Hi! My name is Ke. I'm a Junior in Chemical Engineering. I lived in music for most of my life. I started piano when I was 6, though I had many "breaks" through out the years. I played trumpet in middle school, as well as a year of marching band and jazz band in high school.

I've explored the classical and the jazz, and I'd like to learn more how music is made/processed in the modern world. I great with computers, but I've never gotten around to applying it with music. This class will provide that opportunity and I think I'll enjoy every bit of it.

Hello everyone! My name is Patrick Yoon and I am a senior in Urban & Regional Studies. I have been playing piano since when I was five and have been playing accordion since when I was twelve. I played piano for my high/middle/elementary school chorales as an accompanist. Besides playing piano and accordion, I also play guitar but I am not good at it.

Although I don't play any instrument at Cornell, I continue learning/enjoying music by singing in Cornell Chorale. So, yes, I can read music and play some pieces, and I am really excited to share some of my talents with you all.

Although I am not the greatest musician in the world, I am really passionate about playing instruments and as well as listening to variety of music. The type of music I listen to is mostly classical but it ranges broadly from New Age to rock-and-roll. I signed up for this course because I am into music composition and also because I always wanted to learn about the music production. Also the idea of working with the latest music technology sounds awesome.

My goal in this class is to gain an understanding of the music production/software/digital music aspects of the course. Hopefully, I'll get to know enough about them that I will be able to create my own digital music that is professional and sophisticated.

 

Hi!  My name is Griffin and I'm a senior in Computer Science.  My only instrumental background is with the trumpet, which I've played since 4th grade.  From working through various exercises with the trumpet, I have some knowledge of music theory.  On the other hand, I have no experience with digital music software or hardware.

Although I mostly listen to music in the rock genre, I do enjoy some electronic - one band that sticks out in my mind is Ratatat. 

My goal in this course is to not only learn how to use digital music equipment, but to be able to put together a piece that is fun & catchy - something I would be proud to add to my playlist at home.

Hi, my name is Yao and I'm a senior in Electrical/Computer Engineering. I try to play the piano; but normally end up butchering songs with about an 80% note accuracy when I'm playing slowly dropping to about 40% when I start playing at breakneck speeds, which tends to happen when I start losing my patience with vivace.

I have very little creative intent and mostly rely on playing classical music to fool people that I have any musical talent at all.

I love bad synth from the 80's and am getting very much into electronica/trance music, which is where I'm coming from in terms of digital music. I love Tiesto and hate the Umbrella song, which has unfortunately started to grow on me recently, much against my will.

Oh, and I like Julie Andrews too.

Greetings. I’m a fourth-year Dual Degree student in English (concentrating in Queer Studies) and Fine Arts (concentrating in Photography). Growing up, I was suckered into taking piano lessons, but was never really a natural, and I quit a long time ago. So, I can read music and play half of Fur Elise, yay.
How I ended up in this class is a meandering sort of story. As a photography student, I had been devoted to the idea of being a totally analog artist. However, thanks to our distribution requirements, I had to become acquainted with Photoshop and Final Cut last spring. To my surprise, working in video fascinated me – the way it exists as a file on the computer and is projected in a gallery space or displayed on a screen or spread through the internet without ever having to exist as a concrete object. It’s silly, but it took me that long to realize how important the internet is to the way our generation thinks and functions. I became obsessed with surfing YouTube, specifically with fan-made music videos and live covers (for example, adolescent boys with acoustic guitars covering their favorite Iron & Wine song while perched on the edge of their beds – this whole publicly accessible private space thing).
I have long been interested in the way text and image interact (like the way captions inflect photographs), and this translates into video as the way sound and moving image interact (like the way music in movies is used to grant the viewer access to a character’s supposed interiority – favorite phenomena currently being the lovesick musical interlude while character watches the city streets pass from the back of a taxi).
Now, though I no longer play and have never attempted to compose music, I am one of those sickos who’s always plugged into an iPod, pathologically soundtracking my life. I find that I catalog my memories according to music. As for what I listen to, I went through a big folksy acoustic phase and the whole “New Weird America” thing, but lately I’ve become much more interested in electronic music (I’ll admit, it might have started with the Brian Eno records I stole from my dad) and dance and hip-hop – I’m not well versed in these things, but very open to listening and learning. So there’s a huge range, but a few random current favorites are Matthew Dear, My Favorite, CocoRosie…
So, I don’t know what I’m doing, at all, but I’m really excited to try this new medium, to learn from you all, and to see how my interests can be manifested in sound, and enjoy the music going on around me. Thanks!
(ps – some of my very studenty work for studio last semester can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=softmilkthing)

Hey everyone! My name is Joanne and I am a senior majoring in biology. I have been playing the piano on and off since I was in 2nd grade. My parents forced me to trudge through the piano lessons but in retrospect, I thank them so much because I have come to love playing the instrument. Though I am not the greatest piano player, I love playing when I feel stressed out or find a song that I really want to try out. I also played the clarinet in my junior high school band but honestly I don't remember how to play it anymore. I can read music but I have not done any composition before.

