A Study in Audiosynthesis: My Musical Journey so far; UCD year 1

Years ago in a galaxy far far way......

To set the scene, basic background:
I took up Bass towards the later end of 5th year, and didnt do music for the leaving cert, so I couldnt go for any course that had an entrance exam for theory. I studied music as a joint honours in UCD along with 2 boring subjects which i dont need to go into :3

In first year.. you do a varied kinda thing... they dont usually get you into the choir or orchestra as a credit until 2nd or 3rd year so the modules i did was theory and analysis of tonality; everything theory that ABRSM requires you to know (ABRSM being the folks who set the standard of western classical music grades. I'm sure theyre all great craic on a night out)
also... Musicianship... heavily based around theory, but also goes into things like artform and repertory and stuff like that which is also an important part of being a musician. I learned the most from the lecturer in that class because everything he said made sense. he's also one of the worlds most leading scholars on medieval chant which is pretty impressive to say the least given that it delves further than most standard teachings of western music does (usually the Baroque is as far back as they go... people hadnt even invented scales with more than 5 notes.. and the Renaissance, which is rare because it's so old no one knows what instruments they used and really struggle to give a fuck anymore)
the last module was Music Culture and society. fuck all theory.. but again .. important aspects of music that just sticking to ABRSM will not teach you. it's kinda like a beginner level ethnomusicology, which is a scientific discipline which really goes into the nuts and bolts of the fact that humans even have a music in the first fucking place. the lecturer was Dr.Jones (not Indiana) and she (she was a lady, so definitely not Indiana) is now the head of the music department in UCD as far as I know. that module went into a kind of understanding element of music... taking things like Raga Megh (which is a piece of indian ritual music) The Goldberg variations (a piece by Bach) and the album 'Theres a Riot Goin on' by Sly and the Family stone (an amazingly progressive funk album from 1971)
She even introduced us to really experimental musicians like Wilco.
and one excercise we did for example was comparing the similarities and differences between Bob Dylan's and Jimi Hendrix' respective versions of All along the watchtower.

Bob Dylan - All along the Watchtower

The Jimi Hendrix experience - All along the watchtower

The last was the module I did best on.. it was also probably the most interesting for me, I felt more motivated because I didnt feel miles behind on theory than everyone else in the room since it was new to all of us, and between it and musicianship, really changed my mind in vast ways about a lot of other music genres (I liked rock and pop and had listened to Jazz from working in my uncle's shop... I knew a lot, but it was early days. I never intended or thought i would get into classical music, world music or even Irish traditional... but.. yeah!!)
In turn, I became very experimental... That hasnt gathered any moss just yet.
I really guickly got into really old delta blues like robert johnson and son house and stuff, and developed more of an understanding to what exactly the function of classical music was.... how imagery is used through sound and such.. which is more useful than you may think... imagine from a production end of things. the stuff you could learn from classical arrangements would be gold dust when it comes to producing an album...

The best, and most unforgettable part of my short stint in college was actually sharing the same course and space with a lot of people who i'd consider to be the best in the country (at the very least) at what they do. You really felt like it was the pinnacle of something, like the people around you would one day be names that prick ears and turn heads. It also had the sense of camaraderie... like we were all individual yet similar stones rolling on different paths but in the same direction...
to start making waves.

Some of my former classmates have begun making such waves already;