Living the LOCAL Language. EZINE SPRING 2022
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Table of Contents Meet the Editors
Keep Austin Music Weird
Top Local Music Stores in Austin
6-7
8-11 6-7 Patel Amit
12-13 Amit Patel
The Toughest Industry 14-17 Jack Davidson Anatomy of a Guitar 4 | Living the Local Language
18-19 Jack Davidson
You Eat What You Kill
Digital Records
New Growth
Austin’s Great Music Venues Movin and Groovin
ASF Alex
20-23 Lucy Murphy 24-25 Lucy Murhpy 26-29 Tavi Tragus
30-31 Tavi Tragus 32-35 Alex Neff 36-37 Alex Neff Living the Local Language | 5
MEET THE EDITORS.
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Jack Davidson Hi, my name is Jack Davidson. In my free time, I play electric guitar. I also like experimenting with computers and electronics and am mainly interested in the field of computer science for my career. After I graduate from LASA I would like to continue pursuing my career in software engineering and keep up my hobby of playing the guitar. I love biking, kayaking, and playing with my dogs. I also like listening to grunge and heavy metal.
Amit Patel Hi, my name is Amit Patel. In my free time, I enjoy golf, playing video games, and classical guitar. I also have a passion for doing my homework, and I want to be an engineer when I graduate from LASA. I speak several languages, and hope that they will contribute to my future career.
Tavi Tragus Hi, my name is Tavi Tragus. I was born in Kansas City. I like solving Rubik’s cubes and playing viola in my free time. I like playing viola because it is very relaxing. Playing an instrument like the viola also trains your hand-eye coordination and perseverance. I also enjoy climbing at the Austin Bouldering Project. I like climbing because it is a fun physical activity that trains your mind and your body. My favorite subject is math because I like solving challenging problems with my friends.
Lucy Murphy Hi, my name is Lucy Murphy. I was born in Austin, Texas. In my free time, I like to draw and play guitar because they are great ways to creatively express myself. I am also on the LASA Swim Team. I love to swim because of the competition and physical activity. After I graduate I want to become a lawyer or pursue a different career. My music type mainly consists of indie, rock, and hip-hop.
Alex Neff Hi, my name is Alex Neff. I was born in Greenville, North Carolina. In my free time, I play soccer, and video games. I have enjoyed playing soccer for almost all of my lifetime and I can play a vast array of positions, usually goalie or striker. I also love kayaking on the Colorado River on sunny weekend days. When I graduate from LASA I plan to become a pilot, and my favorite genre of music is rap. Living the Local Language | 7
Austin Music KeepING Education
UNIQUE
How the music education scene in Austin is unlike any other place By Amit Patel
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Picture of Armstrong Community Music School. Photo Courtesy of Armstrong Community Music School
M
usic is a language every human on Earth can understand. It is used around the world to convey a large array of emotions. Being able to play music, and share your experiences through a form of art everyone can appreciate is the greatest gift of all. This is why teaching people to play music is important. Austin, Texas, is the Live Music Capital of the world, making music one of the most important aspects of the city. Many people in Austin love to share their love for music by teaching Austinites how to play their respective instruments. Austin music schools use unique techniques to ensure they are providing the highest quality of education in the music scene. Catherine Davis is the music director at Capital Music Center, as well as a musician herself. She has been playing music in Austin since she was 20-years-old, and now creates her own music. She says that what makes Capital Music Center unique is combining the world of technology with music, while also offering group lessons.
“One of the biggest things we specialize in is incorporating technology within the education portion of learning, so we stress using a more modern approach to learning,” Davis said. “[We teach] piano and theory concepts that aren’t normally taught the way they’ve been taught for hundreds of years, and we also provide a group lesson format, which is different than most studios.” Davis elaborates by explaining how they incorporate the use of MIDI files into their teaching. MIDI files have existed for a long time, but have recently risen in usage, especially for music education purposes. “The main technology that we use is the use of MIDI files and IDBI, and it’s a type of song file that you can use and manipulate,” Davis said. “[It’s] a file [that allows you] to practice exactly how you want. It has files, written, and tracks, and you can slow down the tempo and
Picture of Capital Music Center. Photo Courtesy of Capital Music Center
speed it up without degrading any of the quality. You can [also] isolate tracks, so if you want to hear just the right hand or just the left hand, or you want to hear just the drums, you can single out those tracks. The other thing is, if you wanted to see the music broken out, a MIDI file allows you to see the score while it’s playing,” Davis said. “It’s just that we take advantage of using them within our company and provide that service to students to enhance their experience.” Capital Music Center offers group lessons, which makes the company unique. Davis states that teaching students in a group is more natural for the students because that is how they are taught everywhere else. “Students learn almost everything in life in groups; orchestra, math, science, English literature, you name it. It’s a very normal way of learning things. Most teachers have only been able to afford and only have the space for one piano in their home. Therefore, it makes playing the piano in groups challenging because without the technology of digital instruments, the space for a 600-pound acoustic piano is hard to Living the Local Language | 9
come by, and the amount of money that pianos would cost would be just too costly. Nowadays, with digital technology, you can have a wonderful instrument in a digital piano that takes up less space and is less costly. Then you can also use headphones and things like that if you needed to, but you can [also] provide ensemble opportunities,“ Davis said. Davis explained how the employees at Capital Music are unique and adaptable, which allows them to forge a long-lasting relationship with a student that benefits both the teacher and student mutually. “[We value] really good people skills and relating to people, especially as a teacher, making sure that they can relate to their students because it is a mentor-mentee relationship that lasts a very long time,” Davis said. “[We also value] organization because it is incredibly important to not let things fall through the cracks when you have so many students. [It is also important to be] willing to try new things, especially when it comes to technology. Sometimes teachers get stuck in what they know, and not all students learn exactly the same, they might have different interests. So you have to push yourself to learn about these different things to help keep students engaged and be open to trying new things.” Davis said. “Most kids or students [that take lessons at Capital Music] start lessons at between six and eight years old and then are in lessons until they’re in high school or graduate. We see those people once a week for 10 to 12 years, and that’s a very rare relationship that you have with not very many people in your life.” 10 | Living the Local Language
Zach Krahe is a guitar teacher at Armstrong Community Music School. Zach has been teaching music ever since he was 18 years old and plays in an instrumental progressive rock band called ZaKrahe. He says that what makes Armstrong Community Music School unique is how passionate the employees are about their work.
