Next Semester? Don't Talk To Me About -- Next Semester!, Episode 8

The week started off with the email version of someone dumping a large bucket of ice water over my head.  An email from the university arrived in my inbox.  It informed me that it was time to register for next semester.  Next semester?  Already?  I can't even see past this week, let alone the end of the semester, let alone next semester!  But, when it is time, it is time.  So, I picked myself up by my bootstraps and set to planning next semester.  I accessed the graduate course catalog and had trouble making sense of what I saw.  The music education department was not offering any graduate courses in the spring.  This had to be a mistake.  I thought there might be a different catalog and I was just looking in the wrong place.  So, after hours of searching - unsuccessfully, I might add - I emailed my adviser and asked if any more classes would be added to the catalog or if the catalog was complete.  The answer I got back was that the course catalog was complete...

...Crap...

 

But, then, Tuesday evening, the night before I am to register, the system updated and the music education courses appeared.  So, everything worked out just fine!

I had my advising on Wednesday and it looks like I am taking:

• Music Teaching in Higher Education
• Measurement and Evaluation in Music
• Intermediate Educational Statistics (I must be a glutton for punishment)
• Wind Symphony
• Graduate Seminar in Music Education
• Independent Study

I am super stoked for the independent study.  I will get to work more closely with my adviser, who I have so much to learn from.  I will either get to assist her on some of her current research projects or I will get to do some work of my own design.  I am looking forward to assisting her with her research.  Getting to see the academic research process from the other side will be really informative!

I got my midterm back in Child and Adolescent Development.  I was initially shocked by what I saw written on my paper.  The professor's first comment was, "disaster."  My mind immediately starting freaking out.  Was my writing that bad that it was a disaster?  But, her comment was followed by a smiley face.  Phew!  She was commenting that the situation I described would be a disaster if it would happen.  And she was impressed that I had been able to see that deeply into the scenario.  Needless to say, I got an A.  Bam!

I am really excited about a presentation I have in my Psychology of Music Learning and Behavior class.  The assignment, entitled There's a Message in the Music, tasked us with finding two video clips which use music to advance the plot or action.  It wasn't specifically called for, but I decided to do a comparative project.  Instead of using movies, like many of my classmates did, I went to football.  I was watching football not that long ago, wondering how and when football started using the type of audio it now does.  So, I grabbed two clips.  A clip from the Superbowl XLV recap and a clip from the Superbowl I recap.  I was really tempted to use a Ravens' Superbowl appearance.  But, it seemed more tidy for the comparison to use examples with at least one team being the same across the examples. 

Superbowl XLV

Superbowl I

 

So, what do you hear in the examples?  How is the message different, based upon the music?  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

 And now for everyone's favorite segment: Statistics!  I actually understood this week's statistics lecture.  How did this happen?  I have no idea.  The concepts of this week (two-way ANOVA and ANCOVA) just seemed to make perfect sense to me.  Is this a trend of things to come?  Probably not.  But, here is hoping!

There were compliments this week!  After Night Owls rehearsal, a band member (who happens to be a retired band director) approached me to tell me he appreciated the way I got through the music.  Also, one of the euphonium players in Wind Symphony told me this week that she was really impressed with the agility and speed with which I am able to play the contrabassoon parts.  She told me that she has never heard someone play the contrabassoon like that before (I am taking that as a compliment!).  Can you say Turbo Contra?

This week was my birthday.  It passed fairly quietly.  No birthday hike this year.  No beer festival.  I did end up grabbing a drink (read: multiple drinks) with a friend, though.  You read that right; I am making friends!  There was a cupcake and a candle and everything!

Side note: why do the Ravens seem to have such trouble with the Bengals lately?  Seriously.  Someone with actual football knowledge please tell me.

I know I promised I would present some more research this week.  But, with all the papers and projects I was working on this past week, I didn't get a chance to read anything new and interesting.  Next week.  I promise.  But, don't hold me to it.

Well, that's all for now!

Future Doctor Mitch, out!

