Meet Ziv Shalev, Musician

Ziv Shalev is a guitarist, composer, producer, and educator from Israel who has lived in New York City for the past 10 years. He has been working for the music production company, Studio Pros, and he has also shared the stage with a variety of top artists from America and Israel. You can learn more about him and hear samples of his work at http://www.zivshalev.com.

1. When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career as a musician?

When I was ten years old, my older brother started a band, and I was watching them rehearsing. I was fascinated by the sound and looks of the guitar. It all started then.

2. You are skilled in playing diverse genres of music. Do you have a favorite genre?

My true passion is rock. Playing with a national act--Spread Eagle--while touring across the country was a dream come true.

3. How do you find inspiration as a composer?

The inspiration to write music comes to me, and I just let it be. Love is very inspiring.

4. For young musicians who are looking to build a career as a full-time musician, what's your advice based on your own experience?

Building a good foundation is the most important thing. It's all about persistence and elbow grease. While it may seem like nothing is moving along, when you work hard every day, every day is a step toward success.

Thanks, Ziv!

Meet Juan Sebastián Rojas Pérez, Musician

Juan Sebastián Rojas Pérez is a musician. He is a guitarist and composer who lives in Colombia and shares his music worldwide by offering music composition as well as guitar lessons over the internet.

Juan was born in 1990 in Boyacá-Colombia and started his music studies at the age of 13. He studied guitar under the supervision of Cesar Rojas, Andrés Samper, and Carlos Posada. He has the title of Master's in Music with classical guitar interpretation granted by the Portificina Universidad Javeriana from Bogotá-Colombia.

Currently, Juan lives in Bogotá, and he continues to develop his musical work in the field of composition for audiovisual aids (such as instructional and explainer videos). He also works as guitarist in concerts and recording sessions. His interests include film scoring, teaching, and playing guitar music that covers the classic and popular repertory.

People all over the world can hire Juan to compose music for them by contacting him through Fiverr.

1. When did you first start playing music?

I started to play guitar at 13 years old. I started composing original music two years ago.

2. What inspired you to start writing your own musical compositions?

I think a lot about history. I love to take stories and give them more than words. With music, I can make a unique instance or expression and reflect how people might see something in a different way.

3. What services are you currently offering on Fiverr?

I currently offer a service where I will compose instrumental music for videos, no matter how long. I have a basic gig where I offer very short pieces of music that last 10 seconds, and I will work with your individual needs to compose a piece of whatever length fits your video. Anyone who wants to learn more can contact me to discuss your project and the price.

4. When it comes to writing music for your buyers on Fiverr, what is your favorite part about this work?

The best part is when buyers find what they want. Everyone comes with high expectations, and when my music fulfills what someone wants, this moment is the moment when I feel like I've received something more than money.

5. Is there anything else you would like people to know about you and your work?

Every piece of music that the customer receives is a unique piece of music. I work closely with customers to provide exactly what they want.

I invite everyone to visit me at https://www.fiverr.com/juanrojas90 to talk about what you're looking, and I hope to write some music for you.

Thanks, Juan!

Meet Paul Erickson, Guitarist

Paul Erickson has been a guitarist for almost 50 years. His website features many freely downloadable recordings of recognizable classical music and original compositions. He can be found performing his music regularly in Western Washington; keep up with his performance schedule here.

1. How did you first become interested in playing guitar?

In my family, my mother was a piano teacher, my grandmother was a piano teacher, and my aunt was a piano teacher. There was no way I was ever going to escape piano lessons. So I started on piano when I was four. When I was six, I heard a guitarist perform at my family's church and fell in love with the sound of the guitar. And my mother gave into my desire to play the guitar as I received one for my seventh birthday.

2. What attracted you to classical guitar music in particular?

About six years ago, I was ready for a change. I had been playing improvised jazz, blues, and rock music for years. I wanted to do something with more discipline and less improvisation. I had experimented with playing classical music on guitar a bit when I was younger, and found it too difficult in the past. Years later I felt like I was ready for the challenge.

3. I see that you have a couple of regular gigs every month in the greater Seattle area. What will listeners hear if they come to see you at El Tapatio?

I will be playing classical music composed by Bach, Carcassi, and Debussy, and some original pieces. I play some pieces that were made famous by Andres Segovia, like Francisco Tarrega's "Capricho Arabe" and "Torijas, from Castles of Spain," some Brazilian music composed by Joao Pernambuco, chord melody jazz standards, and you might even hear me sing a few Mexican songs.

4. For people like myself who enjoy classical guitar when they hear it but who aren't well-acquainted with classical guitar music, what are some good pieces to listen to as a starting point or foundation for listening?

The modern classical guitar didn't really come into existence until the 19th century. There is some music that dates back as early as the 15th century, but the golden age of guitar composers was in the 19th and early 20th century. Classical music is classified more by the time periods that the composers came from then by the pieces themselves. To really introduce yourself, you should look for music from each different period: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern.

