The Art of Music

The Art of

MUSIC

ALL ARE WELCOME

BACH TO YOUR BRAIN ART IN MANY THE BASICS ON MUSIC FORMS

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

W

elcome to the first edition of the Art of Music!

From all of us here, enjoy!

Austin has one of the most vibrant performing and visual arts scenes in the world. In this publication, we will tell the stories behind those who make Austin’s music and art the way it is. We will explore topics from Austin’s talented street artists to its dedicated classical music educators, from the philosophy of Austin’s music venues to the psychology of making music.

Josef Stone ASF and Fact-Check Editor

This magazine would not have been possible without the time our interviewees have graciously put aside for us.

The Art of Music staff thanks Cody R. Cowan, Austen Bailey, Brett Bachus, Peter Bay, Andrew Brownell, Bob Duke, Marty McAllister, Luci Borowski, Federico Archuleta, Orelia Mercer, Jessa Fischer, and you, for helping to make this magazine possible.

Perla Cornelio-Gutierrez Graphic and Photo Editor

Sofia Perez Layout and Copy Editor

Samuel Tian Content and Features Editor

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Contents 6

All Are Welcome

A look into Austin’s venue The Mohawk, and Austins’s changing music scene

14 Bach to the Basics

The Stories Behind Austin’s Music Educators

22 Your Brain on Music

The components of music and how they affect the brain

30 Art in many Forms

Federico Archuleta, Orelia Mercer, Jessic Fisher

Meet the Sofia Perez Sofia, Art of Music Layout and Copy Editor, is a student at LASA highschool. She enjoys listening to all types of music, and has been playing the piano for six years. When she’s not at school, she spends her free time playing piano, swimming, watching Netflix, and hanging out with her friends.

Josef Stone Josef is the ASF and Fact Check Editor for the Art of Music. He plays the bass, guitar, and drums. His favorite genre of music is rock and his favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is part of a band called Wild Play with some of his friends.

When he’s not playing with his band, he can be found playing soccer or wakeboarding.

Contributors Perla Cornelio Gutierrez Perla, Art of Music Graphics and Photo Editor, is a student at LASA high school. She likes drawing portraits, making graffiti, and listening to a wide variety of music. When she’s not doing her homework, she can be found watching movies and tv shows or sleeping for long periods of time.

Samuel Tian Samuel is the Content and Features editor for the Art fo Music. Samuel is a piano student at Briarcliff and has been playing for 10 years. He plays mostly classical pieces, but he enjoys listening to all types of music.

He a member of the ultimate frisbee club and the Science Olympiad team at LASA. He also speaks Chinese somewhat fluently.

Cody. R. Cowan sits in his office where him and other staff members work on the business side of the Mohawk’s music.

Cody has been the general manager at the Mohawk for 7 years. He started from the ground up he says, “from cleaning bathrooms during the daytime, to working the door, to barbacking and bartending, to managing”. Photo by Josef Stone.

All Are

Welcome

A look into Austin’s venue The Mohawk, and Austin’s changing music scene. by: Josef Stone

F

riday night, what a sight to see— convertibles, sedans, trucks, and motorcycles line the street lit pavement as the venue’s sign hangs high and mighty in the sky. Fans of all ages, colors, shapes, and sizes enter the building, stoked for the concert about take place, while the band and staff members soundcheck their instruments and work out lighting effects. This is The Mohawk of course, one of the seven Austin venues located on the legendary Red River St. As the clock turned to five, staff and band members enter the building, two of them being Cody R. Cowan, the general manager at the Mohawk, and Austen Bailey, the talent buyer at the Mohawk. As a relatively new Austin venue, The Mohawk has only been open for business since 2006. The club’s ceilings already engraved with hundreds of musicians that have performed, the bar ready at the command of a customer and the swish of a bartenders hands, the stage lights beaming down on the grandstage. How has such a venue received such success in such a competitive industry in such a short time?

The crowd capitvated by the lights, watch as Gary Numan sings out vibrantly for all who wish to hear. Photo by Josef Stone.

MAY 2018 | ALL ARE WELCOME | 9

The answer: a business model that fits right into Austin’s all acceptance motto that has kept the tickets rolling and the drinks flowing.

Cowan is the general manager at Mohawk. He is a leader in a team of dedicated work staff, music lovers, and superfans.

“All are welcome really embraces the idea that regardless of what types of music you listen to, regardless of socioeconomics, you don’t have to be one of the cool kids; everyone comes here they just go nuts and totally celebrate music together,” Cowan said.

ends meet for the bottom line.” Cody said, explaining how money went for local musicians in Austin then and now.

The Mohawks slogan of “All are welcome” may only be seen as a way to differentiate Mohawk from other Austin venues in which the venues plays all genres of music.

