Musical Mania

Musical Mania Ezine Spring 2021

The Looking Glass P. 8 The Music Production Puzzle p. 14

The Spotlight And the Shadow p. 20 Change of Plans p. 26 Why We Love Music p. 32

Table Of Contents

06 08 14

Meet the Editors

The Looking Glass By: Gabriel Syed

12

Guess That Song By: Gabriel Syed

Musical Puzzles By: Tarushi Tripathi

18 20

Old School Music By: Tarushi Tripathi

The Spotlight and The Shadow By: Samuel Newmark

24 26 28 30 Photo Credits Photo by Getty Photo by AP Photo by Pitchfork

Benefits of Music By: Samuel Newmark

Change of Plans By: Josie Long How has COVID-19 Affected Music Streaming By: Josie Long

Why We Love Music By: Ana Linan Hernandez

32

Through The Decades By: Ana Linan Hernandez

Meet the Editors Our magazine examines the different facets of the music industry. We focus on the multiple layers of music and music culture today. Some of the things we dive into in our magazine are what makes music so exciting and why it always grabs our attention. Throughout the magazine, we’ll cover different subtopics such as how artists reflect on the music industry, the process of music production, jobs to pursue in music, the impact of COVID-19 on the music industry, and the psychology of music.

- The Editors

Samuel Newmark • • • • •

Loves to play tennis Coder and code cracker Passionate reader Dedicated gamer Methodical puzzle solver

Tarushi Tripathi • • • • •

Loves to play piano Heavy reader World traveler Constant photographer and film-maker Music is life, life is music

Gabriel Syed • • • • •

Loves to play soccer Adamant shoe collector Travels the globe for soccer Interested in music production Car fanatic

Ana Linan-Hernandez • • • • •

Loves to skate Dog lover Commited reader at all times Amateur chef Constantly plays video games

Josie Long • • • • •

Loves to play guitar Listens to music all day long Plays with dogs all the time Jewelry designer and maker Constantly cooks and bakes

6 / Musical Mania

The Looking Glass Recording artists relfect on the music industry Story by Gabriel Syed

Marcus Money strikes a confident pose to promote his brand (Photo courtesy of Marcus Money)

The rug-covered floor makes no sound as I walk into the studio.

Lining the wall that looks into the “Box” is an entire recording setup. It seems like there is every knob and button ever on the console board as I scan the room. The entrance to the room is

surrounded by comfortable chairs and bean bags for many people to watch the magic happen.

Today though, I walk through this room and into the box because I’m the one they have come to watch.

Growing up, almost every

artist doesn’t have the opportunity to experience this feeling.

Nowadays, many start-up artists are called “SoundCloud” artists because they use the app SoundCloud to show their music to others. Before Soundcloud, the only way to record for very cheap

was to buy a $20 microphone from the local Radio Shack and start recording through an audio software you downloaded on a computer.

Marcus Money is one of those people who grew up with a $20 microphone, and started from his bedroom. He has been recording and producing music as a rap artist and producer since his teenage years in the late 90s. He is currently an artist and producer in the Houston area that has been able to bring his music to many parts of the country, and

music. Money developed a love for poetry which caused him to be very good at writing music with his “strong knack for words.”

“I liked words, I liked all the arts, I liked drawing, I liked poetry,” Money said.

This caused him to dive deeply into rap and hip-hop and use his talent with words and rhyming to develop remarkable lyrics and rhythmic beats in his songs.

Mara Connor is a country and folk artist who “blends

Mara Connor in her car for an album picture (Photo courtesy of Schuyler Howie)

even multiple other countries. He believes the most important thing to do in order to achieve your goals is to keep pushing, and not let anything distract you.

“You really have to put in a lot of time and work,” Money said, “but it’s not rocket science.”

Money grew up with multiple genres of music, and multiple perspectives he later added to his own. He went into his teenage years listening to hip-hop and other related music since it was very influential and popular during the ‘90’s. Music was a very important part of his life while he was growing up which caused him to begin understanding the emotions artists put into their

seamlessly with ‘60’s and ‘60’s beach-pop.” Connor began understanding she wanted to make a career out of her music when she joined her first indie rock band after high school.

She understands that the key to drawing people into her music is to be honest, and to say what’s on your mind.

“I can’t speak for others, but as a listener myself, I tend to gravitate towards music that is emotionally honest,” Connor said.

Connor began her career surprisingly at age three when she recorded her first original song. During her childhood, her parents raised her listening to classic albums from the ‘60’s and

(Photo courtesy of Marcus Money)

‘70’s including Bob Dylan; she also started listening to British Invasion bands including The Beach Boys and The Beatles.

