{"id":3582,"date":"2018-02-05T14:40:02","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T22:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mi.edu\/?p=142"},"modified":"2018-02-05T14:40:02","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T22:40:02","slug":"jonathan-rivera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/through-the-lens\/jonathan-rivera\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Rivera"},"content":{"rendered":"
Through The Lens<\/em>\u00a0is our weekly series where we highlight current students and faculty, capture them on campus and ask them about their inspirations, advice and beyond.<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
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Describe the moment\/s when you knew that you wanted to study music further.<\/b><\/h6>\n
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That moment…I never necessarily had THAT moment until not too long ago. I started music at the age of 14 when I started High school. That was only because I accidentally got put into a Band ensemble\/Marching band class. I don\u2019t know why the counselors messed up my schedule, but I stuck to it. I didn\u2019t think much of it, even during the span of high school. It wasn’t until my senior year at our Annual Banquet when it was time for the conductor\u2019s choice award, that she announced me as her choice. I didn\u2019t know ANYTHING about music my freshman year! Prior to her announcement, she mentioned how much she\u2019s seen improvement. I was a freshman who couldn\u2019t read “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” to a senior who could read trombone solos and bass guitar etudes pretty well. To see how much I\u2019ve improved in the span of 4 short years still blows my mind. That night during the banquet was the moment I wanted to study music further. It was a decision that I’m glad I put myself in because of how much I pushed myself.<\/p>\n

If you could only play one piece of music for the rest of your life, what would it be?<\/b><\/p>\n

I took Motown Bass a couple of quarters back when I first started MI. It dragged me into the era where the Funk Brothers were practically the instrumentalists behind every hit on the radio. Obviously because I\u2019m a bassist I\u2019d listen to the instrumentalist that had me pulling out my hair from reading his bass-lines out of a book and that was James Jamerson. He\u2019s an inspiration. His work is unlike any other bassists I had known of. What\u2019s going On (An album released by Marvin Gaye one of my personal favorites. The Track \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On\u201d is what made James Jamerson\u2019s lines mesmerized me and a couple of other students. The whole album puts me in a trance, all 9 tracks are so great! “What\u2019s Going On” would be that piece I\u2019d play for the rest of my life if I can only choose one. I\u2019ll play along with it until I can no longer play. James Jameson\u2019s tone is so warm, so vibrant in that song. The composition of that tune just proves how much a genius Marvin Gaye and the Funk Brothers were during that time.<\/p>\n

What the most important lesson you\u2019ve learned at MI so far? What has surprised you the most about MI?<\/b><\/p>\n

Back then, every note I\u2019d play, I judge. So for instance, If a note wasn\u2019t exactly as loud as it should be or if it was a wrong note in general, I\u2019d kick myself for hours for the littlest mistakes made. It\u2019s insane thinking how I would hold myself back from a performance just for me to still mess up. The moment one of my instructors said that I would never have a perfect performance, I played better, I was more comfortable, and playing my bass was no longer stressful. It\u2019s was an important lesson for me because I started to be in the moment, I was no longer fearing a little error. I was enjoying the moment. Other\u2019s were enjoying my enjoyment!\u00a0\u00a0Whether it be through band communication, or from spectators.<\/p>\n

3 1\/2 The Library, it still blows my mind even after being here at MI for so long.<\/p>\n

We have an extensive amount of stuff available here besides books.\u00a0\u00a0Not only that but these computers have applications that musicians use on a day to day basis. If I need a guitar, a snare, a bass, or a midi keyboard at a moments glance, I know where to go. I can\u2019t think of another library that does that! Dvd\u2019s and CD aren\u2019t as popular as they once were thanks to streaming devices, but it\u2019s still nice to have the collection. There\u2019s pedals, an Ableton push controller, cables, headphones and microphone kits. I get surprised even now with what we still receive from donations whenever I work there. It\u2019s amazing! (And no, Julie Bill didn\u2019t force me to write this.)<\/p>\n

What is your favorite music memory?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00a0 was given an opportunity to travel to Vienna, Austria for two weeks since I was an International Music award recipient awarded by The Zawinul Foundation. The best memories from that trip was with Andy (my bass instructor from Gumpoldskirchen and all the staff from the school that showed me around Vienna. If I had to choose just one though, was when Andy handed me one of his Bass guitars and told me I can keep it. At first, I didn\u2019t think much of it, It was an American Fretless Jazz Bass. I\u2019ve never played fretless at all up until that point, nor did I ever think I want to. Looking back now, he gave me a bass that I constantly use. He didn\u2019t have to. He didn\u2019t have to consider giving me anything but because of how much he believed in me, he did. That itself, is an amazing feeling.\u00a0\u00a0At any moment when I lose inspiration, I look at that bass and it brings back the motivation I need to continue.<\/p>\n

Where do you find \u00a0the inspiration to pick up your instrument \/practice everyday?<\/b><\/p>\n

Like I said in the previous answer, the fact that I was given a bass because of how much Andy believed in me is inspiring. I think what’s driving my inspiration comes from the support I was given early on and even now. My band directors back in high school believed in me, many of my instructors here believe in me, my family believes in me. I guess the support I\u2019m given is inspiring enough to keep on going. If I didn\u2019t have said inspiration, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through The Lens\u00a0is our weekly series where we highlight current students and faculty, capture them on campus and ask them about their inspirations, advice and beyond. Describe the moment\/s when you knew that you wanted to study music further. That moment…I never necessarily had THAT moment until not too long ago. I started music at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6552],"tags":[6557,6558],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-through-the-lens","tag-bass","tag-through-the-lens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3582"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mi.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}