Final Post

Well the final post is here. This project has seemed to go by fairly quickly and I'm surprised that we have only had a total of six blog posts, but the end is here and I plan to reflect. Looking back at my original goal, I intended to read all of Walden by Thoreau and learn the piece Ah Spring by Chris Thile on mandolin. I'd say this goal was partially achieved. I managed to get through a decent amount of Walden, but I have yet to finish as I have been lacking free time to read over the past month. I have, however, learned how to play the mandolin piece, even though I cannot perform it optimally. I believe that I would have enjoyed more success by this point if I had only chosen one of these activities, but I still have enjoyed success in a different manner: I now am more skilled at playing the mandolin and enlightened by the words of Thoreau.

Here is a reflection I wrote for my English class on the project, so disregard the numbers. If you are interested, check out the video of my playing at the bottom of this post.

(1.) I intended to read Walden by Henry David Thoreau and learn the song, Ah Spring, by Chris Thile on Mandolin. I’ve read about five-eighths of Walden – which has been a very enlightening endeavor – and have learned the majority of the song on mandolin, yet, I still cannot perform it optimally.
(2.) This project was a medium through which I could relax and enjoy activities of my interest. I found peace in reading and learning to play a fun piece gave me happiness. I have also spent much more time outside, enjoying the simple things of nature, because of Thoreau. The impact of my activities may have only been felt by my family and friends, who have had either the pleasure or misfortune of hearing me play the mandolin. An appreciation of nature and folk music could be taught to the community, which could only cause them to unplug from society and enjoy the world.
(3.) The primary roadblock associated with this project was time. During class at the end of the day, it was hard to focus on reading, so I often just wrote blog posts. This part of the year has also been fairly intense with papers and projects for different classes, so the amount of free time I could have allocated to working on these activities was fairly limited. During some periods of free time, it has been difficult to motivate myself to perform these activities, usually because I was tired and not seeking focus-intensive venues.
(4.) I learned from my roadblock that in order to accomplish some extracurricular goal, frequent effort must still be exerted, even though the activity may seem like a break from what is normal.
(5.) The thing about this kind of learning that works best for me is how I was able to choose the content that I studied. Having a passion for what I learned really improved my enthusiasm and allowed me to showcase some of my individuality that would have otherwise been unexploited through traditional coursework.
(6.) The thing about this kind of learning that is a challenge for me is scheduling/making a plan to achieve the ultimate goal. This isn’t really that difficult, but it would have been helpful to schedule smaller goals over shorter intervals of time, so that the ultimate goal of my project would have been effectively reached.
(7.) My project is somewhere in between success and failure. I definitely accomplished learning a new piece and reading Walden, however I cannot say that I truly finished either.
(8.) I spent about one hour per week working on my 20-Time project, not including blog posts.
(9.) This project definitely connected with the multiple traits of the IB Learner Profile. One trait with which it connected was balance. It allowed me to explore an activity that I enjoy while alleviating my stress from the other work of school. Through this, I think I achieved a fair amount of intellectual and emotional balance. Communication was another trait that was inherently connected to the 20-Time Project Fair. Next, thinking is a trait I would definitely associate with learning a new instrument and reading a classic work – especially with the latter, as I tried to critically analyze some of the philosophies presented by Thoreau. Finally, I would say that I was also reflective throughout this project, especially with Walden because I applied Thoreau’s criticisms of late-1800s, “modern,” American society to my own life, through which I have been able to notice my excessive lifestyle and change to be able to enjoy simpler, more natural things.
(10.) What I did at the 20-Time Project Fair was relevant to communication skills that are typically associated with English class. Convincing others of what can be learned from reading Walden and learning to play mandolin enhanced my public-speaking and communication abilities as both a student, teacher, and marketer.
(11.) Some advice for teachers: 
Stressing the idea that the project should cover one activity would have resulted in greater success in my case, although not necessarily more enjoyment/fulfillment. I think the competitive aspect of the project should not be emphasized, as it seems to give the impression that some projects are of more worth than others; the project should be for one’s self, not necessarily for the acceptance or popularity it may receive from others. Overall, I believe that this process was handled very smoothly for its first year.
(12.) Some advice for students:
I think if students treat the project as seriously as they do their other work, they will enjoy more success in the end. Focusing on one activity would be more fulfilling in the long run, as that one topic could probably be explored in greater depth than two combined. I would also suggest that students do something considerably different than what they would be able to do in school. The less the project feels like work, the more enjoyable it will be every week.
(12.) Will I continue this through the summer? Yes. Walden seems too great of a work to leave unfinished, and I want to experience it in its entirety. The work may also provide me a great mentality and questions to ponder while I am doing other things this summer. I will also continue to play mandolin throughout the summer because it is a very enjoyable pastime and elevating my musical prowess has its own plethora of rewards. I will be attending music camp in Maine, so it is likely that I will bring my mandolin there to practice. Additionally, its small size makes it very convenient to play at any time, so if it is out of its case in my house, I am probably going to pick it up and play something.

