Final Post: June 3, 2015 8:20pm "My WISE Eulogy"

Max Shuhan                                                                                                                          Spring, 2015

A Eulogy For My Dearest WISE

 Lately I've begun to realize the effects of my parting from WISE. Sudden tears falling from my eyes as I sulk class to class and walk past my fellow WISEmates in the hall. If there is one thing to remember about WISE, it is the amazing teacher I had. A total rock the house, legit, slappin' Carrie in the face, fist bumpin' teacher named Ms. Lord. I made it a part of each day to go to 7th period and talk to Ms. Lord during the four months we were only required to only go to class once a week. I will miss those 7th periods. Ok, that's enough grief...sniffle sniffle. Peace Ms. Lord.

So I'm about to email my evaluators everything! This is a pretty disorganized last blog entry and I'm scrambling to find meaningful words to say, but all I can think of is...

Signing off!

All the best,
Max Shuhan

Imma keep going, one before signing off

I realize the "This Week's Schedule Post" is not happening since my project is due today. The lack of journals is something I can't really fix at this point. However, that isn't what this post is about.

Although my WISE time is almost over, my project will still continue. July 1st is when I will be releasing my EP with these songs:

Silhouette
Yesterday
Conman
Train Away
Dust Over

Once school is out, I'll have too much time during the days and will be able to finish the above and other songs for my complete album, which I am aiming to release in late July. With this, I will also set of a release show at the Carriage House and be on the radio station 93.5 sometime before then. I think that through my WISE project months, I have learned the basics for recording and now I can take those and use them more efficiently on my own. My soundcloud will be getting updated so, check it out in the near future!

Music, not a fad

One of the things I think I've really come to terms with over the course of my project is the idea of letting go of my own songs. What I mean is not talking about them as MY songs, but instead just songs. Deleting the idea of ownership of your song, as said by Jon Petronzio, makes it more accessible to listeners and more humbling to yourself. With this, I am realizing a big change in my view of music that has occurred over the course of my project.

I came into my project with a vision to become a famous songwriter. The next big pop star. Four months later, I think about that and how much hell famous people must face. Not only that, the music you make becomes a fad and turns into a new popular style, another version of cool and it is more about your stage presence and how much you can get your audience to dance than the actual meaning of the song. Ithaca festival just passed and I saw two of my favorite local bands, Roadman and The Gunpoets. Both groups convey a message of peace and hope and despite the danceable, everyone listening to the music was clearly invested in the message each of the songs and this made me smile. Also, both groups were just as interested in their fans. I'd rather be like.

Plan For This Week

Not completely related to my project, but useful to me right now...

Tuesday:
-Complete written narrative
-three blog posts.

Wednesday:
-Draft an outline of my presentation
-complete three blog posts
-Government paper (3 pages)

Thursday:
-Two blog posts
-Finish Government paper (4 pages)

Friday:
-Rehearse with drummer for Field Day gig
-complete two blog entries

It's June, oh my, oh my, oh my

It's June, and I'm officially nervous. I have a lot to do in oh...three days till my materials are due. Instead of blogging about my procrastinating though, I'm going to write about April's WISE presentation, which I went to today.

April's presentation was in some ways repetitive and dragging. I didn't like that it was essentially a long pros and cons list of everything having to do with her project. Although, the great thing was that she thoroughly revealed her process through her project. I just wish she had more visuals or actual product to show the audience. The fact that she didn't surprised me because she is such a show and tell kind of person. Of course, I was not an evaluator so I have no idea what her journal was like, or what her narrative offered, but I could've used some type of 30 second clip from her show to give me a break from her lecture.

This was not all I thought of her presentation though. I was impressed by her reflection on her process through planning, scheduling,writing, etc. I realized that all of our projects aren't about what we CAN do, but what we CANNOT do and what we LEARN how to do. That it isn't about a final product, but an understanding of process and self, which is something I know I need to greatly reflect on in my presentation.

