LAMA Spring Quarter Special Announced

 

If you are interested in taking the next step towards your career in music, and learning from the best music industry professionals, we encourage our readers to take advantage of a discount LAMA  is offering through the end of the year.

If you sign up for a degree program in Music Production or Music Performance by January 1st, LAMA will take 10% off first quarter admission and will waive the $100 application fee. Visit http://www.lama.edu for more information.

-LAMA Staff

Dave Martone – “Top 10 Things You Need to Be Awesome”

We are happy to introduce an exciting new learning opportunity called LAMA Online! LAMA has combined two technologies to deliver a fully interactive learning experience. In the video below, LAMA Online guitar instructor Dave Martone gives guitarists a preview of his course, “Top 10 Things You Need to Be Awesome” (we love that Parker Guitar he is playing as well).

In this course, Dave will take you through his Top 10 list of things that will teach you how to be awesome, including picking, legato, combo meal deal, expression, phrasing, fingerpicking, sweeping, hybrid picking, tapping, tone and more! You will be guided through all of these topics with multi-cam video, printed music including tabs, and backing tracks. Guitar Online Enrollment is now open for six guitar courses, beginning January 6th, 2013. Interested in taking Dave’s course? Register here.

How does LAMA Online work?

Each course features ten video lessons. At the end of each lesson you will be asked to submit a video of yourself performing the weekly assignment. You can video yourself as many times as you like, and when you record “the one,” upload it for the teacher to review. The teacher will then video himself/herself critiquing your performance. You will then receive an email in your inbox letting you know that there’s a personalized video from your teacher awaiting your review (the video exchange technology is included in the lessons). There are no programs to buy or download. It’s very easy to use: all you need is a computer with a camera and microphone.

-LAMA Staff

5 Musicians Who Are Fun To Follow On Twitter

Twitter!

Twitter took the entertainment world by storm when it came on-line in March 2006. While Facebook was the place to find your old high school friends and lost loves, Twitter quickly became the mouthpiece of everybody from President Clinton to Lebron James.  However, there are are some amazing musicians spreading the word on Twitter. In this list we are going to give you our 5 favorites! (In no particular order)

1. Amanda Palmer @amandapalmer

Ms. Palmer was the first person to raise a million dollars on Kickstarter. She definitely understands the power of social networking! She is a lot of fun to follow on Twitter because she cannot help but be honest.

2. ?uestlove @questlove

We spend each evening with this prolific drummer as the Max Weinberg of the Jimmy Fallon show. For that reason it is only fitting that we get his Tweets throughout the day. He has amassed a huge following by tweeting about everything from music to what they are going to play on the show at night.

3. Billy Corgan @Billy

Billy Corgan has been tweeting so long that he was able to get the username @Billy. Pretty cool huh? In addition to his duties as an alt-rock god Billy also tweets frequently about his love of professional wrestling.

4. Janelle Monáe @JanelleMonae

We had the distinct privilege to get to see Janelle Monae open for Prince at the LA Forum several years ago. She was incredible! Janelle has a great relationship with her fans and retweets them quite a bit.

5. Erykah Badu @fatbellybella

Erykah Badu has one of the most amazing voices of this generation. She is also an incredible lyricist. It is a lot of fun to get in this diva’s head with all her great tweets. It does not surprise us she has close to a million followers!

Those are our suggestions for some fun Twitter followers. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments!

-LAMA Staff

Introducing LAMA Online

Enrollment is now open for LAMA Online, a new online music school for people who want to study with the best but can’t physically be wherever their instructor is located. Six online guitar courses featuring Guitar Department Chair Jody Fisher and Dave Martone are now available, and courses in drums, bass, music business, songwriting, and music theory will be added throughout 2014! Enroll today here: http://www.lama.edu/lama-online.

Watch the video below to learn more:

-LAMA Staff

LAMA Musicians Entertain VIP Crowd

LAMA’s Michael Alvidrez (bass) and Lorenzo Grassi (guitar) were the featured musicians invited to play Pasadena Museum of History‘s VIP reception (Aug. 17th) for museum donors and sponsors. The feedback from guests was overwhelmingly positive — great job guys!

We’re always working with our friends and businesses in the local communities. If you are interested in featuring LAMA musicians for your event in Pasadena or Los Angeles, please call Iris Alba, LAMA’s Director of Alumni Relations, at 626-568-8850.

-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

Music as Medicine

We love this new video from University of Iowa. In the vid, Kirsten Nelson, one of three music therapists at UI Hospitals and Clinics and UI Children’s Hospital, uses music to help the youngest heal.