Video:

As you can tell, it is still a bit rusty. More practice over the summer will lead to improvement -- I'm sure of it,

Thanks again for reading this blog. This has been a swell time.

Peace.
Connor

 

This is my first post since the 20-Time Project Fair, which I believe went really well. I found myself talking about mandolin more than Walden, probably because I was holding and playing the instrument and it acted as the focal piece of my presentation. I played a medley of about four different tunes, primarily showcasing the one that I have been learning by Chris Thile, for any passerby that stayed longer than the duration of that piece. After repeatedly performing the piece for different people, I noticed a few things that I still need to work on.

(1.) Speed. This could have arisen from a lack of technique or from nervousness in playing for multiple people, but I found that I often let the tempo of what I was playing get away from me, and the tune would get faster and faster. This can make for an exciting jig or reel, but at times, I simply could not keep up with myself and had to stop playing to collect my hands and start playing again. Maintaining a slower tempo could have resolved this, but it also revealed to me some of my technical limitations in my hands.

(2.) Synergy between the hands. I noticed that at my increased speeds that my playing decomposed because my left and right hands became separated in the music. While an accident/limitation here, it’s something that I wish I were better at doing on the bass. When the hands are no longer together, I can no longer play the correct notes and the music sounds like nothing. This is a sign that I need to practice more slowly and meticulously on things like scales and other technical exercises in order to prepare a piece like this; both hands need to be able to perform more quickly and precisely before they will be more effective at working together.

Walden proved difficult to explain to people, so I resorted to telling them my reasoning for enjoying the work and continuing to read it. While talking, I learned that one thing about Walden that I find so attractive is the simplicity and solitude of Thoreau’s life – reading it has a relaxing effect on me, which has shown to be quite necessary at this time of the year. Like Thoreau finds solitude in nature on Walden Pond, I find solitude in his writing, as if I am really there with him.

The written content would likely seem mundane to most, but I have noticed that even the simple things of which Thoreau writes usually carry larger meanings. In the most recent chapter, he has discussed the husbandry associated with beans, and nothing else except those beans. He discusses how economics has transformed agriculture from a sacred art to a business that causes farmers to live the meanest of lives: “He knows Nature but as a robber.” Farmers, like Thoreau himself now, should receive the bountiful energy of the sun with a corresponding trust and magnanimity by seeing that their work holds value in areas other than their profit from grain. The woodchucks and birds benefit from the non-valuable parts of the crop, as well any growing weeds; a true husbandman will cease from anxiety when he relinquishes all claim to the produce of the fields to Nature – in his mind, sacrificing the fruits of his labor.

A very interesting and outlandish suggestion by today’s standards, but I believe that living such a life would be mentally fruitful. If only such simplicity could be experienced and relished by most as Thoreau has.

Finally, here is a picture of me from the 20-Time Fair:

Cheers.

A Brief Update - Upcoming Pitch

This weekend has been incredibly hectic with the Michigan Youth Arts Festival at Western Michigan University, at which I learned much about the arts, but little about mandolin specifically, as apparently few of my peers have attempted to learn the instrument. I have been practicing the piece in preparation for the Pitch event on Tuesday of this week, although I'm unsure if I'll be able to perform it in its entirety. Bringing my picking speed up to the proper tempo has been the most difficult aspect of learning the piece so far, as the strings are all of the same elevation off the fingerboard due to the instrument's flat bridge unlike standard string instruments, which have curved bridges and varied string heights to facilitate bowing. This makes it a bit tricky to simply know where my hand is in relation to each string without looking and subsequently affects my precision. Development of my muscle memory should continue to come with practice and will hopefully make the notes sound a bit cleaner and easier to play.


