FRE$H When the Music Stops: Can Rap be too Explicit? Can Rap lyrics affect Kids?
Finding Your Way: The Troubles Teens Face Within the Music Industry
Power to The Pirates: The Dangers of Widespread Music Theft FRE$H
Auto Who? - the voice behind our music
FALL 2011
November 4, 2011 Issue #1
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Table of Content$ pg.5 Need to Know: pg.6 When the Music Stops.
Random Facts About Random Mucians
Can Rap Music Be Too Explicit?
Can Rap Lyrics Affect Kids?
pg.12
Power to the Pirates: The Dangers of Widespread Music Theft
pg.14
Auto-Who?
pg.18 pg.22
The Voice Behind Our Music
Grab the Mike:
An interview with Michael Scaccia
The Mess of Mastering the Music Industry
pg.24 String Theory and Beyond pg.26Fame Down the Drain:
Rock’s Fall From Prominence
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The FRE$Hest Staff Ever: Jacob:
Baylee:
Jacob Yarnell is the teamplayer of the FRE$H team. He makes sure that everyone is doing what they should be and not detracting from the greatness of their magazine. Jacob is also a rock-loving individual, which makes him a great contributor for FRE$H. He enjoys long walks on the beach, and roses.
Baylee Gowin is funny, creative, and easily distracted! She loves music (obviously) which is why she wanted to be a part of making this magazine in the first place. She likes rock, indie and dubstep, but she’s open to any other kinds ... but country and well -- anything on the radio.
Bobby:
Bobby Meyer is the closest to being a rock-purist in the group. His life is a crusade against the evils of hip-hop, mainstream pop, and above all, dubstep. He can often be found with his earbuds in, staring into space as he spaces out to his totally radical music. He can also be found writing his awesome magazine in Ezine class with his homies Jacob, Julia, and Baylee.
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Julia:
Julia McCarley is devoted to her music, to the point of being obsessed with one band. She is also crazy (borderline insanity crazy!) and pretty funny, giving everyone a bit of comic relief in their hectic lives.
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Letter from the Editor$: We here at Fre$h magazine have the greatest music-magazine-making machines you’ll ever see; their names are Julia, Bobby, Baylee and Jake. We take great pride in keeping our readers up to date on the coolest music as well as making sure you know all about the newest music related topics. Of course, we only give you the hippest, coolest, and FRE$HEST topics -- you know, the things people WANT to read about. We really hope that you’re satisfied, because we worked hard on this. And if you DO haven any complaints -- which we know WON’T -- well, then in that case, we apologize in advance! Now, with that said, please, read our magazine. We know you’ll enjoy it, so please, read on and rock on! Sincerely, The Fre$h Team -Julia, Jake, Bobby and Baylee
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need-to-know:
Random Facts About Random Musicans By Bobby Meyer
3. The song “Stairway
to Heaven” is longer
1. Michael Jackson is dead.
than it took Robert Plant &
Jimmy Page to write it.
2. Tre Cool’s birth name is Frank Edwin Wright III.
Image from vivalavida.deviantart.com
4. From 2007 to 2009, Queens of the Stone Age
Josua Homme
5. On The Offspring’s Ameri-
released mastermind 3 consecutive albums with 3 different artists
cana album, almost as many musicians were
(QOTSA’s Era Vulgaris in 2007, the Eagles of
used for a 1 minute mariachi ending as were used for the rest of the songs (including backup musicians; The Offspring are a four-piece
Death Metal’s Heart On in 2008, and Them Crooked Vultures’s eponymous album in
2009).
8. Kurt Cobain is
6. Even though he’s been a drummer
also dead.
in three out of the four famous bands
Dave Grohl
he’s played in, is most commonly known as the
frontman of the Foo Fighters.
7. In the ‘90s, most people expected the band
Soundgarden to fall apart before
Nirvana (Nirvana fell apart in 1994 with
Kurt Cobain’s death, while Soundgarden lasted until 1997).
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When the
Music 6
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FRE$H
Stops Can Rap Music Affect Kids?
ByJuliaMcCarely
Do Bad Lyrics Promote Bad Ideas?
ByBayleeGowin
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When the Music Stops. Can Bad Lyrics Promote Bad Ideas?
J
essi Danner, (18), recalls looking for Pop Tarts at a friend’s house and finding something else in the drawer. “There’s this little baggie and she’s like, ‘I have seen this in movies. You shove it up your nose’ -- and so that’s what we did.” The bag was filled with cocaine. She was 10. Cocaine would rule Danner’s life for the next five years.
