Genealogical Artifact

A guitar is probably the farthest thing from unique inside a college apartment, especially here at BYU. It seems like everyone plays the guitar or if they don't play they have one anyway for looks or something. However, my guitar is unique and special to me as I'm sure other guitars are unique and special to their owners. 

Takemine G Series Acoustic/Electric might be the technical name for my guitar, but for me her name is Betsy. If my apartment was burning down and I could only grab one thing, it would probably be Betsy and not because she cost a pretty penny but because now she is has more sentimental value than any other physical object in my possession. 

Betsy has always been reliable to me. She does what I tell her to and she doesn't put up a fight. She's ready to make beautiful music at anytime in the day. She waited two years for me during my mission. She stayed up late with me night after night. She helped me get through the tough times and also helped me celebrate during the good times. She doesn't get jealous when I decide to play the drums instead and she is always down for a good time with the harmonica. Some of my favorite and most cherished memories with my friends were jamming with them creating all types of music. None of those memories would be mine today if it wasn't for my guitar. 

I began to play the guitar at age 13 because I wanted to be cool like my older brother and rock out with a band. Learning the guitar didn't come easy to me but for some reason I didn't think twice about dedicating a lot of time to practicing. I've lost a lot of sleep because there were many times when for some reason I could only make progress on songs really late at night. After midnight seems to be an inspirational time for me because that's when I've written or made up the majority of my songs.

   

My parents gave Betsy to me for christmas when I was 16 and I can honestly say she is one of the best gifts I've ever received. Besides my mission I've taken her with me almost everywhere, Mexico, California, and now Provo. I plan to keep her forever no matter how bad she starts to sound. To me she will always sound amazing. I hope to one day teach my children to play guitar and to buy them their own guitar that they can cherish and take care of. 

For most guys at BYU playing the guitar is their mating call. They purposefully play outside their apartment or in areas of high foot traffic in hopes that some innocent young woman will be lured into their song. This disgusts me and because of that I have made it a point to avoid the appearance of something so pathetic. I love to play in my room where I don't have to care about how I sound. This way I can experiment and create new songs. 

In short my guitar has done a lot of good for me. It has brought me closer to my brother, my friends, and when played appropriately it can bring me closer to my Heavenly Father. 

Artist's Statement:

It didn't take me long to know what I wanted to write about for this assignment. It was pretty clear because my guitar is something I always take care of and always keep with me. In preparation for writing this blog I of coarse decided to play my guitar for a while. It was good to set aside time to play because lately I have been so busy with work and school that I haven't had any time at all to do so. It felt great to play and know that I wasn't wasting time putting off my homework because in this case playing the guitar could be considered part of my assignment. 

My guitar has always been an escape for me. I always feel rejuvenated after playing, like I'm ready to go conquer the world. This assignment helped me realize that my guitar can do so many things for me. It can calm me down, pump me up, cheer me up, and create great memories with families and friends. I always knew that I cherished my guitar a lot and that it was special to me, but this assignment has definitely made me be more appreciative of my guitar and also of my parents for giving it to me for Christmas. I owe them even more thanks for dealing with the loudness and telling me I sounded good when I most likely didn't. Their support has kept me going and I never plan to stop playing my guitar.                                                                                                                                                                  

Process Piece—Artists’ (Plural) Statement

Click here to listen to the RAMWICH JAM

For our process piece, we chose to record ourselves making what Josh refers to as a “Ramwich”— a beast of a sandwich made of Ramen noodles, eggs, lunch meat, refried beans, barbecue sauce, and mayonnaise (all on toast). The recording process went remarkably well. There were no hiccups, and we even found some sounds in our audio that we didn’t even realize happened.

Once we compiled all the sound, we realized that a traditional “This American Life”-like audio documentary wouldn’t cut it. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we thought we could take it a step further. We decided we’d do this by turning our sounds into a song, a symphony of sandwich making (if you will). 

