About Me as a Person...



This is Me

I enjoy listening to music. My favorite genres right now are rock and jazz. I occasionally listen to hip-hop, but being a practicing member of my religion interferes with me becoming more than a casual fan. Or at least, I think so. I shy away from songs about big pimping. Hip hop has its mad creative and random side too though, and I like that stuff a lot. The best example might be "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" by Snoop Dogg and Gorillaz.
I am a Mormon. I served a 2 year mission for my church from July 2011 until July 2013. I was a missionary in Lima, Peru. Above is a picture of me in Chiclayo, Peru, a few years ago. Obviously, were I still a missionary I would be wearing a tie. But since I wasn't, and I was forgetful, I left my tie in Utah before visiting Northern Peru with my mom. I only needed my tie for one day during my family trip: Sunday.
Above that is a picture of me and an Idahoan friend freezing in the cold Provo night, October 2013. It was a different time.



This is a (blurry) picture of me when I still took selfies: still fall 2013. As I said, it was a different time. The bearded fellow is Gavin Ryan, one of the better known drummers in the Provo area. He was my drum teacher for a few weeks at this time before the commute from Ephraim grew to be too much for me. Later, after I finished at SNOW just about 5 credits shy of an Associate's Degree, he would be my drum teacher again. He was teaching private lessons at Utah Valley University. I signed up, hesitant to practice music so much, but ready to stretch myself. He was a great teacher. I'm still looking for those notes from his private lessons. I want to re-learn those crazy scales he taught me.



This is Shelby. Her hair was very different in the spring of 2014. We dated on and off for a while, but all that upgraded into a marriage on August 15, 2015.




Since then, I've been happier and more productive. I joined the Southern Utah University Percussion Ensemble. I played in a couple of the bigger songs in our concert last November. The class was only a half credit, but to me it meant a lot. I was playing music again. I was working on my skills. I was good enough to perhaps earn a scholarship, although I wouldn't have the time to play enough to make it worth the effort of auditioning. Music is a big part of my life. I won't bore you with the dozens of screen shots of Amazon Music MP3 files I have listened to. I won't embed the footage of my concert (at least until I get it). But it's pretty obvious that being a Communications major won't prevent me from listening to music every day, and playing drums whenever I can. I enjoy it too much.

-Spence






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Influences and Heroes

A few thoughts about musical heroes and influences: - everybody has them. Any artist you enjoy, they have heroes and influences that they look up to. -having them helps you grow. You will hear thought provoking, new ideas. -they can come from anywhere. -they can be any genre. -it doesn't have to be what you play. You can be inspired by anyone. -you will learn as you listen. -having heroes and influences will give you new ideas and sounds. -learning about musicians, their sounds and ideas, is enlightening.
Read more

Another Great Music Video

Image
Another one! I just thoroughly love, love, love this band Atoms for Peace. Their sound is just so unique. No one plays quite like them. Theirs is a balanced dynamic musically. You can always hear the bass and the drums, coupled with the ambient noise in the background, but that never overpowers the vocals or the overall clarity of their songs. This music video is a creative, sprawling, ominous art piece. I won't try to crack the code here, but just say that I enjoy it. I think it is unique lyrically, with singer Thom Yorke playing prophet as he points out that something is coming, and it'll be "before your very eyes." Spooky. We see colorful fluid flooding sky scrapers as they collapse, before the camera goes down a massive hole in the ground. Stalactites and stalagmites meet, and the ever present singing head is giving a body in free fall. Amazing.
Read more

NPR Curating- Kendrick Lamar

Image
I just found this today- it's just fantastic. Mr. Mooney's hip hop class gets a special visit from Kendrick Lamar. I think the concept of people studying modern text in this way is refreshing. The way that Kendrick relates to the students, who obviously did a great job of analyzing his art, is wonderful. He has respect for them, and they clearly respect him. They went crazy when he promised to return. "These Walls", Live on Ellen This clip is of Kendrick performing his song "These Walls" on the Ellen show. It's just fantastic. The song and performance convey a very positive, creative message. As Kendrick is rapping, there are dancers, and a painter sharing the stage with him. I think that Ellen's comments are very complimentary. She was obviously very excited to talk to him about his career and being a positive entertainer.
Read more