Carrie's Presentation

Last Thursday we were lucky enough to see Carrie Haase present her WISE presentation. Well let me just begin by saying that I thought she was excellent. She had outstanding presence up there and looked very confident and strong. In addition the tone of her voice really struck me as very assertive, almost as if she was saying a poem for all of her speech. In addition I loved how she was able to present to us some of her poems because at least for me, I was able to see the progression she has made. I remember the funny, somewhat quiet girl at the beginning of the year and now she has become a confident, strong young lady.

Personally this presentation kind of scared me. It was so well done that I almost felt like I had to do well because she had set the bar so high. Now this isn't a blow to her presentation because it was excellent and rightfully should have been but what really scared me was that I dont think I will be able to be as confident let alone passionate about what I am saying. I may care just as much about my topic but dont know how I will portray it.

I hope I continue with my progress and hope to have a presentation like Carrie's

Letter To Future Wise Student

I would be honored to share with you some knowledge about the WISE program and my experience in it. If you are reading this then you are already enrolled or are contemplating being enrolled in this course. My experience was that I had a tough time during the first semester because you are trying to fit in an entire year of English into one semester. this doesn't mean that you will be overloaded with work but it is a tough course.

Let me tell you though, the reward of the second semester is great. I have loved my project and have heard the same from all of my peers. The skills that you will learn whether you like it or not will help you in so many ways. You will have to learn to be organized and on task so that you can truly enjoy the second semester. If I were to pass on some knowledge I would say, things take longer to accomplish in the real world than they do in your head so don't overburden yourself. I made that mistake and it was taxing. All in all WISE is an amazing class and I would recommend it to anyone who asked.

Cheers,
Casey W

Performance Date

I have finally decided when I will do my presentation. I plan on doing it during Open Mic Night at The Shop. Although I planned on doing more than one performance, but poor planning and an extremely busy end of the year schedule has caused me to limit it to only one.At least there is Open Mic Night! Here is the description on their website:


Open mic is the first Thursday of every month. We provide the mikes, the amp, and the soundperson, you provide the instruments and the art. Sign up starts at 7:45 P.M. and performances start at 8 P.M. It's first come, first serve, with each act allowed up to 15 minutes of performance time. Please feel free to be experimental, electric instruments and performance art are as welcome as quiet acoustic music. So bring your friends and lets see what happens!"
http://theshopcafe.com/calendar


Sadly they only have this the first Thursday of the month so it is hard to be able to schedule it. The closest date would be June 2nd but I have a game that day so I guess my performance will have to be on July 7th.


Although this is way after the date of my presentation I still believe I will follow through on it. I think this means enough to me that I will want to continue to do this after the WISE project requirements are over.

Red Flag

How much time have you spent on your project:
Around 6 or 7 it was a slow week

What did you do hands on?
Singing, Guitar.

What did you do for research?
Youtube, Tabs

Were you in class this week?
Yes I was in class this week and I am currently in red flag

Did you meet with your mentor?
Yes, last Friday

Do you have at least 3 journal entries?
Yes

What do you think your fulfillment of WISE requirements was?
I didn't fulfill my requirements very well. For some reason I was very motivated this week

What are your plans for next week?
Blog, Memorize all lyrics of songs

In Class Entry

Today in class we finalized our presentation dates and the dates that we are evaluating our peers. It was nice to have a day when I didnt feel completely stressed out by WISE. Mrs Sadusky and I already talked about my presentation date and luckily it worked for both of us. This was an awesome thing because I didnt have to be one of those kids that changed their presentation date. I pretty much spent the period just taking a breather and socializing which was nice because in recent classes I have been very stressed. It was also cool to realize that WISE is almost over and our presentations are soon. Although I am a little scared for my presentation because 30 minutes sounds like such a long time to talk but I think that watching Carrie's sample presentation next thursday should ease my nerves. Either way I have improved my confidence immensely so this presentation should be a breeze right?

It may not have been the most productive day but it was nice to get a breather

Reviews

So I was doing some research on    http://www.hangartheatre.org/events/category/mainstage.html   the hangar theatre's website to look for some possible shows I could review. Luckily there is a show called Rounding Third that I plan on reviewing. This show begins on June 2nd so I will be able to review it before the presentation. This is especially exciting because I have yet to review a real, professional production. I feel like this will be much more difficult but I hope that I will still be able to know more about the musical process and will be able to assess it well.

In addition I looked at the Kitchen Theater's website to see what shows I could review
http://www.kitchentheatre.org/mainstage.htm

It must be my lucky day because there is a show that I could possibly review. Here it is...

MARY'S WEDDING by Stephen Massicotte – June 8 - 26, 2011
In 1914, a young Canadian soldier meets a young woman just as he is about to go overseas.  It is a familiar story told in a most unusual way–a dreamscape of passionate love, heart-wrenching separation, hope and survival. For those who loved Last Train to Nibroc, this will be another favorite.