Like the actual recording process, our editing went really smoothly and our sound bites meshed together in a way we couldn’t have expected going in. This process was a testament to the idea that sound is a dynamic thing that, even when the seemingly-banal sounds of a sandwich being made, can create something bizarrely beautiful. Looking back, our inspiration was the clip from Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman, and our piece really is a manifestation of many of that scene’s ideas about the importance of sound. 

This all builds towards the idea that as much as making a sandwich is a process with many steps, the composition and creation of a song is a process in itself. We ended up discovering the nuances and surprises in both of these processes, which sort of make this assignment doubly exciting.

Even though our piece does not follow a documentary style, or even a linear structure, it takes sound and puts it into a context that, at least we think, visualizes a time and place in a pretty wonderful way. This is all neglecting the obvious, though—we got to make delicious sandwiches.

Thick Description: A New Home

Having grown up in Arizona and being somewhat new to living in Utah, I was at first uncertain of what places have a special meaning to me. I haven't been at BYU long enough to have any special spots on campus that have good memories tied to them. I definitely wouldn't want to spend anymore time in the testing center than I have to.  I like my apartment and enjoy my time there, but it wouldn't be an ideal place for me to go if I just wanted to sit and ponder as it's a bit chaotic. My parents and my little sister moved from Arizona to Highland, Utah about 7 months ago, while I've been here at BYU. When I first heard the description for this project I thought that my parents new home couldn't qualify for a special place for me because I have only been there a number of times and I don't really even have my own room there. But then again I thought about how I feel when I am there. The house doesn't contain special memories of things that happened or things that I went through, but there are some feelings that I have while I'm in this new home that make me feel like I'm back in the home I was raised in.
As I enter this new home I feel like I travel through a vail when I walk through the doorway. Instantly I feel that the stress and troubles of the world are left behind. My shoulders feel physically lighter knowing that my responsibilities are fewer during my visit home. A higher form of relaxation can be achieved here not only because my bed or couch is more comfortable than the ratty old ones in my apartment, but also because I am surrounded by the comfort of those that love me unconditionally. The quietness here seems more real. By that I mean that the quietness is natural and not forced like what it would be like in my apartment having to close multiple doors to achieve a decent amount of forced quietness. The sound of the air conditioning is like a distant ambience that helps your mind meditate and puts you into a deep sleep.
The food tastes better here not only because my mom is a better cook than I'll ever be, but also because I can share the food with people I love. The laughter that takes place at the dinner table seems to transport the laughs we had at our dinner table in Arizona. Even though my older brothers aren't around I can picture us having a good time together here. The ability to picture all of us together brings me comfort and makes me want to be here. Though the visual attributes of the home are foreign to me, the feelings I have during my stay are very familiar to me and it causes me, whenever I have to leave, to desire to return.

Music Mosaic

Cinnamons
Above is the link to the song that inspired these pictures.

The song that inspired these pictures is actually my own. I performed and recorded each of the instruments separately and then put them together. It is titled "Cinnamons" because at the time of recording the song I found it humorous to call two similar things "cinnamons" instead of the correct term: synonyms. I also felt that the quirkiness of the joke was fitting for the sound of the song. I purposefully chose to record a slightly out of tune guitar, an out of tune piano, and an old beat up drum-set.
As I listen to the song I try to forget that its my own and to listen to it as if it were someone else's and then try to picture what could have been the inspirations they had behind it. The combination of slightly out tune instruments creates a song that makes me feel like I don't need to care about everything being perfect, what's most important is to have a good time and to do what I love.

I felt that the song was recorded just for fun after eating chinese take out. I felt that if a string was missing from his guitar he wouldn't have cared enough to put another one on, but just record it with 5 strings instead and then act like he did it on purpose. I felt that he would turn on a lava-lamp to show that his piano is probably from the era when lava-lamps were groovy. I felt that he would have found a way to be eating while playing the song. I felt that it had just finished raining outside. I felt that he would have put up something unique on a wall and act like it contained a deeper meaning than what's seen at first glance. I felt that his sense of humor was that of irony. Lastly, I felt that as the song came to a less acoustic more distorted end, he probably would have moved on to play N64 with his roommates and then watch the sunset with someone he cares for.