Nice place, if a little cold, wet and snowing. Reminds me a little of New Zealand/ Queenstown in many ways . . . Spent some time with the folks at McGill's Schulich School of Music.
Old music school
New music school
Dean, Don McLean showed me through some of the recording studios:
API Console
Mutimedia room and soundstage
I also met with Sean Ferguson, a composer and Director of CIRMMT (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology). They house six, what they term 'research axes', and each of which have dedicated labs and resources.
Another new venture, this time with intercultural musicians, improvisation and a surround sound PA system from industry partners, Acoustic Technologies.
We had an interesting, fun gig recently at the Queensland Conservatorium courtyard (in the centre of the building) here in Brisbane on 3 Nov. 2010. Speakers and artists semi-obscured around the mini-rainforest here.
Lots of playing and jamming of the last six moths. Hope some might enjoy the work, but be a little warned - much is this is strictly improvisation, warts and all. A few have been edited a little to simply shorten, a couple of others have some Apple loops dropped in here and there. Still, the sounds are interesting . .
Many thanks to collaborators: Bob Peele (drums), John Stefulj (wind and percussion), Bart Stenhouse (bass and guitar), Frank Millward (keys), Peter Walters (bass).
Have been playing every Friday, my University Research Day. Jamming really, working out the guitars and chop-building with good friend, drummer Bob Peele at his recording and teaching studio here in Brisbane.
One of the instrument projects has been re-building this 1990 made-in-Nashville burgundy Les Paul Custom. [once owned and well-cared for by a elderly musician in Cairns who bought it new]. Has taken just a few late nights and much advice from My Les Paul Forums - completely re-wired internally, shielded with copper foil; Lindy Fralin 'Pure PAF' pickups, Tonepros/ Graphtech bridge and a great deal of messing with pot values and caps (tone, tone . . ).
In any case, here's one of the rather self-indulgent, but nice free-form blows . . take on Miles' All Blues giving the Les Paul & kit a workout. Some of All of the Blues.
I’m a baby boomer who grew up in Brisbane the 50s and 60s. Fresh out of school as a 18 year old guitarist, I bypassed university and joined a rock band, promptly heading off to Melbourne to find fame and fortune. Good times, cold weather, Lygon Street, Aussie Crawl, Skyhooks, Countdown, shared band houses and life in pubs and on the road.
c. 1974 – somewhat naive, but ready for the road
L-to-R: me (guitar), Tony Mockridge (vocals),
Harry Curtis (bass, sadly now passed away), Bob Peel (drums).
We never quite cracked the ‘big time’, whatever that really means in the common ‘stardom-or-bust’ vernacular. Perhaps this was to do with my attitude about money and pay-scales – somehow those record company deals never seemed to quite add up. In any case, I became increasingly interested in the idea of more strings to my bow (what they seem to be calling ‘portfolio careers’ these days) and there was no way to avoid the fact that this was based on an arsenal of high level skills.
I subsequently relocated to Sydney in the late 70s, feeling the needing a change of scene and better musical chops. Jazz fusion was emerging at the time and Sydney had a burgeoning jazz scene together with a Conservatorium of some note that offered programs led by some of the jazz stars of the time. I auditioned and enrolled, trouble was, I didn’t like it and I didn’t like what they taught. Academic content and delivery seemed to be quite disconnected to working, but moreover, the jazz was way too ‘straight’ for my liking, delivered by who I then thought of as ‘old guys’. So, I found private tuition from a number of gigging rock guys with huge chops, dropped out of the Con and for the next five years or so, practiced and played harder than I even had before in my life.
c. 1980s – some festival, somewhere
I moved back to Brisbane in the early 80s to take up a number of great recording and touring offers. This was also time of the birth of the PC, MIDI (the musical Instrument digital interface), the CD and digital sound. I jumped right in, using my experience and love of recording studios to build a facility in Brisbane, probably one of the first, affordable ‘Home studios’ here. This used emerging technologies to synchronise software and microphone recording to produce a lot of original music in the next decade or so.
c. 1987 - the first studio in a spare bedroom
It was this trajectory that first bought me to deliver an invited masterclass on film music and recording technology at the Queensland Conservatorium in 1998. The ‘technology’ moniker stuck, and I somehow became to default ‘music tech’ guy because of my work with computers primarily, but my rock, R&B, and jazz music never really got much of a look-in at a mostly traditional conservatoire at that time. Still. I loved the teaching – and the challenge of being part of a team to bring the conservatoire into the 21st century.
During the 90s, I subsequently designed and convened a range of music technology-related undergraduate, postgraduate degree programs and specializations. I also built a number of recording studios (including the staff research space IMERSD [Intermedia, Music Education & Research Design], networked facilities and computer labs.
The 2004 launch of the IMERSD recording complex.
