Hi, all. I'm your TA, Dan Lawrence. I figured I'd post a little introduction, here, too.
I'm a graduate teaching instructor and fast-track MS/PhD student in the rhetoric and technical communication program at MTU. My first scholarly work to be published is a piece called "Press C-> to Play the Ocarina: Rhetoric and Game Music." It's an attempt to apply classical rhetoric to video game music in two parts: one is to analyze the cultural fascination with game music in terms of the ethos of communities, and the greater contribution is an idea I'm still toying with that I want to call rhetorical valency. I define valency as connectedness between media used to cause effect. The analysis I find most effective from the piece is David Wise's "Aquatic Ambience" from Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. The musical elements parallel the mechanics of swimming under water, for example.
The title of the piece is derived from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In the game, the player can wiggle the control stick while playing the ocarina in-game to bend the pitch or emulate a sort of vibrato effect. This digital/analog problem still fascinates me... what happens when we reproduce instruments digitally, etc...
I started playing games at a young age after having several sinus surgeries. I was pretty sick and had to lay around the house. So my parents rented a game console and brought it home. Needless to say, I've fostered a positive relationship with games on and off throughout my life. I think this is why I'm drawn to games: for a sort of therapy. I continue to play games to keep in touch with my family. My brother and I have weekly COD sessions, and we have a blast.
When gaming I usually use the handle "Dan_W_L." I started using the name as a pseudonym for writing and musical projects when I realized there were about 1,000 other Dan Lawrences in America. That didn't work out any better, but it stuck as a digital identifier!
Nice to meet you all--sorry if that was lengthy--and I look forward to the class!
Hello, Chris Trevino, here. I'm a fourth year Sound Design student and aspire to work in the video game field.
I started playing video games at what was probably far too young an age. It was beneficial to me nonetheless for numerous reasons, though.
First of all, it allowed me to play with my older siblings (all the way up to 11 years older); video games were a communal activity which drew us all together.
Secondly, this early exposure to games gave me a safe environment to explore and discover underlying patterns and rules in a system. Mind you, I probably started playing at age 5 or younger. At that point, I barely had a conception of what the larger world was.
Playing games like Final Fantasy introduced me to a plethora of novel ideas. I began to understand economics, as GP (the currency) was finite and equipment expensive, as well as patterns like water creatures being weak to lightning or lightning being ineffective against rock monsters. Not only that, I was being exposed to mythology and cultural history through things like avatar embodiments of the phoenix, Shiva and Odin.
There is no doubt in my mind that video games have been central to my development as a person. Although I was too young to understand the Final Fantasy’s of the ‘90s, I understood the emotional threads of the story through the music. For the longest of time, all I wanted to do was make music that gripping and emotional. The music is so powerful because of its context in the game and its relation to my childhood with my siblings. Without realizing it, I’ve led myself to the realm of sound and music.
The gaming handle I most often go by is ‘Hartgrave’. Its genesis is a play on words, as it bears semblances to the heart’s grave, for one who has lost something dear to them, but can be literally taken as the grave of stag. Being raised in the Upper Peninsula, as well as just having a creative outlook, there’s just a certain imagery behind the name I enjoy.
Hi, all. I'm your TA, Dan Lawrence. I figured I'd post a little introduction, here, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm a graduate teaching instructor and fast-track MS/PhD student in the rhetoric and technical communication program at MTU. My first scholarly work to be published is a piece called "Press C-> to Play the Ocarina: Rhetoric and Game Music." It's an attempt to apply classical rhetoric to video game music in two parts: one is to analyze the cultural fascination with game music in terms of the ethos of communities, and the greater contribution is an idea I'm still toying with that I want to call rhetorical valency. I define valency as connectedness between media used to cause effect. The analysis I find most effective from the piece is David Wise's "Aquatic Ambience" from Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. The musical elements parallel the mechanics of swimming under water, for example.
The title of the piece is derived from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In the game, the player can wiggle the control stick while playing the ocarina in-game to bend the pitch or emulate a sort of vibrato effect. This digital/analog problem still fascinates me... what happens when we reproduce instruments digitally, etc...
I started playing games at a young age after having several sinus surgeries. I was pretty sick and had to lay around the house. So my parents rented a game console and brought it home. Needless to say, I've fostered a positive relationship with games on and off throughout my life. I think this is why I'm drawn to games: for a sort of therapy. I continue to play games to keep in touch with my family. My brother and I have weekly COD sessions, and we have a blast.
When gaming I usually use the handle "Dan_W_L." I started using the name as a pseudonym for writing and musical projects when I realized there were about 1,000 other Dan Lawrences in America. That didn't work out any better, but it stuck as a digital identifier!
Nice to meet you all--sorry if that was lengthy--and I look forward to the class!
Hello, Chris Trevino, here. I'm a fourth year Sound Design student and aspire to work in the video game field.
ReplyDeleteI started playing video games at what was probably far too young an age. It was beneficial to me nonetheless for numerous reasons, though.
First of all, it allowed me to play with my older siblings (all the way up to 11 years older); video games were a communal activity which drew us all together.
Secondly, this early exposure to games gave me a safe environment to explore and discover underlying patterns and rules in a system. Mind you, I probably started playing at age 5 or younger. At that point, I barely had a conception of what the larger world was.
Playing games like Final Fantasy introduced me to a plethora of novel ideas. I began to understand economics, as GP (the currency) was finite and equipment expensive, as well as patterns like water creatures being weak to lightning or lightning being ineffective against rock monsters. Not only that, I was being exposed to mythology and cultural history through things like avatar embodiments of the phoenix, Shiva and Odin.
There is no doubt in my mind that video games have been central to my development as a person. Although I was too young to understand the Final Fantasy’s of the ‘90s, I understood the emotional threads of the story through the music. For the longest of time, all I wanted to do was make music that gripping and emotional. The music is so powerful because of its context in the game and its relation to my childhood with my siblings. Without realizing it, I’ve led myself to the realm of sound and music.
The gaming handle I most often go by is ‘Hartgrave’. Its genesis is a play on words, as it bears semblances to the heart’s grave, for one who has lost something dear to them, but can be literally taken as the grave of stag. Being raised in the Upper Peninsula, as well as just having a creative outlook, there’s just a certain imagery behind the name I enjoy.