This story comes from a CNN ‘Health’ News report posted in 2009. Things from there have grown worse. Today, negative influences are everywhere. You can find them in television shows and advertisements, as well as in movies, magazines, and the lyrics of today’s music. You cannot find a popular song today without hearing a sexual or drug/alcohol reference. It was these kinds of influences that that caused little Jessi Danner to make a mistake that would temporarily take over her life. What is to prevent this type of thing from happening again? The truth is, no one wants to change the [potentially] harmful ideas in our technological industries. A great example of this can be seen everywhere in music. Lyrics to a popular song say:
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A great example of this can be seen everywhere in music. Lyrics to a popular song say:
Unfortunately, teenagers often don’t see the link between their actions today and the consequences tomorrow. “Excuse me, But I might drink a little more than I should, tonight And I might take you home with me if I could, tonight And baby Ima make you feel so good, tonight Cause we might not get tomorrow.” The rest of the song continues in much the same way, calling people to action and telling them to get drunk and “grab somebody sexy” and “give them everything tonight” People might say that lyrics this don’t really influence us. However, it is undeniable that
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teens are abusing [illegal] substances. An article posted by the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry says: “Experimentation with alcohol and drugs during adolescence is common. Unfortunately, teenagers often don’t see the link between their actions today and the consequences tomorrow. They also have a tendency to feel indestructible and immune to the
By Anna Gossman
problems that others experience.” So, to avoid the worsening of these conditions, I think we should focus on changing the ideas we want to promote in our society, and music is a very good place to start.
Can Rap Music Be Too Explicit? By: Julia McCarley
“**** that ****, *****, eat a mother****in’ **** Chew on a *****, and lick a million mother****in’ ***** for second I’d rather put out a mother****ing gospel record” This song goes on to talk about the female body in crude ways and very explicit things that can be done sexually. If you even consider this music, please reconsider what real music is. Real music has to have some form of talent in it -there doesn’t always have to have meaning or purpose in the lyrics, but looking at the lyrics from the song above called “My Dad’s Gone Crazy” by Eminem, I personally find it vulgar and inappropriate for any age under 18 to listen to this so called “music”. So what if he can rhyme a few words? Well, I have one rhyme too “rap is crap”. Now cut me a record deal, why don’t you? I am going to address why and how rap music is badly influencing kids and young adults on the difference between right and wrong. There seem to be no
tion to what is talked about and exposed to young minds in these so ngs. Respect Rap music gives kids the idea that the mature subjects talked about in rap music (like sleeping with women or about prostitutes and pimps) are okay. Also, they may think that it’s okay to disrespect women. It shows young girls that its okay to disrespect themselves too especially when they call women “ho’s”, “sluts”and “skanks”. In the book “The Effects of Music on the Mind” written by author Kristian David Olson, he brings up some important points. For example, he says: “In recent years there have been concerns about some types of music such as Gangsta Rap having very negative effects on peoples minds and moods. This type of music imprints an extremely violent image into people’s minds and there has been growing concern about it and tying it in with violent crimes. In cases like this, it only shows how much more we need to study music to fully understand its full impact on the human mind. In these days where
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cutbacks are always eminent in people’s local schools, people need to struggle to keep the music and art intact.” I fully agree with everything Kristian said, and I think that this is produced over time for some of the behaviors of the everyday listeners of this genre of music. Fighting In a lot of rap songs, they talk about fighting someone for inappropriate reasons, like sleeping with their girlfriends or disrespecting them. This can make some kids grow up with the image in their head that if they don’t like someone they can/ should just go find them and fight or kill them. Rap music just fuels their idea that it’s okay to do that, because it’s talked about in the music they listen to. I am not the only one who feels this way, Eliana Tropeano, an undergraduate student of phsycological research at Western Connecticut state University said in a study “It was found that watching the violent music videos containing violent lyrics, aggressive behav-
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ior, and degrading behaviors toward women did make an individual feel and react more violently with regards to responses to questions about fictitious scenarios. The conclusion was that watching violent music videos does negatively affect behavior.” In my opinion this proves that watching music videos, listening to explicit rap songs has an effect on people and their emotions, and your mood effects what you do and how you act with anyone. Kelsey from debateorg.com, shares her reasonings for why rap music is innapropriate and the affects to those who choose to listen to this and why. “Not only does rap more often than not contain vulgar language, it contains a fair amount of violent thoughts or actions. ‘Eighty percent of the rap music that is currently on the top ten lists around the world contains violence. They glorify the acts of beating up another person, or even worse shooting them. Whether or not the vulgar language sometimes used influences you, the story behind the words can. A lot of rap music contains stories of domestic abuse and violence against individuals. ‘Some rap song lyrics also have a dark side and most people