L-to-R: Griffith Vice-Chancellor Prof Ian O’Connor, [then] Qld Govt Arts & Education Minister, Anna Bligh [now Premier of Queensland]; Mr Robyn James (CEO, Pacific Film & Television Corp.); Mr Mike Lake (Exec. VP, Warners Village Roadshow)
The design of online, variously termed ‘flexible’ or ‘blended’ learning has been a feature research interest throughout my university career. I also had to build and establish academic cred., and in 2000 I completed a Doctor of Education (EdD) entitled New Learning: The Challenge of Flexible Delivery in Higher Education. Drawing on this work, and influenced by new millennia ‘web 2.0’, I subsequently developed podcasting platforms via Radio IMERSD and our role in Griffith iTunes-U.
Given my positive EdD experiences, I also lobbied for the creation of a professional doctorate-by research in music. In 2005, QCGU introduced the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), these days bursting at seams with doctoral candidates researching aspects of their music.
Somewhat quizzically though, I sometimes reflect on the fact that while here and elsewhere in the arts higher education sector, we develop and assist some outstanding people to attaint their doctoral qualification though multi-exegetical thesis that incorporate creative products – it is much more problematic for academics to continue and be recognised for their own similar creative works. (see earlier 12 May 2010 blog entry, Monograph).
And this brings the story up to the present day: Since taking on the QCGU Deputy Director (Research) portfolio in 2009, this has most certainly allowed me considerable scope for refection(!) Steering an academic team and assuming responsibility for all QCGU RHD candidates in partnership with GGRS has provided me with a substantial ‘birds-eye view’ of complex viewpoints that I now deal with on a day-to-day basis.
This has allowed me to build on my past experience and to respond to the challenges of scaling, modifying, and/or refining my thinking. But also now, in terms of thinking about a research sabbatical (ASP, or Academic Studies Program as call it in Australia), something which I haven’t had the opportunity to engage with to date. I wonder if I can bring the musical past, the academic career and the future together in such a way that makes sense, that still serves my students and faculty well, but also allows me to rebuild some of my past music-making? A bit scary really – I have really ‘lived’ musicking for 15 years or so – that is, like a sports person needing the regular physical engagement: practicing, rehearsing, performing, composing.
We shall see. Next, I need to think about the instruments.
I haven’t had a lot of time to write on this blog recently. And one of the reasons is that a new project has emerged, but is keeping me busy outside of my university work commitments. I thought that one way that could help me to work through this musical ‘re-discovery’ project would be via my blog (inspired by examples from postgrad research students developing their research).
It may change the following of this blog, for those who may have been enjoying my ‘external reporting’, as it were. It could be a little self-indulgent I guess, but they tell me that’s what blogs are for . . . So, I though I’d start by putting up a couple of entries, then continue on in the development of this project over the next 18 months or so. What I’m calling Monograph.
monograph \ˈmä-nə-ˌgraf\ Function: noun Date: 1821 a learned treatise on a small area of learning; a written account of a single thing
Must fly, (literally). Now on to Leeds and dreadful weather, I believe. Still, looking forward to catching up with friends at Sixth Annual Art of Record Production Conference.
We had an interesting, fun gig recently at the Queensland Conservatorium courtyard (in the centre of the building) here in Brisbane on 3 Nov. 2010. Speakers and artists semi-obscured around the mini-rainforest here.
More about the soundspace concept, scores and pictures available at www29.griffith.edu.au/soundspace.
Guitar sounds are though a stereo amp rig: a Fender tweed Hot Rod Deluxe (JJ tubes, Eminence Cannabis Rex hemp cone speaker, and one of the Fromel HRD mod kits), and a Suhr Badger. The board is a Vox Tonelab SE30.
c. 1980s – some festival, somewhere
c. 1987 - the first studio in a spare bedroom
The 2004 launch of the IMERSD recording complex. 
Given my positive EdD experiences, I also lobbied for the creation of a professional doctorate-by research in music. In 2005, QCGU introduced the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), these days bursting at seams with doctoral candidates researching aspects of their music.
And this brings the story up to the present day: Since taking on the QCGU Deputy Director (Research) portfolio in 2009, this has most certainly allowed me considerable scope for refection(!) Steering an academic team and assuming responsibility for all QCGU RHD candidates in partnership with GGRS has provided me with a substantial ‘birds-eye view’ of complex viewpoints that I now deal with on a day-to-day basis.
This has allowed me to build on my past experience and to respond to the challenges of scaling, modifying, and/or refining my thinking. But also now, in terms of thinking about a research sabbatical (ASP, or Academic Studies Program as call it in Australia), something which I haven’t had the opportunity to engage with to date. I wonder if I can bring the musical past, the academic career and the future together in such a way that makes sense, that still serves my students and faculty well, but also allows me to rebuild some of my past music-making? A bit scary really – I have really ‘lived’ musicking for 15 years or so – that is, like a sports person needing the regular physical engagement: practicing, rehearsing, performing, composing.
I haven’t had a lot of time to write on this blog recently. And one of the reasons is that a new project has emerged, but is keeping me busy outside of my university work commitments. I thought that one way that could help me to work through this musical ‘re-discovery’ project would be via my blog (inspired by examples from postgrad research students developing their research).
