Mandolin Reflection #11

My second mandolin lesson was even better than the first, and I am really confident that taking these lessons will make me improve vastly as a musician. Demitrius had me play scales up the neck, and said that he was impressed with the improvement (which I take as good encouragement). I still have to work on them, but now that I can actually get up the scale I can start focusing on more technical aspects: such as where on the fret I place my fingers, how to get the best sound out of the strings, and where on the strings to pick. Demitrius told me that the best place to pick over was the very top of the neck where the frets run over the body of the mandolin, and I really hear a difference when I play there. I think I am doing well at keeping all of that together. To continue improving my dexterity, Demitrius taught me a scale where you have to switch the positions of two fingers at a time. This is to get you in the habit of moving your fingers independently, and it's quite difficult. However, I've been practicing and I should be able to do it well by next lesson. Demitrius told me that by next lesson I should be able to do that scale without pause between the switching of fingers. I am pretty much able to do that by now, and so I am going to try and improve the sound quality of my playing as I do that. Scales aren;t the most interesting thing, but I don't mind doing them because it is obvious that they are a huge help: I am better able to play my bluegrass songs now, and with better quality. Next class Demitrius is going to teach me a bluegrass song that will put my scale knowledge to work.

Mandolin Reflection #10

I have finally begun to take lessons with a new instructor, from the West Bend Music School. My teacher, Demitrius, has already taught me so many things that have improved me as a musician in only one class. I am already able to strum and play chords, so he focused on my ability to move my fingers rapidly on the neck. This is more technical mandolin playing: I am learning all the positions of the notes and how to change rapidly between strings and individual notes. It's difficult at first, especially after being accustomed to playing with chords and in a non-technical way. So far, I have learned how to better hold to mandolin to get a better sound out of it, where best to pick to get the best sound, the best way to pick properly, how to hold the pick, and how to do scales. Demitrius thought it was best to start me off with doing scales so that I can become accustomed to rapid note changes, and I've been practicing a lot. At first I was only able to get through the scale slowly, but within a day I was able to get through the scale rapidly and move all the way up the neck. I also kept in mind what he taught me about how to hold the pick, while playing guitar as well. It's hard to break old habits, but I've been really conscientious about it and I am seeing improvement already.

Ballet Reflection #14

At my last ballet class, we were doing fittings for our tutus for the final performance. I had missed a few classes, so I wasn't really aware of how our dance went. After doing our barre stretches, which came back to me pretty easily, we went over the dance. It was a simple dance for the most part, but it goes very quickly and so it was difficult to keep up at first. There were a number of sotees (leaping arabesques), degegees, glisees and grand jetees -- all basic moves that I had learned and felt comfortable with. It was hard to put them all together to music and also be able to focus on keeping in time with the other girls. However, by the time we had gone over it a few times I was on the same level as the other girls, pretty much -- I plan to practice at home as well. I was exhausted by the end, proof that although I have built up a lot of strength and muscle, ballet continues to push me. I never would have been able to do all that leaping around back in September without fainting on the floor. I also take it as evidence that I have improved because my instructor asked me if I wanted to take a pointe-shoe week long course over the summer. Most people move to pointe shoe after taking ballet for years, so the fact that she thinks I have done well enough in ballet three to move on to ballet 4.

Lithuanian Spaghetti Supper #2

I think that the Lithuanian Spaghetti supper was really a success, as far as my performance and the intent of the event. I was really happy to help by bringing in a desert (I made frosted cremes, a kind of ginger-bar cookie), contributing to the income by going and by bringing several people, and to perform. When I arrived, there wasn't anybody playing, which made me quite nervous. I'm not sure why nobody was playing, but Liz asked me to go up and play so I tuned my guitar and went straight up. I played a set of about 15 minutes, I think -- I played all the songs on my setlist, and added a few such as "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga and "Ghosts" by Laura Marling. Playing Bad Romance wasn't part of my original plan, because acoustic Lady Gaga covers are inherently kind of silly - but I decided that it wouldn't be unethical for me to play something that the audience would enjoy (and not be depressed by) since they were clearly interested in the cause by being there in the first place. After my set I had some spaghetti (contributing to the money raised!), and then I sang "Postcards From Italy" by Beirut with Christian, who played the banjo. After I was done performing I was able to get some tea and think about the whole event, and I was really glad I participated. It's always a bit surreal to think that these people who live such deprived lives are real when I have such an ideal life in America -- it's almost as if it's not real because their struggles are so far removed from my own life. I do hope and think that I have grown as a result of this fundraiser.

