Setlist

SETLIST MAGAZINE

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“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.� - Plato

Table of Contents Meet the Editors

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Letter from the Editors 08 Loving Live Music 10 Musical Evolution 14 How Music and Sound Affects the Brain

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Art of Music 18 Five Rap Terms Everyone Should Know

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Momentum 24 What Song Should You Jam Out To This Week

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Christmas in October 30 Classical Music in Modern Austin

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The Anatomy of the Orchestra 38 Editors’ Playlist 40

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A Letter From the Editors

Dear Reader,

Humans are the only species on earth to create this thing called music. Music, a combination of selective sounds placed in a specific pattern and played at a specific time. This combination of sounds brings people together. This combination of sounds makes us feel emotions and brings a sense of spiritual enrichment. These sounds played at a specific time change lives, and can help one achieve his or her dreams.

This is the power of music. A power that makes us uniquely human.

Our goal in making Setlist is to keep you informed on what is happening in the world of music. From reporting on how musicians get health benefits to the experience of live performance, we try our best to give you the ins and outs of the industry.

We also believe that all music deserves recognition. We do this by reporting on all different genres ranging from rap to classical. We talk not just about the big stars you hear on the radio, but the little ones too.

The ones who perform at the local hot spot or the restaurant down the road. We tell all stories big or small because they all mean the same to us.

Setlist strives to bring the highest quality of writing to all of our reporting. We all follow a strict code of ethics that protects our sources and ensures that the story is being told the right way. We dig deep and find stories that hopefully the reader will find interesting and engaging. We do our best to be unbiased and we share all takes on the situation. Setlist only brings the highest level of Journalism to the table.

All and all, music is something that as a people we value. We value it so much that according to Forbes, the music industry as a whole is worth 15.7 billion U.S. dollars. For something valued so much, is requires only the finest reporters with the finest stories. We, the Setlist magazine will be the one stop shop for all you need to know about the thing that makes us truly human: The power of music!

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-Setlist Magazine Editors SETLIST MAGAZINE

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Meet the Editors

Rebecca Harshman...

Is a freshman at LASA High School. She plays the cello and bass for the LBJ orchestra. One of her favorite artists is Frank Ocean. She loves downtown Austin and has an eye for fashion.

Siddh Bamb...

Is a freshman at LASA High School. He plays piano and harp. He listens to XXX Tentacion. He likes to hang out at the Domain.

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Summer Henson...

Is a freshman at LASA High School. She plays trumpet for the school band. She loves to listen to Coldplay. You can find her at the Austin Public Library .

Fiona Wilson...

Is a freshman at LASA High School. She is a vocalist and preforms at small venues around Austin.

Her favorite artist is Brendon Urie. She loves Austin’s escape rooms.

Jack Waters...

Is a freshman at LASA High School. He plays the guitar and drums at coffee shops. His favorite artist is Russ. You can find him chilling on SoCo, drinking Joe’s coffee.

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As technology has progressed, it has become easier for musicians to create music.

Image credits to shure.com

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n o i t u l o v E l a c i us

M

By S i d d h B a m b

Discover how the music you love has changed throughout the years.

To p A r t i s t s 20

2. Drake Image from celebrityinsider.com Image from vogue.com

5. Justin Bieber

Image from bandt.com.au

3. Coldplay

2

0

2

3. Taylor Swift

1

0

Image from allmusic.com

6

1

7

1. Ed Sheeran

Image from hollywoodreporter.com

1. Drake 2. David Bowie

4. Kendrick Lamar Image from billboard.com

4. Adele

Image from nme.com Image from geronimo.fm

Image from walesonline.co.uk

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Cassette Tapes: Invented by the Philips Company in 1962 Vinyl Records: Invented by Peter Carl Goldmark in 1887

Compact Disks (CDs): Invented by James Russell in 1982

Music Streaming Services, Present D

MP3 Player: Invented by Kane Kramer in 1998

Cell Phones with Music Players: Early Models include Samsung Uproar, 2001

Graph by Scott LeGere (Pinterest)

Image from https://visual.ly/community/infographic/entertainment/changing-sound-music

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How Music and Sound Affects the Brain By: Fiona Wilson

The parental lobe, which is responsible for auditory and visual perception and spacial awareness is large in musicians or people who listen to music.

This is the occipital lobe, the visual processing center of the brain. Though, listening to music has no direct effect on vision, is is still reccomended.

The frontal lobe controls our memory and emotional traits.

Music stilmulates the formation of chemicals like dopamine.

The cerebellum receives information from sensory systems and regulates the motor movements which is a larger portion, if music is played often.