She enjoys the “retro” style of music, and still constantly incorporates this into her music.

“I definitely put that era of artists on a pedestal,” Connor said, “but as an artist, I think my ultimate goal is to create my own sound.”

On the other hand, Money grew up with a very different musical taste he got from his parents.

“My dad was into rock and roll classical rock. He stuck back in between the ‘60’s to the ‘70’s rock era. It’s not metal, but it’s definitely not soft. It’s right when it came in with electric guitars,” Money said.

“My mom was really heavy on pop music, but she definitely liked playing things that had a lot of rhythm in them,” Money said. “I think that’s where I developed my liking for it (hip-hop).”

Money was able to develop his own taste and style when he started producing during his teenage years. He constructed Musical Mania / 9

Marcus Money looks to the horizon wondering what’s next in his career (Photo courtesy of Marcus Money)

file:///C:/Users/gabri/Downloads/Marcus Money (8)

his smooth and consistent hip-hop music, and learned to incorporate rapping and singing into his songs.

“I started from the very bottom, and taught myself from the ground up. I tried in the process maybe five years into making music, and then 10 years, and then 15 years, giving it to somebody else who is deemed a professional.”

Money said that, “In all cases, I was beating them out for what I could afford; I had better quality.

So then at that point, I quit trying. it was what I needed to take seriously, and really develop my

sound, and that’s when I learned all the hard stuff that most people are too lazy to learn.”

Connor has brought her music to many parts of the country since she started her career, and has toured in many different regions.

“I loved touring the West Coast before the pandemic. I really connected with the people and the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. I used to live in New York and have enjoyed playing around the city,” Connor said.

As for Money, he

has started expanding his reach across the country, and is working towards reaching regions including the West Coast. Even though his home base is Houston, and he has most of his listeners in Houston, Galveston, and surrounding areas, he also has small pockets with lots of listeners spread across the country.

“I’ve got strong fan bases in Idaho, Florida [and] New Mexico,” Money said. “As far as countries, I actually get a lot of plays in Brazil.

I don’t know why, but if it wasn’t so expensive to go reach out and develop a fanbase over there, I would have already been there.”

Though the pandemic has significantly affected many artists’ abilities to reach out to their fans, and have concerts and other large events, it has given them time to regroup and develop a plan to spread their music to many areas.

Money went from being a teenage boy with a $20 microphone setup in his bedroom to a highly sought after artist and producer. The pandemic caused Money to pivot instead of change his entire life since he was able to 1/1 turn towards his producing career and help other artists stockpile their songs and video until they

Mara Connor has recorded multiple songs in this record year for her career (Photo courtesy of Schuyler Howie)

could be released. Though his artist career has been damaged, he is able to stay afloat because every artist has started using the internet more as a means of spreading their music.

Connor has also come a long way from a young band member out of highschool to recently releasing her debut “No Fun” EP - a compilation of singles shorter than an album. She has recently

co-produced several songs, and also co-produced music videos for her songs “Wildfire” and “Someone New,” a duet with Langhorne Slim. Her next singles have been recorded, and are set to release later this year as Connor comes off her biggest breakthrough year in her career.

Musical Mania / 11

Guess That Song Find Out How Much You Really Know about Song Lyrics ASF by Gabriel Syed

Fool me one time shame on you Fool me twice, can’t put the blame on you Fool me three times, f*** the peace signs Load the chopper, let it rain on you

Courtesy of Billboard

A) No Role Modelz, J. Cole B) 6 God, Drake C) I, Kendrick Lamar D) Wet Dreamz, J. Cole

I don’t wanna be alone I don’t wanna be alone When it ends Don’t wanna let you know

Courtesy of People

A) Are You Bored Yet, Wallows B) 8TEEN, Khalid C) Golden, Harry Styles D) Wonder, Shawn Mendes

Fill my heart with song And let me sing forevermore You are all I long for All I worship and adore

Courtesy of Condé Nast A) Can’t Help Falling In Love, Elvis Presley B) Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Paul Anka C) L-O-V-E, Nat King Cole D) Fly Me To The Moon, Frank Sinatra

Courtesy of Billboard

This is our life and we livin’ it well Late nights in the city, causin’ hell Burn this b**** into the ground, oh well If all we got tonight, let’s do this right

A) Magic In The Hamptons, Social House B) Paradise, Bazzi C) Drew Barrymore, Bryce Vine D) So Close, NOTD

1. No Role Modelz, J. Cole; 2. Golden, Harry Styles; 3. Fly Me To The Moon, Frank Sinatra; 4. Paradise, Bazzi

Musical Mania / 13

Musical Puzzles The perspective of a music producer Story by Tarushi Tripathi

The mixing board is what most artists use to produce their music (Photo by Bias Studios)

Illuminated with flashing lights, cofortable chairs, and an endless amount of knobs, a recording studio is where many of the popular songs on the radio are created. Thanks to a music producer, this production is possible, as they administer every component of the tune — every lyric, every beat, every pitch, every instrument, and even monitoring everyone involved.