However, take a closer look and see that a simple slogan has turned into a beautiful all inclusive motto of taking in all kinds of people, from all kinds of walks of life. We see this same message portrayed frequently in Austin, in slogans like Keep Austin Weird. So, in an industry that relies on creative people, Austin fits perfectly into the melting pot that is the world of music.

This motto is encompassed in everything they do whether it’s the genre of music that is played at the venue to the type of people they attract.

“Part of what sets Mohawk apart is that we do so many different genres of music here. That brings in a lot of different demographics in here, so we try to feel like a venue, where our motto is all are welcome. I think we do a very good job living up to that,” Bailey said.

Diversity is a big part of Mohawk’s ideals, as the Mohawk attracts in people to a safe environment where everyone can just come together and jam out.

“The sentiment to us really is kinda breaking out of in Austin what was kind of a defining feature where every club had its own specific genre and was really segmented,” Bailey said.

A lot of Austin venues make the mistake of including only one genre of music, which limits sales in an already niche environment. However, the Mohawk stands by a motto that shoots to include everyone.

“What defines Mohawk is that we focused on professionalizing some of the sort of sloppiness of the industry, which is really, an incredibly hard business side industry to be apart of it’s cost heavy and high competition in a small niche,” Bailey said.

The creation of music is also intertwined with Mohawk’s ideals as Bailey describes the correlation between diversity and music creation.

“People from all walks of life can create all sorts of music,” Bailey said.

“Now Austin’s grown and because of that...folks in the industry no matter where I grew up you had one job which paid bills, and you had extra money to goof around with, but now we’re working two, three jobs just to make 10 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

Gary Numan(middle left), a British singer songwriter and his band members play for a content audience at the Mohawk, captivated by the lights and music. Gary Numan represents just one of the many genres/ styles of music the Mohawk endorses. Photo by Josef Stone.

We often see the relationship between the venue, musicians, and fans. Cowan explained his take on this and how it can be applied to a local music bar such as the Mohawk.

“The relationship between the venue the musician and the fans...people being in love with music that’s the common defining feature,” Cowan said.

While Cowan relates the common boundary between the venue, fans, and musician to love for music. Bailey shares that common boundary, as being an ecosystem or symbiotic relationship.

“It’s an ecosystem between all of them. It’s a symbiotic relationship between all of them; everyone depends on one another,” Bailey said.

In the last decade the growing economy of Austin has dramatically affected the lifestyle of many Austinites, even having to to move outside to pay for rent. This struggle for rent is ever present in the music scene, as it has been proven to be a rising concern for many in the industry. With this struggle comes a change in the way music has been produced, marketed, and sold.

Mohawk is painted on the outside of the venue between E 10th and Red River Street. The Mohawk is one of five music venues just on that street.

Photo by Josef Stone.

“When you love something, when you’re obsessed with it it’s kinda like you don’t know any other way to be” -Cody R. Cowan

The Mohawk sign beams allusively in the midst of the day, a meeting place for people of all. Photo by Josef Stone.

MAY 2018 | ALL ARE WELCOME | 11

Austen Bailey stands next to the Mohawk bear, a staple in the Mohawk’s bar area. He has been the, Talent Buyer at Mohawk since October 2016. Austen has played in many bands; growing up, music was a big part of his life. He plays Bass, Guitar, and has even been the frontman for some bands. Photo

by Josef Stone

“Art is often born out of overcoming chlenges. I think some of the best art comes from out of that” -Austen Bailey

“Twenty years ago bands toured and had low charge and free charge to make money off the album. Before, the touring and merchandise was the marketing for the album, but now the album is the marketing for the touring and merchandise,” Cody said.

In the past, workers in the music industry could pursue a job that had good payoffs in providing money for necessities and a little extra for whatever the worker would like to spend it on. But, the way of life has changed dramatically for the Austin musician; a byproduct of a rapidly growing economy.

The Mohawks slogan of “All are welcome” may only be seen as a way to differentiate Mohawk from other Austin venues in which the venues plays all genres of music. However, take a closer look and see that a simple slogan has turned into a beautiful all inclusive motto of taking in all kinds of people, from all walks of life. This same message is portrayed frequently in Austin, through slogans such as Keep Austin Weird. So, in an industry that relies on creative people, Austin fits perfectly into the melting pot that is the world of music.

“Now Austin’s grown and because of that folks in the industry are struggling to pay bills. When I was a kid, no matter where I grew up you had one job which paid bills, and you had extra money to goof around with, but now we’re working two, three jobs just to make ends meet for the bottom line,” Cowan said.

However, one thing has not changed in the Austin music community which is serving as a solid training ground for musicians looking to hone their craft to take their skills to the international level.

“I think Austin has for a long time served as launch pad for a lot of people,” Bailey said.

