James Armstrong

Name:   James Armstrong

Website:  http://jamesarmstrongmusic.com/

What do you do?  
I’m a composer / pianist, and teacher in public schools.

Where can we find your work?  
On my website and in Bay Area venues.

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
Extended periods of practice are energizing.   I’ve learned to focus despite irregular performance schedules.

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?  
I’m constantly working on rhythmic and harmonic processes.  However, I don’t separate form from content. 

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
Andrew Hill was a dear friend; I continue practice his scores, and recorded his composition ‘New Monastery’ in July.  Thelonious Monk is a huge influence.  I also study orchestral music by Béla Bartók and Ferruccio Busoni.    

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
The ronin Kuwabatake Sanjuro from ‘Yojimbo’, the Akira Kurosawa film.   He could handle any situation !

When do you get your best ideas?
It seems that the best ideas evolve out of extended periods of study.  

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
An old Kawai upright piano and a partial drum set for working out technical problems.

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
I’m largely self-taught as a musician; my identity as a performer evolved out of my own research.    However, I did have several fine piano coaches.  Work in ensembles was also instructive.  

What would your creative work taste like?
Sweet and sour; dissonant and percussive at times, with tonal references.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
Tend to family. My daughter always keeps me busy.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
Consistent practice and study.   Learning never stops. 

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?  Stay with the Muse.   Learn the history, and then do something that’s meaningful to you. 

Chris Reed

Name: Chris Reed

Website: http://www.ChrisReedMusic.com

What do you do?      
I am a recording artist and songwriter. I play guitar, ukulele, saxophone, mandolin, piano and I sing. I am currently recording my debut; solo album entitled “Sweet Destiny”.

I am also the co-owner of a company called “Arts Initiative”.  Arts Initiative provides personalized performing arts programs for local elementary and middle schools.  We specialize in performance-based classes & workshops for band, choir, theatre, guitar and general music enrichment.  I have also been working at Willow Glen Elementary school teaching music, directing plays,  and operas for the last 2 years.  I recently directed a production of Aladdin and Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” which I adapted special for the students.

Where can we find your work?

http://www.youtube.com/cristoreed

https://www.facebook.com/chrisreedmusic

http://www.ChrisReedMusic.com

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
My wife is my greatest muse and inspiration.  We have been together for 11 years now, and she has inspired most, (if not all) of the love songs I have ever written.  In fact, she is a brilliant singer who is featured on my album in a duet we sing together called “Fire & Ice”, and is my main back up vocalist.  Her love and belief in me is what motivates me to keep following my dreams.   

The countless people that are in, and have been apart of my life, continuously inspire me to create new music.  It is [their] life, personality, and struggles that have inspired me to create my most honest work.  My favorite part about being a musician is that I have the capability to tell stories.  Not just my own, but the stories of other people who do not have a voice.  There is so much that can be changed through music and I will never forget the power that it holds.  Music has the power to connect us in so many ways and helps us to gain perspective when times are tough.  

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?
At first, when I write a song, the content and message is the most important part.  Then when I begin recording, the process and journey of the song becomes the most important part.

It is easy to get caught in the trap of just wanting a “finished product” but after treating half of my album with that approach and then taking a step back for a couple months. I realized that it is more important for me as an artist to discover who I am through this process. I want each song to live up to it’s true potential and not be held down by anything.

I let the songs be the guide and do my best to listen to where they need to go. This approach has led me to enjoy and learn from the journey more than ever before, and I cannot wait to see where it takes me next. 

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
Since I started educating & directing I have found inspiration through my students. Their sincere passion & love of music and the arts has helped me to embrace who I am as an artist. Working with them has pushed me to hone and understand my craft to the best of my ability in order to provide them with the best education I can offer. 

Some of my greatest musical influences are Ben Harper, Manu Chao, Gypsy Kings, the late Ali Farke Toure, Mat Mchugh and Josh Garrels just to name a few. I also have a profound connection to music from across the world.  It may sound funny, but I love music in languages I cannot understand. I really get to enjoy the vibe and emotion of the song.   Some artists I would recommend are: TRYO(folk), Saian Supa Crew(hip hop/beat box) and Raggasonic (Ragga-hip hop & reggae).