This Means War!, Episode 7

So, we have a neighbor problem.  Our next door neighbors seem to own a sound system that one should need a nuclear arms permit to operate.  It is so loud!  Don't get me wrong, I have a fantastic sound system too and I love cranking it up from time to time.  But now that I live in a row house with thin walls, I have learned to operate my gear with restraint out of respect for the folks on either side of us.  This is a lesson I wish our neighbors would learn!  They turn up their sound system so loud that it literally shakes our walls.  To make matters worse, they do so during prime sleeping hours, for instance, at 6 am on Saturday morning.  We have already had to call the police a couple of times to register noise complaints.  So, in the epic words of Bugs Bunny:

 

I think I made significant strides in Night Owls rehearsal this past week.  Like I talked about in my last post, I am working on my podium presence with the group.  After rehearsal this past week, one of the players came up to me to express how much she is enjoying my conducting.  She told me she appreciates the energy and enthusiasm I bring to the podium.  So, I guess I am doing a pretty good job!

I would like to offer a heart-felt thank you to those of you who helped out on my Everyone's a Critic assignment.  My professor seemed pretty impressed with my work.  In her comments, she said,

"Really cool tune to use for this assignment. You chose a good technique for sharing the analysis. It was effective to have the tune playing while the screen showed thoughts a about critical compositions elements. Explanation of extended techniques was helpful, too. Interesting, isn't it, that when we use extended techniques, we tend to explain them (and, therefore, perhaps interpret them) in terms of more traditional techniques and/or responses.  Good work with the content as well as the video presentation!"

 The Temple Prep Wind Ensemble has continued to be a bit of a frustration.  I have managed to come up with solutions to some of the issues I have encountered.  I have way too many flutes and not nearly enough percussionists.  So, I have enlisted my flute players at "flutecussionists."  (Patent Pending).  Each flute player will take a shift in the percussion section for one tune on the program, helping cover all the percussion parts and alleviating some of the balance issues that were resulting from having so many flutes.  I have picked the literature for the concert.  I had to go a little easier than I had originally planned on.  But, I want to do music the students find accessible.  I am still having issues with the kids showing up on time, though, which is a really big source of frustration.  And they still can't read.  This is not a problem I think I will be able to solve and I have been doing more rote teaching than I am truly comfortable doing.  But, without reading reinforcement in their home band classes and in their private lessons, the 5 minutes I can afford to devote to it every week is not going to make much difference for many of the kids.  I am going to talk with the program administrators about how we can solve this issue for next semester.

After my rousing success with the first quiz in Statistics, I am back to not having any idea what the professor is talking about.  I feel like it shouldn't be this difficult!

On a sad note, the Orioles got swept by Kansas City.  So close...  However, check out those Ravens at the top of the division!

I have made another giant step toward meeting people in Philly.  I joined  local homebrew club un in Fishtown.  My first meeting was this past Friday and I had a blast.  I brought a few bottles of the Bearded Men Brewery Thanksgiving Ale, which was met with great reviews.  I sampled some other folks' brews, which were all really tasty.  Though, the marshmallow stout was particularly tasty!

We started work on the next concert cycle for Wind Symphony and my jury is still out on whether or not I like the pieces on the program.  On a positive note, I am playing more this concert than I did on the last show.  But, the music is all very "contemporary," lacking melody and relying heavily on rhythmic elements, tone clusters, and other compositional conventions.  The show is December 3 if you want to come check it out or watch it on livestream!

Well, another week in the books and I am still having a blast!  That is all for now.

Future Doctor Mitch, out!

You Fail Me Once Again, Immune System: My Road to the PhD, Episode 6

I'm sick!  And what a week to get sick.  There were two concerts, extra rehearsals, and a midterm all on top of regular coursework and grad student duties.  But, I made it through the week, nonetheless.