Bailey later explained this principle more, relating the Austin music community having a correlation with the upbringing of artists into the mainstream. Although this role may be threatened, with many musicians moving out of the city due to high cost of living making it hard for musicians to play in Austin without money thus canceling the breeding ground for great musicians status Austin is known for.

“Austin is kind of a crossroads to a certain degree. As most folks, who are aspiring musicians coming up who have not quote ‘made it’. A lot of them are working in the service industry...so as the urban core becomes more expensive to live in, a lot of these musicians are moving further out,” Bailey said.

Gary Numan squats down as he holds the microphone, while a burst of white lighht flashes the audience. Photo by Josef Stone.

MAY 2018 | ALL ARE WELCOME | 13

Through the DECADES

Created by: Josef Stone

50s

70s

60s

80s

The 50s were a time for new music, specifically the creation of rock and roll.

Which combined blues and jazz to create somehing the world had never seen before. Artists like Elvis ruled the world at this time nicknamed “The King”. WIth charming looks and talent early baby boomers were driven right to his music.

During the 60s the world was experiencing Beatle mania and the invasion of british rock artists to the mainstream. Bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan dominated the charts with the combination of charming and sweeping talent these bands struck home with teens.

14 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

The 70s were a time for experimentation, including a major leap in the rock industry with the creation of hard and punk rock. The 70s also saw disco music take over for a short while.

However, it rapidly decreased in popularity into the 70s and early 80s. Bands like Kiss, Elton John, and Jackson 5 dominated the 70s.

The 80s saw the creation of MTV, which gave musicians a way to display their songs to the mases. Bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, and Guns N’ Roses led the way in a new age of rock in the form of heavy metal, glam metal, and hard rock. Pop artists Prince and Michael Jackson took the world by storm showing the world that multiracial musicians can be succsessful in the mainstream.

In this ASF, discover the EVOLUTION of the most popular musicians in American culture. As well as delve deeper into what music how shaped through the decades.

90s

10s

00s

Present

The 90s saw a diverse music world with many genres dominating the mainstream. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Foo Fighters took over the grunge sub-genre of rock. British artists like The spice girls, U2, and Oasis made up a new invasion of british music which took the world by storm and received huge aclaim from American critics.

The 2000s saw the rise of Hip-Hop into the mainstream; which opened the doors to widespread multiracial music. Artists such as Eminem, Jay-Z, and 50cent struck home with millions of Americans, developing the niche gangster rap from the 90s.

Other bands like Nickelback and Linkin Park drew mass atention in the metal scene. Pop artists like Mariah Carry and Pink were also hugely succsessful in this time.

The 2010s saw major pop artists such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna destroyed the top charts across the world.

These artists utalized catchy lyrics and beats in their songs and with the help of constant radio airplay music developed massive listeners around the world.

The present time has seen for the first time Hip-Hop become the most popular genre of music over taking rock. With artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Migos wwdominating the mainstream. While other artists like Ed sheeran and Bruno Mars represent the pop world.

MAY 2018 | THROUGH THE DECADES | 15

to the basics

The Stories Behind Austin’s Music Educators by: Samuel Tian

F

Brett Bachus is performing in the recital hall of the Bachus Conservatory. Photo taken by Samuel Tian.

rom his vantage point on all fours, young Brett Bachus saw the vivid colors that resonated from the speakers nearby.

After dragging his thumb across a countless number of records resting the shelf next to him, he suddenly stopped at one record cover with a specific jumble of patterns and lines.

Using all of the strength his 12-monthold arms had in them, he pulled out the record, flipped it, and gave it to his mother. This is song that he wanted to hear.

Although Austin is not generally known for its classical music scene, the genre is still thriving in the Live Music Capital of the World. Music teachers, professors, and conductors have sustained the genre for over four centuries, establishing schools and programmes that help bring the proper music education to students who have a passion and desire to learn.

18 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

Brett Bachus, professional musician and director of the Bachus Conservatory, teaches at one of Austin’s 20 major music schools.

Ever since he was a child, he says he had an unexplainable fascination with music. Unlike many young music students, Bachus’ mother never had to nag him to start practicing.

“I was at the piano. She would say, ‘Brett, dinner’s ready!’ ‘Okay, okay, I’ll be right there!’ and I would never leave the piano. ‘Okay, we’re going

to bed now!’ ‘Okay, good night!’ She never once had to tell me. I was kind of crazy that way, I actually liked it,” Bachus said.

Bachus founded the Bachus Conservatory in 2007, and the instructors there teach students ranging from children as young as 4 years of age to adults. Bachus remembers a 16-year-old student who was not even remotely interested in piano lessons until he observed Bachus teaching his sister.

“You’ll never know until you ask them, and depending on what they give you in return will let you know if they’re ready for it or not.”