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associate rap lyrics with disrespect for women and violence because many rap lyrics talks about killing rival rappers and shooting cops. After studying 522 black girls between the ages of 14 and 18 from non-urban, lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, researchers found that compared to those who never or rarely watched these videos, the girls who viewed these gangster videos for at least 14 hours per week were far more likely to practice numerous destructive behaviors. Over the course of the one-year study, they were: Three times more likely to hit a teacher Over 2.5 times more likely to get arrested Twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners 1.5 times more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease, use drugs, or drink alcohol.” Her conclusion was that rap music influences and contributes to violent crimes and therefore, should be limited in its production. Young individuals can be very impressionable and should not be exposed to such harsh, disrespectful words. Which is 100% correct. I mean, if you one day had a child of your
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own, would you find it okay for him/her to listen to explicit lyrics about sex, drugs and money? Why not find an alternative like maybe dubstep; you can have all the same heavy beats and dance/ crunk music without all the terrible and explicit intertwining rhymes that sometimes make no sense. (Bad role models/ influences) Rap musicians with lots of profanity in their songs are bad role models for anyone to have -- especially if that’s a young person’s favorite artist. I think that when children idolize these kind of people and they try and act like them, it only leads them to trouble. I know others agree because I have read an article called “Hip-Hop: Negative Effects on Today’s Youth” and they have some interesting statistics that prove my point further. It says, “Some might say that these are just lyrics and that the people who listen to them are not effected by their content. In contrast, the rate of gang activity and violence has risen over the last few years. According to recent youth violence statistics done by the Josphson Institute: •Large cities claim that 72% of
their school violence is attributable to gang activity. •Between 1986 and 1992, the total number of children killed by firearms rose by 144 percent. •From 1985 to 1993, murders committed by people over age 25 dropped 20 percent; but they increased 65 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds and increased 165 percent among 14- to 17-yearolds.” “Too often, music contains lyrics with negative messages that promote and condone the illegal or high-risk use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Hip-hop is certainly not an exception to this trend. While many hip-hop songs contain messages about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, few provide an accurate portrayal of the negative consequences of substance abuse (“Big” 1). Not only do hip-hop lyrics have negative messages about substance abuse, but they also contain many racy lyrics that demean women and other groups of people.” I think that rap music should have more cautions over it and rules on what is too far to go in the lyrics, because young kids likely to get into trouble. These rap artists should be telling them how murder will send you to jail for life, or sleeping with lots of women just gives you lots of kids before you have any money, or getting into drugs can cause you to become addicted or overdose or spend all your money on drugs.
There should at least be talked sometimes, instead of just how cool it is to bring home “hoes” every night. I say branch off and explore all angles of music and try different bands even if they are not familiar and help spread the word on the effects of rap.
Lil Wayne
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Power to the Pirates: The Dangers of Widespread Music Theft
C
By Bobby Meyer
onceive of a life in which you never had a real love of music until very recently- maybe something on the radio caught your attention, which led you to something else until you discovered you couldn’t live without your music. So, you get a nice, shiny, new iPod and go on your computer to set up an iTunes account. But then, you find something that seems better: a website that gives out the same music for free… illegally. Deciding that saving some money won’t hurt anybody, you go on the website and load up your iPod with pirated music. Then you tell your friends about the site, and they use it, then they tell their friends, and so on. Fast forward a few years, and all that music that led you to your use of pirated files is gone; the bands that played it, the record companies that published it, and the stores that sold it- all gone, bankrupted. Because too many people get free, pirated music, they are killing the music
industry and practically stealing money from the artists they listen to. It is well known that many people steal music, getting pirated copies of songs for free rather than paying for them. As stated by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), “the pirate marketplace currently far dwarfs the legal marketplace, and when that happens, that means investment in new music is compromised.” So, if it’s so easy to get something for free, why would anyone pay for it? The answer: they don’t. According to a 2009 study by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), ninetyfive percent of music downloaded online is done so illegally. Ninety-five percent! So, if it costs $10,000 for a band to record an album, it cost $10 online, and 1,000 people want the album, the band (and their record company) could break even. However, according to this
“...the pirate marketplace currently far dwarfs the legal marketplace,”
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IFPI study, only about 50 people would pay for the album, leaving the band thousands of dollars in debt. This brings me to my next point: if so few people pay for their music, then the artists that create it don’t get the money they should earn. An artist makes money by selling their art; this goes for all kinds of artists. If someone were to break into a painter’s studio and steal all of their paintings, that painter would lose money- the cost of canvases, paint, brushes, and the time and labor they put into their work, all gone. If someone were to take a filmmaker’s movie and place it on YouTube where everyone could watch it for free, the filmmaker wouldn’t receive anything for their time and trouble in creating the movie. The same goes for pirated music- it’s taking someone’s art, their livelihood, and distributing it, but while taking them out of the equation. Jupiter Research, a British research company, found in a 2009 study that music sharers, who essentially distribute other peoples’ music for free (also known as “pirates”), are the overall least valuable consumers in the music industry. In other words, they spend the least amount of money, yet they take a large amount of music, driving the legal music markets down. With ninety-five percent of musicdownloaders participating in this, the markets are driven very far down, and artists are forced down with them. An example of a musician losing their hard-earned money to music pirates is that of Shelley Lynne Hardinge, a blues singer from Brandon, Manitoba in Canada. In August 2011, an article in The Brandon Sun (the city’s newspaper) detailed Hardinge’s plight. “’Even up until last week, all that would come up are the radio stations that have played us or the different sites we’re on,’ she said. ‘On Sunday I did a check, and
