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PILOT NARRATIVE
QUARTER 3
EXHIBITION DATE: 04.02.18
What would you take a risk for?
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Table of Contents:
Projects - Page 3
Bibliography - Page 13
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Time is getting short, and there’s so much work to be done. As far as thematic
recurrences, I’m pretty tired of this one… or maybe I’m tired by this one, always pushing
me to do more with less.
In ancient Greek mythology, Chronos was the ruler of time in its linear and
chronological pattern. In many tales, he could manipulate other people’s experience of time
so that he could walk among people frozen in their footsteps. He is always depicted as an
old man with long grey hair, perhaps because he passed his time so much faster than those
frozen around him, perhaps because he had so much knowledge and lived forever. But
because of his indefinite existence, time stopped meaning anything to him. The one thing
which he controlled became worthless to him. He stopped and fast-forwarded time as he
wished, ignoring any sense of rhythm or continuity. In contrast, the Greeks had a second
word for time, Kairos. The right, or critical moment when something was to be done. It’s
ambiguity and indeterminate location was the antithesis of Chronos, always existing within
the constraints of continuity, but never exact or determinable. The moment of something to
be done is qualitative and once done is permanent, but until it has happened until it arrives,
it remains invisible. In the fifth and sixth centuries, reek teachers used Kairos to describe
the “ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing, contingent circumstances.” As
Chronos moved time freely through existence, Kairos adapted and made the best of it,
striking when the moment was right.
I may not have much time left, and it’s exhausting to feel cheated, but this hasn’t
really been brought on by a lack of years, months, or days. It’s been brought on by the
wealth of opportunity, chance, and learning. Naturally, as we advance, we move toward the
end of our allotted time, and so it’s forward that I move, wiser, braver, and more confident
than I arrived. And as time moves rapidly, slowly, inconsistently around me, I will continue
to take the moment when it’s right, and do what needs to be done. This year and last, I
have learned to use tools without specific instructions and take my opportunities head-on
with vigor and a strong work ethic. Pilot has given me the opportunity to explore more
deeply what is available to me, what can be taken advantage of, and what can be taken
deeper. The structure of independently motivated learning, supported by intelligent people
with an academic focus has instilled a habit of thinking critically, creating freely, and living
with intention in my steps, decisions, creations, words, and thoughts. I have learned the
ability to work in whatever environment I find myself and to push myself a little farther than
I’m comfortable. The passage of time makes one more comfortable, but sometimes the best
work comes from diving in head first and existing in a space that doesn’t always feel safe. It
takes great focus to find the right moment, and I will take the time to do so. But I won't
wait for that moment to come to me. I will search it out, now and always, no matter how
fast or slow it comes.
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PROJECTS
Portfolio
“I intend to make this the best quality release I’ve made yet. I will not release any
music unless I truly believe that song is ready. This is not to say that perfection is the only
acceptable format for my music. Because of the quantity over quality division I had with
Don’t Let Me Fall, I want to give quality a fair chance, especially since I believe it to be more
important to have one quality final product than 12 mediocre ones.” This is an excerpt from
my semester 1 narrative, stating my goals for my new album, as they still stand.
I have been writing songs (there are nine as of right now, all in different stages) and
once they’re all done and I begin to record, I will choose which ones I want on the album. I
feel like it’s important for there to be a larger story beyond that of the individual songs, and
creating something out of the order and placement of each track is important to me.
Lear
Human Nature
This quarter I completed the writing process of my arrangement of Human Nature for
Jazz Band, High School Strings, and Camerata which will be performed at the concert at the
end of the school year. I went into High School Strings and Jazz Band and got to hear them
play it the first time through. The students gave me notes about things that didn’t work,
and then I created a second revision.
I expect to go back in soon in quarter 4 to see how the progress is coming.
I wrote an arrangement of You Will be Found from the Broadway musical, Dear Evan
Hansen, which will be performed by Camerata at the spring concert. I had an initial
workshop session, made revisions, and have since brought it back in and redistributed. I am
also conducting the song, teaching it to the class while Roger plays piano and notes for me.
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Music Reviews
Every week, Amy gives me, or I choose, an album, EP, or song to listen to. After
listening through a few times, I write a review on my blog. Everything from how I like the
general piece, the artist, or breaking it down into my favorite songs, and why I like them.
Within these blog posts, I include descriptions of the piece, relevant history, and lyrics. I
enjoy this because it is:
1. Broadening my horizons, taste, and understanding of different music.
2. Making me enjoy (most of) the pieces more because I spend more time with them,
and get more familiar with them, an important piece of liking a piece of music. If you
were introduced to a song that was just the sound of a helicopter lifting off the
ground, you would probably hate it as music, because you haven’t been trained to
like that as music.
