A Garageband Tutorial

As a final project, I have created a tutorial video for the program Garageband for Mac.  The tutorial is fairly extensive in length and lasts around 35 minutes, but will give you an in depth and easy-to-follow monitor view on how to start creating music with Garageband.  Parts 1 through 5 are posted below:

Please be patient if the quality of these videos are not at their peak.  They were uploaded to YouTube at 11:15 tonight and still might need some processing before getting to their full video quality.

ENJOY!

Mastercard Commercial

Soooo here is the Mastercard commercial I created that probably should have been done months ago.  But it’s done now.  I used iMovie to create it.

Musical Theatre Part 2

Perhaps it was how it should have been, my late arrival for a behind-the-scenes look at a high school musical.  I was not that late mind you, but because of my timing, the first thing I was to experience upon walking down the music hallway to the backstage area was a student approaching Sophie Yannitsos, the director and a former prof of mine, to inquire about the “burn victim.”  A Campbell Collegiate musical going full force with burn victims, sprained ankles and illness.  Apparently, a student who was involved in the production was making cookies and had an accident.  Another student slipped on the pavement outside the school while on her way inside.  One more student nearly fainted before heading on stage due to a high fever.  All of this, and the show goes on as planned.

I was asked to observe the inner workings of the Campbell Collegiate musical Guys and Dolls from backstage, after being an audience member the night before.  I can say right now I was not sure what to expect, and although I was put to “work,” the team behind this production did not by any means need me there.  I was basically getting a feel for some of the responsibilities the students and teachers had.

Sophia introduced me to two students moments after I arrived, John and Sarah.  Both of them were backstage crew, John being one of the aids in changing sets and props, while Sarah was in charge of communicating with the crew in charge of lighting, and making sure the curtains opened and closed at the proper points on stage left.  I am sure the two students were in charge of much more, but that is not what this reflection is about.

As I mentioned before, although I was observing, I was also helping out wherever needed backstage.  After a brief opening speech to the cast & crew members from Deidre Baird, who is my prof and a teacher in the musical theatre class at Campbell, the students were off to begin the performance.  One students rushed past me in a panic saying to herself: “I should have used hairspray!”  I chuckled silently to myself.  I found John and Sarah and began my crash course on stage management.  Open and closing curtains and moving set props were my sole duties aside from the real duty my prof had given me.  John led me through the different set names: Broadway, Off Broadway, interior mission, hot box, Havana.  Crew members would tell everyone which scene was up next and we would be off to set it up.  In between set changes I would be talking with Sophia and watching the students do their parts on the stage for a Friday night audience.  In my experience I was also able to meet some of the actors from Thursday night’s show, who were now helping out backstage as well.  The performance had been set up so different lead parts were played by alternating actors on a nightly basis.  A very good way to get everyone involved equally.

The show went on without any major incident, aside from an actor being MIA before his scene was about to begin.  He was found and that was that.  During my time spent with Sophia backstage, we got to talking about some of the student/actors.  I found out that some of them had previous theatre experience, including works at The Globe Theatre.  Sophie let me know that the majority of them were quite humble with their experiences.  It seemed as though this student body was in this performance for each other, together, which was very inspiring to see.

After seeing the performance as an audience member the night before, I was aware that this production probably took a lot of work.  Getting backstage was able to shed some light on that.  Sophie explained to me that much of the set, costumes and props were either donated or borrowed from families or other schools, or purchased by the school.  It was rather baffling to me as to how many costumes were being used in this production, and for a while, I took time to think of just how much organization and resourcefulness was needed on the part of the teachers leading these students.  It might have been the students claiming responsibility for much of the production, but there were teachers still helping out with every aspect of the performance.  A teacher in the box behind the audience, a teacher backstage, a teacher conducting the live music to accompany the show.  This was a collaborative effort among many people, students and teachers alike, and it had been going on since the beginning of the school year in September.  It was in this realization that I became momentarily overwhelmed.  Where does someone even begin to get something like this moving?

Someone once had told me that the better you are at being a teacher, the less work you will have to do.  I think this person meant to say it would feel much less like work and much more like something else, if you were good at it.  It is being witness to experiences like these that make me so passionate and anxious to find my niche as an educator so this can be possible for me.  With that, I do not think a teacher should think that the weight is all on him/her.  Students will be taking on that weight themselves more and more as you progress and gain strength as a teacher in your endeavors.  Given that all the teachers working backstage at Guys and Dolls have had years and years of experience as teachers, I think this might have been the case, which offered great possibilities for success on the part of everybody involved.

