Time Flies (WR 10)

I accomplished two things this week. Each one of them ended a chapter of my life just as a period ends a well written sentence. But the thing about periods that makes them interesting, is what lies after. The first major thing that ended, was Marching Band. Although I love it, Marching Band takes over a season in my life. During this season, I have little to no free time to work on projects outside of school. Now that this season is over, I can not wait to get back to writing/producing music; both at home and with my future mentor.

The other big thing I accomplished this previous week was giving my research presentation. For this assignment, I had to give a 10-12 minute presentation about all of the research I have been doing. At first, I felt overwhelmed at the idea. I didn't see how I was going to talk for 10 minutes, but once I began to make my slide show I saw that I could talk about my topic for hours if I had to. During the actual presentation, I even went over the time limit by a few seconds. The most important I learned through this whole process is that having a strong introduction and conclusion is the most important part of a speech. It is the first/last thing the audience will hear and probably the only thing they will remember. 

Research Speech (WR 9)

This week in ISM my main focus has been preparing for my research speech this Wednesday. For this assignment, we have to give a ten to fifteen speech to the class over all that we have researched so far. At first, I was pretty nervous and I did not think I could talk for fifteen minutes straight but the more I work on it the easier it seems. I'm actually having to cut out parts because it is too long! The first step I took was making a google slide (powerpoint) presentation. This is where I made somewhat of an outline for my speech. After making the presentation, I now know all of the content I want to include in my speech and the general flow of the whole presentation. The only thing I have left to do is write a strong introduction/conclusion to my speech and rehearse it a few times.

This upcoming week other than present my speech, I plan to schedule my 5th and final research interview and begin to choose a mentor. I am really excited to choose a mentor because I believe that this is when experiences of ISM really start to begin.

Another day, Another Interview (WR 7)

This past week, I successfully completed my fourth research interview. On Thursday, I interviewed Bruce Faulconer of cakemix recording studios. Mr. Faulconer is a very successful composer who worked on projects such as 243 episodes of Dragon Ball Z with cartoon network and even some full feature films such as Bystander Theory. In this interview, I learned a lot of the composition side of music. He also gave me insight to what it takes to be a professional music composer and some things I can be working on right now to prepare me for this possible career. Another thing we talked about was the fact that it is hard to be a music composer in Dallas. He said that if he could do it all over again, he would have moved to LA or New York because it is much easier to get started in these places as a music composer.

Also, this week I have been doing a lot of assessments and research to prepare for our research speeches next week. These speeches have to be 10-12 minutes long and cover most if not all of the research that we have been doing, both online and through in person research interviews. This coming week, I have another research interview scheduled and plan to do some more research to help me get ready for the big research speech next week.

First Interview (WR 5)

Last friday (8/3) I had my first research interview. I met with Christian Chavarri who owns C-Factory, a music production company, and Creativation, a music school. With this being my first interview, I was slightly nervous but it turned out great and I learned a lot about my field of study. Now that I've had a successful interview, I am much less anxious about upcoming interviews and even more excited. I think one of the most valuable things I learned about the interview process is that Interviewing a real world professional is one of the best ways to research your field of study. Even though reading articles and watching videos are helpful, nothing beats getting to ask a professional any question you can think of.

While interviewing Christian, I learned many things about my field. One of the most important things I got out of the Interview is to build up a strong portfolio. He told me that having a strong portfolio of your work is one of the most important things your can have. I learned that as an unexperienced producer, I should even work for free just so that I can gain experience and build up my portfolio.