Dust Over Water

Today I performed, for my class, a song of mine called Dust Over Water. It wasn't my best performance, but still a powerful one for me. It's a song in memory of my Grandmother who passed away last summer and my mother who passed away when I was 5. Dust over water refers to the spreading of ashes over the ocean. Before I started playing, the class was rowdy and cheering on my performance to be. I hate, but love at the same time, being pressured into performing. I told the class the meaning behind the song and performed it. I was struggling to get through the song. I don't know why, maybe it was an off day, however, I finished it and opened my eyes to the class, which was dead silent and just staring at me. I didn't know what that meant. There wasn't a sudden rush to applause or a "wow" from the audience. Instead, just medium faces staring at me or down into their palms. I'm going to interpret this experience as a good one and assume my classmates were in a state of musical trance, which caused them to immediately reflect to themselves at the sound of silence when the song finished. It reminded me of when I did spread those ashes many years ago. Everyone silent, patient and breathing in their calmest state.

Preparing For a Very Near End

My presentation is in exactly two weeks! I had a mentor meeting today and I discussed thoroughly with Mr. Mellander about my presentation. It was good to get more of his insight given his past experiences with WISE students.  He told me the most important thing to keep in mind for my presentation was reflecting on my self exploration through this project. As I continue to form a more specific and detailed outline of my presentation, I'll reflect more on this...

So, my materials are due next week since they must be submitted a week in advance to my presentation. YIKES! This week I really need to buckle down on my journaling and try to pump out a lot of meaningful and useful entries. On a similar note, my field day performance is also coming up and I found out that the bass player (my brother) will be out of town from now until June 8th, which is 4 days before field day. This means rehearsing for this gig is going to be rushed, but without a doubt, still lots of fun.

Boom, Recording Drums

For the past few days, I've been messing around in my home studio with microphones and Ableton and figuring out how to record drums for my tracks. It turned out to be successful and I've decided to record all drums myself instead of hiring someone. Although I am not an incredibly skilled drummer, I can still get by with basic pop beats and comping. I posted a snippet of my song She's Gone Away on sound cloud and the drums on that are all me and only using two microphones!

Here is a picture of my makeshift mic placement for the kick drum. That's a Shure SM56 mic, which is primarily used as a vocal mic. I recorded snare and hi-hat with a Shure SM57 mic, which is standard for snare and hi-hat, but not both at the same time! However, the result sound wasn't that bad.

Excuse the silly shirt! It was comfortable in the heat during that day!

Final Presentation Ideas

It's been a while since my last entry…I've been thinking about what my final presentation will look like and exactly what it is that I want to present. It has become clear to me through fellow students' ideas that I need to perform at least one of my songs live. I think I need to explain the inspiration of my songs and their tie to our WISE curriculum. Here's a list of possible ideas to include in my presentation:

-play pieces of at least two of my songs and explain their meaning through the 'Journey' unit (10 min)
-explain how I adapted to working with another great artist, recorded, and learned how to use Ableton
-explain the difficulty and nature of writing music to fit modern pop sounds
-discuss the difficulty of overcoming obstacles such as money, time commitments, scheduling and creativity

IC Journal Reviewing

Your journal = the LONE document for showing your learning & doing over time.   

• Can a reader “see” your 8hrs/wk?  
• What do you document well?  
• In what areas do you need improved communication in your journal?

I don't think I really map out my 8 hours per week well enough. I say what I've done and what I plan to do, but I never really give exact times and such. I document in class journals well and also reflect on my music well. I also give updates on the recording sessions and complain about expenses that come with that. I think I can improve showing the progression of my work throughout each week, which would improve with more consistent journaling and explaining each of the 8 hours or more that I've done.

Out of da Rut

A list reflecting on my journal so far...

Things I hate in relation to my project:

-Money, much more than I originally anticipated spending

-The fact that I can only work when my creative impulses are present, pushing songs when it doesn't feel natural gets tiring and frustrating 

-Journaling, although I recognize the value of it, it's still a pain inthe butt to get it done 3 times a week

-Working around other peoples' schedules. My project is dependent on a couple people who I have to constantly be scheduling with to meet and record

Things I've learned about myself in working on my project:

-I like working alone and at my own pace

-I 

Home Studio

  

This week my parents bought me a laptop and I downloaded Ableton on it. This is a picture of my home set up where I'll be working by myself to better understand Ableton and hopefully record various tracks for my album. 

