Day Thirteen

 Hours:

10:00 - 11:00

1:00 - 4:00

Total: 55 hours

May 24, 2022

11:20 PM

Last day!!!! I completed my Senior Project today. I am excited to take what I have learned with me into my future endeavors. It was really cool to see the final result of my project today, and I am ready to present it tomorrow. Abba and I met with Candace for a vocal lesson at 1:00, and then I practiced and recorded the songs. Unfortunately, I am not able to upload the videos to my blog. If you would like to see them, come to the Senior Project presentations tomorrow!

Day Twelve

Hours:

10:00 - 11:30

12:30 - 3:00

Total: 51 hours

May 23, 2022

9:00 PM

Today and tomorrow are mainly dedicated to working on the two songs. This way, I can get a good video of them tomorrow. It is still hard to play through them without making mistakes. There are also some parts of “Brown Eyed Girl,” that I still have to perfect. I am trying to get this put together along with everything else for the Jazz/Rock show. We had our first Band/Recoding practice since the start of senior project and things went pretty well. I’m feeling a mixture of a lot of nervousness and excitement for the show, but I think it is going to go very well.

Week Two Reflection

 Kelley Smock

Bill Wightman

Senior Project Skills

22 May 2022

Week Two

Over the course of the last two weeks, I have gone from not being able to play any guitar to now almost fully knowing how to play two songs and have learned some basic skills. My days tend to consist of splitting it into two parts. One half of the day is dedicated to practicing singing and playing songs, and with the other half I watch beginner lessons on YouTube. All of the videos that I have watched have been by a youtuber called Marty Music. He has a playlist of beginner acoustic guitar lessons. All of the videos are in one place, and are very simple and easy to understand. 

I am glad that I chose to do this as my project. I have tried a lot of different instruments lately, and I think guitar is what I want to focus on. Over the summer, I want to start going to open mic nights and play songs as I learn them. Eventually, I want to be able to write songs of my own. I have always loved to write poetry, and love playing music, so I think that it would be really cool to be able to combine these two interests. I also want to continue to improve my singing. I will not have the opportunity to continue vocal lessons, but plan to watch YouTube videos so that I can at least learn some exercises and tips. 

My goal is to continue to practice for about an hour each day. On days that I am not in the mood to do so, I am going to pick up my guitar for 5 minutes, and then I will either want to continue, or if I do not want to then at least I did something that day and didn’t skip it. Sitting down and telling myself that I will do it for just five minutes will help me to not skip a day and then end up skipping a lot more days.

Day Eleven

 Hours:

9:00 - 11:00

Total: 47 hours and 10 minutes

May 21, 2022

11:45 PM

After working for some time in the morning, I went to grab lunch with some friends. Then, I made my way to the Athletic Training room to speak with Kelly. I wanted to talk to her about my final presentation because I was not sure about my current idea. What I was initially going to do was have a mic and an amp and quietly play music in the gym. After thinking about it for a while, I was worried about interrupting presentations around me. I am also very nervous about singing in front of people. Instead of that, I am now planning to take videos of the two songs that I have learned, set up a computer and headphones, and allow passersby to listen. 

Day Ten

Hours: 

10:00 - 11:00

12:30 - 4:30

Total:  45 hours and 10 minutes

May 21, 2022

9:15 PM

I migrated back to the music studio today. Below is a picture of the area that I have been working in.

I sit in a chair and then set up my computer on a chair across from me so that I can watch videos and read lyrics. Although it is nice to go outside, it is always a very cool temperature in the music studio basement. This is really nice especially as it starts to get so hot here. I accomplished a lot today as I have almost entirely learned to play and sing, "Brown Eyed Girl." The part that I am still having trouble with is where Van Morrison says, "Do you remember when, we used to sing," and then it goes into the sha la la's. I am able to play and sing the sha la la's, but the intro into it is a bit challenging. 

Day Nine

 Hours:

10:00 - 11:30

12:30 - 4:30

Total: 39 hours and 10 minutes

May 19, 2022

11:00 PM

I wanted to practice outside today, but it was too rainy. I took this picture while I was coming back from lunch because I noticed how green everything is again. 