This is the temporol lobe which controls long term memory. Alzheimer patients sometimes seem to remember the music.

This is the brain stem, which is in charge of producing cortisol which alerts the brain. Unneeded amounts of cortisol can be decerased by music.

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Photo by HappyToast Pylons GIF.

The McGurk effect is when the moving of someone’s lips appears like a diferent sound like “Tha, tha, tha” rather than “Baa, baa, baa”.

Illusion of the noisy gif plays the scene of a sound that would make a lot of noise and because you know that sound, you imagine hearing it and it eventually causes your ears hurt.

Power of Suggestion is when you think one sound sounds like another sound, like how you can pitch up Post Malone’s voice to sound like Justin Bieber. If pictures or videos are added along with the audio, it becomes extremely difficult to tell who’s singing.

Photo by Karsten “Crash” Gopinath Open Road Films.

Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters.

The Tritone Paradox is that someone can determine if a sound is ascending or descending and it seems to go on forever.

Audio recognition is where you imagine you hear something that sounds like jibberish and once hearing the phrase your brain knows what to look for when hearing it again, so through the jibberish you hear understandable words.

Photo by AsapSCIENCE

People that are older tend to hear Laurel beacause it’s a deeper voice while Yanny is a higher-pitched which appeals to younger ears. Some frequencies, people who are older than 20 can’t hear.

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Reenie Collins from H.A.A.M. standing in front of an ATX sign. Photo courtesy of H.A.A.M.

Art of Music by: Fiona Wilson

Music doesn’t only entertain, but also improves health.

“H

.A.A.M.’s one of the things about Austin that’s so unique, it’s why we say we’re the live music capital of the world,” Reenie Collins, the executive director of the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (H.A.A.M.), explained. H.A.A.M. is a non-profit organization responsible for providing health care resources and assistance to poor musicians that don’t make enough money to afford health care. Music is the culmination of sounds and a melody composed to create a pleasing tune that instills different emotions within people, but most of them are poor.

“Musicians and there’s even a Rolling Stone article that came out not too long ago that talks about how musicians... make the same kind of income they

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made 10 years ago or 15 years ago and the cost of living and housing and everything else has gone up in the city tremendously,” Collins described. Austin is no longer a place where people go to get cheap things. Now it has become a popular music scene, and because so many people are constantly moving to Austin, the prices have increased. Everyone expects musicians to be living the lavish life, but in reality, most of them barely make enough money to pay their rent.

Every year, during the period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15, musicians sign up for medical care through the Affordable Care Act. The musicians can still sign up for health care, but only will receive a free hearing, visionary, and dental test. However, this doesn’t mean that H.A.A.M. won’t help them.

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Annually, every single member of H.A.A.M. is required to sign up for the Affordable Care Act again because the medical field is always changing, which is why they must find ways to work around that factor and keep navigating the health care system.

For instance, though H.A.A.M. tries to stay biased when dealing with politics, they can’t ignore that everytime a new president comes into administration, there will be a change in the medical field.

“Since the administration has started for example, taking the fine away, that influences people’s decisions as far as healthcare, so likely fewer people will sign up for the Affordable Care Act since there

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isn’t a penalty…” Emily Fredericks, a social worker at H.A.A.M. explained.

The health field has changed immensely since the administration removed the fine that encouraged people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act so now less people have signed up which means if they did have a crisis where they required medical care, they wouldn’t have much help paying off the medical bill.

The Affordable Care Act was actually nicknamed “Obamacare” which was originally enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed

by President Barack Obama himself, which greatly increased the amount of people signing up for health care. Despite the seemingly good intentions behind this new act, it was still very controversial which was another reason why Trump and his administration removed the penalty.

Musicians that make under $12,000 yearly are commonly the people that H.A.A.M. help, the less money you make, the less health care insurance they can offer, but you still have to make less than $48,000 a year for a household of one. “We try to keep people taken care of while they’re living in that income bracket and

Two H.A.A.M. members about to play at H.A.A.M. Day. Photo courtesy of H.A.A.M. and unfortunately, that is a lot of full-time musicians that their entire career [is spent] … within that bracket, unless they make it really big …,” Fredericks added. They help the musicians get back up on their feet because their full-time job is making music that doesn’t necessarily get recognized.

The main issue for the organization is finding new health care sources and coping with the constantly

changing health care field, and fundraising. “Every year we run out of money for funding,” Collins explained. “It means that every year we say ‘this is how much money we can spend, how much money we can raise and this is how many people we can help.” She found that people paying for their help would

Two H.A.A.M. members performing at H.A.A.M. day to raise money for H.A.A.M Photo courtesy of H.A.A.M.