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
Superman.

When do you get your best ideas?

I get my best ideas when I am traveling.

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
A pencil, paper, ukulele, guitar, and piano.

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?

I was educated and trained formally on the alto saxophone from the age of  8 until I was 13 years old. All the while improvisation on sax & writing songs were my favorite part of music. Which (at that age) didn’t fit into the curriculum. After that, my education came from playing at blues jams, open mics and in bands (hip hop, funk, pop, reggae).  My father also contributed to my musical education, as he is a trained musician himself. 

As each year comes and goes, I strive to better myself and learn new instruments and become a more knowledgeable musician.  I don’t get wrapped up in the technical aspects of unusual time signatures or clever chord changes, I just try to keep things simple and true.  Whether my approach is good or bad, there is no reason to regret what I am or am not.  I enjoy what I know and learn from what I do not.  

What would your creative work taste like?
Like an always aging Primitivo.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
I love to hike, run, go on long walks with my wife & 2 dogs. Travel, garden, cook. Solve all the world’s problems with my friends and family.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
When I began this journey back in 2001, I dove in head first.  I didn’t worry where I was headed or how I would get there. I just had faith.

Early on, when I began writing lyrics and melodies, I could not play any instruments other than the sax & harmonica.  This made it impossible for me to write or perform my songs without the help others.  Frustrated by this, I eventually taught myself guitar in order to fully complete my own music.    

       

I will admit that up until now I have always released and presented my work with a band.  This is the first time in my life that I am pursuing music in a solo capacity and it certainly is much different and does require more confidence. In a band situation you have the natural strength in numbers.  As I release my music as a “solo artist” I am trying not to think about what others might think or how they may judge me or my music.  I am simply trying to give it my best shot & present myself in the most honest way I know how.  That gives me confidence knowing that I am just being me, and if anyone has a problem with me, then that is quite ok.  We can’t please everyone.  But to be honest…  I really just try not to think about all that too much.

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?Trust your instincts, have fun and explore. 

Warren Lain

Name: Warren Lain 
Website: See below

What do you do?
Right now, my energies are split between teaching and making music. On YouTube, I teach songs and sometimes perform original music, and on SoundCloud and Official.FM I put out songs and soundtrack pieces. I am working on a solo album and an online music course.

Where can we find your work?

http://youtube.com/warrenmusic [music tutorials, originals]
http://soundcloud.com/warrenlain [songs]
http://new.official.fm/warrenlain [soundtrack sketches]

 What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
Two things inspire me to create the most: seeing other people create, and the urge to express something I have trouble expressing in everyday conversation. In terms of making music, I think it's easier than ever to record your stuff and put it out there for people to hear so I don't feel like we really have it "tough," at least not in terms of fairness. But even if disheartening or creatively stifling moments come in other ways, I remember that the act of making music itself is the part I enjoy most. Playing and discovering sounds I find beautiful, and then writing, recording, mixing, and hearing it back for the first time is a feeling of satisfaction that no number of downloads nor number of zeroes on a paycheck could ever touch.

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?
As you can probably gather from the above, the process is pretty much what it's all about for me. The finished product is the overflow of the work, not the work itself. I believe the more you make music, the more songs will get finished. In the same way, I didn't set out to write an album, but I have confidence that the album will find itself finished or pretty close to finished when I have made enough music. This is the mindset I have adopted because, for me, I have a tendency to start worrying about what others will think of it before it's appropriate. Endlessly criticizing your own work in the early stages creating it is just going to doom the whole thing. And before you know it, nothing ever gets done.

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?A close friend of mine decided he would pursue a creative life when there was no one else around him encouraging him to do so. He worked really, really hard and in a short amount of time, his brand became one of the top names in a niche he created for himself. His brand, Yours Truly, now works with and is sought after by many major music publications like Pitchfork, Gorilla vs. Bear, Fader, and more.

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?An Ent from the Lord Of the Rings/The Silmarillion. They are the oldest and wisest creatures; they know and they've seen everything worth knowing.

