At the beginning of the year, I gave myself four goals - although I don't think I ever really announced one.
- Note Continuity - every song I recorded would start on at least one of the notes that the previous song ended on. I actually did accomplish this, but now that I have, I think it's sort of a stupid idea. As far as sequencing, I think it has its merits (and I'm working on a project that employs it), but it gets sort of frustrating when it's the factor that dictates what song you'll record next.
- Alternate Audio - because I can't think of any good music video ideas and wouldn't have the means to do them anyway, I just film myself playing the parts at the same time that I record them. I had the idea to take the audio that the camera picks up and use it to do an alternate mix of the song. This lasted until about mid-April. Like Note Continuity, I think it's an interesting idea, but this wasn't the right context for it. Especially since a lot of the songs I was recording at that time included only one or two instruments.
- Complex production - I had had the idea to write complex arrangements for my songs, but I'm not sure this goal ever really got off the ground. Some of the songs I recorded this year would apply, but I certainly wouldn't say that I achieved this goal with everything I did this year.
- Post two songs a week - this I actually did, as long as you don't count this last week of December (it's only three days!). Every week, I posted a regular song on my YouTube channel (although many I took down after I re-did the song), and I posted a hymn for Hymnal Habitation on my tumblr.
While it wasn't as broad a goal as the four above, for FAWM this year, I decided to forgo using any string instruments. A lot of the songs I wrote aren't the best, but it was a good experience, and I learned more about keyboard instruments. I even started using harmonica and trombone in my songs. I started playing around with open D tuning in January and really got into it in starting in June, and during 50/90, I started experimenting with slide guitar. Using open D tuning also led me to experiment with inverting guitar chords and playing around with chord voicings.
I'll have an-other post that details my musical goals for 2014 (most of those goals are projects), but I do want to talk a bit about posting two songs a week. I feel it helped a lot as far as my finding my way around production. If you do something for long enough, eventually, you'll start to get better at it, and I feel that was my experience. But it's also rather draining (the video element in particular is time-consuming), so I won't be doing it next year. I'll still be doing Hymnal Habitation weekly, and I'm going to try to post videos with some frequency.
Along with all of the music that I created this year, I also listened to a lot. I even started a blog to catalogue (almost) everything that I listen to. With one exception, I listened to the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle every Monday, and I listened to the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed every Tuesday. I listened to all of the Funk & Wagnalls' Family Library of Great Music LPs in May. With one few exception, I listened to all of my Zombies albums every week in June, all of my Colin Blunstone albums every week in July, and all of my Argent albums every week in August. And from around April to the end of September, I had particular albums that I listened to every day of the week.
I've been getting into more classical music too. At various points in the year, I was listening to a lot of Vivaldi, Bach, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Saint-Saëns. I even learned a bit of Schubert's Octet in F major D. 803 and Mendelssohn's String Quartet in F minor No. 6.
And I started "auditing" music classes by watching all of the video recordings of lectures that various universities have posted. I went through all of Yale's MUS 112, and I have about a third left of Missouri State University's MUS 241.
I still haven't been getting much attention in what I've been doing; I released three EPs and two singles this year (some of them for free), but no one's bought any. Still, I feel like I'm getting closer to actually achieving something with my music aside from just personal satisfaction.
Along with all of the music that I created this year, I also listened to a lot. I even started a blog to catalogue (almost) everything that I listen to. With one exception, I listened to the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle every Monday, and I listened to the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed every Tuesday. I listened to all of the Funk & Wagnalls' Family Library of Great Music LPs in May. With one few exception, I listened to all of my Zombies albums every week in June, all of my Colin Blunstone albums every week in July, and all of my Argent albums every week in August. And from around April to the end of September, I had particular albums that I listened to every day of the week.
I've been getting into more classical music too. At various points in the year, I was listening to a lot of Vivaldi, Bach, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Saint-Saëns. I even learned a bit of Schubert's Octet in F major D. 803 and Mendelssohn's String Quartet in F minor No. 6.
And I started "auditing" music classes by watching all of the video recordings of lectures that various universities have posted. I went through all of Yale's MUS 112, and I have about a third left of Missouri State University's MUS 241.
I still haven't been getting much attention in what I've been doing; I released three EPs and two singles this year (some of them for free), but no one's bought any. Still, I feel like I'm getting closer to actually achieving something with my music aside from just personal satisfaction.
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