Grateful To Music

Sadly this was my last year at the People's Music School. The age limit for this school is from 5-18 years old and next year I will pass that limit. I am grateful that I have been at that school for 13 years learning to play the piano, the fundamentals of music and learning to play the harp. This year has gone by fast and I am happy to witness a beautiful harp that was donated. I was able to practice on it and perform with it. I started harp classes and I am happy to see that it's becoming a popular instrument that many kids want to play and that the future kids that come in will get the chance to play. Harp classes are growing, but it's hard with only two harps and one teachers. I recently had my recital and I gave it my best. I also had my juries which were a little hard because my teacher was sick and sight reading was different, but I enjoyed playing the harp for the last couple of times. I have also enjoyed being the only senior in my choir class. I kept my old friends and I had a class with my cousin which was so nice seeing her grow as a vocalist. We also had a choir recital and we sang three songs. My music program ends on June 3rd and on that day I will be performing with the choir and we will sing one song on our Performaloozathon. I am so grateful for everything I learned, everyone I met and all the support. Although I am not majoring or minoring in music it will still be part of my life. At the People’s Music School I accomplished a lot; I learned how to play piano, sing, harp, and on the side I learned how to play the ukulele.

Max Pixel. Pianno Score Sheet Music Classical Piano. 

Golden Music

For the course Radio-rithmetic, we studied frequency, sound waves, notation, scales, intervals, effects and many styles of music. We went to the radio station The Drive (classic rock) for an FE, there we saw how a radio station works, the different departments, how to be on radio, how/who makes the clips for programs and the marketing that goes into it. Another FE that we went to was to Chicago Recording Company (where they’ve recorded Lady Gaga & Chance the rapper), where we learned about the shape of the room, how a room can affect your recording, how things that are in a room can play a role in your recording, how a soundboard works, different types of speakers and post production. I liked both of the FE's because I gained different perspectives on how the music industry works, what goes in it, the different jobs you can have, and it was really cool to see the sound board and to see what goes on behind the scenes. For our action project, we made a song with original clips, existing clips and effects. I chose a Pentatonix theme and I mixed sounds together. During this project I had difficulty coming up with a vision for my song because I wasn't clear on what I wanted for my end product and I was missing my original components. I learned how to add different effects, what they sound like and what they do. Check out my song and explanation of my song below. Hope you enjoy it and find it interesting.




To make this song or mash up, I spent lots of time looking for songs that have similar beats or similar themes. My first song was really simple and didn’t have much originality, in my second one I was stuck and my songs didn’t have good transitions and I was still struggling with adding original beats. In my third try I took a totally different direction, I chose to go with acapella and more upbeat music compared to the past songs that were just slow and piano. All of the songs I chose and changed are by Pentatonix (PTX), an acapella group. I tried to have consonance in my song, but there are some parts that are dissonant and I liked it so I left it like that. For example, both tapping can be off by a bit when looping it. It sounds good when there is consonance because it goes together and with dissonance it’s a little off, but then goes back to consonance.

Once I had the tracks together and had the melody I felt like it needed more of a beat so I created two different taps, one fast and made with my finger and the other slow and made with a toothbrush.

KIS. Beat. 2016. 

I played a chromatic scale after the harp for a transition and to add a twist to the song. I used a digital piano on Garageband to make it.

KIS. Chromatic Scale. 2016. 

The form of the song is mostly intro of the different song and some chorus. These are mixed with the base song and some original clips are included in the chorus. The form is Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Chorus.

For the intro and the cover Water I use phaser which is an effect that creates loops of the same clip. The toothbrush tapping and the Ref clip has reverb which recreates the sound of various rooms’ echo and it is the decay of the sound. The piano has a chorus and flanger effect which makes the clip sound like there are instruments in the background and sounds underwater. The cover of Where Are You Now has an auto filter which filters out certain frequencies. The clip of fast tapping has an auto wah which makes the tapping sound move. The cover of Gold has a speech enhancer which is basically the name.

KIS. Mixing. 2016. 

After this project I learned how to let my creativity loose and how to include different songs that I like to make one. I had fun giving it a twist and creating layers with original or existing clips. I struggled a little bit in the beginning, but I really liked my end product because it sounds very interesting and it mostly sounds good. I also had fun playing around with the sound effects for each clip.