-LAMA Staff

LAMA Artist Showcase Tonight!

Tonight, at The Mint in Los Angeles — our big annual LAMA artist showcase! We hope to see you there. You can email Iris @ lama [dot] edu for the FREE LAMA student/alumni guest list.  Full lineup and info on The Mint are below! You can also visit the event page on our Facebook.

Featuring Karmic, The Velvet Teaparty, and Micha Ciselle

Tickets available for purchase here.

(18+ only)

7:00 PM – Door Opens

7:30 PM – Karmic

8:15 PM – The Velvet Teaparty

9:00 PM – Micha Ciselle

-LAMA Staff

Meet LAMA Private Instructor Peter Boskovich

We asked LAMA alumni and current LAMA private instructor Peter Boskovich to answer a few questions about his role at LAMA and what it was like studying at the school in Los Angeles. He also offers some great advice and tips for any music student or individual thinking of pursuing their music degree.

1. What is your current role at LAMA?

I’m a private instructor in the bass and producer department (producer students also take a quarter of bass and guitar lessons) and am an accompanist in Tierney Sutton’s ‘instrumentalist point of view’ classes, Ralph Humphrey’s ‘style and analysis’ and ‘contemporary’ classes among many others.

2. You attended LAMA, and graduated from the bass department. When was that and can you tell us more about your experience? 

Graduated 2004.  My experience in the bass department and as a student in general was a very special one.  I was fortunate to be surrounded by other very eager and determined students who pushed and inspired me to give it my all to tackle the curriculum and absorb the information as quickly as I could.  I remember the atmosphere of ‘friendly competition’ that drove us to play our best in every class.  By the end of my enrollment I can honestly say I was ready to get out and start gigging, although I have had a few bruises and bumps along the way, but overall I felt prepared.  I’ve played with many players all over the city coming from all over the world and I couldn’t have done it without the preparation I received at LAMA.

3. What advice do you have for young musicians looking to get their music degree at LAMA?

Don’t hesitate for one, and when you decide to commit to this institution as your place of learning, give it more than 110% like I did and you won’t regret a thing.  I still work with many of the dear friends I met as a student while at LAMA and continue to grow as a musician in the many professional settings afforded me by them.  The musical circles I work in all have many ties to the school even though the musicians might not have studied here.  LAMA is a great stepping-stone to get out into the city and start making musical relationships.  Also, it is important that you learn how you absorb information while in school, as we all learn in different ways.  I feel the curriculum along with the ensemble workshops are structured in a way that allows each student both the time and varied situations to absorb the material in ways that accommodate their levels of understanding.

4. What is the best part about studying music in Los Angeles?  

It’s LA man!  Come one.  I love this city with all of its diversity and varied cultural offerings.  There is no excuse for boredom in a town like this.  World-class players left and right, and myriad of venues in which to do so.  You can find inspiration any night of the week with all that is going on musically in this town.

5. Why did you start playing music? 

I started playing music because I hated football so much.  It was exhausting and it hurt a lot when I’d get leveled on the field.  Music was much nicer, and I was much better at it.  You also don’t have to wear those funny uniforms and instead get to look cool in front of a lot of people.

6. Tell us about your current musical projects etc.:

I’m actively gigging as a sideman in several jazz trio’s and quartets at the moment.  I have a project called Splice The Mainbrace with fellow teacher/instructor Jackson Allen that has started to play out.  We are both very excited about it and feel it an honest representation of our musical tastes and ambitions at the moment.

https://www.facebook.com/splicethemainbraceband  

I am also (and this might sound strange) working on an album of my own original tunes with me singing while playing chordal accompaniment on the bass.  I’ve explored chordal approaches to bass playing, and have also developed a deep appreciation for the songwriting idiom.  Between these two projects, and an endless list of things to practice and prepare for, I’m very excited about life and where it might take me.

-LAMA Staff

LAMA Student Austin Salinas Featured in Riverside Press Enterprise

LAMA is proud to introduce you to one of our newest students, and guitar player: Austin Salinas. He was recently featured in the print and online version of the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

The story explains that:

Austin Salinas, of Riverside, has been awarded a $5,000 scholarship to attend LAMA College for Music Professionals. He is enrolled in the guitar department, and was selected from hundreds of applicants to receive this scholarship.

Salinas was a stud at Allegiant Christian High School, graduating with a 4.0 GPA.

We love to see our students getting some love from their hometown paper. Just by reading the comments on the website you could tell that everyone from the area was proud of Austin.

If you are interested in applying for LAMA’s scholarships, visit that section of the website here.

-LAMA staff