End of semester & Shabbat & Drumming
The semester is winding down. This is my last week of classes. Next week is finals. I have a major research paper, an essay, three 4-5 page essays for a final (which I requested to have early so I don't have that on top of other assignments while my wrists hurt already), and a 12-15 page research paper. I also have a final project and final exam for my sound design class, and some performance called HPSCHD (Harpsechord) for that same class--the performance is on the 7th, and we'll be discussing what it is on Tuesday, so evidently it doesn't need much prep work. Oh! And a quiz in my drumming class, but I'm not too worried about that.
I'm going swimming in an hour, and am very excited. Between Thanksgiving, swim meets shutting down the free swim time, and being busy in general, I haven't made it to swim in about a month.
I'm hopeful that I won't have to take an incomplete this semester, though. That way when I get to winter break, it will really be winter break, and I won't have any work to do other than possibly some work on my senior project.
In other news, I went to shabbat Friday night for the first time in a while, as well. It's been a while due to things like Thanksgiving, sound designing for a theater show, and having to attend a concert on Fri night. There was a guest rabbi, who was there to lead a bit of a meditative service. I enjoyed it, especially since she brought drums and asked if anyone could play them. I was the only one who volunteered for the first song or two; she wanted a "one-two" beat to accompany a song. After that, the campus rabbi's kids had two small drums as well; eventually they left and some students picked up the drums.
I was a little bit surprised at how much easier it is for me to play drums now. Like, I know some hand drumming technique, so even though these were not the drums or style I've spent all semester learning, I was able to make something up and actually have it sound good. In the past when I've picked up drums, I pretty much just ended up imitating whatever was going on in the vocals. This time, I was able to play a pattern complimentary and not extremely basic under several different songs--the most fun for me was Lecha Dodi, partially because I apparently know the words so well I was able to sing most of it without looking at the siddur, which surprised me. I didn't know I knew the song that well. Granted, I was following what other people were singing, but it's like the way I sing kiddush; I can't sing the words by myself, but the reminder provided by other people means I can sing with them and get it mostly correct.
At any rate, I had fun drumming two nights ago, and now want to add a hand drum to my winter holiday wishlist. It's so much fun!
I'm going swimming in an hour, and am very excited. Between Thanksgiving, swim meets shutting down the free swim time, and being busy in general, I haven't made it to swim in about a month.
I'm hopeful that I won't have to take an incomplete this semester, though. That way when I get to winter break, it will really be winter break, and I won't have any work to do other than possibly some work on my senior project.
In other news, I went to shabbat Friday night for the first time in a while, as well. It's been a while due to things like Thanksgiving, sound designing for a theater show, and having to attend a concert on Fri night. There was a guest rabbi, who was there to lead a bit of a meditative service. I enjoyed it, especially since she brought drums and asked if anyone could play them. I was the only one who volunteered for the first song or two; she wanted a "one-two" beat to accompany a song. After that, the campus rabbi's kids had two small drums as well; eventually they left and some students picked up the drums.
I was a little bit surprised at how much easier it is for me to play drums now. Like, I know some hand drumming technique, so even though these were not the drums or style I've spent all semester learning, I was able to make something up and actually have it sound good. In the past when I've picked up drums, I pretty much just ended up imitating whatever was going on in the vocals. This time, I was able to play a pattern complimentary and not extremely basic under several different songs--the most fun for me was Lecha Dodi, partially because I apparently know the words so well I was able to sing most of it without looking at the siddur, which surprised me. I didn't know I knew the song that well. Granted, I was following what other people were singing, but it's like the way I sing kiddush; I can't sing the words by myself, but the reminder provided by other people means I can sing with them and get it mostly correct.
At any rate, I had fun drumming two nights ago, and now want to add a hand drum to my winter holiday wishlist. It's so much fun!