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H.A.A.M. member performing alone at a H.A.A.M. fundraising event. Photo courtesy of H.A.A.M. be pointless, and the other organizations that offer insurance for H.A.A.M. members and collaborate with them would want part of the money that they had made.

Some of these events that help the organization raise money are Benefit Day (H.A.A.M. Day) and Corporate Battle of the Bands which occurs all over Austin. A common misconception is that H.A.A.M. directly helps the musicians by giving them money or providing them insurance. In reality, they find health sources who are willing to offer health insurance to the people who can’t afford it and refer the musicians that need the help over to those sources.

Although they still give information they’ve gathered to other states who are doing something similar in helping musicians with health care, H.A.A.M. prefers to remain in Texas so they can provide care here, fire and foremost. H.A.A.M.

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members said you have to be selfless and have some sort of medical care background in order to work somewhere at H.A.A.M. full time.

Austin’s population is constantly increasing due to all the vibrant culture present in the community, and just have accepting Austin is, much like San Franciso. However, the city planning is very poor and there are still many highways and roads that haven’t been constructed yet to provide for all the new cars occupying the road. Due to this, there is a lot of traffic.

Collins doesn’t believe that Amazon placing another headquarters in Austin is necessarily a bad idea. “I think what you have to think about is that our city needs to come together together to look for creative solutions to help shape the music community and the cultural identity we have.

So, it’s really aboout community leaders and government leaders coming together and funding thngs

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like H.A.A.M. that keep our creative people in the city,” Collins clarified.

Adding a very large organization to a cultural community that is famous for all the small shops could lose culture from this new incorporation and shut down organizations.

Fortunately, this could also bring in a lot of new people to the community and increase the diversity even though it may push Austin to grow more quickly.

However, H.A.A.M. isn’t the only non-profit organization involved in both health care and music. Golden Merry Makers, a musical group that performs at various nursing homes around Lynchburg, is an example of another group that gives back to the community.

Golden Merry Makers consists of

several older people who have been contributing their musical talents towards their local Ezine Fall 2018

community for decades. Their job is to perform in many different nursing homes and bring smiles to the faces of elderly people who may not have experienced joy in months.

Volunteers make up the group, and don’t make any profit from the organization. Right now, they have about 12 to 16 volunteers that make their organization and several other people that aren’t considered apart of the group but still help out, like Vivian’s husband who transports their equipment which is one of their main challenges, heavy lifting. “[Her husband is] the sound engineer now that he’s retired from earning money from his regular job, he employes himself voluntarily as our sound engineer, taking care of the speakers and microphone stand, and hauling them in and out…” She admitted.

business manager of the Golden Merry Makers said. Music helps people more than they realize, so it doesn’t matter how people choose to spread and keep music alive, as long as they help the less fortunate.

These organizations are nonprofit because they find joy not in making money, but by helping people who keep music alive.

Jane Ellen Bryant performs at H.A.A.M. Benefit Day

“It’s amazing how much music helps people feel [better]”

Reenie Collins posing in front of a H.A.A.M. poster. Photo courtesy of

H.A.A.M.

Another difficult part of her job is organizing the music and taking the right songs to the right places, because she likes to make sure that there are cheerful songs that give the elderly the will to carry on. She also has to make sure that everything is all typed up and legible which she has to do on her computer to make sure there are no typos in the program.

Housing and driving to the 20 different nursing homes they perform in is difficult because they need to find places to stay in while they’re performing because it isn’t always necessarily near their houses.

Vivian Wagner shared. Though both organizations focus on different things, one thing they have in common is music and their passion to help people in need.

They perform covers of classics that the elderly people at the nursing homes appreciate. “... we are giving of ourselves voluntarily and [share] what the Lord has given us, ...our talent,” Vivian Wagner, the

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Photo by Ben Porter Photography

Music is a cultural part of society that inspires and entertains people but also has proven to be very beneficial towards health. It not only enlarges parts of your brain and sharpens your reflexes, but also keeps people happy.

H.A.A.M. and Golden Merry Makers are just two organizations out of many that dedicate their lives to making other people’s lives better through music.

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Five Rap T erms Everyone

w o n K d l u

Sho

Photo s Comp cour tesy o lex M f agazi ne “Bad and Boujee!”

-Quavo

Bad and Boujee Adj. Living a life of lavish luxury.

Was popularized by the Atlanta based rap group Migos. The phrases biggest appearance was in its namesake song, “Bad and Boujee”.

