Blog 4A: The Written response to Brainwashed

Hey first off read this:http://changethis.com/

            Seth’s Godin’s article Brainwashed is an article about reinvention of your-self from the social norm. Godin talks about how when we are growing up we are brainwashed to follow rules and to do what society expects from us. He then goes on to talk about how we are taught these habits from grade school. Godin then talks about how we are now living in a new industrial revolution age and this is the best chance to break away from the average social norm and to reinvent our self.  He talks about how we have leverages to makes a difference and then lists the seven he had came up with to help the search for reinvention of ones self. Godin’s seven leverages are as followed:

1. Connect
2. Be Generous
3. Make Art
4. Acknowledge the Lizard
5. Ship
6. Fail
7. Learn

Acknowledge the Lizard

            One of Godin’s leverages is called Acknowledge the Lizard. The Lizard refers to the feeling of being afraid of breaking the average social norm because you are scared of what people will think about you. Steven Pressfield calls this feeling the resistance and it shuts down our ability to make art. The resistance is one of the reasons why people are being brainwashed. This is because people don’t want to have the feeling of the resistance and it why people do the things that they are told because they are scared of getting in trouble. When people acknowledge this feeling of ‘The Lizard” they can stand up to it and start to make art again

Learn

            This is Godin’s last but most important leverage. He talks about how the work world has changed and that most people will not do the same job for the rest of their life. The best way to be successful is to learn from your experiences and failures and never stop learning because it is the key to reinvention.

The two layers of Godin’s article that I picked out connect to the Blog I am making in a lot of ways. It connects to my blog is the fact that it pushes me out of my comfort zone by making me share my art with other people. It also connects to my blog because I am always learning and trying out new things on my blog. Practicing these “Leverages” with make you a better person, student, and artist because it will help you by showing you your true art that is not scared of the resistance feeling. It will also give me the knowledge of learning how to make things better.

4B. Audio Reflection on the Music / Song Assignment

My Critiques are on the video. The third person never posted their song to Blogger so I did not get to Critique it.

Blog 3A: Demo and Written exploration of Cover Songs

Feeling Good

THE ORIGINAL: By Nina Simone

THE COVER: By Muse       

            

                Nina Simone was the first to make the song Feeling Good a big hit. Many covers have been created but the most famous cover of the song Feeling Good would have to be by Muse. Some people rank Muse’s cover of Feeling Good in the top 10 of the best covers of all time. New Musical Express has Muse’s cover as the number 1 cover of all time beating out covers by The Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Jimi Hendrix.

 What makes or breaks a cover depends on how the artist decides to portray the song that is being covered. Some artist completely change the song by giving it a different feel when others just redo the original to pay tribute to the song it self. The song Feeling Good was written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse but made famous by Nina Simone. Muse’s cover of Nina Simone version of Feeling Good has lots of similarities and differences between the two.

Having the same lyrics from the original song to the cover song is vital for its success of the cover in my opinion. In Muse’s cover of Feeling Good they take about 99% of the exact same lyrics from the Nina Simone version and put them into their own version the song. Muse even has the nonsense sounds at the end of their version that Nina Simone has in her version. The only differences in the song lyrics between the two versions are very small changes in some verses of a few words.

            The main melodies between the two versions are pretty much similar but the big difference is the musical quality between the two versions. In Nina Simone version she starts out the song with just vocals. In Muse’s version they start the song out with an altered keyboard sound then go into vocals with the same keyboard sound backing it up. Both versions have the full band kick in and start playing when the words feeling good are first heard. For the most part the rhythm, pitch, speed, timbre, and intensity are pretty much the same in Nina Simone and Muse’s version. One thing that Muse does in its version that Nina Simone does not is that in one of the verses in Muse’s version the singer sings into a megaphone changing the intensity, pitch, and timbre of the sound for a little bit.  The two big things that are different between the two versions would be the organization and instrumentation. In Nina Simone’s version the instrumentation was made up of mainly Big Band instruments while the instrumentation in Muse’s version was made up of keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums. The organization or song structure has similarities but also differences. The key difference would be that in Muse’s version they added a solo jam section, which is not heard in the Nina Simone version.

