Looking Good!

The weekend is here and I have had the pleasure of a relaxing Friday without the dread that I need to prepare so much work for college next week. This is not a fortunate set of circumstances but more a well planned break that comes after 2 weeks of increased productivity across all my projects which has left me in a good position to finish the year off on a high. After being concerned with my progress I decided to maintain a good level of work at least 5 days of each week and also use a structured plan that was relevant to the number of deadlines that are approaching.
In my Beatles research I had to deliver a presentation at a research conference reviewing my topic and some of the research I have completed to date regarding the topic. Although it was equally important to present my research creatively I decided to push on and work solely on my research content and dissertation and the day before the conference I could take some notes from my work to include in my presentation. I felt that this was more beneficial for me as I have now completed more of my research rather than focus solely on a presentation which was to be made up from said research. The presentation went well and although I feel I stretched my time a little I do think that the content of the presentation was relevant to my topic and despite my research involving generic matter like the Beatles I managed to specify the topic and justify my research.
I have gathered all the content to be included in the website design for the digital multimedia project and will now begin the design of the website itself from next week in class time. I have estimated that I can finish this design and run tests over the next 2 weeks which will hopefully leave me the task of evaluating the project and its success.
My individual performance has also moved forward as I have confirmed the final set list and line up to appear in my show titled Daniel Dundee: Storyteller which takes place on the 5th May 2011 at 12.30 pm at the Goodlyburn Theatre in Perth College. I must now use the next 2 weeks and the holidays to arrange and complete the final rehearsals for the show before planning the final practice schedule which will lead up to the show after the Easter holidays.
This week I also managed to submit the final section of my portfolio project and although I have not yet confirmed if my work is complete I am very happy that this particular project is finished. Although I have enjoyed this project it has been time consuming at times so to have it complete with a lot of time to spare is ideal for me as I look to complete more pressing projects.
I finished off this week at college with a Session Environment class which was led by Lorenz Cairns due to the absence of regular tutor Pete Honeyman. Although the class had been diminished due to the ongoing research conference we did manage to progress with the session where we were to learn and record the popular song Just the Two of Us which was made famous by Grover Washington Jr. I felt that I managed to focus well in this session and quickly learnt the song alone in the piano room before recording with another vocalist. The session went well and despite the other vocalist making lyrical mistakes throughout I managed to produce 4 clean takes, each an improvement on the one before.
Next week will be a more settled fact finding mission from which I can hopefully produce my final action plan to finish off this degree and claim my prize!

Bring It All Home

This weeks has been the most productive week of this semester as I managed to maintain a full attendance and focus across all projects which has left me feeling very confident about finishing the years on a high. Deciding to attend college last Friday was pinnacle in this progress as I managed to make contact with all of my tutors and discuss where I should be in terms of each project. Once I had all this information I found it very easy to review my work and make a consistent and equal progress in each segment of each module.
The Beatles research I am conducting has had the focus moved to next week’s presentation conference where I am required to prepare a 5 to 10 minute visual presentation on a segment of my research so far. I have began work on this and have selected a few small topics from within my research which describe the events leading up to the Beatles’ decision to stop playing live and also their first endeavours in the studio based career that was to follow.
For my solo project I now have all the acts in place and have successfully arranged rehearsal schedule with all the acts for the remainder of the time before the show. The show itself will be on the 5th May 2011 at 12.30pm in the Goodlyburn Theatre at Perth College. I will post on the progress of this in the coming weeks.
With regards to the ensemble research from semester 1 I have a feeling I have failed this due to the word count in my submission and have began preparing my work for re-submission. I am glad I submitted this research on time despite my concern over the standards presented as I now have more time to prepare a re-submission than I would have had if I was still on my first submission which has a deadline of next week.
All the content has been prepared for my website design and as I have mentioned I was to return to working on the proposal/contract part of this project which was finally completed during class this week and I now await the new tutor’s feedback. In the meantime I can now return to working on the layout and design of the website itself which I have some paper based sketches for to help start the design process. I am hoping that I can finish this project before the Easter holidays to free up some more time to dedicate to my dissertation and solo performance. If after the holidays I am left with only a project evaluation for my website design then I will be more than happy with the progress I have made in such a short time.
The portfolio project has also drawn to an end as we all enter the presentation of our final designs with our designated designers. The presentations started this week and I decided to go first and with the help of my designer we managed to describe the journey we have taken and how each design had progressed across different discussions. I was pleased with the presentation we made as with very little preparation we managed to describe most of the work we had completed and justify the correlation of designs we had presented. Having completed my proposal and brief I have only now to complete the evaluation of the project and submit with all my final designs in a presentation portfolio.
There was no session environment class this week so I ended the week on a high and with some free time to spare which I have now spent reporting this! Next week I hope to have more information regarding the details of my dissertation and solo performance.

