Blog #5, 5/5

Hello World,

Welcome to my final blog post!  I am probably never ever going to post in here ever again, which is kind of sad.  Oh well.  I can't say I'm not glad it's finally over though.  Thank goodness it's over, I don't have to worry about it anymore.  Anyways, attached below are my script outline, my script, and my finally completed composition.  (Yes it's not 100% perfect but it's a lot better).

Before getting my grade back

Ok so here I want to reflect on my final project.  Overall I did much better than I thought I would (that seems to be a recurring theme with me, doing better than I think I will).  I asked for criticisms from people after the project and the common answer was just that I talked way too fast.  Which is probably true, I do talk very fast.  It may even have been a bit faster than when I was practicing because like nerves and stuff.  But they said that other than that it was fine overall.  I still don't know how to connect the sound; thank goodness I still made it work.  Maybe I'm just an idiot but whatever.  It definitely turned out a lot better than I was expecting, I memorized my script well, and everything really fell into place at the last second.  Well maybe not the last second considering I had my entire script memorized by Sunday and was quoting it at my 7-year-old sister's birthday party at Legoland.  

Self-Evaluation: Yeah so it seems like I'm supposed to do a self-evaluation or something now?  I'm not sure but that's what I will do.  If I were to guess, there are three sections to the grading: there's Content, Speaking, and Visuals.  I'd assume that Content would be the most out of the 30 points, then Speaking, then Visuals, so my pseudo-rubric will have 15 Content points, 10 Speaking points and 5 Visuals points.  Content: I think I checked all the Content boxes; I showed my progress, my motivation, my upsides and downsides, and I concluded with a lesson.  However, my lesson was kind of weak and just made-up on the spot.  Like, even if I presented even more evidence for you to start composing yourself it just wouldn't work very well.  Overall I think my content was good; despite having a shaky application, it is much better than my application for the brain project.  I would say 13/15 for Content. Speaking: So this was probably my biggest issue.  Some parts of my speaking were good; I think I talked loudly enough (at least at the beginning), and I think my diction was fine, someone laughed once so I think my talking was interesting.  But I talked way too fast, and probably made things slurred or muddled, which would definitely land a big blow on my score.  If I didn't have my talking-too-fast issue I would give myself an 8/10, but my final score is probably a 6/10. Visuals: I don't think there was anything wrong with my slides, but there was probably something that I did bad on so I'll give myself a 4/5 for that.  That ends me up with a total of 23/30 which is a 77% and is really bad.  I do grade myself kind of harshly though, so hopefully my real grade ends up being much higher than that.

TED Commandments: Ok, after looking at some of the blogs that other people did in the psat from the Genius Project document, it turns out some people did a reflection on how well they did on the TED commandments.  Ones I did well: The one I probably did the best on was probably "Don't read your talk." as I had the entire script memorized and had no need to read from my notes at all.  I don't think I really flaunted my ego or anything like that, nor did I make any ideas super complicated. Ones I have to improve on: My worst were probably "Dream big.", "Show us the real you.", and "Connect with people's emotions."  I didn't really reveal any super astounding ideas or anything and I didn't really do anything that would make people believe me that they should start composing.  I also didn't really say anything about myself or my inner insecurities; I just laid out what I did and the facts.  And I didn't really make anyone have any emotions.  Evan Bananis laughed once but I think he might have just been doing that to make me feel better.

After getting my grade back

Ok, my final grade was an 83.333333, that is, a 25 out of 30.  It's definitely better than the 77 I predicted  but I definitely wish I did a lot better.  So it seems like the things I did the worse were my talking speed and how my ideas flowed.  They also said that I kind of crammed everything in, too much in too little time.  My application was also kind of bad.  They also said my final clincher quote was off-topic, and I also forgot to unmute myself, which led to some difficulties.  I think those are all valid criticisms and I can definitely do a lot better next time.  Hopefully.  There seems to be a recurring theme here about my applications; I definitely need to work on them a lot more next year.