As they sit in a professional or home studio, a music producer oversees all critical components of the creation of a song or album. In other words, the music producer can be referred to as a director of a film, overseeing both minimal and maximal aspects of the production, each element being essential to deliver the listeners the best version of the project.

Justin Gammella has been working in the music production field for seven years as a vocal producer and songwriter. He has also been in many bands throughout his college years, including the Royal Tongues.

He claims that networking is an essential way to accompany your success when you are a music producer. Gammella offers some advice from his personal experiences and perspective when it comes to maintaining relationships in the industry.

“If you view networking like [making friendships] and just meeting people, it makes it a lot easier especially when you’re working with people in a room and there are people I think who are incredible who I just creatively like but didn’t get along within a room and it wasn’t personal,” Gamella said.

“So, I think when you’re networking with creatives, no one wants to be given a card.

I think given the less business, the better, just treat me like a friend and sneaking music eventually but people just want to work with people they want to hang out with, and that’s what you’re doing when you’re hanging out and messing around.”

Musical Mania / 15

Chris Bell preparing to begin producing. (Photo courtesy of Chris Bell)

Chris Bell has been professionally recording, mixing, and producing for artists in the recording studio for the last 29 years. From his personal experience, a recording academy of the Grammys has helped him build interpersonal relationships.

“One of the main ways [to create networking] is the recording academy who does the Grammy Awards,” Bell said.

“You meet new people that get on the board or you meet members of the recording academy because it’s all music-related.

It could be entertainment attorneys, musicians, and recording engineers.”

Bell mentions that he prefers both a professional recording studio and an at-home studio as they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

“The way I work is I like the band to play all at the same time, together, as a unit. To be able to do that, it’s hard to do in a house and you would have to

have a big space to do that,” Bell said.

“But I do like to be at my house to mix and finish the recording and overdubs because I can take my time and do it on my schedule. You’re not being pressured by the 100 dollars an hour to be in the studio.”

However, Gammella does not prefer recording studios completely, and he feels as if he’s more productive when completing music productions at his home studio.

“[Recording studios] are not very creative environments,” Gamella said.

“Right now I have my home studio set up in my apartment which is very minimal, and I do a lot of my editing. I also have a much nicer home studio that I have to share with my production partner where I’ve done ninety-eight of my records out of. Home studios are the new norm, I think as long as you know what you’re doing and you have some kind of soundproofing or sound

conditioning, you can do a lot. All of my favorite records are done in home studios now.”

Bell, a native to Austin, Texas, does not believe the location of your studio will affect the recognition you receive as a music producer when you reach a certain level, but recommends starting in a major music hub, such as Los Angeles, California.

“I think if you are in a major market, you will have a major opportunity,” Bell said.

“But, I think when you get to a certain level, people come to work with you no matter where you’re at. However, I think if you’re starting out, you should be in one of those hubs, or spend a lot of time there.”

Bell also claims that music production has become more widely accessible, which consists of both advantages and disadvantages.

“Now, artists can upload their own music and distribute it, before you couldn’t do that, so you’d have to get signed to a record label, and the record label would get the song in a store, on the radio, but now you can make a song in your own bedroom,” Bell said, “there are good points and bad points to it because the good is that the artist has [opportunities] to [create music] and [listeners] get to hear more music, but the bad thing is we hear more bad music because there is no filter. Before, the record labels were the filter.

Now, the hard part is and have to dig through all the bad [music] to find those good things.”

According to Gamella, the music industry has declined in terms of money, as many producers are not making as much money as they used to, and many careers in the music

Justin Gammella recording cover song (Photo Courtesy of Justin Gamella)

industry such as artists have to work two jobs. He addresses that those who are working in the industry are aware of this matter and want these circumstances to shift.

“Now labels are making money hand over fist,” Gammella said, “they’re doing as well as they ever have where producers and songwriters are getting left with the mixers and engineers.

Before, engineers and mixers would get points on the back end and be well taken care of, but now, it’s hard for them to get that nowadays. The labels have no interest in wanting to share the profits. Most songwriters that I know, they’ve probably written some of your favorite songs, they all have part-time jobs. Producers have it a little bit easier because we’re able to charge production fees so I’m lucky that I don’t have a part-time job, and

I’m able to live off everything I do. But, it’s a big thing where everyone in the industry knows it needs to change.”

