Contra Dance

On Sunday I attended an event for my church in which we had an old time band and a contra dance caller. There was not a banjo in the band but a mandolin which can have a similar sound. There was a fiddle and Mr M has told me that the fiddle leads the group so I was listening to that and it was really interesting to hear how the other players followed.

All of the dancing made me think about the origins of the banjo (from Africa) and the origins of contra dancing (England) and how now they are closely associated. I would like to know more about how the dancing goes along with old time music and where exactly the intersection is.

Wise last week

Last week in WISE class we went over some presentational material. After class I talked to Ms G about my presentation and what should be included, and how I'm feeling a little anxious that I don't have enough done for a presentation. I think a lot of my presentation will be about how I've learned how to better estimate what is a reasonable task in a finite amount of time and what is not. More to come on my presentation thoughts.

Also, I will be evaluating Luke's presentation today and Shelby's later in June.

Last night we all attended Luke's sample presentation on playing the harmonica. I was a student evaluator and got a first hand look at what is expected of the presenters and how the feedback comes to be.

Some overall reactions: "Wow, that was great." "Wow, I hope my presentation is that interactive or else I'm going to put everyone else to sleep." "Wow, I don't know nearly as much banjo as he does harmonica." "Wow, that was really nice" "Wow, all of my materials are due Tuesday. I present in a week and a half."

So.. yeah wow. Needless to say I had nightmares about WISE all night and how the end of it has crept up on me way too quickly. But alas, is this not just another example of real life situations? I talked to Ms. Maddren in gym and she suggested I go through my blog and read all of my posts, and come up with three themes that I want to focus on. I am capable of talking about each theme in my project for about ten minutes, so that adds up to 30 minutes. Piece of cake! Except for all of that organizing and including interactive sections and including all of the things that must be in my presentation. Then I started thinking about how I had two different projects and wondering how I am going to present them. I decided first I'm going to make a list of every step along the way and what fueled it or made me make a certain decision. That way I can go through and see the growth in my project even though I may not have the final product that I originally had wanted.

Okay, maybe I will survive it. First off is these written materials, then more outlines of my presentation. At this point I have to think back on why I originally chose wise: I get to do something I love! So even though it's a lot of work it will be worth it because I get to share something that I am passionate about and that's one of the most rewarding things you can get out of a class in my opinion.

New research

Mr McMahon sent me an article about the history of old time music and specifics relative to the Ithaca area. It's interesting to compare the history of the banjo itself to the history of old time music because they are so closely associated but actually have many differences. Old time music comes from English and Scottish roots while the banjo derives from Africa.

Another interesting thing I am reading about here is a bit of the folk revival in early 1960s. This article has a lot in it and I haven't gotten through all of it yet (so maybe it answers my question) but I want to know more about the folk revival and why it happened. Why was old time music "primitive" and then all the sudden popular? A topic for tomorrow's mentor meeting I have no doubt.

http://www.fieldrecorder.com/docs/notes/ithaca_fenchel.htm

(Link to the article)

Mentor meeting

Mr McMahon and I had a great mentor meeting last week where we worked on a tune I'm learning and went over some goals. The past couple weeks I haven't been totally doing everything I should be and it has occurred to me that WAIT I actually have to do a presentation! Have no fear, there is still time. Here's my list of goals for the week:

-learn the first line of the new tune (much harder than it seems)
-make up some new exercises and work on hammer on technique
-speed up tune to actual tempo
-get sources for history of banjo (compile what I already have)
-make a history blurb to use in my presentation
-research Doc Boggs and Scruggs

Here's the next week!

Morning practice

I was exhausted last night so I skipped practicing and woke up early this morning to practice instead. And yes, my slumbering family was ecstatic. Lately I've been having a lot of wrist pains and I thought it was from shotput but it was strange because I've been shot putting for 6 years and never had this before. But this morning when I started playing I realized that claw hammer style uses so much wrist! Now I'm thinking maybe that in combinations with shotput is what is causing it. It's definitely not a problem that will keep me from playing but it's just an example of unforeseen obstacles. I actually saw a similar entry in the Gleaning assignment that I read about duct tape art. The girl got some sort of carpel tunnel from too much duct tape shading because it was such a repeated motion. She found a way around it, but it's just another example of how wise is a series of little obstacles (and of course some big ones) that you have to figure out. If it weren't, it probably wouldn't be worth doing.