Photo of ZaKrahe playing live. Photo Courtesy of facebook.com
Photo of Terra, by Zach Krahe Photo Courtesy of Zach Krahe
Photo of MNML, by Zach Krahe Photo Courtesy of Zach Krahe
different places. When I first got hired at Armstrong, they told me that there’s this running joke with the school that ‘you don’t find
Armstrong, Armstrong finds you’. That’s kind of what my experience was. If you found it by accident, “Armstrong is really a one-of-a-kind then in a good way, you get sucked place. I’ve taught at a few different in. It’s a loving community and places and I’ve taught privately, but everyone’s really passionate about I’ve never found a community of the community aspect and about people who I know care to the level education,” Krahe said. that they do,” Krahe said. “They do a very good job of finding the Krahe also mentions that being very right people to teach. Everyone that open to all forms of music helps I’ve met working there is super him teach his students, which he passionate about what they do and feels proud of. genuinely cares. That’s something that can’t be said about a lot of “I do take pride in being open-
minded when it comes to a lot of things, but in a more musical lens, I tend to listen to at least a little bit of everything,” Krahe said. “I always joke that I’m not a huge country music fan, but even then, I love some country songs too. So I think that that’s something that I do take pride in,” Krahe said.
are very encouraging and love the music, and they come out and are a part of it as an audience. [I enjoy that] they come out and support us,” Krahe said.
Krahe talks about how his family has been very supportive of his career in music. This helps him stay passionate about his career and focus on providing the highest quality of education to his students.
Oz Hofstatter is the founder and owner of Austin Guitar House. He has been in the business of manufacturing and selling guitars for most of his life. Hofstatter said that Austin Guitar House is a very unique store that caters to a specific group of musicians, which is exactly what he envisioned for his store.
“My brother is a music therapist, and so he performs live music as well,” Krahe said. “I play with him all the time, so I get to share that with him. Both of my parents
“As a customer, I was missing [out] in Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World, a store that was specialized in small builders, luthiers, and high-end boutique
gear, so that’s why I opened Austin Guitar House. Austin has very good stores, but no one was doing that niche,” Hofstatter said. “It’s a cozy place, the customer will feel like being in [their] living room, carrying gear that few stores in the country have. We bring unique gear to our clientele,” Hofstatter said. Attending music schools in Austin is a very unique and effective way of learning to play music. Many schools in Austin are passionate about the work that they do and enjoy forging long-lasting relationships with their students. With the help of music schools and the teachers that work there, music is being taught and spread all over Austin.
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Local Music
Stores In
Austin By Amit Patel
Austin Guitar House Austin Guitar House has a large selection of high end guitars and guitar accesories. To make up for the lack of diversity in product, Austing Guitar House has great professionals in the store to make sure you make the right decision when buying from them.
USTIN
GUITAR HOUSE
Capital Music Center capital music center
Capital Music Center has a small selection of piano music and pianos. To make up for their lack in selection, they offer both piano and drums lessons, creating relationships with their students, using some of the best teaching techniques in Austin.
South Austin Music South Austin Music provides a huge selection of guitars, music, and more. South Austin Music also provides instrument repairs and music instruction. All of the employees are experienced, as they have both musical and retail experience.
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Austin is the Live Music Caiptal of the world. In a city full of music, there are many places to buy both instruments and music. Selection is an important measure for a store, because more selection ensures that you will be able to buy what you need. Customer Service is also important because it makes the store more lively and easier to navigate.
Bill Welker, founder and owner of South Austin Music. He started the store in 1986, with a passion for sharing his love of guitars.