“Esketit” -Lil Pump

Esketit Verb. Climing to the top of the latter The word hit the mainstream after the famous mumble rapper Lil Pump used it in his hit song, “Gucci Gang”.

The word is featured in all of Lil Pump’s songs.

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Helping yo u stay up to date on the words used in the lates t hit songs.

Ballin’ Verb. The action of doing extremely well.

The term has been featured in rap ever since its creation. It has made a huge comeback in rap as we see more rappers “flexing” in their songs.

“Ballin’ -Lil Uzi “Ice” -Two Chainz

Ice Noun. Diamonds, Silver Rings, Expensive Items The word is fairly new to the rap language. It was popularized by the rappers Two Chainz, Meek Mill, and Rick Ross.

“Rollin’” -Lil Mosey

Rollin’ Verb. The action of making a lot of money A commonly misinterpreted term, it is used in a lot of hype style rap. It has been revived and is now seen in a lot of mumble rap.

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Momentum The Power

The Passion

The Progress

Of the Austin Rap Scene By: Jack Waters

“We ain’t backing down from nothin. We ain’t backing down from nothin. Bout to tear out this function,” is being blasted out of big speakers under a fast trap beat. The lights are a cool purple color, but the studio is giving off vibes of only heat. Jay.i.be is on the mic and has got the whole place bumping to his new song. To some, the beats and rhymes are disruptive and unnecessary.

To others, this culture is an art form, a way to express, a kind of music like no other.

In a city known for its live music and awe-inspiring festivals, it begs the question, why aren’t there any nationally recognized Austin musicians?

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city, do we need to bring artists from other parts of the country to our music festivals? Where are the Austin musicians?

This is all about to change as artists of the fastest growing genre of music are slowly making their way into the national spotlight. That’s right, the rappers of Austin are about to answer these unsolved questions.

It all started in the mid2000s when Kydd Jones, Tank Washington, and Cody Miles gained recognition in the national rap scene. The song “Work” by Tank Washington featuring Kydd Jones made top charts on Spotify. The rush to contribute to the Austin rap scene had begun.

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Now, with the introduction of Soundcloud, the Austin rap scene has changed as younger rappers like Teeda, Kenny Gee, and Quinn NFN hit it big this year. The Austin rap scene has changed a lot.

“People my age are the people who are really going to define the Austin rap scene,” said young rapper A$AP Heat. As you can see, the Austin rap scene is loose and undefined, but it can be said that over the past couple of years it has been gaining momentum.

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How it Happens

To better understand the rap scene, we start with where and how the music is made.

When a rapper hears a beat that he or she likes, they start the writing process. From rapping about good times to broken hearts, what rappers talk about varies.

“I like to rap about current events and stuff. [I] try to emulate that in my music,” said A$AP Heat. “I’m inspired by, you know, everyday life,” explained Jay.i.be. “Things like the struggle, the party, the streets.”

One thing is consistent, though. All rappers talk about their lives in some shape or form. You must understand, every bar that a rapper writes is laced with some symbolism or meaning. Every bar is not just some string of words, it is part of the rapper’s soul. That’s why it can take long and strenuous hours for one song to be written.

“Good music takes time,” A$AP Heat said. Rappers must take things that inspire them, then place it in a rhythmic fashion that sounds really good.

Once a rapper has lyrics and a beat, the rapper needs to put the two together in the form of a recording. That’s when the studio comes into play.

On average rappers spend six hours a week in the studio. They record until each verse, chorus, and bridge is Ezine Fall 2018

perfect.

The studio is not just the place where rappers record their bars. It’s a place where producers make and share dope beats. It is the place where sound engineers put the two works - the lyrics and beats- together to make that head banging, foot stomping, swinging thing we call a rap song.

When a rapper makes a song, the next and final step is it to get the song out there.

In a world with Youtube and Soundcloud, there has never been a time when music is so easily shareable. Now rappers can put their music out there without dealing with the cost or hassle of making CDs.

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Top Right: Recording Mic at Spitshine Studios.

Photo by Jack Waters Bottom Left: Kydd Jones in the music video “work”.

Courtesy of The Austin Chronicle

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The Struggle

It all sounds so simple, yet it is easier said than done. Being one of the most competitive genres of music, the chance for a rapper to actually blow up is really slim.

Many rappers use advertising and connections to help with gaining publicity. “The key for me is networking, I gotta get out there,” A$AP Heat said.

To complicate matters, Austin music festivals have only featured rappers from out of the city. In the city of Austin, most people recognize only nationally renowned rappers.