Citations:

• Pentatonix. “Cover of Gold (Acapella).” Online video clip. Youtube. October 14, 2016. Web. December 15, 2016. 
• Pentatonix. “Cover of Where Are U Now (Acapella).” Online video clip. Youtube. September 25, 2015. Web. December 15, 2016. 
• Pentatonix. “Ref (Acapella).” Online video clip. Youtube. October 15, 2015. Web. December 15, 2016.  
• Pentatonix. “Water (Acapella).” Online video clip. Youtube. October 15, 2015. Web. December 15, 2016. 

 

College Plans!

For the first unit of the course Economics, we studied opportunity cost and how everything has a price your time, your choices, and the things you do. It was heavily filled with concepts of how people think and incentives. We studied math concept such as, simple interest, compound interest, continuous compound interest and matrix. Another thing we learned was Supply and Demand curves, how it can shift depending on a product. We went to the Federal Reserve Bank for our FE and we were able to talk to Rick Matoon a Economist. We asked him question about his job and what the Federal Reserve controls the economy. For our action project, we chose a career and two paths to get to our career in college. I chose Music because I am a harpist and I wanted to see the number to get my bachelor's degree in that Major. I choose two schools that I could go to, I chose Valparaiso University and UIC University of Illinois at Chicago. During this project I had difficulties in getting the right numbers to do the math and I learned how pursing this Major can impact my future after college. Below is a sound cloud of an extended explanation for my decision and the slideshow shows the cost of attending college.

Rock out in Music Makers!

For the last unit of the course Rapid Prototyping we learned about different tools. For example, flathead screwdriver, phillips screwdriver, monkey wrench, hammer, hand saw, hacksaw, etc. We talked about the safety of using those tools and just safety in general. We also looked at lifehacks to make life easier and many ideas that people have come up with. From looking at that we got inspired to create a life hack for the new space we will soon be moving into. By looking at some examples in the Instructables website we found something we liked for the new space and we modified it the way we liked it. I decided to make a wall guitar stand, for a club that we have in school called the Music Makers. In the process of making it I had difficulty coming up with a creative way to make it possible in a short time.

Check out my Instructable in detail!

KIS. Guitar Wall Holder. 2016.

The project I made is a musical guitar stand on the wall. It holds the guitars when they are not being used, that way people won’t trip over them and they won’t get damaged. 

We went on an field experience to the Rebuilding Exchange where we met the owner of the place Briant William. The Rebuilding Exchange is a place where they reuse materials to create something of use or sell the pieces for someone else to build something new. An interesting thing that William sisd was “Stretch imagination and show the value of things.” I found this interesting because Music Maker right now have all the guitars in cases and the it takes time to take them out and it doesn’t interest other students to play music and jam out. That’s why I thought of this display to make the guitars appealing and easy to get without any struggles. I used my imagination to create this and I took into consideration the value of playing music and enjoy playing.

Looking at the Instructables website I saw something similar I liked which was a hand on the wall holding the guitar. I was inspired to have the guitar hangers screwed onto a music bar because it goes with music.

For my time lapse video I used my iphone. I never thought the option of time lapse would come in handy. When I got to the recording part of my project, I decided to take a different approach and record different part of the cutting process. If I recorded the whole process of the cutting it would be a long time, so I took clip of important part of the process. Using time lapse is like recording 1 minute, which equals 1 second. 

When using the jigsaw the blade are very sharp. That’s why one needs safety goggles to protect any flying wood getting into the eyes. Also the jigsaw itself has a safety switch, meaning that if someone tries to use it, it won’t function unless it’s off. Another thing the jigsaw has a metal in front of the blade, so if the blade breaks it won’t fly out because the metal stups it.

To put the final part of my project, I had to use a drill to screw two screws that connect the 3D print guitar holder and the wooden staff. In doing so the drill goes directly on top of the screw's head and with the electric power it turns the screws down into place. Using the power drill makes it more easier, faster and you know it’s tight. 

Making this project was a little overwhelming because I always go for something big, but in the process of making it and my family offering their help changed the way I felt about the project. I have never done anything like this so it was fun going to the home depot to get my supplies, to sketch it out and seeing how my idea comes to life. This project was big, simple yet complicated. If you are interested in making the same or similar project here are 5 suggestions:

1. Have a clear idea of how you want to make it and if you don’t have the tools then modify your idea, but if that's not the case then don’t change it.
2. Make sure the size of the wooden board is the one you want because the bigger it is the more work it is.
3. Safety equipment is always important
4. In small spaces or cutting in the middle, drill holes in the corner to make it easier for the jigsaw to cut.
5. If you are feeling creative think of adding color to it to give it a different look. More you, personalize it.