At the end of the performance, the students gathered backstage for their summarizing speech from Deidre.  She spoke to the students about the next night’s performance and how it would be their last, saying: “After tomorrow night, you will never do this again.”  I am sure in reading that, it sounds cryptic.  Allow me to add some depth to the statement.  These students collectively gathered for almost an entire semester to put together a musical that would be performed for four of those days.  When it is over, the experience of everyone involved will be left to memory.  Deidre was trying to let the students know that even though they might work on future musicals, each experience will be one of a kind, and it is important to realize the significance of that while it is happening and not necessarily after everything’s done and over with.

How the students’ situations relate so much to that of the teachers’.

Two in One

As a part of my EMUS 300 class, I was given the chance to go see Campbell’s production of the musical Guys and Dolls on Thursday night.  I was not too sure what to expect, given that I cannot remember the last time I had seen a high school production of a play or musical.  Campbell Collegiate, however, would be the place to put one on if one had the chance.  Campbell is one of the largest if not one of the largest schools in Regina, housing some 1800 students from grades 8-12 in a bilingual setting.  WOW!! some of you might be saying, if you happened to attend a rural school outside Regina, or maybe a smaller school inside city limits.  Furthermore, to accommodate the vast amount of activities going on in this school, not to mention their enormous music & choir program, they have a fully functional auditorium.  When I say fully functional, I mean curtains, stage lights, house lights, sound system, audience seating, stage (obviously) and a lot of floor space and backstage space.  Literally, a place that a small touring band could put on a show in, and still have trouble filling .

Back to the point though, the school’s production of Guys and Dolls was put on in the auditorium, and it was actually put on by a class in particular.  That class was Musical Theatre.  How awesome is that?  A musical theatre class.  Where arts funding might be being cut left, right and center in some areas, this school has actually combined two art elements and created a class for it.  Campbell does have music courses and Campbell has drama courses, but they ALSO have a musical theatre course.  How amazing is this?  I’m not even a big fan of musicals in general but I think this is simply fantastic.

Campbell’s Guys and Dolls is playing for one more night, tonight, at 7:30pm if you have nothing to do this Saturday night.  $10 to get in, and on top of seeing a stellar performance which I was quite awed by, you will also sit in a grand school auditorium.  That’s almost as fantastic as having two classes in one.

A Flash of Genius

I can remember the first time I heard Girl Talk.  I was in the back of my brother’s friend’s car, with my brother Matt, and his friend Max early in the year.  We had been cruising around Saskatoon for an evening over a holiday of sorts that escapes me at the moment, and decided to take a little break from driving.  Max pulled out his iPod that had been attached to his car stereo and had decided to change the music for the 13th time in our 30 minute drive, and switched it to some beat-blasted hip-hop.  At first I was not thrilled.  I was not thrilled because hip-hop, rap, and R&B are not typical genres that I find myself listening to.  I am more of a punk, screamo, hardcore, indie, type guy.  But after listening to a few seconds of this hip-hop song that Max was playing, it changed.  It changed in a sense that this was no longer the same song.  It came full picture as many songs mashed together to create a new one.  Some songs I recognized, others I didn’t but I was not concerned with that because in all honesty the music was unbelievably catchy.  Max had made me a believer in hip-hop… at least, aspects of it.

For those who are unaware, Girl Talk is a mash-up artist, some might say.  He samples music from hundreds of different songs from classic rock to gangsta rap and edits them, mixing them all together to form a whole once again.  In his songs, he can use as many as 25+ different tracks to make a new one.  It requires an extraordinary degree of technique and knowledge (and in my opinion, brilliance) to be able to figure out what songs and what samples will fit with what, and then be able to mix them all together.