Bell also agrees with the lack of money being made in the music industry.

“The money dried up,” Bell said, “right now, I am working for a quarter of what I used to make for better work now. Also, since most people have Apple Music, Spotify, Title, or Amazon, you’re not going to buy music because you have 70 million [other] songs you are exposed to at all time, so you’re just renting it. The artist only gets one-thousandth of a cent for every time you play that song.”

Regardless of the cut of money, Bell hopes to develop a more advanced setup at his home studio.

“I’m installing 13 speakers in my house right now, along with starting to mix in Dolby Atmos.

In the movie theater, movies are

mixed in Dolby Atmos, where all the speakers surrounding you. Now, you can mix in Dolby Atmos, where you can put the singers behind you and then another singer in front of you, so it’s like you’re in the middle of the song. That’s my future set-up that I am going to be working in.”

Gamella hopes to continue music producing in the future despite the decline of his income. He encourages eliminating money from the bigger picture and suggests pursuing what you enjoy rather than a career that you are not passionate about.

“It’s really important to be self-aware in the music industry,” Gamella said, “if I am lucky enough to be able to make music and have it as my main source of income for the rest of my life, I’m stoked for that. Even now, I am lucky that I get to work with big artists and artists signed to labels. But, I think it’s important to not put yourself on a pedestal with stuff like [money] where at the end of the day, this is a business, money is money, I’d rather make money doing a song I don’t love that will produce out, than working in a coffee shop.”

Currently, there is a student program that many aspiring music producers can join, known as GrammyU, and due to the Coronavirus, they have been hosting live Zoom sessions for students who seek a job occupation in the music industry. Many of these students hope to implant themselves into the bigger picture, where they will be fitting each piece of the music production puzzle together.

Musical Mania / 17

OLD SCHOOL MUSIC A LOOK INTO OLD MUSICAL FORMATS AND THEIR FUNCTIONALITY DURING THE TIMES ASF by Tarushi Tripathi

RECORDS IN GOOD CONDITION ARE CONSIDERED TO HAVE A HIGHER SOUND QUALITY THAN ANY OTHER MUSICAL FORMAT . THIS IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT IT CAN RETAIN EVERY PART OF A SOUND WAVE, MEANING NO INFORMATION IS LOST. THE DOWNSIDE IS THAT EVEN SOMETHING MINUTE SUCH AS A SMALL SPECK OF DUST/ SCRATCH CAN CREATE NOISE/STATIC WHEN USONG THE VINYL.

CASSETE TAPES FIT IN A MORE AFFORDABLE AND COMPACT PACKAGE. THEY ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR SMALL SIZE, WHICH MADE THEM A CONVIENIENT DEVLOPMENT IN THIS HISTORY OF HOW AND WHERE WE LISTEN. THOUGH, THE CASSETE ERA HAS BEEN KNOWN TO DECLINE DUE TO ITS POOR SOuND QUALITY.

THE MP3 WAS THE START OF THE DIGITAL ERA. IT WAS PORTABLE AND HAD A FAIRLY GODD SOUND QUALITY. THE MP3 ALSO CONSISTED OF VERY NOMINAL PRICES WHEN STREAMING. HOWEVER, THE DOWNSIDE WAS THAT IT INTRODUCED PIRACY, WHICH MADE IT EASY TO BUY SONGS WITHOUT GIVING ROYALTY TO THE COMPOSERS.

THE BENEFIT THAT 8 TRACK TAPES HAD OVER CASSETE TAPES WERE THAT THEY COULD PLAY A LOT OF MUSIC IN A RELATIVELY SMALL PACKAGE. THE DOWNSIDE WAS THAT 8-TRACKS WORKED ON A TIME LIMIT, WHERE THE SOUND WOULD FADE IN AND OUT, WHICH EVEN BACK IN THE ‘70’s ELICITED A FEW GROANS. ADDITIONALLY, LEAVING 8 TRACK TAPES IN THE SUN WOULD RUIN ITS ABIITY TO FUNCTION.

Musical Mania / 19

Jan Seides plays on a stage at the South Florida Folk Festival.

(Image courtesy of Jan Seides)

The Spotlight and the Shadow A deep dive into the music industry’s nuanced ecosystem

Story by Samuel Newmark

In the live music capital lyrics and performing songs, time, and Seides finds lyrics of the world, Austin, Texas, at while booking agents are vital are no longer as challenging as 2247 Guadalupe Street, there to ensuring that songwriters they once were. exists a small restaurant and have places to perform.