Lithuanian Spaghetti Supper #1

So for the Lithuanian Spaghetti supper, I performed for entertainment and I am contributed a desert to the cause. Because it was a brief space of time between when I volunteered and when I had to perform, I had to think up a setlist quite quickly, and as I indicated in my proposal, I wanted to sing songs that wouldn't detract from the seriousness of what Liz was trying to do. Not that people shouldn't have fun at these events, but I think it would be kind of unethical for me to do something that would draw all attention away from the importance of the cause, raising money for Lithuanian orphans. My tentative setlist was:

"He Wrote" by Laura Marling

"Don't Be Angry" by The Organ

"In This Hole" by Cat Power

"Blackberry Stone" by Laura Marling

"A Tramway Lullaby" by myself

"My Manic and I" by Laura Marling

Altogether, I think that these are songs that the audience would enjoy, but aren't so cheery and peppy that the audience will forget while they're there. All of these songs are introspective and thoughtful -- hopefully in listening to them, the audience might think a bit as well.

DI Reflection #9

The competition itself went well. Altogether, I am very proud of how my team performed. We practiced our scripts all day before we went on, and I think that our skit was highly original and the actors worked well together. I really enjoyed acting with Heather, and we matched our roles perfectly; the audience and judges really liked that Steph and Missy painted themselves on stage for the live creation of art aspect of the challenge. We won third place, which considering how little time we were able to work on this, was quite impressive. We also got a Renaissance award, a goal I had hoped to meet through our set and puppet. So although we didn't move on, we won a prize for the concept and craftsmanship of our puppet and set -- much better than I would have hoped for, honestly, considering that we were up against 6 teams with far more time than us. I think it was a very good note to end the D.I. year on.

DI Reflection #8

This last week of DI, I have been to 3 meetings in which we put the finishing touches on the set. Until Friday, we didn't really have a script. I was supposed to create two heads for the puppet, carved out of styrofoam. By Wednesday I realized that this wasn't practical and that I wouldn't be able to carve a realistic head out of styrofoam, so I suggested we take a different approach. On Thursday we used plaster strips from the theatre room to make two molds of Brian Paul's face, which meant that I had to make them presentable by Saturday. That was my main project for the night before the competition, and although it was late I was really proud of how the faces turned out. They each had a hinging jaw operated by a nutcracker-esque mechanism, and looking at the challenge I realized that points were awarded for how realistic the puppet was. With this in mind, I gave each puppet a base coat of a basic flesh tone paint that I mixed, and then I did exaggerated shadows. I have highlighting to the nose and cheekbones and shadowed the eyes and jawline, which both close and up and from far away lends the puppet a very realistic look. Then, I differentiated between the puppets by giving the jock-puppet football-player stripes of black paint on his cheeks, and the nerd one a bit of acne. Altogether they looked very realistic, and the puppet flipped well. In the meantime, Heather had come up with a tentative script which we memorized the base of and decided to improvise the specifics.

DI Reflection #7

I wasn't able to go to DI for a week, but by the time I came back the puppet was nearly finished but still being worked on. I was assigned to do some smaller tasks of creating details and props such as clothes for the puppet. Last year we won a renaissance award for the detail of our set, so I suppose a goal for me this year is to repeat that and keep craftsmanship up to par. I made a double-sided apron, the function of which is the conceal the extra limbs of the puppet when it's flipped upside down. I painted one side with a sports theme, creating an emblem for the team and writing things like "go team!" on it to convey the priorities of the jock-puppet. The other side of the apron is splatter painted to reflect the artistic talents of the character. When the puppet is flipped upside down, the side of the apron exposed will flip and add to the puppet's characterization. I am still concerned about the skit, but we are all good at improv, and so far the craftsmanship of the set I am proud of.

