This is my blog that Elena mentioned in class. It is an on-going project that may take beautiful turns in the future. I never really thought about it before, but it relates to my Thesis work.
Musical score for one of my pieces - an example.
Process is as follows:
Today attendance was taken virtually. I asked them to email me their proposal ideas before the end of class time. I’m excited to see so many ideas competing against each other. Now is their chance to lead.
We will get the final proposals by Thursday’s class - another virtual class session. The timing for the virtual state is perfect because I really need to focus on my Thesis at the moment as much as I can and since almost all of my material is at home, I can work on my things and lead D4M at the same time. Excellent.
I have a critique tomorrow. Most of my work doesn’t have the sound finalized yet, because it’s taking time to render out my MIDI properly, but it will all be done within the next two weeks. They have been composed and scored, I just need to record them. They’re about a minute long each so it shouldn’t be so bad.
Questions from Day 11:
Yay! The big one-O. I really do have the best job in the world. I am having so much fun teaching this class and it keeps getting better and better. Today my kids were up at the MFA space for their presentations. Lulu kept everyone entertained during the break.
Their presentations were spectacular. I will post a link to the blog shortly so that you can take a look at what’s going on in my class.
A new project was introduced - Project Ron Saks - and it’s a group project. It has a complex build and the students are required to work in their groups. The project is whatever they choose to propose and the one with the most votes gets to have its team members and the author of it becomes its leader. There shall be some competition.
Questions from Day 10:
Today I finally gave a stop-motion animation tutorial! Five total attended the workshop, excluding Charlotte, and together we created “First Date” a.k.a. Come Hither, previously posted. I had a ton of fun with it and I wish more students took advantage of this opportunity. I would have used Comic Sans as an undergrad to have someone show me something like this.
Hm maybe not
Next class is their finals at the MFA space. I sent out everyone a “Howler” email about attendance. I would like to tell more but FERPA, FERPA, FERPA. I am now working on writing my teaching philosophy. It’s going great so far. My thesis is coming along great, but having trouble with the sensor idea.. perhaps I dreamt too big.
Questions from Day 9:
I went to class simply because I could not afford to miss another day. Their finals are coming up next week and it is my job to make sure everyone’s on track. Half the class was a no-show. Perhaps they thought my pain was permanent?
I am conducting their final presentations in the MFA space. It will be a nice change for them. Tuesday will be dedicated to the tutorials. I’m excited.
Not much to add.. Class went smoothly, minus the raging pain in my back.
Questions from Day 8:
I have shingles/the shingles. It sounds very nasty, I think it needs a better term. But yeah, I never got chicken pox when I was a kid therefore my body recently decided to do this to me. I blame stress. I blame stress with a burning passion.
With that said, I did not go to my D4M class on Tuesday. I just could not move. The illness has affected the right side of my lower back, thus making mobility a challenge. I never knew there was worse pain than teeth whitening. Boy was I mistaken.
Anyway, I met with my students online on GoStudio through a chat session. I spent the rest of the day in agonizing pain. Tutorials were postponed to next week. I could only hope to feel better by next class.
Questions from Day 7:
Contribution by Mike Laughead.
Lunchtime
Lunchtime in my family was a divine segment of the day for everyone. We all had to sit together, dine together, and leave together. No drinks were allowed on the table. “You’ll get too full too soon”, my mother would say. One thing that was always present during lunch was our conversations. Usually tense and multilingual, we would all talk about things that bothered us and made us happy. We would end lunch with a “Merci mama, it was delicious, may your hands be blessed.” This divine segment ended when I left for grad school and I miss its redundancy. I miss the aroma of that table and the variety and color of food.
