway.

Well, there you are. That's what I think of Music Technology now.

The Chronicles of Music and Me

OK. Here we go. I guess to start off I'd have to say, I use music A LOT! I use it to work. I use it to sleep. I use it to get places. I use music to learn. I use music to help concentrate. I use music to help ward off unwanted thoughts. In all honesty, I think I use music more than it uses me.

If I didn't have music playing at Co-op constantly, I'd probably go insane. If there wasn't any music playing at Co-op..well there just wouldn't be any Co-op, it would be burnt to the ground from me going insane(jk jk). But honestly, that's how much I need music. Hold on, that's how music uses me. Music keeps me happy and when I'm happy, I make a better worker. Those clever executives. That's probably why they play all variations of music, to keep everyone happy and satisfied, which makes them better workers. It all makes sense now. The music also distracts me from the fact that I'm doing work, which seems to make things go a lot faster.

Whenever I go to bed at night I always make sure my radio is set to a good station and played at a volume loud enough to interprite yet quite enough to lull me to sleep. The music they play on the radio is pretty good considering I'm in the middle of the canadian prairies. Perhaps the way music is using me when I sleep is perhaps as soon as I'm asleep, the radio station starts sending out subliminal messages of some sort. If that's the case they're just as clever as the Co-op executives. But If it weren't for that music it would be so much harder for me to sleep. I suppose it's because it blocks out all other noise and all other thoughts that race through my mind preventing me from shutting down. Lol, thoughts are like spam and pop ups.

When I say that music gets me places, that statement is interpreted in countless ways. First off, theres me listening to music when I drive. It keeps unwanted distractions in my mind and keeps me concentrated on driving while still having a good time. Then theres music getting me places when I walk/jog/run with my portable music player. It keeps my mind off the fact that I'm actually excercising and doing something healthy. Scary thoughts I know. I also use music to get places careerwise. Everyone loves to see musician on a resume. If all go's right music will take me places I will love. And no I don't mean head supervisor at Co-op. I'm talking about playing in bands, composing music, technically manipulating music. Stuff like that.

Hold up. Theres something familiar about these uses. It seems that in all the things I use music for, the music is distracting me from something that I don't like. I suppose that is how music truly uses me. Maybe I was wrong, maybe music uses me more than I thought. Maybe music is evil...pffftt lol just kidding. Music is the greatest thing in the world. Without it nothing would happen. Nothing would get done. Music is good. And I don't even care that It uses me, use me all you want music. I don't care.

Controversial Figure in Music

Alright, this figure is typically used and is probably made fun of the most..and I'm gonna defend him. Micheal Jackson. Micheal has gone from being the coolest ladies man musician in the known world to the laughing stalk of the universe. I guarantee there are small tribes in South America making fun of Micheal for the things he's done, but I think he needs to be givin a little slack. Yes, I agree that the things that Micheal has done and the things he's been acussed of are horendise, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he's made some great music.
Mel Gibson has done some pretty bad things himself, yet you ask anyone and they'll tell you that "Braveheart" was the greatest movie ever made. Then you ask someone about "Thriller" and they'll tell you that Micheal Jackson is gay. I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with that picture. "Thriller was the biggest hit of its time and then as soon as the acussations were made the song was unofficially anounced the worst song ever. WHAT!?! HOW DOES THAT WORK!?! "Braveheart" was anounced as the worst movie ever so why should that be any diffrent for music.
Although many people won't admit it, they dance to "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" when no ones around. And to go ahead after and say that stuff is gay is just wrong. Yes, he shouldn't have had slumber parties with young children and hell yes, he shouldn't have had them sleep in his bed with him, but that doesn't excuse the fact he's a good singer and performer. As for Micheal Jacksons face, ya, it's messed up but come on. It's not completely his fault. Perhaps he does have some kind of chemical unbalance, but please don't let that take you away from enjoying his music.

You Know What Really Hits My Drum?

Oh boy! This has been on my mind for a while recently and is really starting to bug me. The thing that really hits my drum is people ragging on bands and judging their music on account of their history and not because of what they sound like. I swear, if I hear one more person say "Thriller" or "Beat It" is gay because Micheal Jackson is accused of being a homosexual I'm gonna lose it. It shouldn't matter if Micheal Jackson was accused of that, people loved those songs before the accusations so why should that change their passion for the songs. I could really care less if My Chemical Romance is an emo band, I love their song "Famous Last Words" and that should be the same for everyone.

I steer clear from being one of those people by trying not to watch music videos. Part of enjoying a song for itself is by making your own music video in your head. If I were to watch music videos it would change my perspective on that song and then I couldn't make it my own. For example, when I listened to "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson I thought it was a pretty good sounding song..then I watched the music video..bad decision on my part. Now whenever I listen to that song all I can see is Marilyn in that weird body suit. Although time has healed that wound in my mind, the scar of Marilyn in the suit remains, but I am more able to interpret it my own way again.

