History of the SXSW Music Festiva

The South by Southwest Music Festival has been running strong, and getting stronger, since it originated in 1987. Austin considers itself the live music capital of the world, and though cities would like to battle that claim, musicians and music industry types clamor to the capital of Texas every March from around the globe.Austin has had an entertainment district for several decades. As the home of the state government and the University of Texas, Austin has always had lively nightspots, some of which date back to the 1800s, when many of General Custer’s troops poured into clubs after the Civil War. The majority of these clubs were located along 6th street and 4th street, where the entertainment district is still located today, and the musical styles varied widely due to the mix of Mexican, colonial and German settlers. The area today hosts the highest concentration of original music nightclubs of any other city worldwide. In 1986, the New Music Seminar in New York invited many of Austin’s local bands to their popular music convention, and discussed having another one in Austin the next year, and it would be called the New Music Seminar Southwest. Though the New Music Seminar group pulled out shortly after their announcement, Louis Black and his cohorts ran with the idea, and started up their own festival and conference, calling it South by Southwest.In 1986, those working on the festival announced the idea at a BMI seminar at the Hyatt, and the buzz began. A few of those working on the event were also working at The Chronicle at the time, and they began getting the word out to other alternative newspapers around the country. Knowing they didn’t have the serious industry connections on the east or west coast, an ad and story was run in Billboard magazine, which really fueled the fire. Executives from major record and publishing companies from New York, Nashville and Los Angeles began to register for the conference. Though the South by Southwest crew originally shot for 150 registrants their first year, more than 700 turned up.Having the SXSW Music Festival in Austin was beneficial for the music industry as well as the local musicians: the music business was curious about Austin’s live music scene and had a reason to visit the city, and the musicians, who are normally isolated from the rest of the country in the middle of Texas, get a chance to do business with the industry from the comfort of their own backyard.In 1988, SXSW fever had hit the international stage, after the hometown bands found some success in Europe, and the interest from those attending the festival in seeing international acts perform. Now SXSW has offices in Europe, Australia, and Japan to help those international bands with their travel arrangements, get their visas in order, and find housing upon arrival. As Austin changed and grew, hi tech companies moved in and the film industry deemed Austin as “The Third Coast.” In 1994, SXSW added a film festival and an interactive festival that tied into their music festival, stretching SXSW over two weekends during spring break, when many students have left the town. Now the festival, which started with 700 in attendance, has grown to 10,000 participants this past year.

