May Extra Blog

Yeah so I'm done or whatever

Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I am very glad that my lecture content time was well over the thirty minute mark. I was very worried I wouldn't make time. I am also proud that my viewers asked lots of questions even after I met the time limit. The fact that they asked lots of questions after I met the time requirement made me feel like they were genuinely interested in my topic. I am also very happy that the audience was really engaged during the activity. 


(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

AE-

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

P+

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

I felt my activity worked very well because it dressed my best answer and the students were very interested and eager to complete the activity.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

If I had a time machine, I would go back and make sure all the technology was working properly. I had a minor technical difficulty, but I was still able to perform my activity and achieve my intended results. I also did not talk about my mentorship as much as I would have liked to. I feel I sort of rushed over that. I also felt that I spoke very quickly and should've slowed down a bit, but I am over all very happy with my presentation.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

This project has made me aware of all the crucial steps required in making music available for leisure. It also has made me more interested in music and becoming a entrepreneur in music. However, I feel the best part of this project is working with a mentor. My mentor has taught me a lot of useful information as well as organized performances for myself and motivated me to make my musical ideas become reality. This project overall has made me want to pursue a career in music.

Blog 22: Mentorship

    Literal

1) See mentorship hours

2) Runson Willis, Self-Employer

    Interpretive

The most important thing i gained from this experience was all the information I learned about music. I was able to thouroughly understand the ins and outs on the music industry, such as booking invents, working indepemdently, and writing for a specific purposes. This information can easily be applied while making music as an entrpreneur.

   Applied

What I learned while working with my mentor helps answer my EQ, which is, "What is the best way a musician can manage their own career in music and film?" because I was able to actually work with music and learn ways to be productive in music. These ways to be productive included learning about different fields of music to practice and be involved with, as well as creating music individually. I was able to form answers from these findings because I realized that to mange something successfully, you must take initiative (gathered from making music individually) and maintain productivity (being involved with multiple aspects of the music industry.)

    .

Blog 21: Exit Interview

(1) My essential question is "What is the best way a musician can manage their own career in music and film?" My first answer is "By being involved in multiple aspects of the music industry," my second answer is "By creating a reel of work to use a resume and promotional tool," and my third is "By taking initiative of their own career." My best answer is my third answer because it is a smart career move in any field. Succeeding individually is more effective and fulfilling than relying on people to succeed. It also eliminates the distraction of unprofessional colleagues, and allows one to work productively while maintaining  a sense of independence.

(2) I came to these answers by reading a variety of articles and having long discussions with my mentor. The music industry is very broad and competitive, and it is very likely that a musician will never find success in the business. I learned that many successful music entrepreneurs are involved in many different areas of music, and they increase their chances of getting acknowledged by being experienced in many different aspects of music, which is how I developed my first answer. I am specifically interested in composing scores for films and I researched that extensively. Most jobs a scorer would get hired for have to be applied for by submitting a reel of their work. This allows employers to see what they are capable of and if they are fit for the position. The better the reel is, the more jobs they will get, which is why I felt my second answer is valid. Scoring is something most musicians do individually. This fact made me wonder if musicians work better alone as opposed to in a group, so I questioned my mentor on the pros and cons of not working with others. He convinced me that writing and performing everything yourself is a much better way to go about a career in music because people will often get in the way of a musician's career. However, doing everything independently means a successful career will be more difficult to obtain because of the more work a musician would have to do, especially if they are involved with multiple aspects of the music industry. I realize that if a musician is independent, they will never get anything done if they do not take initiative of their careers, which is why I chose my final answer to answer my essential question.

(3) In the very beginning of the year, I was stuck without a decent mentor. My mentor during summer was irrelevant to my topic because he was completely unrelated to music. I kept on thinking of people who could help me out, but none were useful mentors. I then went to my old guitar teacher. He was not a very exciting mentor, but he got the job done. This went okay at first, but after a while he informed that he was not able to mentor me because he did not have anything for me to do. Again, I was left without a mentor, until one literally magically showed up. I was with my dad at a coffee shop and he made a new friend who happened to work with music. He kindly said yes to me when I asked him to be my mentor, and all was good. So, the problem of finding a decent mentor was solved by luck.

(4) One book that helped me a lot throughout this project was "How Music Works" by David Byrne. This book is like the length of the bible. It is a very useful source because it talks about the relevance of each aspect of music (writing, recording, collaborating, funding, producing, distributing, managing etc.) The book is very credible because Byrne, who is the founder of the band 'Talking Heads,' provides a thorough understanding on the music industry from his experiences. Another source that I found very helpful was an article written by Christiana Usenza called, "The 7 Biggest Challenges DIY Musicians Face - And How To Conquer Them." I found it helpful because it introduces musicians to solutios of problems that can negatively affect a musician's career. It brings up wise points that I can add to my lecture content as well, such as surrounding yourself in a place where you can excel and having a professional, economically attitude. 