Originally, Seides’ bar called the Cactus Cafe.

Although they might appear to process began with the lyrics, Inside the restaurant, an be, these people aren’t born with a melody coming to aspiring artist steps up to the perfect, and there is always her later, while other times microphone and starts to sing room for improvement. a melody would come while their first song. The audience

Jan Seides is one of writing the lyrics. After the listens for several minutes and those people who started out lyrics were complete, Seides thinks the lyrics and melody at an open mic and climbed would find an instrument she could be improved. Some her way to where she is today. thought that the melody would begin to stand up and sound good on. quietly exit. When the However, song finishes, the artist this process “Since last March, when we were all looks disappointed, even changed a couple locked down, I’ve written 90 or so though this scenario years ago when songs. And that’s because I just sit could occur to any she attended a down to write whenever I have the individual who is just songwriting class. opportunity to do that.” beginning to get into the Seides learned music industry. two things from - Jan Seides

On the surface, that class. The the music industry seems first being that very straightforward, but she no longer when taking a deeper Seides is a singer-songwriter in believes in writer’s block, and dive into the many different Austin, Texas, experienced in the second being that she can jobs that are vital to its piano, guitar, and ukulele. She write when she chooses to. success, it’s a very nuanced also teaches music to students.

“Since last March, when ecosystem. Two of the most

One of the hardest we were all locked down, I’ve important jobs in the music things for Seides whenwriting written 90 or so songs,” Seides industry are singer-songwriters songs is finding inspiration for said. “And that’s because I just and booking agents. lyrics. With help from others, sit down to write whenever I

Singer-songwriters are her process for writing has have the opportunity to do that, directly involved with writing evolved and improved over which is most days.”

Musical Mania / 21

Jan Seides plays guitar and sings at the CBGB music club in Manhattan, New York. (Image courtesy of J. Ryan Roberts)

Elaborating on how much her process has changed since she attended the songwriting class, Seides explained that it no longer always starts with lyrics, as well as how she utilizes digital resources to help her create songs.

“It still mostly starts with lyrics. But since I’ve learned to use the recording app to create music, sometimes it starts with a beat. Sometimes it starts with a melody that’s running around in my head with no lyrics,” Seides said.

While writing lyrics is a solitary task for Seides, there’s a very human aspect to both teaching and performing. Her favorite thing about teaching is being able to pass on the tradition, and also showing people how much of a rewarding experience music is.

Her favorite aspect of performing is the connection with the audience.

“My favorite moment is when I’m singing a love song, and one person turns to put their head on the shoulder of the other person; that’s gold,” Seides said.

Each individual has

their own story for how they got to where they are today.

For Seides, that was during college. She wrote her first song in a pickup truck on the way to Nashville, driving by herself, with nothing else to do. Seides sang it enough times to remember it, and when she came back to Austin, Seides sang at an open mic at Charlie’s Open House.

“Basically, getting into it, after you’ve developed some skill at it, you just get out there and show people that you have the skill, and hopefully you have enough to draw their attention. Hopefully, you are engaging enough as a performer to make them want to come back. That first gig, currently, because this has been going on for a long time, that first gig is a little hard to come by. But there’s open mics all over Austin, and there’s a whole website devoted to open mics.

Take your pick. A lot of people start creating a following by doing that,” Seides said.

Although songwriting is one of the most wellknown jobs in the industry,

booking agents are equally as important, responsible for making sure their clients (songwriters and bands) have venues to play at. Their key roles include booking shows and routing bands on tour between shows. Todd Gardner, a booking agent in Austin, Texas, says that most of his day revolves around contacting buyers, typically the owners or managers of clubs.

“My typical day [is that I’m] involved in lots of phone calls, lots of emails and text messages, talking to people all over the region or country depending on where the act is going or needs to go...It’s not very glamorous. In fact, it’s something I ran from most of my life,” Gardner said.

Each of Gardner’s clients has a different need when booking shows, and Gardner adjusts accordingly depending on those needs.

“Sometimes I’m just desperate to find a show, so I might throw a wide net, in a reasonable area. If the band is based in San Antonio, I’ll call 20 different places, six hours from there, in every direction,” Gardner said.

Other times, however, he has to be more selective when trying to find venues for clients due to more specific needs. When Gardner is trying to route a band, he has to contain his net to an area that is easily accessible along the route.

Experience helps significantly in this regard. For Gardner, being associated with

a company that has made a large number of contracts makes it easy for him to find venues for his clients. That company has a database containing all the contracts that they have made over the past 10 to 15 years. ‘Who do I know? Who have I done business with before? Who has the band not annoyed the last time they were there?’ are all questions that Gardner asks himself when he searches for venues.