“I taught him how to read music in 20 minutes, and he never forgot any of it, and six months later, I had him playing the “Revolutionary Etude” of Chopin. Six months, from ‘This is a white key, these are black keys, this is a piano,’” Bachus said.

According to Bachus, “Revolutionary Etude” is a piece that is typically performed by pianists who have been playing for around 10 years. He says that that student’s ability to learn such a difficult piece in such a short period of time astounded him.

“What that gave me was the ability to not be afraid to ask a student to do something that may or may not be beyond them,” Bachus said. “You’ll never know until you ask them, and depending on what they give you in return will let you know if they’re ready for it or not.”

conducting for Ballet Austin, Austin Opera, the fine choruses, chamber groups, and school orchestras during my time here,” Bay said. “Austin is a wonderful place to live and to work.”

Teaching a young child music and conducting a professional orchestra have their similarities. They are both about empowering the student to draw out meaning from the composition.

“It’s one thing to learn a piece of music, but shaping it and having the orchestra carry out your interpretation is very satisfying,” Bay said.

Andrew Brownell, assistant professor of piano at the University of Texas at Austin, is also a music educator,

helping college students obtain their degree in music. Like Bachus and Bay, Brownell says he discovered his passion for music early in his childhood. From a very young age, his heart was set on becoming a musician.

“Quitting was never ever something I even have seriously thought about. It was too important to me, and in many ways it was kind of an escape from reality as I think the arts can be for a lot of people,” Brownell said.

According to Brownell, every individual will have different responses to some musical composition. Occasionally, one of his students may emphasize a certain aspect that he never thought

All the way across town in Symphony Square, Peter Bay is also teaching music to others, but this time his students are professional musicians who have had years upon years of musical training and experience. Bay is the Music Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and has been for the past 20 years. As a child, Bay says he was constantly exposed to music.

“My interest in classical music came from watching Leonard Bernstein conduct the New York Philharmonic in Young People’s Concerts on CBS when I was very young,” Bay said.

The Austin Symphony Orchestra is Austin’s oldest performing arts group, founded in 1911. Ever since then, the orchestra has been holding various concerts and performances throughout the year and providing music education programs for Austin’s youth.

“I’m very grateful to be making music in Austin not only with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, but also

Bottom: Peter Bay conducting the orchestra during a rehersal. Top: A student learning how to play the violin during one of the many youth music education programs that the Austin Symphony Orchestra offers throughout the year. Photos courtesy of the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

MAY 2018 | BACH TO THE BASICS | 19

Top: The Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin is where Andrew Brownell teaches. Photo taken by Samuel Tian. Bottom: Andrew Brownell performing at the Bratislava Music Festivals on the Steinway concert wing. Photo courtesy of Andrew Brownell.

20 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

Andrew posing next to a Steinway and Sons piano, which is considered to be one the best pianos in the world. Photo courtesy of Andrew Brownell.

of before. He says that this gives him more ideas to work with, which leads to a more vivid and dynamic interpretation of the piece.

“I think my favorite part of the job is sitting down to a piece of music with another young musician, and exploring everything that it has to say to us, sometimes 250 years after it was written,” Brownell said.

Of course, there are significant differences between teaching a 5year-old and a college undergraduate music. For one, the stress caused by the college environment makes Brownell’s students much more emotional.

“The hardest part of the job for me has been having to be a counselor or therapist to students. It’s an interesting dilemma to be confronted with but particularly this day in age with our political sensitivities about boundaries between persons of authority and

“Be sure you have something to say, something individual.” those subject to them,” Brownell said.

According to Brownell, a good musician is not one who lives their life in a practice room. A good musician has countless experiences that will allow for the communication of emotions and ideas through this medium, something that will make the music more enjoyable to listen to.

“Be sure you have something to say, something individual. You won’t stand out from the crowd by playing louder and faster, there will always be someone who can play louder and

faster. Listening to louder and faster gets really boring, really quickly,” Brownell said.

The lessons that music educators teach are priceless, and the students learn so much more than just translating notes on a page to a collection of sounds. The skills and techniques learned will be cherished forever, and who knows? Maybe these students will be the ones that keep this tradition alive, passing it down from this generation to the next.

MAY 2018 | BACH TO THE BASICS | 21

The Instrument For You

Interested in picking up an instrument? Go through this flowchart to find the one you were destined for. by: Samuel Tian

START

HOW OLD ARE YOU? 0-2

OTHER

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT IS A COMMITMENT?

3-18 VERY IMPRESSIVE! DO YOU WANT TO BECOME A CHILD PRODIGY? NO

NO

YES WELL, YOU SHOULD VIOLIN

DO YOU MILDLY DISLIKE EVERYONE AROUND YOU?