3. Hearing new music is something I love, and hearing new melodies do things I didn’t
expect. Discovering a new album I really love in this process is really special, the
process of delving so deep into the music gives me a lasting connection with my
favorites. Some of my favorite artists I’ve reviewed are Michael Jackson, (old) Katy
Perry, Joni Mitchell, Roylurr, Lin-Manuel Miranda & Ben Platt, and Jacob Collier.
Blog
Music Dictionary
Music Theory is the construction of concepts and language so that musicians can
spend more time creating, and less time translating and communicating what needs to be
played. It’s every musician's duty to learn the language, and it greatly improves their
understanding of music, and how it can be effective.
All year I have been creating a collection of terms, words, and concepts that bring
together the many things I have been learning this year in a readable, comprehensive
format. This collection strives to bring much of the knowledge I’ve collected in many
different places all to one.
Music Dictionary
Boundless
On February 22, Noah, Amy and I aired the first live episode of BOUNDLESS: A Qplus
Experience. Moving on from our original title, Queer Art Brunch, mostly because no food or
liquid is allowed in the studio, we have developed a show about queer musicians and artists
working in Vermont. Since our first episode, we have interviewed four different artists, and
played countless songs, following new thematic patterns from show to show. At the end of
every interview we ask our guest, on a scale from this to that, how queer are you. An
example would be, on a scale of the Queen of Britain to shelled Pistachios, how queer are
you? My answer right now would be, a freshly vacuumed carpet.
SUBJECT AREAS
ENGLISH
From the L
earning Plan
English Don’t Let Me Fall
Reading A New Album
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, Stage 32 - The Spitfire Grill &
well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. LEAR
- Listening to all varieties of music from Amy’s suggestions. Dance 32
- Books The Writing Band
Expressive Writing Music Reviews
Develop polished written work in a variety of genres following a process of drafting, feedback, and Performance of Original Work
revision. Music Dictionary
- Writing music Human Nature arrangement for
- Writing music reviews HS Music Dept.
Speaking and Listening BOUNDLESS A Qplus Experience
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of discussions, responding thoughtfully to diverse A Midsummer Night’s Dream
perspectives and expressing ideas clearly and persuasively. Music
- Recording, listening to and performing music Voice Study (Writing)
- Speaking during exhibitions Pilot Open Mic
- Performing Stage 32 productions
- Recording radio show, Boundless
Expository Writing
Produce clear and coherent writing for a range of informative and analytical tasks, purposes, and
audiences.
- Writing music, musicals, and music review blurbs.
READING
LEAR
The script for Stage 32’s one-act show, LEAR, has been a work in progress for two
years, finally being brought alive on the stage. Under Noah’s direction, we performed and
created the physical LEAR using his script as a starting point to develop from. The script was
consequential in the creation of this show, and was extremely helpful, not just in telling us
what to say and do, but informing what was most important to the story. It also contained
essential information that allowed me to create music for the show that worked for the
people on the stage, not against them.
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WRITING
LISTENING
Music Reviews
Weekly music reviews have kept me regularly listening to, and critiquing, new music,
a practice that maintains a natural habit to listen critically, whether for enjoyment or
academic study. Either way, the added academic critique adds a layer of depth and more
reasons to enjoy something. While developing an ability to understand all the intricacies of
music, it also gives me the words to explain what I don’t like and informs my own creative
process. Other artists have done so much work already, why wouldn’t you learn from it?
SPEAKING
Agency of Education
After the Independent Learning Summit, I was invited by a woman that works at the
Agency of Education to come speak to the board about Independent Learning Programs,
trying to find a path forward to improve Vermont’s school system. It was a great
opportunity to give back to the learning community which has given me so much and make
a difference for students following in my footsteps through this type of program. I
advocated for Pilot’s success and told them that really what we need is more funding and
widespread support.
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ART
For Pilot Art I am earning 2 credits this year.
For this Pilot Art credit, I am working on 16 different projects.
From the L
earning Plan
Art Don’t Let Me Fall
Developing Craft A New Album
Demonstrate characteristic tone and technique and adapt that tone and technique to the musical Stage 32 - The Spitfire Grill &
context. LEAR
- Writing/producing/mixing/mastering two albums. Dance 32
- Performance of Original Work The Writing Band
PPP (Perform, Present, Produce) Music Suggestions
Expressively perform music, including expression indicated by the composer’s markings. Create Music Director Stage 16
music using a variety of pitch, rhythm, and expressive elements. Art Response
- Performance of Original Work Performance of Original Work
- Stage 32 Spitfire Grill & Lear Human Nature for HS Music
Dept.
Convey meaning through the performance of a scripted or improvised theater work.Convey meaning Logic Pro X Proficiency
through choreography and presentation of a dance piece for a formal audience. King Lear Music
- Stage 32 Spitfire Grill & Lear
Connecting
Connect music to personal meaning: Relate music to personal meaning, both their own and others’.