            When faced with the decision of having to pick which version I like better 90% of the time I would go with the original but in this case I would have to go with the cover. The reason I would pick the cover version would be because I feel that Muse’s version brings a whole new vision to the original song making it grow as a song. Another version of the song Feeling Good that I am a big fan of would have to be the version by Michael Bublé.       

Just for fun Here is the Michael Bublé version.

Blog 3B / PROJECT ONE -- “SOUNDSCAPES”

 First Comment - Samantha Williams
http://mdia203williams.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-playlist1.html?showComment=1303787264481#c4245291153685538946

Second Comment - Andrew Cooke
http://mdia203cooke.blogspot.com/2011/04/this-is-soundscape-that-angela-salerno.html?showComment=1303791318581#c4013520486245129658

Third Comment - Adam Martinelli
http://mdia203martinelli.blogspot.com/2011/04/soundscape.html?showComment=1303793049360#c6146918523006617776 

Blog 2

 
Hey first off read this on  http://changethis.com search for "Finding Your Howl." I did this whole blog in the form of an audio blog.   P.S. (I don't know why I sound so funny I think it is the mic I was using.) P.P.S. (Ignore the stupid advertisement)

 * Here is the video to "The Awakening" which is the song I talk about in my audio blog.

Blog 1B: Written Response to the reading- 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas

 Hey Read this FIRST!!! http://changethis.com/

It is sometimes said that to get the next big idea it is best to come up with it yourself. In Mitch Ditkoff’s 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas he talks about how people want innovation because they feel it gives them a competitive edge. He then goes on to talk about how innovation is inspired by people and that people get their inspiration from ideas that meet a certain need. Ditkoff then talks about how ideas come from two schools of thought. The first would be that ideas come from a hard process of figuring and calculating that will create the best idea. The second would be that ideas already exist in people and they are not created and to get them you need to be tuned in with yourself. He then goes on to say that most innovators think in both schools of thought. Ditkoff then gives you 14 ways to get the next big idea.

Ditkoff’s 14 ways to get a Breakthrough idea

1. Follow Your Fascination

2. Immerse

3. Tolerate Ambiguity

4. Make New Connections

5. Fantasize

6. Define the Right Challenge

7. Listen to Your Subconscious

8. Take a Break

9. Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends

10. Hang Out With Diverse Groups of People

11. Brainstorm

12. Look For Happy Accidents

13. Use Creative Thinking Techniques

14. Suspend Logic

            After reading Ditkoff’s 14 tips on how get a breakthrough idea a few of his tips stood out to me. The first tip that stood out to me would be tip number Three. Tip number three says to Tolerate Ambiguity. At first glance some people might not know what this means. It means that you should be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I feel that this is a very very very good tip because it almost impossible to have an idea or vision that succeeds on the first take at it. This tip tells you to keep trying and to not give up. I would implement this tip by Ditkoff into my life and own creative process by using as a way to not feel discouraged if I ever fail.

           

 The second tip that Ditkoff gives and that stood out to me would be tip SIX. Tip six said to Define the Right Challenge. This tip is pretty much saying that to have a breakthrough idea you need to have a breakthrough question that tells you what it is your idea will be trying to answer. The reason why I liked this tip so much is because I always feel that the ideas and inventions people come up with don’t really have a purpose. The matter of the fact is that people are trying to come up with great ideas but the people who are trying to create theses ideas don’t really have a purpose for the idea other then they want to get it out into the world as fast as they can.  I feel the same way Ditkoff feels with this tip. The best way to have a good and solid idea is to try to come up with an idea that solves a problem in the world that this idea will help benefit. The way I would use this tip is pretty self-explanatory, if I have a creative idea I would make sure that the idea I am trying to come up with will have a purpose and could help solve things.

The third and final tip from Ditkoff’s original fourteen that stood out to me would have to be suggestion number Twelve. Tip twelve said to Look for Happy Accidents. When I first read this I was confused because it said happy accidents witch are two things that kind of contradict themselves. A “Happy Accident” is something you discover that is a breakthrough that happened on accident. Ditkoff gives an example of  “Happy Accidents” such as when Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin on accident. I am very much in support of this tip because most people don’t think twice about accidents. I feel that almost 25% of the best and greatest discoveries, inventions, and ideas happen on accident. This tip by Ditkoff is a very very very good suggestion in my eyes. The main way I would use this tip suggestion would be to just use it in life on an everyday basis. The way I would use it by being creative would be to look at the small mistakes and see if I have any “Happy Accidents” that could come about.

