Week 8 Review

March 11: Douglas Adams. Today marks the birthday of Douglas Adams,one of my most beloved writers, who sadly left this world in 2001. Adams is most famous as the creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and his two books about the detective Dirk Gently are also priceless. Happy birthday to you, Douglas Adams, wherever in the galaxy you may be! Here is a YouTube video interview where Douglas Adams talks about his career, life, the universe, and everything:

Douglas Adams is one of my favorite writers EVER, so seeing this interview made my whole week! So long and thanks for all the fish, Mr. Adams. :)

Growth Mindset Challenge: Preparation vs. Performance

The growth mindset meme about a butterfly undergoing radical changes before it is appreciated reminded me of this image macro I've seen floating around Facebook lately. This idea that one only sees a tiny part of what goes into a finished product can help in two ways:
If you're an observer, don't forget to appreciate the work you don't see,

and if you're a performer, don't forget to keep the image of the finished product always in your mind!

Posted by Classic FM on Thursday, March 17, 2016

Learning Challenge: Empathy with Shining Eyes

My favorite YouTube video of all time is a Ted Talk given by Benjamin Zander entitled, "The Transformative Power of Classical Music." In it, he discusses the idea that all people can love classical music, most of them have just never had the opportunity to.

It's about 20 minutes long, and it changed my life. 

Source

If you have time, I highly recommend watching the video in its entirety, even (especially!) if you don't think you like classical music. Zander touches on so many facets of life, I think you'll find it worth the time investment.

The part relevant to my Learning Challenge, however, starts at around 16 minutes in. For context, he's just discussed a bit of the theory behind a Chopin Prelude -- why Chopin chose the notes and chords he did, and how it ultimately creates both a mood and a story. He then instructs the audience to listen to the Prelude with this new context, but also with one added caveat: that they picture someone very dear to them who has been lost.

The story he tells around the 16 minute mark is about a boy who participated in this same exercise shortly after the death of his brother, for whom he had never properly mourned, and how the power of the music allowed him to embrace those emotions for the first time.

This idea of truly feeling music as a listener, or embodying the feeling as a performer, and both experiencing and inspiring the sensation of "shining eyes" reminds me of why I love music, and how it relates to the concept of a shared human empathy. Even though we all have different stories, music unites us.

Here's a link to a transcript of the entire Ted Talk for those without audio capabilities. 

Also source of the following image.

Tech Tip: Embedding YouTube Playlists

I decided to add something a little more populist to my Comment Wall in the way of music, since I figure most people don't jam to 20th century flute music (although really I think everyone should try it once, y'know). 
The original reason I picked the Piazzolla over one of my favorite pop tunes was because I simply have too many favorites to pick just one. Music is my passion in every form, so I'm just as obsessed with popular music as I am with art ("classical") music. One of the most confusing things in the world for me is when somebody loves one but not the other --whether that's classically-trained musicians who don't know how to get down to a groovy beat or self-described "music lover"s who can't lose themselves in Ravel. 
Anyway, all of that is to say that this playlist is just a teeny, tiny sampling of some of my favorite feel good songs. 
YouTube used to be my main music streaming platform, but I switched to Spotify a few years ago and never looked back. Nowadays I don't use YouTube for much except for keeping up with the few content creators I'm subscribed to.

Blog Ideas

I noticed that Audra and I used very similar designs, but hers is quite a bit easier to read, especially in the comments section. She has inspired me to polish the smaller details in mine, so that it is exactly how I want it, and not just good enough.

Jessica's blog is is memorable for several reasons, but my favorite is the aesthetic layout, with a bright, colorful background and minimalist text presentation. I remembered viewing her blog from weeks ago, so I would like to make mine as memorable (in a positive light!) as hers.

Finally, I am so impressed by Christina's post layout! I love that we only get a preview of each post, but with the pictures showing on one side. That is so cool! It gives you an idea of what's inside, and gives the overall blog a very professional feel. I so want to utilize this in my blog!

Week 7: Review

I chose this video from Friday, March 4's post because I was so impressed by the musical talent it shows! The two singers have incredible voices, the clarinetist is great, and whoever arranged this mash-up has some seriously impressive theoretical skills -- it is NOT easy to get to very different musical systems (like, different versions of scales, right notes vs. wrong notes, etc) to sound so consonant together. Very cool!

Today's Video: Chaiyya Chaiyya Mash-Up. It's Bollywood-meets-Michael Jackson, featuring the amazing Shankar Tucker on clarinet.

And of course the shout-out to the opera below this segment made me happy. I hope some of you were able to come out and see it!

Week 7: Famous Last Words

This week was a crazy mic of exciting and exhausting! Just looking back on everything that happened is making me tired again, haha.

I had fun this week revising the Mahabharata from a different perspective. My favorite character, Amba, got a depressing but awesome starring role in Sister Nevedita's version, so I was pretty stoked to read more about her incarnation Sikhandin(i), and to get to write about her again. I tried a more traditional prose approach this time, since a lot of the comments on my previous Amba story said that the more poetic, stream-of-consciousness style was a bit confusing. 

El Sistema had their mid-winter concert on Wednesday -- concerts are always SO stressful from the teacher standpoint, because when you have 220 children divided into three orchestras, things tend to get a little hectic. Luckily, the logistics behind the scenes of this concert were amazingly smooth, so things ran just like they were supposed to. Most importantly, our students played AMAZINGLY! We were so proud, and even more excited for the future of our program! At our staff meeting the next day, I was notified that I will be getting a promotion after spring break, so things ended on a very happy note after all of the stress.

And finally, the rest of my whole life this week has been dominated by the OPERA. Woof. This has been such an exhausting activity. The opera is three hours long, which is a long time to be sitting in a dark pit (literally, that's where the orchestra goes). Add to that the fact that we've had dress rehearsals or performances every single day since last Sunday, and you can see why I'm happy that it's over. However, I have to admit that it was a great opportunity and I know I came out of it a better musician... just also a very tired musician.

If you came to see Eugene Onegin last week, you heard me! Hope I sounded okay!

The poster for OU's production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin