Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2015)
The teacher files STORY AND PHOTO BY MATT RO W N IN G After years of playing, recording and working as a professional musician, Brian Rose founded the Music Technology Program at Clackamas Community College. The Clackamas Print: How long have you been playing music? Brian Rose: Since I was four. That’d.be 56 years, cause 1*11 be 60 in January. TCP: Did you run a couple keyboards on top of each other then? Rose: I’d have three or four keyboards going, w ith a drum machine. Eventually, I bought keyboards that had sequencers built in. Some guys used computers, you see Mac Classics out there. That’s how I got my training in MIDI. I took it a step further and said, “I’m getting pretty good at th is.” I can actually make commercial music and sell it to local video producers, music libraries. I started making music as a writer. I expanded to build a studio where I can record bands. I did that for 20 years or so. Then I put together a studio at a private high school downtown, they asked me to come in and do that. Then the chair out here saw what I was doing out there, and he knew me, and he wanted to do that out here. TCP: Tell us about your playing. Rose: I started with classical, of course, because I had a :lassical teacher. I wanted to move on to other styles, jazz, and after five years of pretty intense classical training, I wanted to move into Scott Joplin and Ragtime. My teacher wouldn’t allow it, so I stopped taking lessons. I picked up the trombone, not because I wanted to play it, but because the school had run out of alto saxes, which I’d TCP: Was that Dave Mills? really wanted to play. I picked up the trombone and played Rose: No, Tom Wakeling. The music departm ent was that through high school and actually got a full ride to failing. He knew we had to go high tech. He brought me in, and we created the Music Tech departm ent, and it here (CCC) as a trombone player. basically bailed out the music departm ent. That’s why I came out here. TCP: What was it like playing here as a student? Rose: I went out here my senior year, and by the end of my first year, I was already playing gigs. I played trombone professionally for about 10 years or so, and then realized This interview has been edited for clarity and space. that the piano players are getting a lot more work than Read more o f this interview at TheClackamasPrint.com any brass player. I started buying keyboard equipment and teaching myself what I needed to play. o © PRINT EDITORIAL Co Editor-in-Chjef Andrew Koczian chiefed@dackamas.edu Co Editor-In-Chief Megan McCoy chiefed@clackamas.edu News Editor Saige Keikkala newsed@clackamas.edu Arts & Culture Matthew Rowning aced@clackamas.edu Associate Arts & Culture Blake Swan Sports Editor Katie Archer sportsed@clackamas.edu Copy Editor Shaylyn Struna copyed@clackamas.edu Photo Editor Austin Boltz photoed@clackamas.edu W eb Editor Chelsea Pagan webedltor@clackamas.edu Ad Manager Robin Scott admgr@clackamas.edu Design Editor Brandon Chorum TCP: Why did a keyboardist need to understand MIDI, musical instrument digital interface, the protocol for digital instruments to communicate timing and notes with each other? Rpse: The bars were cutting back on the money they’d put up for bands, for two reasons. One was the drunk driving law kicked in and so people quit drinking during the week. The liability insurance triple, as that made the club liable for someone’s drunken condition. That was another big expense. People were drinking less, so they’re bringing in less revenue, and then their insurance went way up hjgh. They started saying no more 5 or 6 piece bands: 2 or j piece bands. By the time I got my equipment together and got my chops together, I had to learn to program MIDI. I had to replace the bass player and all those layered keyboard parts you heard in all those 80s tunes, and I had to program drums. STAFF WRITERS Corrections: In the Nov. 18 issue of The Print, a story misstated the hometown of CCC instructor Irma Bjerre. She is from Bucaramanga, Colombia. Also in the Nov. 18 issue, a story about the Army Strong center quoted Nick Hadley out of context. Hadley said, “ Not at all” to a question about whether he was bothered by the Veterans Center being closed on Veterans Day. [¿'is not a building, but is an office. The Army Strong center is not a charity; it is Army-funded earned benefit. Army Service Component Command is not associated with the center; it falls under the Army Reserve Family Programs. screened or subject to censorship. & PHOTOGRAPHERS Cassidy White Debbie Fox Lily Shaver Merari Calderon Ruiz Victoria Tinker PRODUCTION Justan Honer Taras Kovch JOURNALISM ADVISER Melissa Jones melissaj@clackamas.edu The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased and professional manner. Content published in The Print is not Email comments, concerns or tips to: chiefed@clackamas.edu or call us at 503-594-6266 19600 Molalla Ave. Oregon City. OR 97045 ON THE COVER: Portland Winterhawks beat the Tri-City Americans on Nov. 20. Photos by Blake Swan. Cover design by Brandon Chorum.