YES 22 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

ARE YOU MOVED BY CERTAIN MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS?

NO

THEN I CAN’T HELP YOU. IF YOU DON’T HAVE INSPIRATION AT THIS AGE, YOU NEED TO FIND SOME.

NO

ARE YOU WILLING TO CURSE THEIR EARS?

TRUMPET

SAXOPHONE

MIDI CONTROLLER

NO

ELECTRONIC PIANO

WHICH GENRE? LITERALLY ANY OTHER GENRE OF MUSIC

YES

BUTTONS!

THY MOUTH

ACOUSTIC GUITAR

THY HANDS THOU WISHESTH TO USETH THY HAND OR THY MOUTH?

YES

ARE YOU MUSICALLY TALENTED?

YES

BUTTONS?

YES

ARE YOU WILLING TO LEARN?

NO

BASS YES

TRIANGLE

NO

RECORDER DO YOU WANT TO BE TREATED SERIOUSLY BY OTHER MUSICIANS?

ABSOLUTELY

NO

REALLY?

NO

YES, YOU ARE

MAY 2018 | THE INSTRUMENT FOR YOU | 23

Announcement board inside the Butler School of Music advocating different campus events. Photograph by Sofia Perez.

Your Brain on Music

The components of music and how they affect the brain

By Sofia Perez

F

orget Sudokus, music is where it’s at.

The vibrant music scene of Austin, Texas keeps music instructors and learners like Marty McAllister and Luci Borowski on their toes, and makes Austin a great place for music scholars like Bob Duke to study music and human learning. Learning and making music is one of the most power intensive tasks that the brain carries out, and the benefits of it go far beyond creating unique and beautiful sounds.

Inside the ground floor of the Butler School of Music, at the end of a long hallway covered in posters with musical statistics, sits the office of Bob Duke, P.h.D., Marlenand Morton

Meyerson Centennial Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning at the University of Texas at Austin.

Duke first took an interest in music in second grade when he got an instrument called a flutophone, which is similar to a recorder. Then, in middle school and high school he realized that one could scientifically examine how instruments make sounds. When he put music and science together, he said he thought that was the greatest thing in the world.

“Playing an instrument involves more of the brain than almost any other human activity. I shouldn’t say almost, more than any other human activity,” Duke said

Music Instructor Marty McAllister has been teaching piano and voice since 1980. She currently teaches at her home studio, McAllister Music & Art Studio, in Austin, Texas. She went to the University of Texas as a music major, but she struggled in her theory class because her previous teacher had not given her enough theory background. McAllister said that she even tried to change her major to English because she could not keep up in her theory class, but her advisor told her that she should not switch majors. McAllister took his advice and became a music major in voice principal.

MAY 2018 | YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC | 25

“Music is math because of its structure, because of its predictability.”

-Marty McAllister McAllister said that when a person learns to read and make music, their brain changes, they become more adept to other things, and they have an easier time learning new patterns.

“Music is math to a certain extent because of its structure, because of its predictability. If you learn the system you got it,” McAllister said.

When musicians hear other musicians play, especially pieces that they have worked on before, their motor system activates their muscles in a way that is similar to when they actually play, which is why a person can practice and improve just by thinking.

“What’s really interesting about the way brains work: people who play music, when they listen to music, listen to it differently than people who don’t,” Duke said.

better the next time the practice the instrument than they did when they stopped practicing “When you practice the piano you think, ‘Okay I’m done practicing now’ and you go off and do some other thing and think ‘Well now I’m doing this.’ Actually, your brain’s still working on the piano,” Duke said

Bob Duke inside his office at the Butler School of Music.

Photograph by Sofia Perez.

Duke said that some of the research he does in his group involves having person learn and play a section of a piece, and then they compare how well and accurately the person plays the piece at the end of practice vs when they bring the person back to play 30 minutes later. They found that the person can play

The brain continues to work on memories surrounding music below a person’s conscious attention. Even when they have gone on to do something else, their brain is still working on the music so that they can play 26 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

Music lockers where students Photograph by Sofia Perez.

store

their

instruments.

the piece better after 30 minutes than at the end of practice.

“In a scan or M.R.I. scanners you

can see what parts of the brain are active. The parts of the brain that are active while you’re practicing continue to be active long after your

practicing has stopped,” Duke said.

Playing an instrument involves generating something out of nothing.

There is a motor component when the brain sends signals to the muscles; a perceptual component, which includes listening to and interpreting sounds; and an emotional component when something is beautiful or touching.

“When you’re listening to music you’ve never really analyzed music because you’ve never really tried to play an instrument or sing from notation or anything. You’re really listening to it in a different and less analytical way than when you play,” Duke said.

A study conducted in the 1990s said that listening to music made the brain stronger. This became known as the Mozart effect, which Duke said is nonsense.