don, Manitoba in Canada. In August 2011, an article in The Brandon Sun (the city’s newspaper) detailed Hardinge’s plight. “’Even up until last week, all that would come up are the radio stations that have played us or the different sites we’re on,’ she said. ‘On Sunday I did a check, and 15 pages deep into Google there were just tons of sites downloading my music -- for free ... I was able to download a copy of my album, including artwork with no problem.’” Hardinge went on to say, “I’ve been crying for four days. I mean, I’m an independent person, I have three children, and we’ve spent $10,000 doing this, and I still owe money on it (referencing the album she and her band released in July). So it just hurts, you know?” Piracy detracts from not just the actual artists, however; Stephen E. Siwek, of the Institute for Policy Innovation, wrote in 2007 that music piracy harms both the “’upstream’ suppliers and ‘downstream’ purchasers” in the music industry. The RIAA added to that, pointing out that sound technicians and engineers, warehouse workers, and all other people involved in the production and sale of legal music are harmed. If all of these people lose money (and/or their jobs), there will be no music industry. Even if some rich bands can still afford to record albums and play big live shows, who will be there to set up the equipment, sell tickets and CDs, and keep everything in order? The experienced people in these lines of work will most likely be out of work, and those that remain will cost the bands and record companies lots of money. In addition, musicians are not just harmed monetarily- as shown by Shelley Lynne Hardinge, musicians can be greatly affected emotionally, and may even stop publicly playing if they feel that their
work means nothing to anybody else. So, in this light, music piracy can be counter-productive; by stealing the music they like, pirates are also destroying the music they like. But, this way, piracy can also be used as a weapon: if someone doesn’t like a certain artist, they can steal their music and plaster it all over the internet for free, while they don’t do it for the artists they like, so that people pay for their songs. That way the actual, instigating pirates- the illegal distributors- can control the music market by directing money towards who they like and away from who they don’t, helping and hindering bands against the will of many others. And while
Picture courtesy of wired.com
some may always decide to buy their music, others who either don’t care or don’t think through the effects of piracy will just go ahead and load up their computers and music players with pirated music. Many bands that have thousands of devoted fans but are just not mainstream enough, like Queens of the Stone Age (an eccentric hardrock band that has been around since 1997), could disappear if they are targeted as victims of piracy. It is possible that even hugely popular bands that just receive limited airplay in certain areas could crumble away because of piracy; for example, I have found
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it a rare occurrence to hear a Green Day song on the radio here in Austin, Texas. If a bunch of people from Austin and the surrounding area were to use stolen Green Day songs from the internet, they might never notice if the band were to fall apart due to economic problems, as they wouldn’t hear any of their music on local media outlets anyway. However, people in places where Green Day music is common place would be very affected, because they would be losing a major part of their local music. Now, some might argue that just because they don’t spend money on downloaded music doesn’t mean that they don’t spend money on the band. Sure, they might possess $300 worth of stolen music on their computer, but they did pay for a $15 CD and an $85 concert ticket- that’s how I see it. While some of these people pay to go to concerts and such, that is often not enough to balance out the cost of what they steal; therefore, any attempt to justify their actions this way is null and void. Piracy destroys commercial music. It is exceedingly common, with the pirate marketplace constantly becoming much greater than the legal one. As more and more people pirate music, less and less money goes to those who create it; as this goes on, fewer and fewer people can afford to record and commercially play music. So, if you enjoy music, and want its industry to continue to thrive, make an effort to fight piracy. Download your music legally; the bands that created it will thank you, and you will be glad when they are still around in a few years. Discourage piracy among others; tell them that stealing music will hurt them more than help them.
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AutoWho? -the voice behind our music By Jacob Yarnell
I
n today’s world, people are often flooded with the twirling sound of the illustrious auto tune filling their speakers. The person singing obviously not sounding the way they are portrayed, but you listen on, hoping the next song will have better auto tune. You may think of this as everyday life but, to me, this is a real problem that needs to be addressed. Auto tune is filling our music studios and turning what used to be a profession that required actual talent into a KE$HA concert fueled by “Your Love” for fake people. “Right now if you listen to pop, everything is in perfect pitch, perfect time, and perfect tune,” says producer for Metallica Rick Rubin. “That’s how ubiquitous auto tune is.” And it is. Today you have people like T Pain using auto tune all the time; so much so that it’s starting to be considered the norm. Now, we have the technology to make the majority of people who’s dream is to become that talented super star. And those millions of people can be can be a lot better than they were with the invention of the “I AM T PAIN” application for OS iPhone (as found in the iPhone app store), anyone can be good at singing.
