Weekly Blog 10 - Learning to play an instrument

It's been 9 years as of my birthday this past Friday, that I received my first guitar. At this point in my life, I couldn't imagine not playing guitar. It isn't just the action of playing guitar anymore, it's become a part of me that I appreciate more and more with every passing year. So I'm writing about this for two reasons: 1 - To encourage anybody to take up learning an instrument, and 2 - I've been thinking of doing this as well.

Since I started learning about music theory, I always thought; how can I apply this to the guitar? It was this desire to further my understanding of my instrument that helped me get to where I am today. I think that anybody who is seriously considering taking up an instrument should have a somewhat similar mindset to this, because you can't skip right to writing masterpieces and playing live shows without any hard work. Not only will it make you appreciate the skill you obtain as you develop it, but in the end your music will benefit greatly from it, and you will be able to produce much more amazing works.

Now how does this all relate to me, since I already know how to play the guitar? Well that's because I want to learn how to play the piano. Whenever I used to learn about music theory, I wouldn't be able to relate it to guitar all that easily because I didn't read sheet music for guitar. My first experience with that was in grade 6, when I started playing the trumpet for my music class. I loved it so much, it was a completely new experience that I was good at! But with time the theory got harder, and eventually I started to resent it. By grade 11 I would try so hard to understand key signatures but I just couldn't wrap my head around everything. Then finally, in my last year of high school, I got it. I learned to use a reference to help myself understand it, that reference being a picture of a keyboard.

The more and more I understood all of this, the more and more I felt like the piano sounded like an awesome instrument. Today, I haven't had the opportunity to buy a piano or a keyboard, but I see myself looking into it strongly in the future. To me, this is a rewarding endeavour, and I believe that anyone who is willing to do the same will be just as happy with the end result.

Weekly Blog 9 - Future Jobs

This week I applied for a job in the music and arts industry for the first time.

Earlier on this week I heard of an internship opportunity through a link on Facebook, and right away I knew that this was a good opportunity for me. The internship was for a Project Manager position at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans. It runs from August to December 2015. Conveniently for me, I live within walking distance from the Shenkman Centre, so this became all the more appealing to me.

I've been to the Shenkman Centre many times throughout my life, sometimes performing with my guitar teacher, and sometimes to see other people or bands perform. I really like this venue as it's a new building, and the theatres are nice as well.

I worked on my resume and cover letter throughout the week, editing them meticulously to cover all of the job requirements noted on the position ad. After making them exclusively specific to this job, I finally emailed in my application yesterday. As of now I'm hoping for the best, and if all goes well and I have a little bit of luck, I might just get my first job interview in this industry.

Weekly Blog 8 - Sound Effects

This week in our audio for video class, we started talking about sound effect design. This portion of film audio can go highly unnoticed by viewers, not because it isn't important, but because it's not meant to be focused on (in general). 

Sound effects in films are meant to enhance the experience that it gives the viewer, and in the most believable way possible. The process of making sound effects is tedious and difficult, so it takes a lot of practice to make a realistic sound effect in a short amount of time. I think that this whole idea of creating sound effects is really interesting, and I'm looking forward to making my own sound effects library for our upcoming assignment.

We watched a few videos on sound effect production for different movies, and some in video games. These industries are very dependant on sound effects, and it isn't the first time that I've seen a video on sound effect design. I would definitely like to give this a shot and see how I like it, and depending on whether I'm good enough at it, maybe even pursue it further if the chance appears.

Weekly Blog 7 - Ottawa Jazzfest

This week marks the end of the Ottawa Jazzfest. It has been on since June 18th and is wrapping up this Canada day, July 1st. There were many impressive acts such as Huey Lewis and the News, Tower of Power, and Steve Miller Band.

I had the privilege of going to see the Steve Miller Band play on June 25th, and it was quite an impressive show. After two and a half semesters in the MIA program, the experience is a lot different now that I understand a lot of how these shows are put together. I watched how lots of the stagehands worked in behind the band making sure that everything went smoothly, and it was interesting to see this in action as opposed to just learning about it.