            At the end of every tip Ditkoff gives you suggestions on how to use this tip to help with your breakthrough idea making. For instance, tip Four said to make new connections. First he said to make three parallel lists of ten words. One column will be for nouns; the second for verbs, and the last one will be for adjectives. After you do this look at the list to see what interesting connections you can come up with.

Nouns	Verbs	Adjectives
Trombone	Run	Hard
TV	Swim	Soft
Computer	Eat	Red
Sword	Drink	Shinny
Movie	Dream	Loud
Basketball	Play	Annoying
Door	Jump	Gold
Cup	Read	Purple
Jacket	Swing	Hairy
Band	Tap	Bare

Some Connections I came up with.

1. The basketball was tapping the floor and it was very annoying.
2. When I play the trombone the shinny gold instrument is very loud.
3. The band ran so much it made the ground bare.

Blog 1A: Explain what kind of creative person you are and who inspires you.

Three people stand on top of a mountain looking down into a valley. The first man said, “I bet this valley was created from a glacier.” The second man said, “I wonder if this valley could grow good crops for me.” The third and final man stood there and just said, “How beautiful.” In reality there is just one man standing on top of the mountain thinking and the “Three Men” represent the man’s thoughts. The “First Man” represented scientific thinking, the “Second Man” represented purposeful thinking, and the “Third Man” represented thinking of the arts. The point of this story is to show you how the brain thinks and to show you how all types of thinking is equal to one another and has an impact on everyone’s lives.

I am sure that most people who just read that story are thinking and want to know why in the world did I just waste there time by making them read that story. The reason why is because most people over look the arts and feel that it is not that important. I am the type of creative person who expresses their creativity in all types of arts but the main way I show my creativity is in music.

            Ludwig Von Beethoven is one of the best-known classical musicians ever and is one person who influenced me the in music. The second would be the rock band Muse.

Beethoven’s Piano piece Für Elise is one of his most popular piano pieces. This song though many people might not see it has elements of Tension and Release. The Familiar in this song is the constant melody played throughout the song but changed just a little. The difference in this peace is when Beethoven drops the main melody completely and changes the mood and feel of the piece. Beethoven is very good at throwing in these random sections in his music that makes the listeners wonder why that section is in the piece. When I write music I always try to make a section that appears and sounds like it should not be there just like Beethoven because I feel it adds a whole new element to the experience of enjoying and listening to music. Almost every artist to an extent now uses this technique of having music that changes the mood at one point during the song.

         

          In Muse’s hit song Time is Running Out they use the elements of Text and Subtext. This element is very popular in a lot of songs by Muse but especially in Time is Running Out. This song is about how our time is running out and there is not a lot we can do to stop it. The whole subtext of this song is that they are talking about the government. The most important impart of music to me is lyrics with meaning and messages the lyrics hold. Muse has meaning behind every song lyric which is why they play a huge role in my creativity in music. Rock Music first became popular because of subtext such as songs like Big Ten Inch…Record by Bull Moose Jackson and Rocket 88 by Ike Turner. Without text and subtext Rock Music could have never been and is a key reason why text and subtext plays such a huge impact on me.

           

Almost all of Muse and Beethoven’s music is Active and Didactic. You can look any piece by the two and realize that these two composers have a theme for the most part but they still leave there music up for people think and feel whatever there heart and mind desires. For instance, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is one of his best works ever and you can make the music and theme what ever you want it to be. On the other hand you can have music like the song Apocalypse Please by Muse whose theme is to tell you to prepare for the end of the world. Theme is sometimes a very important part in music and other times the artist leaves the theme up for you to decided. When I write and play music some type of theme is always going through my head, which is why between Muse and Beethoven I get my influences.

Without music in my life I don't know where I would be. The one thing I do know is that I am a better person and will live a much better life with music and the arts in my life.

           

MDIA 203 IPhoto edit Day 1

It is a long walk to get to this point but it is well worth the trip to see this view.