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Archive for category Wow!

Friday Fun: A cappella hits network TV

Dec 18

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Friday Fun, Music Schools, Wow! | No Comments

I have to say, I’m not a big a cappella fan, and I rarely watch TV. I just came across some of the videos from The Singoff, a new reality-contest-show-whatever on NBC. Unfortunately, most of them solidified my dislike for a cappella AND TV.

However, a link to “Come Sail Away” by the Tufts University Beelzebubs popped up. Styx performed by an a cappella group? I’m in! I didn’t like the fact that they had to trim the arrangement for the show, but I had a good time watching the clip. Like all of the videos I watched, the Bubs have some pitch problems, but I suspect that it has to do more with the monitoring situation than it does their skill (And I’m pointing this out so I don’t get any hate mail about not choosing a perfect performance). Here they are having a ton of fun on national TV.

And since TV is a bad way to REALLY know what someone can do, I also found a video from a non-televised ‘Bubs performance… It’s much better.

If you like what you see, you can vote for them on December 21st, using the instructions in the above video. You can also find them at www.bubs.com

Friday Fun is a weekly feature at singplaysurvive.com that hilights fun and distracting performances by college students and independent artists. If you’d like to suggest a group or a video, please email me at contact@bryanwegman.com.

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Weekend Project: Turn your Guitar Hero drums into an electronic drum kit

Dec 13

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Wow! | No Comments

GuitarHero-Drums

Andy Lunn of vultrix.com posted a great article about how he turned a Guitar Hero drum set into a real one using his Mac, GarageBand, and an application called OSCulator. This looks like it would be perfect for anyone who lives in a small apartment or dorm room, but wants to rock out on the drums from time to time. I know it’s not QUITE like the real deal, but if you already have all the supplies, it’s a really cheap way to get a little practice drum set. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play the drums, now is your chance!

Since winter break is coming, and you’ll have a few weeks with nothing at all to do (ha!), try making one of these. Who knows, you might come back to school in the spring wanting to change your principal instrument! You can find the complete writeup at vultrix.com.

Friday Fun: a lil’ something for everyone

Dec 11

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Music Schools, Wow! | 1 Comment

Happy Friday. I hope you enjoy a nice weekend. Need to unwind tonight? This video is not for you. Want to broaden your horizons and peek at a little excerpt from the wildest performance of Rite of Spring you’ll probably ever see? Here’s something you might enjoy:

Dolls On Parade from Tyler Jensen on Vimeo.

I had the bright idea of taking my girlfriend to that for one of our first dates. I promise that it was as wild (or wilder) in person than what the video can even begin to show (and lucky for me, we’re now engaged).

Now, if you feel a need to cleanse yourself of that, or just  to just watch some students play their beeehinds off, you can have a look at this:

Enjoy the weekend. Don’t study too hard!

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Correction(ish): U of Michigan NOT the first iPhone orchestra?

Dec 5

Posted by Bryan W in Frustrations, Music Schools, News, Wow! | 5 Comments

zee_pr_thumbOh Twitter. I woke up this morning to a message from a German performance group called ZEE (Zaboura Eichstaedt Experience) who informed me that they performed with iPhones BEFORE the U of M concert. I felt kind of bad for my mistake, until I saw that they were an “orchestra” of 12. Now, I just have questions:

  1. Is an ensemble of 12 considered an orchestra? Maybe they were the first “Chamber Orchestra”, which would mean that U of M can keep their title!
  2. Why do colleges and groups like ZEE insist on using an antique word like “orchestra” to describe such innovative ideas? Is it to make the group seem more credible? I guess that makes sense to an extent, but it reminds me of music schools that have groups with names like “Rock Combo” or “Latin Ensemble”. Do you use those names help keep the riff-raff out of your institutions?

Colleges and “legitimate” musicians: quit being pretentious and come up with names that reflect the spirit of your group! We’re all creative people, so that SHOULDN’T be hard. If the music is good, it won’t matter if you call your group “The Glennhaven Conservatory Festival Portable iTelephone Konsort” or “Band of Geeks”, because people will respect you for what really matters: the quality of the performance…

…and if the music is lousy, don’t desecrate the word “orchestra”. ;-)
Learn more about ZEE at http://www.zeeing.de/home.htm. For a quick peek at a school with great ensemble names, take a look at the Berklee Ensemble Department homepage (and then send them a note asking to remove the word “ensemble” from all the names).

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Friday Fun: University of Michigan offers iPhone music class

Dec 4

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Music Schools, Wow! | No Comments

Playing the iPhoneThis fall, University of Michigan professor Georg Essl began teaching a class to explore the use of the iPhone/iPod touch as a musical instrument. A joint effort of the The department of Computing and Engineering and the School of Music, the course discusses programming and performance technique on Apple’s famous hand-held devices…

Ok, enough with the news reporting. Am I the only one asking, “Why didn’t MY school have that?” Props to the faculty for pushing the boundaries of what’s taught in music schools. This class looks like serious fun!

Like any good music class, this one includes a performance requirement. In this case, it appears that the U of M has created the first ever “iPhone Orchestra”. Each performer has a set of portable speakers strapped to his/her wrists, which look like a pair made by Altec Lansing.

If you want to see more, Wired Online has two videos to watch. One of the iPhone concert, and one that profiles the class. Interested in starting your own iPhone orchestra? You can find the speakers on Amazon.

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