There are some challenges associated with searching for venues, but the pandemic has been by far the most impactful, essentially halting Gardner’s work completely. Most music venues are classified as bars, which aren’t allowed to be open at all due to safety measures, while restaurants are allowed to open at up to 50% capacity. Some have started to adapt by changing their menus so they classify as bars, but those are few and far between, according to Gardner.

The pandemic has also created challenges for Seides’ work. Since she has to play songs remotely, internet latency is a significant issue both logistically and emotionally.

“[It’s] a drawback when I’m doing performances with songwriters, because when we do it on a physical stage, we can play with each other and we can sing harmonies with each other. We can’t do that right now,” Seides

Jan Seides concentrates on melody while playing guitar.

(Image courtesy of L. Andrew Sterling)

said. “And that goes back to connection too, because that connects you to the other people on the stage as well as the audience.”

These situations pose major issues for both songwriters and booking agents, but Seides says that one of the most important things to overcome these challenges, and to be successful in the industry in general, is to never give up, and to not run out of energy. She explained that discouragement will happen,

but the key is to not give into it. Gardner expanded on this idea, saying that hard work was another key aspect.

The music industry is not a very forgiving place, and working hard and not giving into discouragement are important mindsets to consider in order to be successful.

Open-mics are a popular way to get started in the music industry, and a comprehensive list for anyone looking to that first gate is available at https://www. openmic.us/.

Musical Mania / 23

Benefits of Music An exploration into the different psychological effects of music ASF by Samuel Newmark

1

Studies have shown that listening to music is beneficial for your heart rate and blood pressure. It also decreases cortisol levels and increases serotonin level and endorphin levels, making you happier and feel less stressed.

2 Music can create the “Mozart effect,” which can boost cognitive functions. Researchers at the University of California conducted a study where they administerd IQ tests to 3 different groups of people - one who had listened to a Mozart sonata, another who listened to a relaxation tape, and a third who had waited in silence. The Mozart group consistently performed better.

Music can elevate your mood by increasing the brain’s production of dopamine, a hormone that helps to relieve feelings of anxiety and depression.

3

4 Music can help you manage pain.

Studies have shown that music can provide a strong competing stimulus to pain signals that enter the brain.

Music has been proven to be beneficial for people who have experienced a stroke.

A study conducted in 2007 endrolled 60 patients who had recently been hospitalized for major strokes. After 3 months, patients who listened to music experienced a 60% improvement to their memory, while those who had not only experienced a 29% improvement.

5

Musical Mania / 25

Change of Plans

How life has changed for musicians during the pandemic Story by Josie Long

Bob Schnieder posing for Discogs. (Photo by Discog)

Musicians play a big part in how culture has evolved, but when lockdown began because of COVID-19, musicians have had to adapt to their new lifestyle.

Bob Schnieder is a musician who began his career in Austin, and later moved on to expand his reach over various places. Shaan Shirazi is an Austin based musician who plays bass guitar for a few bands around the city. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both have been affected in various different

ways and were forced to adapt the ways they perform for different audiences.

One big change Schnieder made during the pandemic was in how he played shows:

“I was on tour in Belgium, and we had to cut it short by week because of the pandemic. I remember it was Friday the 13th.

We had about five more shows at the end of the weekend, and then we were going to be gone. Then that’s when the President said travel from Europe was going to

be suspended as of that weekend, so we had to hustle and then change all our plans to go from Antwerp to Amsterdam to Portugal to Chicago to Austin.”

Shirazi was also affected in other ways by the pandemic since he wasn’t able to tour and wasn’t able to have live shows to make revenue. The change in his lifestyle affected which careers he wanted to pursue.

“The pandemic made me pick up a new career as well.

Learning how to do appliance repair was just something I never thought to do before because I always had an office job. This made me think of a new career or a way to make money to offset the money that I’m not making playing music.”

This is a regular occurence in the music industry now, since so many small musicians have not been able to go out and play for

Bob Schneider in the cover of his album A Perfect Day. Photo Credit: Bob Schneider

Shirazi dancing at a band’s concert (Photo by Getty)

revenue, and most are not able to afford their rent and bills they still need to pay off.

Since lockdown began, restrictions began to be enforced which resulted in Schnieder and Shirazi as well as most other artists being forced to cancel all of their shows and performances.

Schnieder says that he was playing about 12 shows a month before the pandemic but he’s currently averaging only six shows per month.

