Beardyman: A creative fix

I thought I would write this short blog post to share a creative talent that I love.

I admire pioneers, and I love creativity, and when fused together you something quite unique and inspiring. The short TED Talk below is by an English guy called Beardyman. I have been following his career for a long time now, from his early years of establishing himself at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the recent TED Talk below. To brand him as 'just another beat boxer' would be a huge dis-service to his amazing creative talents.

Beardyman is a fusion of beatboxing, sampling, multi-tracking, sound creation and manipulation, and his constant tenacity to try and imitate sounds that are seemingly impossible for the human voice make him the talent that he is.

The amount of patience, skill, rhythm and mastery required to do what Beardyman does coupled with his unique and charismatic stage persona are impressive. For me, creativity and laughter is such an important element to both my work and personal life that it is important to keep feeding my mind with useful stimulus like this.

So, watch, admire, and enjoy.

Real-time Virtual Choir - Where Technology Meets Music

Pioneer - "A person who is the first to 'develop or be the first to use or apply (a new method, area of knowledge, or activity)."

I admire Pioneers. Through their innovation, passion and creative thinking they push the boundaries of what was thought possible, and in doing so open the door of opportunity for others.

Being an avid music fan, I have always admired the composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. For me, Eric is best known his innovative use of technology to create a 'Virtual Choir'. That is, a choir collectively made up of thousands of people from across the globe.

The Evolution of the Music Industry in a few Infographics

Music is everything to me, and also to a lot of people in the world. I work with it on, I exercise with it on, I chill with it on, I write and perform it with my friends whenever I can, and I go to gigs and festivals. The point is, music is big business with huge demand, and as an avid music fan, I want to listen to as much of it as I can, whilst also financially benefiting the artist themselves.

Over recent years, there has been a HUGE paradigm shift to the way we initially get music, listen to it, and then share with our friends, and this is exciting for a music lover. The key culprit for this is.........Digital.

From the medium, storage, and distribution of music to the huge and influential role that social media now plays in the music industry, below are a few interesting music related infographics. The common and completely unsurprising theme in all of them is how the rise digital has completely and utterly changed the music industry, from a commercial and consumer consumption perspective.

On a side note....as much as I love digital and all the opportunities it has given, I still argue that nothing beats the sound of vinyl, may we never lose this!