- Writing Music Reviews of music suggestions.
- Writing a Musical
- Writing new music in LP format.
- Performance of Original Work
Responding
Evaluate artistic work and performance: Evaluate elements of a performance, cite examples to
support their claims, and make suggestions for improvements. Analyze and describe artistic work:
Identify and describe elements of music in the context of an artistic work.
- Writing Music Reviews of music suggestions (Art Response)
DEVELOPING CRAFT
CONNECTING
Music Dictionary
My year-long process is still trudging along as I compile a list of musical ideas,
terms, tables and words which I have been learning through my studies in Pilot, and other
music classes. Connecting all the different things I learn helps me see the larger picture,
bigger than just a class, a study, a project, and helps me understand how everything ties
together in the REAL WORLD.
RESPONDING
Music Reviews
The weekly music reviews I’ve been writing this year are great because they remind
me that I’m not in an artist bubble all alone. Even though Pilot can turn into a little bubble
all alone, it important and gratifying to see that other artists have ideas similar to mine,
similar ambitions, tactics, processes, and growing my knowledge of music is helping me
understand better where I am in the world of music. This is an immense amount of art
responses and I’m so glad I’ve been able to do this so successfully… also, I better get an
award for most art responses in a year ever.
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TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
▿ Writing lyrics often becomes a game of problem-solving, trying to find the right
pattern, cadence, rhythm, theme, rhyme, context. It all needs to flow or else it
sounds forced… then it needs to be good.
▿ With my more expansive understanding of chords, choosing what will accompany my
melody has started to develop, becoming a more complex and layered process
beyond the first thing I play. Understanding the circle of fifths, negative harmony,
the overtone series, and chord gravity have all helped me understand more of how
chords influence emotional value in music and have helped me go deeper into the
magic of music.
▿ Writing the score for Human Nature has been a particular challenge because I don’t
play the majority of the instruments I’m writing for, so I’ve been in close
conversation with David, Roger, and Anne who are helping me create a score which
will work well for our music dept. Music notation is so much about being clear about
what’s to be played, and the way you choose to notate it makes a huge difference.
▿ Learning to conduct better in camerata with You Will Be Found has forced me to
better understand the music I’m teaching, and then use very effective
communication to relay the important moments to the other musicians.
▿ I’ve recorded two people for my new album already, and communicating clearly what
I need to have them sing through examples, and what needs to be fixed is difficult
but good practice. It’s hard to tell your friends that they did something wrong,
especially when they don’t hear it, but if you want it to sound good, you better figure
out how to.
Engaged Citizenship
▿ Creating the music for LEAR and working with Noah to create a sound that helped tell
the story we wanted to tell. The music couldn’t overpower the scene, but it was
essential to its success.
▿ Writing new music, both by myself and with the aid of friends and mentors. Having
other people listen to my music and get their reactions, and having other people
perform on the album itself. Everyone always brings their own style, whether they
mean to or not, and the back and forth between us while creating is a form of
collaboration.
▿ Writing a blog post in response to The New Analog book, and challenging the
concepts Damon Kurkowski brings up within it. Even though I agree with him, I think
there’s a little more to the picture which he doesn’t discuss.
▿ Writing music reviews has pushed me to question and criticize artists who I look up
to, even if I really respect their music.
▿ Having taught myself how to operate MuseScore effectively (notation software) I can
now create arrangements which other musicians can use to play music.
▿ Writing this new album has been a process focused very specifically on what I want
to say at a big turning point in my life. As I leave home for the first time, off on an
adventure to find a new one, I feel like I suddenly have a lot to say, and if I don’t
say it now, it will be too late.
▿ The writing band has taken a lot of perseverance to get in place and having done
that, I’m happy to see it working for me. While in the writing band, I rarely talk to
anyone as it’s really become a time for me to settle into my mind, process my
learning, music, life, whatever, and reflect, reflect, reflect, reflect, reflect.
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Perseverance
This quarter I have persevered in my effort to work more honestly and holistically in my
songwriting practice, and go places I’ve never gone before. I’ve stuck to my promise of
taking risks and stayed true to the parts of my project which are most important to me. I’m
taking stock of everything I want to sound like, I have sounded like, and creating the sound
of my future, learning from my past, and creating at the moment.
Inquiry
This year I taught myself how to use a new digital audio workstation. I got Logic about
halfway through the year, and have committed myself to making it a tool that doesn’t
hinder me but allows me to exploit my full artistic potential. The strength of the program is
truly incredible giving me real-world professional digital experience and supporting my
artistic development unlike any other program I’ve ever used.
Time Management
Time management has become one of the most important pieces of my life, not just
because time always starts to move so quickly in the last quarter, but because all my
projects have been balanced against applying to schools and scholarships. This is a really
important skill, once someone can master their time, all their other tasks become much
easier.