Today was pretty similar to yesterday. I stayed in my dorm except to go to the music studio once to practice drums for a bit. Other than that it was the same type of thing that I do most days, with a mix of singing, practicing the songs, and watching some beginner videos. I am starting to think about my final presentation, and I would like to make a poster. This way I can give some background on my senior project. I may include things like why I decided to do it, or why I think others should choose to learn instruments. Learning an instrument can be very valuable, and people passing by could read about it a little bit. 

Day Eight

Hours:

10:00 - 12:30

1:30 - 3:30

Total: 33 hours and 40 minutes

May 19, 2022

8:35 PM

Although it is dated for today, this post is for yesterday. I wanted to switch up my environment a little, so instead of working in the music studio, I took a guitar to my dorm to work there. It was nice to sit by the window in my room and play with no interruptions. Changing the locations in which I practice is what has made this project easier for me. It's hard for me to spend all day every day in the exact same place, so moving around where I am playing has made it so that I don't get bored. I got done a little earlier in the day so that I could go for a walk before dinner. Things are getting to be a bit more stressful as graduation nears. I am realizing that I need to start putting thought into my final presentation, and would like to dedicate some time to working on a poster this weekend. 

Day Seven

 Hours:

12:30 - 4:30

Total: 29 hours and 10 mins

May 17, 2022

11:40 PM

Right after grabbing lunch with some friends, I jumped into practicing drums with a metronome to improve my playing on our songs for Band/Recording, one of the bands that I am in at school. Once I began practicing guitar, I split up my time as usual. Today, I added some of Candace's vocal exercises in before I started playing any music. After practicing the two songs for a while, I watched some more of a series of YouTube beginner guitar lessons by Marty Music that I have been working my way through. Today, I added a video from another of his series about beginner strumming patterns. I definitely plan to continue going through his videos after completing senior project. They have given me a good start and he explains things very well. 

Day Six

 Hours: 

10:15 - 11:25

12:30 - 4:00

Total: 25 hours and 10 mins

May 16, 2022

9:30 PM

This morning, I met with Candace, the vocal teacher at Proctor. I had never had a vocal lesson before this one, and it was much different than trying to learn an instrument. We warmed up by moving around while making funny sounds. It was a little outside of my comfort zone, but ultimately, it was therapeutic. Then, she gave me some tips on how to sing while playing guitar at the same time. By the end of the lesson, I had a much better start on learning to sing and play "Brown Eyed Girl," at the same time. 

Later in the week, Abba and I will be meeting with Candace together, to practice doing a duet of "We're Going to be Friends."

Week One Reflection

Kelley Smock

Bill Wightman

Senior Project Skills

May 15, 2022

                                                                           Week One

This week I began my Senior Project of learning to play the guitar. I have successfully learned how to play the songs, “We’re Going to be Friends,” by The White Stripes, and, “Brown Eyed Girl,” by Van Morrison. Initially, I was going to learn “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” by Death Cab for Cutie, but I didn’t have a capo when I started so I switched it to, Brown Eyed Girl.” This made things much simpler since, “Brown Eyed Girl,” uses the same chords as, “We’re Going to be Friends.” On a few of the days, I spent some time learning basic skills from YouTube videos, such as chords and stuff. Many of the videos that I have been referencing are by a YouTuber called Marty Music. He has an entire series of beginner guitar lessons, but also has many videos teaching individual songs. I have found him to be a very good resource. 

I am finding a lot of enjoyment in this project. Music is something that I was not very interested in when I came to Proctor, and that has changed completely this year. The music studio is also a very beautiful building that I love to spend time in. Sitting in the music building, or finding a place outside to just sit, play guitar, and sing, has made for a very peaceful senior project. The only part that is not as relaxing is the anxiety of performing in front of people. The culmination of my project will likely result in some sort of performance, which already makes me nervous, except this time I will be singing in front of people, and I have never done that before. Despite this, I am excited because it is a new experience. 