According to Duke, “listening to it doesn’t really do it. I mean it’s a lovely thing, music has lovely benefits, but it really doesn’t make the kinds of changes to your brain that doing something does.”

The Mozart effect was popularized by a study in 1993 which indicated that by listening to Mozart, a person could increase their “spatial intelligence.” This benefit proved to be temporary, lasting no longer than 15 minutes.

“The differences that people saw in those test scores, which were very small differences by the way, has to do with arousal,” Duke said.

Duke said that the Mozart effect is in fact, too good to be true. When people listen to music, especially if it is kind of peppy, they tend to get perked up,

Grand Piano inside one of the Butler School of Music’s practice rooms. Photograph by Sofia Perez.

MAY 2018 | YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC | 27

“The processing speed increases... up into your early twenties.”-Bob Duke Piano keys of a Steinway & Sons piano inside the Butler School of Music. Photograph by Sofia Perez.

and their scores go up a bit.

“Somebody had students stare at a computer screen saver, and they got the same effect as listening to Mozart,” Duke said McAllister said that when adults take piano lessons from her, the receptivity of the brain to learning new music has changed, making it harder for them to learn.

According to McAllister, “they get the message to the brain of what they want to do, what they should do, what their skills are telling them they need to do, but they can’t get the skill from the brain to the hand.”

Duke said that if a child and an adult were asked to tap on the table, the tapping rate of the child would probably be faster than the tapping rate of the adult. A faster tapping speed is more likely to appeal to a child because things that go slowly require more patience.

28 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

“The processing speed of younger people, that is how fast you can think through stuff, increases all the way up into your in your early twenties mid twenties and then those processing speeds start to slow down,” Duke said.

Functional fixedness is a person’s tendency to use an object in the way that it is traditionally used. Adults experience functional fixedness because of the development of their prefrontal cortex.

The child’s less developed prefrontal cortex allows them to develop their abilities through creativity.

McAllister said, “five, and six, and sevenyear-olds, they’re learning everything new and their brain is a sponge.”

There is so much more to learn about the connection between the brain and music as they continue to evolve. Austin’s growing music culture is evidence that music persists in our minds and in our lives throughout the years.

Hallway on the fifth floor of the Butler School of Music.

Photograph by Sofia Perez.

Marty McAllister sits at the grand piano inside her music studio.

Photograph by Sofia Perez.

Piano bench inside a practice room on the fifth floor of the Butler School of Music.

MAY 2018 | YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC

| 29

Hidden Talents

Discover some of America’s most famous child music prodigies and the stories behind their success.

By Sofia Perez

Michael Jackson

Jackson joined his older siblings in the Jackson 5 when he was 5 years old. Originally a backup musician, Jackson’s singing and dancing ability quickly surpassed his siblings and he became lead vocals. In 1969, the Jackson 5 signed with Motown records. Jackson continued recording with the Jackson 5, eventually going solo and releasing albums, including Thriller, which is the best-selling album of all time worldwide.

Stevie Wonder

Wonder began playing a multitude of instruments at an early age. Throughout his childhood, Wonder and his friend performed as group called “Stevie and John.” At age 11, Wonder signed with Motown Records, and by the time he was 13, he had a U.S. number one hit. As a baby, Wonder suffered from a condition which caused him to become blind. He relies strictly on muscle memory to play instruments.

30 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich, who is considered one of the greatest drummers ever, first started playing the drums when he was 18 months old. Known as “Baby Traps the Drum Wonder,” Rich was already a bandleader by age 11, despite having no formal lessons. Rich’s smooth, fast and powerful technique is widely used as a standard for drumming today.

Joe Bonamassa

Bonamassa began playing guitar at age 4 at the request of his father: a music fan who introduced him to British blues rock.

When Bonamassa was 11, he was trained

by American guitar legend, Danny Gatton.

In 1989, at age 12, Bonamassa started a band called Smokin’ Joe Bonamassa which played around parts of New York and Pennsylvania. During 1989 alone, Bonamassa opened for B.B. King in about 20 shows.

MAY 2018 | HIDDEN TALENTS | 31

Art in many

S

Forms

ome artists focus on creating graffiti or street art inspired by their Mexican roots like Federico Archuleta. Others focus on symbolic art to tell stories without words similarly to Orelia Mercer . Some artists like Jessica Fisher create abstracts and oil paintings because their teachers inspired them to.

“I know it sounds common but that’s what I really wanted, them to look at it and be happy”

By Perla Cornelio Gutierrez

32 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

Johnny Cash by Federico Archuleta Philip Kromer

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BobDylan by Federico Archuleta Philip Kromer

Federico Archuleta Archuleta is a self-taught graphic artist from Texas who focuses on graffiting murals using stencils. He said he did not attend art school or college; he was self taught. He learned and honored his craft on his own.