April Extra Blog

So, senior presentations are fast approaching. At the moment, I'm not too worried about mine. I'm sure I'll do fine, I'll just have to prepare a bit. I was lucky to get the exact slot I wanted in the presentation schedule. I'm presenting on Tuesday, the 27th, 2nd block. In other news, I've made appointments with my mentor and I'll be meeting with him very soon. I'm going to finish the last few hours I need to complete. I also finished my BYU science class that I needed to take to graduate. That's a huge weight off my shoulders. It was pretty difficult, but I suppose it was pretty interesting too, learning about ecosystems and whatnot. Now that the class is finished, I can put more attention into my final presentation. My birthday is also coming up soon. I'll be 18 on the 12th. That's pretty exciting. My second independent component was lots of fun making. I'm going to continue adding  on to it even though the project's over. I made this EP that I'm really satisfied with. Hmmm, what else can I say? Tomorrow is iFest and I'll be playing bass during a set. That's pretty useful to my senior project because it's experience with the performing aspect of my answer 1 and it gives insight on playing with other musicians. Well, that's just about it for now.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Literal

A) I, Diego Moreno, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 34 hours of  work.

B) Letang, Shaun. "How To Make An EP Album - Step By Step Extended Play Perfection."
          MusicIndustryHowTo. 5 September 2012. Web. 3 April 2015.

http://www.musicindustryhowto.com/how-to-make-a-ep-album-step-by-step-to-extended-play-perfection/

C) See independent component 2 log under senior project hours link

D) I wrote, produced, recorded, engineered, performed bass, performed guitar, performed keyboard, performed drums, and sang on an EP.

Interpretive

This met the 30 hours requirement by composing every song on each instrument, researching how to do sound engineering techniques and recording each individual track. The significance of this is providing experience and insight on what the process of making an EP or album is actually like from every aspect of doing so. You can listen to the EP I made by clicking this link dieg.bandcamp.com.

Applied

This project pertained to every answer to my EQ. My first answer is "Be involved with multiple aspects of the music industry to increase your chances of success." Producing, engineering, performing, and recording are all multiple aspects of the music industry and I partook in all four aspects in making the EP. My second answer is "Make a reel of your work to use as a resume." This EP, or fragments of it, is something to include on the reel, which will make the content of the resume more broad. My third answer is "Take initiative of your own career." This answer relates to the project because I made the EP completely by myself.


This photo is of the space and equipment I used to record the EP

Blog 18: Interview 4 Preparation

1. What is it like being involved with multiple aspects of the music industry?

2. Have you ever made a reel or a resume to apply for jobs?

3. How important in your opinion is it to take initiative and not rely on others in this industry?

4. How often do you work?

5. Is your work stressful when you do many different things

6. What does it take to find success in this industry?

7. What exactly is sound engineering to you?

8. What exactly is producing to you?

9. What is like having been working in the music industry for several years?

10. Do you prefer collaborating or working independently?

11. What are the negatives of collaborating?

12. What are the negatives of working independently?

13. What is some entrepreneurial advice you can give?

14. What is some music advice you can give?

15. Which one of your projects do you like the best and why?

16. How often are you in the studio?

17. Do you prefer performing or writing?

18. What are your intentions of your career?

19. What are some things to avoid in the music business?

20. How is the music industry evolving?

March Extra Blog

My mentor and I have had conflicting schedules lately and have not been meeting very often. To prevent a problem occuring from this, I'm putting aside some time during spring break in order to catch up with him and conduct interview 4. During spring break, my mentor is working at this annual music festival and I may or may not assist him there (it has not been confirmed yet.) To be honest, I haven't really done much with my senior project this month. I've been focused more on college tasks. I confirmed my acceptance to San Francisco State and I payed a housing deposit. I'm really excited for college, but I mustn't get ahead of my self. I feel I've been slacking lately and have to get back on track. Senior project is my top priority and I should treat it accordingly. If I don't, I could possible jeopardize my admission decision. For the month of April, and the other months that follow, I'm going to make certain that I get on track and not do anything that may possible jeopordize my admission decision. Oh yeah, here's something that happened in March. I transferred here junior year and did not take a science class my freshmen year because, unlike at this school, it was not required. In order to meet the graduation requirement, I must complete an extra curricular science class to make up for it. Two Semesters. I finished the first semester and took the test. It was a very difficult, but I managed to get an 88% in the class. I now need to complete the second semester, and I must do so quickly!!!

