Busy week, Crazy workload, but still getting things done

Last week was a really busy week for me. I had two final exams for my AP finals and two unit tests to study for. With all of that work, I haven't had a chance to blog for a while. Although I haven't blog anything, I continued producing music. Each day after school, I went to library with my labtop, and studied for the finals until midnight. I was studying two hours straight, than took a thirty minute break and kept repeated that. I was working on my music piece during my break. The presentation date is getting closer, so I have to invest more time doing my project. Getting the finals done will allow me to spend more time in my project from now on.

Presentation Date in Scheduled!!

WISE presentation is coming up!!! It is on May 22th, 7pm-8:30pm at IHS York Lecture Hall at K building. It is a presentation that WISE students present to their teacher, mentor, and other friends what they have done over the last semester. I ams so excited but worried at the same time!!!!

Do I need a Fancy Stage Name?

Do I need a Fancy Stage Name? A lot of musicians, maybe all musicians use stage name that express their music style and identity instead of their real name. Even my friend Jon, who's doing a similar project to mine has his own DJ name called Wishbone. I think stage name is a great way to give listeners initial impression. If I decide using one, I want a name that tells about me and my style. Looks like lots of brainstorming work is coming up~

Design & print your own CD Label & Cover

Since my last step of my WISE project is to make an actual CD that has my songs in it, I will have to burn CDs and design the label and cover eventually. I am not that far to consider that yet, but I just found this You Tube clip while web searching in my spare time. This video demonstrates how to design CD cover using Photoshop and actually print it on a burned CD.

Step Up 4

This is THE MOVIE to watch if you like dance and music. People who are looking for good plot or moral lessons, this isn't the best movie. People who want visual and audio entertainment, like AMAZING visual and audio entertainment, HERE IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER. This movie is releasing July 27th, 2012 apparently my 18th birthday. This is going to make my birthday much more amazing. Can't wait!!

Summer school!!

Link: http://www.ithaca.edu/gps/summer_college/threeweek/protoolsDecription/

Guess I don't have to wait until next September for music classes in IC!!!
After realizing how I can take music classes in Ithaca College recently, I have looked through their website and research the possible courses I can take next year and found this summer course open for high school students.
This 3 week session teaches students how to record and produce digital music using Pro tools. I am definitely going to take this course this summer learning music production in more advance. 

Music Courses in IC next year!!

As a senior, I am getting ready for college next year. I am planning to spend my first year in Ithaca College then Transfer to Cornell University the next year. Today, I visited Ithaca College to figure out more about the school that I will spend in my first year of college life.
Ithaca College is nationally well known for its music programs. I am not majoring any music related majors in IC but in today's college visit, I figured out that non-music students can also take music courses for elective credits. I am excited for next year's music courses that I will take in Ithaca College because I am willing to continue music making as a hobby even after this WISE project is done.
 

Dubstep made using Music Maker 17!!!

I wanted to share this video because I am currently having hard time making a dubstep piece using my software. I blamed that my software is not a good source to make dubstep music with but I guess not!!
This video shows how Music Maker can produce a great dubstep song. I guess I will have to work more use videos like this as inference.

Need Decent Headphone!!

I have been using my 30 dollars worth earphone for my project so far and I thought that was good enough until I borrowed my friends headphone when I forgot mine. I was surprised how different my music sounded with his headphone and that made me seriously consider buying a decent headphone. However, good headphones are generally over 100 dollars so I will have figure a way to make money quickly to buy one.....Stressed

Detailed tutorial I found in Youtube

This video is one of the tutorial video I found in Youtube. I like this one better than any other videos because this one actually goes step by step from the beginning to end actually making the song instead of explaining the functions. I felt this will be a very good source to share to other people like me who have little or no experience in music producing.
This is also a good source for inspiration. I personally like the music he made while explaining the functions. I am also making a rock music for my project so this is a good example for me to compare and improve my piece.    