According to him he was lucky enough to have the opportunity to improve his skills by having a wide variety of jobs. He designed t-shirts for army platoons at Ft. Bliss, painted pastel portraits on the streets of Guadalajara, and became a display artist for the Tower Records music chain.

He started this path back in 2003, and is now primarily known as a graffiti stencil muralist, a job title he came upon by accident, and one he now prefers for the most part.

“I try my best to create work that is inspired by both my Mexican roots and my American upbringing” Archuleta said.

Stencil Graffiti is a form of graffiti that uses stencils that can be made from cardboard or paper to create an image that can be transferred onto a mural using spray paint or rollon paint. Sometimes multiple layers of stencils are used to create depth; it’s an easier way for artist to replicate a complicated piece is the shortest amount of time.

Archuleta has been creating large-scale street art all around Austin; showing his Mexican Roots by using stencils and free hand techniques. He likes all of his wall 34 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

creations equally. He tries to create work that is both inspired by his Mexican roots and American upbringing.

He said some of his challenges include the limit of time he has to create an artwork, how much a client can pay, and the challenges of the surface meant to be painted over.

“Make it inviting for ‘gringos, gueros, and gabachos’ to enjoy.”

Artwork by Federico Archuleta Philip Kromer

Orelia Mercer Mercer is an art educator originally from Laredo, Texas. She attended The University of Texas at Austin for four years and took an interest in variety of arts, but has recently been focused on fabric and symbolic art. Fabric art has been really instrumental to her as because she was even doing fabrics while she was in college.

“Fabric art has been really really instrumental to me because I was even doing fabrics while I was in college,”Mercer said.

She said she had began making art when she was about fiveyears-old and people would notice her pictures were a little different, but nobody ever kept her from continuing. She got serious when she was in fourth grade.

Artwork by Federico Archuleta Philip Kromer

When they were finished, their work was going to be judged so after hers was judged she saw a blue ribbon on hers and was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

But when she came back in room her ribbon wasn’t there anymore because one of the teachers though it was impossible for a kid her age to be able to paint like that. The teachers doing the club claimed they saw her paint it but the woman judging had to much clout so Mercer went back years later and showed the woman her degree and said, “look, art degree”.

When she first started making her artwork she said she started investigating the symbology behind all the Aztec, Mayan and Inca .

She decided to use the ones that had the most information and get their symbology to use .

Mercer shared a horror story from when she was in fourth grade and she had joined an art club for her Elementary School. Everyone in Her daughter had just told her the art club was a lot older than that she had become pregnant she was and they were going and she was the oldest of her two to do paintings and she started daughters, so she was thrilled. At getting ideas and decided to get that time she was making a lot of a huge canvas. She decided to mandalas and she thought about paint a little boy sitting at a desk how great it would be to create a and she was thinking of what she story about birth, lives and people was going to add in the backjust using symbols. ground.

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“I know it sounds kind of tripe but it’s satifying to have an idea and actually make it happen, create it.”

She said she was very much engaged with having the symbols tell a story. She was also engaged with the stories of the people that started creation.

According to her she had been doing her own stuff with the symbols. She used the symbols that she wanted on the story and she called them her beasts because they looked like beasts. The symbols told a story and she was very much engaged with what the stories were for the people that started creation.

When she finally put it together and she knew it was telling a story she decided she was not going to talk to anybody about it who did not know any of the symbology.

She ended up being surprised because there was some people that looked at it and they would recognize certain gods and knew what the gods were doing.

The creative process in her head starts out with an idea and once it starts materializing it grows in her head like incremental parts.Mercer said she would think of starting with the birth of something and she would show it expand and keep telling a story so that each circle tells a story.

On most of her artworks she wants them to be related to something but for one particular piece, she created it for pure joy. Whenever you look at it she said she wants to make you feel like “Oh i like this,” and for it to just create joy. Most people that have seen her work have said “I have never thought of anything like that, it’s so great.”

According to her she was inspired when she was teaching in Middle School and they were doing weaving and she thought there has got to be something more and some other way of expressing it. It didn’t have to be 36 | THE ART OF MUSIC | MAY 2018

an item onto itself that can be attached to something else.

So she started experimenting because she didn’t know what materials she was going to use so she got a few and that’s what started the idea.

The details in her art were just aesthetics because certain things look good together, certain shapes look good together, certain colors look good together: “I like to play with people’s eyes, for them to move a certain way when they see my art,” Mercer said.

While creating her artwork she said she felt happy. It was something new and different that she was trying and it just felt good to do it. It wasn’t something that had to be a certain way or had to be a certain dimension because she could make it as big as she wanted or as small as she wanted and in any shape that she wanted, and for her, that was freedom.