Accountability
Learning to say no takes a lot of strength. Being swamped with projects in the last year has
shown me that committing to too many things means that you can’t do any of them fully, so
knowing when to say yes and no has become much more important to me. At the end of
Stage 16, there was a miscommunication between the teachers and student collaborators
leading to a conflict with the final performances and the auditions for New Englands. This
was a result of double booking, and after I found a solution, I learned a lot about the
importance of double-checking your calendar and being on the same page with your
collaborators about everything. Since then I’ve gotten much better at saying no when I
can’t commit fully to something because I don’t want to be doing anything half-effort. If I’m
doing something, it should be a committed project I’m excited about.
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Demonstration
The nature of project-based learning is that the learning is often documentation of itself, but
I’ve wanted to take a step beyond just doing the work, and demonstrating what can happen
after you’ve made something through performance, presentation, and further learning.
Taking LEAR to one-acts and winning the award for Excellence in Music Creation and
Production was real documentation that the work I’m doing matters beyond my little circle
of friends, teachers, and family.
Self Advocacy
Writing narratives and performing exhibitions are a great learning process, both are a
reflection on what’s been working and not, but their fundamental purpose is to give
students a chance to show the work they’ve done and advocate for their own learning. At
these quarterly points of reflection, advisors and students review how things are going,
review their learning plans and goals, and make sure the study is working in an efficient
manner. This is always a good chance for students to advocate for themselves and this year
my exhibitions have been a great chance to focus on the important pieces of my learning
and study. I’ve become more open to criticism and advice, and have grown the
self-confidence to be emotionally honest with my advisors so that we can all work on the
same page.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
LITERATURE Geoffrey Morrison. Compression is killing your music.
Damon Krukowski. Music Streaming Ian Shepherd. Production Advice. Mastering Media
Damon Krukowski. The New Analog Jacob Collier. Jacob Collier YouTube.
Noah Witke Mele. LEAR Jacob Collier. Interviews 1 & 2
The Women’s Theater. Lear’s Daughters Adam Neely. Adam Neely YouTube Channel.
William Shakespeare. King Lear George Dr. Hess. MuseScore How To Videos.
William Bay. Mel Bay’s Instant Guitar Chord Finder NYT. Shape of You: 2017 Biggest Track
John Powell. Why You Love Music. Logic Pro X. Match EQ Tutorial
Oliver Sacks. Musicophilia Holistic Songwriting:
Damon Krukowski. The New Analog John Mayer. John Mayer’s songwriting style
Ben Porter. Grief Is The Thing With Feathers Adele. How Adele markets herself
William Shakespeare. Midsummer Night’s Dream Taylor Swift. How Taylor Swift writes melodies
Logic Pro X for Dummies. Graham English Ed Sheeran. How Ed Sheeran writes a melody
Essentials of Music Theory Book 3. Andrew Surman, Sia. How Sia Makes You Feel Sad
Karen Surmani, Morton Manus Bruno Mars. How Bruno Mars Wrote 24K Magic
Essentials of Music Notation. Tom Gerou, Linda Lusk John Mayer Berklee Clinic - 2008
Guidelines for Drumset Notation. Norman Weinberg Part 1 Information and Inspiration
Part 2 Defining Your Expectations
PODCAST Part 3 Turning Information into inspiration
Song Exploder Part 4 Economy in Songwriting and Playing
Johann Johansen Part 5 The Dynamic Ceiling of your Solo
Lorde Part 6 Honesty in Songwriting
Lin-Manuel Miranda Part 7 The Songwriting Process
Twenty Thousand Hertz Part 8 Getting Started
Let It Beep Part 9 John Plays
Movie Soundtrack
The Gift Mentors/Advisors
Making Gay History. Ellen Degeneres. Amy Koenigbauer
Homophilia. Joel Kim Booster Roger Grow
NPR Fresh Air Interview of Jonathan Groff Knayte Lander
Chris Blackburn
INTERNET SOURCES Adrian Wade
Alchemy Tutorial Part 4 Brian Divelbliss
Songwriting Tips to Break Habits (video) Laura Abbene
Bruno Mars Production (video) Meg Allison
Logic Synth Machines overview Francesca Blanchard
Logic Smooth Synth(video) Janet Galván
Vocal Synths (video)
Saws Instrument (video) Collaborators/Artists/Inspiration
Jacob Collier Live Performance (Barcelona) Noah Witke
Jacob Collier. Human Nature Arrangement Orlando Grant
The Basics of Mixing Kyley Sullivan
Jacob Collier. #IHarmU Live! 2 Karli Robertson
Jacob Collier. #IHarmU Live! 1 Cameron Roy
Mason Hicks. Audio Compression Basics The Independent Student Initiative
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