IC: Happiness Revisited

Responses to questions regarding a reading we had in class titled Happiness Revisited by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

1. When do you feel most happy?

I feel happiest when I'm alone or with someone I can easily talk and relate to. Being social is fun, but being calm and alone is what makes me comfortable and in a state of happiness. 

2. Reaction/Response to article?

Like the Beatles said, "Money can't buy you love" I agree with the the authors idea that happiness is not an object or fortune, but something built in our core waiting for us to understand and develop. 

He says, "People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy." 

I react to this in thinking of the passing of my mom, a loss I've been able to control within me and accept. This memory has led me to understand sadness, which in turn, I think, allowed me to know when I wasn't feeling sad and recognize when I smile and feel happy. 

3. I think I fall around A1 on the flow chart, but over the course of my project I've moved closer to A4 where I've become more anxious to get things done and not fall behind while devoping more skill sets and facing bigger challenges.

4. How can you achieve flow?

I think achieving flow happens when I realize that I'm not in the  'flow' and from there, changing my mind set to see things from afar and reflect on my progress. Deep breathes...

Recording Session #4

Yesterday I recorded more guitar tracks on songs Conman and Train Away. I also recorded hand percussion and bass on those tunes. It became clear during this session that my album would not be done by June 1st. Between Jp's an my schedule, we will probably have all the tracks recorded for all the songs, but the final mix will not be ready. Despite my original wishes to have it finished before the school year ended, I am ok with it not being complete because I have already learned so much about Ableton, writing pop music, recording music and without a doubt, the value of the dollar!

I've updated my sound cloud with some of the recordings from this past session. Checkem' out!

This Week's Review

As this week concludes, I am writing to reflect on my proposed agenda:

-buy Ableton (completed)
-complete the 24 journals requirement that was due this week (eh, still getting there)
-update bibliography (completed)
-set up performance dates (completed)
-record bass (postponed to next week due to bass player's schedule)


I am about to go to my next recording session and there I think I'll complete percussion, guitar and hopefully some vocals. I'm happy with the progress I've made this week. I think I've become more excited about journaling and its importance. I also got out of Red Flag class, which I'm going to miss :( , but this also means I have more time to work on my project outside of school.


For hands-on work, I've been practicing guitar and coming up with riffs to record on my songs. Tomorrow I have to bring something from my project for sharing.  I'm going to bring my guitar and perform a song...don't know which yet! Probably my song called Dust Over Water, a song I wrote in memory of my Grandmother who passed away last summer.


I'll be posting later to talk about my recording session...see yah!

Field Day Concert?

Today I had my mentor meeting with Mr. Mellander. I was discussing with him the fact that I've been choosing dates to have my album release concert at the Carriage House. I told him I was looking into Friday, June 12th and we realized that was the last day of classes for IHS, the day of Field Day. Then the idea came up that I have my album release concert at Field Day! This could either be on a field or in the Activities building. It would be a free and great way to attract a crowd and provide entertainment. I'd rather do this than spend $400 dollars renting out a space, plus it would be an awesome way to promote WISE in front of all the students. It would be a mixed audience of teachers and students, which would also be super dooper! I'll post updates on the planning process of this...

Meanwhile, downloading Ableton will have to wait till next week because my computer at my house conveniently isn't working/is broken in several different ways. Next week, I believe Cornell is having a Mac sale and my family and I will most likely go purchase a new computer and I will start my home studio experience.

Still catching up with journals...stay tuned.

Comfort Zone

Today was all about recognizing our comfort zone and getting out of it! We listened to an NPR interview with Brian Grazerdo, an accomplished producer and film maker. However, despite the fact that he has everything need met, he still lacks a certain excitement that allows him to grow as a person. Grazerdo pushes himself to do things out of his comfort zone as a means to feel alive. A quote from his essay, "If you're not growing, you're dying."