With Shirazi being a much smaller artist he has been able to tour before lockdown and now has several jobs to perform:

“I have a couple of places where I’m playing. I play one Saturday night at the White Horse.

The same group of people own another bar on the South side [of Austin] called Sagebrush Play. I do a bunch of live stream gigs there. A place that normally would host live music is called the Little Longhorn Saloon. I have done a live streaming of Good Life there Sunday while I was doing every other Thursday with another band.”

Schneider has been playing

many gigs during lockdown but has done so with uncertainty around careers returning back to a sense of normalcy.

“It’ll get back to whatever the new normal is,” Schneider said, “I think things will change once everybody’s vaccinated, but I don’t think it’ll ever go back to the way it was. I think there’s definitely going to be an impact on what people do and how they do it.”

It’s not all bad though as Shirazi shows that he can see the good parts of what seems to be a completely bleak and unforgiving situation. When asked if he was happy with the small amount of performances during the pandemic, he said:

“Yeah, and I take it with a grain of salt; it could be a lot worse.

I guess I’m lucky that I get to play at a level to know what I’m playing at the club level which still exists.

People that only play big arenas like big touring bands, they can’t do anything; hardly anything can happen, it’s just too many people to sustain. In a way, being on this sort of band level, even though it’s professional and you’re as good as most musicians and at any level, it’s a little bit better because we can play to smaller audiences. We can play to distanced audiences and we can do basic live streaming things.

I would say that it could be a whole lot worse. And I tend to always try to look at things on the bright side.”

As well as Shirazi, Schnieder also sees some good that has come out of the pandemic for him and he says things may go back to some

Shirazi playing with one of his Austin bands, Weird Satellite.

(Photo by Dataveria)

kind of normal.

“I know for a fact that I will never not do live streaming. That’s just part of what I like doing [since I] enjoy it. It’s something I’ll continue to do even after I start playing regular shows.”

With all of this in mind, it’s clear the musicians have made many changes to their lives and the way they enjoy music and perform their own music to an audience but both artists are able to see the good parts in a bleak situation.

Image by Bob Schneider represents how his music makes you feel Musical Mania / 27

How Has COVID-19 Affected Music Streaming With the changes in how we live our daily lives because of the pandemic the way we consume music has changed and that is something we should explore.

ASF by Josie Long

There are also many predictions for the post-pandemic with the streaming industry and how different platforms will chose to adapt to the coming changes in the world, changing how concerts function and how we could seen a huge increase in venue closings

The music streaming market has been affected by the pandemic in a interesting way, some have said that the market has been groiwing to the point where they could see $7.7 billion revenue increase amid the pandemic All in all, the music streaming industry and the music industry, just like most things, has been changed in massive ways. Consumers should keep an eye out for the changes coming to music streaming and how it function in all of our lives.

Since most people are stuck at home and need a way to fill time, the streaming industry was almost destined to gain revenue from the pandemic. As well as gaining revenue, the sreaming industry has seen a major climb in people subscribing to listening services like Spotify or Apple.

Musical Mania / 29

Why We Love Music How music affects each and everyone of us Story by Ana Linan-Hernandez

People tend to listen to music that matches their emotional state to feel more understood. With this alone, we can tell that music is a huge factor in people’s lives. It is an easy way to change your mood and even an easy way to learn since catchy songs are often easy to memorize. This prompts the question as to why is music so catchy, and why do we love it so much?

Music psychology is a branch of psychology and musicology that studies the behavioral patterns of your brain while listening to music.

This includes the processes by which music is incorporated into everyday life. Modern music psychology tends to focus on how music can affect performance, intelligence, attitude, creativity and social behavior.

Humans have an exclusive ability unlike other organisms to derive joy from complex musical patterns. Some psychologists even believe this is an evolutionary accident. Dr. Elif Tekin Gurgen disagrees with this theory. She believes sounds are far too important to humans for it to be a mistake. For example, when you hear a baby cry, most peoples’ response is to go help.

She believes music makes us react similarly, in that when we hear it we feel a certain kind of way. As a kid, she wanted to be a musician. As she grew older though, she realized being a

musician wasn’t a stable career, and instead decided to major in musicology.

Gurgen is a professor of musicology at Dokuz Eylül University in Turkey. She cannot live without music, and believes it to be an essential part of life.

However, due to Turkey’s stability and condition, she was forced to become professor of musicology, and has recently been holding piano lessons.

“Most musicians are jobless,” Gurgen said, “[since] they can’t find a job easily and can’t earn a job easily.”

Unfortunately, most research about musicology is done in English which is why she is working on breaking that language barrier for her students.

“I am currently working on a student book for my Master’s student,” Gurgen said, “because there aren’t enough books about the psychology of music in Turkish.”