I hope to make it to one of the shows so I can review it before the presentation

Song Selection

This is a song that my mom used to sing to me before I would go to bed and I have loved it ever since.

This song is one that I will learn the guitar chords for it and the lyrics

Red Flag

How much time have you spent on your project:
I believe I spent between around 8 hours on my project the week.

What did you do hands on?
I have been doing a lot of singing, trying to memorize and change the song to fit my voice.

What did you do for research?
I did my typical youtube-ing and looking at guitar tabs

Were you in class this week?
Yes I was in class this week but I missed red flag due to a physical therapist appointment. I should check in with Mrs. Lord soon about that

Did you meet with your mentor?
Mrs. Sadusky and I met last Friday

Do you have at least 3 journal entries?
Yes

What do you think your fulfillment of WISE requirements was?
I think I did a pretty good job on WISE. Problem Alert: I have been losing a lot of my drive to work on my project and stay focused, hopefully this will turn around soon.

What are your plans for next week?
Blog, Pick the rest of my songs, Memorize a song or two.

In Class Entry

Today in class we chose our presentation dates. So we got our numbers and I got 1 so I was pretty jazzed up about getting to choose first. But wait, what is this? Curveball! We started with the highest number so I had to be the last one to choose, major bummer. I had wanted to do my project during the second week of presentations so I could get it done because I feel like it will be a big contributor to my stress levels and I don't want it to stress me out the last week of presentations. But because I had last pick, there were no open slots during that week. Now my presentation is the last possible day at 9 am which has its draws but isn't what I was looking for before. On the plus side I was the first to choose which presentations I wanted to evaluate so I chose two presentations on the 17th which is the day I am presenting just so I wont have to keep driving down to the school and can get all WISE things done in a day. Luckily this turns out to be a good day for my mentor Mrs. Sadusky, so it seems that my presentation date is finally set.

June 17th at 9 am
Be there or be square

Venues

So as I have said before the two places that I hope to perform at are The Shop in Ithaca and the Blue Frog Cafe. So I did some research by going to each website. What I found was pretty helpful. The Shop seems to have some open mic nights during which  I could have my performance in what seems to be a pretty low key venue. Their calendar was incredibly helpful.y ( http://theshopcafe.com/calendar )

On the other hand the Blue Frog Cafe's calendar was completely blank and no help at all but I hope that I will still be able to get a time to schedule my performance there.

Hopefully I will be able to make contact with them this week or next week.

The Shop:   musicattheshop@gmail.com

Blue Frog: Karina 607-758-7989

Red Flag

How much time have you spent on your project:

I believe I spent between 6 to 7 hours on my project the week. This is because I have been studying for AP Spanish and Calculus Exams, which have pretty much taken over my life.

What did you do hands on?
I have been working on actually playing guitar. Normally I have tried to play specific songs, but during this week I have been going through this DVD I have to learn some chords and plucking.

What did you do for research?
In terms of research I did a bunch of research that helped me pick my first song. Imagine by John Lennon. I know I have hinted at it but now its definite. In addition I did a little research on guitar playing.

Were you in class this week?
Yes I was in class this week and am currently in red flag class.

Did you meet with your mentor?
I forgot to meet with Mrs. Sadusky this Monday, so we are scheduled to meet this Friday.

Do you have at least 3 journal entries?
Not so much. AP's took over

What do you think your fulfillment of WISE requirements was?
I didn't do a very good job on WISE this week just because I have been stressed with tests but I hope to get the train back on the tracks next week

What are your plans for next week?
Blog, Call venues for sure, Pick the rest of my songs, Memorize a song or two.

In Class Entry

In class today I had an eye-opening experience. There are only four or five weeks left until presentations start. AHHHHH! Well I feel pretty comfortable about the first half of my project but I have yet to make a lot of headway on the second half. I think that this is what scared me most. I have to pick up the pace! But anyways so during class we talked about singing up for the presentation days and attending the practice presentation by our very own, Carrie Haase. I think it is awesome that we will be able to see a presentation so we know what we have to do. In addition we took some notes and recorded some dates on the following topics:

-mid MP4 student progress form (mon 5/9)
-presentation sign ups: (5/10) and (5/17)
-creative assignment (5/17)
-figure out availability for presentations (next mentor meeting)

All in all a pretty productive class period.

Lack of Posts

Over the next week or so I will have very few blog posts because I need to study for AP's. Fun timez!!! I will try to keep up with my progress but if not then it is because I am studying.

This week I do plan to finally choose all my songs and practice some guitar, and hopefully get in contact with The Shop and The Blue Frog Cafe

Cheers!