“Right now if you listen to pop, everything is in perfect pitch, perfect time, and perfect tune,” says producer for Metallica Rick Rubin. “That’s how ubiquitous auto tune is.” According to Tony Sclafani at the MSNBC new station, all pop artists today are using auto tune. The list consists of some of our more popular artists consist of Jamie Foxx, T PAIN, Akon, Kanye West, Britney Spears and Lil Wayne. In the article he talks about the fact that no one in the last 5 or 10 years, everyone has been using the infamous studio trademark. Less and less of our favorite artists can actually sing, and the quintessential truth is: you Photo By: Emzoid can tell. When Kanye West performed on Saturday Night Live, he did not use the studio plug-in, and the effect was none too impressive. He sounded flat and off key (pitch), certainly not the Kanye we are all used to. During the 2007 Super Bowl, Billy Joel was chosen to sing the national anthem for all to hear. The only problem was that
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some genius decided to put the studio plug-in on his voice live. Even worse they made it to where when he sang it in turn made him sound completely robotic and completely pernicious to my ears; I mean who thought it was a suitable idea to put the true artists’ devil on one of the greatest voices in history. The parameter for the pitch output was way to low, causing the sound of his voice to change instantaneously and sound out of context. Now if you are completely lost halfway through this article, let me help you out. Auto tune is an effect that someone can lay over a track to make the notes that a person is singing bend up to the nearest
semitone so that they in theory are always on key, thus a person using auto tune doesn’t actually have to be good at singing they just have to be able to breathe. But, did you know auto tune wasn’t even originally made for voices? The inventor of the
instantaneously and sound out of context.
Now if you are completely lost halfway through this article, let me help you out. Auto tune is an effect that someone can lay over a track to make the notes that a person is singing bend up to the nearest semitone so that they in theory are always on key, thus a person using auto tune doesn’t actually have to be good at singing they just have to be able to breathe. But, did you know auto tune wasn’t even originally made for voices?
The inventor of the infamous auto tune, Andy Hildebrand, originally created a device that was used to interpret seismic data for the oil industry. Shortly afterward he was tampering with the device and found that with some minor adjustments he could have the device interpret sounds from a voice and modulate them to be on key. This led to the creation of auto tune in 1996, but it was first heard by common ears in Cher’s 1998 hit, “Believe,” where when you heard Cher sing it sounded as if she was singing through a fan, which is the auto tune in action. The program’s retune speed, which is how fast the machine adjusts the singers voice, can be set on a scale from zero, to 400, and in Cher’s song, it was at nearly zero causing an unwanted effect of that awful robot voice.
“If you set it to 10, that means the output pitch will get halfway to the target pitch in 10 milliseconds,” says Hildebrand. “But if you let that parameter go to zero, it finds the newest note and changes the output pitch instantaneously.”--eliminating the natural transition between notes and making the singer sound jumpy and robotic. “I never figured out
why anybody would want to do that,” he says. After learning that, I hope you can understand what auto tune is, and why it isn’t passable. It makes it to where anyone can sing, eliminating talent form our musical world.
Obviously the inevitable opposition to the argument is simple: “Why can’t auto tune be used in moderation to just be a sort of additive to the song, but not the whole song?” Well my sad, sad friend, because as we know from past experience with all of the new pop artists on the scene, the whole “It’s not the only part of the song” argument has no sustenance in this battle. Just for cheap pity laughs let us assume that we use auto tune in a song to make it “sound cool.” Well my naive friend, it doesn’t sound cool. The point of it is to change the singer voice to go from Bla, to Ya! Auto tune was and is meant to change peoples voices to sound exact and on key, not to sound cool. With this I shall sing my final note about the matter; off key of course. From what started off as a seismic data reader, we received the gift, or shall I say curse, of auto tune. Starting out as a simple melodic turner, it turned into the driving force of today’s pop music. Only two years after the debut, auto tune was finding itself in every recording studio this side of the universe; and it hasn’t gone away. Now every artist who you look up to is screeching at the mic, only to be fixed later, and just working on the next scandal they are going to do to stay popular. Auto tune takes away from the hard work of many before it, and allows people to barely even try, and thereafter exceed those who put forth the sounds they imitate. If auto tune is allowed to stay prevalent in our music, how are we supposed to know who’s good? How are we supposed to know what’s real?hope you can understand what auto tune is, and why it isn’t passable. It makes it to where anyone can sing, eliminating talent form our musical world.all of the
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allows people to barely even try, and thereafter exceed those who put forth the sounds they imitate. If auto tune is allowed to stay prevalent in our music, how are we supposed to know who’s good? How are we supposed to know what’s real?
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How do you wear your music?
Fresher Headphones of America
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Grab
An Interview with Michael Scaccia
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M
the
M
e k i By: Julia McCarley FRE$H
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By: Julia McCarley
“I
t’s really weird to know that I have fans. It’s like it’s just the same old me, I go to work normally, then I’ll play a show one night and people are suddenly asking me for my autograph. It gives you a strange feeling but it’s great.”
