and te ch n o lo g y festival
7
w
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MATT ROWNING
Clackam as Com m unity C ollege’ s first
“ Music Perform ance and Technology
Festival” was a celebration of a new degree
and the art that comprises it: music.
T h e b r a in c h ild
o f K a th le e n
Hollingsworth, the Music Performance
Technology degree and festival is the
answer to students’ wants.
Hollingsworth said, “ We started this
degree program because we had a really
great studio here at the college. All these
kids were coming in to get the Music Tech
Certificate; they had all these music skills
ind no way to work them out. I proposed
:he idea o f building a Music Tech and
Perform ance degree. We spent a year
building it, got it approved by the state,
and now the degree is live.”
Helping young musicians achieve their
dreams is the objective.
"W e ’ re tryin g to nurture a m ore
authentic and unique musician, and one
that can make it out in the business on
their own,” she said.
4 Qadamas Pimi APRIL 27.2016 ttedadanasprinüan
New York percussionist Billy Martin,
perhaps best known for his work w ith
Medeski, Martin & Wood, opened with a
lecture on creativity on April 20. Martin
brought a set o f confidence-instilling
wisdoms to the students.
His words “ Your w ay is the w ay,”
best sum m ed up his attitude towards
songwriting and creativity.
As a self-id en tified “ experim ental
musician,” Martin encouraged students
to find their own unique voices in the
broad world of music.
“There is no musical ideal,” said Martin.
He encouraged students to “ go in any
direction as long as we don’t stay in one
spot.” He shared anecdotes on touring,
com position and creativity exercises
before taking questions.
The other public event on Wednesday
was a drumming masterclass, also led by
Martin. Students jammed on handheld
percussion with him.
Clackamas student Chris Caruthers said
on the festival and the music classes: “ I
learn so much every single day. There’s
never a moment where I’m like ‘know this
already.’ It’s new stuff to me. Then I can
challenge myself more as a musician.”
The second day o f the festival on
April 21 included lectures w ith Martin
and recording and performing software
workshops with Isaac Cotes, a composer,
teacher and Ableton Certified Trainer.
“ Becoming an Ableton Certified Trainer
basically means you’ve pushed yourself
out into the world of other musicians,”
said Cotes. “ Ableton sees that, and then
you go through their certification program
to get their stamp of approval. It’s helped
me teach at places like this, I work with
curriculum at high schools and colleges. ”
Cotes offered insight on the use o f
Ableton Live itself, as w ell as two new
innovations from Ableton: Push and Link.
Push is a m usic com position tool
(technically a sequencer and MIDI pad)
that uses Ableton’s onboard synthesizers
and drums to let you compose quickly.
Link is Ableton’s new method for synching
software instruments from computers, to
iPads, to cell phones that uses internet
router signals to share a time code.
The final event of the festival was a
concert Thursday even ing. Student
ensem bles played and sang, w ith the
Contemporary Music Ensemble, Onion,
the Man and the CCC Cham ber Choir
representing the students.
CCC staff also took some time in the
spotlight. Electronic music instructor and
wizard jazz pianist Clay Giberson displayed
his otherworldly chops on a red electronic
organ, then again on the Ableton Push.
Visiting artist Martin took a fantastic
drum solo, and almost magically, aerial
dancer Kerri Jonquil took the stage with
the band to finish their set.
Debbie Fox contributed to this report.