Author Archives: Alina Monzon

Making a Music Video

Scene from video 2

When I registered for the Rhetoric of Country Music class last spring, I figured that we would be listening to lots of music, reading lyrics, learning about the history, and watching videos to learn about the rhetoric of music. I never would have thought that we would have an assignment where we would have to make a music video to a country song. At first, I had no idea what I would do with my group, or what song we would choose, but I knew this would be an interesting and fun experience.

My group was made up of Jessica Jakobeit (JJ), Tori Horvath, and myself and we started looking for a song that we would like to make a video for. We could have chosen a song with a video already but we wanted to make one for a song that does not have a video already. That part was a bit complicated because there were a lot of songs that we liked but they already had a music videos. Eventually we started looking into Carrie Underwood songs and I mentioned one of the songs from her first album, Some Hearts. I had always liked her song “Starts With Goodbye” because I could relate to that song at one point in my life, so I thought that that song would be interesting to make a video for. We listened to the song as a group and started brainstorming ideas for it.

Picture from video

Kyle and JJ laughing while recording the video

The next class day, we started to record the different scenes that we would have in our songs. Since we did not have a guy to play a role in the video, we got a friend of ours, Kyle Moore, to be a part of it. I thought he was a good choice to be in the video because he loves country music, maybe even more than some of us in the group. We had to record some scenes outside, well all of the scenes outside and it was not the best weather to be outside because it was so cold. It took us the entire class period to record and I even had to meet again with JJ after our dance class to finish up. After we had all the scenes we needed, we started to put the video together, which was my favorite part. We used the footage that we got and got to add some transitions and other details to it to try to show a story that the song was talking about. It was fun getting to play with different features on iMovie and it was just fun in general, mostly because we were laughing at ourselves. Well we would laugh at Kyle and JJ but it was in a friendly way and I think they did amazing acting. I believe it took us like 3 hours in total to finish the video but I think it came out pretty good for not having almost any experience in making videos.

This project is definitely one of my favorites ever and I am really proud of what we did. I hope everyone else in class had as much fun as we did and I would love to hear about your own experiences about making a video.

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Filed under Class work, Music Videos, Reflection

Meaningful Songs

Everyone has that one song or maybe a few songs that mean a lot to him or her because it reminds them of someone, a special event or it just makes them feel good. I have many of those song but some of the most meaningful songs for me are country songs. Although I have a lot of songs that I could talk about, I would like to share just three of those songs with you and why they mean a lot to me.

Just A Kiss-Lady Antebellum (2011)

Lady AThis is one of the songs that I have liked ever since I first heard it and it is one of my favorite songs by Lady Antebellum. I remember that I heard it on the radio one day while driving and when I got home I went online and looked up the video and I loved it even more. Since I play the piano, I really liked how the song started off with the piano and I liked the lyrics. That is why I initially liked it.

I kept listening to it often ever since I heard it but it wasn’t until a year later that it became more meaningful to me. I met my boyfriend that year and he doesn’t like country music but I decided to share this song with him. I was actually quite scared to hear what he had to say but I was surprised with what he told me. He actually liked the song and told me why he liked it. Now every time I hear that song, it brings back to memory about when I first started a relationship with my boyfriend and that is why this song is one of my favorites.

See You Again– Carrie Underwood (2012)

See You AgainA fun fact about this song is that it was written in hopes that it would make it to the soundtrack for the Chronicles of Narnia but unfortunately it didn’t make it. It is still an amazing song, in my opinion. Carrie Underwood released this song back in her most recent album Blown Away. I had heard it a couple times after it was released but it wasn’t until August 2013 that I actually paid attention to it.

My aunt had just passed away and I was affected by the loss. I missed the first week and a half of the fall semester to go to Mexico for the funeral and even when I came back I was having a hard time coping with it. While trying to catch up in school, I was listening to music and this song came on. The instant the song was over I was crying but after crying for a bit I felt more peaceful. The song is talking about losing a loved one and having hope and coping with such a terrible loss. Now every time I hear that song I think about my aunt but I don’t get sad like I used to at first. Now I think about the good times I had with her, which weren’t that many, but they were special for me and my family.

Luke Bryan pianoDo I– Luke Bryan (2009)

I think by now everyone knows that I like Luke Bryan, a lot, so there is obviously a song by him that I really like. In this case, “Do I” is one of my all-time favorite songs. This song is actually the first country song I heard, back when it came out in 2009. I was in high school and I remember that I did not listen to country music at all but for some reason this song changed that.

