Recently, I was scrolling through Instagram when I found that I was on Billie Eilish’s “close friends” story. I was immediately shocked as I opened the story to see a possible upcoming album?! I bring this up because I came across a news article with Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj wanting the stop of AI in the music industry. A sentence that stood out to me was how AI will “devalue the rights of human artists”. Ultimately, AI replaces human creativity and musicality. Reflecting on this, I am concerned for the future of the music industry as I fear music produced will become robotic and formulaic.
For Eilish’s music, it is very dark and contains elements of pop and electronic music. Listening to each of her songs, us listeners can experience the emotions she conveys. For example, her hit song “Happier Than Ever” is very popular because you can feel with her as she belts out the words towards the end. Her creativity will never be replaced, even with AI in the music industry, but the advancement and technological development of AI is a growing concern. I agree with Eilish and Minaj that AI should not be used in the music industry, as musicians’ creativity should not be replaced.
Oh what bundles of joy we were this past week! Maybe joy is thinking too positively, but bundles yes we were. COLD!! With a capital C-O-L-D is all I, and the rest of Ann Arbor, felt all day every day. Some glimpses of the sun poked through here and there, thankfully, but I almost gave into excavating my winter jacket from the depths of storage. No dice, however! I couldn’t do it in fear of manifesting even MORE snow than we already had.
This week, I was all ears! A fun fact about me is that I way too often listen to YouTube video essays on my commutes across campus. This is due to falling in and out of listening to music hardcore and thoroughly, mostly because I suffer intensely from favorite song burnout. This week, though, I’ve felt a huge draw back to my tune-bumping roots. Because of this, I came to realize how 3 of my favorite artists (as above) all have bird-related names. As an angsty tweenager, I felt extremely drawn to birds, all colors and kinds, as a symbol in my artwork. Visual symbolism is my JAM (no pun intended). They represented the worldly freedom of mind and body so I longed to have as a kid cooped up with her younger sisters much of the time. In my musical realizations this week, I’ve been able to reconnect with that version of myself and reflect on where I was then and where I am now. I have so much freedom to explore, learn, and create now while here in college and I am so thankful for that everyday. I wish I could show my younger self this adventure we’re on and to tell her to slow down her internal rebellion and enjoy the world as it was back then. Although I can’t time-travel and break all laws of science, I hope the pieces of her that are still in me have been able to appreciate all of the craziness and joy we’re experiencing in our new freedom together.
TL;DR: Listen to music, indulge your inner child, and appreciate the birds in our lives. We all need love for ourselves in all versions, forms, and ages we exist in.
To take us into our next week:
Ins: Choppy layers, the Hex Girls (always!), tasteful caricature drawings, wolf t-shirts, gossiping in UMMA, the color amber, a healthy ratio of normal socks to crazy socks.
Outs: Ice cream when Mojo is freezing, not cleaning your water bottle (do it!), a rigid 5 year plan, letting your jealousy fester, a bedtime of 2am.
A very cold, but happy Spring Equinox and here’s to all the birds frolicking amongst the snow and playing wonderful songs across our eternal pathways.
Hello, and welcome back to Captured Moments! This week, I found a very interesting and eye-opening article on the worsening conditions of the music industry. As a pianist, I am always looking for the newest updates on AI in the music industry. One specific part of this article caught my attention as it states, “there’s a new, horrifying AI tool called Sun.ai that lets anyone create a full-length song with AI generated lyrics in the style they want.” Personally, I think this is amazing in terms of how far technology has come. It can be fun for anyone to play with and experiment. Additionally, I enjoy playing and producing music, and AI can definitely be a helpful tool for me. On the other hand, I am scared of the lack of acceptance towards emerging artists. The article links this idea with Taylor Swift. If the next Taylor Swift enters the music industry, will the industry reject the singer due to AI’s advanced music making? If anyone can create music simply using AI and without inputting creativity, the music industry ends up pushing away talented artists. I am worried for the future of the music industry as AI continues to have a prevalent role. There are so many pros and cons to AI’s role in the music industry, which is why I enjoy talking about it. See you next week!
This week I decided to focus on my opportunity to attend the Orchestre de Paris and Yunchan Lim Concert. It was such a jaw dropping and beautiful concert. I have always wanted to hear Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 live, and I finally heard it. Yunchan Lim is the youngest winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. I saw him perform at the Colorado State University School of Music in August of 2022, and I was able to see him again this past Thursday. The Orchestre de Paris also performed The Firebird. The soft and sudden loud sounds were stunning. As a pianist, I can see the technique and musicality that Lim incorporated. This concert was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.
This week, I came across an interesting article, in the latest news, that talks about the ending of popular songs on Tik Tok due to safety issues from AI. As most of us scroll through Tik Tok every day, there are many songs that are produced from AI, mimicking another artist. Many times, I am not aware of this. I simply just scroll through without realizing that a song is not from the actual artist. That is how good but scary AI is. If AI is already this advanced, how further can it be developed? While I see many benefits, it is far more dangerous for the music industry. With AI reproducing replicas of big artists songs/voices, musicians are concerned over the “little protection for their own names, likenesses, and voices being used without their permission.” Yet, others argue that because AI is coming, musicians need to accept it. Otherwise, it is “just going to kill us all.” In the future, is it possible AI can take over human jobs? I think it is incredibly important to be increasingly aware of the development of technology in the music industry and its effects on artists.
I have attached the article to this post, as it is very fascinating. See you next week!
This week, I am sharing a day in my life as a piano performance major. Tuesday February 20th, I began my day with my theory class.
9:30 AM
I am taking Theory 140- Aural Skills to develop my understanding of the harmonies and structures that are an important part of music.
11:30 AM
Then, I have piano forum. This class is an opportunity for all piano performance majors to perform for the piano department as well as for each other. For this week’s class, we had Eric Lu present a masterclass. He is the gold medal recipient of the Leeds International Piano Competition 2018. I really enjoyed his presentation!
12:30 PM
After, I had my sight-reading class. This class is super helpful for me as it teaches me different techniques to sight read and comprehend music faster. I am working on sight reading Beethoven’s Sonata Op.14.
3 PM
My next class is on central campus. I take the bus to the MLB where my French class is. During this class, I am currently working on a blog about Fort-De-France.
4PM
I take the bus back to the School of Music, and I practice for the rest of the day.