Blog 15: Indepemdemt Component 2 Approval

1. For the second independent component, I plan on meeting the 30 hours of work by recording and scoring songs for a short film and making a soundtrack for an accompanying CD.

2. The final short film(s) will be evidence of all the work put together

3. This component is very similar to my first, but for this one I plan on doing multiple songs. The first one was just one song. This will allow me to go more in depth because I have different scenes and visuals to represent. I'll more variety to get specific.

Blog 14: INdependent Component !

• LITERAL
  (a) Write: “I, _Diego Moreno_________________________, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents _35___ hours of work.”
  (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component. Berstein, Paula. "Here's How to Make Stop-motion Videos in the Digital Age." Indiewire     15 December 2014. Web. 22 January 2015.
• (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.
• (d) Explain what you completed.    I animated, scored, directed, produced, wrote, engineered, recorded, and photographed a bunch of "things" to create this stop-motion short film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQirDRkXvek
• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  The animation that I did required almost 1,000 still frames to put together, meaning I had to arrange my models consistently for each of 1,000 pictures that I took. I also wrote, recorded, mixed, mastered, engineered, and performed the accompanying song. I wrote and played every single instrument. In addition to this, making  each letter and image out of construction paper took about almost a whole day. The worst part, however, was editing each of the 1,000 images individually. To put the final piece together took 16 hours!
  
• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. This project showed me that animating and making music independently can be much less of a hassle than collaborating with others. Since I was able to use all my own ideas and be my own authority, what i said, went. Because I want to be a composer and an animator, I feel this component also gave me a chance to see what those two professions are like when combined in an actual situation.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I am most proud of my hook activity because the class seemed to really enjoy it. I showed the class animations with scores that I had I composed, and I had them compare the mood they released with and without sound.

2 a) What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       P -

  b) Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

Because I was the very last student to present and my presentation was postponed due to technical difficulties from other students, I felt very rushed. Students had been released from school while I was doing my activity, and I noticed that students were staring at the clock and out the windows, as well as leaving, during my presentation. As a result, I became distracted and started to conclude abruptly, making me seconds short of meeting the time requirement. I understand that the presentation was ultimately in my control, but if I had presented at an earlier time, I feel my presentation would have gone as anticipated and I would not have lost my audience. Seeing how I met all the other "P" requirements, I feel a "P-" is a fair grade.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

I noticed my second activity, which was having the audience draw what they feel when they listen to their favorite song, went well because several students wanted to share out loud.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

Like previously mentioned, my presentation time was too late. I didnt realize that the presentation time would factor in the overall presentation. If I had a time machine, I would request to present at an earlier time.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

Just brainstorming, I think "Constantly recording and releasing original music" would be a solid second answer because factors such as money and economics play a large role in it. Many other students with completely unrelated topics could relate to this answer because money and economics tie into several of their topics.

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?
I'm not doing mentorship at a place per se. When I do mentorship, my mentor and I meet somewhere and he gives me assignments and lectures me. We also meet at music venues and I help set up his equipment before he performs.

2. Who is your contact?
Runson Willis
13232704390

3. How many hours have you done during the school year?
Twenty.

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
Before my mentor performs, I will make sure that his guitar is in tune, his effects pedals are set up correctly, his amplifier is not faulty, and that there's nothing odd about the set up. When he gives me assignments, we go to record stores and he tells me to listen to certain albums to study the texture , lyrics and composition of the song and how they compare or contrast with another album. For instance, he tells me to study the "call and respond" technique, that is used heavily with blues artists, and tells me to write a paragraph on what I think of it.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over break with your senior project?

Over the break I worked on my component one project, which is to create this reel of my work. The reel is going to be audio tracks playing in the background of visual clips to enhance the mood. I finished all the audio tracks and now just need to create the visuals.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source from what you learned?

I learned that when you create a reel as a resume, employers will often only watch the first thirty seconds to see if they are interested, so video reels are ideally very short and detailed. I was planing to make mine around 6 minutes ,though, since I am not using it as a resume, but I will create a thirty second version as a demonstration. I learned this at mediacollege.com here's the link http://www.mediacollege.com/employment/demo-reel.html

3. If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to, and why?

I would talk to my dad's musician friend, Runson, because he plays his music for a living and seems to be getting by. I don't know if he has any experience with reels, but I know he has much experience performing live and releasing new recorded music.