An interesting piece from one of my fellow Huskies…
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School
Just wanted to jot down a few thoughts before I fall asleep. I finally started to learn Sibelius, the music notation software today. I’ve attempted to learn it a few times in the past, but I never had the time to dig in and figure it out. I also didn’t have much of a reason to in the past. It was a hobby, and hobbies aren’t always the priority. Now that I’m a music major, I really do need to learn Sibelius. I want to get into copying in the future, so I’ll need to become a Sibelius guru someday! Yes, I do realize I haven’t said a single word about Finale. I’ve used Finale in the past as well. I didn’t have a good first impression. I recall the color scheme of the user interface made me depressed. Hm, I’m very sensitive to colors. Anyway, I want to copy Broadway scores for an new musical at some point in my life. I also want to play a musical I copied. What are the chances of that happening?
On the topic of notation software, I looked into LilyPond a few days ago. It’s a text-based notation software much like how HTML functions – you write code, and the “browser” or whatever processes the code spits out a graphic representation of whatever you coded. I do like LilyPond’s syntax a lot, and I love the beautifully rendered engravings it produces. The output is much more organic when compared to scores produced by Sibelius and Finale. I think the only downside is the time it takes to code the music. It’s great for short pieces, but I can’t imagine scoring a larger work with LilyPond unless a client specifically asks for it. LilyPond does offer MIDI input via a keyboard, but notating huge orchestral or symphonic scores seems tedious and time-consuming to me. In today’s music world, time is money.
I’m trying to assign myself a bunch of scoring projects to do over the summer. My biggest goal at the moment is to completely notate the Piano 1 score for Chicago in Sibelius. I’m band directing and playing piano for a production in September, so having a score I can actually read will be greatly appreciated! I’m also going to do a few lead sheets, a pop score, something with classical piano, and maybe half a movement from a symphony. I need to get exposed to lots of different styles, and I think diving right in is a great way too learn. Don’t worry! I ordered the reference manual today, and am planning to go through it before starting any projects.
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I’m currently music directing Northeastern’s production of The Wedding Singer, which means I’m responsible for teaching the cast their vocal parts. This is my first time teaching vocals by myself, so it’s been a new and exciting experience. I’m also serving as rehearsal pianist, which is unfortunate in a way. Taking on both responsibilities means I can’t pay as much attention to the singers as I would like to. Luckily I have my trusty assistant music director to pay attention to things like harmonies and phrasing. In addition to these two roles, I am also playing Keyboard 1 and programming all the synth patches for all three keyboard books. For those of you who are interested, I am programming K1 on a Yamaha Motif XF and K2/K3 in Apple Mainstage with the Logic ES2 virtual analog synthesizer and modification of stock patches. In a perfect world, I would be designing all the sounds from raw waveforms, but I don’t have enough time for that!
Oh, I forgot to mention I’m also taking classes this semester! I have a full course load this semester. All my classes are music classes, so I don’t really mind at all. They’re all interesting and fun for me, especially music technology. Outside school and theatre, I’m interning at Blink Music Studios, which I declare to be the best studio in Boston for recording classical music. I’m not saying that because I work there. You’ll agree with me if you go to our website and listen to some of our sample recordings. Music students, definitely consider recording with us if you need high quality sound for audition tapes and such. We also offer studio lessons on managing and using recording equipment, as well as personal instruction on the latest digital audio workstations and sample libraries. All classes are taught in a state of the art facility with Boston’s best sounding music reproduction system. Contact me if you’re interested!
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I’ve started to notice my developing workaholic tendencies, and it’s scaring me a little. I feel really uncomfortable when I have free time. It feels like I’m wasting my life. Free time is good, and I used to be able to appreciate it. That’s not really the case anymore for whatever reason. I haven’t come up with a cause for this behavior yet, but maybe this is what it feels like to be passionate about something.
Last year when I was a biology major, there was a finite amount of material to study for a given course. For example, I had to learn about a bunch of different parts of the cell and their functions. There’s nothing else there; it’s finite. It’s just the cell and its functions that it. There’s no ifs or maybes. It was science, and science is fact. That’s the attitude I had towards majoring in science last year. I just learned and studied what was required, but I didn’t go beyond that. There certainly were things I could’ve researched in my spare time, but I didn’t. Perhaps I wasn’t passionate enough. I spent a lot of my free time last year playing the piano. I considered it stress relief, and it served as a counterweight to all science courses.
This change in my attitude occurred sometime this year. I had transitioned into the music department at Northeastern, and all of a sudden my whole world changed. Music was no longer second to my studies. Music became my studies. I started thinking about things like how to program efficient patches for shows, if velocity triggered layers would be a good idea in a certain situation, and how to integrate two keyboards together into once aggregate device while maintaining control over expression for each keyboard. These are things that performing musicians enrolled in music programs should think about. Obviously there are variations depending on what instrument play, but the same basic principles are applicable. I started to feel like a real musician, and not a scientist who plays music on the side. It was overwhelming, and I was very happy. Being able to pursue one’s real passion without obstruction is one of the best things in life.
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