To keep myself busy during the spring and summer, I now have a few projects which I will be devoting my time to.
1. My YouTube page has been horribly neglected over the last year and a half. I haven't had many new videos to post. Today, I created a video for my new recording of the performance of silence. To better utilize YouTube as a potential place for more people (and potential commissioners) to access audio of my work, I am going to start working with musicians around the country to record small works of mine to be placed on YouTube. These recordings will be given 'mini-recitals' of 3 works at a time. To help facilitate this, I am going to look for funding to help with the overall logistics and planning of the videos themselves. I think there is something positive that could come out of YouTube for me.
2. I will be contacting musicians in Indianapolis and look at hopefully starting my own small ensemble which I can use to also record my works and those of my peers at the Chicago College of Performing Arts.
For my readers, I am placing a link to the YouTube video for Silence.
Silence - YouTube Video! Click Me!!!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Time Constraints, Funding Issues, and Composition!
The past few months have been exceptionally busy for me. So this will be a much longer post than normal to make up for the absence!
My time of late has become extremely limited. I have been working in the call center at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, going to school full time, and trying to arrange time to complete homework and compositions! I like keeping busy but time is just so precious AND I have to have time to relax to regroup my bearings a bit. I love it though!
I still haven't got the funding issue taken care of. My family urged me to live on campus instead of off campus - and that has really cost me. So, since I'm unable to pay the 1200/month payment on my remaining balance to the school - I won't be able to register for spring classes. I've been searching for various grants and scholarships to assist in helping me pay off the housing. Sadly, with this economy most of these options are swamped with applications! I'm debating, and perhaps my readers can offer insight, about perhaps trying to raise money through my friends via FB and my other social network sites. I've heard of people doing this before - any thoughts?
Finally, I have been very active in my composition pursuits. I have composed a new work for string quartet, a piece for solo flute, a miniature for brass quintet, AND am now working on a song for mezzo-soprano with oboe and horn accompaniment! I've learned a lot so far in my studies up here. Hopefully, I can get things situated financially to remain in class without any interruptions!
Hope all my readers have been having an amazing couple of months. I promise to start blogging more! I miss sharing and venting my thoughts and frustrations.
My time of late has become extremely limited. I have been working in the call center at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, going to school full time, and trying to arrange time to complete homework and compositions! I like keeping busy but time is just so precious AND I have to have time to relax to regroup my bearings a bit. I love it though!
I still haven't got the funding issue taken care of. My family urged me to live on campus instead of off campus - and that has really cost me. So, since I'm unable to pay the 1200/month payment on my remaining balance to the school - I won't be able to register for spring classes. I've been searching for various grants and scholarships to assist in helping me pay off the housing. Sadly, with this economy most of these options are swamped with applications! I'm debating, and perhaps my readers can offer insight, about perhaps trying to raise money through my friends via FB and my other social network sites. I've heard of people doing this before - any thoughts?
Finally, I have been very active in my composition pursuits. I have composed a new work for string quartet, a piece for solo flute, a miniature for brass quintet, AND am now working on a song for mezzo-soprano with oboe and horn accompaniment! I've learned a lot so far in my studies up here. Hopefully, I can get things situated financially to remain in class without any interruptions!
Hope all my readers have been having an amazing couple of months. I promise to start blogging more! I miss sharing and venting my thoughts and frustrations.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Threatened Dreams....
Today has been one of those days!
To start, my laptop was the poor recipient of a spilled cup of water! I usually have a glass of water or cup of coffee to the right of my laptop on the desk. As I was trying to swat a fly, my hand grazed the cup of water and knocked it right on top of the laptop! The laptop works but the monitor does not.
Second, I learned today that my appeal for an increase in Pell Grant was denied. The result is that I now have about a week and a half to come up with $7,944 in remaining tuition/room and board costs for my college. This has greatly depressed me today. I've worked very hard the past year in trying to achieve my goals and now am faced with the prospects of my pursuance of my career goals being in jeopardy due to financial reasons. I have applied for private loans over the past month - only to be told that each of the 7 different cosigners I have used were ineligible! I have also applied for several scholarships - sadly, I wont know of any of them until after school starts. I have also gotten a job interview at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their tele-sales department! I don't think I'll make a whole lot of money though due to my obligations at Roosevelt. The good news is... that my tuition itself is pretty much paid for! The 7944 due is from the combined cost of housing and the mandatory health insurance.
Third, I realized today that I am going to be stressed over leaving my partner of 2 years for, at least, the next year. He is going to be attending the esthetics program at the Midwest College of Cosmetology at Lincoln College in Bloomington-Normal. His costs are fine for the first semester and short for the second semester. I have come to greatly appreciate his company over the past 2 years. He has pushed me to pursue my own goals and aspirations in ways that no one before him has been able to do. His support to me is something I greatly appreciate and is something that I feel has pushed me to seek the best for myself in pursuance of my dreams.
I have faced a lot of disappointment in my life. My mother disappeared years ago and, as the years go by, is constantly on my mind. My father passed away, as many of my readers may know, back in April of 2010 in a shed fire. The closest relative on my mother's side, my Uncle, has been battling cancer for the past few years. It's not been an easy life that I lead and music has always given me the strength to overlook the many obstacles I have faced with some amount of strength. I hope, and pray, that I can overcome this latest obstacle and rise above to achieve that which I know I am capable of achieving. This career path I am now pursuing, I feel, is the path of my destiny. The path I was meant to do. I don't know what the future holds for me - I do know though, that with my patience, resilience, and intellect that I can go to my first placement test a week from Monday and know that I will be able to finish out my year without any interruption! I've worked very hard, and I know that I will have to work even harder to finish this chapter in my life.