Selection
Photo Courtesy of Austin Buisness Journal
Oz Hoffstater, founder and owner of Austin Guitar House. He moved here from Brazil, and loved play soccer, until he moved to Austin where he fell in love with music. Photo Courtesy of enFocus Magazine
Catherine Davis, director of music educatoin at Capital City Music. Catherine Davis has been composing and playing music over the past ten years. Photo Courtesy of Facebook
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The Toughest Industry How to Make it in Today’s Music Game BY JACK DAVIDSON
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t’s your first time performing for an audience, you step on to the stage—you get a little jolt of adrenaline as you see the audience. You’ve practiced for months and have organized your band together to get this gig. You smile at your bassist and start the first song of your set. Breaking into a local music scene can be hard for a young group of musicians just starting out. The way music is listened to, discovered, and talked about has changed significantly over the last two decades and the musical competition, high cost of living, and limited venues contribute to the difficulty of becoming a musician in Austin. Jesse Ebaugh, frontman of Austin country band The Tender Things, has spent decades in various musical climates throughout the South. Ebaugh grew his bluegrass roots living in Northern Kentucky. Ebaugh then played upright bass in The Heartless Bastards until he started his own band, The Tender Things. Ebaugh was introduced to playing music at a young age, taking piano lessons starting at age 11. 14 | Living the Local Language
Ebaugh would practice every day when he got home from school. When Ebaugh was 13-years-old, as soon as he came home from seeing the movie Stand By Me, he learned the bassline from the theme of the movie. “And then probably less than a year later, I had my first band with some friends from school,” Ebaugh said. Ebaugh then moved to Northern Kentucky where he learned the secrets of bluegrass. “I then moved to Kentucky and there were bluegrass people playing all around,” Ebaugh said. “And so I thought, well, I’ll get an upright bass and I can go and play this music, because it’s such a vital folk form that was happening all around.” As Ebaugh got situated in Northern Kentucky, he found lessons from other bass players that lived in the area. “I got some good technique under my belt, and got a nice Original Illustration by Jack Davidson
instrument,” Ebaugh said. “That gave me a lot of power as a bass player to be able to be versatile and I’ve actually gotten a lot of work being able to play the upright bass.” Ebaugh was then invited by a friend, Erika Wennerstrom, to Austin in 2008 to record demo recordings for an album. “She went on to have a band that got pretty successful, but she left that group of musicians when she moved to Austin because it seemed like an exciting place to be,” Ebaugh said. Wennerstrom came back to Austin to record another Album with studio musicians and asked Ebaugh if he could play for her. Ebaugh wanted to get out of Cincinnati and start fresh in a new city. “I left Cincinnati and came here and played in that touring band, and then ended up recording in that band for 10 or 11 years,” Ebaugh said. Ebaugh had started to get settled into the Austin music scene. “When I arrived in 2008, it was just a tumult of activity,” Ebaugh said. “I do feel like it’s cooling off a little bit. The stakes are higher now than they were when I moved here. And certainly, before I moved here.” Torrence Thomas and his Brother Thurman Thomas started R&B trio THEBROSFRESH in Louisiana in 2019. Thomas has been playing music for over 15 years and has learned through years of performing in cities throughout the South. Thomas started out by playing in “Small daiquiri shops, cigar bars, little places in little strip malls and things like that. And then from there, you know, you kind of graduate to doing small venues in town, you know, real legit actual venues,” Thomas said.
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Once THEBROSFRESH had amassed a following, the trio started to explore performing in Austin. “When we got to Austin, it took us probably almost about 10 months to a year till we got our first gig here. It was hard, because you don’t really know anybody. It’s like being the new kid in school. So you’ve gotta figure out, you know, who are the other players here? What are the venues? Who are the people in contact? How do you get in touch with them? Things like that,” Thomas said. Thomas had entered the Austin scene at just the right time.
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“At that point in time, there were no shows and everything was shut down because of the pandemic,” Thomas said. “It was good because people wanted performances and they wanted shows so you can get in touch with these guys easier because they don’t have anybody blowing them up 24/7.” Thomas said that the Austin music scene is very different compared to Louisiana. “In Austin, the ears are much more open to original music,” Thomas said. “If you’re an artist that’s starting out and want to have your own original music,
Austin is a great place because there are people here with those types of ears. They want to hear the new music they want to hear and see the next big thing instead of people just wanting to hear people playing covers the whole time. It’s hard to do original music in Louisiana because the ears are so used to hearing something they heard on the radio or hearing something that they heard growing up. They just want to go see a live jukebox. Austin isn’t really like that; they want to actually hear you, which is great.” It is important to start small and incrementally build upon what
Jesse with his bandmates. Photo courtesy of Jesse Ebaugh.
said. “When I started out, the way to get in was through music blogs. Now, it’s like blogs don’t even exist. Playlists are the things now, people don’t make a lot of the playlist. A lot of playlists are made by artificial intelligence.” Thomas started out by promoting his band by passing along to friends, then progressed to social media promotion, and then online advertisements.
Torrence (far left) playing with his bandmates. Photo courtesy of THEBROSFRESH.
you have successfully done in the past. “Early on, I kept trying to make home runs,” Thomas said. “I kept trying to hit a home run, instead of just trying to get on base. That was my thing. I’d try to make something really big and it needs to be like, ‘Just do it. And do it again.’” Thomas looked back on his past self and thought about what he would do differently if he had to grow into being a musician again.