Not to mention the fact that it just straight up takes guts.  What Girl Talk, or Gregg Gillis is doing is illegal.  At any given point, he could be fined millions for the songs he’s used in his music without permission or consent from the owner.  For more information on this subject, there is a documentary which surrounds Girl Talk and the current copyright controversy at www.opensourcecinema.org

The documentary featured is entitled RIP: A Remix Manifesto

Gregg Gillis’ situation reminds me of a movie I saw recently entitled A Flash of Genius.  This movie is based on the true story of Robert Kearns, the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper and fought in court for years defending the basic idea that he had taken everyday engineering parts and put them together to create something new.  That “something new” was a windshield wiper that works in intervals, as opposed to always being just “on”.  The motor company Ford would end up stealing Kearns’ invention and market it as their own, which would eventually spawn the court case.  Ford claimed that Kearns had not created anything new.  He had just used parts that are widely available and put them together in a different manner.  Kearns defended himself in court to explain that just because the parts he used were not new doesn’t mean that what he made with them was not also new.  He related his case to something as simple as forming words.  Although no letter in the english language is new, the letters are being rearranged all the time to form NEW words with NEW uses and meanings.

This is, in a nutshell, what Greg Gillis’ issue is as well, except he’s dealing with music as opposed to engineering parts.  The music Gregg is using as well is unfortunately in the hands of some of the biggest corporate media giants in the world.  So, Gillis’ and Kearns’ problems differ in ways.

However, Gillis’ is being very creative in how he gets his music to the public.  In letting the public download his newest album absolutely FREE from his myspace page, he is not actually making a profit from his creations.  Furthermore, he has set up his myspace page so that, if you feel inclined, you can DONATE money to Gillis.  $10 will get you a hard copy of the album.  Essentially, you’re not paying for the album or the music.  You’re simply donating to Greg Gillis for his efforts and he is giving you a hard copy of his album for your generosity.  Or, as I said before, you can download it for free.  Literally.

I tried both.  Got the digital download for free, and also got the hard copy in the mail after donating $10.

Given that Greg Gillis is, whether you’d like to admit or not, an artist, he would fit the perfect profile for a case to study in a music classroom.  Especially in dealing with cultural elements.  His music is under fire, but why, exactly?  Is there just purpose for Gillis to pay millions of dollars to companies that “own” the music he’s using just so he can create his own?  A main point in RIP: A Remix Manifesto is that culture always builds on the past.  People are inspired by something they have seen, heard, read, experienced and from that inspiration comes a new art work.  This is the way it has been for hundreds if not thousands of years.  That is why some people say nothing is really NEW anymore, things are just being recycled or reused to form “seemingly” new things.  The real argument is: is it new or not?  When you take Robert Kearns case, what he created was indeed new, and he eventually proved that point in court.

When you listen to Girl Talk, you will realize that he is using no more than mere seconds of song clips to fill his own, and by no means would someone download his music to claim that they own a song that had been used in Girl Talk’s song.  So why is it such a big issue?  Is it because of laws that are in place that are out-dated in our day and age?  Is it pure greed on the part of corporate America?  It feels as though Western culture has this tremendous fear of change which could either cost us the progression of art, or the progression of media business.

Which have we survived without longer?  Creations or corporations?

Higher than normal rates of stress

It has occurred to me that we are in our final full week of school for the semester.  Final projects are approaching their due dates, mid terms have been written.  Stress is high.  The student body is running on caffeine.  Did you see the line-up at Tim Ho’s today?  I have found myself attempting to work (at my job) less in order to get everything I need done… to no avail.  I am still working the same amount.  So, I then attempted to get homework done during the most peculiar times, such as on a Friday night or early Sunday morning… to no avail, because apparently, my Macbook has decided now would be a perfect time for itself to experience a “higher than normal rate of failure” within its graphics processor, because it just so happened to be one of the Macbooks shipped out during the time of this “packaging defect”.  For those of you who are not computer savvy, my display/monitor no longer works.  This is the problem.

A week and a half before school is done and I am without a laptop.  I feel considerably more stupid than usual for assuming my computer would never break down because it is a Mac.  I feel like a teenager with an invincibility complex.  I am above death!  I am 17! Yet another lesson the Faculty of Education has taught us.  Be flexible.

I’m using the computers at school now against my own will, trying to deal with Windows, and with any luck I will have my Macbook back by Wednesday afternoon.  I am well aware there are worse things in life, but it is the irony of it all that really gets me.

It has also occurred to me that nobody will be reading this because everybody is just as busy as I am doing their own thing.

Ugh.