This makes a lot of sense to me. I believe in the idea that while life is in our hands, why not take advantage of it?! I want to continue growing and I think my music reflects this in a way.

Speaking of music, Ms. Lord shared my song Yesterday with the class today. I certainly felt uncomfortable. I don't know why. I love sharing my music with people, but usually when I do it is through email or dropbox. Actually having an audience to listen with was a little weird because everyone including me was listening to me. I wasn't performing, I was listening to me performing...which was weird! Afterwards, however, my classmates were supportive and I awkwardly said "thank you" and "it's fun to do!" I even got emotional comments that provoked tears. This made me most happy. The most powerful music is music that makes you cry because tears and a feeling of sadness of whatever it is that makes you cry is so often covered up by our 'default joy' as I call it. In other words, tears are evoked by a much powerful feeling than our everyday character. So when someone cries in response to my songs, it means a lot.

This weeks agenda/goals:

-buy Ableton
-complete the 24 journals requirement that was due this week
-update bibliography
-set up performance dates
-record bass

Catching Up

It has been a while since my last entry. This week I'll be posting entries from the past two weeks. However, this post will be in relation to last week's class and reflecting on our 'project practicing' and motivation. The practicing for my project includes writing music, learning how to use Ableton and journaling. The area where I need to 'practice' more is in journaling. In relation, the area I need to put more motivation into is also my journal. In class, we read a New York Times article called Need Motivation? Declare a Deadline, by Phyllis Korkki. It was suggested in the article to motivate yourself to meet deadlines by posting a deadline on a social media site like Facebook or Twitter. That way everyone knows what you're up to and will be expecting something from you by that deadline. I have neither of those social websites so I'll be posting a weekly agenda/goal to motivate myself to blog and meet deadlines. I'll be posting again later tonight with this agenda.

RF #4

I've been slow this week. I'm in a stage where the majority of the time I spend on my project is recording in the studio. These hours are spent during the weekend, but my recording engineer is currently out of town on family business. However, I have a mentor meeting tomorrow and since the beginning of the week I've been working on orchestrations for my songs meaning writing horn lines, organ riffs, bass lines. Research-wise, I'm working on finding possible venues for an album release concert.
a. I'll have time this weekend to finish my funding proposal.
b. I'll have time to work on the interim narrative this weekend as well and also next week.
c. I'll discuss the self-rating in my mentor meeting next week.

IC Journal: Gleaning From the Past

Música Del Corazón (Music of the Heart) Project Material by Cam Suave My teacher, Ms. Lord, lent me a past student's (Cam Suave) project to look at and learn from. His project was to record a rap album with a friend of all original material.

Here is what I thought of his project:

 What they did well:
-thorough and timely journaling
-a clear transformation in learning and musical ideas throughout project
-organized and completed weekly plans
 
What I'll borrow from this project:
-Reaching out to Mr. Fe Nunn for feedback and any help he offers towards my project

"Yesterday"

Below (in my last post) is a rough cut of one of my songs "Yesterday". The recording is still missing bass, guitar and a lot of extra fun musical stuff, but I thought it'd be good to allow everyone to hear a bit of what I'm doing. This tune is about lost chances and looking forward to new ones, which in the case of this song, are expressed through love. I don't have much else to say, but that this song makes me feel and move inside. Through writing it, I think I've learned not to take things for granted. Enjoy and comment any thoughts/ advice if you'd like.

Piano/ Voice: Max Shuhan
Keyboard Drums: Jon Petronzio

"Yesterday" (Song)

Studio Weekend #1

Just finished my first two days (total 11 hours) in JP's studio. Successfully finished the piano and some keyboard drum tracks. Next weekend, I'll be recording my brother Sam track the bass parts and I'll continue to finalize electronic drums, add Wurlitzer, Rhodes, Synth and voice. Now I'm gonna get some sleep! 

Red Flag #3

This week I've spent about 6 hours on my project. I had my weekly mentor meeting and have been working on how to fund my project, setting myself a $1000 budget. I created a Go Fund Me page, have been researching and comparing costs between various CD printing websites. In my meeting with Mellander, he wanted to know about the separate costs of my project, studio time, musician fees, etc. This weeks meeting was mostly a check in. I have my first recording session tomorrow and after that, I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about with Mellander and will hopefully have a snippet from the session to show him and maybe post on my blog.

As usual, I haven't blogged yet this week. I'll complete this weeks entries within the next few days when I have more time and a recording session to talk about! As far as the fulfillments of the requirements for this week go, I think my work is good. I've been making steps to get more organized with a serious and expensive project. I overlooked some of the budget conflicts earlier in the game and now I realize the importance of knowing how much money I should be planning on spending through this project.

Next week is break and I plan to work on organizing, completing and formatting this blog to meet the requirements for class.

Go Fund Me

http://www.gofundme.com/supportmyalbum


This is a url to a donation website to help fund my project. I have set a $1000 budget for my project. This would help cover the cost of studio time, fees for guest musicians and CD replicating/packaging.

Writing my own "Gravity"

I've been working to finish all the songs for my album. I'm down to the last two, but especially stuck on one of them. I'd like my album to not be completely songs in 4/4 meter and so I decided to write a slow 6/8 song. How hard could that be? I started listening to the one song that I knew would be a good inspiration for me, Gravity by John Mayer. It was hard to go from listening to writing and not constantly hearing Mayer's melody in my head. I was told once that good songwriters create something original, but great songwriters take someone else's idea and make it sound like their own. I haven't found truth in this message yet, but it makes sense to me away from my writing and instruments.
I believe that you cannot force a song out of you. A song writes itself and it comes like waves, in and out of your mind. I've also learned through creating this song that I can force a message into a song. A song is, in a sense, out of my control and I am just the deliverer of the song. I've tried to write lyrics that revolve around my idea of hope, but they don't sound right. I don't know where this will take me, but I'm certainly feeling the gravity of this song. Maybe that's what the song is about.

Barnsong

In Class #2

In class on Monday, Ms. Lord showed us a WISE project from a number of years ago called "Barnsong". It was a documentary film created by one student of another student's project, which was to build a barn from scratch. Scratch meaning cut down the trees, plank the wood, and build the structure. After watching the film, we were asked to write on two questions:

1. What do you better understand from watching this film?

2. What questions do you have?

3. What do you think about your project?

Through watching the film, I was inspired by the barn builder's desire to support his passion for building and his determination to get through any obstacles in his way. I can relate this to my own project in that, both me and the builder faced problems with a budget. I am still trying to figure out costs and funding for my album. Learning about the student's struggles has given me a push to get the funding process over with and move on to the fun stuff.

Thinking about Recording

On Friday, I met with local song-writer and musician Jon Petronzio. He is a former memeber of the band "Revision" and currently plays with "John Brown's Body" and his own project project called "Roadman". JP will be helping me record and edit my album. In our meeting, we talked about how we'd go about recording and a general timeline of the process. I'd be recording in his home studio and lay down my solo tracks first (piano, guitar and voice) then we would invite other musicians in to record the bass, horn and drum tracks separately.

I played JP a few of the songs I'll be putting on the record and he was very supportive with my work and I felt right at home in his studio. I'm excited to continue working with him. He is very easy going and passionate about music.

I'll be doing my first recoring sessions on March 27, 28 and 29. Hopefully, within those three days I'll record all of my tracks and maybe get my brother, who will be playing bass on the album, to begin recording.

