I just got out of my Sex Drugs, Rock and Roll class, and I have been loving this class. A few weeks ago a guy who worked with the beatles came in and talked to us about his experiences, and showed us some “exclusive” footage, and played some of his personal recordings… which was awesome. We watched a music video for Strawberry Fields that never got released, and listened to 5 different recordings of the song. It was quite amazing to see how the song was put together with the limited technology of the day.
Lately we have been talking a lot about what makes music, music, and subsequently listening to a lot of experimental music. So today we had a guy come in and talk about his music. He started off playing slide guitar in the 60s playing the blues and things, but has now transgressed into experimental. He played us a few of his pieces, including one that sounded like he had an entire symphony at his disposal, but it turns out it was all done by himself, LIVE. He then proceeded to compose an amazing piece of music right in front of our eyes, using nothing but his original acoustic guitar he purchased in the 60’s a small electric fan, and two sampling boxes. It was pretty incredible to watch how one person with one instrument can create such a latitude of sounds. He took the small electric fan and held it against the guitar strings, to create an other worldy sound, full of harmonics midtones, and even loud roaring bass. He would take that sound through his sampler, and loop it, building upon those sounds with new ones as he went along, compiling this living, ever changing composition. It was quite a site. Thats all for now, I have to go take some photos for a project I am working.