{"id":1981,"date":"2018-04-06T07:36:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T13:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/?p=1981"},"modified":"2018-03-28T08:56:53","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:56:53","slug":"my-musical-world-the-perspective-of-camper-teaching-assistant-brandon-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/?p=1981","title":{"rendered":"My Musical World: the Perspective of Camper\/Teaching Assistant Brandon J."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Brandon J. playing for an OPUS Exhibit and in an OPUS Chamber Music Camp concert (2nd violin in Brandenburg)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a composer and orchestrator, the kind of work I receive is anything\u00a0from singer-songwriter arrangements to symphonic works to editing books for musicals. The knowledge needed to accurately do whatever tasks are at hand is crucial. I have written for many different situations: short films, recording sessions, musicals, and even concertos. Each setting requires a different set of ears and a different set of sounds. This is where learning\u00a0comes into play.\u00a0I love to learn new things, or learn more about what interests me. As musicians,\u00a0we keep learning, but we also HAVE to keep learning and expanding our range.\u00a0<\/strong>I am what many may call a crossover violinist, or a contemporary violinist. I have played, do play, and absolutely adore classical music, but I also play and listen to many other styles of music, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, Metal, Christian Worship, Gospel, etc. I decided about 4 years ago to take the knowledge I had from writing in all of these styles and applying them on violin. I recently went to the Five Week Summer Immersive Camp at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and I fell in love with the school. I am able to write, learn, and play in just about every genre known to man.<\/p>\n

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As a performer, this goes deeper than knowledge.<\/strong>While a person is performing, he\/she is conveying a message of importance to the listener. If I play every passage of \u201cWinter\u201d by Vivaldi technically correct, but I do not convey anything, then my audience has lost interest.\u00a0This is why classical music is failing. Too many musicians are not \u201cperforming\u201d, but playing.\u00a0<\/strong>When the band, Metallica, goes to play a show, not only is the music good, but each member is obviously having a lot of fun. This is my goal as a violinist.\u00a0I play with a bunch of facial expressions and I emote through the music. I move and smile and give faces, nodding my head asthe beat continues.<\/strong>\u00a0I am constantly thinking about the music being played and the music being transferred from me to the audience.<\/p>\n

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Brandon J.’s peer campers playing his composition in Arts Connections Showcase in August of 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most important compliments I\u2019ve ever gotten was at an\u00a0Opus Chamber Music Camp Showcase<\/strong>, where I played a piece I wrote for piano and strings.\u00a0A TA came up to me and asked if I ever wanted to score films, because my music was full of emotion and vision. That compliment 3 years ago changed my career path for good.\u00a0<\/strong>I soon after pursued composition and learned all I could, landing me a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music for Composition and Film Score.<\/p>\n

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Brandon J. in his 1st of the four OPUS Chamber Music Camp Final Concerts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Listen to one of Brandon J.’s composition at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=th0n8enbn4o<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a composer and orchestrator, the kind of work I receive is anything\u00a0from singer-songwriter arrangements to symphonic works to editing books for musicals. The knowledge needed to accurately do whatever tasks are at hand is crucial. I have written for many different situations: short films, recording sessions, musicals, and even concertos. Each setting requires a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opus-young-musicians","tag-opus-chamber-music-camp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1986,"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions\/1986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napopus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}