Reflection of Contemporary Composition

The Contemporary Composition class opened my mind to how we are all composing in our everyday life. I think it is very valuable that we now have studied about each subject and how it relates to the idea of composing and creating. It has also opened my mind to the fact that not only is this school about composing and making art, but there are others out there that do this as their career too. This class has also opened resources and concepts that I had never thought of, such as in the Sound unit where we talked about the McKurky Effect and the "channel surf" in the Film unit. I found this class to be very inspiring, between hearing from all of the guest speakers, writing our personal thoughts in our journals, and then how we shared and commented on other people's thoughts in the group discussions. Each and every artist has a different idea of what art is and how we compose and what the reason behind our composition is- sometimes it is for personal reasons, sometimes it is for professional reasons. I found this class to have a positive effect on my artist life and how I see art in today's world as well as how I think about art and how it is made. I found it very interesting to compose in other fields because that meant that I could learn about the other fields and what people in that profession do for a living. It was fascinating to hear about every speaker's way of communicating their art to other students who don't know that person's art. I also very much enjoyed the fact that we were in groups with students from every school and we got to see how they (being in film or dance or whatever) saw the speaker or assignment and they related that back to their own major. I believe that when the first-generation of multimedia and the second-generation of multimedia were remixed we would get what we have composed in Contemporary Composition class. It would be crazy channel surfs and remixes galore. I very much enjoyed this class and I do believe that every freshman needs to take it to broaden their view of art and culture.

Composing in Movement and Performance

Introduction:
In the unit of Movement and Performance, we talked about how movement is incorporated into all the different schools here. In terms of how we approached it, we made a video of ourselves performing either in public or just to the camera. We also discussed the point about the boundary between life and art as well as "what is art?". Dean Wilcox examined the different eras we have been through in the last century which included futurism, dada, and surrealism and then the categories underneath each one.

Starting Points:
In terms of movement and performance, I knew a bit, but there was still more to learn. I had performed many times-whether it be performing a monologue or performing at ice skating competitions or even playing an instrument. People are performing everyday. You are putting on costumes when you put on clothes in the morning and you on putting on a character everyday. Performance is all around us at every moment, even if we don't realize it.

What I learned:
I learned that there is movement and performance in every major here. In film, the movement of the cameras, in dance, it is solely about movement, drama, it is all about performance, D&P, there is movement is stage automation and we have to cater to the actors and think about how they move, and music, with the flow and movement of each piece. Looking at contemporary context, I noticed that there are so many artists out there that are blending boundaries and creating gibberish such as in the dada form that there is art everywhere and we are just not realizing it. We come to think on only art as what we see in a gallery or museum, but we are submerged in a world full of art. I also learned about performing and blending it with anything, as we did in our performance video. You can see my video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1DnhsyEEmw We tried to make it so that there was a blurred line between the art of performing and the everyday task or in mine a steam of consciousness.

Things I would like to know more about:
I would have loved to hear from our guest speaker that was sick, and how she thought dance related to composing. There were some other things I would have like to know about movement and performance, such as character development and other things actors and dancers think about when they perform. I wish that we could have done an actual movement piece that we have done a dance piece or something.

Conclusion:
I think that Dean Wilcox's presentation nicely wrapped up this course and emphasized every point that Bob King has been teaching us over the course of the semester. This was a great unit to end on because everything we do is performing which is related to composing-which is what the whole class is about.

Composing in Film

Introduction:
In the unit of Composing in Film, Video, and New Media, we talked about copyright issues, how to produce video and looking through the film archive. This unit was comprised of studying how to mash together different old film clips to create something new.

Starting Point:
In the film unit, I started off not really knowing anything about film. I was eager to learn about how film is produced and to talk about copyright issues. The concept of film I understood previously, but I had never thought about the idea of taking old footage and splicing and chopping it up to create a whole new video. Before this unit of Contemporary Composition, I had only made one video for my Spanish class Freshman year, and everyone takes videos on their phones nowadays so filming has become an everyday activity now, and I wanted to learn more about it.

What I learned:
In terms of the individual journal writing, I learned about the stories of various teachers in the film school as well as what it takes to become successful in film. We also read a piece on Lev Manovich and discussed his principles, some of which include numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. Not only that, each piece of technology can bleed into any other category. We also learned about the collaboration between two schools- Film and Design & Production. This was the first time we heard about any collaboration or almost mention of any other school. In terms of the unit overall, we discussed the difference between film, video, and new media. As our last project for this section, we made a channel surfing video, here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOoVc2aIsG4 This was a collection of other videos from the film achieve and then we spliced them up and made it look as though we were flipping through channels.

Things I would like to know more about:
I would have really enjoyed learning more about the process of filming- where the idea comes from and how it gets to the screen. While the 2 film teachers shared their stories about the film industry I would have liked to know about the process. I would have also very much liked to learn about how film is actually created the equipment and everything. Learning about film editing software on my own would have been much appreciated since I had neither Windows Movie Maker or GarageBand or Premiere- a friend let me borrow their computer to complete the assignment and they already knew the software.

Conclusion:
I found this unit to be very interesting, especially since I did not really know anything about film or the film world. Learning about the different experiences the teachers have had and how film is now used in everyday life. I did not realize how much it took to produce a film! I enjoyed creating the projects and how you can take old things and cut them up and create new. This was a great unit, the only thing is, is that I wish I could have learned more about the process.