Let's start with the concerts.  Monday was the first Wind Symphony concert of the season.  I only played on one tune, which was kind of a bummer.  But on the other hand, I am not sure I have the time to practice much more than that.  We will have to see how I do on the next concert, where I play much more.  The concert itself went pretty well.  There was a really funky cello concerto on the program that everyone really liked.  You can check out a recording of the concert here:

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1927261/events/3377045

The concert on Friday was an interesting affair.  The Mosaic Concert, as it is called, was a showcase of all that Boyer (the college of music and dance) has to offer.  The show ran seamlessly from act to act, featuring the Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, a variety of vocal ensembles, instrumental and vocal soloists, jazz ensembles, and dancers.  The dance department seems to have gotten the short end of the stick for the program, only being allowed one short performance while the music side of things dominated the show.  I wonder what that is.  Anyway, at the last minute, I was asked to play with both the Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Symphony for the show, which made the rehearsal schedule for the week pretty intense.  To make matters worse, the rehearsals all week were at the Temple Performing Arts Center, which is not in the same building as the majority of the School of Music spaces (including my office, where I keep my horns).  So, practically every day this week, I had to cart both my contra and baby bassoon across campus.  I never realized how heavy my contra is in its case before, only having had to carry it short distances before.  Carting it across campus, with the baby bassoon in my other hand was quite the forearm workout.  But, there is good news!  I found a company which makes a carbon fiber case which fits a contrabassoon and baby bassoon, has shock absorbing wheels, and backpack straps.  Check it out:

Bad news: it costs $3376.38!  I don't know which is worse: the effort of carrying my horns around in their original, super-heavy cases or knowing this awesome case exists and that I cannot afford it!

Moving on...

... to statistics.  As you know, I had my first statistics test last week.  And I got it back this week.  Look!:

 So, I got a 57/60, scoring the mode of the grade distribution and scoring higher than the mean of the distribution.  So, I guess I understand what I am doing.  There's just one problem; I still don't understand what I am doing!  Gaaaaahhhhh!

I had an eye-opening project in my Psychology of Music Learning and Behavior class this week, though it was eye-opening for me in a way that was probably not the intention of the project.  We had to pick a piece of music we believe to be polarizing and interview people to see how different folks respond to the same piece of music.  I found, as I interviewed people, that I was not as in-depth with my questioning as I should have been.  I almost felt like I was inconveniencing people, asking them to take time out of their schedules to participate in my project.  I also had trouble keeping a "research poker face" and not letting my bias show in my statements and questions.  This is the first "field research" I have done in a formal setting.  I was surprised at my reaction to it.  I figured I would have been better at asking questions.  But, now I know my natural tendency and I can correct for it next time.

Unfortunately, I do not have any research upon which to report this week.  Being sick, I didn't get the opportunity to do much reading.  I know you all are super sad.  I will make up for it next week!

Last week, our Ravens had game-time woes.  This week, the Orioles seem to have caught the malady.  Come on, now.  Dropping the first two games of the series?  That is not the way to the World Series.  It's time to get it together.  On the bright side, though, how about those Ravens this week?  Granted, it was against the Bucs.  But, I'll take the confidence boost.  And the Steelers lost.  And the Bengals tie.  These are all good things!

I must conclude now so I can finish my midterm for Child and Adolescent Development (and go to the store to buy more tissues... I hate being sick!).  Send me healthy vibes!

That is all for now.

Future Dr. Mitch, out!

Injuries, Sminjuries: The Road to the PhD, Episode 5

This week started off really well.  I have been getting increasingly more confident on the podium at Night Owls (the community band - come on, people; keep up!).  It has been a long time since I have felt ill at ease on the podium.  I know the music is well within my grasp and I am engaging enough on the podium to be successful.  But there is something about the group not being my own group, that I am just a graduate conductor of Dr. Confredo's band, that gets me a little nervous when I take the podium.  When I made mistakes in rehearsals with my own bands, I learned from them and moved on.  But, here, there is a very experienced and critical eye evaluating what I do.  In a sense, it is making me be very thoughtful about how I both plan and execute my rehearsal time.  That all being said, this week I finally felt like I was holding my own on the podium.  I was having fun, the group was having fun, they were picking up what I was putting down, and we made some music!  I do need to stop glancing at Dr. Confredo while I am on the podium, though, for feedback on what I am doing in her expressions.  I know in my core that it undermines my presence on the podium.  Moving forward, I am making a concerted effort to stop doing it! 