“Right now I have only been having rehearsals with the band, but a few months ago I was playing a show every few weeks, and before then I was playing thursday’s, friday’s, and saturday’s three weeks a month”, Michael says. Michael currently plays bass for R+B singer MC Kelly. He has played for the Texas country music feed for over a decade now and has also played
Michael Scaccia started out his blooming talent by learning how to play electric bass (which is what he mainly plays today) but if you ask him, he can also play acoustic bass and guitar. Michael was recently out of college when he got his first recruitment into a band. This started by him simply picking up a newspaper and reading about a bands request for a bass player, this was his first chance that gave him a start for something “bigger”. Michael called the number and got accepted into “The Paul Logan Band”, who was brought together by country singer/ songwriter Paul Logan. “After that I just kept meeting more and more people and some of those people had hook-ups which really helped me out.” Musician Michael Scaccia shares about his hardships faced in the music industry and he gives some insight and advice for musicians trying to become “known”, and also to those wanting to pursue a career in music“Just remember that interesting people flock together and that’s how you can meet more people who can help you out and are more like you. Also remember gigs lead to other gigs”, Michael says.
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all over Texas and the mid-west of the country. Michael was born and raised in Boston, Massachuesetts then moved to Sydney, Australia for awhile. He then ventured back to the U.S. where he lived in Boulder, Colorado but before he moved to Austin, Texas (“live music capitol of the world”) where he lives now, he lived in Clearwater Beach, Florida. He moved
to Austin to try and help his music career like many other musicians do today. Michael has played shows in front of over 10,000 people and recently played in front of about 3,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“The best advice I can give to anyone is to NEVER EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER give up.” He says he first started playing and getting interested when he was about 22 years old -- right out of college he started studying music. “I’ve been interested in music for a long time, yeah I have always liked music but in college is when I really started getting into it”, Michael says. “While in school I would stay up late at night and not do any of my homework just so I could listen to the oldies music station, because only Motown and R+B music played, but only at night.” Michael, also a department chair and instructional coach for special education at Raegan high school says, “One of the hardest parts of trying to become a professional musician is having a day job and trying to support yourself at the same time. Traveling is also hard when you want to take every gig you get because every gig helps you, but it’s hard just to pick up and leave whenever.”
“All the time, people are trying to make you fit in and it’s just hard sometimes to balance everything. Especially with what you need to do and get done vs. what you want to do and get done. To help with the stress of things I just always keep humor and perspective with everything. Playing music and working out when I’m stressed also helps me a lot too. But I’m definitely glad I have chosen this as a career to pursue”, Michael says. “I have really amazing and great pictures in my memory that others don’t have and may never be able to. I’m very grateful and fortunate for the experiences I have been able to have too. My best experience I have had has been getting to play in front of about 3,000 U.S. troops recently in Afghanistan. My worst was probably when I got all my equipment stolen while in Dallas, Texas for a show.” “The best advice I can give to anyone is to NEVER EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER give up. People say no, you just have to believe in yourself and practice and perform a lot and you will play at cool places and keep on getting better and better. Just keep on persisting, keep on practicing and have fun, just don’t let it turn into something you have to do but something you want to do.”
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The Mess of Mastering the Music Industry By Baylee Gowin
“O
ccasionally an older person will say, ‘Aww, your little band is so cute!’ -- which is one of the most annoying things I hear, but usually I get more respect from [those] people after they hear the music and see how much we put into it.” These are the words of Zack Stiehl (16); he is the singer, and plays guitar and bass in a progressive/ ambient sounding garage band with his friends Jordan Wieber, Ryan Sax, and Connor Schiesz (left). They’ve been trying to get local recognition around Austin for years. Many teens today have lots of talent, but finding a place in the world of music is not as easy as it seems. They face the obstacle of people disregarding them, and run the risk of being underestimated. Zack plays three instruments, and sings. He’s been a member of at least two bands and had played in multiple bars and clubs around Austin. He is a very dedicated musician, along with the other members of the band they call Altitudes. However, despite most of their efforts, finding a place -- any place at all -- in the world of music is difficult for anyone, let alone a group of teens. Still, Zack keeps a positive attitude: “It’s a lot harder to get started locally, as I’m trying to do right now with my band Altitudes, but I feel like once we get
established here, it will all look up.” As a artist, Zack says he finds it frustrating that it is such an immense task for actual musicians to get recognition (let alone make a living) whereas there are certain pop stars (he specifically mentioned the performer Justin Bieber) that “make millions off good looks.” The least he hopes to achieve with his music is “ to build a fan base, and hopefully be able to support myself with just a music career, but obviously that’s easier said than done.” So why does he keep trying? “Seeing the reactions of other people to the music I write, or when people come up to me after a show and let me know how much they like it -- it
Jordan Wieber, Ryan Sax, and Connor Schiesz, Zack Steihl --The band Altitudes
“It’s a lot harder to get started locally, as I’m trying to do right now with my band Altitudes, but I feel like once we get established here, it will all look up.”
