December 2022 - Spinnaker Radio

Pentatonix on stage, singing with smoke blowing at their feet.

Listening with Lisa: Pentatonix, A Christmas Spectacular

December 23, 2022

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

It’s safe to say that Pentatonix is most-known for their Christmas albums. From That’s Christmas to Me to Christmas is Here! to Evergreen (just to name a few), the five-person a capella group releases a new album for the holiday season just about every year.

My family is always awaiting the release of each Christmas album, because, what else are we supposed to listen to while drinking cocoa and decorating our Christmas tree?

When I found out Pentatonix was visiting Jacksonville on their world tour, A Christmas Spectacular, I had to surprise my family and best friend with tickets (Merry Christmas).

Nothing signifies a concert more than an eager crowd of people (who were surprisingly mostly over the age of 60) and the overwhelming smells of Cinnabon and buttery popcorn.

Opening for Pentaonix was A Girl Named Tom, the winner of The Voice season 21. The family band played a set of classic Christmas covers including Silent Night and Here Comes Santa Claus, but they managed to sprinkle in a few original songs as well.

Rather than dedicating the concert to their new Christmas album, Holidays Around the World, Pentatonix (Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee) performed many of their older arrangements – which I appreciated. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, White Winter Hymnal, and 12 Days of Christmas were some of the first pieces in their set list.

My dad and I share a special love for the way Pentatonix have arranged Amazing Grace, a song included on their 2020 Christmas album, We Need A Little Christmas. The dissonant harmonies and delicate exchange of phrases didn’t need the support of elaborate dancing or visual effects. When the singers lined up on stage to sing the arrangement, I could hear each tone of each chord in perfect harmony… this, by far, was the best part of the show.

After the intermission, Scott Hoying told us the story of how they got a hold of their beatboxer Kevin.

Kirstin, Scott, and Mitch have been friends since they were children because they were in choir and theater together. One day, they decided to audition for the a capella competition show, The Sing Off; however, they couldn’t do it because the show required each group to have a beatboxer.

“Out of desperation and panic,” Scott said he went on YouTube and searched “beatboxer.” Scott quickly came across a viral video of Kevin, in a dorm room, playing cello and beatboxing at the same time – celloboxing, as Kevin has named it.

Scott told us he immediately messaged Kevin.

“Hey man, if you’re free, do you wanna fly across the country and audition for this a capella show with us?” Scott said to Kevin via YouTube Message.

“I would but I’m currently studying for finals to get my pre-med degree at Yale,“ Kevin said to Scott.

Kirstin, Scott, and Mitch thought it was a lost cause. But, two weeks later, received another message from Kevin saying he was finished with finals and earned his pre-med degree.

Kevin spontaneously flew across the country to meet the three singers one day before their audition for The Sing Off, and are still performing together eleven years later.

Scott handed the spotlight to Kevin to play a set of celloboxing. He performed the same song from the YouTube video– a short piece with a lot of double stops and appoggiaturas with, of course, spiced-up beatboxing.

With his aspiration of taking classical pieces and making them “his own,” Kevin performed an excerpt of the Bach Prelude for Cello Suite No. 1– the first piece that probably comes to mind when you think of classical cello music.

After establishing the main theme of the Suite, Kevin added in his beatboxing, and the show kept getting more elaborate. Without introduction, Kevin began Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The beatboxing was enough to transform the classical piece into a cross between hip-hop and rock, but the dancers and colorful lights definitely played a big role in making the audience get off their feet.

This was Kevin’s final piece in the set, but I could’ve watched him for hours. The audience gave him the longest and loudest standing ovation of the entire show. He deserved it.

With, what seems like, thousands of Christmas songs Pentatonix have released, it was impossible to fit everyone’s favorites in the set list. So, they had to come up with a solution: The Wheel of Christmas!

Three spins of the wheel– three excerpts from the chosen Christnas songs. Lucky for me, they ended up singing two of my favorite arrangements: My Favorite Things and Making Christmas.

A worldwin of harmonies, riffs, and jokes later, Pentatonix ended the show on a high note by performing Kid on Christmas.

Experiencing Pentatonix: A Christmas Spectacular with my family has taken the place as one of my favorite holiday memories.

Happy holidays, everyone.

P.S. View all Justin’s photos from the concert here!

Music technology drum pad, lighting up different neon colors.

Listening with Lisa: Miriam Ganas, Senior Recital

December 16, 2022

As you may or may not know, all music majors at the University of North Florida are required to host a senior recital before graduating. In the recital, we are meant to showcase our growth as musicians by performing music in our repertoire and (if we want) teaching a lecture, all within 50 minutes.

On a cold, rainy night in Jacksonville, music technology and production student Miriam Ganas held her senior recital at UNF.

