Independent Practice Enquiry (IPE)

Our final project for the year- 10 minutes of music written/created/led by you. One of the very few things we are technically graded on and talked up a bunch, so we're all a bit nervous. Mine was supposed to be this cool cross arts improvisation collaboration thing. Remember when I wrote about that? Long story short- scheduling people was harrowing and impossible, so it has now changed completely. Now I am doing a piece based on MLK Jr's "On the Mountaintop" speech with my friends Dave and Jon. (Hi, Jon!)

We have been working on it for just over a week now (started last weekend) and because of our schedules have only had about two and half hours together to write the piece and rehearse it. I've spent most of this week panicking quietly- but we managed to have 15 minutes together today and ran the piece. We are still going to need to do some serious rehearsing the hour before the show starts, but we've pulled it together! We have a totally stable structure, it is going to be just about long enough (provided we don't cut any of the improvisations too short), and best of all- after tomorrow night it will be DONE. Which means I am practically DONE for the year. Which is awesome.

These pictures are from our rehearsal in my room which was cramped and hilarious, but I don't think you quite get the feel for the cramped hilarity from these photos. But trust me, it was impossible to move.

Pictures of my Room. Part 2

My bed. What a lovely quilt, thank you Grammy. In spite of the rest of my room being a mess (think it hasn't been yet? We haven't gotten to my desk) I do generally make my bed. Mostly because I really like the quilt and the duvet cover together. Who needs spring time with that around? (Me, I do. But this is good for now.)
Remember all those Instruments? This is where I store their cases. In that corner, not on the chair. The chair is apparently where I store all sorts of random bits of paper. So much paper. So little seating.
My desk. Piles mean that I know what is in them...okay. Not really. The box on the left is Laine's Christmas present, see how on top of things I am?
A picture of my sink and assorted other piles. That is the box/bench I mentioned earlier with my bow case sitting on it. The sink would normally be really handy, but I currently get no cold water at all and the hot water is scalding rendering the sink a bit useless. The poster in the upper Right is from one of the Maryland Institute College of Art printmaking shows that I helped to organize at Peabody. Mostly I just really like prints.
And here is the photo I probably should have started with- what my room looks like from the door. Yet another print up there on the Right. This time it is from a portion of Trudi Johnson's work (PJ's wife) that says "War does not determine who is right, it merely determines who is left" Or something along those lines...

Thus concludes the tour of my room. Hope you enjoyed it.

Pictures of My Room. Part 1

I was going to clean more, honest. Oh well. I didn't want to keep you waiting forever for all of those photo collections I promised to post. So without further ado- This Is Where I Live:


Starting out with the most important: here is my bookshelf. I was really very restrained in terms of how many books I brought. Up there on the top shelf is a stack of music, a stack of files, a box of files, programs, a theory book, and usually cook books, but those are in the kitchen right now. The middle shelf has CD and books I actually own (9 of which are about London). The bottom shelf is where I keep my library books and a heating pad and apparently some assorted computer stuff. Also, please note the Harry Potter poster from the night the 7th book came out.

This is the wall I look at from my bed. It looks so sparse and empty in this picture, but really it is quite lovely. Please note the Sons of the Never Wrong poster, they're super cool and I bought the poster in Seattle which made it even cooler. Please also note the print out on the Left of my father teaching people to "Crank That" Pure Hilarity.
This is my window. I would make some quip about how it gets dark so early here and how I am in what amounts to a tunnel so I don't get very much light, but this picture was taken at 11pm and that wouldn't really be justified.
My instrument corner! It is really quite a spacious room, but that gets significantly less spacious once you put a bass, an electric bass, and an amp in there along with all their assorted cases. I have a picture of a gamba from the Royal College of Music museum up on my door to remind me that I do (or at least did) play early music too.
Another view of the instrument corner. I rotate out my stool for when I'm playing the upright (I store it in the kitchen, where, in return for storage space, I let people sit on them. Them because they came in a pack of two from Argos.) and a little box/bench for when I'm playing the electric. I store the box/bench over by my sink.