Week 20 - 1/2 way there - - - - - "aaaaaah, livin' on a prayer!"

Wrapping up week 20 and the 1/2 way mark of the program. 

I'm deeply involved in the Cue for 'Cane', I meet with advisors 3-4 times a week now instead of once as with previous cues.  A key difference with Cane is we are starting to encounter more than 1 emotion per cue. The Rom Com and Psycho Thriller cues were pretty emotionally stagnant.  With the Tension Chase cue we had two distinct yet separated emotional states. Now we have a 90-second cue where the emotional state changes 4-5 times and that needs to be reflected in the music. The limited instrumentation makes that task even more difficult.  I'm taking advantage of the unique 'playability' of the harp and cello, using the various sounds they are made for; pizzicato and rich soaring melodies for the Cello, glissandos and long reverb time for Harp. 

Closed out Ear Training, Logic, and Sibelius this week. Moving on to Pro-Tools (DAW) and Dorico (Notation). Music for Video Games, Songwriting for Film, and Advanced Mixing are coming up this quarter. My finale project for Ear Training is an electronic recreation (mockup) of "I'm Forrest...Forrest Gump' from the soundtrack.  I'm particularly happy with the way it is turning out. I'll probably post a segment here on the blog. 

We had a pretty intense conversation about AI and the outlook it might have on music creation. At the moment, AI created music, while quasi-acoustically pleasing to the ear, has a way to go before (if ever) it achieves a human's sense of aesthetics and emotional context. It's possible (but doubtful) that machines will achieve a decent level of emotional awareness in my lifetime. It's further evolution of the music library where YouTubers can find royalty-free (or a small fee) music in their content to appease the copyright gods. 

AI-generated music will replace the need for some musicians / composers, but not all; most likely not even 1/2.  Lower-budget productions will most likely take advantage of the decent-sounding / less expensive alternative to hiring live musicians and renting a studio. However, much like how people who seriously want a decent experience with photography will hire a professional photographer, people serious about real, raw music, will continue to hire a professional composer. 

Well, at least I hope that's how it turns out, I don't know if there are studies or data surrounding the effect of AI on music creation. It's possible I'm entering a dying creative field, perhaps I waited too long.  But I'd rather regret the choices I made and the chances I took than regret the ones I didn't. 

There will always be the opportunity to teach, just as I am currently seeking mentorship so will there be future musicians seeking to learn the ways. Fortunately I have my feet in the Symphonic and Marching Band worlds.