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.