Presentation Scheduled!

Tuesday, June 4th, 5:00pm I will present my wise project! Very exciting and a little nerve wracking. Granted I don't know yet the format of the presentation or specifically what should be included, but I worry I won't have enough material to present. With switching projects I had a bit of transition time which slowed me down and I'm just now feeling like I have a bit more of a routine. I talked to Ms G about this and she said that basically I should just dive into my project in the next few weeks. I wish I could magically play like Mr M but I also do enjoy the work that leads to little successes. I just worry that what I see as success will be insignificant for the people who are reviewing my project. The bottom line is, though, that I should make the most progress I possibly can in the time I have left!

Research

I've been doing some research involving both listening to techniques themselves and reading/listening about the history of the banjo. Mr. McMahon gave me a bunch of links, one from a documentary made about tracing the banjo's roots. They had an awesome jam session in a little village and showed the similarity in sound between the banjo and the thumb piano. I also listened to Richie Sterns a lot and am fascinated with his technique and songwriting ability.

Next I wanted to know more about the origin of the banjo so I found this clip on NPR about the investigation of a Gambian man who came to college in America.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/23/139880625/the-banjos-roots-reconsidered

He actually got his research funded and looked at similarities between different instruments from his home country and he banjo to determine where it came from.

Basically one of the main points I took out is that the banjo (or ancestors of it) came over with the slaves. It's amazing to me how many parts of American culture are influenced by African culture without us even knowing. If you asked me before this project where the banjo came from I would probably tell you Nashville, which is probably a classic American answer. I'm never saying that slavery was a good thing but I am grateful that so many aspects of African culture can be seen in our culture today, especially in music. If the banjo is from Africa that probably means that country music or folk music came from the same roots. We already know that jazz came from spirituals and flourished during the Harlem renaissance and then rap/hip hop came from jazz. Lesson of the day: it all starts in Africa.

Happiness flow channel

I feel the most happy doing something I love. It might seem obvious but it's surprising how often I look for happiness in other areas. The only thing I could think about when reading this article was throwing. I've been working through some mental blocks with throwing lately and found it so applicable to this article! It is all about the balance between boredom and anxiety. If I have a bad throw, my first instinct is to get super down on myself and my reflex after that is to try to convince myself I don't care. Neither of these is good because I am either a. Super anxious or b. indifferent and lacking passion. Flipping between these emotions drove me to really question the sport I love and if I am constantly battling my mind, do I even love it at all? I can't say I have it all figured out but I am learning how to keep myself passionate and always striving to do better while still giving myself a break if I have an off day. It is so much easier said than done but I really think that is the balance between boredom and anxiety and the "flow channel".

"People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as many of us can come to being happy."

It seems like that would be so easy: just control your mind and you'll be happy! It's so much harder than one would think. As far as my project goes, I am excited by it but also really nervous that I am not going to have enough to show for my 16 weeks. The only thing to do about that at this point is keep working and pour myself into the project so I can continue to love it and rid myself of the anxiety that comes with it.

A schedule for the week

With the Ithaca Relays and an AP Stats final, last week was not my finest when it comes to WISE productivity. Although it may seem a little silly, here is a list of posts I still need to do:

Last week's WISE class
Last week's mentor meeting
Response to Ms G's comment
Research from the sources Mr. M gave me
This week's wise class on the happiness article

Wise is ending so soon and I don't want these last few weeks to be a scramble. I want to learn a lot and keep up with everything so I can have an awesome presentation. That being said, here is my schedule for the week:

Monday-read happiness article and respond, also doing research on from the list
Tuesday- play for an hour, watch youtube videos and respond to Ms G's comment
Wednesday- play for an hour, watch documentary (or part) that Jesse showed me
Thursday- play for an hour and do a reflection post of the week of practice
Friday - do research during 2nd period and catch up on any more journal entries not completed

Babam. There's a mighty fine plan for the week!

