To sum it up, music is my life. When I'm not teaching it, I'm usually composing it, recording it or listening to it.
As a child I was exposed to a lot of classical music, including the greats, such as Mozart, Bach and Beethoven and the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Prince, so it's safe to say that my interest in music developed from a very young age. At 7 years old, I took a year of piano lessons. During that year, I wrote my first two compositions which I later performed at an elementary school assembly. But piano, as you may have guessed by the name of this website, did not stick, so neither did the lessons.
Later, at age 10, after hearing a school buddy play classical guitar, I decided that I too, wanted to learn how to play. My mother signed me up for lessons. Unfortunately, due to my young age and particular fondness for computer games, the results of the lessons were marginal so they too, only lasted a year.
It wasn't until age 15, after having attended a Cure concert and being impressed by the guitar playing that I decided to take the guitar seriously. I convinced my parents to buy me an electric and sign me up for lessons again. This time I learned all about playing the blues.
Shortly after, I met another student at my high school who played classical guitar and was surprisingly good at it. Feeling once again enamored by the style, I decided to change my focus from electric back to classical. But this time with more focus than ever before and by age 16, I had advanced to a grade 7 playing level.
On my 16th year, during the summer holidays, I took up busking at the brand new (1993) Eau Claire Market, performing classical guitar music for shoppers, five days a week. Busking led me to invitations to perform regular, paid weekly gigs at private functions, restaurants, pubs and coffee shops between 1993 and 1995.
In a span of two years, I had advanced from grade one to grade nine classical guitar and by this point, had even begun to acquire a few students of my own.
Between age 17 and 19, my tastes expanded to include flamenco and jazz guitar; and I partook in regular lessons with a variety of instructors of different genres as well as classes in advanced jazz theory. I had developed a good understanding of music and during my 19th year I wrote my third full scale composition - 'Moonlight Inspiration' (this can be heard on the 'Samples' page).
By 1998, I had 7 completed original compositions, but no recordings to show for them, so armed with the desire to start recording and perhaps, eventually do a CD, I began purchasing equipment, such as microphones, synthesizers, mixers, guitars, computers and computer software. This time I devoted most of my time to learning the process of digital recording, mixing and audio production. Eventually, I had enough equipment and technical knowledge to open my own recording studio - Recording Room Music. Over the following years, I received a lot of paid audio work and by 2002, had produced two full scale albums and numerous demo projects as well as a number of original compositions for a variety of clients. On most of these projects, I had performed guitar, bass or backing vocals and had added programmed synths or drums.
Between 2002 and 2004 I took a break from paid audio production and focused on developing an original CD album with Calgary singer/songwriter, Kristen Dempster (Lyrics and Vocals) - eli7: Dark Entries. Dark Entries is a full scale, 12 song, psychedelic opera with lush sonic landscapes, often involving up to 60 tracks of simultaneous audio - visit www.eli7.com to sample this inventive work.
Currently, I am in promotional phase for the eli7 disc and continue to write, record and teach music full time. Calgary Guitar Lessons is located at 207 72Ave NE, Calgary, AB.
Ben McMullan |
