Ithaca Wise Program - Task Force Journal Review

  So today in class it was announced that the sample presentation is on May 26th at 6pm in the afternoon. I think I've already blogged about this in my other mentor meeting reflection, but this is just a further reminder. In my notes, I wrote down that I should contact my mentor regarding the schedule for the presentation to make sure that both me and my mentor are available to attend the presentation (my own). However, I just realized that since Ms. Lord is my mentor (lucky me) she'll be at my presentation without even my having to ask her.

  Someone named M. Wyant read my blog entries and made comments on my blog posts. I was totally unaware that this was happening so I was really surprised, and I found it rather interesting that the reader thought I was a male. I guess I never read my blog entries assuming that the blogger was male, or I never realized that my voice also made sense in the male point of view? IDK if I'm making sense, but it's not a big deal. It was really cool to read someone else's comments on my entries. And I think some things were made more clear to me in their words that I never saw before. M. Wyant said that I'm doing a lot of soul searching (I never thought of it that way) and that I am learning my strengths and weaknesses (true, just I never explicitly acknowleged?). I think this journal review was really helpful, and I will look to it for reference if I feel like I'm lost in blogging, because I definitely think it gives me my direction but in a much more general/summarized manner.

IN CLASS

Mentor Meeting After Break

This is for Monday 04/25/2011
   After my mentor meeting with Ms. Lord, I realized some other "homework" that I have to do. A big thing is making plans/an outline on what to practice and when to research (the specifics of the rest of my project). The "deadline" I should expect for the project is around the 10th of June, so make sure to get everything done before then. In this mentor meeting, I also realized that I should be focusing a lot on the macro portion of research and not just the micro portion. This means I should be doing more research on the piano in general! (I feel like this has been repeated multiple times in the past couple of mentor meetings...?) Hm... and a little idea for future journals is to write about how my project process is now different in comparison to before, when I had Mrs. Miller and there was someone to guide me through everything. Other ideas for future aid include trying to watch someone else practice or play or go to a recital or something of the sort. It is also important to consider the method of learning/approach, because there are more than one way to approach things, and sometimes it's hard to realize the fact that one specific way of approach may not be the best or only way to approach things. I guess this means that maybe I should be exploring my directions in learning and the paths I'm taking because there's definitely more than one route.
   The sample presentation that will be shown to our class will be on the 26th of May and Ms. Lord reminded me that everything's actually coming up pretty soon, so there's not too much time before I need to come up with a finished product. Gahhh so much to do...

Video :)

Due to technical difficulties, the video took FOREVER to upload, so I won't have time to write about it just yet, but will do :)


  ALRIGHTYY THEN. So I've definitely learned the rest of the song. At this point right now though, the second part is still veryyyy shaky. At the end I kept trying to play from memory and hit all the wrong notes several times. I would've re-recorded, but my camera was running low on batteries. However, the beginning of this video (in contrast to my first video), was pretty smooth I would say. A lot more "fluidity" resulted after my practicing, and although I would say the piece still sounds quite choppy, it's probably not hard to fix as long as I keep at it, practicing and such. The tempo of the piece is a lot closer to the actual (if not the actual) tempo that the song was supposed to be. I noticed from comparing back to my last video that I went a lot slower there. However, also unlike the last video, I'm not slowing down too much when I make mistakes. Maybe this was just my being in a rush to finish the recording, but when I messed up, I didn't slow down for my corrections, only tried attacking the piece at the same tempo over and over again. Slow down and take the approach. That's definitely something I want to ALWAYS remember to do. 

It's Sunday, Sunday, gotta make goals on Sunday... plus reflections on last week

   ^a little Rebecca Black there? XD

   Anyways, here were my goals for last week...

1. Make goals for the week every Sunday.
2. Upload a video once very weekend (I only have access to recording during weekends).
3. Learn the rest of Pachelbel Canon in D.
4. Try to make ^ sound more fluid/pretty.
5. Ask Julianna (sister) to critique.

1- Alright! So I'm doing this so far, seeing as how this post is supposed to be for making goals...

2- So I'm slightly having technical issues with my dad's iPhone (with which I am recording my progress), because the first video, I cut in a 30s portion to make it possible for me to email it to myself directly through the iPhone (it needed to be cut, and I could cut it easily on the iPhone). However, this second video I made has to be longer than 30s, so I figured I just transfer it through to my computer and edit it later, but since I couldn't find a program with which to upload it, I had to just upload it as it is. Being filled with mistakes, it's going to be super embarrassing, but it's uploading right now (takes 30 minutes to upload cause apparently it's quite lengthy, and I had to find a new upload server because for some reason it just won't upload on 4shared....)