Belated lesson post

Mr McMahon brought two banjos in last week and got a space in k where we could practice and he gave me a little lesson! It's so convenient that my mentor knows all about the banjo. One thing I learned very quickly is that the basic motion of clawhammer banjo playing is very different from what I learned in violin or guitar. It takes a lot of practice of just a simple motion before I can really progress. That's something that I think is really okay and part of the learning experience but just different than my expectations because I was able to learn basic guitar and piano quicker. That being said, the banjo has such a fun sound! Mr McMahon showed me some of the tunes he knows and it sounds so awesome. He also explained to me a little about how he leaned and how he can be a proficient banjo player without any musical background. It's awesome and crazy to think about how the brain works in relation to music.

Tuning night

Tonight I've been working on re leaning all my tuning knowledge. When I received the banjo it was in pretty good tune but I need to practice to ensure when the weather warms up I'll be able to keep it that way. Fortunately, I played the violin for 7 years and did quite a bit of string tuning in my day! Another skill to add to the list that goes along with playing he banjo.

Response to WISE class

Today we went over some general stuff as always and went around and shared all of our projects (and favorite colors). We are now going to look for a piece of research for a person and someone will find some for us (reminder: actually do that).

Next we listened to aThis I Believe essay from NPR about taking risks and leaving ones comfort zone. The author starts out talking about surfing and then moves on to discuss meeting with different people in his life and how it has been an aspiration of his to do this because he wants people to challenge him. My first reaction was wow, this sounds just like my college essay! It is strangely true that my essay was all about having people challenge you and how that's a great thing. One thing I was thinking about over the course of the day though was Ms Gergley's comment about there being a fine line between being stupidly dangerous and taking a healthy risk. I think this is totally true but sometimes fear and insecurity can make that line pretty fuzzy. I really believe that the whole idea of the essay to take risks is so important in life, but the problem that Ms G addressed happens when taking risks becomes the ultimate thing. If all someone does is live to go out of their comfort zone what's the point of being comfortable anywhere? Do you even have a comfort zone in that case? Overall though I think the more common problem is the opposite: being too stuck in a comfort zone. What an awesome idea it is to have a list of people you want to meet for the sole purpose of razzing you up and throwing you a curve ball, making you question everything you know. That, I believe, is brave and an awesome risk to take.

Some casual youtubing

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HdWOYFnRiz0

Here is a video I found on clawhammer style banjo playing. It goes at a slow pace and the guy seems to know what he is talking about. I am finding that with this project youtube is really my best friend. One of the greatest way to have lessons without spending money is to just watch them on youtube.

My Newly Borrowed Banjo!

I have now officially borrowed a banjo from Eric Pritz and am ready to play! He also lent me a great book which has a lot of basic information about the structure and history of the banjo as well as techniques, but mainly is instructional with basic chords and progressions. Naturally, being very excited to jump right in, I skipped all the background information and went straight for the chords. I am happy to say I have learned 3 this weekend! I was so excited that when I picked it up from Molly on Friday I bright it into my track team room and started strumming away for my team, who were very confused but a great audience.

My next step is to actually read (I know, shocker) the first part of the banjo book and do some other research. My Mentor told me there are two main kinds of playing and alas I know nothing about either so time to hit the research component! Overall I am really excited to have started playing and I can't wait to make more progress.

Mentor meeting

My mentor and I discussed how to get jump started in my project. Fortunately he knows a lot about learning instruments! We discussed where to get an instrument and about renting. Also, Mr Pritz offered for me to borrow his banjo so I think because of convenience and my ambivalence I will learn the banjo! Progress

Monday Class reflection

We first read "Two Tramps in Mud Time" by Robert Frost. What an understandable and accurate description of the changing seasons and a unique interaction! It's rare that I understand poetry so I really enjoyed reading this. Next we went through a list of things to remember to do/ have done:

-24 entries and 8 mentor meetings
-mind the gaps (Don't take large chunks of time off, not that I would ever do that)
-be logging research regularly and clearly
-what am I learning? Where am I and why is that ok/not ok?
-do the assignments (like out of the rut)
-mp3 ends Thursday
-sample presentation 5/21

So basically I know what I need to do. Time to buckle down and get caught up. As far as where I am and if that's okay, I think that it's okay as long as I start moving in my new project pronto.

