5 months until Year of Music

I saw this on reddit. Made me think of my project I have only spoken of on this blog of mine that nobody reads. I don't want to be disappointed in myself, but chances are I will be. Hell, my performance at work still disappoints me, even though I've been promoted and given a raise. I have high expectations. With "Year of Music" (as I have so dubbed it), I will probably have unrealistically high expectations. I see friends and old classmates write their own music and perform it on youtube or at coffee shops. I say, I can do that. Can I? How long will my "gap" be? Will I ever come to grips with my very lacking musical prowess?

I've got 5 months until my self-imposed start date of January 1st. What can I do in that time to prepare myself? Once I move, I want to get stuff set up in my new house. Then I can start playing around with software and instruments and hopefully learn how everything works in a month or two. That puts me at October 1st. 3 months. Can I successfully write and record a few songs in 3 months? We'll see. Maybe I need to start the Year of Music on my birthday instead of January 1st. Hopefully, the next 5 months don't discourage me enough to not move forward. A delay might be necessary.

More updates to come.

Year of Music

Seeing Tally Hall in concert inspired me. I want to make music again. It's been far too long since I've participated in a recital, concert, or any organized music making of any kind. Singing in the car just doesn't cut it for me anymore. I need to make music.

I've been daydreaming about using the space in the basement of our new house. The space that is slightly dank and is practically unusable for anyone taller than me due to the retrofitted air conditioning system in the house. I need to carve out a corner of that space and make an area for recording music.

Now, this might be a lofty goal, but here goes: For a year, I want to make a song a month, each month in the style of a band of my choosing. It'll be a musical dissertation of sorts. I will choose bands/composers and study what makes their style unique, then try to copy it. Of course, I do not know how to play every instrument there is, but that's where a program like FL Studio will come into play. I've got a violin, a midi controller keyboard, an electric guitar, 2 acoustic guitars (currently at my mother's house), an electric drum set, and my vocal chords at my disposal. If this ends up becoming a lot of fun for me/actually happening, maybe I'll pick up a cheap electric bass. I've also got microphones and the box needed to hook everything up to my computer. I might be able to use my old laptop for this project. Otherwise, I may need to build a spare part machine.

I figure I'll start trying to get this set up (I should have all the equipment) after moving and learn FL studio, etc. Make 2012 the Year of Music.

Right now, the bands/genres I think I'd try to copy:
- The Beatles
- Tally Hall
- Captain Beefheart (might need to borrow Moose's clarinet)
- The Strokes
- Andrew Bird
- Deadmau5
- Lemon Demon
- Something classical, violin solo Mozart, maybe?
- Something almost purely a capella
- Nintendo/Gameboy bit tunes
- Blues or Jazz ... would need to pick someone
- RANDOM! (or something else awesome if I make it this far)