Box #8, Page 107

What surprised me?

I was surprised to see a John Mayer CD actually. I wouldn't mind borrowing it and ripping the CD myself. Some other musical artists on his ipod surprised me. For example, Ashlee Simpson, Michael Buble', I'm sure there was some Jack Johnson on there. 

What intrigued me?

The guitar strap and pick intrigued me. I love music and am surrounded by talented musicians all the time. I am curious as to how good he is at the guitar. The book was interesting if not just the title alone was unorthodox. 

What disturbed me?

I wouldn't say that anything really disturbed, so I didn't like some of his artist choices, it is nothing to get bent out of shape about. 

Posting #3

I have already talked to several music students, since they are already my friends. I have not done a formal interview yet but plan on doing that soon. I have discovered that some students are over loaded while others have the minimum requirements. One friend is taking 23 hours this semester and is technically only taking 18, his other classes are being taken as 0 credits just so he can get all his required courses done for his major and minor. I will ask students of what kind of social life do you have? Are all your friends music students? Being in sursa and mib is like being at home for me. From an outsider it could feel weird or awkward. Walking around the older halls of MIB not know of the tunnel in the basement that can take you across emmens and arts and communication build, even taking you to pruis. I have not attempted any academic research. 

Page 131, Box # 11

My reason for choosing the symphonic orchestra is that I already know a large population of the people that partake in the orchestra. The only subjective position I can foresee is that I will play up the cello section and make them sound more outstanding than any other section since I play the cello my self. I don't think my age, gender, race, or class will effect this study. The fact that I already know most of the people I will be able to have them act like themselves around me instead of them acting the way the think I want them to. This will coincidentally let me have more of an insider and in depth interviews. 

Week 2- Posting 2

The culture that I have chosen is Ball State University Symphony Orchestra. My observations and interviews will take place in SURSA Hall and MIB, Music Instruction Building. I will be in the "coke lobby," in the lobby of SURSA, and practice rooms of both MIB and SRUSA. I plan on figuring out the typical day of a brass, woodwind, stringed, and percussion player. How long does each person practice? Every day? Does a certain subculture practice more than others? Does practice time correlate with level of skill? How many of the people in orchestra are music majors, minors, or there just for fun? How many hours does each person take? Do grades suffer?

Page 15 Box #2

I play the most amazing and beautiful sounding instrument in the world, the cello. I'm suppose to practice at least an hour or two every day for my lessons in preparation for the university symphony. The ritual I go through every time I practice is putting practicing off for as long as possible. There are several things a person can do to achieve this goal. When walking to sursa hall you can stop by the old music instruction building and see if there is anyone you know hanging out in the coke lobby. This is where all the musicians go to, to do homework or socialize.... maybe not the best combination. To get to the coke lobby you just enter through the lower doors of the old music instruction building facing McKinley. Once you have talked someone's ear off you can cross Riverside and go into Sursa. Depending on the time of day you can sit on the most comfortable couch at all of Ball State and look at the gorgeous light display on the far wall if it is night time. During the day you can just warm yourself up on the heated floors in the lobby. If I feel like wasting more time I will go upstairs to "my little spot." This is a corner opposite the stair case that over looks the scramble light. It's a corner that has chairs, couches, and tables. Once all procrastination has take in place, I go downstairs and follow the hallway past the choir room, past the bass room and into the cello room. Pull out my key and unlock my locker. I can decided to carry my case to a practice room or just pull out the cello. The next step is finding a practice room that has an accessible mirror since I need to be able to look at my hand and playing position. Then you just sit down and rework the same lines over and over again until you can play them seamlessly. This is how I practice. 

Week 1 Posting

For the first semester in English 103 our first assignment we had a to compose a personal narrative. This paper focused mainly on the past three years of my life. My professor required us to talk about emotional times whether the times were happy or sad. I started the narrative by outlining all the major events from Junior and Senior year. After I had written down all these ideas I continued to add more detail and gave it more of a story-esque feel. I wanted to put as much emotion into my paper as possible so the audience would be able to take a step back and feel as if they are in my mind reliving the same moments. I did not have music playing in the background; well none that was meant to influence my writing. The only time I've ever done that is last year in AP English we looked at pictures from the holocaust and for homework we were to write a poem from either a Jewish perspective or a German's perspective. I had purposely put on  "Into the West" be Enya because it was such a moving song and I felt it related to the holocaust. 

I feel editing is taking the whole paper apart, dissecting it, combing through it with a fine tooth-comb. This is the stage where you make all of your major changes. Revising however, is where you read over your work to check if there are any misspellings or incorrect punctuation usages.