My Hope

My original intention for my album was to write lyrics and music that inspire a feeling of hope for me and the listener. I reached a point in my lyric writing where I felt my words were too uplifting and I started to question how much (possibly too much) hope I was actually conveying. I got stuck with writer's block I guess and saw my lyrics to be something as if I was preaching. I think hope is an important feeling to have because it's what gives us desire and encouragement to move forward. So, I started thinking, what is it in music that inspires the feeling of hope? I realized after listening to a couple of my favorite artists, John Mayer, Sara Bereilles and Allen Stone, that hope didn't have to be generated from happiness. Hope can come from anywhere. I felt hope from sad songs, anger songs and songs about confusion too. For me, if I can relate to the music, whether that be through lyrics or music, and can listen and gain some sense of mutual understanding between me and the musician, that gives me a feeling of support, which in return makes me feel hopeful for myself and others. It may seem like what I'm feeling is happiness, but it is actually something much different. It is a wish or goal that I seek out of the music; albiet, something I can use to fix situations in my life and feel that tomorrow is in fact another day to look forward to.

Please comment below on how music inspires hope for you. I'd love to see how others feel and try to use your feedback as a means to make my album more relatable to you as a listener.

Learning About Copywriting

On Tuesday I called my Aunt Celia, a jazz musician based in Wisconsin, to ask her about copywriting through the Library of Congress. She has done several recording projects before and has copyrighted her work. She encouraged me to read the Library of Congress' copywriting page and through that I discovered that there are multiple different ways to submit one's material whether is be as a whole 'collection' of songs, individual songs, an album or album under a band. Each option comes with different copyrights and fees. I havent decided what I'll choose yet, but it was still good for me to learn that I should take the copywriting process carefully and seriously. The copyright office website is helpful and easy to follow. I'll need to make an account through the Library of Congress in order to begin the process.

I also asked my aunt where she got her CD's duplicated, printed, etc. She emailed me the website of the business that she uses. http://www.sooperdooper.net/

I scoped around at the different design and prices. This business is definitely one I'll consider when entering the CD making process. 

RF Entry

RF Entry

I just got back home after driving 13 hours from Bloomington, Indiana where I completed my last college audition! However, I was still able to get work done during my stay there. This is a 'red flag' entry where I specify what I did and how much time I spent towards my project this past week.

Overall, I spent around 13 hours on my project this week. Most of that time went into songwriting and documenting my lyrics and chord progressions. I also had my first mentor meeting on Wednesday, in which I discussed with my mentor how I'll go about organizing my project over time and what each of our expectations were of each other throughout our meetings and project.

I've also been doing a lot of listening to artists such as Sara Bareilles, John Mayer and Allen stone to be inspired by lyrics and song form. Although each artist is so different, I am incredibly moved by each one's music and take aspects from it all to weave into my own writing.

I missed the RF class on Thursday because I was traveling to Indiana, but besides from missing out on that I think my work so far is good. I just need to start setting recording dates. This next week will be a test of my communication, organization and planning skills as I contact various musicians to settle rehearsing and recording times.

Silhouette,an album name?

So far so good. I am working on finding times and a space to begin recording. I've finished writing 5 songs that follow the theme of my project. I have also decided to name the project and album "Silhouette" because I've been writing lyrics that encourage us to look deeper into ourselves and others. A silhouette only allows us to see the outline of an object and symbolically I think the music takes you past that and into something more clear and meaningful.

Two Week Plan

In these next two weeks, I am extremely busy with finishing up my last college audition! However, I plan to work on a song list and set up dates and times for recording and rehearsing. I also need to make solo recordings to send to the musicians so they can practice my songs and play along. Very excited!

Welcome, The First Post

Dear Reader,

Through my project, I want to create an album that expresses hope and words that people can’t find when they’re ‘down’. I also want to prove to my parents that songwriting is truly a passion of mine and something I can do well. I fear it will be a struggle to get through portions of this project because I’ll have to put, at many times, it on the front burner, which would then interview with other priorities of mine, work or other music obligations. I think it will be difficult to manage time between all the activities I do. Time management will be most important for completing my project and maintaining a good relationship with my parents and teachers.

Creating an album has always been on my list of things to do and since I have the time this semester and enough material to record, I thought why not?! I am truly excited because I have love and support from my brother, who is willingly putting forth his time to record with me. He has always understood my love for songwriting and I want to prove to him, as well, that this is a dream of mine.