The only down side to Monday evening's rehearsal was... (drum roll)... right at the end of rehearsal, I tweaked something in my back while I was conducting.  I will pause for all the laughter from those of you who know me well.  I had to rush off the podium as soon as I finished, sit down on the floor of the instrument room and do some back stretches.  No worries, though, it cleared up in a couple days.  It probably was due to my flag football exploits the day before.  When I wrote last week's post, I was feeling great.  When I woke up Monday morning, everything hurt!  Even my toenails!  However, I am not counting this as a football injury because I was able to play at the game today, which we won.  Bam!  We even had enough people this week to field a full team!  My team seems like cool people.  I just wish I could get them to want to hang out either before or after games.  Let's face it, I surely didn't join the league because of my incredibly athletic background and my yearning to play football!

I am trying to keep my eye on the end goal of my work through the program and try to use all my assignments and opportunities to set me up for my dissertation work.  I had a couple exciting research conversations this week.  One was with my adviser.  She asked me to be part of a study she is conducting.  I am not sure in what capacity I will be taking part.  Surely, I will be a participant.  But, I think it will be a great experience to see how she goes about her research as a model for how I might do my own research.  I also had a conversation with a fellow PhD student regarding research.  We talked about conducting original research prior to dissertation work.  Apparently, we are allowed to do that.  So, I am going to take full advantage of that opportunity.  I am not sure what I will research yet (I have some ideas), but you band director friends of mine get ready for my call, asking you or your students to be part of my study!

Speaking of research, here is a tidbit of exciting information I learned while reading research this week.  Despite what the last research I posted said about smart people being drawn to music rather than music making people smarter, I read research this week which demonstrated that music lessons raise IQ scores.  The study took a batch of 6 year olds and had them take either piano lessons, voice lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons.  Interestingly, the study found that all participants showed an increase in IQ, which the author attributed to the documented phenomenon of that happening at the commencement of schooling.  But, the participants in the music lessons had a statistically significant difference in their new IQ scores when compared to the rest.  The potential weaknesses I found with this study were that they only used 6 year olds.  So, a blanket statement about music lessons increasing IQ scores can't really be made.  All we can say is that music lessons have the potential to raise IQ scores in 6 year olds.  Additionally, the effect sizes for the findings were relatively small.  So, I am not sure that the benefits are worth forcing kids who don't want to take music lessons to do so on the basis of improved IQ scores.

Schellenberg, E.G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15(8), 511-514.

I also picked up something interesting my readings this week:  It turns out that perfect pitch is more prominent in musicians who begin music lessons at age 7 or earlier, lending credence to the idea that it is a learned, not an innate, behavior.  I don't have the citation offhand, but I can get it for anyone who wants it.

I think I sort of understand statistics (he says in an unsteady voice and with shifty eyes).  I had my midterm this week.  I think I did pretty well.  I was one of the first to finish, which is either a very good or a very bad sign.  I will let you know next week how it turned out.

What's going on with our Ravens?  Can someone who is actually able to watch the games please explain it to me?  Gaaaaaah!  I reiterate that if they want to pay someone millions of dollars to not win football games, I am the guy to do it!  I will gladly put on a uniform and miss tackles, drop passes, and mess up blocking assignments.  As a bonus, I can guarantee to commit an egregious number of penalties each game.  I will even do it for the league minimum.  Imagine how much money they will save!

On a brighter note: (imagine Baltimore accent) Go O's!  I am totally wearing orange tomorrow.  All I have is my Boh Know's Baseball t-shirt.  So, that is what I'm wearing.  Can we say World Series in Baltimore?  Crap... did that jinx it?  Whatever, I stand by it.

This coming week will be pretty crazy.  I have my first Wind Symphony concert tomorrow night and I am playing with both the Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra at this collage concert, called the Mosaic Concert, on Friday.  I am not sure if the concert on Friday is open admission or if it is just for the university donors.  Check Facebook for details if you are interested in coming.

That is all for now.

Future Doctor Mitch, out!