DI Reflection #6

This week we repeated the process of creating bricks on the other side of the set and got through that within about 20 minutes. Once the school set was finished it looked quite good, so we focused on the back of the set, which was to be an art gallery. This side of the set was less precise and more fun than the schoolhouse one, because it was essentially a spray paint/splatter paint method. We brought the set outside and painted a base color, and then each of us took a can of spray paint and painted whatever we felt like on it: doodles and patterns and lines, etc. It was a good team exercise I thought, because we were all involved with it. However, I have been concerned about finishing the puppet on time and practicing our skit, because we haven't had much time to think about all of these things. So, we were able to get our set finished in this meeting, which is great because we'll have time to put finishing touches on it before we begin. I am nervous about the puppet, especially because we decided that the puppet is going to be our character that experiences a "flip" in perspective: to illustrate this, the puppet flips upside down to reveal a different character. This is a good idea, but we need to make sure that the concept works and practice with it well before performing.

DI Reflection #5

Because the paint was dry on the set, the team decided that it would be good to split our time between working on the schoolhouse set and the puppet. I volunteered to work on the painting set. I thought that it would be good to have bricks painted onto the set, because most schools with the exception of Sturgis have brick facades. Missy and I painted a streaky darker layer of paint and then re-painted the brick red over it, to give the set depth. It looks quite realistic, I think, because it isn't just a flat color. It's nice that I can bring my interest in doing art (and nice art) into DI. I started off trying to paint white mortar in blocks so that it would look like the set was made up of rows of bricks; however this was tedious and painstaking and we didn't have any brushes fine enough to paint the lines with. I wasn't sure what to do, and looking through our other art supplies I found some colored pencils. I used these to sketch white mortar lines directly onto the set, which I shaded with the red and black and dark blue pencils to make it more realistic. I got through one side, and next week we are going to do the pencil technique on the other side so that we get the schoolhouse completed.

DI Reflection #4

This week was a bit of a shake-up for our skit and team, because we decided that we had to change our concept in the interest of time. Now our skit is set in a school, and is about a boy who undergoes a "flip" in perspective when he realizes that being popular isn't everything. We tried to make do with what work we had done, but the shingled detective's office as it was was not going to pass as a school. We spent the meeting dismantling the shingles and repainting the fabric on that side a brick color. This was a bit discouraging for me, but we were at least able to keep some of our older set pieces: for example, we re-painted the tree we had made out of paper towels a more coppery color after we painted the side of the set red. Next week we will continue to work on making the set look more school-like, and it's a bit frustrating to have all that work undone, but nothing else can really be done about it. I am at least grateful that I have the rest of the team to help me, which is good since I am not usually a team-work person and prefer to do things independently. I think that this at least shows my growth as a collaborator, because in the past I probably would have insisted on doing all the set things alone. However, I have help doing the art this time, and it makes things much easier.

DI Reflection #3

My D.I. team has been consistently working on making our set good before we worry about the script. This meeting, I was focusing on adding detail to our large set, which we constructed with wood and fabric. There are 3 frames attached at their sides, which are painted differently, and they fold in and out. Altogether, they make 3 different scenes, one of detective's office, one of a courtroom, and one side which will be used as a scrim to enact events which happened in the past. Brian and Steph worked on the puppet, and I spent the time "shingling" the office with cardboard. I got through a half of the set before I had to leave, and will continue at the next meeting. It's a lot of physical work, as well as teamwork, but I think that the set looks pretty good so far, so it's worth it.