Ok I guess that's it, this project is OVER and I will never get the opportunity to do it ever again.  Bye.  (random stuff below)

Commented on: Christopher Rowan, Mia Kamppari, Raymond (rayford) Pelletier

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Original Script Outline:

Script Outline

1. Introduction

1. Hook - interesting fact

1. Seikilos Epitaph: Oldest surviving musical composition, from around 100 AD, Greek song with lyrics found on a tombstone by a man named Seikilos

2. Background information

1. Brief overview of motivations for wanting to be able to compose

3. Thesis

1. Composing has a variety of benefits, not just music related

2. Project description

1. Motivations (touched on in background information, explain further)

1. Enjoyment: I like composing music and want to get better in order to enjoy it more

2. Improvement: Similar to #1, I want to improve in order to enjoy it more and also be 

3. Daniel: I used to compose a little with my friend Daniel; similar to #2, I want to get better at composing in order to make better things with Daniel, 

2. Research

1. Some research was helpful but the grand majority of things were basically useless, I learned that I could not be lazy with composing music

3. Progress

1. Video

2. Reflection on video (both positives and negatives)

1. This was my first time actually composing an entire piece by myself and is a good starting point for hopefully later compositions

2. What I did was not very impressive considering my 10-year piano background and long period of time to compose

4. Reflection

1. If I had a chance for a re-do I would waste less time and also do less research and more playing piano, overall I am proud of my final project and all of the things I have learned

3. Case/Defense

1. My own experience (above)

1. Learned music skills (composing music)

2. Being less lazy

3. Persistence/perseverance (keep going through “writer’s” block)

4. Patience (with Daniel for being bad and annoying)

2. Research

1. Music improves your mood, memory, intelligence, and even prevent dementia

2. Creation (composing = creating music) can also help the brain as completing a creation releases dopamine

3. General experiences

1. Composing will require you, whoever you are, to have more of an open mind, be more creative and have more persistence

4. Conclusion

1. 
   

1. I have now described my attempt at getting better at composing, how I succeeded and how I failed too, what I learned, and why you should compose too

2. Jason learned guitar so you can also get into music

3. Quote by Victor Hugo: “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”

Script:

Has anyone here heard of the Seikilos Epitaph?  Anybody?  Well of course not.  It’s the oldest surviving complete music composition found engraved in a tombstone in a Hellenistic Greek town.  While engraving ancient Greek songs into tombstones isn’t really my thing, I have always been interested in going deeper into music composition, having dabbled in it a bit here and there.  So when I heard that we had this opportunity to work on whatever we wanted for two months, I immediately jumped to music composition.  And it turns out the composition comes with a ton of benefits, which I learned, and that you can learn too when you start your composing journey.  So why music composition?  First of all, I simply enjoyed it.  Another reason I wanted to get better was because of my friend, Daniel.  We used to always compose random stuff together, since I moved it has become harder; I guess I just have to make up for it with better composing.  It has also in a way brought out friendship closer together.  In order to do that I first did some research.  My research was really just random youtube videos and websites that I thought would be helpful to my overall cause.  Don’t get me wrong, some of it definitely was, but the grand majority of it was useless.  This was in part because of my lazy motives, trying to find some sort of a shortcut.  If there is anything I learned from my research, it’s that you can’t be lazy, even in music composition, and have to put in the full effort.  Here are some of the fruits of that research: [clip] So yeah that’s cool.  Technically it’s the first composition I have finished by myself, and I think it’s a good starting point.  I can say I’m satisfied with it, but it’s important to know that the project as a whole is far more than the final product but also the entire experience and everything learned along the way, over which I definitely learned enough, not just about music.  I told you about how I learned about laziness; however, persistence and perseverance were also a recurring theme.  The only reason I didn’t quit halfway through this composition like all my other ones was because it was a school project.  One does not simply quit halfway through a school project.  Because of that, I was forced to develop the perseverance and persistence needed to complete a composition.  I also learned to be fine with what I have; my original goal was to make two compositions, not one, so I technically didn’t meet it.  And guess what, I’m not dead.  I have also learned many things through working with Daniel, such as teamwork and cooperation, and you’d understand if you knew Daniel, but working with him requires a lot of patience.  Now these experiences are mine only; they cannot be applied to all of you.  Never fear; there are some universal benefits of composing.  Listening to and playing music at all can improve your mood, memory, intelligence and can even stop the spread of dementia.  Completing a composition can also increase brain function.  And composition will always require you, whoever you are, to have more of an open mind, be more persistent and to be more creative, all of which are good skills to have in life.  Ok, so this is why you should start composing too!  Don’t give me the “I don’t play an instrument” excuse, just look at Jason.  Before these two months he knew very little about music, and now, two months later, he knows all the ins and outs of the guitar.  If he can do it, I’m sure the rest of you can too.  Then you can start composing.  As Victor Hugo said, "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent."

Here is my completed composition: https://bit.ly/icancounttothree