Sam Jone - Guitar Media Music Recital

My wife and I went to this recital last Tuesday in the Madsen Recital Hall in the fine arts building at BYU. Sam is in our ward so we went to go support him and hear what he had done with his music.

The seats in the Madsen were comfortable and it wasn't crowded. The recital seemed to be a final project that Sam was required to do for school. I wish I had taken a camera so that you could see how the recital was set up.

Sam wrote or at least started all of the songs that were played. He mentioned that he had help from his roommate and other friends. The first couple of songs sounded like a mixture of rock and heavy metal. They had a vocal part, but the vocalist couldn't be heard very well if at all over the much loader instruments. Once the first song started, my wife took our son out because it was too load. The balance among the different parts was not right for the heavier music. However, it improved with the ballads.

The ballads were my favorite. For some reason, I like that slower and softer music. I always have. The instrumental parts were great. Sam played the guitar like a pro. I could hear and understand the vocalist better as well. The music was more relaxing as well.

Half way though the program, Sam let us listen to three of his music synthesizing projects. The projects involved taking computerizing instruments and putting the music together on the computer by one person instead of recording a band. This is something that's done often today for movies and TV. The music was pretty interesting and very well done, I thought.

Sam was also the guitarist for the Young Ambassadors from 2007-2008. He said that hardest song he had to play was "Mountain Music". Imagine the violin solo as a guitar. The guitar part is blue grass. Incredibly fast music. He is used to improvising, but after he finally got the feel for the rhythm he memorized what he did and never changed.

The last song played was another rock or heavy metal song that I wasn't a big fan of because it didn't flow well for me. No cool blending. The volume was again off and not balanced.

Overall, the recital was good. It was a good experience for me to see someone I know show their talents and love of music. Although I've never been a fan of rock music or heavy metal, I learned that it does take skill and understanding of music and rhythm to be able to put a piece together. I did enjoy the recital.