Peter Erskine App Features LAMA Drum Instructor Aaron Serfaty

New App!

We are very proud to announce LAMA drum instructor Aaron Serfaty, the go-to studio drummer for Afro Cuban and Brazilian drumming, is featured on the “Erskn Afro Cuban Essentials”, a brand new app from Peter Erskine (currently available in the App Store).

Here is how the App works:

Using the built-in mixer, the user can create their own combo: full rhythm section (trio), music-minus- piano, music-minus-bass, music-minus-drums, or solo tracks of drums-only, bass-only or piano-only PLUS any combination of congas, bongo and timbale percussion tracks. There are click-track and count-off options, too. 

This YouTube video showcases all the features of the app:

Want more from Aaron? Check out his quick tip videos from LAMA College for Music Professionals below:

-LAMA Staff

Holly Knight Master Class August 7th

Holly Knight…

One of the greatest questions posed by man is “What makes a great song?” Three-time Grammy award winner and Songwriting Hall of Fame member Holly Knight will help answer that question for LAMA students during her Master Class Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at 8pm. Full event details are available at the Facebook event page here.

Highlights of her career, pulled from her official bio, include:

• Citing Mike Chapman as her mentor, together, they penned Spider’s single, Better Be Good To Me, which music icon Tina Turner recorded six months later on her 1984 multi platinum album, Private Dancer, which won a Grammy for Record of The Year.
• Knight’s meteoric rise to success continued when she wrote the chart-topping, Love Is A Battlefield andInvincible for Pat Benatar, The Warrior for Patty Smyth, Change for John Waite, Baby Me for Chaka Khan, Never for Heartand Pleasure And Pain for Divinyls.
• Always driven by some internal force, Holly continued writing hits, Love Touch for Rod Stewart, Obsession for Animotion, Hide Your Heart for KISS, Rag Doll with Aerosmith, Space for Cheap Trick, and many more.
• Her songs have appeared in movies as varied as Thelma and Louise, Mad Max Beyond The Thunderdome, Stewart Little, Thirteen Going On Thirty and Hot Tub Fantasy, and on TV shows such as American Idol, The Voice, 30 Rock, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Oprah Winfrey, Nip Tuck, South Park, and most recently The Voice finale, culminating in a stellar duet of Love Is A Battlefield with Cee Lo Green and one of the final contestants.
• In 2002 Holly produced and co-wrote the title theme song for the hugely popular cult TV show, Angel.
• She wrote and produced the title theme song for the CBS hit sitcom, Still Standing, which received an ASCAP award for recognition as one of the top TV music themes of 2003, and again in 2004.
• Knight’s songwriting has earned her numerous awards including three Grammys® and thirteen ASCAP songwriter awards.
• In June 2013, the songstress was inducted into The Songwriters Hall Of Fame , along with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Foreigner, JD Souther and Tony Hatch.

We are very excited to welcome Holly to LAMA!

-LAMA Staff

André Knecht Named Co-Chair at LAMA

The LAMA family is very happy to announce André Knecht will co-chair the Music Producing and Recording Department, effective immediately. Current students and grads have been very fond of the former Warner Bros. Records executive’s approach in the classroom setting. He was among the first in the industry to embrace the digital recording era. The promotion comes on the heels of our expansion of the music production degree, which now includes the Composing for Visual Media major. To accommodate additional students and classes, LAMA is adding a new building in Pasadena, just steps north of the current campus.

André will oversee all aspects of the Music Producing and Recording Department and help the college meet the tastes and demands of new students, many of who come internationally to study at LAMA.

From current LAMA Chair Sean Halley:

André is a true master of the technical aspects of audio. He is also as in touch with the sweaty and organic side of production. LAMA students respond well to his passion and approach in the classroom, because they know that his only goal is to see them succeed. His many decades of experience – both as a successful audio engineer and as a marketing executive as Warner Bros – are a welcome addition as LAMA continues to develop and broaden its music producing and recording program.

The Swiss native has an academic and professional background including electronic music studies at Padua University (Italy) and a seven-year stint as sound designer, recording engineer, music supervisor and composer with the Swiss Broadcasting Company (SSR) where he also hosted a number of radio and TV shows. He moved to California in 1983, where he continued his career at Warner Bros. Records.