Spring Break Brain Dump

Over this past week I have thought a lot about WISE and switching my project. Ms Gergley said I should do a half hour write, which I like to think of as a brain dump. I was at the beach with my parents this past week, so I went back and forth between super analyzing everything I should be doing for my project and completely avoiding thinking about it so I could enjoy the sun and clear my mind. Even though I've gotten a little behind I think it was a really good think to take a step back and then reevaluate what I want to do. I still think that switching projects is a really good idea because I should be really psyched about my project and carpentry is just not doing it for me. So if I start there with a clean slate and imagine I never thought about doing a music project, in what direction would I go? Some ideas of general things I want to do in life to get me started: gardening, training on my bike (perhaps to do the AIDS ride), become a lifeguard, become an EMT basic, do more childcare with babies and toddlers, learn how to waitress, learn how to sail, play more music (improve piano and guitar skills), start a business, start a charity, do international missions trips or any type of service trip, do more kayaking, make a cookbook, train another guiding eyes dog (just to name a few). You can tell I clearly lack ambition in life, right? So some of these things are really too big to do as a WISE project. Becoming an EMT takes lots of time and money. Doing service trips also take time and money. I suppose time and money make the world go 'round, but only if you let them. Well here I am, about three quarters of the way through WISE and I have some really valuable time left and although sometimes it feels like I have to limit myself a lot, I know that I really do have a huge opportunity in front of me. So after all this brainstorming and thinking I have concluded this: I must do all these things in my life because making this brainstorm list got me so excited ( I better live to be 300 or else get ready to multitask), and I still want to pursue a project in music for the rest of my time.  My mother is a music teacher and my father a performer for as long as I can remember. Music has always been a part of my life and I think that's why I initially strayed from the idea as a project. I have already taken countless voice lessons, learned guitar and piano, and performed on stage more times than I can remember, so I felt like maybe I should really get out of my comfort zone more. What I realized though is that I can do something I love and push it to a new level in order to get out of my comfort zone. For instance, even though I've performed so much, sometimes when I have a solo in the choir concert or something (especially if I feel I don't know it as well as I should) my lips start to shake and I get crazy stage freight even though I've done it a million times!  Maybe a goal of my project could be to take a next step towards being super confident while performing. For instance maybe if I were to decide on playing the mandolin I could learn some cool songs and sign up for a performance slot at the Ithaca festival! I don't even know if that's possible, but just an example of a step that would take this project far from ordinary for me. The thought of that terrifies me a little, so I think that's a good sign. Now the question is: what should I play? I either want to learn mandolin or banjo, so here is a list of things I need to find out in order to proceed.
-pros and cons to both
-does Hickey's rent either and how much?
-Who could I contact in the community that could give me a basic lesson?

I also want to see if I can get a hold of Sam Kelling. He was in WISE two years ago I believe and I am pretty sure he played banjo for his project. He was a friend of my brother's so I'm hoping I can find a way to reach him and perhaps he can give me some ideas from his project.
In summary, the great thing about a brain dump is that it's a string of disjointed thoughts so I don't even need to summarize it because it wouldn't be logical! Lovely.

Tuesday mentor meeting

Tuesday I met with my mentor and discussed my potential project switch. Guess what? He has played the banjo for years! Who would have thought. He said I should do some research and potentially he could lend me a banjo if I decide to go that direction. I also love the sound of the mandolin and it turns out there is a shop in Rochester having some sort of a special month for mandolins during march ( sweet alliteration, right?) We also talked about recording/ doing some very basic mixing using garage band which would be awesome because then I could also play piano and sing on a track. I already have some base knowledge about garage band so that would be great!

What would my project switch be?

Thinking back to the first days of project brainstorming, I remember Ms. Gergely saying that your wise project should be that thing that you can't stop googling when you should be doing your homework. So I thought to myself... What is that for me? Well exotic vacations and traveling the world are out of the question, so the next thing that consumes my time is music. I taught myself piano and guitar and i love to sing even when my family doesn't want to hear me. I was initially deterred from doing something music related for my project jut because I am already active in music but then I thought why not! If its something I love, why shouldn't I do it? So then the first thing that came to mind was learning the banjo or mandolin. And the scheming begins...