“One tip that I would give myself back then—I would tell myself, if you can play it slow, You can play it fast,” Thomas said. “And that’s just not with music, that’s with life. So if you can do it on a small scale, you can do it on a big scale.” The music industry has changed significantly in Thomas’s time of being a musician. “The thing is, from when it started to what it is now, it’s completely different, as far as how people get noticed in the game,” Thomas
“We promoted the old school way, through friend groups passing along to friends, not being afraid to share it,” Thomas said. “Social media has been big with that. Traveling in general, it’s been a good way to spread THEBROSFRESH because every city we go to everyone asks what you do and the type of work that you do, that you get done. So that’s a good way to do it. But as of lately, We’ve been running ads as well. And I’m just starting to play with a little bit more, because you got to be in the real world. And you have to play with technology a little bit, too. You’ve got to do ads, but you’re also going to have to make real life touch points that can actually stay in people’s minds.” Austin is a vibrant place full of music, innovation, and competition. It is tough to be a musician in our modern world, especially in Austin. Carefully incrementally improving and scaling your musical endeavors will help you to break into the Austin scene. Have fun and pick up a guitar! Living the Local Language | 17
ANATOMY O GUITAR
The electric guitar is the centerpiece of rock music. the different parts of an electric guitar and how do th
BY JACK DAVIDSON Neck Pickup
Bridge Pickup
Body Bridge
Pickguard
Volume & Tone Knobs
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Output Jack
OF A R
Headstock Tuning Pegs Nut
What are hey work?
Fretboard How Does a Guitar Pickup Work? Pickup Selector
The electric guitar pickups work by “picking up” magnetic force displaced by the metal strings. Magnets surrounded by a coil transfer the mechanical movement of the strings into electrical force that is transferred through the body of the guitar, sent through the tone and volume knobs, and then pushed out through the output jack and then to the amplifier. The electrical signals are amplified and different effects are applied to the electrical signal to produce different sounds. Once the
signal is amplified, it is then converted back to mechanical energy by the speakers on the amplifier or on a separate speaker cabinet unit.
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YOU EAT WHAT YOU KILL. By Lucy Murphy
Cover, fish, drums, & guitar graphics by Lucy Murphy 20 | Living the Local Language
T
he lights dim. The crowd grows louder and louder as your heart begins pounding. Drops of sweat bead from your nose as the lights sway. It’s your moment. The first drum beats ring in your ears with their authoritative sentiments. Drinks spill sloppily as the crowd jitters and buzzes with excitement. Hints of blues and soul sneak through as the electric guitar slices through the soundwaves. Welcome to the Live Music Capital of the world. Dozens of musicians move to Austin, Texas each year to become part of the vibrant music scene. Most of these musicians long for the buzz of a live audience, and Austin is the perfect place. Many musicians have found that the “Austin Soul” has rubbed off on their music style and compositions. Twangs of blues and rock find themselves lodged in the cramped lines of music in each new score. Exposure becomes everything as audiences grow and venues become larger. Slowly building up their careers, Austin musicians find their sound in the heart of Texas. Sean Rodriguez is a bass guitarist that moved to Austin in the fall of 2017. He plays bass for several different music groups, but he mainly plays for the country group The Wilder Blue. Rodriquez’s passion for bass began in high school but flourished during his time in college at Texas A&M University. “[I was fortunate] to see bands that would come from Austin like Roxy Roca, Soul Track Mind, The Nightowls, JT Coldfire, David Ramirez; I used to
see all these bands that would come through, and every time I would see them, or play my shows, [that passion for music] would keep building,” Rodriguez said. As well as influencing the music styles of different musicians, Austin exposes different performers to the flourishing music scene that has erupted here over the years. Musicians build bonds with each other and get acquainted with each other’s careers. They find the people to help elevate their music, and slowly begin to build up bands. “When you grow up in Austin, it’s just so much more accessible,” Rodriquez added. “When you don’t grow up in Austin it’s like music is almost this syncretistic stereotype of smoky bars and steamy people, and it’s not necessarily like that. You can go to Central
“I had a buddy of mine, [and] he used to once say after a gig of his got canceled, that ‘you eat what you kill,’” Rodriguez said. Market and see music while you get your groceries and a cup of coffee. It’s just such a different environment here than anywhere I’ve lived so far.” However, like many musicians struggling to build a
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career, there are challenges along the way. So if you don’t go out there and kill, you don’t make any money and you don’t eat. There’s a certain amount of motivation that you have to have to go out and find work, and it’s unending. Even if I were my own artist and booking my shows, I would still be having to look for shows instead of looking for people who want my services.” Neil Curran, a musician originally from England, has had similar experiences during his career as a singer.