I'll see you at the Pitch
Maybe.

Visitors and Some Progress

The past couple weeks have been fairly rough regarding school work and papers, so I have had little time to read or practice, but my skill on the mandolin piece has not waned and has stayed at about the same level that I had left it before. I hope you were able to listen to the YouTube video posted on the last blog post to get a feel for the piece. If you would like to listen to the official recording, it is on Chris Thile's album entitled Stealing Second, which can be found on the Internet in various locations.

In the most recent chapter of Walden, Thoreau discusses the visitors that he has at his home on the pond. The way he describes himself is that he is a very introverted character, and when he is questioned about his hermit lifestyle by others wondering how he can live without the company of others nearby, he replies that in comparison to the scale of the cosmos and the distances between planets, he is already very close to other humans. Where I have recently left off, Thoreau is describing a Canadian lumberjack that he had met and his perfect simplicity, debating with himself as to whether it is the result of humble and uncanny intellect or just poor wits. There is a strange beauty to this character that Thoreau's superfluous descriptions seem to dance around, but I will get back to it later as I continue on.

Good night.

Seers, Sounds, and Solitude

   Spring break was a fairly relaxing time. I spent many days in Washington D.C. and the surrounding cities, but sadly left my mandolin behind. I still managed to practice a bit both the day before I left and the weekend of my return to Midland. In the solitude of my room, I nearly mastered the first page as I mindlessly played the refrain over and over, hoping the sun would peak through the eclipsing grey overcast of the day. Here is an excerpt of the song - as played by a mandolinist of YouTube - that I promised weeks ago:
Chris Thile - Ah Spring (Doug Young)

I'll post a video of my progress next week when I am not as busy.


Now for Walden.

I read a fair amount of this while in the car and realized the difficulty of summarizing Thoreau's ideas. He devotes an entire chapter to the topic of reading - in particular, the reading of the classics. It is a strange coincidence that his work is now considered a classic. He claims that it is not in vain to learn and remember Latin as it may be used to read the classics.

          For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man? They are the only oracles               which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as                     Delphi and Dodona never gave. 

Thoreau asserts that to read well - to read true books in a true spirit - is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any customary exercise. The deliberate reading of books is crucial and simply speaking the language in which the book was written is not sufficient to reading/understanding it. The spoken work is compared a brutish dialect, while the written word is a reserved and select expression, too significant to be heard by the ear, which we must be born again in order to speak. To illustrate this point, Thoreau points to ancient Greece, where the common citizen was likely unable to read and study the works of the great minds and philosophers of the land, although they could speak the language.

The next chapter is devoted to the topic of sounds, in which Thoreau describes the sounds of his natural environment, from the buzzing of bees to the hooting of owls to the whisper of the wind to the wailing of the daily train that arrives in town. I would write more on the matter, but it is late and I still have much to do before tomorrow.

Until next time.
     

The Idea

Through this blog I hope to accomplish a few different things. Firstly, as a double bassist of seven years and music enthusiast, I seek to improve my skills as a mandolinist. I received the beautiful instrument as a gift at the end of last year, yet sadly, I'm rarely able to practice with my other musical commitments and academic studies occupying most of my time. While I am a very proficient double bassist for my age, I am a mediocre mandolinist at best. I place a high standard from the beginning of this project by aspiring to learn Chris Thile's "Ah Spring" on mandolin. Later I will attach an audio excerpt of the piece for all to hear.

I began working on the piece last night, and I showed considerable progress within a few hours of practice - the amount of free time I had last night was an anomaly in my schedule. It actually sounds decent, which is uplifting and places me in a jovial state of mind. I plan practicing more over spring break.

The other part of this project consists of reading Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. I rarely have time to read the classic works that I am so interested in, and with my recently-heightened environmentalism and intrigue with humble lifestyles, I thought that this would be a great choice. I had started reading this over winter break, but since haven't had time to finish it. At the moment, Thoreau has moved to Walden pond and is describing his lifestyle: "where I lived and what I lived for." His view of nature is almost transcendental and pantheistic. I will add more later after I read more, and now leave with this:

I let it lie, fallow perchance, for a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.