Long established prolific artists that I would recommend would be John Williams, Andrey Segovia, and Julian Bream. My favorite period is the Romantic. If you had to pick pieces for starters, I would say look for Bach Cello and Lute Suites, from the Baroque period. From the Classical period I recommend Etudes by Fernando Sor and Matao Carcassi. From the Romantic period La Catedral by Barrios, and Recuerdos de Alhambra and Capricho Arabe by Tarrega.

5. What projects are you looking forward to over the spring and summer of 2016?

I've been working on 12 Waltzes from Giuliani's Opus 90, and I hope to have them recorded by late spring. One of my goals this year is to compose a guitar sonata. A sonata is a fairly complex structured piece, and it can take months of practice to perform one by another composer. I'm giving myself a realistic time frame to start composing in early summer, hopefully completing the sheet music by fall, leaving another few months for practice and recording.

Thanks, Paul!

Meet Michael Hazani, Musician

Michael Hazani of the musical project Qualia has a new EP called Triptych just released on 9/15/15. The music is cinematic alt pop somewhere between Autre Ne Veut, Hans Zimmer and CHVRCHES. Qualia's previous release got great reviews and was featured on VICE's the Creator's Project among other blogs. Last year it also won the JSLC/Innovators in Music award.

Find Qualia's new EP on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, SoundCloud, and BandCamp. You can also follow Qualia on Instagram.

1. How did Qualia get started?

Qualia started around May of 2014 as a passion side project; I was writing for-pitch for film & TV spots--as well as collaborating with other singers and writers--and everything had to be custom-made to fit something or someone else. I ended up channeling the frustration into this project, made for myself, based on what I liked. Thankfully, since then this project has found its audience and the music seems to resonate with many others, which I'm truly grateful for.

2. When composing a song, what helps you create the specific sound you have in mind?

While the end result tends to be fairly structured, the beginnings are anything but--anything can spark up an idea, and the arrangement usually unveils itself pretty early on. Sometimes it feels like there's only one ideal way to express a particular melody or song, although of course that's never really the case. But it's a helpful road map to start with.

3. Would you tell us a little more about your new EP release?

This EP is called Triptych and was just released on 9/15. It features 3 songs that aren't linked in any thematic way--they're just the best ones I've written in a long while. It will be accompanied by two videos, and I'll be touring with it throughout the fall.

4. What influence do you feel that living in Seattle has had on your music?

I actually finished work on those songs while still in New York, before moving to Seattle earlier this year. But so far I've noticed it's a really eclectic live scene--also, being a winter person, I love the weather in Pacific Northwest, the very different feel it has. Just last week I made my girlfriend Douglas Fir Sorbet... turning trees into ice cream! That would have never happened back east but seems very appropriate here. And things like different weather and ambiance most certainly influence the music I write.

5. What are your plans over the next year--do you have some shows lined up, are you writing more music, etc?

There are many show dates currently being finalized in and around Seattle and the Pacific Northwest; check the website for actual times. I want to make it to the East Coast by next spring and play some shows there--I miss the vibe! And more music is always happening, but more good music--that's a rare commodity. If it's good, it'll find its way to the world!

Thanks, Michael!

Meet Claudio Ottaviano, Musician and Composer

Claudio Ottaviano is an Italian jazz double bass player, singer, and composer. Claudio is a native of Ragusa, in Sicily, but moved 10 years ago to Milan. This year he released Notturno, an album of italian jazz dedicated to the night, a collaboration with saxophonist Tino Tracanna and pianist Michele Franzini. To learn more about the album, check out this sample on YouTube; it is also available on iTunes.

1. When did you first start playing and composing music?

I started at 4 years old as a little piano student of our neighbor Alberta, and I grew up listening to Bird, Miles, and Ella because my mother was listening to jazz all the time. Then when I was 13, my father asked me, "Would you like to have a motorcycle or a to have a bass?" Well, gave him the wrong answer.

2. What attracted you to playing the double bass, and what are the particular pleasures and challenges of that instrument?

Double bass is an incredible instrument: beautiful as a violin but six times bigger! Except the weight, I love everything about this instrument: the shape, the wood, the deep sound, and playing it gives me real pleasure. The negative sides are that double bass is difficult and requires a life of study, and that an instrument-prosthesis so majestic sometimes can be disturbing.

3. What inspired your album, Notturno?

The album Notturno is a result of coincidences inspired by the night, and the compositions are excuses to let the music express itself. Saxophonist Tino Tracanna and pianist Michele Franzini did excellent work, performing with excellent sensitivity and mastery.

4. As a jazz artist, do you find that collaboration is an especially important aspect of your work?

Absolutely. Collaboration is the core, the essence of jazz! Working a lot as a sideman in many different bands and soundscapes I have the opportunity to change often my perspective and mindset, and I'll tell you, for a person "paranoid-trended" like me, collaboration (literally "to share struggle with somebody") is the cure and, the most important thing, I don't have to pay a psychoanalyst.