Ballet Reflection #13

This class was another good one, and I was able to see progress in my ability to do more complex moves. I successfully did a pirouette, which is the most difficult ballet maneuvres according to my teacher. It involves the combination of a number of techniques: the dancer starts in fourth position and moves to passe while on demi (tiptoe), spins around and lands in fifth. Balance is very important, and after this class I have decided that what I need most is to work on my balance. For the most part, my balance is good, but I find that sometimes when I am on demi while balancing on one leg I can't stay in place for long. So, I have my task to improve on for next week. Other than that, I have noticed that I am definitely much more physically fit; I don't get tired over the one and a half hours that I am running around, jumping and twirling. I am also much better at splits. I cannot do one yet, but I am much closer than I was when I started the class and I have noticed generally that I am much more flexible.

Mandolin Reflection #9

I was invited to play a small show at the Guyer Barn on February 11th, and so I took this as an opportunity to play the mandolin to an audience. I did a few guitar songs, but I played a ditty which I composed myself, a bluegrass tune that I learned from my uncle, and song that involves picking which I made up myself.

At the show, I played a song on the guitar that I hadn't played in a while called "Sleeping Dead" by Emily Jane White. It's uses a pick, which I generally don't use on guitar, but I noticed that I definitely used some mandolin strum patterns that I used. The guitar strum for this song is very rhythmical, and that is a hallmark of mandolin pieces - because they are used as backup in bluegrass songs (and other songs) mandolin picking frequently takes the place of percussion. It's interesting to note that mandolin has made me a better guitarist.

Ballet Reflection #12

The most recent intermediate class I went to was noticeably easier than the first time. I have been practicing at home, actually, and noticed that I am much more flexible than I used to be: I use my oven as a ballet bar for balance and do things like degegees ("to disengage", in which you essentially have to kick in a way that look like your leg is independent of your body -- my teacher can reach her leg over her head). Doing this at home, I noticed that I am now able to get my leg at about shoulder level while doing side-degegees, so I think that was helpful for this week. We worked on splits again, but in a new way. First, we practiced them against the wall, using the barre to keep us close. The idea is that you should be able to get your legs parallel to the wall, completely flat against it. I am not quite there, but neither of the other girls, and I noticed that practicing at home has definitely helped my flexibility. Again, we did a number of waltz steps and turns, and we practiced one that I did not know before but picked up on well. I do not recall the name, but it involves a shastee, a kick, leap, and landing in arabesque, all while constantly changing arm positions. I didn't do the arms right at first, but once I had corrected that I noticed that it was much easier to keep my balance and land properly. The right arm movements are really a huge part of what propels you, so i need to practice that a lot. I found it much easier to keep up with the beginning plie-barre stretches this week, although I still find double frappes difficult. However, I've realized that it isn't so much the physical coordination that is the problem as remembering where you are supposed to put your foot, because it changes every time you do them and you move at a rapid speed. I think that I need to practice some of the movements because I am not quite fast enough yet to do the moves in a way that isn't sloppy. However, overall I saw improvement this class, and I was not nearly as exhausted this time although I was still pretty worn out at the end. I never felt exhausted to the point of sickness at all this class, which I take as proof of improvement and greater physical fitness. I am going to continue practicing at home.

DI Reflection #2

having come up with a concept for our script, we went to Home Depot to get our supplies. We are on a tight budget, so we have to be selective about what we buy. Our materials we got today are the equipment to create the puppet's movement mechanism. It is essentially a pole with a wheel attached to the puppet so that it can slide up and down (and thus look like it is moving), and then a hinge so that the puppet can be flipped upside down to reveal a new puppet. The puppet is going to be quite heavy and take some maneuvering, so I am thankful for the fact that I have a lot more arm strength now due to constantly holding my arms stiffly away from my body in ballet class. We are going to begin work on our scrim next week, along with the puppet.

