School – Alternative Student

Covid-Class

I am in my final semester of college, and what a semester to go out on. I keep thinking that if I had graduated in the spring, I would have avoided a lot of hassle. At the same time, it’s a unique experience not everyone goes through. I have mixed feelings.

I’m a senior in the Music Industry program at MSU Mankato, and a lot has changed. Some classes are online, others in-person, but most are “Hyflex,” meaning students can decide whether to attend online or on campus. There are signs everywhere with slogans like “Maskup Mavs,” and reminders to social distance. It reminds me of propaganda from Fall Out or Bioshock (which makes it kind of fun).

Strangely enough, these guidelines are actually making my final semester easier. Because so many of my classes are online, I’m only on campus one day a week. This has allowed me to temporarily move back to Faribault. My expenses are down, so I can work less and focus on school.

While in Mankato I was working 30 hours a week and taking 17 credits. I didn’t have the time or energy for personal projects, so my creative pursuits took a backseat. Now that I have more free time, I can do well in classes and be creative. I know this year has been hard for most people, but for me it’s been a blessing in disguise. Since June, I have written more songs than I had in the past year, and this extra time has really forced me to prioritized what I want. There’s no excuses left for me, it’s either do the work or don’t.

I’m looking forward to what this final semester brings, and what adventures await me. I’m grateful to be where I am and I have a lot of hope for the future.

Spring (2019) – Semester Wrap-up.

This semester I took Songwriting II, Musicianship II, Practicum in Music Industry, private guitar lessons, and Concert Attendance. I had a lot more on my plate this time around, but I only had to commute to school two days a week.

Songwriting II was my favorite class. We learned mixing techniques, made demos, and got lots of feedback. Class was split pretty equally between the classroom and the studio; the main way we learned was from our own projects. A student would bring something in and we would learn to edit, track, or mix whatever it was. I found it helpful because a lot of what I learned was stuff I didn’t know I was doing wrong. For instance, when recording bass, you want the initial sound to be kind of thin and not have a lot of low-end. The reason is that it’s easy to add bass frequencies later, but more difficult to take them out, and once you start taking frequencies out it messes with the tone you had going in. These are things you wouldn’t know unless someone told you.

Musicianship II was an ear training and sight singing class. We learned to sight sing solfege in major, minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. If you don’t know what solfege is, it’s a system of syllables relating to scale degrees. You’ve probably heard this song from the Sound of Music that explains it. Class was okay, but our time wasn’t utilized all that well. It felt like we didn’t have a lot to go through, so about half the class was the teacher joking around. I’m not criticizing him necessarily, we were well prepared for finals and all that, it’s just that the curriculum wasn’t demanding so we had time to kill. The most useful part for me was getting a better understanding of modes and how to use them.

Practicum in Music Industry was like a weekly TED talk. My professor was always enthusiastic; he talked about current trends, music news, and volunteer opportunities. He is a firecracker of optimism, and has the stories to back it. He’s worked with Prince and has taught countless successful students, so his fervor is earned. This class wasn’t hard, but it was uplifting and I looked forward to it. The only assignments we had was to usher two times, and volunteer for 16 hours. The volunteering could be done with more ushering or with other music events.

My private lessons were all right. Not very challenging, but still useful. Concert Attendance was kind of a hassle to get done, but that’s mainly because I live out of town. All in all, a pretty good semester. Here’s my final EP for Songwriting II.

I’m having a bit of an identity crisis with my music, so I decided to write two electronic songs and two singer-songwriter tracks. I’m happy with how these turned out, but since this was finished around the same time as Chasing Ghosts, I haven’t been promoting it. These songs are more about exploring sounds and finding out what I want to be musically, whereas Chasing Ghosts was a defined statement. That being said, I like these songs, and I’m happy to share my journey through them. I titled it Mankato Tapes, Vol. 1, and I plan on making successive volumes.

Dave Simonett (of Trampled by Turtles) came to my school!

If you’re savvy to Minnesota music, chances are you’ve heard of Trampled by Turtles. Hailing from Duluth, this blue-grass and folk band has released 8 albums and 7 music videos. They’ve played countless festivals, performed on David Letterman (twice), and held a Top 10 spot on the bluegrass charts for 52 weeks. David Simonett, guitarist and vocalist for the group, visited MSU Mankato and sat down with some classes.

I hadn’t heard of Martin Zellar before he came to school, but I’ve been a Trampled by Turtles fan for awhile now. I forget when I first came across them, but I remember “Wait So Long” being their smash at the time, so it was after 2010. I’m mostly familiar with their work after Palomino, my favorite album being Stars and Satellites.