One of my friends actually made me listen to that song and from that moment on, I have liked country music. I looked up the song when I got home, just like every other song, and I watched the video and I liked it ten times more. I saw Luke playing the piano, one reason I liked it more, and I just liked the way that it sounded. After that, I kept listening to more songs by him and I started to listen to other artists as well and that is how I started to listen to country music. That song lead me to be more open to country music and the fact that the piano was one of the main instruments makes that song better for me. I can sing that song with many of my co-workers or friends nowadays and it is such a cool feeling to sing it with other people and it was even better to have sung it at his concert last month. I don’t think I will ever get tired of listening and singing this song.

Those are just three of my favorite songs but I could definitely talk about a lot more. If you have any songs that are meaningful to you or that you really like or maybe you like one of these three songs, I would love to hear about it.

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Filed under Reflection, Song Analysis

My First Country Concert

Luke Bryan ConcertMusic is a big part of life and people who know me know that I enjoy many genres but country music has not always been one of my favorites. While growing up I did hear a couple country songs here and there but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually started to listen to it. Ever since, I have come to love the style of music and it’s definitely one of my favorites now. There are so many different artists that I like now and would love to see live but I never bought tickets to see them, until just recently. I wanted to wait to see Luke Bryan first.

Luke Bryan was definitely the first country artist that I liked. I would look up videos on YouTube of his concerts and I would think to myself that it would be amazing to see him live. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really come to Austin much so I hadn’t had the chance to see him. A couple of months ago, I went on his page and saw that he would be in Texas this month and I knew I had to go. I bought tickets to the Houston concert last Friday and let me say, it was the best concert I have ever been too.

So ever since buying my ticket I was way too excited to go. I even asked for Friday off and spent the entire day in Houston. The drive there felt so long. I just wanted to be there already and for it to be 7p.m. so I could see him. Once the time came, I made my way to the venue, which was one of the nicest I’ve been to (the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands) and I found a place in the lawn towards the back of the pavilion. Yes I had to sit farther back compared to others and the grassy area was muddy because it had rained there the past days and the day of the concert but I didn’t care. I finally got the chance to go see Luke.

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

I was a bit nervous yet excited to be there. First of all, I was really looking forward to my first country concert. It would be a new experience for me. I had been listening to this great music for years now but I would finally get to hear it live. Now some people might think that country music is usually for Caucasian people but it was actually a diverse audience there. There were people of different ethnicities there all just to enjoy a night listening and singing country music. It made me happy to see so many different people there that all had one thing in common.

So first up was Cole Swindell and I enjoyed his performance. He definitely started the night well. Next came Lee Brice, one of my other favorite artists. He sang all my favorite songs by him like “Hard to Love”, “I Drive Your Truck”, and “I Don’t Dance”. But everyone couldn’t wait for the next person to come on stage. The lights went out, we heard Luke come on stage and the audience went wild including myself.

The concert was great, more than great. I knew every single song Luke would sing and I didn’t care if I did not have a great voice. I was singing my heart out. I loved how he sang his newer songs and also older ones, like “Do I” which is my favorite song by him. What I liked a lot was that everyone there were was singing and dancing to the songs that were sung and it was one of the best things that I have heard. It might sound like an exaggeration but to me it really was one of the best feelings ever. But out of all of the songs, there was one song that he sang that is very personal for me.

Once I heard him start singing “Country Girl”, I knew that it would be the last song of the night so I made sure to enjoy the last few minutes. Everyone went crazy during that song and I did as well. By then my boots were muddy and even though I had just recently bought them, I didn’t care if they got dirty. I felt like that was part of being there and the country life, which I grew up in. Then the concert ended and I was still in some sort of shock because I really couldn’t believe that I had actually been to a Luke Bryan concert. I guess that’s why I had post concert depression the next day.

http://www.vevo.com/watch/luke-bryan/drink-a-beer/USUV71302435

Out of all the concerts that I have been to, this one is definitely be the best I’ve gone to. Being with all those people there was amazing and I will never forget that night even though I was losing my voice. Now that I have been to a country concert, I plan on going to lots more and I have a feeling that they will all be great. Being in a class where we talk about country music will hopefully give me the chance to hear about concerts that other people have gone to. So if anyone would like to share his or her experience about a country concert, Luke Bryan or any other artist or band, I would love to hear about it. I need to start a list of other country concerts that I should attend.

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Filed under Live Music, New Country, Reflection