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just means the world to me.” At such a young age, I wondered if he had even considered the alternatives to having purely a musical career. “I just love music. Honestly I’ve never really felt called to do anything else as much as music since a young age, so i guess [I wanted to perform] just because of how much i enjoyed it.” In an idealistic world, Zack would be able to keep doing this all his life and make a living at it. His words are strong words and indicate strong feeling towards this subject --
understandable; you have got to be dedicated and strong and passionate about anything that you want people to relate to if you wish to achieve this as a goal. However, if a music career does not work out he says he’d like to put his passion and care into helping other people -- perhaps go into psychology, “somewhere I can help people.” However, simply being underestimated is not the only obstacle young musicians face; there are quite a few things musicians in general must vanquish in order to get to become better atrists in themselves. Zack says that negative feedback has helped him to make things better in music and to accept that appealing to an audience is something he needs to learn to do in order to be successful. He himself has had to overcome personal fears and ideas regarding his musical talent. “Being less naturally talented than other people is hard to accept, but it makes you stronger in the end. You need to accept that people are going to be better than you at things, even the things you’re best at.” He says he does not often doubt his talents, but he always wishes he were better. That just drives him to strive work harder and become a better performer. It never makes him want to give up or quit.
is something any successful musician knows how to do.” So, he says just keep practicing, and do everything you can to reach your audience. You cannot always please everyone, and to try would be unrealistic. You’ve just got to do the best you can. He says he
admires a musician who is “amazingly humble and self-depreciating”, so it is and important thing to realize that you are talented -- you should never doubt yourself -- but you also should not let that knowledge go to your head and keep you from growing. Get exposure. You always hear this, but that’s because it is true; Zack speaks from person expireince when he says: “Keep trying; hard work really does pay off.”
You always hear this, but that’s because it is true; “Keep trying; hard work really does pay off.” As far as giving advice to anyone in this sort of situation, it goes without saying that, “as a musician, being receptive to feedback is huge, and playing to an audience
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String Theory and Beyond: The Stories Behind Learning Guitar By: Jacob Yarnell “I would really like to learn guitar, but I just don’t know how,” says Ganesh Vasu, an aspiring guitarist. And he’s not the only one. Out of the 20 million guitarists in the U.S. alone, 30% can only play 6 chords. But, according to guitarist and guitar teacher Tom Hess, the problem isn’t that they aren’t practicing, it’s “the way they’re practicing.” Although everyone who could ever want to become a well rounded guitarist has every tool at their disposal, they are still stuck playing “Smoke on the Water” over and over again.
guitar knowledge on the Internet. “I was practicing guitar and getting no where, but when I started watching a couple of YouTube videos online and really focused on what I was doing, I improved exponentially. I would really hope that more people will try to use online sources to learn guitar, I mean, it’s basically free!” Most people seem to be taking the opportunity seriously with more than 16,700,000 hits for the search “Online Guitar Lessons on Google.” From the learning guitarist’s perspective this
forward with the task of learning a song for a friend of mine,” says guitarist Caleb Stookesberry, “I was pleasantly surprised to find the song on the Internet for me to listen to, and lessons to go with it.” When Caleb searched online of good ways to learn guitar, the answer was what he was using to look up the problem. “I didn’t know that the answer could be as simple as the Internet!” says Stookesberry. “I mean, I use the Internet all the time, and practicing using it doesn’t really seem like work, it’s become more
“School won’t give you much you can’t give yourself, if you’re motivated. All the knowledge in the world is out there in books, Cd’s, and videos available for $0-$100,” says Derek Sivers, a guitarist and founder of CD baby. Although most people search out elaborate teachers and plans to become a good guitarist, the answer is truly right in front of their face. “Until I looked for easy online guitar lessons, I didn’t even know what a scale was. Now, I can play every minor pentatonic scale,” says Bobby Meyer, a benefactor from the available
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Art By: betheculprit.com
couldn’t be better. “A few weeks ago I was brought
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like checking Facebook or watching YouTube. It isn’t hard, it’s fun.” Along with the revolution of the Internet comes with it the revolution of
a teacher isn’t online,” says Stookesberry as he shows me his Internet bookmarks on his computer. “Videos, readings, instructions...everything is there for the taking.” “I remember when the movie The Crossroads came out, and it had this ridiculous guitar solo in it by Steve Vai,” says William Ambruzs, a session drummer and guitarist. “I remember waiting for the guitar tabs to come out in Guitar World Magazine so I could learn how to play fit.” But since then, so much has changed. Now instead of waiting months for a magazine to write an article on how to play something you can just look it up. But you still have to practice, right? Now someone has access to a computer and all the knowledge about guitar one could ever want. You can try to learn it as much as you want, but you still have to practice over and over again. But don’t just waste your practice time, do as Tom Hess says so that you remember that “when practicing ALWAYS ask yourself if you are using your practice time in the most effective ways.” The two best strategies he said you should follow are these: 1.Before practicing, have your goals in mind before you begin and make them specific. Don’t just say, I’m going to practice Stairway to Heaven, say, “I’m going to work specifically on getting to that D/F# ONLY for 15 minutes”, or “I’m going to practice the 7th and 8th measures of the guitar solo for 15 minutes”.