I was fortunate to get one of my songs played for Simonett. This version is pretty bare, but I’m planning on adding more instrumentation.

Simonett liked it! He said I have a “beautiful, unique voice.” I could hardly believe getting that kind of praise from someone who’s made multiple albums that I own. It felt great. He had kind things to say about my classmates, too. I guess we’re a pretty talented bunch.

Unfortunately, Dave Simonett’s concert for the Minnesota Story Tellers Series sold out, so I wasn’t able to attend, but I can offer some insights he shared in class. One thing I found interesting was what he said about collaboration: “I’m limited by my own imagination… Get someone else in there.” I’ve talked about the importance of collaboration before, but I never thought of myself as being restricted when I write alone. He talked a lot about the importance of other people’s input.

When asked how often he plays shows with bluegrass bands, he said, “Almost never.” That came as a surprise. I assumed that most shows or festivals they play would be very genre-specific. He said, “We spent most of our time touring with friends, because we have more fun with friends.” That ties in well with the theme of community championed by my teachers. Who do people want to work with? Not the most talented or the most similar, but people they get along with.

Although I only saw him for the one class, Dave Simonett attended several, played a show at the performing arts building, and was part of Minnesota Story Tellers where he spoke about his songwriting process. This was really cool and informative. I hope we host more artists in the future.

MSU Mankato, Songwriter Showcase. Spring Semester, 2019.

On April 2nd, MSU Mankato’s department of Music hosted a songwriter showcase. It took place at the Halling Recital Hall of the Earley Center for Performing Arts and featured five songwriters. I had gone to the last showcase in October, and was impressed by the talent. This year was even better, and I want to share the music with you.

Starting out the night was Alec John and the Sky Surfers, an Indie Surf band. Their brand of surf rock is mellow and groovy, with influences like Hippo Campus. They wear bright Hawaiian shirts and perform shoeless. They’re the kind of band you want to hear outdoors on a nice day, beer in hand.

After that, solo performer, Noah Battles, took the stage armed with an acoustic guitar and a loop pedal. His voice is mellow and fits well with his folk rock playing. His style is similar to Neil Young. Using his loop pedal, Noah peppered in some solos. The guy can play.

Brandon and the Clubs is a solo pop artist in the style of Lady GaGa. Brandon dresses in sparkling clothing, and performs with backing tracks. He is one of those performers who is fearless onstage: dancing and interacting with the audience. His songs are about self love and acceptance. He didn’t play this, but his song “Love Club” is really catchy.

Second to last was Anastasia Ellis who took her place at the piano. Ana writes lyrical pop music and is influenced by Rhianna. She performed two songs from her new album, Love & Attention. They were both emotional and raw, in particular her song “Battered Skin.”

Matt Ruff closed out the night. He plays piano and has a powerful voice, with songs reminiscent of Sam Smith. Like Ana, his music is emotional and full of stories. He absolutely kills it at singing, and can play a mean piano, too. Overall, a great night of music.

I realize this is different from my normal posts, but I’m trying to get away from my blog being all about me and my thoughts. There’s a lot of great music happening locally that I want to highlight and share. Please check out any of the above artists that catch your fancy. You might be surprised at what you hear.

Semester Wrap Up – Final EP

Well, this semester is coming to a close. Although I was only in three classes this year, I’ve grown a lot. I have an arsenal of new writing techniques, a better knowledge of production, and a higher standard for my own material. The greatest change in my writing is the increased use of layers, both for instruments and vocals. I always knew about the importance of instrument layers, but I never applied them as much as I could. Layering instruments can really fill a track out and bring it to life. Vocal layering is another great tool I hadn’t been utilizing. Because of my own struggles performing and recording, I shied away from it. I’ve found that simply adding a unison vocal or singing up an octave can do wonders and is well worth the effort.

My industry class was a one hour a week lecture. It focused on current trends in the industry, music news, and other things we should be excited about. The big take away from class was to pay attention: follow successful people on Twitter, read the news, and keep yourself informed. Solid advice, and if the class itself wasn’t all that informative on it it’s own, it sure was a nice pick-me-up. Professor LeGere’s enthusiasm is contagious, and hearing his lectures made you share his optimism.

Here is my final EP submission for Songwriting 1. Originally, three songs were required, but that was later changed to two. According to the teacher, this was because some people had submitted “dumpster fires” as their first songs. I wish I had re-recorded the vocals for “Lights,” but I had a cold and ran out of time.

“Let Go” was recorded at the school’s studio, but “Lights” was recorded at home. The guitar and bass in “Lights” were recorded directly into my interface and processed using Guitar Rig. The solo for “Let Go” was recorded using a Stratocaster into a tube amp.