3- Yep yep, totally working on this! I've read through the end of the song, but I'll write all about it in the next post.

4- Same for this one! I'll be writing more about it in the next post, but I'll consider this done!

5- Okay, so I've made the decision to push this one back one week because I figured it'd be best to have the whole song kinda under my arm before I ask someone else to critique. I don't think I want to do this multiple times, so I'll redo this goal this week, and ask Julianna to critique for me once I'm familiar with all of Canon. 

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I've done 4/5, that's still passing, right?

Here's this week's goals, let's aim for 100%!

1. Ask Julianna to critique.
2. Look through all past journal posts and REMEMBER WHAT YOU SAID YOU'D UPDATE (speaking to me)
3. Try to journal as soon as things happen, if possible (ie. right after a mentor meeting or right after practice)
4. Use this week as a last week for Canon in D, practicing and "perfecting" (? possibly ?)
5.  Brainstorm a bit more about end project ideas.
6. Research on history of the piano.
7. Contact Yuangting Li, a Chinese girl at IHS who gives piano lessons, for some help in trying to work on Fireflies?

Uh-ohs...

   Booo practice AP exams...it's the week before spring break and all I can think about could think about were practice APs and, well SPRING BREAK. I'm going to NYC for the entire week and being far far (sorta) away from Ithaca. It's Thursday afternoon, my last practice AP exam was today (for this week at least), and I am ashamed to say I haven't done enough research... actually I haven't done much new except practice. I've been practicing, however, and learning the rest of Canon in D (which will be revealed in my video post).

"Out of the Rut" Journal Activity && Partner Read

[I started doing the "Out of the Rut" Journal Activity, but then I felt like I've done this already? So just the Partner Read?]

edit!

I think I have a problem.... I'm a bit confused as to who's journal I'm supposed to be partner reading. Tabea told me she was reading mine, but Jimmy's reading Tabea's and since Jimmy's is on a paper journal, he told me I would do his journal, but he would give it to me during government class before spring break. This, however, didn't end up happening....? So..... I'll find out on Monday I guess.

Mentor Meeting & Response on Ideas for End of the Year

(semi posting this like a week later, but the date's set to when it's supposed to be so that my journal entries are in order as they're supposed to be)
   So like I've stated in my last mentor meeting blog, I've still been having trouble coming back online. But anyways, in my mentor meeting today, Ms. Lord congratulated me on sort of finding my way, and stepping out of my comfort zone (a lot)? Similar to my last mentor meeting post, I seem to be still having lack of motivation in coming online onto my blog. Scraps of paper keep piling up somewhere around the house when I write notes down for my journal, but I'm really having trouble coming back here to update. Maybe it's the end of the year or maybe it's cause spring break/AP week's coming, but it's definitely an issue. Which brings up the next point I need to make. What am I planning for my end of the year presentation? The end is coming by really fast and no joke, it might crash into me, so where am I headed? Ms. Lord says it's a good time to start thinking now. And I have, a little bit, or at least in the thirty minutes...
   I guess I'm still not quite sure on exactly yet, but I think for my presentation, what I could be (possibly) showing are (oh my gosh really?) my progress videos, if they turn out okay and I do enough [maybe just the first and last?] and perhaps teach the class a little something that they would be able to play on their own?

Reflection && New Goals (explicitly stated) -- 5 for the week

  I think I've done pretty well this week. I know in the past couple of weeks, it seems as if I did nothing, but I definitely did work, it's just not as much as I have done now or before the entire "thing". I know there was that little (or is it big?) bump along the way, but I think I'm moving past it alright. As part of my "new plan to keep track of my progress and to make sure that I'm progressing", here are my goals both in general and for the week:

GOALS

1. Make goals for the week every Sunday.
2. Upload a video once very weekend (I only have access to recording during weekends).
3. Learn the rest of Pachelbel Canon in D.
4. Try to make ^ sound more fluid/pretty.
5. Ask Julianna (sister) to critique.

Out of these five goals, I think 1, 2, and 5 are going to be more difficult than the other two, and they are the ones where I'd be stepping out of my comfort zone the most. This is because for 1 and 2, I'd be making another commitment, which I always knew would be an obstacle, and for 5, I'd be asking someone younger to "teach" me. 

Hmm something new....