When you ask people about Austin rappers, they can’t name any.

“People gotta embrace the culture and the people,” said Jay.i.be. “[The people need to] put [Austin rappers] in certain

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situations where they can showcase their talent, especially within their own city.”

Another burden on Austin rappers is money. When starting out as a rapper, the income is limited. Take the cost of recording studios and advertising where money can get really tight. In many cities, there are nonprofits that support up and coming rappers; Austin does not. Many rappers need to get side jobs to make ends meet.

This means less time being able to focus on music and rapping overall. Heaven forbid, if a rapper has an accident or emergency, the debt that they may encounter could be crippling financially.

As seen in the music, rappers often face

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other challenges as well.

Many rappers come from impoverished households.

“I’m a little Hispanic boy, so I didn’t have the nicest upbringing,” explained A$AP Heat. “I had it tough. I was raised by a single mom and stuff. Without a father figure in my life, it was just really hard.”

Sometimes these harsh situations catch up with rappers. Aquantis Griffin died at the young age of 21 after an interaction with police.

The struggles of being a rapper are real. Yet these struggles are considered fuel for rappers to keep fighting.

A$AP Heat comments, “Turn the negative into the positive. It’s really cool that I can take what’s going on and make it into an art form.”

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Progress With the Austin rap scene as it is, a question needs to be asked.

What has the Austin rap scene accomplished overall?

One major step for the Austin rap scene was when Kydd Jones was given the opportunity to perform at Austin City Limits this year. This is the first year in the history of ACL that an Austin rapper was included in the lineup.

“I think this is amazing,” said A$AP Heat. “To see an Austin rapper gives me hope.

He just got to stay organized and keep working to prove he is worthy of the national stage.”

Austin rappers such as Jay.i.be have been given opportunities to work with nationally renowned rappers.

This development has helped a lot of Austin rappers gain national recognition. Through this, many Austin rappers are able to increase their fan base.

As more and more Austin rappers gain fans, it becomes more likely that they will have a shot to blow up and become a big-time star.

A new development was the notable Austin music newspaper The Austin Chronicle reporting on the Austin rap culture. It shows the possibility that people in Austin might start embracing the Austin rap scene as a whole. It is clear that the Austin rap scene is inching its way to the point that the big music venues have shows that Ezine Fall 2018

feature Austin rappers. Even now we have seen an increase in attendance to Austin rap shows.

“We got a lot of sold out shows and it’s just been crazy,” said local sound engineer R.A.M.

Keeping the Momentum

Over the past few years, the Austin rap scene has gained some momentum. With the young rappers finding success on Soundcloud to Kydd Jones performing at ACL. We have seen rappers overcome the struggles of their everyday life and start their rise to achieving greatness.

Jay.I.be had some advice for new rappers trying to succeed in Austin, “Once you get comfortable you lose that momentum. So you have to keep going,” said Jay.I.be.

Bottom left: R.A.M sits behind his sound board. Photo by Jack Waters.

Top right: Rappers Teeda, Kenny Gee, and Quinn NFN. Courtesy of The Austin Chronicle

Bottom right: Rapper Jay.I. Be chillin’ before recording his new album. Photo by Jack Waters.

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What song should you jam out to this week?

Take this quiz to find out the next song that you’ll put on repeat.

P A R E N T A L

ADVISORY

EXPLICIT CONTENT

Spotify or Apple Music?

Spotify Apple

Your week has been... slow fast

Your week has been.. busy. chill.

Are you a sucker for good bass?

yes

no

You need music for... calming down.

Cranes in the Sky Solange

partying!

Photo by Saint Records

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Sierra Leone Frank Ocean channelORANGE

Sober Childish Gambino K A U A I WITH JADEN SMITH AS “THE BOY”

G

A

M

B

I

N

O

You need to... party slow down Montego Bae Noname Sunday or Saturday?

Make Me Feel Janelle Monáe Photo by Ethan Shvartzman

Sunday Saturday

blond Art by Bryant Giles

Seigfried Frank Ocean Photo by Wolfgang Williams

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s i a n Oc m t s t ob i r h er C by: Rebe cca

Harshm

an

ACL Festival goers were welcomed by this eclectic sign at the Barton Springs East entrance. Photo by Rebecca Harshman.

This year, Austin City Limits Music Festival rocked Zilker Park.

Every year when it rolls around, many Austinites brace themselves for Christmas in October: Austin City Limits Music Festival. The festival in 2018 was jam-packed with excitement when thousands of people attended Austin’s most popular music festival.