Not To Worry.

After a couple of weeks of mixed absence I have been concerned recently about the progress I have made progress with my projects and decided to come into college today to ensure that I had all the information I needed for the up and coming submissions across each different project. Although my time was spent travelling mostly I didn't manage to leave with peace of mind and the confidence to push forward and deliver satisfactorily and on time.
The focus of my dissertation in the next week will be the final preparations of my PowerPoint presentation which is due to be presented at a conference in college around the 21st March. I have structured 10 topical points for my dissertation and each point is divided into 3 categories of argument that will all contribute towards the main question in my research. Although I waited long enough to compile this structure I am glad that I have now as it has proven to be a useful tool which allows me to research individual topics within the argument with ease.
The website that I am designing for my solo act Daniel Dundee has become a focus again and I have gathered all the content I need to display in the website leaving only the website structure itself to design and I now am confident that I can complete this project in the coming weeks which will hopefully give me some free time to dedicate to other projects like my solo performance. It is also disappointing looking back at the first semester as I know I could have finished this project completely in one semester which would have given me all the time I needed in semester 2 to improve the quality of other projects.
My solo performance has taken its final shape recently and with all the players in place I am now looking to rehearse the set in segments before practising all those segments in order. The intention is that I begin the show on acoustic guitar and sing a few songs before introducing other musicians one by one and song by song to built up to a full band for the last few songs of the show. I also hope to incorporate different acts into my show whilst narrating the story of my own musical evolution through short stories and my own songs, which is all that will be performed.
The main focus of my visit to college today was to catch up with my designated designer and portfolio class tutor and after doing so I was very pleased at the position I am in before the class presentation this coming Tuesday. I was slightly concerned about the presentation but after meeting with Leighton and seeing all the magnificent work he has done I was impressed and left the meeting motivated enough to finish off my press release and biography text for the design brief.
A shameful week regarding effort and attendance and I must make it my main focus to attend every class and college in general every week and maintain a good level of communication with my tutors and peers. I do feel I have suffered due to this and with a lack of progress in my academic work and a worrying decline in character and morals I know I am at a stage where I must commit 100% between now and the end of the academic year.

Here Comes The Sun!

The end of this year's course is almost in sight now as I push on to finish up each project I have in semester 2 which has appeared to be slightly easier than semester 1, however that may turn out to be a single perception I hold myself and I must be aware that I am not leaving out any important details at these stages.
Out of all my projects I feel that my research dissertation on the Beatles has been progressing the best without hindrance and I am comfortable that I have all I need to finish off the presentation and the 5000 word research paper that are required for this important module. I have a planned structure in place and have finalised my resources and bibliography which leaves only the main body of content to be published electronically.
The other project which has had centre stage has been my solo performance project where I intend to perform my own material with a variety of friends and musical acts. I have finalised the personnel for my show and also the set list which has all been created with the difficulties I see each year in mind. Given that most degree students are planning their own degree shows and using other students to complete their ensemble, I realised early that it would be better for me to rely mainly on external musicians and limit my use of student musicians on my course. With this in mind I have planned a set list that requires everyone to participate in no more that 2 or 3 of the songs.
My digital multimedia project has been moving along slowly and although my proposal and media content are all prepared I really must push on with the website and video editing to incorporate all my media content. It is important for me to complete this well before the deadline so that I can manage a suitable road test of the website and its contents.
The portfolio project has also suffered lately and I have realised that both modules have been neglected of late due to the comfort I gained from part completing these projects in the early stages. I should have developed a structured productivity plan in the first few weeks and managed this accordingly to college requirements and as I failed to do this I now face the task of completing my portfolio project in over a week for the deadline on March 15th 2011.
On a positive note I am finding the new session module very pleasing and I feel I respond very well in a creative role within the recording studio. When I was around 5 years old my mother would take me to the community church and I recall my first impressions of the inside of the church and the atmosphere during the service and now that I spend a lot of time in the studio environment I recall a similar sense which is very comforting. In this module we are currently working on a song This Masquerade which is intended to be a promotion jingle for an online dating site. Although I was uncomfortable with the set up and the methodology I grew stronger in my performance and towards the end of the session I found my way with the band and feel more than prepared for next week’s recording schedule.
Overall a better week with regard to progress and I intend to push this progress more each week until the end of the academic year.