Mercer said growing up she didn’t really have a mentor.

She also said that she wasn’t as interested in the masters growing up. She did love Van Gogh but wasn’t as interested in Picasso because she never liked his type of art. She wanted something compterorary, something that people could relate to.

Jessica Fisher Austin artist Fisher is currently focusing on larger scale oil paintings, abstract paintings, and portraits. In the past she has worked mostly in printmaking.

According to Fisher she attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas for four years and received a Bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts in painting, drawing, and printing. Fisher said she began when she was in highschool because of an awesome teacher that inspired her to be an art teacher.

She said she choose to continue with oil painting because it gave her the most freedom with the range of colors there are to use. Her grandma actually taught her how to oil paint at the age of ten, and that encouraged her as well.

She was taking science classes which she found interesting at the time and she loved them. She started creating medical illustrations and would create pictures of the interior parts of a body and paintings of cells and cell structures.

Artwork by Orelia Merccer Left and center images:Orelia Mercer Artwok by Jessica Fisher Right images:Perla Cornelio

According to Fisher a lot of the meaning behind it was trying to express something that people don’t get to look at everyday. She wanted to express it in a different way because it’s usually shown as cold and like textbook drawing of cell structures and interiors.She wanted to bring in that more inviting kind of like vibrant painting.

She said she has a few challenges with

size because she was encouraged to paint really big in college and that was out of her comfort zone. When she was creating her art she felt nervous of what people’s opinions were, but she also felt very proud because she felt like she had done something really successful and unique.

When Jessica was travelling in New Mexico for the summer she started working on oil and paper prints. She did a series of rock formations and looked at the details in nature. She was inspired when she was out hiking and getting out in nature and places she had never been in.

Some of the challenges she faced were abstracting the rocks but still making them recognizable as rocks. She felt she had more freedom because it was a new process for her and she felt she could do anything with it. She was super excited she had found something new. She discovered a new way to work, and wanted to do more, and so she did, she created hundreds of prints.

“I still think it’s one of my favorite pieces... because I learned the most doing it.”

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Block Buster flickr,Alex Liivet

The blockbuster style is used to cover a maximum area in the shortest amount of time. This is done accomplished with paint rollers and two to three colors of paint. The goal is to cover the most amount of space in the shortest amount of time. It can also be put up to cover up other work of blocking another writer from placing anything in the same area. Within the blockbuster style, there are two distinguished groups. The first is block graffiti, it contains large rectangle and square letters which distinguish this style.The second is the whole car it’s when the whole train has sprayed art, from right to left and from top to bottom.

Throw-Up

Throw Up style is more complicated than a tag and it usually has from two to three colors but it’s not nearly as elaborate as a piece. It’s often done in bubble letters with a different colored outline. It can be done quickly and repeatedly while still being able to identify the writer. When a writer goes out they usually put out tags or throw ups all over their area.

flickr,Fred:

Wikemedia commons

W

Heaven

A heaven is a piece that is put up in places hard to reach like rooftops, freeway signs and this makes them hard to be removed.

Heaven pieces often are very dangerous challenges for graffiti writers and can lead to accidents. Graffiti writers who manage to get their piece up gain respect from other graffiti writers.

hen you are walking down the street and you see graffiti on a wall nearby you usually don’t stop to look at all the details. You usually don’t take the time to try to figure out the meaning the graffiti writer was trying to get across. But when you do you might notice there is different styles of graffiti. From simple and quick to very complicated pieces. You just walk by a whole different style of art on a day to day basis.

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Tag

The tag style is very simple and it’s composed of the writer’s name in one color. It’s like the writers signature and if they are associated with a crew they would include the crew’s name. Tags can be seen everywhere and are created with spray paint, pens and markers. When a tag is put over another writers tag it’s considered very disrespectful.

flickr,Iamdogjunkie

Wild Style Wildstyle is a style that was developed by graffiti artist like Stay High 149 and Tracy 168.

It’s a difficult and extreme style of writing to the untrained eye also it isn’t easy to read.The wild style includes spikes, arrows and other elements that may be difficult to understand by non-graffiti writers. They are often done in 3D and wild style is considered one of the most complicated forms of graffiti.

flickr,Gilles Klein

Stencil

Stencil style is a quick way to put up complicated and difficult pieces. It’s done by holding a stencil against a wall and spraying.

This helps to get a more detailed picture that can be done with just a spray can. Even if multiple colors are used it can still be created in a short amount of time. This type of graffiti writing was made popular by graffiti writers like Banksy and Blek le Rat and now it’s everywhere.

flickr,Sergio Gonzalo CuellarMansilla

Graffiti Writers Diffrent styles & designs Perla Cornelio Gutierrez

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