With a lineup filled with artists like Paul McCartney, Travis Scott

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and The Arctic Monkeys, The first weekend started on Friday, October 5th. On that day, Zilker Park was buzzing with excitement.

The festival is a pinnacle of Austin culture. Although the festival’s main purpose is music, it hosts the music, the food and the culture of Austinites

Day one hit festival-goers with hot, sunny weather and even hotter music. On the first day of the festival, Paul McCartney rocked Zilker Park. He played The Beatles’ songs alongside some of his solo work.

Another great performance on Friday was San Marcos-based boy band Brockhampton.

AC L He a d l ine rs

Paul McCartney Travis Scott Metallica Arctic Monkeys The National

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Their frontman, Kevin Abstract, came out on stage, coronating Brockhampton as “the best boy band on Earth.” They brought the heat to the Miller Lite stage. The crowd was most certainly sweaty after their set.

Austin High School student Priya Mishra called the Brockhampton show one of the best and craziest shows she had ever seen. Most of the students at her school attended the festival . The school gives the students the surrounding Friday and Monday off.

“I am sad that I have to go to school instead of back to Zilker Park tomorrow,” reflected Mishra on the Monday after the festival was over. The festival is so packed with excitement that it is saddening to leave when it is done.

The famous flags wave over the cloudy sky at the heart of Zilker Park during ACL fest.

Photo by Rebcca Harshman

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Along with Brockhampton and Paul McCartney, other exciting acts.played on Friday. These included teen-sensation Khalid and the always captivating David Byrne.

Day 2. Saturday’s gate opening was delayed by 45 minutes due to pesky rain that occurred overnight.

Although delayed, the festival opened its gates to another day of excitement. Many rushed to the American Express stage early in the

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the day to wait

St. Vincent rocks the Miller Lite stage on saturday night at the festival. Photo by Rebecca Harshman

hours for Metallica.

The day also contained The Wombats,Brandi Carlile, Blood Orange and St. Vincent.

The sun set and ACL morphed into a big rock show. St. Vincent’s show contained unique lights and visuals. She came to her home state and played a rocking set, and it was truly Texan.

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The set was one of the best of Saturday’s lineup.

Metallica was a huge act. Many fans were at the festival just to see them. They wore shirts and brought signs, and they were very excited to see the band play in Austin for the first time since the summer of 2015. They played hard, and had an extensive firework show for the crowd.

Day three was the pinnacle of the festival from a teenager’s perspective. Travis Scott was the major act. He has a massive cult following mainly powered by teenagers. Once again, many people waited

at the American Express stage for hours on end. Many kids were dehydrated and very hungry. All of this for Travis Scott to disappoint them by coming on stage 15 minutes late, and end his set 15 minutes early. For a headliner, this was shameful. The show was still alright, and a fan went up on stage and sang his early hit, “Goosebumps,” along with him.

41 year Austinite Becky Johnson goes to ACL every year. She loves to spend her weekend with music and friends: “I started going with a friend from school. She and I go together and then other people have joined in from time to time.” Her

daughter also joins her. She loves the relationships and the good times at the festival. She likes to set up a spot under a tree and use it as a home base. Johnson is in love with ACL because all parts of the festival are enjoyable to her. This year she was excited to see David Byrne and Paul McCartney.

KUTX 98.9 DJ Elizabeth McQueen is an expert in Austin music culture.

She does it for a living. When asked about ACL, she says that her favorite parts of the festival have changed over the years. In the early years of her history going to ACL fest, she used to go to see her favorite artists and bands. Then she

Becky Johnson (pictured in the middle) stands with her daughter (left), and her friend from school (right) at one of the entrances to the fest. They are very excited for the third and last day. Photo by Rebecca Harshman.

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Janelle Monae plays on Sunday at the American Express stage. Her performance was energetic and exciting. Photo by Rebecca Harshman.

played in the Austin band “Asleep at the Wheel,” where she began playing frequently at the festival, experiencing the festival as an artist.

Now McQueen attends the festival as press, interviewing artists. She has a podcast called This Song in which she talks to musicians about the songs that they were raised on. She likes conducting interviews for her podcast because “backstage interviews typically for artists are kind of surface and I get to sit down with people and actually talk about something that they care about. Rather than, you know, not just whether or not they like breakfast tacos.” Her podcast can be found where ever you listen to your podcasts.

Because the arts are important to

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Austin culture, the city’s rules reflect it.

McQueen said said that the hotel tax in Austin funds local arts all around Austin. The city’s policies reflect this value as well. ACL is needed for Austin arts culture because of the money it can contribute.

