The legendary Chaka Khan graced Popular Music Forum with her presence on Friday.

Prince once called her the “voice of life” and there is no doubt that she lives up to that title.

Forum was packed with eager music students to listen to the R&B singer speak.

Between talking about her relationship with her eccentric and supportive father to working with icons such as Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis and Prince, she was an open book filled with quirky stories to tell.

The discussion began with a clip from a movie about the Funk Brothers that showed her GRAMMY-winning performance of “What’s Going On.”

For the rest of her visit, Chaka’s personality shone through her self-confidence and passion for music and life in general.

“I’m ferocious when it comes to music,” she said.

When growing up, Chaka listened to artists such as Doris Day, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra and was once involved with the Black Panther organization by selling its papers and cooking breakfast for kids in the hood.

She said everyone was put on this earth for a purpose and that it is to be of service for each other.

“If you can be of service to one person, and that’s all you got, you did good,” said Chaka.

She considers sharing her voice as her service. She thinks of herself as an instrument, not as a singer, because her voice is her instrument.

In regards to working in the music industry, Chaka said it’s a really rough and tough life.

“But the rewards are great if it’s your calling,” she said.

It fulfills her to know her voice brings happiness to others.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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The writings of Woody Guthrie used to be filed away in cabinets in the Guthrie living room, but now over 3,000 of his lyrics are organized at the Woody Guthrie Foundation & Archives.

His daughter, Nora Guthrie, is the director of the Archives and came to Pop Music Forum this week to share a little of his history.

Guthrie was known for having popular political and straight to the point songs, but ended up being blacklisted. During America’s period of anti-communism and red-scare tactics in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, many entertainers were taken down because of their activist mentalities.

For over 20 years, he wasn’t allowed to appear on television shows or the radio and died in the ’60s.

Nora had collected all of his work that he wasn’t able to record and uses the archives to keep his music alive.

“I don’t do it for publicity reasons,” said Nora,”It’s a part of history and I want it to be known.”

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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What do Cirque Du Soleil, Jersey Boys, Cyndi Lauper, Cher and the MTV Networks have in common? Deborah Hurwitz.

Thanks to her diverse background and passion for music, Hurwitz has worked with those companies, shows, artists and many more that are on her list of accomplishments.

Her journey began in England where she started tinkering with a toy organ after attending Hebrew school during the day. From there, her parents were finally able to find someone to give her piano lessons at the age of seven.

Before her lessons, she learned how to play by ear and when she learned how to read music, it somewhat slowed her down.

“Ironically, it became the foundation for my professional existence,” she said.

Hurwitz is currently the music director for the Cirque Du Soleil “Iris” shows in Los Angeles and earned that position by showing everything she has to offer.

“This was a dream gig. Maybe the dream gig,” she said.

She had always wanted to go into film scoring and since the music in “Iris” is by Danny Elfman, it was perfect for her to move into.

To get the gig, she had to create an audition tape showing her skills on the acoustic piano and her rock n’ roll, classic and synth playing capabilities.

Hurwitz brought her video to Pop Music Forum and shared it with the students, in all of its 10 minute of glory.

In her video, she articulated and visually painted the complete picture of her skill set and showed how aware she was of what Cirque Du Soleil was looking for specifically, which, out of 400 video submissions, was her.

Hurwitz may have started in classical piano, but she wasn’t in love with it like she was with pop songs and music production.

“It didn’t call to me like Journey did,” she said.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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The vice-president of A&R at Warner Chappell, Brad Aarons, said he is in the business of discovering, nurturing and working with songwriters.

Celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, Warner Chappell is a global music publishing company that deals with copyrights and licensing a vast category of music.

Aarons finds ways to build songwriters and artists into the industry who want to work creatively to  create a hit song.

He said working at a publishing company is different from being at a record label, because labels concentrate on marketing and branding a record.

Warner Chappell is responsible for making sure a person is being paid properly for when their song is played. The company makes sure songs are registered correctly and keeps track of them.