The show itself was great, the music was just the right volume, and the band was in the groove. Steve Miller had lots of long solos, and so did his keyboardist. The show went on for about 2 hours, and by the end they had played most of their hit songs. All in all the whole experience was great and I would definitely consider going to Jazzfest in the upcoming years.

Weekly Blog 6 - Interview

I recently watched an interview of famous singer Ozzy Osbourne talking about his career and his book "I Am Ozzy." It was an interesting interview, and having read the book, it was also a cool chance to hear Ozzy talk about it first hand.

Ozzy Osbourne is a musician who sang for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath beginning in the early 70s. He later went on to have a successful solo career, and he even had his own reality TV show. He began in the music industry when he was just a young man. He was fortunate enough that his father bought him a PA system, especially because he came from a poor family. This PA system made Ozzy one of the few people in his town who actually had one, and one day his future band mates from Black Sabbath saw an ad he put up in a music store, which would eventually lead to the band meeting and forming the iconic metal band we all know today.

The interview and the book taught me that no matter how bleak things may look for you, you should never give up on your dreams because for all you know your luck may take a turn for the better. One more thing that I drew from this interview that may seem kind of like a no brainer, is to stay away from the allure that drugs have in the rock star lifestyle. Ozzy Osbourne is lucky to be alive today, and listening to him speak is evidence enough of the harm that drugs do to your body. He was an excellent musician, but I'm sure even the Prince Of Darkness has many regrets with some of his life choices.

As for following a similar career path as Ozzy Osbourne, if it were a realistic goal, I would definitely follow it. Unfortunately though, rock music is nowhere near as popular as pop music today, and competition is more fierce than ever. That's not to say that I wouldn't pursue this career if I was given the opportunity, but until that happens, I can only dream of being a rock star.

Weekly Blog 5 - Music in Video Games

This week is an exciting one for video game enthusiasts, as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), is taking place in Los Angeles. The game industry is one of the fastest growing industries today, and with the ever increasing grandiose of some of the games produced today, music is becoming more and more important.

10 Years ago the game industry was nothing like it is today. Games were about to accommodate the high definition technology that was becoming available to consumers, and they were also evolving into something more innovative than the industry had ever seen. Games were starting to turn into narratives, and the stories of these games more captivating than ever. Today, we can see the result of this in some games, as they have become almost like movies. And of course like movies, these games need suitable arrangements to bring the stories to life.

Music in games has grown so much that today it is acknowledged and awarded for the best arrangements. With E3, we're seeing the next lineup of games coming out later this year and in 2016. These games will inevitably have great soundtracks, and will only push the music in this industry to new levels and raise the standards for future productions.

Weekly Blog 4 - Music on YouTube

Last month, YouTube celebrated it's 10th year of business, and it is getting more and more business every day. With over a billion users, it is arguably one of the most popular, if not the number one most used website in the world. It has evolved in such a way that it's content reflects exactly what the viewers want, and this includes music.

Throughout it's history, YouTube has brought up many concerns within the domain of copyrighted material, and as the innovative company that it is, came up with content ID as their solution. The content ID system uses a database of copyrighted material to compare each and every new video as it is uploaded in order to determine if it is original or not. As a copyright holder, you are given multiple options on how to handle your material if somebody uses it without your permission. You can remove it from the video, choose to monetize it by running ads on the video, or you can do nothing and monitor the view statistics until you choose to take action.

These options aren't the ideal solution as they can't stop people from using the copyrighted material in the first place, and it has been known to make false claims for some content, but in this digital age this solution is pretty good. As long as you follow the rules that are set by copyright and use content accordingly, you will most likely not be affected negatively by content ID. The important thing to draw from this is that until a new system is created to enforce copyright, this is the best solution there is.