When I hear people argue about songs and their makers, it makes me kinda mad . The kinds of songs I'm talking about is songs like "American Woman", "Another Brick In the Wall", "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", "Black Betty", "Ghost Riders In the Sky", etc. These kind of songs have been tossed around and played by so many bands playing what is exactly the same thing with what appears to be the same kind of sound. Some of the songs you can distinguish between the two but otherwise they are the same. Most people can't tell the difference anyway until that one person has to speak up and say, " classic such and such playing blank". Then some other person speaks up and says" HEY!! Such and such didn't originally do it, it was that other band with the goofy hair". Then there becomes a large argument about it and nothing ever gets settled. GUYS!!! IT'S THE SAME SONG!!! IT DOESN'T MATTER!!! Just listen to the song and interpret it the way you want. It's not that I don't beleive in giving a band props for their art, it's very important for bands to be recognized for their work, but don't go to war about it.

If you're a fan of a band for its music and its image then props for you. There is nothing wrong with that. I'm a fan of Relient K's music and I like their band image. So..ya..nothing wrong with that. So, from one music lover to another, please don't let band images influence your love of a sound or song.

Music? A Career?

When I get up in the morning, getting ready for work, I think, "I sure wish I didn't have to go do something that means nothing to me, I wish I could listen to music all day." Saying that, I suppose music would be a career for me to have. I love music, I'm very passionate about it, so why not get paid to do it. The real question comes down to what kind of music related career is right for me. If I had to pick just one full time music career to take over my life it would probably be making music, either through orchestral, small ensemble (and when I say small ensemble I mean either small jazz group, small group of concert style musicians or a rock band). This kind of career would really let me express myself in a positive way and I'm sure would be really fun. And if your thinking, "OMG, the only reason he wants to do that is to become rich, travel the world and get all the ladies". Well, to be honest, those just happen to be perks of the job (:P). But in all seriousness, those things don't mean anything if I'm not happy, and by gosh I'd rather be happy.

If there was a career I'd have to have if i couldn't have one of those dreams come true would be a roadie, musical technician, working in a music studio or something along those lines. To be a roadie would be wicked awesome. Yes, i said wicked awesome, what are you gonna do about it. To be able to travel along with bands and set up their easel to paint their masterpiece(metaphorically, not literally) would be pretty fun and interesting. I'd get to see new sites, experience different things (no drugs though), meet new people and learn new things along the way. When it comes to working a studio making music, I think it would be sweet to compose, mix or make music for films. That way, I could add a component to something that would entertain hundreds or thousands of people. I wouldn't even need to make music for films, I would be happy enough just helping to get a great sound from some band who's recording in a studio.

The one thing that I will definitely love about having music as a career is waking up in the morning and saying, "Well..*yawn*, time to go make music and money at the same time". Though the money won't be a big deal for me, it is nice to have. The thought of getting up and doing something that makes sense to me and being good at it really gets my truly happy.

What I think of Music Tech

So far Music Technology is an awesome class to be in. You get to listen to music, socialize, and learn fun and interesting things. If you it weren't for those things what do you get..MATH! In the beggining of the year, setting up the PA board for the bands was exciting and new. I loved setting up the PA board, cuz everyday you never knew what you were gonna get and that made you think and made you think of new ways to do things (for me anyway). But as the year progressed setting up the bands for them to play just became another chore, not that it wasn't still challenging in those aspects, it just turned out to be another routine thing. I suppose though that If we didn't do that then it would be like not copying down notes in any other class, ya in fact i suppose that is what setting up the PA is, notes. Anyway, when it comes to working with the bands..HOLY SMOKE is it HARD. It's like trying to direct preschoolers with A.D.D, except you gave them shiny toys to play with. All they ever want to do is strum something or hit something and not organize accordingly for us to do any recording properly or even do soundchecks properly..IT IS FRUSTRATING! The one thing I found hard to use and figure out was the H4 and Cubase. Cubase is really overwhelming when you first look at it, and it's even more overwhelming once you get into it, at least that's how I feel. The H4 isn't so bad once you get used to it, but, the printed off manual sheets we had to read did not help me one bit. The things that really helped me to learn were the diagrams that came along with them. When I read the sheets it meant nothing to me, but that was only because I didn't really know the vocabulary. Obviously I got used to it, but in the beggining it was aweful trying to understand what it was talking about. One thing that I don't really like about the class, is computer usage, it seems like the bands are always looking up tabs and lyrics and songs on the one computer in which we need to get stuff done. Now I may seem like im just describing this as the worst class ever, but It's actually one of the coolest classes ever. I'm always learning stuff, and I love doing blogs. When it comes to working the PA board it's always interesting and you can be very creative in the way you amplify and change the sound being produced by someone else. In a way, we are in control. dunt dunt duuuuhhh!! But I must admit that at times it feels as though we are always on our own a lot. But that can't be helped. If there's one thing I'd like to see mostly in the course it would definitly be learning totake songs produced by bands(other than PA bands) and make remix's of those songs. I think that would be a sweet thing to learn. I'd also like to learn more about computer composition of music (like garageband i suppose). Well that's it I suppose..for now.

