Projects for the fall of 2010
Well, I'm finally here! My last semester as a full time undergrad is under way! I've managed to get myself a pretty interesting schedule that I may or may not survive, but I think I'll make it through mostly intact (though I've already managed to have my first night of only 2 hours of sleep and I'm not even 2 full weeks into the term yet!).
Senior Project - combining my three areas of study in ethnomusicology, cello and singing to do a project on the revival of traditional Manx music that will hopefully end in a lecture-recital. I'm really excited about the prospect of putting this together and hoping that my family will come to this instead of insisting that I walk at graduation (as I find it pointless and don't feel like spending extra money on it).
20th Century Music Literature - I'm taking this class as an independent study with two other girls. This is the class that I'm worried about. We only meet for one hour a week even though it's a 3 credit class and usually meets for 3 hours. And he told us today that we'll be going faster than the normal class. There's going to be so much reading in this class, plus four short research projects and a term paper. My first project that I picked out today is going to be about Shostakovich, Prokofiev and the Zhdanov Decree; so basically censorship and politics in Soviet music under Stalin. Or this might be my term paper, I'm not really sure. Either way, I'm excited about this project, though this class was the deciding factor on me not trying to get a job this term, because this class just isn't going to leave time!
Comparative Religions - an anthropology class I'm retaking because I was stupid the first time I did it and didn't get the paper in. There's a different professor this term though, and he assigned us a new book, is doing the fieldwork project differently and is teaching the class differently in general, so I think it'll be a fulfilling experience. I'm going to be doing my fieldwork on the Ásatrú, as there is a ritual happening downtown this weekend and I know next to nothing about the religion. Plus, my good friend is a Norse polytheist and has promised to help me out :D <3
My other two classes this term are Logic and Environmental Geology, which are thankfully only freshmen level gen eds, as I don't think I would be able to take more upper level classes with those first two. They've been interesting so far though, and I'm really enjoying logic!
The other thing I'm planning on doing with my senior project is trying to get as much reading done as I can about Manannán and work on my relationship with him. He's kind of the reason I chose to do the project on Manx music in the first place (though I find the revival of the Manx Gaelic language and culture fascinating regardless!).
As for my cello; I've been trying to get ahold of a local Irish pub to ask about me joining the fiddling class with my cello, though will little success so far. I've been wanting to learn fiddling techniques with it for a while, so now seems a good time. Also, it seems the pub does a sean-nós singing workshop once a month, so I'm definitely going to be asking about that as well! But other than that, I bought the sheet music for Mark O'Connor's "Appalachia Waltz" for solo cello to help me with my thumb position and double stops, which are proving rather difficult so far. This is my first time without any kind of weekly cello lessons since I was in 8th grade, so it's really testing my abilities and discipline. Working on improvisation and learning things by ear is another goal I have for this year, but I'm trying not to over do it at the moment! HA!
Senior Project - combining my three areas of study in ethnomusicology, cello and singing to do a project on the revival of traditional Manx music that will hopefully end in a lecture-recital. I'm really excited about the prospect of putting this together and hoping that my family will come to this instead of insisting that I walk at graduation (as I find it pointless and don't feel like spending extra money on it).
20th Century Music Literature - I'm taking this class as an independent study with two other girls. This is the class that I'm worried about. We only meet for one hour a week even though it's a 3 credit class and usually meets for 3 hours. And he told us today that we'll be going faster than the normal class. There's going to be so much reading in this class, plus four short research projects and a term paper. My first project that I picked out today is going to be about Shostakovich, Prokofiev and the Zhdanov Decree; so basically censorship and politics in Soviet music under Stalin. Or this might be my term paper, I'm not really sure. Either way, I'm excited about this project, though this class was the deciding factor on me not trying to get a job this term, because this class just isn't going to leave time!
Comparative Religions - an anthropology class I'm retaking because I was stupid the first time I did it and didn't get the paper in. There's a different professor this term though, and he assigned us a new book, is doing the fieldwork project differently and is teaching the class differently in general, so I think it'll be a fulfilling experience. I'm going to be doing my fieldwork on the Ásatrú, as there is a ritual happening downtown this weekend and I know next to nothing about the religion. Plus, my good friend is a Norse polytheist and has promised to help me out :D <3
My other two classes this term are Logic and Environmental Geology, which are thankfully only freshmen level gen eds, as I don't think I would be able to take more upper level classes with those first two. They've been interesting so far though, and I'm really enjoying logic!
The other thing I'm planning on doing with my senior project is trying to get as much reading done as I can about Manannán and work on my relationship with him. He's kind of the reason I chose to do the project on Manx music in the first place (though I find the revival of the Manx Gaelic language and culture fascinating regardless!).
As for my cello; I've been trying to get ahold of a local Irish pub to ask about me joining the fiddling class with my cello, though will little success so far. I've been wanting to learn fiddling techniques with it for a while, so now seems a good time. Also, it seems the pub does a sean-nós singing workshop once a month, so I'm definitely going to be asking about that as well! But other than that, I bought the sheet music for Mark O'Connor's "Appalachia Waltz" for solo cello to help me with my thumb position and double stops, which are proving rather difficult so far. This is my first time without any kind of weekly cello lessons since I was in 8th grade, so it's really testing my abilities and discipline. Working on improvisation and learning things by ear is another goal I have for this year, but I'm trying not to over do it at the moment! HA!