Overall, Austin City Limits Music Festival is a very exhilarating and

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vital part of Austin music and its culture. The festival is most certainly worth the money. The lineup can appeal to all of the beautiful music tastes of Austin. If you ever find yourself at ACL, take in all of your surroundings. The festival is like a paradise that embodies the phrase “Keep Austin Weird.”

ACL Fest starts on the first weekend of October every year.

Photo courtesy of the festival.

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Music Director Peter Bay conducts at one of the Austin Symphony’s Masterworks concerts.

Classical Music in Modern Austin

by Summer Henson

The Austin Symphony Orchestra has been an important part of the city for over a century.

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“T

o enhance the cultural quality of life for the adults and young people of Austin and Central Texas by providing excellence in music performance and educational programming.” This is the mission statement of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. The goal isn’t money or fame. For this ensemble, it’s all about the audience, the performance and above all, the music.

The Austin Symphony is the oldest performing arts group in Austin, having been founded over a century ago in 1911. The ensemble is made up of 80 performers under the direction of Conductor and Music Director Peter Bay. Most performances are held at the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Center or the nearby Palmer Events Center. The administrative staff, led by Executive Director Anthony Corroa, is based in Symphony Square.

The symphony’s season is similar to the academic year. It begins in September, with the final performance being the annual July 4th Concert & Fireworks, which is attended by about 80,000 people each year. All music is selected by Music Director Peter Bay. “The most important thing is that that piece of music speaks to me, I have some kind of emotional reaction to what I’m hearing, and that I think the the audience will get the same kind of reaction,” Bay said. “And I also try to present a wide variety of music; not all Russian composers, not all German composers, not all American composers.”

Parallel to its music, the symphony holds a wide variety of performances throughout the year.

The Masterworks series is what most people think when they hear the word “orchestra”, classical

music.

It consists of eight pairs of concerts (eight weekends with a concert on Friday and Saturday) from September to May. However, the Austin Symphony is not limited to classical music. There are four Pops concerts, playing popular music, in October, December, February and June.

The Austin Symphony plays as accompaniment for Ballet Austin two times a year, and puts on a Halloween Children’s Concert, Christmas in the Community and other free community concerts.

A large part of the symphony’s activities are about bringing music to young people.

“Fifty percent of what we do here are education-oriented programs,” explained Corroa.

Elementary students are bused in to hear the symphony play. Small ensembles travel to various schools to educate about music. The entire orchestra plays at nine or ten high schools each year.

“A lot of young people have never heard an orchestra play live,” Bay said. “And that’s one of the best things we do, is just introduce them to our sound.”

The orchestra’s efforts to get more young people interested may be working. “We see a lot of teenagers in the audience now,” Bay declared.

“That makes me really happy. It means that they get the message. They understand that what we do is really fun and exciting.”

In fact, ticket sales as a whole are increasing, which is promising. But for a symphony orchestra, generating money is a constant struggle. “The revenue stream is really pretty good here,” remarks Corroa. “A lot of orchestras struggle more

The Long Center, seen from the outside (left) and inside (right), is the venue for several fine arts groups in Austin. Photos Courtesy of the Long Center.

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than they would like, [but]... we seem to be doing pretty good right now.”

Money is required to pay musicians, soloists and staff, rent the Long Center, and, of course, put on concerts. It all adds up to just under $5 million a year. The Austin Symphony’s income is generated by a combination of admission fees, private donors and donations from local businesses.

“They know it’s an expensive thing to have an orchestra, but it’s an essential part of the city of Austin that we have an orchestra here,” explained Bay. “The best cities in the world have an orchestra.”

The budget plays a large role in an orchestra’s quality.

“We’re maybe in the second rank of orchestras, but that’s based

on our budget,” Bay estimated.

“Dallas and Houston, I don’t know exactly how much, but I’d say it’s in excess of $30 million to $35 million.” Symphony orchestras in larger cities have larger budgets, and can pay musicians more. As a result, they attract the best musicians.

And all professional symphony musicians have to be skilled.

“It’s not an easy thing to just get in,” stated Corroa. “You have to pass very strict auditions.”

When a spot becomes vacant, the orchestra accepts applications from around the country. For example, a violin opening might attract 50 or 60 applicants. In August, after the season ends, a panel made up of seven principal musicians and the music director, Peter Bay, listens to the candidates in

order to narrow it down to a few finalists. After that, it may take one to four rounds of listening to come up with the winner.

The minimum education for a member of the orchestra is a bachelor’s degree in music performance. However, many have a masters or doctorate.