DI Reflection #1

Mandolin Reflection #8

I have noticed that mandolin techniques as well as guitar techniques have helped me in other instruments as well. I got a ukulele over vacation, and I found it extremely easy to start although it has different chords from mandolin and guitar. What I noticed most was that I was really able to apply a lot of skills that I learned for mandolin to my strumming and picking on the ukulele. When I play guitar I mostly do finger picking of varied sorts, so my ability to create coherent and rhythmical strum patterns definitely is borne of my mandolin practicing. I composed a song based in the ukulele, which I was then able to layer vocals, guitar and the mandolin over. The mandolin is the smallest part, but I think that I used it as the instrument is meant to be used -- a very good backup instrument. Mandolin is rarely a solo instrument, and in this case I used it to provide a plunking background noise using an underlying melody I composed mostly by using scales. I also know that what I have learned on the mandolin really shows through in the ukulele part, which is the base for the song. I cannot find a way to post this song to the blog, so I will email it to Mr. Hyer as evidence that it actually exists.

Ballet Reflection #11

I started my ballet class with the intermediate level today, and it was absolutely exhausting -- one of the most rigorous workouts that I have had in years, literally. It involved a lot of jumping around and near constant movement, so by the end I almost felt nauseous because my heart was pounding so hard. The class is now longer -- from 4:00 to 5:30, so there is a lot of extra activity that is squeezed in to that half hour. Depsite the exhaustion of it, though, I feel good about how prepared I was. The other girls in the class have been taking ballet for about two years, and for the most part aren't especially better than me, though more experienced. Some of the things we did in class were grand jetees (essentially a flying leap where you run and then jump and do a split in the air), a number of waltz steps involving arm movements and arabesques and plies and being on demi (tip-toe), as well as more turns and barre stretches. The beginning stretches where we practice our plies went much faster than I was used to, and there were more complicated steps thrown in. The first half of the stretches I was a bit perplexed by, but the other half I had caught on to pretty well -- it was just a matter of adjustment. I was happy about the waltz steps and turns, because I seem to be on the same level as the other girls. I know that i need to improve my arm movements for the spins, but I am not alone in that, and I have been practicing at home. The waltz steps are still difficult because they involve a great number of ballet moves in about 2 seconds (arm changes, leg sweeps, arabesques, demis, turns, etc.) but again I am on the same level as most of the class. We practiced doing splits this class, something that I am not used to doing, and I did notice that I am not as flexible as some of the other girls. I have a lot of natural flexibility, but they have been doing this for years and so they are much more used to stretching and moving their bodies that way. I am also happy that my grand jetees seem to be as good as most of the other girls'. It was a difficult first class because of the pace and sheer volume of rigorous work, but I think that I held up well.

DI Reflection #1

Our first DI meeting was more creativity than action in this case, since we have yet to start working on our set. This metting was an excercise in teamwork and practical thinking. We have decided that for our art piece in our skit, we are going to use a scrim -- a theatre tool used to essentially show shadows. It's the equivalent of watching somebody's shadow behind a white sheet that is lit from behind so that you can watch their movements. OUr skit is meant to be a story exposing a dual reality, so we thought that we would base it on a murder investigation -- the scrim would be used to reenact what had actually happened, versus the story being told on the witness stand. Our main character is a puppet, which we worked on a design for, which also conveys a dual nature: it is going to flip upside down on a hinge, and when it is flipped become a different character. We have yet to decide, but we think that we are going to say that the puppet character is schizophrenic. We have to build our scrim, which is a heavy physical task, and we also have to build the mechanism that the puppet hangs from. It involves creativity, physical labor, and technical skills. As I am likely the one who will be operating the puppet, I am glad that ballet has helped build up strength in my arms -- we will see if the benefits of another CAS activity extend to this one.