When do you get your best ideas? It probably sounds like I am evading the question, but honestly the answer is: anywhere and everywhere. Something will strike me while I'm driving or in them middle of a guitar lesson. A fair bit of it happens simply when I'm experimenting and being intentional about making music. I'm never too far away from my iPhone, and the Voice Memo app is amazing for quickly capturing an idea I am feeling but can't work on until later. They say the best camera is the one you have with you.

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
My iPhone's Voice Memo app, my MacBook Pro, my cheap russian Oktava MK-012 small condenser microphones, my Apogee Duet (audio interface), my guitars, random pianos I find, Ableton Live, and great drum samples. But without lots and lots of time to experiment, the best equipment in the world would rarely do me any good.

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
Both. I received formal music theory and ear-training as well as vocal training throughout my youth, but when it came to the guitar, songwriting, and music production, I am self-taught. I believe that this hybrid musical history of mine has helped inform how I approach my work in the sense that I am both cerebral and visceral about it. While it's a romantic notion, I don't think all great music is strictly from the heart. I believe artistic genius comes in many forms, and sometimes it's found in tons of revision, theory, and experience as well as emotion and intuition.

What would your creative work taste like?
 Bittersweet chocolate. Perhaps it took you somewhere else when you ate it, and you wanted to stay there.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
 I am a super fan of a few TV shows. I currently follow Mad Men, Game Of Thrones, and Fringe (I was elated when Fox renewed it for a fifth and final season!). I love finding new places to eat. I surround myself with people who, in some ways, know me better than I know myself.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
This may be a surprise for those who only know me through my work on YouTube, but I have always been a shy musician. For a long time I was really afraid of failure and super insecure, and it took me a long time to realize that close friends couldn't all be wrong about the giftedness they saw in me. Through years of poking and prodding, I found that my posture of false modesty was only about protecting myself, and that to be true to the passion I had within to make music and share my love of it with others, I had to just put it out there and deal with the negativity as I went. I hold my work to a very high standard, and I like to think that this quality has helped me earn the loyalty of people who follow my work. But in all honesty, it does make criticism harder to deal with, and for that, I've learned that a good dose of humility is necessary if I want to do the best work I can do.

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures? 
Do it, don't over-think it. No amount of school or advice, no magical combination of circumstance or opportunity, nor any amount of inspiration will sustain your creativity for the long haul. Commit to the work, and trust that your commitment to it will be rewarding in and of itself. Surround yourself with people who encourage you to stay on the path. You will recognize the finished product when it comes.

Amanda Mikaelsson

Name: Amanda Mikaelsson       
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/amandamikaelssonart/

What do you do? 
I write/play music and do pencil drawings. I am a music composition major at SJSU.

Where can we find your work?
https://sites.google.com/site/amandamikaelssonart/
My music has been featured at local concerts and performances. Upcoming dates: March 28th 7:30pm at Le Petit Theater downtown SJ, and April 11th 7:30pm at SJSU concert hall

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
Creating is my passion. When I create music or art I am excited and happy.  The tough times just fuel my creativity.

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?
I think the technique and process is important. As an artist, the process is the part that gives me joy. The experience of creating is exhilarating. The finished product is also important because it can convey a message to the audience.

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
My younger brother passed away a few years ago. His memory always inspires me. Different people in my life inspire me everyday: family, friends, and people that come and go. Everyone has a story and I like to use that in my art.

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
Spongebob because he is carefree, fun, creative, and happy.

When do you get your best ideas?
No specific place or time. If I see or hear something that strikes me I get inspired.

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
I use a Pencil for art. I use a piano and the computer to write my music.

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
I was self taught in music and applied to music school at SJSU. After making it in the program I began learning about music theory, music history, and new applications of music. It broadened my expectations for myself in music and music composition.
I am self taught in drawing. I have never taken an art class. I have participated in forums online to get new insight. Being self taught keeps my art very personal. One could argue that not being educated about pencil drawing can keep me from growing.

What would your creative work taste like?
A buffet. There are many different things you can eat and try and experience. There are so many styles in the music I like to create. My art would probably taste like sushi. I draw portraits, and you can expect a clean picture.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
I like to see my friends and family. I like to cook, swim, play the piano, and watch movies.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
My family was always supportive of my art.

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?  
Believe in yourself and your creativity. 

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