Artist of Interest

Blog #2

Mike Portnoy: My artist of interest…

To say that I can play his work would be a lie, but to say that Mike Portnoy, drummer of progressive rock band ‘Dream Theater’, has influenced my playing and musical interests would be an understatement.

Mike Portnoy has been the drummer for Dream Theater since they first started writing music in 1985. He has co-produced the last 5 Dream Theater albums and has been named Best Progressive Rock Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine for 12 consecutive years. Mike is also the youngest person (at 37 years of age) to be inducted into the Rock Drummer Hall of Fame since his idol, Neil Peart was inducted in 1983 (at 31 years of age).

I have become obsessed with Dream Theater but most of all Mike’s drumming for the past couple years. I love odd time signatures, long songs, technical passages, and innovative music so if you have ever heard Dream Theater you could see how I would enjoy them. Here is a video of Mike performing a Dream Theater song entitled “The Dance of Eternity.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clt4h5y_Hmc&feature=related
This song shows not only his talent as a drummer but how innovative his writing, and drumming style is.

Out of all the things Mike has accomplished I have always appreciated his involvement in the musical community. He has had many side projects (7) as well as sit ins with many other bands. He has always expressed how he loves to experience others music as well as create more of his own.

As far as his influence on my work, I would say that any drum part I come up with or write is 50% inspired by Mike. Whether it is the style of double-bass drums, or tom fills, I guarantee it was inspired by Mike. This can be very frustrating for me as well because I am just not as talented as him so trying to create something similar to his work is nearly impossible for me, especially in garage band or on a drum machine. However, inspiring to be like a musician like Mike will only enhance my musical ability.

I will leave you with a video of Mike and Dream Theater’s keyboard player, Jordan Rudess. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr-spb0SETE&feature=related

First Week Experience

Blog #1

I have been in the EA Lab using Garage Band a few times this week in hopes of getting a piece together for class this tuesday. I went in with the idea of creating a couple minute repetitive piece. I am hoping that it puts the class in a type of transe. I don't want it to bore people, but I would like it to put the class at ease. It is not intricate in any way but that wasn't what I was trying to do anyway. I found myself having a hard time settling on a particular idea. I sat for 2 hours trying many different ideas as I could but I never used one of those ideas. I came back a couple days later with a refreshed mind and finally got something going. It can be very frustrating to get something going, but once I finally started I ended up moving quickly through the piece. I am almost done and am excited to present my piece tuesday.