She will include books which served as her inspiration for her research. The two most notable were Daniel Levitin’s Your Brain on Music, and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia. Your Brain on Music is more about how your brain responds to music while Musicophilia is more about why we like certain genres of music.

These books, along with many articles all of which talk about Gurgen’s favorite topic: why we are so attached to music.

Gurgen is currently

Photo by Academia

working on researching a very unusual connection. She has been taking Tai Chi - a form of Chinese martial arts - for two years. While learning Tai Chi, she had an epiphany: Music and Tai Chi are both about controlling yourself.

“Playing an instrument needs control over your body and control over your mind and focus,” Gurgen said, “I think Tai Chi is about that.”

On the other side of Europe, in Austria, there is another researcher with a passion for music psychology, Dr. Marcel Zentner. He started his career as a postdoc at Harvard University.

He later became a professor of psychology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. His research has been published many times before such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Psychological Science and has featured on BBC ONE, National Public Radio and

Photo curtesy of Dr. Zenter The Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of the Handbook of Temperament.

Zentner has many interests mainly in the area of personality development but one of his favorite topics lately has been music therapy.

Music therapy is using music’s psychological benefits to achieve goals such as communication, social interaction, depression, etc.

Using music to work out is one of the most well-known forms of music therapy as it distracts from the pain of exercise.

While researching music therapy, he came up with a hypothesis that the emotions used to study this type of psychology might be too broad (happiness, sadness, anger, etc).

Why should music be limited to everyday emotions after all?

“They are useful for the analysis of emotions in many

everyday situations,” Zentner said, “but their relevance to musical emotion is limited.”

While using Zentner’s approach, he and his coworkers ran many studies in which they would have listeners describe their emotions to different genres of music in the broadest possible description. Using this research, they came up with a model called GEMS or Geneva Emotional Music Scales. With GEMS, they identified three main categories of music: sublimity, vitality and unease which also included a total of nine emotion subcategories: wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, energy, joyful activation, tension and sadness. These nine subcategories go further with all having two to five subcategories.

“These are the different categories of music that evoked

emotion that we really didn’t know before,” Zentner said, “For example, wonder, the feeling of being overwhelmed by the music and stunned by the music.”

Music therapy has already shown much improvement since the launch of the GEMS model with research showing music to improve self esteem, productivity, motivation, reduce stress and serve as a coping skill for many.

Zentner has since shifted his focus to his next project but GEMS has been frequented by many researchers as well as being used in studies on music and emotion. This was a game changer for their research since they could now use these categories to fuel music therapy research. Making the future of music therapy seems brighter than ever before.

Musical Mania / 31

Through the Decades Common music genres of the decades ASF by Ana Linan-Hernandez

2020 brought back some nostalgia by making ‘90’s music mainstream.

It also saw a surge of K-pop on the rise and Indie/bedroom pop becoming more mainstream as people popularize small artists. As well as keeping pop alive. Some popular artists include BTS, Billie Eilish, Blackpink, Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, and Doja Cat.

2020

The 2010’s didn’t stray too far from the early 2000’s. It still flavoured hip hop, but it did stray from rap and switch to EDM (electronic dance music) and pop. Some popular artists include Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Ariana Grande.

2000

2010

The early 2000’s saw a drastic change in music, as it changed from rock dominated to being hi hop and rap dominated. However, pop and adult contemporary stayed relevant. popular artists are U2, Linkin Park, Eminem, The Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Arctic Monkeys, Kanye West, and My Chemical Romance.

1990

Similarly to the ‘80’s, the ‘90’s had many genres of music. The newest sub genre of rock dominated called alternative rock which ended up producing some of the decades most popular bands. Country and European pop also started becoming more mainstream. Popular artists include Radiohead, Nirvana, Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys.

The 80’s had an emerge of music genres. They did not stick to just one genre since metal, pop, dance, rock, smooth jazz, R&B and hip hop all dominated the music industry. Popular artists include Tears For Fears, AC/DC, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Guns N’ Roses.

1970

1980

The ‘70’s were very well known for disco music. This drastic change influenced fashion and dancing throughout society. This decade also love its new genre of rock called pub rock. Pub rock was heavily based on anarchist attitude. Famous artists include Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Ramones, Kiss, and The Kinks.

During the ‘60’s, British music was entering the charts with the leading band being the Beatles. R&B and soul music began to gain popularity. Rock music gained many sub-genres which influenced the more rebellious side of this decade. Popular artists include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Jimmy Hendrix.

1960

Musical Mania / 33

Musical Mania Ezine Spring 2021