Throughout this next week, I am going to work on refining these two songs, and improving my singing abilities. Tomorrow, Monday, I will meet with the vocal teacher, Candace, to work on my singing with these two songs. I will also continue by watching some beginner lessons. This week, I will have to do some planning for what my final presentation will look like. I know that I will have an amp and a mic to sing and play guitar, but I may add a poster or something visual to show the process of my project.

Day Five

Hours:

10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

12:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Total: 20 hours and 30 mins

May 13, 2022

11:25 PM

My day began by playing a little bit of guitar, and then getting a Covid test. I was a close contact, and I will know tomorrow if I will have to quarantine for a week. If this is the case, then I will try to find a way to access a guitar so that I can practice while quarantining, assuming that I don't have a roommate. After lunch with some friends, Abba and Nick, I returned to the music studio and had a meeting with Bill. We decided that what I may do for my senior project presentation is set up an amp and a microphone to play music for people who want to hear it. Bill gave me some tips on how to sing a song while also playing, because I was having trouble singing while playing "Brown Eyed Girl." I tried an exercise that he recommended to practice and repeated these two lines while playing, which was a good start. 

Day Four

 Hours: 2:00 - 4:00

Total: 15 hours and 30 minutes

May 12, 2022

10:15 PM

Today was not my most productive day. I woke up pretty tired so I only worked for two hours today. I did not do too much technical work today, just practiced the songs that I have been learning over the past few days. Despite only working on senior project stuff for 2 hours, I was in the music studio for a long time today. I had Jazz/Rock twice today, and played a lot of bass. Since I did not spend as much time today playing guitar, I will work for another 2 or 3 hours on Saturday to make up for it. "We're Going to be Friends," by The White Stripes is beginning to sound a lot better. Muscle memory is starting to develop, and calluses are forming on my fingers. It did not hurt as much to play today, and the song is starting to sound more fluid. 

Day Three

Hours:

12:00 - 4:30

Total: 13 hours and 30 minutes 

May 11, 2022

11:20 PM

I split my day into two parts today. For the first half of the time, I watched YouTube videos of basic, beginner guitar lessons. As a result, I learned some new chords, techniques for remembering them, and building muscle memory. Throughout the rest of the day, I worked on the songs I had already learned, and added a new song as well, "Wonderwall," by Oasis. For this song, I used a capo on the second fret. It was not as fun to practice outside today. There were so many black flies today and I had to stop a bunch of times because they kept biting me. Eventually I just went back inside.

Day Two

Hours

11:30 - 3:40

4:30 - 5:00 

Total: 10 hours

May 10, 2022

9:45 PM

Today I dived deeper into learning "We're Going to be Friends," by The White Stripes. Yesterday I worked on learning the individual chords and the order of them. Today, I put it all together to play the song. It is rough, currently, but improved majorly throughout the day, and will continue to improve each day. Shown below is a small snippet of the song. 

I decided to practice outside today. It was beautiful outside today and just sitting out there and playing guitar all day was very peaceful. I will continue to practice outside on the days that it is nice enough to do so. I did not want to become bored with learning just one song, so I decided to begin working on another song for fun, "Brown Eyed Girl," by Van Morrison. I do not currently have any videos with this song, but I will take and add some to future posts. 

Day One

Hours:

9:30 - 11:30

1:30 - 4:50

Total: 5 hours and 20 minutes

May 9, 2022

10:30 PM

 Today I jumped right into learning a song that I have loved for many years, "We're Going to be Friends," by The White Stripes. The song, written by Jack White, is a very simple acoustic song. I play the bass guitar and the drums in bands at school, played violin growing up, and learned a some piano as well last year. I have always wanted to learn guitar as well, but this is my first attempt at it. It is a challenge due to it being very painful for my fingers after just one day, and hopefully blisters will form quickly. Today I began by learning the individual chords of the song. 

These chords, G, C, D, and Cadd9, are the only ones used for the majority of the song, except for the addition of an A chord in the bridge. My second task was learning the order of the chords. 

I finished off the day by learning the order of the chords in the bridge, and the strumming pattern of the whole song. I have now learned the whole song and just need to work on perfecting it.