Final Project

For the final project, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. As a musician, I have shot many music videos to promote my music. For this project, I took all the videos that I shot and chopped them up into what I thought were the most interesting and attention grabbing and put them all together. I started with my most recent music video to show where I am at now with my music. Then I went back a couple videos ago to show the difference between my most recent music and what I was making prior to this.

I didn’t only use the video, however, I also included the audio for each clip. This way I could be sure people noticed the difference. I included 4 different music videos that I shot in this project. The message that I wanted to send with this project was the importance of persistence. If you go back to my first songs I released, and compare them to my new album that I just released (General Pierre), the proof is in the pudding. I am very happy with how this project turned out and I intend to make more movies like this with future music videos to show progression.

B5

For the first musician, I think that Bass Nectar fits perfectly into the “Electronic – Producer/DJ Culture” genre. I saw this Bass Nectar live in 10^th grade in Portland, Maine, and it was an amazing show. At the time, I was super into electronic music and this was one of my favorites in this genre. This ties directly with technology because he uses a computer to make his music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imixg3jrJS8&frags=pl%2Cwn

The second artist I selected is from the “Nineties” genre. They are the world-famous Nirvana. I used to play their song “Come As You Are” with my rock and roll band back in middle school. Their work fits so well into the music timeline because it was so different and nowadays it is seen as an essential piece when talking about rock or nineties music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vabnZ9-ex7o&frags=pl%2Cwn

The third genre I chose was “Techno.” I also went through a little techno phase in middle school/early high school and I used to listen to Daft Punk a lot. My favorite song by them was “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” because it used aspects from Kanye West’s song, “Stronger.” Their music stood out so much because they would take songs that people had already released, and turn them into an entirely new song, while making amazing original music as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDpmVUEjagg&frags=pl%2Cwn

In the “Latin World” category, I chose Luis Fonsi, the artist who wrote the very famous song “Despacito.” This song had racked up 5.7 Billion plays on YouTube! It easy fair to say he is an icon amongst the Spanish community and music in general. Without technology, he wouldn’t have had the same mix on his vocals. Also, the beat is computer processed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk&frags=pl%2Cwn

I think the best example for the “Disco” category is the Bee Gees. I chose them because I’ve been hearing their music very often since I was young. They managed to stay one of the most prominent bands ever for decades. They will forever stay alive. Even with the lack of technology, in their prime, they managed to produce this. I’m waiting for a new album…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY&frags=pl%2Cwn

A6

For the performance art assignment, I decided to think outside of the box. In class, we talked about how there should be an element of unclearness in the act. In other words, something had to be off, or out of the ordinary. We also talked about how this would bring us out of our comfort zone, which it definitely did.

I decided to take my interest in basketball and go to the Riverwalk and randomly ask people if they wanted to play then I would dribble around them or fake them out. The out of the ordinary element being, of course, that there is no basketball hoop at the Riverwalk, or anywhere nearby. This performance was also to signify that it is necessary to expect the unexpected at all times because there could always be a kid around the corner asking you to play basketball with them!

My favorite performance art piece that we saw in class was the girl who wore the iPhone’s as glasses and had tape over her mouth. I think having a white tee shirt and a marker in your hand is a perfect way to get the audience to interact/participate in the performance. Technology is not required in this piece, but it did spice up the act with the iPhone glasses.

My second favorite performance piece we saw was Marina Abramovic’s manifesto about what an artist must do/be if they want to be successful. After watching this, I thought about writing and performing a manifesto about what a musician must do/be in order to be successful but I am happy with the outcome of my project. Technology was not necessary in this piece, and she still managed to get her point across along with some added humor.

My third favorite artist was one that we saw in class, Luis Argueta. For his piece, he went to the beach fully clothed and simply walked into the water while holding a computer. This was to show that people are so distracted by technology, they aren’t focused on anything in the world around them. Technology was necessary for this piece, otherwise it would just be a guy walking into the water for no reason.

All three of these pieces share a message, whether it’s how to be successful, or that technology is taking over the world. No natter the topic, the message is still there and I believe that is the most important part of performance art.

            The future of performance art is up in the air, but the way I see it, there are many possibilities. Looking at the way that some artists used those gloves to make music on stage, I would say that is almost performance art. Something that would be amazing to see and use, as a musician, would be an interactive screen behind a band on tour. The screen would change colors and effects based on what notes were being played or how loud they were being played.

A5

When I read about this assignment on the syllabus, I thought it would turn out very differently. I originally assumed that the Xerox project was supposed to be realistic and look like me. I was nervous about this project because I didn’t know if I would be able to find a scanner that worked correctly—I did.

            However, my preconceived notions about this assignment were thrown away when we started going over examples from previous classes. Being a musician, I wanted to tie it back to music, of course. I thought about making a music note out of the images, but then decided on to create a microphone. I went with the microphone because I have been performing my music live for the past 4 years, and I have started to get very comfortable with them.

            I’m very happy with the outcome of this project. I had a lot of fun including scans of my tattoos, because not everyone has them. This made my project even more unique.I also had fun playing around with creating textures with my hair and camo pants to fill in the negative spaces.