The type of music I listen to depends on my mood. When I'm busy studying for a class, I would put on Chopin. When I walk around campus, I make a playlist that has all kinds of music, ranging from the latest hip-hop songs to Sting's first tunes.  Some of the genres that I am most fond of are classical, rock/alternative, and korean ballads.

I signed up for Music120 not really knowing what to expect. This is the first (and probably last) music course that I will take at Cornell. I have always been interested in learning about the technology behind music production. But because of my course load during the past 3 years, I was never able to try out a class like this. My goal at this point is to learn how to create my own music, since I have never done it before.

Music is something that will always be in my life. I hope that the concepts and knowledge that I gain from this course will give me a better understanding of what I am listening to through my headphones. And last but not least, I look forward to getting to know everyone and to hear all of your music!!

Hi my name is Aakash (uh-cosh) Chokshi, and this is my story.

I am not musical. At all. I once tried to sing, but it was probably painful to those around me. I have never even played a trumpet with my mouth. I am however pretty good at computers. I am an Electrical and Computer engineer, but hopefully if you met me, that isn't the first thing that you would think.

That being said, I love music. I think what I listen to really depends on what mood I'm in at the moment. For example my playlist currently includes Soldier Boy, Kanye, the Plain White T's, and Flight of the Conchords. Mostly, I listen to hip hop, but the lyrical kind (unless its a party, thus the Soldier Boy). That's why I believe that Biggie is the best rapper of all time.

When it comes to this class, I think that my goals differ from others. From what I have read, people seem to have experience in different areas, and a plan to proceed. I actually don't have any idea how this will go, but it is something new for me, something very different from the droning lectures that I fall asleep in for the rest of my days. My overall goal is to create something that I can be proud to show off, to say I made that and to have people listen to it and be like "Wow, that David Waks can rap, and that other guy is pretty good, and the beat is real tight too." Anyways, I hope to make the most of it.

Dueces.

Hey everyone!

I'm David and I'm really excited to be in this class: it teaches pretty much exactly what I've always wanted to learn.

I can't play any instruments (except the trumpet with my mouth on occasion) but I've tried to learn keyboard at times.

I grew up listening to 50's and 60's oldies but then later in life got really into hip hop. I have over 2000 albums and I love listening to them. Hearing a new great album is one of my favorite things in life. I feel like I've always had a good ear for music and I'll often find songs that no one else will know about and spread them around to the compliments of others.

I started playing with Fruity Loops 3 years ago and made some decent beats. Making good beats is something I dream about (honestly) and I hope to make TONS of great music with the help of this class (and Aakash). Hopefully, afterwards I'll know enough about digital music and the software and hardware involved that I can buy some equipment and software and continue long after the course ends.

I'd post some of the stuff I've done but I don't have internet right now and I have to post this from my friend Ayush Jiwarachka's house.

Hey there!

I’m Karen Lin, currently enrolled in Music 120’s afternoon class for Fall 2007. I’m a junior majoring in Fiber Science and Apparel Design in the College of Human Ecology. I have a limited background in digital music from last fall semester. I’ve been playing the piano since I was five; I play classical and jazz music in high school, and Broadway music for Anything Goes here in Cornell. Besides playing the piano, I also play the violin and participated in my high school orchestra for four years. I also took private vocal lessons for spring semester freshmen year.

When time permits, I like to compose music. Thus, I became interested in digital music. Not only is the idea of working with technology and computers cool, it also opens up more opportunities for me to experiment and add more instruments and other sound effects to my compositions. I hope this course can help get me to the level of creativity in my compositions that I want. I also hope I get to learn from and work with all you amazing people in this class to create wonderful music!

Karen

Hi, I'm Jehhal.  I'm a junior in the college of engineering.  As a kid, I played piano for a few years, and then violin for about a year, but have not played either instrument since then.  I started playing guitar in middle school and have played ever since.  I've played and recorded music on and off with some of my friends, but I have no performing experience.  I joined this class because I am very interested in learning about creating and editing music digitally.  I have practically no experience in the field but I hope to get a lot this semester.  I'm excited to see what kind of music everybody comes up with.