“Practice Makes Perfect”
Art By: lukemcd.com
2. Video record yourself practicing for 30 minutes. 1 week later watch the video recording and ask yourself this question, “If was a teacher (watching my student practice for 30 minutes, what might I suggest to him/her to improve the quality of the practicing I am observing). Then implement those suggestions the next time you practice. No matter what you use to practice though, just remember what Vince Lombardi said: Practice makes perfect.
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FAME
down the
DRAIN
Rock’s fall from Prominence By Bobby Meyer Today, the common image of the young rock-star, striking it rich and touring the world, is not as common as it once was. Now, the rich and popular (of the music industry) are the pop singers and rappers. Their music occupies many radio stations, movie soundtracks, and the CD sections in stores. Many of the once hyper-popularized rock musicians from before are now in more of a secondstring role, filling in the blanks left by hip-hop and pop for the people that still favor rock-and-roll. They also profit much less than they had before, except for long-standing artists such as Steve Miller and Toto. “It would be nice to have some profit to split up,” says Zoe Graham, guitar player for the Austin, Texas-based band Schmillion, “but right now we are just using it to keep our band afloat!” From the late 1960’s/early ‘70s to the ‘90s, the rock bands of the world sat atop the musical podium of fame, known for their copious wealth and popularity. A perfect example of this is the British band Dire Straits’ 1985 song, “Money for Nothing.” The song was about an appliance-store worker’s view of artists on MTV, with lyrics such as “That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it/Money for nothing and chicks for free;” as it was derived from the actual words of an appliance store worker, that rock song represented the public’s admiring view of rock-stars at the time. But now, many artists playing such music find themselves pulled into the allure of such success, only to
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“It would be nice to have some profit to split up,” says Zoe Graham, “but right now we are just using it to keep our band afloat!”
An illustration of today’s rock musicians.
find that not enough people want to hear their type of music. “My audiences are usually just my friends,” says Mason Crowell, a LASA student and guitarist. He also tells of his music not fitting a particular genre- unattractive today, where everything has to fit a specific category. Another aspect of rock and similar genres that can limit their appeal is their spontaneity and near-total self-control. While mainstream artists seem to have a song for every situation or urge, and fit all their genre-specific sounds and studio tricks (blaring synthesizers in pop, booming bass and scratchy turntables in hip-hop, etc.), other musicians commonly fit their own molds, with sounds all their own. “We had one offer from a guy who wanted us to play up the whole ‘angsty teenage girl’ image and write a song about losing our virginity,” Schmillion guitarist Frankie Blue says. “Let’s just say we did not take him up on
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Artowrk by Bobby Meyer
his offer. Our music is not something anyone else has a part in.” Lack of such a song could derail a career for a mainstream artist; however, the reverse of that is that an artist might not be mainstream enough without such a song in the first place. Also, the songwriting methods of artists can effect their commercial appeal. “I’ve written melodies in the shower before,” says Crowell,
describing his unusual, as-it-comesto-him songwriting approach. Some might say that this is nothing compared to an over-emoted tale of childhood experiences or remembrance of a shady, back-door encounter. And now, these genres’ former glory has led to a significant problem- today, many musicians that think that they can achieve fame, wealth, and glory through such music, only have their dreams crushed when they don’t reach their goals. Some quit their jobs, devote themselves to their music, and find themselves bankrupt because not enough people buy their music, as it is eclipsed by the mainstream giants. This is made worse by those who think they can have such great success as they are.
to Graham, “most friends will tell you that you sound great no matter what, just because they want to be supportive.” Also, as stated by Blue, it takes much more gall to tell someone that you dislike their work than the opposite, so no matter what, an artist is likely to get a disproportionate amount of positive feedback from those around them. Natalie Shea, the singer of Schmillion, went as far as to say, “for all we know some people could be lying to our faces about liking our music.” Even Crowell admitted that most people with something bad to say don’t say it.
“We’re probably a few thousand dollars in debt to our parents though!” Blue explains. According to Crowell, people that don’t like his music “are either making a personal attack, or don’t really understand music.” Many musicians think this way, but few ever fulfill their dreams of grandeur through music. “... living at home with our parents, we don’t have a lot to worry about economically which is perfect because we get to spend any money we make on making CDs and T-shirts. We’re probably a few thousand dollars in debt to our parents though!” Blue explains.
The non-mainstream artists of today ; many cannot overcome them, either because of popular opinion or overconfidence. At the same time, there are “Rock-Gods becoming second-class citizens,” as said by guitarist Jacob Yarnell. However, at least those that remain can appreciate what they do, as shown by Blue- “... we don’t need people who just want to make money trying to change us.”
Something that can bring down these aspiring musicians is the feedback from those around them that leads them to believe they can become legendary stars. According
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Sta r
tin ga t$
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9.9
9
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