Curran moved to Austin in 1991 from Cleveland, Ohio, and has lived here ever since. He has been the main singer for multiple bands, focussing on punk rock. Austin’s music scene played an important role in the growth of his career, building a sense of community that many artists cherish. “Austin, of course, calls itself the rock and roll capital of the world, and it kind of is deserved because people would try their best to have Saturday or Friday night gigs in Austin because they knew they were gonna get a good recieval from the audience,” Curran said. Curran eventually retired from music around the year 2000 and pursued a career in construction. Although he feels spurts of jealousy when watching newer musicians pursue their careers, he stated that he doesn’t miss the struggles that come along with a music career. “I feel like I could jump up there in a heartbeat if I was rehearsed, and do a good job, but I don’t miss that life, especially being on the road,” Curran said. “I realized how lucky I was with the job that I do have, that I didn’t lose my livelihood [to give up music]. So, no regrets. I love that part of my life and I wouldn’t change it, but I also would not want to do it again.”
A young, lead singer, Neil Curran performing around 1996-1998. Photo courtesy of Neil Curran
“It was tough. It’s not glamorous at all when you’re younger. The van broke down all the time, these were the days when there [were] no cellphones, so when you broke down, you were stuck until somebody came to help you. It takes many many years for it to be the glamorous rock and roll life that we all dream about or hear about in movies.” Curran reflected. 22 | Living the Local Language
Brian Scartocci is an R&B soul artist originally from New Jersey and has also experienced the struggles of a music career, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the beginning of the pandemic, Scartocci had been building his music career and had found his rhythm. However, without the ability to perform to a live audience to promote his new music, Scartocci’s career was halted. “While my band found ways to stay alive and keep flourishing, I just faded,” Brian said. “It was tough; I got pretty depressed. It’s not like the things that I had done [were] gone and that it wasn’t gonna count, but I had no idea how to climb out of it. The wheels had stopped.” However, Scartocci took time to reflect and keep working. With a new baby on the way, he was motivated to keep working and eventually gained his momentum back. His connection with local venues
helped to lift him back onto his feet, inspired by his love for the music he was creating. Influenced by legends like David Ruffin and Sam Cooke, Scartocci creates soul music with hints of Austin’s influence. “I’ve lived [in Austin] for 15 years now, so it’s definitely had a giant influence on the way my music has ended up and the path that it’s taken,” Scartocci said. “I think that, in the simplest terms, it’s added a lot more of a rock element. More rock-bluesy; that Austin sound.” Scartocci is heavily motivated by his family, especially his children, who have found their creative outlook through Scartocci’s pursuit of music. “My son, he’s his own guy. But to see my influence on him, at least in what ways that it shows in a positive light, it’s really beautiful,” Scartocci said with pride. “My daughter is a little bit more like I was as far as being introverted goes, but she draws and paints, and she’s super cool.” Some of Scartocci’s favorite memories connected to music are from his children. Whether it’s the story of his son performing an Elvis song at his school’s talent show, his daughter Christmas caroling after a long flight, or his youngest daughter being
Sean Rodriquez of “The Wilder Blues” plays at the Sidetracks Music Hall in Huntsville, Alabama. Photo provided by Taylor Hendrix
mesmerized by the movie “Summer of Soul” just a few months after she was born, it is clear to see that Scartocci’s career, and Austin’s creative messages, have created lasting memories. After exploring the careers of these inspirational individuals, it is evident that Austin’s music scene is something of a wonder. Its ability to shape the music we listen to, build up the careers of aspiring musicians, and spark a passion for music, is something that Austin locals hold close to their hearts. The live music capital of the world is growing and growing, and there is no doubt that its music scene will continue to thrive.
Brian Scartocci performing in Austin, Texas, at Antone’s nightclub in 2019. Photo courtesy of Antone’s
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DIGITAL RECORDS BY: LUCY MURPHY
The tame conflict about the best way to enjoy music has plagued Austin locals for years. However, as digital music became more popular, this debate evolved into the gruelling question: WHAT STREAMING SERVICE IS BETTER?
Following a servey taken by multiple Austin residents, data was collected and dipslayed how music is spread in the “Live Music Captial of the World.” 24 | Living the Local Language
SPOTIFY
APPLE MUSIC
YOUTUBE MUSIC
“Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and “Apple Music is a streaming service that “With YouTube Music, you can listen to video service that gives you access to allows you to listen to over 90 million the latest hits, stay connected to artists millions of songs and other content from songs. Its features include the ability to you love, and discover new music to creators all over the world.” - Spotify download your favorite tracks and play enjoy on all of your devices.” - YouTube Launched in 2008 by Daniel Ek and them offline, lyrics in real time, [...] new Music Martin Lorentzon, Spotify is one of the music personalized just for you, and many YouTube Music was launched in 2015 world’s most popular audio streaming more.” - Apple Music and was developed as a part of YouTube, service with over 400 million users. It Apple Music was launched in June of 2015 a subsidy of Google. YouTube itself has features over 82 million tracks, including and was developed as a product of Apple over 2.3 billion members, with YouTube podcasts. Inc. It is available in over 167 countries. Music having over 40 million premium subscribers. Information courtesy of Spotify
AMAZON MUSIC
Information courtesy of Apple Music
SOUNDCLOUD
“[Amazon Music] features 2 million songs “As the world’s largest music and audio — including thousands of stations and platform, SoundCloud lets people distop playlists — plus millions of podcast cover and enjoy the greatest selection episodes.” - Amazon Music of music from the most diverse creator Amazon Music was launched in 2007 community on earth.” - SoundCloud as a subisdy of Amazon. Amazon Music SoundCloud was launched in 2008 and is included without ads for free with an has gained over 76 million members since Amazon Prime membership, and currently its launch. Multiple artists have posted has over 55 million subscribers. their music on SoundCloud in order to build up their platform and promote new music. Information courtesy of Amazon
Information courtesy of SoundCloud
Information courtesy of YouTube Music and BusinessofApps
PANDORA “Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, is the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S.” - Pandora Launched in early 2000, Pandora has been one of the top choices of music streaming services in the Untied States. While it’s not available in other countries outside of the U.S., as of 2021 Pandora has over 55 million active monthly members.