Publishers also deal with multiple projects and sometimes have a longer relationship with an artist or songwriter compared to record labels. This allows them to cultivate more communication and trust, according to Aarons.

There are always artists seeking help during their writing process and end up working with staff writers found at publishing companies, such as Warner Chappell.

Aarons works with his staff to find staff writers and matches them up with the right artist who they can identify with.

According to Aarons, finding a match means to find out what is necessary and needed in the certain market they are targeting. Some writers don’t get chosen right away because of bad timing, but they can always be picked up for a different project when the time is right.

After a match is found and the writing is do ownership and splits for payments is determined. Aarons said that’s where the complexity comes in because a lot of parties are typically involved.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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This week’s Friday Forum guest considers himself to be a behind-the scenes kind of guy and normally doesn’t do publicity photos or interviews, but he was kind enough to come and speak.

Julian Raymond, the current vice-president of A&R and staff producer for Warner Bros.Records, has done everything from songwriting and singing to producing and being an A&R rep for multiple record labels.

Raymond said he decided to do an interview for the Pop Music Forum to share his experiences and help the students go in the right direction for their careers.

As a young adult, he was in bands that got signed to Epic Records and Atlantic Records. He said the reason labels paid attention to them was because something was different from other bands trying to emerge in the industry.

In regards to pursuing a career in music, Raymond told the students to follow their hearts and stick to their paths.

Raymond moved on from his performance path and was given the chance to work at Hollywood Records, thanks to his lawyer who became the president of the label.

His job mostly consisted of fixing and redoing tracks when bands recorded. He said a lot of them also needed help with their arrangements.

Since then, he has worked at Capitol Records and Warner Bros. Records.

When Raymond is searching for a band to sign, he looks for performers with originality, drive and ambition.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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If you’re wondering where the weekly forum post is, don’t worry!

USC just spent a week on spring break and is resuming this week.

The Popular Music Forum will start up again this Friday.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

Dexter Holland answering students’ questions.

A very successful USC alumnus, Dexter Holland of The Offspring, stopped by campus before heading off to work on the band’s upcoming record.

When Holland was studying at USC, he was a pre-med student during the week and a punk rock musician during the weekends. The band would travel back to Garden Grove every weekend to practice at a friend’s mom’s house.

Besides playing for about 10 people in a living room when The Offspring first started performing, the halls of USC’s Birnkrant dorm became its performance venue.

Holland said he stuck with the band through college because it was something he loved to do. At the time, he didn’t see it as a realistic career choice, so he continued his studies at USC and earned his bachelors and masters degree.

The Offspring began playing in 1984 and didn’t really start to make it until 1994. Holland said something like the Pop Music Program at USC didn’t exist.

“Good for you. You really have a head start,” Holland said to the students at last Friday’s Pop Music Forum.

Holland said the band started having a professional breakthrough when it became really persistent and sent demos out.

The Offspring caught the attention of independent label, Epitaph Records, and established a great relationship with them. Holland felt like Epitaph allowed them to do things on the band’s terms.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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Stay tuned for a recap this weekend!

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

“Percussion can make or break the groove,” said USC Thornton faculty member, Aarón Serfaty.

The Pop Music Forum turned into a percussion workshop this week with Serfaty demonstrating basic techniques for students.

“When dealing with subtly, a badly placed note can ruin the whole thing and it’s absolutely unnecessary,” he said.

The shaker was the first instrument up. As instructed, almost every student had a shaker with them to practice along with Serfaty, who made his own shaker using a water bottle, beads from his kids’ BB guns and some uncooked rice.

The students watched Serfaty’s wrist and arm movements and tested it out themselves without using shakers first. When they got the feel for it, the entire room filled with the sound of shakers that came in all shapes and sizes.

Once Serfaty gave a moderate tempo and counted off, the students were playing in time together. Except when he had to remind a few of them not to rush.

(Source: uscpopmusicprogram)

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