To start, my laptop was the poor recipient of a spilled cup of water! I usually have a glass of water or cup of coffee to the right of my laptop on the desk. As I was trying to swat a fly, my hand grazed the cup of water and knocked it right on top of the laptop! The laptop works but the monitor does not.
Second, I learned today that my appeal for an increase in Pell Grant was denied. The result is that I now have about a week and a half to come up with $7,944 in remaining tuition/room and board costs for my college. This has greatly depressed me today. I've worked very hard the past year in trying to achieve my goals and now am faced with the prospects of my pursuance of my career goals being in jeopardy due to financial reasons. I have applied for private loans over the past month - only to be told that each of the 7 different cosigners I have used were ineligible! I have also applied for several scholarships - sadly, I wont know of any of them until after school starts. I have also gotten a job interview at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their tele-sales department! I don't think I'll make a whole lot of money though due to my obligations at Roosevelt. The good news is... that my tuition itself is pretty much paid for! The 7944 due is from the combined cost of housing and the mandatory health insurance.
Third, I realized today that I am going to be stressed over leaving my partner of 2 years for, at least, the next year. He is going to be attending the esthetics program at the Midwest College of Cosmetology at Lincoln College in Bloomington-Normal. His costs are fine for the first semester and short for the second semester. I have come to greatly appreciate his company over the past 2 years. He has pushed me to pursue my own goals and aspirations in ways that no one before him has been able to do. His support to me is something I greatly appreciate and is something that I feel has pushed me to seek the best for myself in pursuance of my dreams.
I have faced a lot of disappointment in my life. My mother disappeared years ago and, as the years go by, is constantly on my mind. My father passed away, as many of my readers may know, back in April of 2010 in a shed fire. The closest relative on my mother's side, my Uncle, has been battling cancer for the past few years. It's not been an easy life that I lead and music has always given me the strength to overlook the many obstacles I have faced with some amount of strength. I hope, and pray, that I can overcome this latest obstacle and rise above to achieve that which I know I am capable of achieving. This career path I am now pursuing, I feel, is the path of my destiny. The path I was meant to do. I don't know what the future holds for me - I do know though, that with my patience, resilience, and intellect that I can go to my first placement test a week from Monday and know that I will be able to finish out my year without any interruption! I've worked very hard, and I know that I will have to work even harder to finish this chapter in my life.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Extremely busy... again!
School started a week ago and I have been EXTREMELY busy this semester. I haven't posted a post here in almost a month - largely due to going to Indianapolis to see family during the Christmas holiday and school starting up last week. Haven't really had much time to do composition sadly. I partook in a wonderful discussion on Young Composers Music Forum regarding the organization of the various 'periods' of music in a timeline. Fascinating hearing how younger composers and musicians feel on this topic. I never really had a problem with the common timeline (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, etc.) I always felt that grouping composers in any manner is difficult due to overlaps existent in each epoch. Certainly, there are some rather Classical moments in Handel and some rather Baroque moments in Beethoven. Bach, and his sons, at times had rather Romantic moments as well! Beethoven's Grosses Fugue, to use a unique example, is strikingly modern in content and scope - truly a work centuries before it's time! Ah, thank God I'm not a musical historian. :P
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Lots of Homework and revisions need to be made
I showed my Piano Quartet to my wonderful teacher - as I expected she gave a much more thorough review than anyone else was able to give. So, this weekend - I have a lot of work to do! I have first to do my homework (including possibly going to see a concert for my last essay in class.) Then once all that is done, I get to go through and revision the first and second movements of my quartet. I think I'm going to view a few works in the genre on IMSLP to get a sense of typical writing for the ensemble - just to better educate myself a bit. Also, I am proud to announce that -barring it costing out of my budget- I am going to take my viola to get it fixed! I can't wait, I need to start practicing a lot! That would definitely give me something to do while I'm waiting for Mark to get out of his photography class on Thursdays. Other than that, it's been a wonderful day!
Monday, November 8, 2010
LOL
Despite taking a break to work on my paper, all I can think about is my piano quartet. I think I have a good idea how I want to do the last movement. I want to quote material from the other movements, to help overall cohesion, but I want to also showcase the conversational elements of the ensemble itself. I know this idea has been done before and is sort of cliche these days BUT I love the idea of it. I'm still debating the overall form - I have the ideas for the movement clearly in my head though... churning around, of course. I can't wait till I get this paper out of the way!!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Brief Break from Composition
Usually, I like to compose during the weekend. This weekend, however, I am working on a persuasive research paper for my English Composition 121 course. My topic: UFOs. I originally was going to develop an argument that faith based initiatives should not be funded by the federal government. In the course of my research on that topic, I discovered that the organizations who receive funding are not publicly disclosed. So, I approached my teacher and expressed my issues in carrying out the research. She asked what other topics I think I should do and I jokingly said UFOs. Of course, being the wonderful teacher she is, she said do it. And here I am!!
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