Information courtesy of Pandora and Statista
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New Growth How Austin musicians have been staying afloat during the pandemic
T
By Tavi tragus
he pandemic has been dreadful for everybody, with the performance industries being some of the hardest hit. For a long time, the music industry in Austin was dormant. Even now, it is just starting to wake up and be exposed to music lovers worldwide. There have been very few concerts, and many musicians are out of a job. However, Austin musicians were persistent, trying to find ways to continue doing what they love while staying safe.
Ryan Fechter is a local pianist. He has years of experience playing improv piano and teaching private lessons. He also streams ambient music on Twitch. “During those first lockdowns, being able to take my whole student roster online was an exceptional, lucky gift during all of that, because all of my performance work [was] gone,” Fechter said. Several musicians tried to take on
Ryan Fechter with his LEGO™ collection. Photo courtesy of Ryan Fechter.
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students at the beginning of the pandemic. Online lessons were one thing that they thought they could do consistently. Unfortunately, when you don’t have a foothold, starting to teach online lessons is very difficult, especially during a pandemic. “I don’t know too many artists in general, let alone performing artists and musicians who were able to [switch to teaching private lessons] months into the pandemic,” Fechter said. “‘Okay, now let me pivot and make a move and try streaming, try online lessons,’ I didn’t hear much success.” He thinks that despite all of the negative things that have happened,
“Just opening up that full Country and being able to take students from all over has been a really cool aspect of that as well.” the pandemic has had a few silver linings. Most notably, the pandemic has led to developments in music lessons. “I’ve had students from New York City, I currently have a student in Florida who is a retiree, and I’ve had a couple of students in California as well,” Fechter said. “Just opening up that full country and being able to take students from all over has been a really cool aspect of that.”
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The pandemic allowed people to learn music from the best of the best. Your teacher was no longer restricted by your zip code. Robert Greenfield, a piano teacher and accompanist, agrees. “I think [the pandemic] probably opens up a lot of opportunities for teachers to teach people all around the world,” Greenfield said. “And I think it’s good because it can help people find a teacher that has the particular qualifications that they’re looking for.” Fechter said that having virtual lessons made scheduling a lot easier. He no longer had to worry about Austin traffic and could have multiple lessons back to back to back. Unfortunately, no matter how many cameras you have, judging the physical technique and posture of someone through Zoom can be very hard. This was a prominent downside of virtual lessons that Fetcher noticed. Before the pandemic, Fechter was streaming on Twitch as a hobby. After it started, he and his wife decided to start their main Twitch channel, RJandJ, where they would build lego models with improvised ambient piano music. “I’m actually full-time on that Twitch channel,” Fechter said. “That is my performance focus. That’s where I’m spending all my performance, energy, and creativity. We stream four days a week and do about three to four hours per stream. So, it’s become my fulltime performance gig. That’s certainly close to the hours I was doing as a performer in Austin, just sheer kind of time.” He also says that streaming music is
Rob Greefield in black and white. Photo from Rob Greenfield of the Accompaniment Company.
its own kind of venue. There is way more audience interaction because the streamer can see what everyone is saying, and viewers are encouraged to chat with the streamer. Fechter values all of the connections that you can get from Twitch streaming. “I would play shows and be in the pit at Zach Theater fairly often,” Greenfield said. “Teaching, playing for schools, a lot of playing for choir concerts and accompanying choirs and kids when they would go and do their UIL contests, singers and instrumentalists. And of course, once COVID came around, a lot of that went away.” A lot of people who were mainly gig workers were out of a job because they couldn’t perform in large theaters due to the global pandemic. Greenfield
“[The pandemic] showed how fragile [the Austin music industry] was. I think it showed people how precious it was."