Miriam began her recital by demonstrating her music technology compositions in chronological order from her freshman year to her senior year. She started on a light note with compositions she made for video games. After demonstrating a Logic session with a video game music mashup, she presented a video of Mario Kart, playing her original music in the background. Luigi was riding on Rainbow Road to an upbeat track of synth and sound effects. Miriam explained that she created this by mixing her original work with free samples she found on YouTube.

Because Miriam said she mostly listens to 2000s pop-punk music, her favorite project in the Electronic Music Production Techniques course was one in which she had to compose electronic house music (EDM). She played with cymbal crashes, audio reversing, and filtering processing effects on her sister’s voice to create her composition.

When Miriam played the composition for the audience, it took us through a journey. Starting with a serene ambient soundscape, the piece transitioned into more traditional house-music. An ascending electronic sequence led into a beat drop. I’d say Miriam’s composition definitely qualifies as a head-banger.

Next, Miriam started talking about her soundscape, a composition made with sounds from a natural, acoustic space. (Think of when you search for “rainstorm,” or “crackling fireplace,” to play as background noise.)

Separating her composition from the ordinary, Miriam wanted to push the boundaries of natural sound. She explained that the goal for her soundscape was to invite people into her mind to get a glimpse of how she felt when dealing with a loved one with bipolar disorder. Creating this piece made Miriam realize that music does not need a traditional chord sequence, a beat, or harmony…

“Music is an experience,” Miriam said.

Acousmatic music is made by using acoustic, usually natural sounds and processing, mixing, and mastering them in a way that makes them unidentifiable.

Rock Music is the title of Miriam’s acousmatic composition. She explained how traditional acousmatic music makes her feel unsteady and anxious, which is pretty common. The title Rock Music represents not the rock genre, but the different sounds she could make solely from rocks. Miriam explained how the eerie feeling that is elicited from her while listening to acousmatic music is not one she wanted to create herself; her interpretation of the genre was one that provided a calming experience for her listeners.

Miriam told us that, with the techniques she’s learned in her years at UNF, she has been able to create advertisements for law firms in Orlando, Florida.

Her first video advertisement began with a blue background filled with fluffy, white clouds for the Hertz Law Firm. She took samples from the Simpsons to create the video advertisement in a humorous way with the main phrase being, “Got Hurt? Get Hertz!” This was funny.

Transitioning from the lecture of her music technology compositions, Miriam invited her band Says Who? to the stage.

Kisan, Giselle, Anna, and Mamielue make their way to the stage to play their original music as an all-girl pop band.

Listening with Lisa: Dr. Garrison Acousmatic Concert

December 9, 2022

Writing the second edition of Listening with Lisa– I’m Lisa Marino, a music technology and production major at the University of North Florida. Each week, I attend concerts by UNF music ensembles and write about them here. For the parents who can’t make the trip, the fellow music fanatics, or anyone looking for some insight on our School of Music.

Last week, I wrote about a lecture given by Dr. Travis Garrison at jemFEST, an annual music technology festival hosted at UNF. Garrison spoke about the evolution of his career and gave advice on how students can combine music and technology in the professional world.

Garrison presented select compositions a few hours after his lectures. He performed a mix of electroacoustic and fixed media compositions. While listening to each piece, I noted my thoughts.

Mutative Structures in Metallurgy

Atonal piano accompaniment and low frequency ambiance play a duet, fabricating an eerie feeling with major harmony interspersed. A sense of rhythm is absent as Garrison plays the bass notes with heavy accents. When the melody ascends, so does his force. The fortissimo parts are broken up with gentler techniques on higher chords. I notice a lot of major seventh intervals. This piece sounds like an expression of anger with episodes of happiness, as if Garrison’s emotion was undecided while composing.

The fixed media travels rapidly from left to right pan, sounding intentionally choppy at certain points. I wish I sat farther back in the recital hall, farther away from the speakers.

After an exponential build up to heavily processed layers of sound along with passionate piano accompaniment came a soft sequence. Arpeggiation of chord after chord atop the familiar ambiance of low frequencies arose the question of what will happen next. Garrison continued to softly press each key as the processing effects of delay and reverb increased.

The piece ended. The audience applauded. Garrison took a bow.

Cross Talk

Another fixed media piece encompasses the speakers. I hear a steady static sound that eventually glitches from right pan to left pan. Its pitch gradually modulates from a higher to a lower frequency. The static prevails as a sub bass vibrates my chair. What sounds like a distorted fast-forward action on a TV is soon taken over by the sound of water swirling, flushing, and rippling at the same time.