Mandolin Reflection #7

I have been practicing scales on the mandolin, which really comes in handy for quicker finger movements. Learning by practice where notes are makes it automatic, as well as easier to read sheet music and makes my fingers move faster with less mistakes. Reading sheet music is a pain, but I realized that I have really managed to get the hang of finger placement when my friend left a violin at my house this weekend. The violin is a notoriously difficult instrument to play, but the finger positions are the same as the mandolin, so I thought I would test my skills on the mandolin by trying to play violin. It's different, because you use a bow and hold the violin under your chin, so that was hard to get used to, but I managed to play some scales and then "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". It's not exactly a difficult song, but it showed me that I have gotten better at the mandolin recently since my skills in that area were transferrable to another. I also tried to play a bluegrass ditty I had learned on the mandolin on violin, with some success -- it is harder to play the violin because there aren't frets. After a few tries I was able to get it right and play the correct notes without having frets to guide me, so I consider that a success as well. I also found that cello finger positionings are the same as mandolin ones. Again, it's a different technique of playing, but I was able to play scales and a couple mandolin songs that i know from sheet music. I think that this shows progression in my mandolin talents.

Ballet Reflection #10

After another week of class in the beginner's level, I had a class to myself again. Sheena has asked me in the class previously if I were still interested in taking the intermediate class, which of course I said yes to, and I was the only one who showed up to class that week. We took the hour to practice the things the girls in the intermediate class had already learned, so I was introduced to several new steps: (excuse the spelling) double frappes, pat du cheval, and pirouette are a few of them. I was able to catch on pretty quickly to most of them, but they certainly don't look as polished as the things I learned at the easier level. The new steps are much more complex, and they are done quicker, so it requires extreme focus -- now I see the necessity of really tensing one's abdominal and thigh muscles to stay balanced while also focusing on arm movements and while actually doing the steps: without all of these factors, the moves don't work as well and it is hard to keep balanced. I really get the interconnectivity of all that now, which before I had been aware of but hadn't regarded. I know that I am naturally good at ballet, but it is going to require that I put a lot of concentration into the class to excel in the intermediate level.

mandolin Reflection #6

I have continued to work on the mandolin independently from a teacher for now. I have been looking into getting lessons, but it's very hard to commit to staying after when I have so much work and since I don't drive the limited bus schedule limits me. However, I have been practicing playing at least one song a day, and I think that soon I am going to start using mandolin sheet music. For Christmas I received an instructional video on mandolin techniques which I will be putting to use, though I haven't had a chance yet. A good experience I had recently in learning about performance and playing the mandolin was playing with a musician I know. She is from Switzerland and works as an engineer, but she also tours and plays as a musician --http://www.myspace.com/skintrail is her website, and she has played concerts and even some festivals. My mom is friends with her sister, so she came over to my house with her family after playing a gig at Liam MacGuire's. She wanted to see the mandolin, and she had brought her guitar so we played together, which was wonderful -- she just told me the chords and I improvised pieces to go along with her, and we actually sounded really good together. It was a bit scary to try and keep up with a legitimate musician, who is a musician as one of her jobs and sources of income, but after a few bars of the first song I was able to play really well with her and sing a bit. It was a good learning experience for playing with other people, even if it was a bit nervewracking. We played about 5 or 6 songs, so we were playing for a while. It was helpful to see a professional playing and what techniques they use (she was playing guitar, but the same techniques apply until you get to more complicated mandolin, which I am not attempting yet), and the experience of getting to play with a real musician. Altogether, I thought it advanced my mandolin self-teaching. I am going to sign up for lessons again after ToK is finished.

Handmade for the Holidays #2

Over the week I didn't get to finish my hat, but I made scarves with my mom out of polar fleece. It was too bad that I did not get to finish -- I thought I would be able to do the hat and scarves, but I didn't have enough time to meet my goals. That was too bad, but I did my best I could with my time and I was able to give 3 scarves to the project. I also inspired my mom to make some scarves, which she wouldn't have done if I hadn't been. So, I was able to make more of an impact because I got others involved in the project. I don't know what the final number of donations they got total, but when I was at the after-party there was a significantly large pile of clothes that I was able to stack my scarves on to. It was stressful trying to knit things for the homeless on top of my schoolwork and other interests, but it was really worth it in the end. I got to meet a lot of interesting, artistic people at the final "party' when everyone came together and gave their crafts, and it was nice to know that my scarves will be keeping somebody warm on cold days and nights.