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was lucky because he was able to continue accompanying the ballet classes at Ballet Austin, even if they were different. “And then [the ballet classes] went virtual,” Greenfield said. “But we were able to keep doing it through Zoom. So I would actually sit here in my house and have my electric keyboard [hooked] up to my computer and have the sound going through Zoom. Then all the kids and all the dancers in the company would be in their homes, taking the class.” Before the pandemic, Greenfield started the Accompaniment Company, where he makes and sells recordings of the accompaniments to common pieces in choir shows. He noticed that there were a few pieces that would be requested very often, so he started recording them. During the pandemic, he has been working on increasing the selection for the Accompaniment Company, and networking. “There’s a member of the Ballet Austin
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This graph shows the average house prices in austin from January 2010 to March 2022. The data was taken from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center and the graph was created by Tavi Tragus.
professional company, who’s also a choreographer,” Greenfield said. “He and I are brainstorming a little dance troupe, or company, whatever you want to call it. We’re currently working on a piece, so that’s something that’s coming together.” Unfortunately, the pandemic has not been so positive for everybody. Elizabeth Mcqueen, a DJ at KUTX and podcaster about musicians and
Photo of Elizaeth McQueen courtesy of Michael Minasi from KUTX.w
venues during COVID, said “there is a real affordability crisis happening in the city.” Housing prices have gone up by an average of $100,000 in the past year, and while this doesn’t just affect Austin musicians, it makes it a lot harder to live here. “[The pandemic] showed how fragile [the Austin music industry] was,” Mcqueen said. “I think it showed people how precious it was. I think if something’s always accessible, then you don’t really treasure it. When [the music industry] came back, people were really grateful to have it back.” People in Austin took Austin music more seriously during the pandemic because they realized it wasn’t going to last forever. They realized that Austin music is not a guarantee, and so people have been helping to revive the music scene we all came to love. With the connections of musicians, venue workers, and other industry professionals, the Austin music community is bringing the scene back to the surface. Living the Local Language | 29
Austin’s Great MUSIC VENUES AUSTIN CITY LIMITS Austin City Limits is a music festival that takes place at the Moody Theater. There is also an event that takes place at the Zilker Park.
The Continental Club is an Austin classic south of the river. Founded in the 1950s, they have been hosting live music for many years.
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The best places to visit to see a wide variety of music, both local and distant. By Tavi Tragus
The Hole in the wall is an arcade, dive bar, and music venue on Guadelupe. They have live music every night of the week, and have hosted over 10,000 musicians throughout their time.
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The Paramount Theater is a nonprofit organization that hosts performances of many varieties. They have music, movies, and live theater, and have been an Austin classic since October of 1915.
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Medical Musicians How music therapists are changing the world using music
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By Alex Neff
A picture of the Dell Children’s medical center of central Austin taken from outside. Photo courtesy to Walker Engineering
Music therapy, which is a type of therapy involving the use of music and musical instruments, is a useful and creative outlet for hospitalized patients in our modern time. By giving music therapy patients access to such a wide range of different musical instruments, they’re given an opportunity to find what they enjoy. Along with this, the instruments are also able to be used to help patients with more goal-oriented treatments.
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eing sick sucks. Everyone can agree with that. If you don’t personally know someone who is having to battle a disease, chances are they know someone else who’s been struggling through an illness. When treating a disease, such as cancer, there are some common forms of treatment that most people know, such as chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, transplants, etc. However, there’s a new kind of remedy that’s been combined with these treatments to help engage and speed up recovery. It’s becoming a much more popular treatment, only instead of focusing on science, it relies on the power of music.
Candice Deshler, a music therapist at the North Austin Music Therapy Center, helps explain the effect that music therapy has from a much more medical standpoint. “There’s an instrument called a melodica, which is a keyboard that you blow into,” Deshler said. “[It’s] to help with things like breath support, [and] requires you to blow into the instrument as you’re pressing the keys down in order to make sounds. We’re using the instruments, not so that we’re improving the musicality of what we’re doing, but so we’re using the instruments to achieve some other type of treatment objective.” Deshler always believed music had a large impact on her life while she was growing up, but didn’t consider it to be a factor in her career choice. She Living the Local Language | 33
had always had intentions of joining the therapy field, and it wasn’t until the start of her junior year in high school that she heard about music therapy from her band teacher. After doing some of her own research, she was inspired by the various ways music therapy had helped people recover, and decided she wanted to be a music therapist.
Whether a patient is into rock, hiphop, classical, jazz, or a different genre of music entirely, music therapists create sessions that are unique to the patients they’re with. It helps implement each individual’s music interests and aids in improving their overall health too.
“The first thing I say when I’m introducing services to a new patient Nicole Valerioti, a music therapist is, ‘You get to be the boss of music who works for Dell Children’s therapy,’” Valerioti said. “The beauty Medical Center, gives a better of music therapy in a traumatic understanding of how a music therapy place like the hospital is the outlet it session functions. provides for emotional expression, for control, for fun, for pain relief, for self-esteem, and for mood elevation.” “It’s up to the patient,” Two patients with the same taste in music may have completely different Valerioti said. “There is no ways of expressing themselves. Some one size fits all. When we might want to sing a song they like, walk into a room, our first while others play new instruments. and foremost point of care They could also enjoy listening to their favorite music or writing their and attention is learning about that individual, about own songs to dance to.
that child, and what kinds of music they like.”
“Each unique person’s preferred music means that no two sessions are the same in pediatric music therapy,” Valerioti said. “We all identify with this very normal thing, but in our own unique way. Music therapists capitalize on this in our sessions, and our job is to use that patient’s music to help them reach their goals in the hospital.” Music therapy is a treatment not restricted to a single age group,
which brings a lot of different music types between generations. However, each music type can still hold some similarities. Claire Kendrick is also someone who has experienced these different music tastes across the different varieties of her patients and their ages.