In the unit of Language, Sound, and Music we have talked about the various connections between literature and sound, how sound can be mashed up, as well as the reading about several different people who have created characters such as DJ Spooky that creates a blend of sounds and words. We approached the topic using: articles, documentaries, and journals as well as created our own blend of sounds.

In terms of what I knew about the subject before we began, is actually not a whole lot. Music has been a constant things in my life. I used to participate in a contest every year that required you to learn 16 pieces of classical music and then be able to identify the piece within any 15 seconds, the composer and be able to answer questions about the composer. Actually my SoundCloud pieces were inspired by a piece I had to memorize- Jupiter by: Gustav Holst. I know that the way music lines up with the words or vice-versa or the rhythm of a certain piece of literature can change the mood and the way the audience members feel about it.


I learned a lot in this section, not only about the program Audacity, but also how to collage and mix music together to create a new sound. I learned a lot about how literature, other than poetry, can have a rhythm. Within the individual journal writing, I found it interesting that after reading the articles I learned about what people have been creating with sounds, and how people thought about how or writing capacity was changing with the influx of social media in our lives. In the discussion group, people commented about the interaction Bruno gave in terms of the 1, 1-2-1, 1-2-3-2-1... exercise as well as the McKurky effect. I found it absolutely fascinating that if you close your eyes you are more able to identify the sound rather than if you open your eyes and try to identify the sound. The audio composing projects were intriguing because I picked one topic- Jupiter by using Jupiter from The Planets, a documentary about Jupiter, and Drops of Jupiter by Train in order to make my audio compositions. Please click here to listen the Seamless Blend. And here for the Double Exposure. And here for the Side-by Side.

Some things I would like to learn more about is the study done by Andrea Lunsford at Stanford University, concerning social media and our writing skills. While we write so much more than our ancestors, our writing skills are only adequate. I would also like to know more about the McKurky effect and how we distinguish phonetics. Trying to learn about these subjects would require more knowledge on how your senses work together and separately or when you are deprived of one senses. It would also require you to do a longer study of how writing has changed in the last 20 years.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this section, not only because music is a part in my life, but that music goes along with language so well. I love the mixing sounds project, because we physically saw how the music changed when we did the various effects on it. This unit has really changed my perspective on how music can change emotions and how the audience can perceive a moment. I find that this unit will be really helpful for the future in terms of sound design and various shows.

Composing in Visual Arts

Composing in the visual art world works similarly as the other art forms do, but there are some differences to it. Visual arts can be in a way how your eye come in contact with the page or piece of art. It is all about aesthetics. This week in the composing of visual art we worked with photos and did various effects with these. The idea was that we can take 2 everyday objects and meld them together and it could be art, we were visually composing. We heard not only from Will Taylor, a drawing teacher, but also from Lindsey Bierman, our chancellor who has worked in the architecture industry.

As a starting block, I already had some sort of encounter with composing in the visual sense. There are principles that this specific type of art follows. We have to look for the emotions that the piece of art produces and the visual flow of the piece, or the way your eye travels across the work. In terms of things that I learned, I came across ideas that I had never thought of before, such as how architecture and music have evolved together and how we can truly see and hear how Beethoven was composing for music halls and organs while Mozart with all of the frills and fanfares was composing for ballrooms and gatherings. The architecture had an influence on the music and the music on the architecture. This was a fascinating idea to me! I would research more about the correlation between the music of today and the architecture of today work together or how we can see the change in music styles with the change in architecture. We can even see this in theatre- specifically musical theatre, how the music and the scenery have to work together or the audience will be very confused and feel uncertain as well. Some pieces of music just do not feel right in certain locations.

Which Came First    Diptych

On Track To Hogwarts   Boundary Blend

This section was very interesting to me, not only did I learn how to compose with 2 everyday pictures and make them correspond and have visual dialogue with each other, but how various art forms can change and evolve with one another. The idea that we are making mass artworks as a whole nation, as a whole global community is very inspiring to me. I also found it interesting using Pixlr to create our images and how even this can be considered art.  

Bubbles in Bubble Wrap   Double Exposure

Welcome to Digital Media (Contemporary Composition)!

Within Contemporary Composition there are 5 units, and within the 5 units there are 3 weeks in which we gather, make and then reflect about what it means to compose. The class is structured with a mix of lectures from Professor King, guest-artist presentations, readings, conversations with classmates, and composition projects. The goal of the class is to figure out the meaning behind composing and how composing fits in a contemporary context. We are also discussing how each guest artist has their own process and how they use composing to achieve their art form.

Before we began the class, I had not thought about composing and how every single person is composing in his or her own way. The idea that technology has connected the world in a global village is interesting, not only because we have become so connected we seem unaffected by the constant stream of information that it is scary, but also because we have transformed into an uninquisitive society.I also found it intriguing that in every artwork there has been a form of composing, whether that be with literature or with lighting or any other media imaginable. The Medium is the Massage, a thought-provoking novel on the future society, brought up ideas that were not even imagined at that time, such as the author foreshadowing the "up-to-the-minute news" (McLuhan, 18) that society now sees. The idea that we need to expose ourselves to as much art as possible is a wonderful idea, because we can be influenced which in turn allows us to create and influence others.

I am excited to find out about what processes other composers use, as well as how composition can be used in the chosen field of study. In the coming weeks, I am looking forward to what others think about the required readings in addition to their views on the guest speakers and their processes. Overall, Contemporary Composition has brought to the surface many abstract ideas about composing within our modern society and how technology has influenced the global village.