Blog

Keeping in the spirit of Dane the Intern's thorough reflections on the trials and tribulations of today's recording artists, I too have decided to blog about one of my favorite subjects--music. Music that I am living without this morning having forgot my headphones on the counter at home.

Aside from the mind-numbing drone of the air-conditioner tirelessly working to keep the triple-digit temperatures outside, I find some solitude in the occasional outburst of Ke$ha's latest hit (Unicorn people and the 'Beek. 'Nuff said.) from Tracie's office across the way.

As a designer, it's common practice to plug into your computer and lose yourself in a soundtrack that reflects your mood or serves as inspiration to drive your creative machine (unless you're me and you left your headphones at home. Then you're listening to nothing. Just thought I'd bring that up again.)

On any given day, I can start things off by listening to some Top 40 Jams (Thank GOODNESS for IHeartRadio!), but as the day progresses, my background in classical music and fond memories of spending countless summers at band camp kicks in, and my working-soundtrack starts to sound like an amazingly-awesome intro video, kinda like this sweet piece of cinematic perfection we at Old Hat put together last year:

After that, my interests span the entire gamut of classical music. For a laid-back and intense musical experience, I like to listen to some Eric Whitacre, one of the hottest composers on the scene right now, most notable for his development of the "Virtual Choir." In the video below, he does a TED talk on how he got over 2000 people from all over the world to submit videos of themselves signing their respective voice parts to one of his pieces, constructing an international ensemble that never once practiced together. He was inspired by a young singer sending him a raw video of herself singing the melody to one of his pieces. He was touched so deeply, that he was motivated to find a new way to bring people together with no obvious physical or social connection, people who had never met, by using music. 

Whitacre went to college to try and major in being a rock star, but when he realized that degree plan wasn't offered, he majored in music and used his love of rock and popular music to produce a spectrum of sounds that continue to define a musical generation, changing music forever.

Kinda like this:


When I'm looking for a little musical flavor, I like to enjoy anything by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. Piazzolla made tango cool by fusing the very structured and traditional genre with a very young and experimental sound at the time--American Jazz. It was a concept so radical at the time, he often received death threats for desecrating what most Argentinians considered sacred. But by daring to be different, he changed music forever.

One of my favorite pieces to jam to is the Finale to the 5th Symphony by Russian commposer, Dimitri Shostakovich.  Every time I'm in a pinch for time, I can turn this puppy on and cruise to a quick finish or meet a deadline.

This awesomely-epic tune sounds like it's a matter of life and death, and for Shostakovich, it was. You see, he wrote a pair of operas in 1936 that really t.o.'d Stalin who thought they were vulgar and disgusting mainly because they poked fun of the political climate in Russia at the time and were far outside the confines of 'popular music'. Stalin, verbally lynched Shostakovich for being so radical, and for the next year, Shostakovich lived in constant fear of retaliation while falling from his favorable status as a national hero. (If the music wasn't intense, the story sure is.) So he did what any sane person would do, he wrote the best darn thing he could imagine, and it worked. Shostakovich reclaimed his spot as one of Russia's shining stars. In doing so, he changed music forever. 

If there is anything that these composers have taught me, it's to be comfortable with pushing the limits and finding new ways to do things, despite the perceived consequences or lack of popularity. Making something that is aesthetically off-the-wall and the next-big-thing is a huge motivator for us creative types. In doing something new and constantly working to be epic, who knows how we can be inspired to change design forever.

On that note (Get it? Note?!?!) I'm gonna run home and grab my headphones!