Music and the Web

So what’s up with music on the internet, anyway? Too much of nothing at all! Most find the ubiquitous soundtracks on Myspace pages to be a nuisance, and major labels are going out of their way to keep the good stuff off the web entirely. But this is a problem of design and deployment. Sound and music can be the perfect accompaniment for your message. To get a better handle on this, lets look at music and the internet separately. Music is generally used in a few familiar ways. Broadly, music is a form of entertainment that triggers an emotional response in most people. Beyond the purely entertainment-oriented original music of pop stars, we’re accustomed to hearing music on the radio, in TV shows and movies, as well as in the commercials and trailers that accompany them. These songs and melodies are selected from libraries of commercial or “needle-drop” tracks, or composed as custom original tracks, exclusive to a particular product or message. Most custom music is found in branded settings, while needle-drop is commonly used where a generic underscore or soundtrack is acceptable.While the internet and www easily handle sound or video, it’s primarily a text-based medium. Our reading there is non-linear: we don’t just skip from site to site via links, we fluidly move between windows and applications as well. We frequently bounce over to Word or a Calendar program, cutting/pasting/dropping links into paper documents and emails as we jump around. We lean back to watch TV in our living rooms, but lean-in to our web browsers. So surfing the web has more in common with reading a magazine or newspaper than watching TV.Sound is a powerful, effective way to deliver messages passively, but the internet is an active medium. The majority of broadband web-users have high speed connections at work, but not at home. As a result, unexpected sounds are more of an irritant than attraction. Conversely, subtle roll-over effects, soft background sounds and effects that relate to things the user sees or does on your site entice users to pump up the volume. Emotional connections are key to making a point or selling a product, and music is one of the best tools to make connections. We aim to keep them tuned in, with the sound turned on, so they can receive your transmissions. Here are some rules to get us there...Location, Location, Location!So what makes music work (or not!) on a website? Location, location, location! The user’s environment and the music’s location within the site define whether the music is heard at all. Stick a generic music loop on your opening page, and you virtually guarantee that no one browsing at work will hear your soundtrack at all. Those who haven’t already hit the mute button, will do so once your music begins to play unbidden and unexpectedly. On the other hand, music serving as accompaniment for a Flash display piece, will always be heard because it’s appropriately tied to a message that user clicked-to-get. A good rule of thumb is to tie music to actions, and avoid “push” sound like the plague.Branded Sound is More Effective... and More UsefulEveryone knows the NBC chimes by heart, and most of us can identify popular jingles in 3 notes or less. That’s what makes a jingle aesthetically good or bad! But from a functional perspective, flexibility and uniqueness matter. NPR’s familiar theme song for All Things Considered has been around for over 30 years, and yet it remains fresh because the sound designers vary instrumentation, beats and delivery. Same old song, delivered differently each day! Custom, branded sound is exclusive to the entity commissioning the composition, so it can function as a logo on the web.Get Out of the Loop!The only thing more annoying than a loud, unexpected blast of bad music is an endlessly repeating loop of loud, bad music. Heck, even GOOD music gets old after a few laps around the track! Any sound deployed on the web must be level-balanced against the sounds and music users actually want to hear; in other words, any un-bidden sound louder than songs in their MP3 library is bad sound. Loop that bad sound (with or without the hitch in the beat from selecting the wrong loop-point) and you’ve guaranteed your visitors will hit the mute.Where There’s Motion, There’s SoundIn the real world, things that move make noise. The same is true in cartoons and conventional animation. Everyone knows that music is a good emotional trigger, but it’s also a most sophisticated framework or grid to tie motion elements into. Animators and designers frequently select music that fits the mood and attitude of the message, then key events and motion to the beat. If things are moving, music is almost always appropriate.Don’t Mix Metaphors: The Web is NOT TVMusic is ubiquitous on TV and the radio, in programs as well as commercials. Music on the web is an application and as such it’s rare. Flash sites and animation live somewhere between these worlds however. With that in mind, a safe assumption would be that wherever there is motion, sound (and often music) can enhance it. Music fits when you have lots of visual action, or animated characters, because such pieces aim to be passively viewed, and emotionally engaging. Music is less useful when you’re asking the visitor to read or interact (roll-over sounds are ideal cues for navigation and enticing voice-overs can nudge a visitor back to a previously opened page however).

The Top 10 Ways to Make Piano Lessons Fun!