“Because the performance world is so competitive, people tend to stay in school a little longer just to get more training,” explained Bob Cannon, the principal trumpet player of the Austin Symphony.

Due to this level of competition, professional musicians are adept at what they do. In fact, Cannon practices two to three hours each day in order to keep in top condition and learn the music that the symphony performs.

The Austin Symphony 4th of July Concert, produced in partnership with HEB, is an extremely popular event. It ocurs outside the Long Center every year. Photos courtesy of Austin Curbed (left) Austentatious Living (right) and Indepth Events (below)

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And that’s only the practice outside of orchestra rehearsals, which last two and a half to three hours and occur four times in the week preceding a Masterworks concert, and slightly less frequently before other performances.

In the rare event that a musician’s performance quality drops below the symphony’s standard, it, though uncommon, is possible for them to be removed. “Often a musician will realize that their time is up,” explained Corroa. “And they just take their retirement before having to go through the lengthy process of skills review and that sort of thing.”

However, the Austin Symphony, along with many other orchestras, has gone through the entire process to remove a musician before. The musician is given a chance to improve, but with continued underperformance, they will be replaced.

The hiring and removal of musicians is hardly the biggest source of development in the orchestra. Since it was founded, the Austin Symphony has changed with the times.

“Social media has been a big boost in that it’s easy to interact or relate with audience members through Facebook and Twitter and all the other things that we use,” Corroa remarked. Patrons can electronically communicate with the conductor during intermission. The symphony has accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Concertgoers often email the Austin Symphony Ezine Fall 2018

after performances to share their opinions and requests.

Technology and interactive elements are also incorporated into the show. “We are in an age where visuals are very important to audience goers,” Corroa said.

In the past decade, the Austin Symphony has added more types of programming.

One more recent event, having begun about five years ago, is symphony with film: a movie is played while the soundtrack is replaced by the live orchestra.

Another is the Chicago Symphony’s “Beyond the Score”. The Chicago Symphony has created several programs in which an orchestra plays excerpts from a piece of music while the story of the piece’s composition is acted out onstage. The Austin Symphony plays one of those programs every other year.

In large part, the programming of the symphony is determined by its viewers.

“You have to find ways to continue to bring great music to the ears of your community that they will embrace,” stated Corroa. “And the only way you can do that is by listening to what they have to say and complying with those requests.”

Corroa doesn’t foresee drastic changes in the symphony’s future; the performances might be modified to cater to the audience, but overall the orchestra will keep doing what it’s always done: deliver great music to the community.

As Bay said, “There’s a SETLIST MAGAZINE

Professional musicians put a great deal of time, effort, and passion into creating their music. Photos courtesy of the Austin Symphony.

certain electricity watching an orchestra really, really struggling to make the music come to life.” And the Austin Symphony Orchestra exists to do just that.

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The Anatomy of the

Orches tra

The modern symphony orchestra is composed of about 100 musicians, the majority of which play strings. (The Austin Symphony has 15 first violins but only three trumpets.) The main instrumentation and typical arrangement of the orchestra are pictured here. Other instruments, such as the piccolo, can also be included within the symphony. Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.

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1 Conductor Strings 2 First Violins

6 Double Basses 7 Piano and Harp

3 Second Violins

Woodwinds 8 Flutes

4 Violas

9 Oboes

5 Cellos

10 Clarinets The percussion section is made up of a variety of instruments including the snare drum and marimba and is staged behind the rest of the orchestra.

11 Bassoons Brass 12 French Horns 13 Trumpets 14 Trombones 15 Tubas

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Editors’ Playlist • A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay • Better Now by Post Malone • Cake by Melanie Martinez • Child’s Play by Drake • Clout Cobain by Denzel Curry • Confident by Demi Lovato • Crazy, Classic Life by Janelle Monae • Drip Too Hard by Lil Baby & Gunna • Dying in LA by Panic! at the Disco • Gemini Feed by Banks PAGE 40

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• Golden Days by Panic! at the Disco • Hedwig’s Theme by John Williams • Hymn for the Weekend by Coldplay • Lil Thing by Knox Fortune • Look Alive by Drake (ft. BlocBoy JB) • Magnolia by Playboi Carti • Message Man by Twenty One Pilots • Mo Bamba by Sheck Wes • Monks by Frank Ocean • Palace/Curse by The Internet (ft. Tyler, the Creator) • SAD! by XXXTentacion • Saturday Night by Panic! at the Disco • Sober Up by AJR • Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act 2, No. 10 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky • Yesterday by Noname Ezine Fall 2018

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“Music begins where the possibilities of language end.�

-Jean Sibelius