All of Me- John Legend

As ironic as this may be following the last blog, I really like the song "All of Me" by John Legend. My friend Paul Sommerdorf and I share this in common and we both liked the cover of the song by Lindsey Stirling and Legend himself. This is where the idea to do a violin-piano cover came from. I've found a pretty decent sounding cover although I'll stay on the lookout for a better one. He has yet to find a violin cover but if he does, we may be seen trying out for Trojan Live.

The Grammys

I think that the way that the Grammys are televised to the general public, they have become a joke at large. All one sees is the bands that one has heard all year, the bands that have been pushed by big record labels, the heavy concentration of pop music. I understand that it is difficult to evaluate all the artists in the world and choose the best out of this ridiculously large compilation. However, a little more appreciation should be shown for the music that isn't necessarily recorded professionally or at least in modern studios. Maybe I'm just venting on pop music. Maybe not even pop music itself as that often enough still sounds good but the fact that pop music is aggressively pushed onto the general population from the radio, commercials and even the restaurant that I worked at this summer. I want to be able to expand my musical "horizons" but I feel like these opportunities are suppressed by pop music. Needing something to take it out on, I think I pick the Grammys as the ringleader of the source of my discontent.

Changing to Happiness

This may be very random but here's a list of things that I've realized make me happy throughout high school.

1. Sleep- sleep fixes everything, better coordination in sports, higher concentration in the classroom, a more social attitude, etc.
2. Eliminating Procrastination- getting things done ahead of time frees up my schedule. This relieves stress and develops a buffer in case something extraordinary happens.
3. Self-Reward- if something was difficult and was overcome, I've begun rewarding myself for it, mostly by food.
4. Attitude- there are a lot of things that are out of my control but to worry about these things is demoralizing and useless. Working on the things that can be changed makes oneself feel accomplished and improves one's life.
5. Relationships- don't spend too much time around people that you don't like, it drags both you and them down. On the other hand, socialize with the people that you care about and don't try to find time for them, MAKE time for them.

-------feeling like a woman-------

Music Appreciation

We started talking about the under appreciation of Austin musicians in class. I started thinking about it and I think I have a decent theory on why it is that they don't receive as much attention as other artists. More popular artists get more publicity and therefore more people know their songs, identify the songs, the artist and therefore want to go see there shows. Now Austin has three large music festivals that I can think of: SXSW, ACL and Fun Fun Fun Fest. A grand portion of the audience at these festivals attends to see the headliners. This year headliners among ACL were Passion Pit, Walk the Moon, Phoenix, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Muse, et cetera. The issue is that all of these bands are out of town so all of the publicity at ACL is directed to external music (music not originating in Austin). In one sense this is good because it should diversify the music people in Austin listen to except they have a tendency to rely on this exo-music. It's shopping big-business vs. local, pop vs. rock. The issue is that big businesses make more money and in this sense, all the festivals want to make more money as well. The festivals rely on the musicians they know are going to make them money, the pop artists. This is good business and it is hard to criticize the event organizers for wanting to maintain financial stability. However, these festivals are often sold as being part of what makes Austin the "Live Music Capitol".

Austin has music year round heavily relying on local artists but I think it is too disorganized. So many
people attend ACL because it's time, and cost, efficient. It's a buffet of all you can eat music with a whole lot of healthy vegetables (small bands) in which you have no interest and tantalizing deserts (pop). You can consume the entire meal in a matter of up to three days and then you're done. In this seemingly long amount of time, one has consumed so much music though, that it's extremely efficient. This is the challenge Austin artists face in my eyes, time efficiency.

For the average individual, dedicating a night to one band may seem like a questionable commitment but if it were for multiple deals, if it were a PACKAGE, like ACL, people might become more interested. Also, a radio station playing the "sounds of Austin" wouldn't be a bad idea either, although this might not be monetarily sustainable or already exists. Considering Austin's "Live Music Capitol" claim, maybe the station could be subsidized and sponsored. Just some food for thought.

Simon and Garfunkel

Piggybacking on the last post about songwriting, my god they produce eloquent dreams of songs. The combination of guitar and SMOOTH singing lulls me into the most relaxed state of being. This music is yoga to my ears. Pleasantly tranquilizing. For some reason it reminded me of Colbie Caillat. I can't listen to her music around sunset because I'm so calm driving that I start drowsing off and can't pay attention to the road. I guess I could classify her as a Siren? Either way, the above mentioned artists are spectacular both vocally and instrumentally although I think Colbie Caillat is a little more on the happy/cliché side.

Songwriting

Songwriting seems so easy when you just listen to someone else's lyrics. As a child there seemed nothing to it except in many cases having to find words that rhyme (oh no...). That same deluded place of knowing-it-all as a child is where I begun when I started trying to write songs. You write a couple of lines, they rhyme and whoop-di-doo you have a song. However, when I read over the lyrics I realized that something seemed off. That's when I started looking up basics of songwriting and I found myself embarrassed, realizing that I knew very, very little about songwriting. I was like a house cat that thought he'd discovered all of his environment until he escapes outdoors one day and finds himself surrounded by a complex diversity that blows his mind... and often enough, he, the house cat is so shocked by the vast expanse of unknown that he tucks his tail in and immediately returns to the shelter of what he knows, the house. After, looking up the basics of songwriting, I crawled back into my previously imagined "mansion of intelligence" and recognized it for the shack that it was. I didn't know squat about songwriting. The blow struck deep...

But I've never been the kind to give up on things that interest me so I kept writing. The lyrics were and often are still crap but I've learned about writing with a melody in mind (at least sometimes). I've learned that metaphorical language doesn't automatically mean quality. I'm improving though and that's what counts. My greatest issue right now is trying to be so complex that my wide web of creativity is impossible to fit into one song. But... I have to start somewhere!

Iscariot- Walk The Moon

The video for me playing this unfortunately won't show but this Iscariot is the first song that I've "learned" simply looking at the lyrics and then figuring out the upper half by myself! I could tell that I'm still in the process of memorizing the song and it's interesting relying on myself to stylistically match (or actively not match) the way the song was recorded. Either way, I apologize for the video not uploading and I'm working on fixing it!

Recording a Record

I'm one of those kids who actually finds How Stuff Works very interesting. While others may regard it as geeky, the fact is that the show highlights how most of the things that we're interested in buying as consumers are made. At the same time, looking at how things are made can help me think about how to make my own things, a skill that has been used many-a-time at my house and will be key to biomedical engineering. The whole assembly line ideology always interested my brother and me and even as small children we would specialize our jobs when washing and putting up dishes to conserve time. We were meticulous in building and managed to erect a 2x1 meter house made of clay in our backyard. When we moved to the U.S., our backyard's mud wasn't up to our standards so we instead constructed a lego city with each individual having a certain income and corresponding "quality of living". The lego city even had weather. Lightning was the flickering of the light in the room and rain was simulated by utilizing a sprayer. While that part may have been idiotic, I believe it was still time better spent than playing video games or watching TV. I think there's an extreme importance in how things are assembled and at least for me personally, it has, is and will play a vital function in my life!