Looking for a little entertainment with your music homework? Here are the top 10 ways to make piano lessons fun:1. Go With The Flow. Sometimes it's easier to practice piano lessons when they reflect the mood that we're in. If it's a sunny day outside, play some music that complements the weather. If you're excited about a raise at work or a high grade at school, play some music that complements your achievement. Even if you're feeling a bit blue, complementary music may prove to be therapeutic and help you cope with whatever has got you down. On the flip side, much of what's "fun" is creative, so turn the tables and go against the current atmosphere if you dare. Care to brighten up a stormy night outside? Play some of the most cheerful music you can find!2. Play music for your lover. Many of the songs we have today were written for someone else. In fact, love is the theme among a lot of the music we play even when there aren't any accompanying lyrics. So see how your performance improves by thinking of a lost love, your current lover, or even your fantasy lover while playing. If you don't notice any significant improvement, you'll have to admit it was fun thinking about it!3. Try different kinds of music. Get out of a rut you're in by playing music you're not familiar with. As challenging as that idea may be, lively pieces can make practice fun as long as you relax with it. Try some pop music from the 50s or some cool R & B tunes from the early 60s. A little 'old school' Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin is often enough to make anything fun!4. Expose yourself to foreign music. Chances are you'll find some of the most unique pieces of music originating outside of the United States. For whatever reason, there just isn't enough of it infiltrating into mainstream radio. But that just kind of makes it more special, doesn't it? Wrap your ears around some of this stuff and you'll learn how other cultures exploit the unique sounds of the piano. Perhaps you'll pick up a few new techniques along the way.5. Play something else. See how well you can adapt other instruments into a simulated piano just by pressing specific parts of it. The electronic piano is an obvious choice, but why not get crazy and run your fingers across the keyboard you're sitting behind for example. A windowsill? A coffee table? Your chosen victims may not produce any sound, but it's this very lack of pitch that will focus your thoughts on finger placement. Go figure!6. Play with a partner. Are two pianists better than one? Well in all honesty, it depends on how well they get along! If you can find a partner who complements your playing style, then congratulations -- the two of you shall make beautiful music together. Literally. If not, consider playing alongside a violinist, tuba player, or someone who can sing really well. Remember that the key behind this strategy is to have fun with everything from choosing music all the way to entertaining a small crowd or two.7. Play along with the songs that you hear. This strategy could be more challenging than fun, but if approached with the right mindset, you just might find yourself giggling all while you learn new things at the same time. If you're a little bored with your current collection of CD's, try playing along with songs on the radio or TV. You'll find the jingles that accompany TV commercials especially entertaining.8. Write your own music. This is another challenging way to practice the piano -- but it will at least strengthen your skills. Just don't try to write a masterpiece in one day.9. Improvise when you've mastered a song. Instead of writing your own music from scratch, try improving the music that already exists with a little improv. Take a somber piece and attempt to liven it with a few interesting runs. Or do the exact opposite with a happy piece. Insert some questionable yet interesting and thought-provoking pauses into a piece where there ought not be any. In other words, have fun!10. Switch the genre. What would a Chopin piece sound like in a gospel church? How about a Gershwin piece? What if you were to play it with an MC Hammer twist? Try changing the rhythm of a song and see what you get. A lot of the creative pieces we have are the result of mixing different elements of music together into one.What else can you add to this list of top 10 ways to make piano lessons fun?

The importance of the hip hop mixtape

There isn’t a hip hop fan in the world that doesn’t own some sort of a hip hop mixtape. Whether it’s homemade or professional, whether it’s got underground hip hop, gangsta rap, abstract hip hop or old school, there’s got to be at least one somewhere in there (if not dozens) and its presence alone confirms the existence of a tendency that has spanned over four decades and that doesn’t seem to decrease in popularity at all. On the contrary: as the number of tech feats increase, the means of perpetuating this activity also grow.In any case, ever since the eighties, it became a common practice for an emerging underground hip hop artist or group to use a hip hop mixtape in order to gain appreciation from record companies or simply popularity among potential fans. In this case, the hip hop mixtape in itself would vary slightly from the original mixtape concept, as it could contain tracks from the same artists (even if they’re a mix of some sort), so it became difficult to draw the line between this and an actual album. A way of drawing that line would probably be generated by the necessary production costs, as the tracks on an underground hip hop mixtape would probably be demo versions, without the usual mixing and mastering that come with the normal production of an album. However, just like albums, they would have a large number of collaborations (something common for hip hop in general, for that matter) as well as freestyles and interludes.Such a mixtape would wither be send to a record company or given away for free at a concert, although they can also be sold, in a less expensive case than the one albums usually come in. Recently, however, the practice of releasing them in mp3 format over the Internet has also become extremely widespread. If they must be sold, this usually goes on in the street or through mail order. Artists often rely on friends and fans to spread the word about the mixtape, as advertising costs are generally as low as production costs, also as compared to a normal retail album. Sometimes, an underground hip hop group may release a mixtape in order to become more widely known, while an artist with an existing deal may do the same thing with a different purpose, namely that of promoting fresh material.The importance of this practice is so high that it’s been the subject of a documentary, as well as included in several others with a subject somehow related to underground hip hop. Although it’s essential for the industry on the overall, large record companies regard it as bootleg or pirated material