2012 Cornell University Korean Culture Night Performance

My time and effort on hard practices finally paid off!!
2012 Cornell University Korean Culture Night April 14th, 7:30pm at Duffield Hall, Cornell University

One of the dance crew I am in (E.Motion) and I performed tonight at Cornell for approximately 7 minutes front of Korean American Students in Cornell University. The one in the far right on top and the sixth one from the left on the bottom is me.
As I already mentioned the connection of this to my WISE project in earlier posts, I am very excited to successfully complete the performance.
Now that I am done with one of my major time consuming activities, I can focus more in my WISE project.

What I have done so far...

My WISE project can so far break up into two parts: learning about the functions and applying those  features making short music pieces. Once I was done exploring the functions, I moved on to the next part, actually making short music pieces. So far I have three music projects approximately one minute each. One rock piece where I have the drum, guitar and bass thinking how to blend in the keyboard, once electro/R&B style that I am working to make a repeating hook that would stick in people's ear and one dubstep piece that I only have few beats only.
The progression is great, I talk to my mentor once a week, sharing suggestions and improving each pieces together, but the pace of the work have to fasten up to meet my final goals, making an album amount of music pieces.    

Minor Injury during Tennis...

While today's tennis practice, I slightly sprained my right wrist. It is not that big of a deal, and it will heal in few days, but I won't be able to practice for my upcoming dance performance. On the other hand, i will be resting dance practice and tennis practice for several days, giving me extra spare time that I can work on my WISE project. I am in a ambivalent state, happy that I have extra time for my WISE project as well as worried for my absence in dance and tennis practice.  

Frustrated...

I am very frustrated for the massive amount of work that I have to do...

To be honest, my WISE project is far behind compare to my expectations because it took much more time for me to learn about the software features that what I have expected. However, I can't invest all of my time in WISE project to catch up because I have lots of other works to do.
Currently, I am practicing for the upcoming dance performance at Cornell, as well as daily tennis practice after school for Varsity Tennis team. I even work during weekends in a restaurant to pay for my expenses. On top of that, I am taking 3 AP courses, that I have to study to prepare for the upcoming AP exams in May. With all of these works to do, I am having hard time investing time and effort into my WISE project. I am very frustrated right now and I need a plan!!!

Dance Practice

Practicing for the upcoming dance performance.

Practicing for the Dance Performance at Cornell

I have been part of the Cornell University dance crew call "E.Motion" since last year. E.Motion is a K-Pop/Hip-hop dance crew in Cornell that performs annually for several Cornell events. As a member of E.Motion, I have performed several times before, and we are now practicing for our next performance, 2012 Cornell University Korean Culture Night at April 14th.
This dance performance is very related to my project because music and dance is a very related field in general.  In addition, my interest in music and music production came from my dance experiences because I have always wanted to dance on my own song.
Practicing for the performance takes up most of my free time, not allowing me invest more time for music production, but its experience is a huge part of the WISE project as well. This can be a macro-research of my project where connect my project to other related fields.

Breaking the Comfort Zone

Link of Brain Grazer's NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5508283


Brian Grazer, a TV and film producer talked about breaking out of his comfort zone, trying and challenging new fields in NPR.
He emphasizes the point how life is endless and restless challenge. He paraphrased one of the biologist's quote: "if you are not growing, you are dying." saying challenging and staying out of the comfort zone is the best way to know to keep growing.


I think the reason why we heard this NPR in WISE class was to explain the core purpose of the WISE project. WISE project is meant to encourage students to disrupt their comfort zone, making students challenge in a field that they are interested, but haven't yet tried.
I also agree with B. Grazer on the importance of disrupting the comfort zone. Life is all about interacting with new things: new people, new ideas and new environments. If people are afraid of trying interacting with new things, there won't be any improvements and life would be meaningless.


My WISE project also follows his idea of disrupting the comfort zone. I am trying to produce music, which is what I have been interested for a long time, but haven't had a chance to explore. There are obstacles that I face as I explore, but even those processes all build up as a part of my experience, enriching my ability and shaping my identity.