5. Do you find that "Italian jazz" has any unique qualities that characterize it and possibly distinguish it from jazz in a more general sense?

I may look unfashionable saying that I believe that you can't separate the person from the place/time, but you know, the ways of Jazz are infinite! In my case I am very attached to Sicily, where I was born, that gave me a bizarre baroque side, and to Veneto, that gave me a synthetic, spiritual view. Definitely, I feel like marked "made in Italy" in everything I do, but especially in my boundless love for melody.

Thanks, Claudio!

Meet Bob Pinto, Musician and Composer

Bob Pinto lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore in a modest house with a wife and cat. He has varied musical interests and has been playing music since elementary school when he first studied saxophone and piano. These days, Bob creates contemporary, melodic instrumentals utilizing electronic synth libraries. His album, Winds and Journeys, is available on Google Play. Samples of his ambient music are also available on YouTube.

1. When did you start composing music?

I have always had tunes running through my head since taking music courses in college but never developed any real songs until a few years ago. The foundation of theory was there but no creation.

One day as I walked towards my piano, for lack of a better term, I "saw" a pattern of notes and thought I could write a complete song. It wasn't great but it was a starting point. Within time I found a style that worked best.

2. What inspires you to create music in the ambient, electronic genre?

I was fascinated when I first heard experimental music on the earliest analogue synthesizers. I also liked the synth sounds used by Pink Floyd, E.L.O., and Vengalis.

Later the music of Enya, George Winston, and Yanni opened up a great interest in this type of music. The unfortunate moniker of "new age" has been used to describe this genre. I prefer ambient electronic and even then I write these songs to be listened to and not just some background sound.

3. Your album contains music which addresses several themes; what was your process in putting the album together and arranging the tracks to cohere as a whole?

After the pieces are written, sometimes I'll look at a piece and say, "All right, what is it? What do you call it?". Here is where many music writers give some vague, otherworldly or foreign name. I could name some pieces names like that but what would they mean?

One song on the album started out as a piece to be submitted for review by people who were a go-between for A&R producers. They wanted something that could have been written by Vengalis. Well, I had always been fan of his and knew his style. The song reviewers deep-sixed it, but I didn't. I included it on the album and called it "Los Vengalis."

In nature, nice breezes are soothing as they interplay with various trees and brush. They're spontaneous yet constant. The leaves make the same sound but in arrhythmic waves. I just love the sound of it. Jesus even speaks of it poetically referring to the spirit. It can be a gentle lullabye or an invigorating rush. I love winds, so I made it a recurring theme or element in the music.

The journeys aspect of the album is largely influenced by the fact that I and many of us have undergone crisis or been thrown under the bus, either by people or workplaces or even medical crisis. You learn to get through it, recover, and, hopefully, are the better for it. The song "Journey through Crisis" deals with this in that way. It, too, is broken into three sections. The music reflects everything starting out good, then lost in seconds, and lastly the recovery begins.

One song, "Niddle Dance" (a made up word), takes place in an imaginary pub and celebrates the recovery. I actually wanted to call it "I finally got rid of the dang thing" but didn't. :o)

4. Do you have a particular process you follow when composing music?

Actually, I do it all on computer, writing the midi notes as I go. If I were smart, I'd plan everything first. But what I'll do often is write a few measures, play it back, and see what it suggests. Sometimes things flow very smoothly with only some editing of small details, and other times I have to beat it to death to make it sound right. But I'll always try to keep style and methods in mind as I go.

5. What sort of work do you do for your day job, and how do you maintain a balance between your music and your other work?

I do assembly work in a manufacturing facility. I also do church music, so time management becomes important. I do hate having to quit creating and then pick up where I left off the next day. You just try to leave outlines on how to proceed when you start the next day.

Art is hard for us to make a decent living at it. It often has to be supported out of pocket and then you have to be a genius at promoting it. And then, I don't want my wife to become an art or computer widow. A healthy balance has to be maintained.

Thanks, Bob!

Introducing GunKy, Musician and Composer

GunKy started composing music back in the 8th grade. Now a student at the Berklee College of Music as a CWP (Contemporary Writing and Production) major, he writes and arranges music, sings, and plays several instruments.

GunKy grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, but he is 100% South Korean. Through his dad's record collection, he was introduced to a wide range of international artists such as Queen, The Eagles, and ABBA. The first instrument he learned was the piano, and he then picked up violin, singing, drums, and guitar; he considers himself the most proficient with the drums.

Today he enjoys listening to many genres of music, including electronic music. His original written works focus mostly around the rock genre, but he has been expanding into many more genres, including but not restricted to experimental with hints of jazz and Latin music most recently.

To learn more about GunKy, find him on Facebook, and listen to his music on SoundCloud. In the selections on SoundCloud, GunKy is playing all of the instruments, though he is primarily a drummer. He is the male voice in the songs (with the exception of some screaming parts).

Here's a cool example of one of GunKy's original alternative rock compositions:

Be sure to check out more of his work on SoundCloud!