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.