   Okay, so hopefully this works... I went and took a video of myself with an iPhone and uploaded it to 4shared. I didn't realize I could just upload it through Blogger, but too late I guess. I just posted the embed code into the Edit HTML section and messed around with the <br> break lines and other HTML stuff I learned from when I was in middle school and I was playing around online with coding and layouts and such. Anyways, here's how far I've gotten with Canon in D Major. This song went a lot smoother than Fireflies (not my playing, but the process of me trying to play). Ahhhahaha it's so embarrassing. [Is this stepping out of my comfort zone? I think so!] It definitely doesn't sound anywhere as good as the other youtube version by the tiny child, but... oh well. Don't laugh. Or mock. Or whatever else, comforting words won't help either.

   If you saw the video, you would've noticed that I made a super big obvious mistake at the end before I stopped recording. I also probably made several mistakes prior to the end, but yeah... that's how far I am this week. I think this is how I'm going to keep track of my progress. I'm going to try and upload a video every weekend to show how far I've gotten with my playing, and to show what I'm playing. I think it's a very good "doing" demonstration. As far as this song goes, I'm still kinda bad at moving from one position to the other, and everything sounds chunky, so that's something I'm hoping to fix with practice. I'm not even finished learning the piece yet (I think the beginning was the easier part), so next week, I'll be moving further along there too... yepp.

OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT! Sometime next week, I'll be asking my little sister to comment on my playing and to tell me what I'm doing wrong and where I'm doing wrong, as Mrs. Miller had instructed I do during our last lesson for the purpose that the mistakes that I don't see get pointed out.

A Stir Away From (Fire)Flies

   Is this a step into or out of my comfort zone? Either way, I think this is good, the fact that I opened one of my old books to a song I've never really played and stopped on this one. I think I've always thought this song was really pretty, but it's definitely, DEFINITELY, SLOW. Previously, as in years before, I lovedd fast songs because they were easier to learn the rhythm to, and they were easier to play (maybe?), or at least in my opinion. I didn't want to learn this song for that reason. Anyways, I decided to attack it this week, and it's been going on pretty well :) OH I've been rambling for this entire time and I haven't even mentioned the title of this song yet. It's Pachelbel Canon in D Major. Since the sheet music is sometime I have physically, I can't link to it here, but there's a youtube version of this song in D Major here: Canon in D Major (by the looks of his hands, this person looks like he/she's under the age of 10....)

   Yeahhh, and the version to which I linked above is a lot more... fancy/emphasized than the version I have. Mine is A LOT simpler, and probably sounds a lot worse....

"Happiness Revisited" && In Class Tuesday

1. When do you feel most happy?
2. React/Respond to article.
3. Where are you on the flow chart?
4. How has this changed/remained the same throughout the course of your project?
5. How can you achieve flow?

(will be updated -having trouble finding article)

Monday's Mentor Meeting

    It seems that I've been having quite a difficult time trying to update my WISE blog. I don't know why, but I just, whenever I come onto my blog, I've gotten to lack the motivation to write anything down, or somehow, my mind just goes blank. In this mentor meeting, I know there was discussion regarding my making a plan for the next week, to keep track of my progress and to make sure that I'm progressing. I don't really have a plan yet though, so that's a GOAL OF THIS WEEK! To find a plan, to make a plan... or something.

   I think there's some other things I've forgotten that were discussed in this mentor meeting, but one thing I wanted to mention was that Ms. Lord that insisted that I bring up the previous incident that had happened, and reflect upon it. This is the second time it was mentioned, and the first time, it wasn't because I forgot, but it was because I didn't want to remember it. As much as it may be thought to be of help, I do not think it will be of any aid, and I will not be expanding anything more regarding to this issue.

Fireflies

   I just wanted to say how impossible this song was. ASFHGSJKHGSGHL this song is IMPOSSIBLE to play. Each of the notes take at least a minute for me to figure out and make sure that I'm on the right note since the key jumps from white keys to black keys, and I forget how the melody of the song actually goes sometimes, so then I get lost and have to start over when I'm trying to piece out the song from what I've already played. I literally spent an entire hour doing this, and then later when I came back to the piece, there was absolutely not improvement at all, or at least not enough improvement for me to stay. The version from which I am learning is thirteen pages long (four lines per page, with only one line on the last page). Right now, I can't get past the fourth page without getting mad at myself for not being able to play it right. I've worked with this song so slowly that I think I've grown to hate it and like it at the same time. Even more, these mixed emotions have been making me really frustrated. I'll be really excited and inspired to play piano, and then I'll leave dejected and upset by the fact that I recognize that I can't play it correctly. Honestly, now that I'm writing this, I feel really ashamed that I gave up, but I'll probably continue to do so even without noticing it.