Students and staff get Juno advice
Greyson Gritt runs sound workshop at East Three School
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 4, 2017
INUVIK
Greyson Gritt, who makes up one half of Juno-winning band Quantum Tangle with Tiffany Ayalik, gained an interest in sound through a high school workshop.
Greyson Gritt, an award-winning artist, held a workshop on sound at East Three School last month. Gritt gained a passion for sound design through a similar workshop during childhood. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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Late last month, Gritt was in Inuvik providing one just like it to youth, hoping to inspire some future sound engineers or artists.
"The workshop was to teach the students about the basics and the fundamentals of sound, what it is, how it exists, how to measure it, what does sound look like, all these sort of questions," said Gritt.
Students and teachers gathered around a soundboard for hours during the last workshop, as Gritt explained how each of the buttons worked and participants asked a constant stream of questions.
One of the misconceptions Gritt runs into is that understanding how sound works is hard.
"We all have experience with it," the musician said.
"Once of the first things I did with the students and teachers was to ask when you think about sound, what words come to mind?"
Through that, participants find they all have experience working with sound, whether it's fiddling with settings on an iPhone, listening through headphones, using a car stereo or playing an instrument.
"People were surprised at just how much they knew," said Gritt.
"That was reflected in the really thoughtful questions and remarks both the students and the staff had. People might think it's a little dry . but I think everyone walked away knowing a lot more about how sound works."
The workshop Gritt took in Grade 9 or 10 changed the musician's trajectory in life. From that point on, Gritt worked all the school dances, did the sound for events and trained other people to use the soundboard.
"I felt like it was coming full circle when I got to go in (to Inuvik) and hopefully inspire the next generation to be part of the technical field that I'm a part of," Gritt said.
Gritt hopes the workshop can provide the same sort of inspiration to a youth in Inuvik.
"I got a lot of joy out of it, so I hope someone else gets that same joy," said Gritt, adding that a lot of career opportunities exist in the sound field, from being a sound engineer to being in a film crew, editing, working in radio, recording bands and much more.
"I think it's the best. And it relates so much with my music and has created a lot of opportunities. If that's something folks want to do, they can send me a Facebook message. I can talk about it 'till the cows come home, what kind of opportunities you might have."