My Least Favourite

HEAVY/ DEATH METAL SCREAMO!!! It's not that I don't respect the fact people are able to and have the talent to make that kind of music it's just that I can't stand it..Mainly for the reason that I can't relate to it and it's too loud, blunt, scary, all over the place, and frankly it just doesn't sound good to my ears. As for bands that sound like that, well obviously I'm not gonna listen to any bands that sound like that if I don't like their music, but the one prime example that scares the crap out of me is Otep. When I was shown this band and their music it was the most repulsive thing I had ever heard. I have not heard all of their music so at the moment I am only assuming that they scream through all their songs. Basically the day I'm listening to Otep without holding my ears is the day I'm DEAD! Anyway..moving on, there isn't really any other genre of music that I absolutely hate, only songs by bands that I hate or dislike muchly. As such an example, I definitely don't hate all the music made by Lindsey Lohan, I mainly just hate her. Some of her music sounds pretty good. I would definitely listen to more of her music if I was not watching her sing or if I was completely oblivious to the fact that she was singing, it was her song or that she even existed. But I should probably stop picking on poor Lindsey and focus my attention towards other musical things that I hate. I'd rather not listen to pure techno music, it's not that I wouldn't listen to it, it's just that i'd rather not. To me It is WAY too repetitive. Now I'm not saying I hate repetitiveness, i'm just saying too much can be a bad thing(for me). And that goes for screamo music, It's not that I hate all screamo music, I don't mind a bit of screaming every once and a while, but like techno, too much can be a bad thing(for me). When it comes to country music, like the others, I don't absolutly hate it, it's just that most country music songs sound too much alike. When it comes to rap music, I only hate the message most rap songs present, which is stuff that I don't agree and can't relate with. To say that I don't use some of the music that I hate in my daily life would be a lie, because in some particular cases I do tend to use this music in diffrent ways. Take screamo, I use this music when i'm feeling angry to a point of almost releasing that anger physically. When It comes to listening to country, depending on the song, can be used in various ways. examples of this is I may listen to Brad Paisleys "Whiskey Lullaby" when i'm sad, or take Reba McEntires "I'm A Survivor" I may listen to that song if i'm feeling like I need an ego boost. I may also use techno when i'm feeling like I need to dance or use a bunch of energy. That is basically all I hate about music genres, bands, and how I use those hated things in my day.

My Favourite Music

If I were to pick a favourite genre of music I suppose I would have to pick Rock. Rock music can be used in almost any other genre of music, ex. Country rock, pop rock, jazz rock, etc. This kind of diversity gives me, not only my pure enjoyment of rock, but also the enjoyment and aspect of other genres. With this observation of other genres attached to rock, I become interested in that single genre and usually grow to enjoy it to just under the point of enjoyment of rock. When It comes to bands, I usually try to look past the bands image and only concentrate on the music made by the band. This way I'm able to give my own interpretation of the sound without being influenced in a diffrent way. I guess you could say that I like to live in my own little world where I can make the music to be what I want it to be. I listen to All That Remains, they like to say on stage that they smoke, drink and do pot. I, myself, am against those sorts of things and yet I still listen to their music. Why? because when I listen to and like their music I don't think about the band and all the things I hate about it. I think about all the things that I like about their music. If your wanting to know what bands I listen to hears a sample. 3OH!3, Bowling for Soup, All That Remains, All Thats Low, Brad Paisley, Thousand Foot Crutch, POD, Relient K, All American-Rejects, Incubus, Elton John, Blink 182, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Alien Ant Farm, Smashing Pumpkins, Modest Mouse, Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wolfmother, Queens of the Stoneage, Queen, Jimmy Eat World, Billy Talent, Cobra Starship, Fort Minor, Muse, MGMT, Metric, Rush, Nirvana, No Doubt, Dragonforce, etc. I could probably go on for a lot longer with bands whose music I like but I don't want to find out the word limit on this website, so... That , in an Ostrich egg, is my favourite music. I feel like I could probably put in more, but I suppose this will have to do for the time being.

What is Music?

In my opinion, Music is anything you want it to be. The only definition that I can create for Music is that Music is anything that sounds good to you. For example, say that I'm listening to a song by Sam Roberts and someone comes up and says that isn't music. The reason behind that is because they don't find Sam Roberts entertaining or enjoyable so they don't consider it music. On the other hand I enjoy Sam Roberts so I consider it to be music. To me, music is any kind of sound that I enjoy. My variety of music enjoyment can be anything from Sam Roberts to Elvis Presley, from Brad Paisley to All That Remains. I even enjoy the classics. The reason for liking most of these diffrent kinds of sounds is because I can relate to them. The other reason for liking these sounds is because they sound good. If I don't like the way something sounds then I don't consider it music. I usually consider it "garbage" which it might not be to someone else. When it comes down to music in my daily life..well..it is my daily life. I can't function without music. Music is my entire universe. Without music I find it very hard to concentrate on most things. I listen to music when I work, when I'm able to in school, when I drive and when I go to sleep. My music is there when I wake up, when I'm getting ready for work/school and it's always in my head constantly going and keeping me headed in the direction I want to go. Without music I couldn't function properly and probably go insane. Music is everywhere, you hear it in school, at home, at your local grocery store and even walking down the street. Although sometimes you may not hear it but to many other people it's there and it's bringing enjoyment to someone.