This story about a reclusive musician comes to us from producer Jonathan Menjivar. Menjivar currently works at WHYY's Fresh Air, but he put together this 5-minute piece when he was working as an independent producer. He's given us a carefully designed story that not only suggests the sense of solitude that musician Andrew Bird must experience when he creates his music, but that sense of solitude is amplified as we hear from Bird only in his own words, without the mediation of a narrator.
This piece works well as a stew of unmitigated thoughts in a suspension of music, and it should serve as a ray of hope and to producers who struggle to put structure to un-narrated radio stories. Menjivar shows us that it can be done, if we keep our ears tuned to pacing and we can bear to pare our tape down to the bare essentials.
A quiet piece of first person narrative by Andrew Bird, violinist and songwriter, about spending a period of time by himself to find his voice. He, as well as his music, speaks of that time away and the person he has become as a result.
Good use of music at the right moments.
For the most part, there is nothing much wrong with this piece. For the most part, there is nothing much right with it either. Essentially a stream of consciousness actualities from the artist matched up with some cuts of the song, this piece does not provide the “wow” factor it could have.
Two things:
First, the producer needs to provide an intro that contextualizes what the listener is about to hear. I suspect the intro on Studio 360 did that. But not providing it to stations that might air this piece independently makes our work harder, perhaps hard enough to bypass this piece. After all, any of us AAA stations where the artist is going to appear are going to get an interview most likely.
Second: The piece fails to find a central focus and build on it. There are other folks who produce this kind of piece better. There seems be one, but it’s so cloudy. There is a lot of “how” in here, and not so much “why.” Maybe the artist is just plain boring and not capable of giving enough insight or maybe the interviewing couldn’t find a central theme that resonates.
This is tough. After a while you find that most singer/songwriters are telling pretty much the same story through their own perspective of life. Without skillful editing and detective work preparation, there is a high likelihood that these pieces are not going hit deep into the AAA listeners mind. After all, this guy is going to be interviewed on the local station’s air, on World Café, Sounds Eclectic, maybe E-Town, etc. So these kind of pieces have to deliver a something that isn’t going to be said in those situations.
Comments for Andrew Bird
Produced by Jonathan Menjivar
Other pieces by Jonathan Menjivar
Rating Summary
4 comments
Aaron Henkin
Posted on August 16, 2006 at 09:11 AM | Permalink
Review of Andrew Bird
This story about a reclusive musician comes to us from producer Jonathan Menjivar. Menjivar currently works at WHYY's Fresh Air, but he put together this 5-minute piece when he was working as an independent producer. He's given us a carefully designed story that not only suggests the sense of solitude that musician Andrew Bird must experience when he creates his music, but that sense of solitude is amplified as we hear from Bird only in his own words, without the mediation of a narrator.
This piece works well as a stew of unmitigated thoughts in a suspension of music, and it should serve as a ray of hope and to producers who struggle to put structure to un-narrated radio stories. Menjivar shows us that it can be done, if we keep our ears tuned to pacing and we can bear to pare our tape down to the bare essentials.
Chris Boulton
Posted on December 18, 2005 at 05:25 AM | Permalink
Review of Andrew Bird
lovely, etherial, and humble. somehow avoids pretension in pursuit of sincerity.
Emon Hassan
Posted on May 01, 2005 at 11:39 AM | Permalink
Review of Andrew Bird
A quiet piece of first person narrative by Andrew Bird, violinist and songwriter, about spending a period of time by himself to find his voice. He, as well as his music, speaks of that time away and the person he has become as a result.
Good use of music at the right moments.
Steve Yasko
Posted on April 24, 2005 at 04:50 PM | Permalink
The Importance of Additional Materials
Two things:
First, the producer needs to provide an intro that contextualizes what the listener is about to hear. I suspect the intro on Studio 360 did that. But not providing it to stations that might air this piece independently makes our work harder, perhaps hard enough to bypass this piece. After all, any of us AAA stations where the artist is going to appear are going to get an interview most likely.
Second: The piece fails to find a central focus and build on it. There are other folks who produce this kind of piece better. There seems be one, but it’s so cloudy. There is a lot of “how” in here, and not so much “why.” Maybe the artist is just plain boring and not capable of giving enough insight or maybe the interviewing couldn’t find a central theme that resonates.
This is tough. After a while you find that most singer/songwriters are telling pretty much the same story through their own perspective of life. Without skillful editing and detective work preparation, there is a high likelihood that these pieces are not going hit deep into the AAA listeners mind. After all, this guy is going to be interviewed on the local station’s air, on World Café, Sounds Eclectic, maybe E-Town, etc. So these kind of pieces have to deliver a something that isn’t going to be said in those situations.