MUMT301-2021 Assignment 1
QUESTIONNAIRE!

The following questionnaire seeks to understand your previous knowledge about some of the concepts that we will learn in class during the coming term.

1. Do you know any programming languages? If you do, which ones?
In High School I took one intro class to Python, as well as a class about Java.  I have also taken MUMT 302 at McGill which uses Max/MSP.

2. What is your primary computer operating system (OS)?
My computer operates on MacOS Catalina.

3. Do you own a smartphone, tablet, or mobile device? What is your favourite OS for mobile devices?
I own an iPhone, iPad, and a Macbook Pro, all of which run on MacOS.  iOS is my favourite OS for mobile devices.

4. Do you use any social networking services? If you do, which ones? Why?
I use some network services, including Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.  Discord is also a useful platform for joining some niche communities.  I like to use these platforms to connect with
colleauges, friends and family members who are not involved in my day to day life, and to network myself as a performer and employee.

5. Expand the following acronyms and do research about their meaning. You may look them up if you don't know:

HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol is a web service protocol which can fetch resources and subdocuments from external servers, and then reconstruct them as a complete document for the client.
REST - Representational State Transfer is a software architechtural style which guides the design and development of the World Wide Web Architechture, emphasizes scalability, uniform interfaces, independent deployment of components and a layered architechture to facilitate caching.
API - Application Programming Interface is a connection between computers or programs, interface which offers a service to other pieces of software, i.e: connects softwares together.

6. Do you play a musical instrument or sing? If so, how much experience do you have?
My main instrument is percussion (all classical percussion as well as many different hand drums), which I have played for 12 years.  I have also played piano for ~10 years, as well as Trombone/Tuba for 3 years.

7. Can you read music notation? If so, how well?
Yes I can read musical notation at a university bachelor's in performance level.

8. How large is your personal music collection? Estimate the number of artists, albums, and songs. If instead you listen to music using streaming services, how many playlists, artists, albums, and songs do you have in your account?
I primarily use Apple Music as a streaming service, on which I have roughly 500 artists, 5000 songs on 1500 different albums, I don't typically use Apple Music created playlists however I have around 10 saved. 

9. How do you search and find new music?
Most of the new music I find is suggested to me from friends, new releases from bands and artists I already follow, as well as online forums that talk about new music releases.

10. Are you aware of any ways in which artists are dealing with public performances post-COVID? Do you think live performances are essential to your musical experience?
Post-COVID performances are a unique breed, since we now have such a heightened awareness for space and hygiene.  With this in mind, many groups have cut the sizes of their performances, and have had to find new venues which can properly accomodate the sizes of the audience and artists.  In addition, many artists are optimizing the fresh air and are using outdoor concert spaces (or just public places) to continue the return of live music.  I think that live music is extremely important to the experience, and not having a way to experience live music for the last 1.5 years definetly hindered mine and any other avid music listeners ability to appreciate and discover music.

11. Name two musical artists that you like. What do you find interesting about their music that makes you like them?
Two of my favourite musical artists are Rush and The Smashing Pumpkins.  Both of these bands have extremely unique sounds, and consistently released music which changes our perception of their music, and also pushes the boundaries of what that genre normally sounds like.  Although neither of these groups release much music today I still enjoy listening to the vast variety of music they have created and how that has changed throughout the course of the groups existence.