Tag Archives: music

A Note of Appreciation

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It’s not every day that we get a heartfelt and personal reminder of why the work we’re doing here at UJAM makes an impact to creators everywhere.
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We’re not just another music technology company, making expensive software that’s inaccessible or hard to get. We’re making music creation possible for everyone, regardless of musical background, for free, so that people can share their feelings and their creativity with people they love.
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That’s what it’s all about, right? Personal expression, artistic creativity, and sharing with the people you care about.
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Here’s a story that tells it better than we can:
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Hello.  I just wanted to send this note of appreciation your way.  Last weekend, a song I wrote and recorded on UJAM for my daughter and her fiancé was played during their wedding ceremony.  Without UJAM, this special moment, that brought tears to my daughter’s eyes, would not have been possible.  In times when we are not always aware of how  far-reaching and significant our creations can be, I want you to know how much the use of your technology has meant to me.
- Sandra
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We want to send a note of appreciation right back to you, Sandra. You are what makes UJAM possible. That’s right – every one of you who has joined our community since we started UJAM – has made it possible for people around the world to create music, for free. So thank you, Sandra. Thank you to everyone who is part of the UJAM community, new and old.
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We’re here for you, to let you make your music. As long as you’re here to make music, we’re here to make it possible.
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www.ujam.com.

Choosing Music

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We have so many choices in life. We choose our friends, choose our universities, our courses, our hobbies, our meals, our clothes, our daily activities. And of course, we choose the music to go along with everything in our lives.

Whether you consider music an overarching soundtrack to life or a set of specific playlists by occasion, music is a choice we all take upon ourselves as a reflection of who we are. It’s an act of self-expression to play the songs we play on our iPods, even if no one is listening but us.

So when we are also the creators of our own music, we’ve got an interesting role to fill. Is it that no other music in existence can express what we feel inside? Perhaps for some, it is. Or is it that we simply enjoy the process of writing songs as a creative outlet? For many of us, that may be the case. Often, it’s a combination of roles that we see music filling, as we create tracks to accompany our karaoke sessions, our songwriting endeavors, and our passion for music.

Whatever the purpose of music in your life, it’s important to realize that it’s also a universal trait of human cultures to use music as a tool for self-expression, identity, and communication. Even listening to music in isolation somehow connects us to a wider community – whether it’s to the artist who wrote that song, or to the other people we know who listen to it, or to things in our past that remind us of the power of music as a barrier-breaker.

It’s also important to step back and realize that music is never as isolated as some may perceive it to be. It’s a collective pursuit, a passion among millions of people, all over the world.

It’s encouraging to know that we’re never on our own when it comes to music … even if we listen to it through a single set of headphones, alone in our rooms.

Happy musicking, everyone.

 

“Let Your Voice Be Heard”: The Dark Knight Rises Chant Grows

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The air continues to buzz with excitement about the chance to be part of The Dark Knight Rises. Have you submitted your chant yet? If you haven’t, it’s time to equip yourself with the guts to go all-out. Give this your best shot and make it yours.

Hans Zimmer tells all of us, “We are creating the sound of a worldwide chant.” Thousands of voices, from all over the globe. “Let your voice be heard and be a part of our adventure!”

The opportunity to contribute our voices to thousands of others in a call-and-response chant is not only a unique musical event, it’s part of a legend, and a film that’s got everybody anticipating the 2012 premiere.

Remember, there’s no such thing as out-of-tune, it’s all about making a unique contribution and giving this your voice. Record your chant and cast your voice into a crowd of thousands for The Dark Knight Rises.

And in case you want more reason to be excited about the premiere, you can now download the official poster from The Dark Knight Rises website.

 

“If music be the food of love, play on…”

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Music is used for all sorts of events – community, spiritual, political, and social, to name a few – all over the world, all the time. Wired online tells a fascinating story today that may strike a delicious chord with many of us. So says some recent research, playing music in the background can deeply influence our perceptions about wine. It’s one of many stories about music as a sense-enhancer. Music enhances our tastes of food in restaurants, and as Shakespeare tells us, music is intertwined with our symbols of love and expressions of passion, too.

So music doesn’t simply have to exist in the background of our lives – it can, and should, be viewed as a tool for how we express ourselves. Through food, wine, merriment, and more. Of course, it all depends on how we use music to achieve these things. That’s where the community comes in. Music doesn’t do much if it’s kept in isolation; it requires others to hear it, others to share it, spread it, listen to it, and engage with it.

To whatever purpose you ascribe your music, it’s there for something beyond our own isolated studios and headphones. We create it to share, to enlighten, to experience, in ways that nothing but music can accomplish. After all, that’s a big part of why we’re here, right?

 

 

Music + School = Yes

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This is the first of many posts on the topic of music + education. After all, there’s a lot to be said for creative engagement in schools. Right? For many of us, schooling began with singing, or painting, or dancing. It was a way to get everyone to relax, to get to know each other, to realize that we all have something in common. Music is one of those connecting forces that few people argue against. But in many schools, music and arts education is vanishing by the second. It’s a shame, really. There’s so much more we can do – collaboratively, artistically, creatively – that is both fun and worthwhile.

The Global Education Collaborative is one organization seeking to reinvigorate the joys of education in meaningful ways: by letting people from all over the world share their thoughts and contribute to the ongoing conversation.

The goal here is that we won’t have to settle for boring lectures that turn into mid-day naps, and we can change the way we learn by using the tools at our fingertips every day. A worthwhile endeavor, don’t you think?

 

 

Celebrating iPod’s Birthday

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Apple’s iPod turned 10 years old this month. Time flies, right? It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago the thing that caused a worldwide musical movement was born, and today we live under its umbrella, whether consciously or not. The iPod is a cultural symbol, an artistic symbol, a symbol of progress. It can be almost anything, to anyone.

Many of us, myself included, take for granted that the iPod was a truly pivotal moment in the development of music around the world. So I particularly enjoy this video of Steve Jobs introducing the very first iPod, 10 years ago:

Thinking about the pivotal moment in music that happened 10 years ago with the birth of the iPod brings new appreciation for the tools at our fingertips today, and the worldwide community that proves how important it is to make and share music, everywhere.