Halley continues:

André has an intensely solid background in analog technologies but embraced the digital era at its dawn, adopting MIDI and digital audio workstations when they first appeared. André is active as a consultant, freelance engineer and producer, instructor, beta-tester and as technical editor for book projects in the audio field.

Be sure to congratulate André on his new role at LAMA!

Students in class at one of the computer and production labs at LAMA.

For more information, please visit www.lama.edu.

-LAMA Staff

Meet LAMA’s New Director of Admissions – Ashley Roberts!

We are very excited to introduce LAMA’s new Director of Admissions, Ashley Roberts! She joined our staff earlier this month so be sure to say hello and help give her a warm LAMA welcome! From Ashley:

I am so pleased to have joined the LAMA Staff! LAMA is at a great time of growth and I am happy to be working with such a successful team in a dynamic college. I look forward to contributing to the team’s efforts and helping students along with their musical careers.

-LAMA Staff

LAMA Grad Wins Indie Music Award

Meli with her award backstage at House of Blues

LAMA Grad and Costa Rican native Meli Malavasi (https://www.facebook.com/melimalavasimusic) won an Indie Music Channel Award for “Best Female Dance Artist ” at the Indie Music Channel Awards at House of Blues.

We’re so proud of you Meli — congrats!

-LAMA Staff

LAMA’s Fall 2013 Application Deadline: April 15

Only three more days until April 15th! We’re not talking about the IRS tax deadline…it’s the Fall 2013 application deadline for our bass, drums, guitar, vocals and music producer degrees. We encourage domestic and international students to visit this link for application information, housing options, FAQ and more: http://lama.edu/apply

-LAMA Staff

LAMA’s Jerry Watts Exclusive Interview in FBPO

LAMA’s Bass Department Jerry Watts was featured on For Bass Players Only, doing an exclusive interview with writer Jon Liebman. Watts chats about his musical upbringing, playing bass, LAMA and his first instrument, the accordion! Get the complete lowdown, here: http://www.forbassplayersonly.com/Interviews/Jerry-Watts.html.

-LAMA Staff

Grammy Winning Bassist Juan Alderete Joins LAMA Bass Department

Did you ever get to see the Mars Volta play live? It was always an epic show creating and destroying musical boundaries. There was one man at the center of it all holding down the rhythm and bringing us that amazing low end. That man is Juan Alderete and as we announced on the LAMA site last week, he has joined the LAMA Bass Department as an Artist-in-Residence.

Juan has been on our radar here at the blog even before his turn with TMV. He played bass with LA noise legends Distortion Felix on their Steve Albini produced debut “I’m an Athlete” and his work with Racer X is equally cool. Juan has invested in his own musical projects of late including Big Sir and Vato Negro and recently launched the extremely popular website, www.pedalsandeffects.com. He is endorsed by Fender Basses and Behringer.

Welcome Juan to the LAMA family! Will you be bringing some of your incredible pedals to class? To read the official announcement please click here.

-LAMA Staff

LAMA Grad Debi Nova is a YUNGA Ambassador

LAMA grad Debi Nova, a graduate from the LA Music Academy College of Music vocal department has been appointed as Ambassador of Youth and United Nations Global Alliance (YUNGA) and joins fellow musicians Anggun, Fanny Lu, Lea Salonga and other celebrities in supporting the United Nations and partners to educate, inspire and promote action of children and young people in undertaking social and environmental initiatives. Debi will begin by working with YUNGA on its biodiversity, forests and oceans initiatives as well as other key activities related to nutrition and hunger. See more at: http://yunga-youth.weebly.com/debi-nova.html

Debi is a Costa Rican vocalist who has worked with Boney James, Q Tip, Sergio Mendes and Will.I.am and made her US television debut on Dancing with the Stars in April 2010.

-LAMA Staff

More Music in #Music Schools Please

An interesting article from BBC News says that English music schools do not include enough music in their actual music lessons.

In some lessons, teachers do not play or sing a single note, according to a report looking at music education as a whole.

The article goes on to explain that there is too much time spent talking about tasks without instructors actually demoing what was required of the students. That’s rather surprising! But many schools passed the inspections with flying colors. Read the rest of the article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17226187

At LAMA, there’s definitely not a shortage of hands-on playing in class!

-LAMA Staff