In my last entry, I was discussing music practice and the approach taken to treat and utilise this aspect of music preparation. The results so far have been quite surprising.
In the last few weeks a good amount of students have been attempting the form of practising every day, even if they could only squeeze five minutes in. Students that have done this have come to their lessons exhibiting...
- a much more positive attitude
- greater quality in tone
- greater strength in tone
- greater preparation and understanding of pieces and musical tasks
For their first lesson in term four I spoke with students for 10-15 minutes (nearly half of the lesson) discussing practice. In the past I have had some people criticise me for talking too much, but I would like to respond now by saying perhaps there are some teachers/tutors out there that are not talking enough. It’s important that practice is discussed with students so they realise the purpose, and attempt the regime stated of trying to play everyday instead of trying to fixate a schedule onto them. You will see a student light up as soon as they understand the purpose of practice in order to retain information, instead of treating it as a function of “becoming better”.
Coffs’ Big Verdict
The results of a poll in the Coffs Coast Advocate over a week ago exhibited an interesting vote for a signature even in the region. To quickly explain why a poll was conducted, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey visited Coffs Harbour and declared that if the town was going to put its name on the national tourist map it would need a “big event”.
Unfortunately a music/arts event did not top the polling list, although it did finish a very impressive third ahead of sporting events and ocean related activities. Second was a cartoon festival, which would coincide very well with the existing Bunker Cartoon Gallery.
The number one choice was a Gaming Expo, and by this we mean console/computer games (not to do with any form of gambling). For anyone not involved with computer gaming, this would seem like an absolute joke. Rest assured though, no hacks were used to swing this poll. The computer gaming community and culture is larger than you think in the Coffs Harbour and mid-north coast region. It’s not exactly a community or culture that throws itself out there like the sports and arts communities, but given the chance it can prove to be quite prosperous.
But why would I be discussing this in relation to music?
Just recently the PAA released their program for their next concert in May next year. It has been entitled “French Connection” with the “Can Can” from Offenbach’s Orpehus of the Underworld, Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, and Faure’s Requiem, along with some other works that are awaiting selection. While it is a very nice program, it is full of known works (currently) that people have heard before. The more I have travelled around NSW and been involved with performances home and abroad, more people from the audience have come up afterwards and commented on works they never would have heard before or been unfamiliar with. A terrific example would be the works “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Flashpoint” for concert band from the assorted band camps and tour. A lot more people have heard of “Pictures” than “Flashpoint”, but more praise was given for “Flashpoint” being labelled as a unique work and a genuine piece of music for concert/wind band.
To tie this in with an electronic entertainment event, a proper concert performing music from assorted video games would have the potential to draw in a huge crowd. Don’t believe me? Check out the video below of an event held in Europe, an event that is held every year and draws in a massive popular crowd. By no means is this a throw-together performance. This is a well thought out and delivered arrangement of a classic video game work that the audience appreciates and would pay very good money to see performed several times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBmZAg8HxfY
For something a little different I decided to throw in a recent title that makes very good use of the orchestra, in particular the brass lines and sections.
Even when video game music was the ditsy, tinny sounding background noise for hand held and television consoles, the harmony was at times quite complex. Today you can expect music to be fully orchestrated, and even more complex, delivered with true instruments to create the tension and drama that is of the high expectations of video game developers and producers. A lot of music composed that we listen to is normally in 4/4, or maybe the occasional 6/8. However, who on earth in their right mind would compose music in 7/8? Why would anyone listen to it? Ask Blizzard Entertainment and they can tell you that 11 million people subscribed worldwide to play one of their games will more than likely hear the tune whenever they go to log in. Blizzard Entertainment isn’t the only group to use an irregular time signature as their theme tune. “The Bill” on TV uses a 7/4 time signature for their theme, as did Yoko Kanno in one of her pieces for the “Cowboy Bebop” movie. I’m sure there would be more tunes out there people could name from video games that steer away from the simple and compound time signatures. Time signatures aside, music is becoming a lot more prominent in setting the tone and influencing consumers to buy games these days, along with gameplay.
There are people learning music that will go ahead and either search for the music of video games, popular or animated movies and learn how to play the tunes. If they cannot do this, then they will listen and learn to play it by ear.
At the end of the day, this suggestion would possibly have one of the most unpredictable outcomes. It has the potential to be an incredible success, but it is very capable of falling on its on sword. If there really is a very strong computer gaming crowd in Coffs Harbour, would they respond to an event such as this? Or could there be the potential to tie a musical aspect to a computer gaming expo such as the video shown above?
Might be crazy, but who knows? It may just work.
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