The static comes back… speaker to speaker, it bounces. The first sense of pitch is brought into the sound profile, a synth. Shortly after its entrance, the synth is interrupted by the static once again. It never occurred to me that there could be so many forms of static in two speakers. Before listening to this piece, static was just that— an undesired burden in my speakers. Crosstalk uses static in an artistic way. This piece plays with the desirable and undesirable: major and minor harmony sequencing through the synth chords to an overwhelming experience of static ambiance and distortion.

Crosstalk is an audible illustration of the familiar and unfamiliar, the comfortable and the uncomfortable, safety and danger. Emanated in this piece is the known and the fear of the unknown.

Interdependency 22

A single repeated note on the Steinway piano is processed in the two speakers. After only a few bars, it’s clear that this piece was written with agitation. Short and detached notes turn into rich, dissonant chords. It’s never predictable what the next chord will be. A sense of rhythm lacks in this piece but is not completely absent. Suddenly, a major harmony emerges but is then swallowed by a rapid atonal sequence. Each rest between the notes sounds like a gasp for air.

…

Acousmatic music isn’t my favorite, but being exposed to the genre is eye-opening in the regard of electronic music production techniques. Processing effects such as time stretching, frequency modulation, or equalization don’t have to be used to the extent of making the audience scared (like acousmatic usually does), but can be used to enhance more traditional instruments.

Throughout the concert, my sister Anna kept jumping in her seat because of the sudden, loud sounds. She’s not used to this abstract music, and neither was I before being a music technology student. Anna told me acousmatic music makes her anxious.

“When I listen to this, logically, I know I’m safe, but something in my body thinks I’m in danger,” Anna told me after the concert.

“It gets better… sort of,” I said.

Guitar amps stacked on top of each other and CDs stacked on top of each other.

Listening with Lisa: UNF jemFEST 2022

December 2, 2022

As a music student at the University of North Florida, I enjoy attending the concerts put on by the different instrument studios and ensembles. Now that I’m in the middle of my junior year at UNF, every minute I spend learning about music, the more I fall in love with it. In this newsletter, I will write about my experiences, thoughts, and opinions I have when attending the shows. Music is a language… an art form… a way of living. Here, I hope to translate that language into something more suitable for you, the reader.

Man sitting at a grand piano on a stage — Dr. Travison Garrison, photo taken by Lisa Marino

Travison Garrison, Ph.D., assistant professor of music theory and music technology at the University of Central Missouri was this year’s guest speaker/performer at jemFEST.

In his first lecture, Tech Talk, Garrison spoke on the evolution of his career in music technology. He explained that his career has been a compilation of composing, studio-based recording, and live sound engineering. Garrison told us that his goal was to provide advice on how music and technology can be combined in a number of ways to create a career.

Key principles Garrison noted when building a music technology career were the following:

• Be flexible.

• Take the opportunities presented to you to build your portfolio and your resume.

• Be ready to adapt to changes in the industry/economy.

Dr. Garrison then delved into the timeline of his career.

When he was 18-years-old, Garrison was hired at a church as a music director and worked there for six years. This was the point when he realized he was interested in being a team leader, an organizer, the person in charge.

San Diego was Garrison’s next home, where he went to college at the University of California and majored in computer science. It wasn’t long until he realized this path was not something he wanted to pursue. Picking up a minor in music theory and composition gave him the opportunity to meet musicians and composers. From here, Garrison’s career took a turn.

Making connections with the right people was another principle to success Garrison emphasized in his lecture.

From San Diego, he moved to New Hampshire. The connections Garrison made in his career thus far led him to more job opportunities in this new environment. His next opportunity was at Bennington College in Vermont, where he worked for two years as a live sound engineer while lending a hand in various projects, including sound design for theater productions. He learned more about incorporating music and technology, as well as theater terminology, which he found to help him substantially later in his career.

Dr. Travison Garrison, photo taken by Lisa Marino

Yearning to learn more, Garrison became a Gator and earned a doctoral degree in music composition at the University of Florida.

Following his interest of being in charge, Garrison took a job at East Carolina University managing studios, supervising graduate students, and being the manager of a large auditorium. Garrison noted that there were particularly a lot of jazz and R&B shows that came through the auditorium.

After three years at East Carolina University, he transitioned to the job he currently holds at the University of Central Missouri.

Since 2018, Garrison’s goal with the music technology program at the university has been to teach students many aspects of the field; Garrison teaches students about live sound reinforcement, studio recording, and composition utilizing technology.

Even if it isn’t in the field of music, a career is a journey – it evolves. One opportunity may lead to another, one connection may lead to three more. As Tom Peters said, “If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.”

Monthly Archives: December 2022

Listening with Lisa: Pentatonix, A Christmas Spectacular

Listening with Lisa: Miriam Ganas, Senior Recital

Listening with Lisa: Dr. Garrison Acousmatic Concert

Listening with Lisa: UNF jemFEST 2022