“I have to learn songs that maybe I’ve never heard before or listen to genres that I normally wouldn’t listen to, [all in order to] learn music that [my patients] like,” Kendrick said. “Any genre of music has been fair game because everyone has different music tastes. It’s really any and all genres of music from all different ages.” The sheer amount of diversity that’s present in each person’s music taste, age, and how they like to enjoy music, shows the unique range of each person that a music therapist can work with. This goes to show that there is so much to discover once you dig deeper into what musical therapy entails. Kendrick agreed that she’d always been interested in different music and genres growing up, and being able to discover new and interesting music is something that she believes has affected her life significantly.
“I definitely have been surprised by some music that I ordinarily wouldn’t listen to,” Nicole Valerioti, a Music Kendrick stated. “Even Therapist for Dell Children’s if I don’t get personal Hospital, holding her guitar. enjoyment out of it, Photo courtesy of Dell Children’s I can listen to it from 34 | Living the Local Language
a theoretical perspective. It has broadened my awareness of different types of music and why people like music.” Along with the different types of patients helped by music therapy, this quick-spreading treatment is also able to treat several different medical issues that span across patients. Multiple patients might share similar illnesses, but have music tastes that couldn’t be more different from each other. This is a prime example of how unique a person’s music taste is and why music therapists need to understand the interests of each of their patients. Music therapy, and more specifically music as a whole, has an unparalleled effect on people throughout the entire world. Implementing music
“Some of the clients that I’ve seen have been in physical therapy, and they might have made some progress, but they’re at more of a plateau,” Kendrick said. “Then, when we add music, all of a sudden they can move their fingers easier which is helpful for them to grab things and feed themselves in ordinary life. [It also helps them] work on things such as executive functioning and making decisions. It’s stuff you can see in real-time.” into therapy has many benefits that Kendrick has seen in her own experiences. There is evident proof that there are benefits to people who’ve experienced music therapy, but another important reminder with
Claire Kendrick, a music therapist at the Center for Music Therapy here in Austin. Photo credit to Center for Music Therapy
music therapy is that it’s not a prescription. “There aren’t necessarily musical diagnoses,” Deshler said, “It’s not, ‘If you have this condition, if you have this illness, you should listen to pop music or you should listen to these artists.’ It’s not a prescribed bubble in that sense. You really want to take the music that is going to resonate with the person who you’re working with.” Music is such a diverse topic that measures differently to people, and the same goes for people that have these illnesses. Two people that play the same sport may not necessarily like the same music, and neither would two people that work the same job. It makes sense that it wouldn’t change just because it takes on a medical setting.
“The types of strategies that we’re looking at when we’re going through a music therapy session are where we’re singing, we’re playing, we’re using movement, [and we’re utilizing] listening activities,” Deshler said. “Everything that we do is broken down into those categories. There are obviously very strong therapeutic benefits for all of those different things.
Deshler also talks about the different forms of music therapy that can be used to benefit patients from a recovery standpoint.
While music can be therapeutic to a lot of people, it only becomes music therapy when done with a board-certified music therapist. The impact that it has can grant people a more enjoyable experience than they might have otherwise never received. Living the Local Language | 35
MOVIN A
N D Taking a Tour of the Important musical By Alex Neff Landmarks Found Throughout Downtown Austin 36 | Living the Local Language
1. You know him. You love him. That’s right. Found right here on 310 West 2nd Street is the Willie Nelson statue, a famous Austin musician. He is seen sitting down with his guitar by his side and is a definete must see for everyone
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Located at 407 East Seventh Street is the Willie Nelson and Janice Joplin mural created by Wiley Ross. However, Janice Joplin was added to the mural about a year after it’s original completion in 2016. This is a great spot for any music lovers to see some of Austin’s fan favorites.
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The Stevie Ray Vaughan statue can be found on the Roy and Ann Butler Trail along the Colorado River. Stevie Ray Vaughan was a blues guitarist that holds a special place in the course of Austin music. Designed and built by Ralph Helmick, the statue is depicting Stevie Ray Vaughan holding with his guitar while his shadow extrudes from him while playing it.
Photo credit to Wikipedia
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If you find yourself traveling down South Congress, or SoCo as it’sl..8 called by the locals, make sure to check out the Willie for President mural on 121 Elizabeth Street. This mural was made in a collaboration with Jacqui Oakley, Erick Montes, and Joe Swec. Arguably the most inspirational and moving musician, Prince, has a mural in his dedication on East 4th Street at Medina. Starting his career in music when he was 19 years old, Prince has spent the majority of his life producing music that found its way into Austin music.
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While 1900 South 1st Street is home to many various and interesting murals, you can’t miss the Run-DMC and Tupac memorial. Run-DMC was a hip-hop group until 2002 and Tupac was an inspirational American rapper. Their influence leave no wonder to the local’s appreciation.
Well renowned for his talent in folk music and songwriting, this mural is dedicated to John Prine. This piece was commissioned by Wiley Ross, who has made other music-related murals around Austin. You’ll be able to find this mural at 201 East Riverside on the right side of the Thom’s Market. Living the Local Language | 37
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